Wealthy Were the Leading Patrons of Dutch Art in the Seventeenth Century

The Night Sentinel (1642)
By Rembrandt.

Dutch Bizarre Painting (c.1600-80)
Types, History, Characteristics of Dutch Realism Schoolhouse

Contents

• Dutch Gold Age of Painting
• Dutch Baroque Portraits
• Rembrandt
• Dutch Bizarre Genre Painting
• Dutch Baroque Still Life Painting
• Dutch Baroque Mural Painting
• Greatest Dutch Baroque Painters

Development OF VISUAL ART
For details of art movements
and styles, see: History of Art.
For a chronological guide to
key events in the development
of visual arts around the globe
run across: History of Art Timeline.

WORLD'S GREATEST ART
For a list of the Top 10 painters/
sculptors: Best Artists of All Time.
For the best oils/watercolours,
come across: Greatest Paintings Ever.
For the best plastic art,
see: Greatest Sculptures E'er.

GERMANY
For architecture, painting and
sculpture in Germany, during
the 16th and 17th centuries,
see: German language Baroque Art.

Dutch Golden Age of Painting

During the era of Baroque art, the United Provinces, of which The netherlands was one, occupied the northern part of the Low Countries. Less developed than Flemish region, perchance they had once been the poor relations of the Flemings, only in the seventeenth century the nation was rich, proud, and expanding in influence. In fact it became one of the wealthiest nations in 17th century Europe. Information technology was likewise addicted to painting: during the period 1600-80, more 4 million paintings were produced in The netherlands - far more than the number produced past artists of the Flemish Baroque - and every sort of person indulged their ain appreciation of fine art painting; artisans, merchants, burghers, sailors, store-keepers - all knew, or prided themselves on knowing, something about it.

The sort of Baroque painting they admired and which they deputed from their artists were however unlike from Italian paintings, dissimilar fifty-fifty from those of Rubens. The Dutch, being Protestants, had banished Catholic-style Christian art, which was nonetheless the chief form of painting in Cosmic countries. One time they had gained their independence, they expressed their contentment in the enjoyment of the adept things of life: fine, solid houses, convivial company, clothes of high quality. They were, in curt, bourgeois, and they wanted pictures that reflected the contentment of conservative prosperity: portraits, interiors, genre-paintings (scenes of everyday life) and affluent looking still lifes, painted on canvases of moderate size, to hang in ordinary houses.

This was the beginning of the Dutch Gilt Age (c.1610-eighty), during which the school of Dutch Realism established itself as ane of the greatest ever movements of oil painting in the history of art. The best Baroque paintings by its leading members - such as Rembrandt and Vermeer - represent the summit of human artistic achievement and control multi-1000000 dollar prices at auction. The school also set standards in the categories of naturalism, still life and genre painting, which accept inappreciably been equalled, far less exceeded.

Dutch Bizarre Portraiture

Frans Hals (1580-1666) was the outset corking exponent of portrait art of the Dutch Baroque schoolhouse: the first to shake off the dominant Italian classical arroyo to portraiture, in favour of a more than realistic style. A style in which his sharp heart for observation and lively power of expression could conjure up a suitably unique composition. Hals painted what his customers wanted, and in prosperous, bourgeois Kingdom of the netherlands, the new eye form patron wanted to a higher place all to see himself in oils. Portraiture was after all the photography of the solar day, except better, because a painter can flatter the sitter amend than any camera. Information technology was this genre that Hals mastered. In his brimming vitality, for all his poverty and debt, he could always console himself by painting the portrait of a jolly fool - capturing the sitter non in the luminescence of a finished portrait, such as Rubens had taught people to look, only by a new picturesque improvisation, owing its charm to its piece of cake, loose, brushwork - a style appreciated higher up all by the 19th century Impressionists.

Rembrandt

Where Hals specialised in capturing the unique outside of a field of study, Rembrandt (1606-69) looked for the inner reality. To put information technology another fashion, while the Flemish Baroque painter Rubens personified the exuberant, theatrical, courtly side of Baroque art, Rembrandt represented its tormented, dramatic, introverted attribute. He was the heir to Caravaggio; and he fabricated this inheritance the nucleus of an incomparable achievement. It was Rembrandt who gave a new spirituality to the realistic art of Holland. He kept the methods of realism, but gave them a hitherto unknown, translucent luminosity. Above all, he went beneath the surface of his homo subjects and exposed some of their inner graphic symbol and soul beneath.

