Gallery Prince Willem V, Art museum at Buitenhof, The Hague, Netherlands
Gallery Prince Willem V is an art museum in the old center of The Hague, housing a collection of Flemish and Dutch paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries. The walls are densely covered with Old Master works, and the rooms still feature historical chandeliers and curtains.
Prince William V opened this gallery in 1774, making his art collection accessible to the public for the first time in the Netherlands. The building itself was already part of the Binnenhof complex in the 17th century, before being repurposed as a gallery.
The paintings hang close together from floor to ceiling, exactly as they did in the prince's time, with no modern spacing or explanatory panels. Walking through the rooms gives a direct sense of how a private aristocratic collection was shown in the 18th century.
The gallery sits right on the Binnenhof, the historic government area, and is easy to reach on foot from the city center. The exhibition space is small and the works hang very close together, so it is worth taking your time to look at each painting carefully.
A painting by Gerrit Berckheyde shows the Hofvijver and the Binnenhof as they looked in the 17th century, and the view from the gallery building today is still very close to what is shown on the canvas. Stepping outside, visitors can look at the same scene in real life.
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