Samuel van Hoogstraten, 'A Peepshow with Views of the Interior of a Dutch House', about 1655-60

A Peepshow with Views of the Interior of a Dutch House

Samuel van Hoogstraten

Not on display

About the work

Overview

This peculiar object is a perspective box – a rectangular wooden cabinet painted on the inside and outside, and open on one end to let in light. The inside is painted in such a way that it’s only when we peer through a peephole – there’s one on either side of the cabinet – that we see the illusion of a three-dimensional seventeenth-century Dutch house. The rooms are quiet: one woman lies asleep in bed, while another reads in a chair. The only other living being in the house is a dog, though a man outside peeks in through a window.

In-depth

Samuel van Hoogstraten, the artist who made this peculiar object, called it a wonderlijke perspectyfkas – a curious perspective box. It is a rectangular wooden cabinet painted on the inside and outside, and open on one end to let in light.

Looking into the open side, which was originally covered with translucent oiled paper, we see a distorted jumble of walls, windows, open doors, crooked floor tiles, misshapen chairs and an oddly proportioned dog. It is only when we peer through a peephole – there’s one on either side of the cabinet – that everything falls into place: we see the illusion of a three-dimensional seventeenth-century Dutch house, with views into a variety of rooms and outdoor spaces. The rooms are quiet: one woman lies asleep in bed, while another reads in a chair. The only other living being in the house is a dog, though a man outside peeks in through a window.

A letter addressed to the artist lies on one of the chairs in the middle room, while a portrait print bearing the van Hoogstraten family crest appears to the left of the bedroom door. This suggests that we are actually peeping into the artist’s imaginary home. And van Hoogstraten further teases the viewer, reminding us of our intrusion into this quiet domestic space. When looking into the box from the left, our behaviour is mirrored by the man opposite, who secretly watches the reading woman through the window. Looking through the hole on the right, our gaze is met by the dog, which has spotted us spying on the women in the house.

The three external sides of the box show allegorical scenes representing concepts that inspired the artist. The Latin inscriptions on scrolls of paper identify them: ‘Amoris Causa’ (‘for the sake of love’), with a young artist drawing Urania, one of the Muses; ‘Lucri Causa’ (‘for the sake money)’, with a putto pouring coins from a cornucopia while a painter works on a portrait; and ‘Gloriae Causa’ (‘for the sake of glory’), with a putto placing a gold chain around a painter’s neck and crowning him with a laurel wreath. On the top lid of the cabinet is an image of a nude woman lying in bed, usually identified as Venus, accompanied by the infant Cupid. It is distorted in the manner of an anamorphosis, which means that it can only be perceived correctly from one vantage point (for another example, see ‘The Ambassadors’ by Hans Holbein the Younger). However, the distorted projection is not entirely successful, as there seems to be no point from which the image is convincingly corrected.

Reflecting a fascination with perspective and optical devices, such boxes were produced in the Dutch Republic from about 1650, for a relatively short period of about 25 years. Only six survive today. The National Gallery’s example is the most complex and sophisticated in its representation of perspectives, and the only one with two peepholes, giving views of the same interior from opposing directions.

Key facts

Details

Full title: A Peepshow with Views of the Interior of a Dutch House
Artist: Samuel van Hoogstraten
Artist dates: 1627 - 1678
Date made: about 1655-60
Medium and support: oil on wood
Dimensions: 58 × 88 × 60.5 cm
Inscription summary: Signed; Inscribed
Acquisition credit: Presented by Sir Robert and Lady Witt through the Art Fund, 1924
Inventory number: NG3832
Location: Not on display
Collection: Main Collection

Provenance

Possibly in the [F. Halford] sale, London, 6 July 1861 (lot 126A), bought in (£4.15.0). It was in the collection of Sir Henry H. Howorth, London, from 1893. Sir H. H. Howorth sale, London, 14 December 1923 (lot 97), bought by R. Langton Douglas (270 gns). Presented by Sir Robert and Lady Witt (through the NACF) in 1924.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Neil MacLaren, revised and expanded by Christopher Brown, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School: 1600–1900’, London 1991; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2020

