AP EUROPEAN HISTORY GUIDE TO:

NORTHERN BAROQUE

SPLENDOR: The HOHENBUCHAU COLLECTION

from LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections, Vienna

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GGener

Introduction In this guide we will explore how the Dutch and Flemish Old Masters paintings currently on view at the

Bruce Museum in Northen Baroque Splendor: The HOHENBUCHAU COLLECTION from LIEHTENSTEIN. The

Princely Collections Vienna reflect larger historical developments in seventeenth-century Europe. The

guide offers examples for how paintings could be used to explore key points from the Concept Outlines

of Period 1 (1450-1648) and Period 2 (1648-1815), such as the Reformation and Counter-Reformation,

the challenges to absolutism, the rise of the middle class and development of a money economy, and

international trade and empire.

Studying art can enrich and enliven the AP European History curriculum while developing students’

abilities to draw historical conclusions from material evidence. As the AP Exam often requires students

to analyze works of art, it is important that students learn how art can reflect the political, social and

economic aspects of specific eras.

Map of seventeenth-century Europe with a circle drawn around the Dutch Republic and

Flanders, otherwise known as the “Low Countries”, or Northern and Southern Netherlands.

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At the beginning of the sixteenth century, opposition to the Catholic Church was simmering in Europe. When Martin Luther wrote his 95-Theses, a document attacking corruption in the Catholic Church, he sparked the Protestant Reformation.

In 1545, leaders of the Catholic Church began what we now call the “Counter-Reformation” when they assembled in the Northern Italian city of Trent to address the Protestant challenge. In a time when few could read, much less comprehend Latin, the church recognized that religious art would be an important tool for winning the hearts and minds of Christian Europe. The Church concluded that religious art needed to be dramatic, emotional, and above all, accessible.

Depicting a religious subject with touching human warmth, Abraham Bloemart’s Rest on the Flight to Egypt embodies this quest for emotional immediacy. Cornelis van Haarlem’s painting demonstrates how Mary Magdalene became extremely popular as a subject during the Counter Reformation as the Catholic Church sought to increase devotion to the sacraments, especially that of penance.

Concept Outline:

1.3.I. The Protestant and Catholic Reformations fundamentally changed theology, religious institutions, and culture. (OS-2) (OS-11)

Reforming the Church

1,1,

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Left: Abraham Bloemart (Dutch, 1566-1651), The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, 1592, Oil on panel, 68.5 x 54.5

cm, HOHENBUCHAU COLLECTION, on Permanent Loan to LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections, Vienna.

Right: Cornelis van Haarlem (Dutch, 1562-1638), The Penitent Mary Magdalene, 1613, Oil on canvas, 97 x 79.5

cm, HOHENBUCHAU COLLECTION, on Permanent Loan to LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections, Vienna.

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The development of genre painting, or scenes of everyday life, is one of the great innovations of Northern

Baroque art. In this new Calvinist nation, with its plain, whitewashed churches, artists relied less on Church

commissions and instead sold their work to a new, prosperous merchant-class. No longer produced

exclusively for churches and palaces, saleable paintings became smaller and their subjects more popularly

accessible.

Gerard Dou’s tiny, jewel-like paintings were collected by wealthy aristocrats across Europe, including

Charles II of England. That these small paintings of everyday scenes (such as a couple drawing wine in a

cellar) should command such prestige speaks to the growing influence of bourgeois culture.

Concept Outline:

1.1.III. B. A human-centered naturalism that considered individuals and everyday life appropriate objects

of representation was encouraged through the patronage of both princes and commercial elites . (OS-5)

(SP-1)

2.3.V. The arts moved from the celebration of religious themes and royal power to an emphasis on

private life and the public good. (PP-1) (OS-10) (SP-1)

2.3.V.B. Artistic movements and literature also reflected the outlook and values of commercial and

bourgeouis society as well as new Enlightenment ideals of political power and citizenship.

Naturalism and Private Life

Gerard Dou (Dutch, 1613-1675), The Wine Cellar (An Allegory of Winter), approximately 1660, Oil on panel,

30.5 x 24.5 cm, HOHENBUCHAU COLLECTION, on Permanent Loan to LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections,

Vienna.

