Rooms, windows and quiet light
Interiors
Rooms and the people in them. Vermeer’s young woman opening a window, one hand on a pitcher, his maid asleep at the table, de Hooch’s card players in a pool of yellow light, Gabriel at Mary’s red bed in Memling’s Annunciation, Guardi’s masked gamblers in a Venetian hall, Madame Charpentier and her children with their dog, and Hammershøi’s empty room in moonlight. From Bruges, Delft and Venice, Paris and Copenhagen, and one room from Edo Japan.
As a puzzle
Rooms are kind to build. Walls, windows, floor tiles and furniture give you firm straight edges, and a red bed, a blue dress or a white cap makes a clear start. The Dutch rooms keep their corners dark, Kalf’s kitchen is nearly all shadow, and Hammershøi’s walls are long grey stretches. A moderate count suits most, and the crowded halls of Guardi and Madrazo take more.
A good size here: 50–200 pieces.
Styles here: Dutch Golden AgeVenetian PaintingImpressionismSpanish PaintingNordic PaintingAmerican PaintingNorthern RenaissanceUkiyo-eItalian RenaissanceFrench RococoRealism
Painters here: Edgar DegasFrancesco GuardiWilliam Merritt ChasePierre-Auguste RenoirJean-Honoré FragonardJames McNeill WhistlerSuzuki Harunobu
32 pictures, pick one to build
Madame Théodore Gobillard (Yves Morisot, 1838–1893) Edgar Degas, 1869 
Night Rain at the Double-Shelf Stand, from the series Eight Parlor Views (Zashiki hakkei) Suzuki Harunobu, ca. 1766 
Leisure Time in an Elegant Setting Pieter de Hooch, ca. 1663–65 
Sulking Edgar Degas, ca. 1870 
The Annunciation Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi), ca. 1490 
The Yellow Room James McNeill Whistler, ca. 1883–84 
The Annunciation Hans Memling, 1480–89 
Roman Interior Jean Honoré Fragonard, ca. 1760 
The Marriage Feast at Cana Juan de Flandes, ca. 1497 
Grandmother's Treasure Jozef Israëls 
The Antechamber of the Sala del Maggior Consiglio Francesco Guardi, ca. 1765–68 
Moonlight, Strandgade 30 Vilhelm Hammershøi, 1900–1906 
Curiosity Gerard ter Borch the Younger, ca. 1660–62 
Madame Georges Charpentier (Marguerite-Louise Lemonnier, 1848–1904) and Her Children, Georgette-Berthe (1872–1945) and Paul-Emile-Charles (1875–1895) Auguste Renoir, 1878 
For the Little One William Merritt Chase, ca. 1896 
The Annunciation Joos van Cleve, ca. 1525 
Christ Appearing to His Mother Juan de Flandes, ca. 1496 
The Temptation Pietro Longhi (Pietro Falca), 1746 
Sophie Købke (later Sophie Krohn, 1807–1853), the Artist's Sister, in the Hall at Kastellet Christen Købke, ca. 1830 
A Young Woman at Her Toilet with a Maid Gerard ter Borch the Younger, ca. 1650–51 
Masquerade Ball Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta, 1909 
The Ridotto Pubblico at Palazzo Dandolo Francesco Guardi, ca. 1765–68 
The Net Mender (Garnbinderen) Christian Krohg, 1879 
Paying the Hostess Pieter de Hooch, ca. 1670 
The Letter Pietro Longhi (Pietro Falca), 1746 
Interior of a Kitchen Willem Kalf, ca. 1642–44 
The Visit Pietro Longhi (Pietro Falca), 1746 
A Couple Playing Cards, with a Serving Woman Pieter de Hooch, ca. 1665–75 
Young Woman with a Water Pitcher Johannes Vermeer, ca. 1662 
Allegory of the Catholic Faith Johannes Vermeer, ca. 1670–72 
A Maid Asleep Johannes Vermeer, ca. 1656–57 
Young Woman with a Lute Johannes Vermeer, ca. 1662–63