The beauty of the collection of paintings at the Mauritshuis is truly astounding. That’s why we like to give our collection the greatest possible visibility. You can experience about 250 of the approximately 850 collection pieces in the Mauritshuis itself. In addition, you will find another 150 in the Prince William V Gallery. Furthermore, 150 works have been loaned out on long-term contracts to other museums, both locally and abroad.
Only 300 works are kept behind locked doors within the depot. They are often used as replacement pieces. For example, when another piece is being restored or loaned out to an exhibition. There are times when some of the artworks are temporarily not on display in the room. This could be due to an exhibition at home or abroad. It could also be that a given piece is being examined in the restoration studio.
The Frans Hals Museum
For example, the Frans Hals Museum opened in 1913. The Mauritshuis has loaned out a number of large paintings and other exhibitions to the Haarlem museum since then. We could do that because, for example, those works did not really fit into our collection. Some of these loaned paintings are now considered indispensable at those locations. One such example is The wedding of Peleus and Thetis, a huge painting by Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem.
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam
In 1948, all the Italian and Spanish works from the Mauritshuis collection were loaned out to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. As a result, two 15th-century portraits by Piero di Cosimo played a key role in the renewed presentation at the Rijksmuseum. Our 1524 work, Salomé with the head of John the Baptist by Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen, is an important addition to the collection at the Rijksmuseum.
National Gallery Londen
Visitors could also come across long-term loans from the Mauritshuis in some foreign museums; for example, the National Gallery in London. The Mauritshuis has an exchange program with the latter museum. For example, the painting, Hunting still life with partridges, by Willem van Aelst, from our collection, has been on display in London since 2020. As a 'counter loan', we have borrowed a beautiful landscape with cattle by Aelbert Cuyp. This was a great opportunity for us, as we missed such a beautiful painting by Cuyp in our collection.
Rijksmuseum Twenthe
In 2016, we organised an exhibition of works from our depot: Highs and lows from the depot. In that exhibition, we reflected on the reason why certain paintings are kept in the depot. In most instances, they are replacement pieces used to fill gaps when room pieces go on the road. There could also be other reasons.
For example, one of the paintings in this exhibition was Dead Swan by Jan Weenix. That painting is so large that it is almost impossible to hang in the small rooms of the Mauritshuis. During that exhibition we went out looking for a new place for The Swan. And we found that place. The painting has been given a home in the Rijksmuseum Twenthe, where it is now on permanent display.
