Mauritshuis,museum inThe Hague especially noted for its Flemish and Dutch paintings from the 15th to the 17th century. The collection itself is called the Royal Picture Gallery, which has been housed since 1822 in a palace (1633–44) designed forJohn Maurice of Nassau, called the Mauritshuis.

The Mauritshuis’s modest holdingscomprise about 800 paintings but feature such distinguished works asJohannes Vermeer’sGirl with a Pearl Earring (c. 1665),Carel Fabritius’sThe Goldfinch (1654),Jacob van Ruisdael’sView of Haarlem with Bleaching Grounds (c. 1670–75), andRembrandt van Rijn’sThe Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp (1632). The basis of the collection came fromWilliam V, prince of Orange and Nassau andstadtholder of theDutch Republic. He built a gallery in 1774 to display his artworks and subsequently opened it a few times a week to visitors. The Prince William V Gallery was thus the first publicart collection in the country.

The collection, however, was seized byNapoleon’s troops in 1795 and brought to France to be exhibited at theLouvre. It was returned to the Netherlands in 1815, and the following year KingWilliam I, son of William V, donated the artworks to the Dutch state. The collection was divided among the country’s museums, including the Royal Picture Gallery in The Hague and theRijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The Royal Picture Gallery moved to the Mauritshuis building in 1822, sharing the space with the Royal Cabinet ofCuriosities.

The Mauritshuis was originally built around 1633–44 as a residence for John Maurice, who was then the governor of the Dutch colony in Brazil. It was designed byJacob van Campen and built byPieter Post in the Dutchclassical style. The Royal Picture Gallery took over the full space of the Mauritshuis in 1875, around the time it resumed collecting artworks. The quaint boxy shape of the building and the “gems” inside eventually led to the Mauritshuis’s nickname: “the jewel box.”

In 1977 the Prince William V Gallery reopened as anannex to the Mauritshuis in its original location on the opposite side of the Hofvijver lake. It underwent an extensive renovation around 2009–10 and now displays about 150 paintings from the Mauritshuis collection tightly grouped up to the ceiling according to 17th-century fashion.

The Mauritshuis also underwent a large-scale restoration and expansion in 2012–14. The changes included an underground foyer to connect the museum to the building across the street. The addition houses an auditorium, education centre, library, and exhibition space. The Mauritshuis receives about 400,000 visitors per year, and the Prince William V Gallery receives nearly 30,000.