Masterpieces from New York’s Frick on show at Mauritshuis

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – How do you say “thank you” to a museum that loaned you Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl With a Pearl Earring” and Carel Fabritius’ “The Goldfinch” for a blockbuster exhibition?

New York’s Frick Collection is displaying its gratitude to the Mauritshuis by sending over a trove of masterpieces of its own for the first art show in a new wing for temporary exhibitions that was added to the intimate Hague museum during its recent renovation.

Among 36 works that crossed the Atlantic to the Mauritshuis are Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’ striking portrait of the doe-eyed Comtesse d’Haussonville, gazing out of the canvas, her chin resting on her left index finger.

Other highlights include John Constable’s “The White Horse” and Jacob van Ruisdael’s “Landscape With a Footbridge,” a 1652 masterpiece that was restored especially for the exhibition titled The Frick Collection-Art Treasures from New York that opened Thursday and runs until May 10.

It is not only paintings that have made their way to the Mauritshuis, a historic mansion in the centre of The Hague that reopened last year after major reconstruction and extension work.

Eight drawings, including by Goya and Rubens, also are part of the exhibit, as are some of the Frick’s finest pieces of sculpture such as Francesco Laurana’s 15th- century bust of Beatrice van Aragon. The show also includes applied arts including a Sevres vase and an ornately decorated clock.

Landmark works from the Mauritshuis, including Vermeer’s “Girl With a Pearl Earring” and paintings by Rembrandt, travelled around the world during the renovation, landing at the Frick from October 2013 to early 2014 in an exhibition that had visitors queuing for hours in freezing weather to catch a rare glimpse outside the Netherlands of the Dutch museum’s masterpieces.

____

If You Go…

MAURITSHUIS: Plein 29, The Hague, Netherlands. Opening times: Monday’s 1 p.m.-6 p.m.; Tuesday through Sunday 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Open until 8 p.m. on Thursdays. Tickets: Adults, 14 euros ($16), children under 18 free.