The document discusses Dutch and French art from the Baroque period. It provides information on several Dutch artists such as Jacob van Ruisdael, Jan Vermeer, Jan Steen, and Rachel Ruysch who painted landscapes and scenes of everyday life with great attention to realistic details. It also covers French artists like Nicolas Poussin, Claude Lorrain, and Georges de La Tour who painted in a classical style with calm, ordered compositions and idealized landscapes. The rise of the "Sun King" Louis XIV moved the center of European art and culture to France in the 17th century.

1. The Baroque (3)
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2. Dutch relationship to
the Land
Generally not idealized or
classical
Specific identifiable
scenes
An individual relationship
with the land
No feudalism
Reclaimed land
Show work at hand,
historical

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JACOB VAN RUISDAEL, View of Haarlem from the Dunes at Overveen, ca. 1670. Oil on canvas, 1’ 10” x 2’
1”. Mauritshuis, The Hague.

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5. JACOB VAN RUISDAEL, View of
Haarlem from the Dunes at
Overveen,
• Saint Bavo church in
background (Ghent Altarpiece)
• Windmills refer to land
reclamation efforts
• Foreground linen is being
stretched Dutch painters took
pride in homeland and activities
of life- specific landscape, not
idealized
• Low horizon line, sky fills
majority of composition
• Quiet serenity that is almost
spiritual
• Movement if birds and clouds
implied- Baroque all about
movement
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8. Idealized
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9. Specific, real-not idealized
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11. By painting the landscape as a specific place in a specific time, rather than an idea, the viewer is
considered also as a unique individual in possession of his/her own identity.
Documentary details privilege the experience of the observer as individual
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16. Jan Vermeer
• Small, luminous, and captivating
paintings
• Intimate Dutch interiors of
insignificant events (in other words,
not religious) Typical paintings have
light coming from source on left
side, uses yellows and blues,
subjects tended to be women
• Classical serenity to his images
• Shadows are not colorless
• Only painted 53 works
• Ran a Inn/Tavern. Died in his
forties, left his family in debt
• Believed to have used the camera
obscura, an instrument that created
an image through a hole set inside
a dark box

17. JAN VERMEER, Woman Holding a
Balance, ca. 1664. Oil on canvas, 1’ 3
7/8” X 1’ 2”. National Gallery of Art,
Washington, D.C. (Widener Collection).
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29. JAN VERMEER, Woman Holding a
Balance
• Girl is member of merchant class-
new customers of secular paintings
and “genre scenes”
• Light draws attention to balance
• Scales are empty
• Mirror refers to self-knowledge (or
sin of vanity)
• Jewels represent vanity
• Last Judgment painting on wall
emphasizes religious undertone
• Matchless serenity and optical
realism
• Shadows full of color
• “circles of confusion”-slight areas
out of focus
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30. Camera Obscura
A technical aid, widelv used in
the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, which
consisted of a darkened box
or tent containing lenses and
a mirror. The artist could
project the image of an object
or landscape onto the oil
painting surface and then
trace it out in charcoal or
graphite.
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JAN VERMEER, The Letter,
1666. Oil on canvas, 1’ 5 1/4” x
1’ 3 1/4”. Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam.

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JAN VERMEER, Allegory of the Art
of Painting, 1670–1675. Oil on
canvas, 4’ 4” x 3’ 8”.
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

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38. JAN VERMEER, View of Delft, ca. 1661. Oil on canvas, 3’ 2 1/2” X 3’ 10 1/4”. Mauritshuis, The Hague.
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JAN STEEN, The Feast of Saint
Nicholas, ca. 1660–1665. Oil on
canvas, 2’ 8 1/4” x 2’ 3 3/4”.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

40. Jan Steen
• holiday gatherings,
representations of school life,
rowdy taverns, love-sick women,
and dissolute households.
• scenes of everyday life in a direct
and amusing way.
• keen wit and narrative ability
ridiculed human nature in a good
humored and entertaining manner
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JAN STEEN, The Feast of Saint
Nicholas, ca. 1660–1665. Oil on
canvas, 2’ 8 1/4” x 2’ 3 3/4”.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

44. JAN STEEN, The Feast of Saint
Nicholas
• Whimsical scene of chaos and
disruption
• Saint Nicholas (Santa)
• Some children delighted-others
disappointed
• Allegorical dimension-children’s
activities can be satirical
• commentary on foolish adult
behavior
• sweet white bread, called a
duivekater, was traditionally
enjoyed at the Feast of St.
Nicholas, as well as at
Christmas, and on the Dutch
New Year.
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49. Saint Nicholas
The Christian Saint Nicholas, or as
the Dutch call him, Sinterklaas, was a
4th century Bishop of Myra (a town
located in modern day Turkey) who
was known for his generosity and
kindness especially to children.
He died on December 6th in 343
C.E., and it is this day that is
commemorated. Although traditionally
a Catholic holiday, the Feast of St.
Nicholas survived in the Protestant
Netherlands, although in a
secularized form to be celebrated by
all.
Nevertheless, Sinterklaas continues
to be shown wearing his customary
bishop’s garb: a tall, pointed red mitre
(hat) and long red robes. In the 18th
century, when Dutch immigrants
brought their traditions to America,
the well-loved Saint Nicholas
eventually developed into the figure
known today as Santa Claus.
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PIETER CLAESZ, Vanitas Still Life, 1630s. Oil on panel, 1’ 2” x 1’ 11 1/2”. Germanisches Nationalmuseum,
Nuremberg.

