DUTCH FREEDOM DUTCH MONEY DUTCH GOVERNMENT DUTCH RELIGION The Dutch succeeded in securing their independence from the Spanish in the late sixteenth century. Not until 1648, however, after years of continual border skirmishes with the Spanish were the northern Netherlands officially recognized as the United Provinces of the Netherlands ( The Dutch Republic ). DUTCH MONEY Amsterdam had the highest per capita income in Europe. That city emerged as the financial center of Europe, having founded the Bank of Amsterdam in 1609. DUTCH GOVERNMENT Due to this prosperity and the absence of an absolute ruler, political power increasingly passed into the hands of an urban patrician class of merchants and manufacturers, especially in cities such as Amsterdam, Haarlem, and Delft. That these bustling cities were all located in Holland ( the largest of the seven United Provinces ) perhaps explains why the name “Holland” is used informally to refer to the entire country. DUTCH RELIGION While Spain and the southern Netherlands were Catholic, the northern Netherlands were predominantly Protestant. The prevailing Calvinism demanded a puritanical rejection of art in churches, and thus artists produced relatively little religious art in the Dutch Republic at this time (especially when compared to areas dominated by Catholicism in the wake of the Counter- Reformation.)
Plebian Portraits Landscapes Genre Paintings Still Lifes
Frans Hals
Frans Hals, Banquet of the Officers of the St George Militia Company, 1616.
Frans Hals. Officers and Sergeants of the St Hadrian Civic Guard. c
Frans Hals. The Governors Of The Old Mena Almhouse At Haarlem, 1664.
Frans Hals Buffoon (Jester) Playing A Lute 1623
Frans Hals The Laughing Cavalier 1624
Frans Hals The Laughing Child 1620-1625
Frans Hals The Jolly Toper (or The Merry Drinker) 1628-1630
Frans Hals Lute Player With Wine Glass 1626.
Frans Hals Portrait of Rene Descartres c1649.
Rembrandt van Rijn Self-Portrait 1660
Rembrandt van Rijn, Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp, 1632.
Rembrandt van Rijn, The Nightwatch, 1642. Not your typical group portrait… The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq is more commonly known as Night Watch. This common title is , however, as a misnomer- Night Watch is not a nocturnal scene.
Rembrandt van Rijn, The Syndics of the Clothmaker's Guild (The Staalmeesters) 1662.
Judith Leyster Self-Portrait 1630
Judith Leyster A Boy and a Girl with a Cat and an Eel c1635
Judith Leyster Man Offering A Woman Money 1631
Judith Leyster Boy Playing a Flute 1630
Jan Steen The Feast of St. Nicholas c. 1660-65 Oil on canvas.
Jan Steen, The Bean Feast, 1668.
Jan Vermeer The LaceMaker 1665-1670
Jan Vermeer Allegory of the Art of Painting 1670
Jan Vermeer The Letter 1630
Jan Vermeer The Music Lesson 1662-1665
Jan Vermeer Young Woman with a Water Pitcher c1665
Jan Vermeer The Guitar Player 1670
Jan Vermeer The Kitchenmaid c1658
Jan Vermeer Girl With a Pearl Earring 1665
Willem Claez Heda, Still Life with Oysters, c. 1640s
Pieter Claesz, Still Life with a Skull and a Writing Quill, 1628.
Willem Claez Heda, Still Life with Tobacco, Wine and Pocket Watch , 1637.
Willem Claez Heda Banquet Piece with Mince Pie, 1635 .
Jan van Goyen, View of Dordrecht from the Dordtse Kil, 1644.
Salomon van Ruisdael, View of Deventer Seen from the North-West, 1657.
Jan Vermeer, View of Delft, c1661.
Jakob Ruisdael, Landscape With Church and Village, 1665-70.
Jacob van Ruisdael, Windmill at Wijk-bij-Duurst-ede, c1665.