Tile Painting Details…

Following yesterday’s post I am taking a detailed look at what I’m calling (for lack of an official name) a ‘Tile painting’ located in The Sociëteit “De Vereeniging” (Private Member’s Club) in The Hague…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The stork is the official symbol of The Hague… Maybe the crown is featured here because The Hague is the Seat of Government? (Amsterdam is the Capital),… and lions possibly because they feature on the Dutch coat of Arms?

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(Below) Amazing how well the tiles fit together…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The date of the formation of the Club…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(Below) Pool or Snooker cues, and Playing Cards, some of the activities here…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(Below) Are these croquet mallets? … and pins from the bowling alley…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

I Think I’ll Call It A ‘Tile Painting’…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The Netherlands has a national event called ‘Nationale Monumentendag’ (Open day for Historic Places / some Government buildings/  places like Fire stations /various other organisations / Hofjes / Churches and the like are open to the public.)

For ‘Nationale Monumentendag’ 2019 I made a list of several sites close to one another to visit, and quite by chance, (because this place happened to be located between two of my other choices) and I thought:  ‘It’s on my way, so Why not include it?‘.

This is how I ended up at the The Sociëteit “De Vereeniging” (Private Member’s Club) of the Hague. I’m delighted I made the decision, as I’ve discovered a place I had no clue existed, and enjoyed the history and architecture.

In what I will call the ‘Reading / Card / Games’ room, located at the back of the King’s Ballroom I found this beautiful artwork on the wall. I’m not sure what the official name is for things like this, I’ve decided to call it a ‘ tile painting‘ because it takes many tiles to complete one image. It’s clearly a commissioned piece with many references to this Club. It’s also a piece where the more you look the more you see…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(Below) Tiny details, like where the stork’s standing foot holds the end of the ribbon that pokes through the shield…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Wall To Wall Beauty…

More of the beautiful Pompeii inspired stencilled painting on the walls of the Sociëteit “De Vereeniging” (Private Member’s Club) in The Hague.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Pompeii Inspiration…

Following yesterday’s post, and that decorations of the King’s Ballroom of  Sociëteit “De Vereeniging” (Private Member’s Club) were inspired by those in Pompeii, I naturally needed to zoom in for a closer look…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Pompeii Comes To The Ball…

During the 2019 ‘Nationale Monumentendag'(Open day for Historic Places sites around the Netherlands), and I visited the Sociëteit “De Vereeniging” (Private Member’s Club) in the Hague. There are regional booklets produced for this event, my guidebook is an A5 sized book where each page showcases one of the sites, shows a photograph and gives a short blurb about the history / main features etc. The text is in both Dutch and English, the English reads:

“The Sociëteit De Vereeniging meeting room is decorated in an eclectic style, in which the walls and ceiling are covered with ornamental and figurative paintings. In the architecture sections of the walls one can clearly see the elevation that occurred in 1885. The paintings were stencilled onto the walls in-between the marble pillars. They depict elegant Baroque figures that are based on wall decorations in Pompeii.”

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Chair And Floor By The Door…

‘Nationale Monumentendag’ (Open days for National Historic Places sites) has bought me to the Sociëteit “De Vereeniging” (Private Member’s Club) in the Hague. It’s not just the walls that are beautiful, even the floor is stunning. Note too the massive ornate chair. Wonderful!

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Scrolls And Ribbons Run Rings Around Us…

Who doesn’t love a swag, a banner, a ribbon or a sweep of decorative paintwork? The designers of the Sociëteit “De Vereeniging” (Private Member’s Club) certainly did. And So do I. I also know that these things are harder to draw and paint well than they first appear. You could almost say that these artists run rings around us…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

A Monumental Owl…

The entrance hallway of the Sociëteit “De Vereeniging” (Private Member’s Club) throws up some brilliant details. Spied: One Owl.  This 2019 ‘Nationale Monumentendag’ (Open days for National Historic Places sites) visit is turning out to be even better than I imagined.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Simple, Elegant, Beautiful.

Following on from yesterday’s post, it’s not just the laurel and grape leaf motifs in the decorative panels of the entranceway of the Sociëteit “De Vereeniging” (Private Member’s Club) that catches my eye. There are floral motifs there too. Simple, Elegant, Beautiful.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

 

Faces In The Hall…

The Sociëteit “De Vereeniging” (Private Member’s Club) in the Hague has a beautiful entrance hall, the walls filled with decorative motifs. The surrounding laurel leaves of the top image and the grape leaves of the second may or may not have symbolic significance, but even if not, they are an amazing example of design beauty. I was here during the summer of 2019 because of the Dutch event “‘Nationale Monumentendag’ (Open days for National Historic Places sites)and this is exactly the sort of place I would have missed seeing otherwise.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)