Featuring an impressive compilation of Dutch genre paintings from the British Royal Collection, the new exhibition at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, titled At Home in Holland: Vermeer and his Contemporaries from the British Royal Collection, is well worth a plane ticket. Along with works from the Dutch Golden Age, highlights include The Music Lesson, one of 36 surviving paintings by Johannes Vermeer, dating to 1660–1662 and procured in 1762 by England’s King George III. The collection is one of the last remaining European royal collections that endure in its entirety, and includes works by Gerard ter Borch, Gerrit Dou, Pieter de Hooch, Willem van Mieris and Gabriël Metsu. The exhibition is on view until Jan. 8, 2017.

Elsewhere in Holland and the world of art, the Frisian Museum in Leeuwarden will host Alma-Tadema: Classical Charm. More than 80 masterworks by this 19^th-century artist, who often used his vast knowledge of archeology and classical antiquity to lend distinctive atmosphere to his work — resulting in paintings staged to look like authentic scenes from ancient Roman times. So influential were the artist’s depictions, film directors studied his works, including Ridley Scott during the making of his films Gladiator (2000) and Exodus (2014). The exhibition is part of Leeuwarden-Fryslân European Capital of Culture 2018, and will be on view until Feb. 7, 2017.