Dutch Art In The 17th Century

Dutch Art in the 17th Century

The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp, 1632

JosephWright of Derby, 1768

The Scientific Revolution
The development of Royal Societies in the 16th century – the sharing of knowledge, public demonstrations (Rembrandt, Thomas Wright)
The move away from Ptolemaic astronomy and a heliocentric view of the universe
Understanding Nature from Observation, not from authoritative texts or governing bodies
The Idea that Human Reason can provide for the betterment of human life on earth (as opposed to Faith and Ceremony)
The profound questioning of authority in any guise

The Bird in a glass Bowl which is about to be sealed and air pumped out
Birdcage – if it lives (or dies)
Moonlight and the Enlightenment (reference to the Lunar Society)
2 sisters, torn between curiosity and distress
The Philosopher
The Modern magician
Blind Love
Questioning Gesture
Candle for Light and Skull
Fascinated Observer
Our Invitation
The Experiment With An Air Pump

Giordano Bruno
1548 – 1600
Burned alive by the Inquisition in Rome
There is neither limit nor center to the universe – everything depends on the relative point of observation.
Suggested the vast number of other worlds and universes

Michel de Montaigne
1522-1592
Virulent critic of medieval Scholasticism
“I aim here only at revealing myself, who will perhaps be different tomorrow, if I learn something new which changes me. I have no authority to be believed, nor do I want it, feeling myself too ill-instructed to instruct others.”
Intellectual detachment is necessary to understanding.
Proponent of diversity in nature and man, and the need for tolerance.

Rene Descartes
1596 – 1650
Determined to find a unified system of nature based on mathematics
The first step is to wipe away all earlier and accepted authority
Believe only in that which can be proved through observation
Cogito ergo sum

Thomas Hobbes
1588-1679
Pre-social state of man is a life that is “nasty, brutish and short”
We enter into a social contract based on mutual self-interest
Sovereignty gains its authority through psychological reasons, not theological
We are limited in our knowledge of the external world by our interpretations of the stimuli we receive
Author of Leviathan

John Locke
1632-1704
Concentrated on the faculty of knowledge, or how we come to know what we know - epistemology
Insisted on natural morality of pre-social man
Ruling bodies that offend against natural morality must be deposed
We are born with the tabula rosa

The Principia
Isaac newton (1642-1727)
Offered irrefutable proof – mathematical proof – that Nature had order and meaning that was not based on Faith but on human Reason
The notion of progress in the human mind toward an ultimate end
If definable laws can be discerned to govern Nature, they can be discerned to govern men and society
The notion that bodies at a distance are governed in their motion by a specific force that can be measured (gravity).

Dutch Painters of the Baroque
Characteristics of Dutch Art:
No church or aristocracy to commission paintings
Art has a bourgeois character
Paintings used to cover bare walls, give pleasure to the eye
Cheerful subjects, unpleasant ones are given a humorous slant
Artists worked on the open market, not for patrons: specialization according to subject matter
Small paintings for small homes
Subjects were easily understandable, some allegorical representations, no religious ecstasies and few pagan myths

Jacob van RuisdaelPieter de HoochJan Steen
Willem Heda
Pieter Saenredam

Jacob van Ruisdael, View of Haarlem from the Dunes at Overveen
Flat horizon of the Netherlands: sky takes up ¾ of painting
Sullen clouds, dramatically painted
Receding spaces through dark and light passages
Bleaching linen manufactured in Holland
Long strips of treated cloth were spread out to bleach in the fields
Openness and height, very distant and elevated point-of-view

Jacob van Ruisdael, View of Haarlem with Bleaching Grounds, c 1665

Jan Steen, The Feast of Saint Nicholas
Genre painting
Saint Nicholas has visited the children with various results
A girl grabs her doll as her mother pleads to look at it, or perhaps asks her to share
Boy at left is crying over his disappointed gift
Chaos in search for gifts
Man on right points out to small child how Saint Nicholas descended the chimney
Ten figures in a complex arrangement
Complicated series of diagonals unify figures that seem to bend this way and that in reflection of one another
Adult meaning to this children’s scene

Jan Steen, 1663

Willem Claez Heda, 1648

Frans Hals, Archers of Saint Hadrian
Responsible citizen mentality among the Dutch
No static arrangements; no interaction
Strong horizontal emphasis with vertical spears punctuating the composition
Left group around dominant figure of Col. Johan Claez. Loo, his cane indicates his authority
Right group is a separate unit: Lt. Hendrick Gerritsz. Pot holds a book (minutes of meeting?)
Back to back groups
Distinct individuality of figures
Dynamically grouped with strong diagonals of composition

Common Motifs in Vermeer’s Paintings
Checkerboard floor
Horizontal beam ceiling
Light from the left
Heavy drapery and/or map
Figures seen from the back or side
Figures occupied in daily pursuit
Sensitivity to light
Back wall is always flat against picture plane

Vermeer, The Letter
Light filtering from a unseen window at left
We look in, they are unaware
Figures framed by portal and a curtain
Smile on servant, surprised look on the woman
Woman is well-dressed, holding a lute
A lute was a symbol of serenading, hence of love
Is a love letter being brought?
Sense of quiet expectation

Vermeer, Allegory on the Art of Painting
Painter’s costume, chandelier and maps out of date
Woman is Clio, Muse of History
Laurel and garland, holds a trumpet of fame in her right hand
Map frames “history”
Nostalgia for bygone days of Catholic rule over Holland and Catholic patronage of artists
Artist in his studio (Vermeer?)
Looking in on figures who seem unaware
Quiet and stillness
Touches of light flicker across the map, revealing the pulled edges

Rembrandt, Anatomy Lesson of Doctor Tulp
First great commission
Dutch law: open cadavers of executed criminals only, allowed for entertainment purposes like this
Specific anatomy lesson in January 1632
Lessons took 4-5 days, Descartes may have attended this one
Dr. Tulp is singled out seated in a chair of honor
He wears a broad rimmed hat: academic badge of chairman
His hands (alone) are prominently shown
Cadaver’s body compared to the book at right
Caravaggesque background
Figures stare out into space

Rembrandt, The Night Watch
18 men portrayed in the commission, represented according to how much they paid, but 29 figures in total, 2 figures cut off when the painting was cut down at left
Civic guard group getting ready for a march, makes for a lively composition
Captain Frans Banning Cocq holds a baton in right hand and wears a red sash, wears a gorget of steel barely visible under his white collar
Captain gestures as if to speak
Orders given to his lieutenant to march forward
Central figures come forward
Use of musket shown: musketeer in red is charging his musket by transferring powder into the muzzle from one of the wooden cartridges attached to his bandolier
Figure behind Cocq is firing musket
Third figure behind lieutenant is clearing the pan by blowing off the powder that remained there after the shot
Deep chiaroscuro
Liveliness of figures, psychological penetration

The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq, 1642

Rembrandt, Self-Portrait
Probed states of human soul
Changing lights and darks suggest changing of human mood
Self-satisfied artist at the height of his career

Oath of Claudius Civilis

Judith Leyster, Self-Portrait
Smile: she greets us casually, as does the fiddler
Self-assured, charming, sociable
Meets the viewer’s gaze, as if to speak to us
Signed her paintings with her initials and a star, punning meaning of her name “leading star”
Well-dressed while painting
Quick sure brushstrokes

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Dutch Art In The 17th Century

by bassmanb on Feb 09, 2010

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Dutch Art In The 17th Century — Presentation Transcript