The Netherlands

Map of Mid-seventeenth century Europe with emphasis on the Netherlands

The Netherlands

• Seventeenth century Netherlands split in two– Northern Netherlands (known today as the Netherlands)

• Often defined by dominant province (Holland)

• Gains independence from Spain, Reformed Church dominates BUT there is religious tolerance (Protestants, Catholics, and Jews)

• Private patrons promote competition amongst artists for work and specialization in new genres

– Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium and a small part of France)• Often defined by dominant province (Flanders)

• Remains Catholic under Spanish rule

• Artists rely on Church and Spanish regents for commissions

• Although there are differences, interaction between two areas does continue promoting social and cultural exchange

Flemish Baroque

• During the battle between the Catholic Church and Protestant reformers, Flanders (present-day Belgium) remained Catholic

• True of 1609 led to need for churches to be rebuilt and redecorated

• Art dominated by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)– Had large workshop

– Most early 17th century Flemish artists apprentice in his workshop

Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)

Example: • Rubens, influenced by

Caravaggio, became well-known for his Counter-Reformation art and was amongst the most sought after artists of his time

• Style combines sculptural quality of Michelangelo’s figures with painterliness and colors of the Venetian artists Peter Paul Rubens, The Rape of the Daughters of

Leucippus, 1617. Oil on canvas, 7’3”x 6’10”. AltePinkothek, Munich.

Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)

Example:

• Rubens worked in multiple media including sculpture, architecture, paint, costume, and books

• Subjects primarily religious or political

– Premiere portrait artist

• Wedding portrait

– Cut down from original Peter Paul Rubens, Marchesa Brigida Spinola

Doria, 1606. Oil on canvas, 5’ x 3’ 2 7/8.” National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Fig. 19.1.

Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)Example:• Helps to internationalize

Baroque style• Well traveled and

knowledgeable artist with diplomatic ties

• Works epitomize Baroque drama, action

• Known for movement, color, and sensuality

• Trained with Tobias Verhaeght(1561-1631), Antwerp

• Becomes a Master (1598) and finds personal style after trip to Italy

Peter Paul Rubens, The Raising of the Cross, 1610-1611. Center panel of triptych, 15’1” x 11’ 9 5/8.”

Antwerp Cathedral, Belguim. Fig. 19.2.

Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)

Peter Paul Rubens, The Raising of the Cross, 1610-1611. Center panel of triptych, 15’1” x 11’ 9 5/8.” (Originally 35’ high.) Antwerp Cathedral, Belguim.

Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)Example:• Commission Church of Saint

Walburga (no longer extant)• Shows Italian knowledge and

influence with ability to combine with Netherlandishtraditions (realism)– Detail of leaves– Soldier’s armor– Hair on dog

• Dynamic design– Destabilization of Renaissance

triangle helps invite viewer, allows us to participate

Peter Paul Rubens, The Raising of the Cross, 1610-1611. Center panel of

triptych, 15’1” x 11’ 9 5/8.” Antwerp Cathedral, Belguim. Fig. 19.2.

Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)

Example:

• Influences

– Lighting suggests Caravaggio

– Rubenesque figures reminiscent of Hellenistic sculpture and Michelangelo from study of each

– Color and glow show Titian

Peter Paul Rubens, The Raising of the Cross, 1610-1611. Center panel of triptych, 15’1” x 11’ 9 5/8.”

Antwerp Cathedral, Belguim. Fig. 19.2.

Peter Paul Rubens, The Raising of the Cross, 1610-1611. Center panel of triptych, 15’1” x 11’ 9 5/8.”

Antwerp Cathedral, Belguim. Fig. 19.2.

Titian, Madonna with Members of the Pesaro Family, 1526. Oil on canvas, 16’ x 8’10.” Santa

Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. Venice. Fig. 15.14.

Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)

Example:

• From Marie de’MediciCycle

– 21 paintings, 13’ high

• Venerates French Queen

• Combines historical event with allegory

– fame

– France

Peter Paul Rubens, Marie de’ Medici, Queen of France, Landing in Marseilles (3 Novemebr 1600), 1622-1625.

Oil on canvas, 12’ 11 ½”x 9’7.” Musée du Louvre, Paris. Fig. 19.3.

Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641)

Example:

• Rubens most valued assistant

• Develops mature style after Italy trip

• Excels as portrait artist– Rubens and Titian

reference points

• Untraditional royal portrait– Trees and animals bow to

himAnthony van Dyck, Portrait of Charles I

Hunting, c. 1635. Oil on canvas, 8’11” x 6’ 11 ½.” Musée du Louvre, Paris. Fig. 19.4

Dutch Baroque

• Northern Europe, now called Dutch Republic (present-day Holland) accepted the Protestant Reformation and became safe haven for many of the Catholic Church’s most ardent critics

• This dictates the subject matter of their work; there is not an overabundance of religious paintings produced by Dutch Baroque painters

• Still-Life, genre scenes, portraits, and landscapes dominate their canvases

• Amsterdam, Haarlem, Utrecht, Leiden, and Delft all centers of artistic activity

• Society of merchants, farmers, and seafarers promotes economic prosperity

• Trade with East Asia (China, Japan, and Indonesia) and the Americas results in cultural exchange

Types of Painting (popular in the Dutch Republic)

Landscapes

• scenes in which the subject matter was dominated by the surrounding natural world

• Marine painting emerged as a 'type' of still-life

• Church painting - scenes of interior sacred spaces

Still-lives (specialization was necessary due to increasing demand for these!)

• flower painting

• vanitas (also referred to as memento mori)

• fowl and other game animals

• breakfast pieces

Portraits of notable individuals

• merchants

• commemorative portraits (marriages, of general documentary nature, prestige, etc.)

• group portraits (cloth merchant's guild, physician's guild, militia companies, etc.)

Genre scenes (scenes of everyday life)

• many of these paintings were executed on a rather small scale.

• major patron behind the artists was no longer the church, a very interesting phenomenon emerged - the increasing importance of the middle class patron and art collector.

Frans Hals (c. 1585-1666)Example:• Haarlem artist, born

Antwerp• Masters art market• Double portrait, wedding?• Combination of genre with

formal portraiture• Wealthy couple

– He is a diplomat, cartographer, and fur trader

• Off-centeredness contributes to spontaneity

• Gestures and posture of each paints a portrait of a couple in love

•

Frans Hals, Married Couple in a Garden Portrait of Isaac Massa and Beatrix van der Laen, c. 1622. Oil on

canvas, 55” x 65 ½.” Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Fig. 19.7.

Frans Hals (c. 1585-1666)

Example:• Represents mature style• Possible allegory of Taste

– 5 sense popular theme 17th

century

• Ruben’s vigor with Caravaggio’s “dramatic moment”

• Gesture, posture convey spontaneity

• Painting style-quick brushstrokes adds to naturalness and impulsiveness of moment

• “Golden Age” of Dutch BaroqueFrans Hals, The Jolly Topper, c. 1628-1630. Oil

on canvas, 31 7/8” x 26 ¼.” Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Fig. 19.8.

Judith Leyster (1609-1660)

Example:

• Hals most noteworthy follower

• Works once misattributed to Hals

• Subjects-candlelight scenes, relationships between men and women, portraits, still lifes, and genre Judith Leyster, Self-Portrait, c. 1633. Oil on

canvas, 29 3/8” x 25 3/8.” National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Fig. 19.9.

Judith Leyster (1609-1660)

Example:

• Self-portrait shows skill as portraitist and genre painter

• Possible master work for entry to St. Luke’s Guild, c. 1633

• Double painting of sorts

• Advertises profession and skill while maintaining femininity Judith Leyster, Self-Portrait, c. 1633. Oil on

canvas, 29 3/8” x 25 3/8.” National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Fig. 19.9.

Constructing Female Identity in the Baroque

Artemisia Gentileschi, Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting (La Pittura), 1638/9. Oil

on canvas, 38” x 29.” Royal Collection, Kensington Palace, London

Judith Leyster, Self-Portrait, c. 1633. Oil on canvas, 29 3/8” x 25 3/8.” National Gallery of

Art, Washington, D.C. Fig. 19.9.

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669)

Example:• Influenced by

Caravaggio through Utrecht School

• Equally talented in painting, drawing, and printmaking

• Rivals Rubens• Known for intimacy

and expressiveness• Master of group

portraits• Successful workshop

Rembrandt van Rijn, The Night Watch (The Company of Captain Fans Banning Cocq), 1642. Oil on canvas, 12’2” x

14/7.” Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Fig. 19.11.

