The Queen goes Dutch

For the first time in more than 30 years, the Queen's peerless collection of Dutch masterpieces is to go on show to the public at Buckingham Palace.

Enchanting The Eye: Dutch Paintings Of The Golden Age brings together 51 priceless paintings, the very cream of the Royal Collection's cache of more than 200 works by 17th century artists from the Netherlands.

It is the first time since 1971 this part of the collection has been put on public display in London, and will include three Rembrandts and a Vermeer.

The Queen owns one of only 34 paintings by Vermeer - his 1660s canvas A Lady at the Virginals with a Gentleman or The Music Lesson. This is now one of the most famous of the tens of thousands of works in the Royal Collection.

But when it was bought by George III in 1762 it was not thought to be by Vermeer and it was thanks only to a happy accident this work belongs to the nation.

Vermeer's muse was recently played by Scarlett Johansson in the 2003 hit film Girl With A Pearl Earring.

The earliest Rembrandt to be displayed is a portrait based on his mother, was completed when he was aged only 23.

In spite of the artist's youth, the work, says Christopher Lloyd, Surveyor of The Queen's Pictures, already reveals Rembrandt's "mastery of precise detail in the treatment of the folds of the skin, the sunken eyes, the taut mouth and the prominent nose".

The second Rembrandt, dating from about 1638, depicts Christ and St Mary Magdalene at the tomb. It is one of only two works of Christ painted by the artist.

Last is the self-portrait of 1642, painted when Rembrandt was at the height of his commercial success.