I of his first great portrait masterpieces was actually a group portrait, a type which was especially feature of the country and the time. During the wars with Kingdom of spain, many companies of volunteer soldiers had been formed - we should perchance telephone call them militia companies. After the Dutch victory their members had not gone their carve up means just connected to meet; and each of these companies wanted a grouping portrait to show their members gathered together. Usually these canvases were of greater width than height, and showed the officers of the visitor grouped effectually a table or some other object that would serve as a pretext for a gathering of and then many men. The lighting was depicted every bit natural, without any dramatic contrast, giving the same accent to each of the subjects.

Rembrandt's portrait - highly controversial at the time - is actually entitled The Visitor of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch but is more commonly known as The Night Lookout man (1642), because of the nighttime groundwork from which its figures emerge, partially or wholly illuminated by patches of calorie-free. But it is not a nighttime scene: the darkness is a technique of caravaggism known every bit tenebrism, involving the dissimilarity of dark shadow with areas of strong light - a technique which had not been seen before in group portraiture. Contrary to convention, the militia officers do not all accept the aforementioned importance just are presented in strictly hierarchical order. The helm of the company and his lieutenant are seen in potent light in the centre with the others around them, merely their heads emerging from the shadow. Such an approach signified the beginning of an interest in the employ of light to observe a unmarried effigy, or sometimes but a face. To encounter how conventional Dutch painters approached this type of grouping portraiture, see Company of Captain Reinier Reael (Meagre Company) (1637) past Frans Hals.

Caravaggesque methods are likewise evident in Rembrandt's single portraits, in which the shadows can exist even darker and invade almost the entire sail. The light falls from one side of the subject field, illuminates the face, dramatizes every contraction. Sometimes it also strikes a secondary subject area - a book, a table, or other object. The remainder is an area of darkness whose purpose is to throw into relief those parts that are minutely scrutinized. Good examples include: The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis (1661) Nationalmuseum, Stockholm); Bathsheba Property King David's Letter (1654, Louvre), and the poignant Suicide of Lucretia (1666, Minneapolis Found of Arts), forth with many of Rembrandt'south cocky portraits.

Dutch Baroque Genre Painting

To cater for the ascension demand among the bourgeoisie for easel art, notably genre painting, a number of creative movements sprang upward in towns like Haarlem, Delft, Leiden, Utrecht, Dordrecht and Amsterdam. Thus was born the Dutch Realist fashion of genre painting which is nonetheless seen every bit the apogee of the idiom. The Haarlem school was represented by Adriaen van Ostade (1610-85) (lowlife peasant scenes), and the Catholic Jan Steen (1626-79) (moralising tavern scenes); while Pieter de Hooch (1629-83) and the unequalled January Vermeer (1632-75), represented the Delft school. Utrecht had Hendrik Terbrugghen (1588-1629), and Gerrit van Honthorst (1590-1656), both strongly influenced by Caravaggio, while the Leiden school'south most famous member was Rembrandt'due south start pupil Gerrit Dou (1613-75), known for his small, colourful, polished works. The Dordrecht schoolhouse was represented past the "interiors" painter Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627-78) and Nicolaes Maes (1634-93), noted for his kitch genre-paintings and chiaroscuro event; while the Amsterdam schoolhouse consisted of Rembrandt, his pupils Govaert Flinck (1615-60), Ferdinand Bol (1616-lxxx), and the talented Carel Fabritius (1622-54) who perished in a gunpowder explosion, equally well as Gerard Terborch (1617-81), and Gabriel Metsu (1629-67), noted for his intimate modest-scale genre works.

Special mention should exist made of Jan Vermeer of Delft, who in his merely self-portrait, if information technology is really anything of the kind, symbolically turns his back on the observer, every bit if to remain completely concealed within his globe. Only from his portraits of elegant women do nosotros realize how little is known of him - the poverty-stricken male parent of 11 children - who hardly ever left his native urban center, where he ate his heart out in longing for the aloof life; who languished in obscurity for centuries before beingness acclaimed as one of the all fourth dimension greats of 17th century Dutch painting, on a par with the majestic Rembrandt.

