Head of a Dog: Nero
Sientje Mesdag-van Houten (1834 - 1909), 1875
oil on canvas, 40.5 cm x 51.3 cm
Credits: The Mesdag Collection, The Hague
Nero was Hendrik Willem and Sientje Mesdag’s faithful companion. Sientje painted this portrait of their dog in 1875, a few years after she began working in oil paint. Around this time she sought her subject matter in her immediate surroundings, in her home and garden. This included their dogs Jolie, King-Charles, and Nero, portrayed here.
Sientje Mesdag quickly established her reputation as an artist. Her still lifes, landscapes, and portraits were well received. She developed into one of the most influential Dutch female artists of her time and stimulated and encouraged other women in the arts. She also bought works by them for what was then the Mesdag Museum.
- Object number
- hwm0243
- Dimensions
- 40.5 cm x 51.3 cm, 70 cm x 81.3 cm, 14 cm
- Provenance
- Collection Museum Mesdag donated by Hendrik Willem Mesdag and Sientje Mesdag-van Houten, The Hague, 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
- Sientje Mesdag-van Houten
- Credits
- The Mesdag Collection, The Hague
The Hague, De Mesdag Collectie, Samen in de schijnwerpers. De Mesdags in hun museum, 31 March-9 July 2023
Haarlem, Teylers Museum, De Hond & zijn Baas, 29 June-27 October 2002
Bodt, Saskia de, Leeman, Fred, Leeuw, Ronald de, Pennock, Hanna, Museum Mesdag : catalogue of paintings and drawings, Zwolle, 1996, p. 319
Brandt Corstius, L., Donk, H. van den, Huber, R., Oele, A., Rijsingen, M. van, Bloemen uit de kelder : negen kunstenaressen rond de eeuwwisseling, Zwolle, 1989, p. 27-28