Dutch Masters of Golden Age Painting
the new dutch republic
The Netherlands became a Spanish possession from 1556 when its crown passed to the foreign King Philip II of Spain.
William the Silent (April 24, 1533 – July 10, 1584) was the father of the Dutch Republic.
He was the main leader of the Dutch revolt that saw the Netherlands emerge as a state during the Eighty Years’ War (1568-1648), declaring its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1581.
The new Dutch Republic was proclaimed in 1588.
The Dutch Republic rose to world power in the 17th century and became a leading power in European trade, science, and art.
The Dutch East India Company (United East India Company) was a mega-corporation that prospered for most of the 17th century as part of the powerful Dutch trading empire in the East Indies (present-day Indonesia).
It was dissolved in 1799.
Capitalism was the economic and political system that caused the expansion of trade, attracted immigrants, and stimulated the growth of major cities and ports.
history of dutch painting
The Dutch Golden Age from around 1620 to 1680 developed a very distinct style of painting depicting the natural world that favored landscapes such as dunes along the western sea coast and rivers with surrounding meadows where cattle grazed, often with a view of a city in the distance.
They portrayed everyday life with Dutch proverbs and sayings that conveyed a moralistic message.
Between 1605 and 1635, more than 100,000 paintings by painters such as Frans Hals and Jacob van Ruisdael, Lieven de Key and Jan Steen were produced in Haarlem, the capital of the province of North Holland, with paintings depicting the glorious history and products of the city.
Many portrait paintings were also commissioned by wealthy people during the 17th century.
Dutch words “stilleven” and “landschap” that were adopted into English as “still life” and “landscape” on which art in Europe depended for the next two centuries.
The Golden Age never really recovered from the Franco-Dutch War (1672-1678) which caused the republic to collapse in 1795 and its colonial empire to be overshadowed by England.
Grand Masters of the Golden Age
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606 – 1669)
Rembrandt is considered one of the greatest artists in the history of Baroque style painting.
He was a prolific teacher in three mediums: draughtsman, painter and printmaker, who also taught many important Dutch painters.
His subject matter was broad, from portraits and self-portraits to landscapes, genre scenes, allegorical and historical scenes, biblical and mythological themes, as well as animal studies.
Famous Rembrandt Paintings
*The Night Watch (1642)
The Night Watch is famous for three things: its colossal size (363 cm × 437 cm (11.91 ft × 14.34 ft)), the dramatic use of light and shadow (tenebrism), and the perception of movement in the night. which traditionally would have been a static military group portrait.
*The Jewish Bride (1665)
The Jewish bride, depicted as Isaac and Rebecca, the models emphasized her fidelity and piety and that her marriage was happy and virtuous.
*The Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1633)
An oil on canvas painting depicting the biblical story of Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee.
It is Rembrandt’s only seascape.
*Head of Christ (1648)
The Head of Christ is a painting from 1648 that is now in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin.
* Bathsheba in her bath (1654)
The painting hangs in the Louvre depicting King David watching Bathsheba bathing from the Old Testament.
Johannes Vermeer (1632 – 1675)
Dutch Golden Age artist Johannes Vermeer was a Baroque period painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life and his masterful use of light in his work.
“Nearly all of his paintings,” wrote Hans Koningsberger, “are apparently set in two small rooms in his house in Delft; they show the same furniture and decorations in various arrangements and often portray the same people, mostly women.” .
Some 36 of his paintings exist and are among the most revered treasures now housed in the world’s best museums.
Famous paintings include:
*View of Delft (1661)
*Girl with a Pearl Earring (1665)
*The Milkmaid (1658)
*The little street (1658)
Francis Hals (1582 – 1666)
Frans Hals the Elder was a Baroque painter best known for his portraits of wealthy citizens and large group portraits depicting local civic guards.
His paintings depict banquets, meetings of officials, guilds, local councilors, itinerant gamblers and singers, knights, fishwives, and tavern heroes.
His wedding portraits traditionally show the husband on the left and the wife on the right.
The Laughing Cavalier painting (1624) is one of Hals’s most famous works and the Officers’ Banquet (1616) by the St Adrian Militia Company in 1627 captures each character in a variety of poses and facial expressions.
Some of his many paintings include:
* Officers’ Banquet (1616)
*Laughing Knight (1624)
*Laughing Boy (1525)
*Officers and Sergeants (1639)
Jan Steen (1626 – 1679)
Jan Havickszoon Steen (1626 – February 3, 1679) was a 17th-century Dutch painter whose works included portraiture, historical and biblical subjects, genre painting, and paintings referencing old Dutch proverbs or literature.
Steen often used members of his family as models.
Famous paintings include:
*Harpsichord lesson (1660)
*The Dancing Couple (1663)
*Feast of Saint Nicholas (1665)
*The happy family (1668)
Rachel Ruysch (1664 – 1750)
Rachel Ruysch was a Dutch still life painter from the North of the Netherlands who specialized in flowers.
Her career as a painter spanned more than six decades and she is the best documented female painter of the Dutch Golden Age.
He started painting from the age of fifteen to eighty-three and died at eighty-six.
Famous paintings by Rachel Ruysch include:
*Roses, vines, poppies and other flowers in an urn on a stone ledge (1688)
*Flowers in a Vase (1699)
*Flowers in a glass vase (1704)
*Flower still life (1726)
Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525 – 1569)
Pieter Bruegel was a Flemish (Flanders region) artist and printmaker of Dutch Renaissance painting known for his landscapes and peasant scenes.
He often dressed up as a peasant to attend local festivities such as county fairs and weddings to further his theme.
He is often referred to as “Peasant Bruegel”, to distinguish him from later painters in his family, which included his son Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564-1638).
His paintings depict peasants generally with a landscape in the background, religious works such as the Conversion of Paul and the Sermon of Saint John the Baptist, and religious proverbs typical of the Northern Renaissance.
Famous paintings include:
*The Harvesters (1565)
*The Hay Harvest (1565)
*The Peasant Wedding (1567)
*The Sermon of Saint John (1564)
Hendrick Terbrugghen (1588-1629)
Hendrick Jansz ter Brugghen (or Terbrugghen) was a Dutch painter who was one of the followers of Caravaggio (Italian painter of the late 1500s and early 1600s), the so-called Utrecht Caravaggisti.
His genre scenes included half-length figures of drinkers or musicians, religious images, and group portraits.
Famous paintings include:
* Piper (1624)
*The Singing Lute (1624)
*Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saint John (1625)
*The denial of Saint Peter (1628)
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)
Rubens is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition in Europe during the 17th century and was also the favorite painter of his great Spanish patron, Felipe IV.
During his lifetime he produced masterpieces of antiquity from classical and Christian history, mythology, altarpieces, portraits, and landscapes.
He was also a prolific designer of cartoons for the Flemish tapestry workshops.
His patrons included royalty and churches.
*The ascent of the cross (1610)
*Samson and Delilah (1610)
*The Descent from the Cross (1614)
*Self-portrait (1639)