Dutch Baroque Still Life Painting

It was in the Baroque menses as well that a type of pic was adult that was to remain successful upwards to our own time - the 'withal life painting', a moving-picture show offering an system of flowers, of more or less inanimate objects of 1 kind or another, generally painted in the studio, that is to say indoors. Of course paintings of this kind had certainly been made earlier, but now they constituted a true genre, with practitioners in every country and in every school of painting. Over again the innovator who had founded this kind of painting was Caravaggio, who indeed began his artistic career in this type of piece of work. Not unnaturally, all the same, the genre reached its highest development in holland, where there was already a precursor, if not a tradition, of realistic, domestic, straightforward painting carefully circumspect to the detail of everyday life, which had been produced there from equally early as the fifteenth century.

Annotation: Dutch painters developed a particular genre of still life art - known as vanitas painting - which contained moralistic (Biblical) letters.

The tradition of still life fine art was developed past a number of exceptional painters who included: Willem Claesz Heda (1594-1680) and Pieter Claesz (1597-1660) both members of the Haarlem schoolhouse; Jan Davidsz de Heem (1606-84) of the Utrecht school; Willem Kalf (1619-93) the Amsterdam painter of pronkstilleven paintings; and Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750) the Amsterdam bloom painter, arguably the greatest still life artist of the Late Baroque.

Dutch Baroque Landscape Painting

Coinciding with the classical Arcadian landscapes of Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin, working in Rome, the Dutch school began to produce great examples of Baroque mural painting, of which the finest works were created past Jacob van Ruisdael (c.1628-82) and his pupil Meindert Hobbema (1638-1703); other top artists included Philips de Koninck (1619-88) who specialized in big-size panoramic views; and Aelbert Cuyp (1620-91) noted for his soft light and impastoed highlights. Other Baroque landscape painters included: Hendrik Avercamp (1585-1634) who excelled at wintertime scenes; Cornelis van Poelenberg (1586-1667) who painted Italianate scenes; the naturalist pioneer Esaias van de Velde (1591-1630) and his pupil Jan van Goyen (1596-1656) who produced repetitive views of the Nijmegen River, Dordrecht, sand dunes, and ships; and Salomon van Ruysdael (1600-70) famous for his typical Dutch views and riverscapes.

Dutch Bizarre realist painters who specialised in other genres included the Haarlem-based architectural painter Pieter Saenredam (1597-1665), the peerless creature painter Paulus Potter (1625-54), and marine artist Willem van de Velde (1633-1707) from Leiden.

Works reflecting the Dutch Baroque style of painting can be seen in most of the best art museums in the world, notably the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam and the Mauritshuis Purple Picture Gallery in The Hague.

Greatest Dutch Baroque Painters

Here is a selected list of the best Dutch Realist artists, together with some of the greatest genre paintings of the century.

