Portrait of a Family Playing Music (1663): Art, History and Details

Portrait of a Family Playing Music (1663) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Pieter de Hooch (Dutch, 1629–1684).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The identity of the sitters remains unknown, although the marble floor and mantelpiece, the Transylvanian prayer rug on the table, and the silk clothes all point to the family’s considerable wealth. Furthermore, the richly carved chest at the right supports Chinese vases and Japanese lacquered boxes, a reference to the flourishing Dutch trade with Asia. Music making often took place at home, and its appearance here also signifies the harmoniousness of the family.

Object facts

• Title: Portrait of a Family Playing Music
• Date: 1663
• Creator attribution: Pieter de Hooch (Dutch, 1629–1684)
• Culture: Netherlands
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: Framed: 124.5 x 142.5 x 7 cm (49 x 56 1/8 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 98.7 x 116.7 cm (38 7/8 x 45 15/16 in.)
• Collection: P - Netherlandish-Dutch
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1951.355

A detail from the museum

During this period, the Dutch Republic was the richest, most urbanized nation.

Collection credit

Gift of the Hanna Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Smith, John. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters; In Which Is Included a Short Biographical Notice of the Artists, with a Copious Description of Their Principal Pictures; a Statement of the Prices at Which Such Pictures Have Been Sold at Public Sales on the Continent and in England; a Reference to the Galleries and Private Collections, in Which a Large Portion Are at Present; and the Names of the Artists by Whom They Have Been Engraved; to Which Is Added, a Brief Notice of the Scholars & Imitators of the Great Masters of the Above Schools. London: Smith and Son, 1829.
• Hofstede de Groot, C. Beschreibendes und kritisches verzeichnis der werke des hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts; nach dem muster. Esslingen, Germany: a. N.: P. Neff, 1907.
• Rudder, Arthur de. Pieter de Hooch et son œuvre. Bruxelles, Belgium: G. van Oest & cie, 1914.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.