Voorhuis (painting) explained

Voorhuis painting (English: '''entrance hall painting''') was a Dutch painting genre of the 17th century, typically portraying a view from inside a wealthy house with affluent residents interacting with patrons on the outside through the front doorway. Voorhuis describes a front room,^[1] vestibule,^[2] or foyer in Dutch.

The style may have developed as a result of the "good light" which streamed through the front windows of a house, while the side walls of Dutch townhouses were often windowless.^[3]

Jacob Ochtervelt was a key artist of the movement. Many of Ochtervelt's voorhuis pictures illustrated the trade between residents and local peddlers and food vendors.^[4] Het Binnenhuis by Pieter de Hooch is considered an excellent example of the voorhuis style.^[5]

Notes and References

1. Book: Liedtke . Walter A. . Vermeer and the Delft School . Plomp . Michiel . Rüger . Axel . N.Y.) . Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York . Britain) . National Gallery (Great . 2001 . Metropolitan Museum of Art . 978-0-87099-973-4 . en.
2. Book: Franits, Wayne E. . Dutch Seventeenth-century Genre Painting: Its Stylistic and Thematic Evolution . 2004-01-01 . Yale University Press . 978-0-300-10237-6 . en.
3. Book: Fleischer . Roland E. . The Age of Rembrandt: Studies in Seventeenth-century Dutch Painting . Munshower . Susan Scott . 1988-01-01 . Penn State Press . 978-0-915773-02-2 . 103 . en.
4. Book: Jacobs, Lynn F. . Thresholds and Boundaries: Liminality in Netherlandish Art (1385-1530) . 2017-09-25 . Routledge . 978-1-351-60873-2 . en.
5. Book: Funk . Elisabeth Paling . A Beautiful and Fruitful Place: Selected Rensselaerwijck Papers, Volume 2 . Shattuck . Martha Dickinson . 2011-09-07 . State University of New York Press . 978-1-4384-3597-8 . en.