Frans Hals (1582-1666)
One of the greatest Dutch portraitists.
The Laughing Cavalier (1625) oil on canvas, Wallace Collection, London.
Hendrik Terbrugghen (1588-1629)
Dutch genre-painter, Utrecht school.
Flute Players (1621) Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Kassel.
Gerrit van Honthorst (1592-1656)
Nearly famous fellow member of the Utrecht School.
Adoration of the Shepherds (1622) Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne.
Pieter Jansz Saenredam (1597-1665)
Architectural artist famous for his austere whitewashed church interiors.
Interior of the Buurkerk, Utrecht (1644) NG London; KAM Fort Worth, Texas.
Salomon van Ruysdael (1602-70)
Painter of landscapes and riverscapes.
River Landscape near Arnhem (1651) Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.
Adriaen Brouwer (1605-38)
Genre-painter famous for his tavern genre-pictures.
The Bitter Draught (1635) Stadel Fine art Museum, Frankfurt.
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669)
Earth'south greatest e'er portrait creative person; outstanding history painter.
The Anatomy Lesson of Doc Nicolaes Tulp (1632) Mauritshuis.
The Nightwatch (1642) oil on canvas, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Aristotle Contemplating the Bosom of Homer (1653) The Met, New York
Bathsheba Holding King David's Letter of the alphabet (1654) oil on canvas, Louvre, Paris.
Portrait of January 6 (1654) oil on sail, Six Collection, Amsterdam.
The Conspiracy of Julius Civilis (1661-2) National Museum, Stockholm.
Syndics of the Material-Makers Guild (De Staalmeesters) (1662) Rijksmuseum.
The Suicide of Lucretia (1666) oil on canvas, Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
The Jewish Bride (c.1665-8) Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Return of the Dissipated Son (1666-69) Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.
Jan Davidsz de Heem (1606-83)
Nonetheless life artist, Utrecht/Antwerp School.
A Tabular array of Desserts (1640) oil on sail, Louvre, Paris.
Still Life of Fruit (1670) oil on canvass, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
Adriaen van Ostade (1610-85)
Painter of peasant scenes, Haarlem school.
Rustic Concert (1638) oil on canvass, Prado, Madrid.
Interior with Peasants (1663) oil on canvas, Wallace Collection, London.
David Teniers the Younger (1610-xc)
Noted for small-scale guardroom scenes and tavern scenes.
Gambling Scene at an Inn (1649) Wallace Collection, London.
Harmen van Steenwyck (1612-56)
Leading exponent of vanitas painting (withal lifes with Biblical letters).
An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life (1640) National Gallery, London.
Emanuel de Witte (1615-1692)
Alkmaar architectural painter noted for church building interiors with homo involvement.
Interior of the Oude Kerk Amsterdam (1669) Private Drove.
Gerard Terborch (1617-81)
Haarlem schoolhouse genre painter.
Parental Admonition (1654-55) Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.
Woman Writing a Letter (1655) Mauritshuis, The Hague.
Willem Kalf (1619-93)
Still life artist, noted for pronkstilleven and vanitas paintings.
Still Life with Lobster, Drinking Horn & Glasses (1653) National Gallery, London.
Still Life with Chinese Porcelain Jar (1662) Gemaldegalerie, SMPK, Berlin.
Aelbert Cuyp (1620-91)
Mural artist, Dordrecht school.
Dordrecht from the North (1650) oil on canvas, Rothschild Collection.
River Landscape with Horseman & Peasants (1658) National Gallery, London.
Carel Fabritius (1622-54)
Rembrandt'due south best pupil. Active in Amsterdam and Delft.
View of Delft (1652) oil on canvas, National Gallery, London.
Paulus Potter (1625-54)
Leading animalier of the Dutch School.
The Bull (1647) oil on canvas, Mauritshuis, The Hague.
Jan Steen (1626-79)
Genre-painter, Leiden school.
The Christening Feast (1664) oil on canvass, Wallace Collection, London.
Samuel Van Hoogstraten (1627-78)
Genre painter, noted for interiors with deep linear perspective.
The Slippers (1654-lx) oil on sail, Louvre, Paris.
View down the Corridor (1662) oil on panel, Dyrham Park, United kingdom.
Jacob Van Ruisdael (1628-82)
Landscape painter, Haarlem school.
The Mill at Wijk Near Duurstede (1670) oil on canvas, Rijksmuseum.
Jewish Cemetery at Ouderkerk (1670) oil on sheet, Alte Meister, Dresden.
Gabriel Metsu (1629-67)
Intimate modest genre scenes.
The Prodigal Son (1640s) oil on canvas, Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.
The Music Lesson (1658) oil on canvas, National Gallery, London.
Pieter de Hooch (1629-83)
Genre painter, Delft school.
Courtyard of a House in Delft (1658) oil on canvass, National Gallery, London.
The Linen Cupboard (1663) Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Interior of Burgomaster'southward Council Chamber (1661-seventy) Thyssen-Bornemisza.
January Vermeer (1632-1675)
Leader of Delft school of genre-painting.
Soldier and a Laughing Girl (c.1658) oil on canvas, Frick Collection, New York.
The Milkmaid (c.1658-1660) oil on canvas, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
The Little Street (Street in Delft) (c.1657-1658) Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Adult female with a Water Jug (c.1664-1665) Metropolitan Museum of Fine art, NY.
Woman Holding a Residuum (1662-3) National Gallery of Fine art, Washington DC.
Woman with a Pearl Necklace (c.1662) SMPK, Gemaldegalerie, Berlin.
The Music Lesson (Lady/Admirer at the Virginals) (c.1665) Purple Collection.
The Concert (c.1665-1666) Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA.
Girl with a Pearl Earring (Caput of a Girl with a Turban) (c.1665) Mauritshuis.
The Art of Painting: An Allegory (c.1666-1673) Kunsthistorisches Museum.
The Lacemaker (c.1669-1670) oil on sail, Louvre, Paris.
Girl with a Red Lid (c.1666-1667) National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.
Nicolas Maes (1634-93)
Dordrecht School creative person, noted for genre paintings of kitchen life, portraits.
The Eavesdropper (1657) oil on canvass, Dordrecht Museum, Dordrecht.
Meindert Hobbema (1638-1709)
Last major Dutch mural painter of the 17th century.
A Watermill (1665-8) oil on canvas, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

For details of European collections containing works illustrating Dutch Realist genre painting or all the same lifes, see: Fine art Museums in Europe.

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