A Dutch treat

摘要

Four hundred years ago a Dutch ship called the Halve Maen (Half Moon), Henry Hudson at the helm, arrived at the tiny island of Mannahatta. Less than half a century later Johannes Vermeer, a Delft artist, began painting scenes of the Dutch world Hudson left behind. On the anniversary of the voyage, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has lent Vermeer's "The Milkmaid" to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, inspiring a modest show of paintings by Vermeer and other Dutch masters from the museum's collection. This is the first time this stunning painting has returned to America since New York hosted the World's Fair in 1939-40.