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Seascapes, a genre developed in the seventeenth-century, offer insights into the importance of seafaring in seventeenth-century Holland, where ten percent of the male population might be at sea at any given time. In this painting, a commercial sailing vessel known as a wijdschip makes its way past a battered jetty. In the distance is a fluyt , or cargo vessel, viewed broadside with sails lowered against the wind and numerous figures silhouetted on its deck. Beyond, and under full sail in open water, several vessels keel over against the wind.

Dutch ports were important maritime centers throughout the sixteenth century, but it was only after Holland gained independence from the Spanish Empire in 1581 that it became an imperial power in its own right. Though Holland was a tiny nation, it nonetheless dominated the seas, gaining tremendous wealth from both trade and fishing. New windmill-powered saws, oil presses and milling machines greatly increased production in shipyards, where Dutch carpenters produced the famous fluyt, the most efficient bulk cargo vessel travelling the seas. The Dutch merchant fleet of the 1670s probably numerically exceeded the combined fleets of England, France, Spain, Portugal and Germany.

The Dutch East India Company, and its lesser known counterpart, the Dutch West India Company, were the largest private economic enterprises hitherto created. Trading spices, grain, sugar, furs, textiles, and fish, the Dutch founded colonies all around the world, from Indonesia to the Hudson valley.

Concept Outline:

1.4.I. European nations were driven by commercial and religious motives to explore overseas territories and establish colonies. (INT-1) (INT-2)(INT-6)(INT-11)(SP-5)(1S-10)

1.4.I.A. Europeans sought direct access to gold and spices and luxury goods as a means to enhance personal wealth and state power.

1.5.I. Economic change produced new social patterns, while traditions of hierarchy and status persisted. (INT-11)( PP-6)(IS-1)(IS-2)(IS-7)

1.5.I. A. Innovations in banking and finance promoted the growth of urban financial centers and of a money economy

Trade and Exploration

Pieter van der Croos (1609/20-1701), An Estuary with Dutch Vessels in a Stiff Breeze off a Jetty, around 1650, Oil on panel,

55 x 44 cm, HOHENBUCHAU COLLECTION, on Permanent Loan to LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections, Vienna.

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This painting demonstrates the prosperity and cosmopolitanism of the Netherlands during the seventeenth century. The central blue and white bowl filled with peaches and grapes is an example of Wan-li porcelain, which was one of the first Chinese exports to arrive in Europe in mass quantities. The table is draped with a fashionable Turkish or Persian Rug, and to the right of the Wanli bowl is a gilt Nautilus cup, an example of the ornamental vessels made from shells imported from the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Concept Outline:

1.4. IV. Europe’s colonial expansion led to a global exchange of good, flora, fauna, cultural practices and diseases, resulting in the destruction of some indigenous civilizations, a shift toward European dominance, and the expansion of the slave trade. (INT-5) (INT-6)(INT-7)(INT-9)(INT-11)(PP-1)(IS-7)

2.2. The expansion of European commerce accelerated the growth of a worldwide economic network.

2.2.II. The European-dominated worldwide economic network contributed to the agricultural, industrial, and consumer revolutions in Europe. (INT-7)(INT-3)(INT-5)(INT-6)(INT-7)(INT-9)(INT-11)(PP-1)(PP-2)(SP-5)(IS-7)

2.2.II. C. Overseas products and influences contributed to the development of a consumer culture in Europe. Examples of products: Sugar, Tea, Silk and other fabrics, Tobacco, Rum, Coffee.

2.3.V. The arts moved from the celebration of religious themes and royal power to an emphasis on private life and the public good. (PP-1)(OS-10)(SP-1)

2.3.V.B. Artistic movements and literature also reflected the outlook and values of commercial and bourgeois society as well as new Enlightenment ideals of political power and citizenship.

Consumerism and Cosmopolitanism

Abraham van Beyeren (1620/21-1690), Banquet Still Life, mid 1660s, Oil on canvas, 118.2 x 167.6 cm,

HOHENBUCHAU COLLECTION, on Permanent Loan to LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections, Vienna.

