Vermeer back on the Hooikade
On Delft's Hooikade, Delft master painter Johannes Vermeer painted his 'View of Delft', the most famous Dutch cityscape of the 17th century. With a waterfront reproduction, an information panel and story banks, Delft Marketing and the Vermeer Centrum Delft are bringing the famous Delft artist back to the Hooikade. Visitors can also use an innovative viewer to travel back in time and see what Johannes Vermeer saw when he was working on his painting.
The initiative to refurbish the Hooikade fits into the desire of many Delft parties to give Johannes Vermeer a permanent place in Delft's visitor marketing after the successful 2023 theme period.
Vermeer's Delft
"Until recently, the Hooikade was quite a mess with ugly signs, rubbish bins and graffity," says Michiel van der Schaaf of Delft Marketing. "Not only an annoyance for local residents but also not a calling card for Delft. Especially after last year's major Vermeer exhibition at the Rijksmuseum, our city is attracting noticeably more visitors who come to Delft to discover where Vermeer lived, worked and lived all his life. The Hooikade is one of the favourite locations, also because the place looks almost exactly as it did when Vermeer lived. After the municipality moved the rubbish containers earlier, we took the initiative together with the Vermeer Centrum Delft to refurbish the special historic spot before the tourist high season."
Looking through the eyes of the master
"In the new set-up, things are now coming together nicely," adds Vermeer Centrum Delft director Herman Weyers. "For instance, a reproduction of View of Delft on the waterfront shows the image Vermeer had when he made his famous painting and an information panel and three story banks tell more about the time in which Vermeer lived."
Spectacular is the standing viewer on the quay that takes you back in time. "Thanks to a great collaboration with historians from Erfgoed Delft and Stichting Verborgen Stad, you can look around using the latest technology. And you see exactly what Johannes Vermeer also saw in his time. Through the eyes of the master painter, you see, among other things, the inn where his painter's easel probably stood, the activity in the harbour and river Schie towards Delftshaven."
More about Vermeer's Delft can be seen on the website vermeer.indelft.nl.
