At Home in the 17th Century

By Apollo, 12 October 2025


The elaborate doll’s house of Petronella Oortman, the wife of a wealthy Amsterdam merchant, was constructed in c. 1686, and she spent the next 25 years carefully curating it down to the centimetre, with each of the nine rooms presenting an idealised version of daily life in the Netherlands. Though not the only one of its kind, it was particularly celebrated in its own time: Jacob Appel painted it in 1710, emphasising its worlds within worlds, and ever since the Rijksmuseum acquired it in 1875 it has been a favourite with the public. One hundred and fifty years after that purchase, the museum is turning its Phillips Wing into a doll’s house, with nine diorama-style galleries – designed by the theatre maker Steef de Jong – bringing 17th-century domesticity to life (17 October–11 January 2026). Visitors will also have a rare chance to appreciate the ravishing reverse side of Oortman’s doll’s house, made of tortoiseshell inlaid with pewter.

Find out more from the Rijksmuseum’s website.
Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary

Bedroom in the doll’s house of Petronella Oortman (c. 1686– 1710). Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Portrait of David Leeuw and Cornelia Hooft with their Children (1671), Abraham van den Tempel. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Set of two mirrors and two gueridons with the coats of arms of Johan Boudaen Courten and Anna Maria Hoeufft (c. 1680–1700), northern Netherlands, maker unknown. Zeeuws Museum, Middelburg and Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam