Since it opened to the public in 1822, the Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis has been one of those quiet gems, set in a 17th-century classical townhouse in the center of this patrician city and frequented by lovers of Dutch Golden Age painting. But when it closed for a renovation and expansion two years ago, and a selection from its collection went on tour, Mauritshuis gained an instant celebrity it had never had before.
Wherever the paintings went, millions of people followed, enduring long lines to see two works in particular: Vermeer’s doe-eyed “Girl With a Pearl Earring” (circa 1665), which has become one of the most famous paintings in Western art, and Carel Fabritius’s “The Goldfinch” (1654), a mere slip of a work — about 13 inches by 9 inches — but a giant hit because of Donna Tartt’s best seller of the same title. Also in that show was a sampling of works by Rembrandt and Rubens, Hals and Steen, but they were just the icing on top.