British Baroque: Power and Illusion

Tate Britain

5 February 2020 - 19 April 2020

Bibliography

1925

C. Brière-Misme, 'Deux "boites à perspective" hollandaises du XVIIe siècle', Gazette des beaux-arts, XI, 1925, pp. 156-66
1937

E.P. Richardson, 'Samuel van Hoogstraten and Carel Fabritius', Art in America, CCV, 1937, pp. 141-52
1941

W. Born, 'Early Peep Shows and the Renaissance Stage', The Connoisseur, CVII, 1941, pp. 161-71
1960

Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 2 vols, London 1960
1966

U. Schneede, 'De Wonderlyke Perspectiefkas: Hoogstraten's perfekte Täuschungen', Artis, XVIII, 1966, pp. 33-56
1967

S. Koslow, 'De Wonderlijke Perspectyfkas: An Aspect of Seventeenth Century Dutch Painting', Oud Holland, LXXXII, 1967, pp. 33-56
1970

J. Foucart, Le siècle de Rembrandt. Tableaux hollandais des collections publiques françaises (exh. cat. Musée du Petit Palais, 7 November 1970 - 15 February 1971), Paris 1970
1975

F. Leeman, Anamorphosen. Ein Spiel mit der Wahrnehmung, Cologne 1975
1976

W. Liedtke, 'The "View in Delft" by Carel Fabritius', The Burlington Magazine, CXVIII/875, 1976, pp. 61-73
1978

A. Blankert, Johann Vermeer van Delft 1632-1675, English edn, Oxford 1978
1980

A. Blankert, Museum Bredius. Catalogus van de schilderijen en tekeningen, The Hague 1980
1984

S. Alpers, The Art of Describing: Dutch Art in the Seventeenth Century, Chicago 1984
1987

C. Brown et al., 'Samuel van Hoogstraten: Perspective and Painting', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XI, 1987, pp. 66-85
1990

M. Kemp, The Science of Art: Optical Themes in Western Art from Brunelleschi to Seurat, London 1990
1991

Maclaren, Neil, revised by Christopher Brown, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 1600-1900, 2nd edn (revised and expanded), 2 vols, London 1991
1992

P. Marijnissen, De zichtbaere werelt: Schilderkunst uit de Gouden Eeuw in Hollands oudste stad, Zwolle 1992
1995

C. Brusati, Artifice and Illusion: The Art and Writing of Samuel Van Hoogstraten, Chicago 1995
1996

M. Westermann, A Worldly Art: The Dutch Republic, 1585-1718, New York 1996
1996

J. Woodall, 'Love Is in the Air: Amor as Motivation and Message in Seventeenth-Century Netherlandish Painting', Art History, XIX/2, 1996, pp. 203-46
1998

D. Bomford, 'Perspective, Anamorphosis, and Illusion: Seventeenth-Century Dutch Peep Shows', Studies in the History of Art, LV, 1998, pp. 124-35
2000

J. Loughman and J.M. Montias, Public and Private Spaces: Works of Art in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Houses, Zwolle 2000
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2002

C. Donnellan, 'Hoogstraten's House: Representing the Domestic Interior in the Dutch Republic', Object, V, 2002, pp. 23-42
2002

T. Weststeijn, 'Schilderkunst als "zuster van de bespiegelende wijsbegeerte": De theoretische status van het afbeelden van de zichtbare wereld in Samuel van Hoogstratens Inleyding tot de Hooge Schoole der Schilderkonst', De zeventiende eeuw, XVIII/2, 2002, pp. 184-207
2004

F. Duparc et al., Carel Fabritius, 1622-1654 (exh. cat. Mauritshuis, 24 September 2004 - 9 January 2005; Staatliches Museum Schwerin, 28 January - 16 May 2005), Zwolle 2004
2006

Z.Z. Filipczak, 'Vermeer, Elusiveness, and Visual Theory', Simiolus, XXXII/4, 2006, pp. 259-72
2008

T. Weststeijn, The Visible World: Samuel Van Hoogstraten's Art Theory and the Legitimation of Painting in the Dutch Golden Age, Amsterdam 2008

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.