Tickets
English
DonateMembershipTickets

Leisure Time in an Elegant Setting

ca. 1663–65
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 958
Like his contemporary Johannes Vermeer, Pieter de Hooch played a pioneering role in the advancement of genre painting in seventeenth century Holland. He was especially gifted as a painter of interiors--complex spatial arrangements stunningly beautiful in the manipulation of light. The Lehman picture is richly decorated with a marble floor and gilt-leather wall coverings, articulated by diffuse light from the window at left. The merry dialogue in the near ground is foiled by the mysterious encounter of a young man and elderly bearded figure in the antechamber and vestibule. De Hooch achieves extraordinary clarity and geometry in this grandly furnished chamber, qualities evocative of paintings he made in Amsterdam in the 1660s.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Leisure Time in an Elegant Setting
  • Artist: Pieter de Hooch (Dutch, Rotterdam 1629–1684 Amsterdam)
  • Date: ca. 1663–65
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: Extended canvas 22 15/16 x 27 5/16 in. (58.3 x 69.4 cm); original visible painted surface 21 5/8 x 26 in. (55 x 66 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
  • Object Number: 1975.1.144
  • Curatorial Department: The Robert Lehman Collection

More Artwork

More Artwork
Early 18th-century style Ogee frame, Oak lower moldings; lime upper moldings. Carved, gilt; thin red-orange bole, green patina, metallic reparure., French
Early 18th-century style Ogee frame
French
1850–65
Paying the Hostess, Pieter de Hooch Dutch, Oil on canvas
Paying the Hostess
Pieter de Hooch
ca. 1670
Soprano Recorder in B, Thomas Coenraet Boekhout Dutch, Ebony, ivory, Dutch
Soprano Recorder in B
Thomas Coenraet Boekhout
ca. 1700
Margaretha van Haexbergen (1614–1676), Gerard ter Borch the Younger Dutch, Oil on canvas
Margaretha van Haexbergen (1614–1676)
Gerard ter Borch the Younger
ca. 1666–67
The Visit, Pieter de Hooch Dutch, Oil on wood
The Visit
Pieter de Hooch
ca. 1657

Related Content

Timeline of Art History

Entries and chronologies from The Met's art encyclopedia.

Publications

Books, guides, and catalogues published by The Met.

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please contact us using the form below. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.

Send feedback

Content Notice

The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world, and our online collection reflects ongoing work conducted over the course of our more than 150-year history. You may encounter objects or images that may be inappropriate for some viewers or information that may be outdated.