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669)

Example:• Ability as painter makes him

wealthy man• Court painter, The Hague• Portrait Civic Guard

Company • Dynamic design breaks with

usual style of group portraits• Misleading title The Night

Watch• Main character, Cocq, draws

in viewer• Sharp contrast of light and

dark• Painting admired during time

Rembrandt van Rijn, The Night Watch (The Company of Captain Fans Banning Cocq), 1642. Oil on canvas, 12’2” x 14/7.” Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Fig. 19.11.

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669)

Example:• Takes name from

contemporary price paid at auction

• Collapsed narrative of Matthew (19)

• Humble and emotional piece created over several years

• Models possibly Jewish peoples whom artist had sympathy and respect for

• Use of light and dark to create spiritual and dramatic moment

Rembrandt van Rijn, The Hundred Guilder Print, c. 1647. Etching and dry point, 11” x 12 3/4.” Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Fig. 19.12.

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669)Example:• Rembrandt made many

studies of his self-portrait, even painting over previously used canvases throughout his lifetime

• It shows Rembrandt in what appears to be his plain and stained painter's clothes -- but in a stance of supreme assurance

• The painting seems to assert pure genius of this man -- and not fine clothing, wealth, or high birth -- make him a member of the only aristocracy that matters

Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-Portrait, 1652. Oil on canvas, 45” x 32”. Kunsthistorisches

Museum, Vienna.

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669)Example:

• Self-portraits possibly serve as studies for paintings, study of emotional expression, ads to display talent

• Bold pose, penetrating glare, and posture suggest confidence and nobility

• Chiaroscuro used to create mood

• Paints in impasto

• Rembrandt Research Project Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-Portrait, 1658. Oil on canvas, 52 5/8” x 40 7/8”. The

Frick Collection, NY. Fig. 19.13

Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-Portrait, 1658. Oil on canvas, 52 5/8” x 40 7/8”. The Frick

Collection, NY. Fig. 19.13

Hans Holbein, Portrait of Henry VIII, 1540. Oil on panel, 32 ½” x 29.” Galleria Nazionale d’Arte

Antica, Rome. Fig. 17.11.

Jacob van Ruisdael (1628/29-82)

Example:• Open art market promotes

diversity in subject • Most paintings small in

size, familiar topics• Available to middle class families• “portrait of the land”• Panoramic views specialty• Sky dominates canvases of

Amsterdam, Haarlem, etc.• Known for “little views of

Haarlem”• All identifiable buildings• Scene is of linen being washed

and bleached by sun• Advertizes city’s commerce

Jacob van Ruisdael, Bleaching Near Haarlem, c. 1670. Oil on canvas, 21 2/3” x 24 ½.” The Hague, Netherlands.

Fig. 19.14.

Rachel Ruysch (1663/4-1750)

Example:

• Genre of floral still-life probably begins in Flanders

• She and husband (portraitist) court painters

• Excels in florals

• Father professor of anatomy and botany

• Colorful and dynamic arrangement with vanitastheme Rachel Ruysch, Flower Still Life, after 1700.

Oil on canvas, 29 ¾” x 23 7/8.” Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo. Fig. 19.16.

Example:• Vermeer typifies Dutch

interest in scenes of daily life, common man

• Presents viewer with both opulence and simplicity

• Crisp line and pure color• Single light source, genre

subject, and enigmatic moment contribute to Baroque qualities

Jan Vermeer, Woman with a Water Jug. c.1664-1665. Oil on canvas, 18” x 16”. Metropolitan

Museum of Art, New York.

Jan Vermeer (1632-1675)

Example:

• Known for genre paintings with no clear narrative featuring women – Identities of models

unclear, possibly daughters (he had @10 kids)

• Moralizing scenes

• Camera obscura used?

• Master of light– Visual and symbolic

Jan Vermeer, Woman Holding a Balance. c.1664. Oil on canvas, 16 3/4” x 15.” National Gallery of

Art, Washington, D.C. Fig. 19.18.

Jan Vermeer, detail Woman Holding a Balance. c.1664. Oil on canvas, 16 3/4” x 15.” National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Fig. 19.18.

Jan Vermeer, details Woman Holding a Balance. c.1664. Oil on canvas, 16 3/4” x 15.” National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Fig. 19.18.