The Bride
Matthijs Maris (1839 - 1917), 1868-1869
oil on canvas, 102 cm x 65 cm
Credits: The Mesdag Collection, The Hague
Matthijs Maris was a bit of an outsider. He made mystical figure scenes and dream-like landscapes. This differs radically from the realistic art of his brothers Jacob and Willem, and their contemporaries. He is nevertheless considered a member of the Hague School.
This young bride is rendered so delicately and transparently that she seems ethereal. She holds a book and a flower. The contours of a stained-glass window visible in the background suggest the scene is set in a church.
Maris applied transparant layers of paint. The colours have darkened over time, and the picture now looks considerably different from when it was painted.
- Object number
- hwm0197
- Dimensions
- 102 cm x 65 cm, 136.5 cm x 99 cm, 13 cm
- Provenance
- Left by the artist with his brother, Willem Maris, The Hague, probably 1869; sold by Willem Maris to Hendrik Willem Mesdag, The Hague together with Ramskop for NLG 700, c. 1872; Collection Museum Mesdag donated by Hendrik Willem Mesdag and Sientje Mesdag-van Houten to the State of the Netherlands, 14 May 1903; Rijksmuseum H.W. Mesdag, The Hague, from 1 August 1903; in trust of the Mauritshuis, The Hague, between 1934 and 1990; in trust of the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam, from 1 April 1990; Museum Mesdag, in trust of the Van Gogh Museum Foundation, Amsterdam, from 1 July 1994, under the name of De Mesdag Collectie from 2011.
- artist
- Matthijs Maris
- Credits
- The Mesdag Collection, The Hague
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Matthijs Maris, 6 October 2017-7 January 2018
Turin, Galleria Civica d'arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Vittore Grubicy e l'Europa, 22 July-9 October 2005
Museo d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Vittore Grubicy e l'Europa
Milan, Civiche Raccolte d'Arte Moderna, Vittore Grubicy e l'Europa
Bionda, Richard W.A., Matthijs Maris, Amsterdam, 2017, p. 16, 33, 85, 129-133
Bionda, Richard W.A., 'Het witte spook van Mesdag' : de bruid van Matthijs Maris opnieuw bezien, p. 198-214
Dijk, Maite van, Suijver, Renske, Fitski, M., Smits, C., De Mesdag Collectie, Amsterdam, 2011, p. 78
Dijk, Maite van, Suijver, Renske, Fitski, M., Smits, C., The Mesdag Collection, Amsterdam, 2011, p. 78
Bodt, Saskia de, Leeman, Fred, Leeuw, Ronald de, Pennock, Hanna, Museum Mesdag : catalogue of paintings and drawings, Zwolle, 1996, p. 273-274, 349
Pennock, Hanna, Museum Mesdag : een selectie uit de verzameling, p. 15
Dumas, Charles, Leeuw, Ronald de, Sillevis, John, De Haagse School : Hollandse meesters van de 19e eeuw, Den Haag ; Parijs ; Londen, 1983, p. 111-112