Baroque - Dutch Flashcards
Dutch Baroque painting - background and characteristic
- seven northern provinces got independence and founded the Dutch Republic in 1648
- Protestant culture - relatively little religious art
- affluent economy built on banking and seatrade with Africa, Asia and Pacific
- birth of an open art market - private commissions from prosperous middle class favored portraits, genre scenes, landscape and still life
- retained elements of flemish paintings but also surpassed it -> dutch golden age
- centers - Utrecht, Haarlem, Amsterdam, Delft
Utrecht Caravaggism
- adopted Caravaggio’s realism and tenebrism
- people from daily life used in religious and genre scenes
- dramatic lighting, strong chiaroscuro in composition
Hendrick Ter Brugghen
- Dutch Baroque painters - The Utrecht School
Hendrick Ter Brugghen - Calling of St. Matthew
- caravaggesque theme reinerpreted
Gerrit van Honothorst - Supper Party
- Specialized in night scenes of light-hearted gatherings
— mundane tavern setting, nocturnal light - candles as light sources - might have moral lesson
- Gerrit (Gerard) van Honthorst
1.both came across Caravaggio’s works at first hand when staying in Italy
2. Dutch
- Gerrit (Gerard) van Honthorst
1.both came across Caravaggio’s works at first hand when staying in Italy
2. Dutch
- Gerrit (Gerard) van Honthorst
1.both came across Caravaggio’s works at first hand when staying in Italy
2. Dutch Baroque painters - The Utrecht School
Frans Hals
- mainly active in Haarlem
- worked on all kinds of portraiture and merged group portraits with history painting
Rembrandt van Rijn
- excelled in portraiture, dealt also with biblical and literary subjects
- tried to reform portraiture but was not accepted
Frans Hals - Archers of Saint Hadrian
- tried to represent each individual in group portrait; retained action and variety in dynamic composition
— one of the civic militia groups - fought for the independence of the country
Frans Hals - The Laughing Cavalier
- influenced by Antwerp school - rosy flesh colour
- meticulous details of costume
Frans Hals - Malle Babbe
- portrait of a drunkard with devilish vivacity
- proverb: drunk as an owl
- in free-flowing and broad brushstrokes
Rembrandt van Rijn - Anatomy lesson of Dr. Tulp
- dynamic group portrait done in meticulous style of his early years
Rembrandt van Rijn - night watch
- Amsterdam civic militia is about to depart for a festive parade for the visit of Maria de’ Medici
- layering of light and shadow in composition
- trimmed on four sides in 18th century
- captain frans banning cocq is inviting Lieutenant willem van Rutyemburg to line up the company for the parade
Rembrandt van Rijn - return of the Prodigal Son
- Spiritual stillness evokes inward-turning contemplation
- profound sympathy for human affliction towards the end of the painter’s life
- used a more subdued palette in his old age
- thick paint, impressionistic brushstrokes
Rembrandt van Rijn
- produced nearly 80 self- portraits
- experimented with drama of lighting in his early work
Rembrandt van Rijn - Self-portrait at age 34
- painted during prime time of his career
- presents himself as Renaissance gentleman - compared himself with Durer, Titan and Raphael
Rembrandt van Rijn - self-portrait with two circles
1.lifelong pursuit - reviews human soul through expressive face
2. “rembrandt lighting”
3. confident and self-assurance of a painter despite his broken financial situation
Jan Vermeer
- dutch interior painting
- based in delft, innkeeper and art dealer
- created only 36 paintings - small scale, slow execution
- typical exquisite, domestic interior scenes of ordinary life with allegorical meanings
- friend of Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, inventor of microscope
Jan Steen
- dutch interior painting
- active in Leiden and Haarlem
- lively indoor scenes with satirical meanings
Jan Vermeer - Girl with a Pearl earring
- Vermeer’s work are often compared to photographs
Jan Vermeer - the Milkmaid
1.mature work: restricted palette, colour in logical sequence
2. complete silence and stillness gives the figure a sense of dignity
3. balanced geometric composition lends the figure monumentality
Jan Vermeer- Young woman with a water Jug
- typical flemish domestic interior with a window
- complex composition in contrasts of figures and of horizontals and verticals
- map of holland -> pride for new country
Jan vermeer - The love letter
1.dark foreground, looking into a room with a hidden light sources
2. use of mirrors, camera obscura and other optical aids
Jan Steen - Feast of Saint Nicholas
- Saint Nicholas just brought christmas presents to the family
2.chaotic household - alludes to selfishness, pettiness and jealousy
Jacob van Ruisdael
- dutch landscapes and seascapes
- active in Haarlem, then Amsterdam
- specialized in landscapes, though also produced seascapes and town scenes
- typical composition with low horizon
Jacob van Ruisdael - view of haarlem with bleaching grounds
- low horizon - sky fills 2/3 of the painting -> “sky-scape”
- landscape imbued with a quite serenity and spirituality
3.saint bavo church and windmills stand in background
Jacob van Ruisdael - vessels in a fresh breeze
- captured the ever-changing character of nature with realistic skies and subtle light
pieter claesz
- dutch still life painting
- active in haarlem
- life-long pursuit - accuracy of reflected light
willem kalf
- dutch still life painting
- active in rotterdam and amsterdam
- renowned for “ostentatious style” for still life - included lavish luxury in the paintings
PieterClaesz - Vanitas still life with violin and glass ball
- memento mori refer to worldly accomplishments
- all is vanity - fleeting existence of human beings
- self portrait of painter reflected in the glass ball
willem kalf - still life with a late ming ginger jar
- material affluence in Holland - prosperous maritime trade brings opulent objects - indian carpet and chinese jar - to the country
- combined in a vanitas painting - includes a watch, a peach and a peeled lemon
