Saturday 24 July 2021

Ever wanted to stand inside a historic Dollshouse? Now you can!

Hello my friends, 

Last week I attended a businessmeeting wich was held in the historical center of city of Utrecht. During our lunch break I walked over to the Centraal Museum in Utrecht where they display the oldest of all the remaining Dutch Cabinethouses still in (known) existence. The house of Petronella de la Court. 

I was not planning on entering the museum, since the second half of the course I attended was to begin soon. I only wanted to buy a new book that has been published concerning this cabinet house. "Een huyshouding in' t klein"  written by Margreet dan der Hut. 

To my surprise, the woman who helped me in the museum shop told me that they were dismantling the dollshouse, to put it in storage. They will renovate the museum building and therefor everything needs to be put away safely into the museum's depot. 

The video at the beginning of this post is a short stopmotion film where you can see some of the rooms being emptied of their miniature contents. 

I wanted to see a glimpse of the empty house and bought a museum ticket. Whenever will I get this chance again? unfortunately the curators were on a lunchbreak as well (which makes sense) so I could not talk to them and ask them a few questions. 

 Moving the house and its contents into the depot is quite a job, because the house consists of 1,500 parts. A miniature bookcase, a scaled violin, a few centimeter long waffle iron... you name it.

 Everything has to be filed, photographed, packed, and prepared for the move, piece by piece. So you see here the makeshift studio in the museum where they catalog and pack all the miniatures. 

 But what is all that talk about standing inside a dollshouse? Did I try to stick my feet into the empty rooms while noone was looking? Certainly not! But for the year that the renovation of the building is being carried out and the dollhouse of Petronella de la court is not on view, the museum has made a virtual tour of the house. See this link to the website with the virtual tour.

 You can "enter" every room and look around in 360 degrees. In some rooms there is extra information (look for the + symbols inside the room) on certain objects. in the 'Saletkamer'you can click on the music stand in the middel of the room. there you can listen to 5 short fragments of music. It is the music that is actualy written on the original mini music sheets you see in the room. they are played on original instuments. The music may, or not, be your taste but I think it is wonderful to know that the music sheets contain actual contemporary melodies and are not just decorative scribbles. But then again, if you see the details and objects petronella collected for her cabinet house, you really need not expect anything less than real sheet music. 

 I am happy that I could get a glimpse of the dollshouse being emptied and made ready for storage. And I love it that the Centraal Museum has made this video and virtual tour for us all to watch and enjoy! I hope that you will enjoy it as much as I do.

And with this post I will leave you for my summer break. My own move to our new house is coming closer every day. I hope to meet you all again here in september.

Huibrecht

16 comments:

  1. Preciosa la casa. Siento que no llegases a tiempo para verla.
    Gracias por el enlace.

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    1. Gracias y de nada. Me alegro de que te guste ver esta casa. El año que viene podré volver a verlo.

      Huibrecht

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  2. I can't express how much I love that the museum treats thi piece with such importance! I am looking forward to coming back for an in depth look! Thanks so much for sharing, Huibrecht!

    Enjoy the holiday and I wish you a smooth move!

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    1. Hi Jodi, yes the Dutch museums that own one of the few surviving Dollshouses from the 17th and 18th century (Rijksmuseum has 3 of them!) treat them as the unique treasures that they are.

      I hope the move will go smooth as well. (and no more delays) :-)

      Huibrecht

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  3. Dear Huibrecht,
    Thank you so much for this post. I am 'working' from home today, and fell down the mini-rabbit hole and have just spent almost an hour wandering through Patronella's house. It is incredible.
    I would love to see it in RL one day, but even then, you would never get up close to all the details in the save way as the virtual tour allows. It is incredible.
    Enjoy your summer break and I hope the move to your new house goes smoothly.
    Anna

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    1. Ah yes, I know the dangers of that mini-rabbithole all too well. :-) I have fallen into it quite a few times now. Mostly it was looking up on a certain piece of furnitue, room or painting, and discovering that my little detour did not last 10, but 90 minutes!

      I am glad though that you liked wandering through the house. It litteraly gives a different perspective.

      And I have discovered new things as well. in the stopmotion film a moneychest with painted flowers appear in the office when the doll seated behind the desk is removed. Never new it was there. :-)

      Huibrecht

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  4. Ik heb het zelf bekijkt, en dan weer met mijn man. Hij vond het leeg-halen en opvullen van de kamers zeer grappig!
    Hoop dat the verhuizing goed gaat, en dat je een beetje kans hebt om wat vakantie te vieren. Tot September!

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    1. Hallo Marijke, Wat leuk om te lezen dat jij en jouw man het mooi vonden om alles te bekijken!
      Ik duim voor een vlotte verhuizing. Dat komt vast goed.

      Huibrecht

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  5. Ooooh, Huibrecht, what an amazing opportunity!!! You were there at such a unique time and could witness this process! How Fascinating! I wish I had that book... but I would never be able to read the Dutch language which is a shame. Thank you for sharing that video... to see the rooms taken apart and put together again is amazing! What a treat!
    I wish you good luck with your move!!! I'll be waiting to hear your adventures! :):)

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    1. Yes indeedm I was lucky. Such a shame the people working on the house were all at lunch, though.

      When I have adventures to share, You will read about it here. :-)

      Huibrecht

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  6. This is what I call being at the right place at the right time! Thank you so much for sharing this with us! It's great to see how much this kind of art is cherished and how much care is taken to showcase this special historic piece. The video was fun - my favourite were the books in the office disappearing (or appearing) one after the other. I bet those folks at the museum really loved what they were doing.

    And I've enjoyed standing in this dollhouse very much... especially the opportunity of being able to study the ceilings. It's great that they're offering this possibility to have a close look and to discover details.

    Best wishes for your move - may there be no problems at all. Enjoy your time - I'll be looking forward to hear from you again after your break.

    Hugs
    Birgit

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  7. I am happy to share it with all of you. In the movie the books dissapearing is one of my favorites too. Another fun moment is the moneychest/strongbox appearing behind the doll of the man. I know the chest is there. I have seen it in books and on pictures, but normally it is obscured from sight because of the doll seated at the desk. :-)

    So even for me there are still things to discover in this house which I have seen 4 times before. :-)

    I hope that you have a good summer too!

    Huibrecht

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  8. I just had a lovely browse through Petronella's house. Thank you for sharing the link with us, Huibrecht! In the 1980s, I had the privilege to see the miniature houses in the Rijksmuseum. It has remained one of my favorite memories, and a great influence in my own work today.
    I hope that you are enjoying your summer break.

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    1. Hello Meghan, The houses in the Rijksmuseum are incredible indeed. How lovely that they inspire you still. Now you can add Petronella de la court's house to those.

      I am enjoying this summer, albeit a cold and wet one.

      Huibrecht

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  9. Hi Huibrecht!
    I am just catchin up with your blog - thank you so much for this link, it is just the thing I need right now, and I shall spend a pleasant evening wandering around her house. I wonder how they managed to film inside so well, I have so many problems trying to take photos of my own house.

    Good luck with your move to your new home, I hope it goes smoothly and that you settle in quickly,

    Jonquil

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    1. I am happy to know that you will enjoy wandering about in that dollhouse. I do not know how a 360 devrees camera works, but the images are certainly of a better quality than what I can produce here at home. :-)

      Huibrecht

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