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The Golden Age of Dutch Art:
In many ways, Dutch art was "invented" during the 17th century. For several centuries up to that time, The Netherlands -- also known as the United Provinces -- had been controlled by Spain, the most powerful nation in Europe. After 80 years of intermittent war, the Dutch achieved independence in 1648. This consolidated what was already becoming an age of great prosperity for the new Protestant nation as trade, industry, and colonial activity brought great wealth.
In this environment, all the arts thrived and began what has often been referred to as a "Golden Age." Dutch painting of the 17th century is characterized by depiction of the everyday world: portraiture, landscape, still life, and scenes showing daily life. Painters tended to specialize in one of these areas, collectively giving a vivid idea of what it was like to live in their turbulent but brilliant times.
The main market for these paintings were the wealthy and ambitious merchants of Amsterdam, Delft, The Hague, and other Dutch cities. There were an extraordinary number of painters active in this period. In this room are examples are some of the most important of them, including the landscape artists Aelbert Cuyp (1620-1691) and Jan Van Goyen (1596-1656), the portraitists Gerrit Dou (1613-1675) and Rembrandt Harmensz Van Rijn (1606-1669), and the genre painter Jan Steen (1626-1679). |