Art in the Dutch Golden Age

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Art in the Dutch Golden Age

• APE

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Timeline

• 1568 Wm. Of Orange leads rebellion against
  Spain
• 1579 Holland and other provinces join as
  United Provinces
• 1648 Spain recognizes United Dutch Republic in
  Treaty of Westphalia

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What does Aelbert Cuyps Maas at Dordrecht tell
you about Dutch culture in the 1650s?
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Financial base of arts

• Amsterdam chief city of trade/enterprise
• Arts supported by prosperous middle class
• Netherlands a center of banking, commerce,
  industry (sawmills ship building),
  international trade
• Dutch East India Company ? first multinational
  corporation
• First modern stock exchange
• Cheap energy ? windmills, peat (along canals)
• Great interest in art, not just among
  aristocrats, but also middle class
• Dutch art ? naturalism, dramatic lighting, large
  figures in foreground
• Dutch Art mkt. ? competitive ? painting on
  speculation, copy popular works, make prints
• Specialties included group portraits (cost shared
  by many individuals guilds, professional org.,
  etc.)

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Frans HalBanquet of the Officers of the St
George Militia of Haarlem (1627)
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Rembrandt

• Most famous of Dutch painters, in his day and
  today
• Influenced religiously by Mennonites (remember
  the Anabaptists?)
• Also did printmaking

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RembrandtThe Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicholas
Tulp (1632)
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Rembrandt, The Militia Company of Captain Frans
Banning Cocq, 1642.
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RembrandtSelf-Portrait
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Christ Healing the Sick, Three Crosses
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Rembrandt, The Jewish Bride
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Jan Vermeer

• Innkeeper and art dealer
• Painted only for local patrons (few paintings)
• Mostly quite interior scenes, often of women in
  cultured activities (writing, reading, playing
  instrument)
• Asymmetrical, but strongly geometric (balanced
  composition)
• Often light from studio window

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Vermeers Woman Holding a Balance
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Vermeers Girl with a Pearl Earring
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Vermeers The Geographer and The Astronomer(p.
478-479)
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Rachel Ruysch

• One of highest paid still-life artists in Europe
• Flower pieces reflected advances in botany made
  through scientific methods (invention of
  microscope in 1674)

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Rachel Ruyschs Flower Still Life(p. 510-511)