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This humble still life of pipes and tobacco demonstrates how New World products like tobacco became a

part of everyday Dutch life. In the seventeenth century, the Dutch had an ambivalent and changing

attitude towards tobacco and the relatively new practice of smoking. Some enthusiasts assigned it

medicinal properties and composed songs and poems in praise of its powers. Public watchdogs, however,

condemned it as a harmful and potentially deadly intoxicant. By the second half of the century, tobacco

was a common sight at taverns and fashionable tea and coffeehouses.

Concept Outline:

2.2.II. C. Overseas products and influences contributed to the development of a consumer culture in

Europe. Examples of products: Sugar, Tea, Silk and other fabrics, Tobacco. (INT-1)(INT-3)(INT-5)(INT-

6)(INT-7)(INT-9)(INT-11)(PP-1)(PP-2)(SP-5)(IS-7)

Foreign Goods and Everyday Life

Dutch School, A Still Life with Stoneware Jug and Smoking Requisites on a Barrel, Oil on canvas, 54.5 x

60.5 cm, HOHENBUCHAU COLLECTION, on Permanent Loan to LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections, Vienna.

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The Slave Trade

This woman is an allegorical representation of Africa and part of a larger series in which Boeckhorst personified the continents as beautiful women. Though it is impossible to know Boeckhorst’s views on race and slavery, the chain on the lower right may allude to the slave trade. At the same time, the pearl-encrusted turban is drawn directly a portrait of a white noblewoman by the Italian Renaissance artist Titian. In converting Titian’s white aristocrat into a lovely black figure, who, despite all her bejeweled splendor, conveys a shy vulnerability, Boeckhorst has created a remarkably original, dignified, and sympathetic conception of a black woman.

The transatlantic slave trade was established as early as the late-sixteenth century. In this triangular trading model, ships set sail for Africa with cargoes of manufactured goods, which were traded for slaves. Slaves were then transported across the Atlantic to the New World in a journey known as the “Middle Passage.” The slaves who survived the horrors of the Middle Passage were traded for goods such as tobacco and sugar, which were imported back to Europe.

Concept Outline:

1.4. IV. Europe’s colonial expansion led to a global exchange of good, flora, fauna, cultural practices and diseases, resulting in the destruction of some indigenous civilizations, a shift toward European dominance, and the expansion of the slave trade. (INT-5)(INT-6)(INT-7)(INT-9)(PP-1)(IS-7)

2.2.II. The European-dominated worldwide economic network contributed to the agricultural, industrial, and consumer revolutions in Europe. (INT-1)(INT-3)(INT-5)(INT-6)(INT-7)(INT-9)(INT-11)(PP-1)(PP-2)(SP-5)(IS-7)

2.2.II.B. Slave trade expands.

Jan Boeckhorst (1604-1668), Allegory of Africa (from a Series of the Four Parts of the World), Around 1650,

Oil on canvas, 134 x 115.6 cm, HOHENBUCHAU COLLECTION, on Permanent Loan to LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely

Collections, Vienna.

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Tulipomania and Finance

Jacob Marrell (1613/14-1681),Flowers in a Vase, with a Kingfisher and a Lizard, 1634, Oil on

panel, 73 x 56.5 cm, HOHENBUCHAU COLLECTION, on Permanent Loan to LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely

Collections, Vienna.

The striped tulips in this still life were rare and exceptionally expensive during the seventeenth century. This painting was executed only two years before the famous “tulipomania” of 1636-37, when prices in bulb market reached dizzying heights. Allegedly, a single bulb could sometimes sell for the price of an Amsterdam townhouse. Striped tulips were the most highly valued bulbs, but unfortunately these stripes were the result of an unpredictable virus spread by aphids. From a batch of one hundred plain colored tulip bulbs, only one or two might emerge with stripes the following spring. The bulb market was risky, and the crash ruined many. It is important to remember, however, that Tulipomania is a product of a larger societal transformation from a pre-industrial economy based on guild production, cottage industry and subsistence agriculture to a modern economy driven by market operations.

Concept Outline:

1.5.1. A. Innovations in banking and finance promoted the growth of urban financial centers and of a money economy (INT-11)(PP-6)(IS-1)(IS-2)(IS-7)