ijksmuseumRSelected paintings from the Golden Age of Dutch Art -

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Gee

rtge

n T

ot S

int J

ans

– T

he T

ree

of J

esse

Bueckelaer - Life of plenty

Ketel - Civil duties of its citizen

Avercamp - Frozen landscape packed with details.

Ave

rcam

p -

Clo

se u

p vi

ew (

left

)

Ave

rcam

p -

Clo

se u

p vi

ew (

righ

t)

Dijck – A good life. Dutch popularised Still Life paintings.

Honthorst – The Merry Fiddler

Hon

thor

st –

Th

e M

erry

Fid

dler

Fra

ns

Hal

s –

The

mas

ter

of p

ortr

aits

.

Frans Hals - Civil Guards (Militia), grown men playing soldiers.

Hed

a -

Sti

ll L

ife,

rew

ard

of

succ

ess

Hans Boulenger – Tulips in a vase

Han

s B

oule

nge

r –

Tul

ips

in a

Vas

e

Helst - Civil Guards. It could be a drinking session.

Pau

lus

Pot

ter

– H

e li

ked

pain

ting

cat

tles

eve

n m

ore.

Jan Asselyn – A propaganda painting, showing the swan (Dutch), defending its nest against the dog (English).

Jan

Ver

mee

r –

Com

fort

able

hou

se f

or th

e m

iddl

e cl

ass.

Jan

Ver

mee

r –

The

per

fect

ion

of d

aily

livi

ng.

Jan

Ver

mee

r –

A lo

ve le

tter

fro

m a

dis

tan

t pla

ce ?

Jan

Ste

en –

A p

ain

ter

of h

umor

ous

scen

es o

f th

e co

mm

on p

eopl

e.

Jan

Ste

en –

Ano

ther

war

m h

eart

ed a

nim

ated

sce

ne.

Willem Velde the Younger

Wil

lem

van

de

Vel

de, (

You

nge

r) –

The

shi

p be

hind

the

wea

lth

.

Jac

ob R

uisd

ael –

May

be th

e gr

eate

st D

utch

lan

dsca

pe p

aint

er.

Jac

ob R

uisd

ael –

A c

lose

-up

look

.

Jac

ob R

uisd

ael –

Per

haps

his

bes

t kno

wn

land

scap

e. P

aint

ing.

Rembrandt – Landscape painting in a flat country.

Rembrandt – Call to duty.

Rembrandt – Close-up of the Night Watch.

Rembradt – Not a very flattering self image.

Rem

bran

dt –

An

usu

al c

olou

rful

pai

ntin

g in

his

old

age

.

Pie

ter

Hoo

ch –

The

Pan

try

Gab

riel

Met

su –

The

Sic

k C

hil

d

17th Century Dutch Society

Click to advance to next slide.

The 17th century Dutch society enjoyed unprecedented wealth. Its prosperity was based on her marine trade. Her supremacy in trading were derived from two advantages. The first was the technology to construct a faster and lighter ship for its trade. The second was her ability to pool together the wealth of her citizen to provide a large source risk capital for commerce (capitalism).

Even in our casual glance on the history of her paintings on the period shows how these wealth were permeated into the creation of the middle class. (On the next page you can see a rising popularity of small format paintings, which was an indication that the ‘common’ citizen were wealthy enough to buy paintings for their homes.)

The ‘dad’s army’, in which ordinary citizen served, to carry out their civic duty is a reflection of their politics. Dutch was governed by a republic (with no monarch). Several well known large-scale paintings of these civic guards are in the collection at the Rijksmuseum, including one by Frans Hals and one by Rembrandt.

One striking feature of these paintings is the lacking of religious subject matters. Why do you think it is the case?

Music - Theme from Dances with Wolves.

The End