51. PIETER CLAESZ, Vanitas Still Life,
vanitas: literally ‘worthlessness’
refers to death and the emptiness
of life. Vanity of personal
possessions-transience and
ephemeral nature of existence.
Skull, glass tipped over, watch, half
eaten food, musical instruments- all
symbolic of ephemeral nature of life
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52. The Presence of “Absence”
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PIETER CLAESZ, Vanitas Still Life, 1630s. Oil on panel, 1’ 2” x 1’ 11 1/2”. Germanisches Nationalmuseum,
Nuremberg.

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WILLEM KALF, Still Life with a
Late Ming Ginger Jar, 1669. Oil on
canvas, 2’ 6” x 2’ 1 3/4”.
Indianapolis Museum of Art,
Indianapolis.

57. WILLEM KALF, Still Life with a
Late Ming Ginger Jar
• Reflects the wealth Dutch
citizens had accrued through
trade as well as painters
exquisite skill
• Exotic items from far off lands
• Inclusion of watch and peeled
lemon suggestive of Vanitas
tradition
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65. Rachel Ruysch
• Extremely successful
• Paintings sold double of what
Rembrandts sold for
• Father was famous botanist
• 250 paintings over seven
decades
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RACHEL RUYSCH, Flower Still Life,
after 1700. Oil on canvas, 2’ 5 3/4” x
1’ 11 7/8”. The Toledo Museum of Art,
Toledo

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68. High degree of skillful realism.
Scientifically accurate floral details.
Each petal, stem, and leaf is
minutely and precisely rendered.
Textures are remarkably realistic,
from the delicate paper thin poppy
petals to the crinkly, brittle leaves.
tiny insects: a caterpillar crawls on
a stem, a bee gathers pollen from
the center of a poppy, a white
butterfly alights on a marigold.
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69. Flowers: A National
Passion
The Netherlands became the
largest importers of new and exotic
plants and flowers from around the
world.
Once valued primarily for their use
as herbs or medicine, flowers
became newly appreciated simply
for their beauty and fragrance.
Prized luxuries and desirable status
symbols for the wealthy.
Botanists and gardeners sought the
rarest specimens imported from
overseas trade.
The tulip was the most exotic and
prized.
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70. Tulip Mania
At the peak of tulip speculation in
1636, some bulbs sold for more
than a skilled craftsman earned in
ten years.
A rare “Semper Augustus” tulip sold
for 5,200 guiders, more than the
price of a fine house, a ship or
twelve acres of land.
February, 1637, investors suddenly
decided that tulip bulbs were grossly
overpriced, and began to sell.
Within days, panic ensued. With
more sellers than buyers, demand
for tulips evaporated. Prices
plummeted, tulip bulbs lost 90% of
their earlier value, and the market
crashed. The world had just
experienced its first financial bubble.
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71. The Rise of France
• France shifted the center of
European art and culture away
from Italy
• Louis XIV took over in France in
1661, everything changes
• Reigns for 54 years, established
France as the leading
superpower
• From 1661-1789 French art
took prominence

72. French Society 1600-
1700
King Louis XIV
• Obsessive control determined the
direction of society and culture
• Royals brought to Paris from their
territories and then to Versailles
where they could be manipulated by
the King and his advisors into
compliance.
• Created the Royal Academy of
Painting and Sculpture Largest and
most powerful European country of
17th century
• Not as wealthy as Dutch society
After Reformation, Protestants challenged
royal authority
1598 King Henry IV issued the Edict of
Nantes
Granted religious freedom, but
Protestants were still driven from
the country

73. The “Sun King”
• Louis XIV (1661-1715)
• All life “revolved” around him, he
envisioned himself as Apollo
• “l’etat, c’est moi” (“I am the state”)
• le Roi Soleil
• ruled by “divine right”, receiving his
authority directly from God. The
concept of divine right allowed
Louis to quash emerging rebellions
while establishing legitimacy.
• Oversaw the construction of
Versailles – palace and gardens
were unfortified
• Style emphasized glory; lavish and
luxurious
• At 63, most famous portrait not just
for the opulence of his position, but
also the vanity of his legs

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76. Versaille

77. The Hall of Mirrors

78. Queens Bed-chamber
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79. Classical architecture was intended
to remind people of the greatness
of the antique Greek and Roman
past.
This ancient past was seen as the
root of the intellectual and aesthetic
superiority they believed had
descended to the French nation.
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80. French Baroque
• No motion or emotive gesture
• Calm, classical repose
• Even Lighting
• Lacking surface detail
• Simplified body volumes
• Organized picture plane
• Grand Theme-no genre
scenes

81. The Arcadian Landscape
A mountainous region in the heart of
the Peloponesse, Greece.
Isolated in the ancient times
Its people, away from civilization, were
living a pastoral life.
The concept of a pure life in
accordance to the nature was praised
in the Hellenistic era poems very
popular among the elites.
Classicism in the 17th century revived
this love towards nature.
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NICOLAS POUSSIN, Et in Arcadia Ego, ca. 1655. Oil on canvas, approx. 2’ 10” x 4’. Louvre, Paris.

83. NICOLAS POUSSIN, Et
in Arcadia Ego
• Even in Arcadia, I am
present
• Precursors-Titian, Raphael
• Female spirit of death
• Classicizing through
Moderation orderly
Grouping.
• Bodies: classical statuary
• Reserved, thoughtful mood
• Idealized landscape
• Even lighting

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NICOLAS POUSSIN, Burial of Phocion, 1648. Oil on canvas, 3’ 11” x 5’ 10”. Louvre, Paris.

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CLAUDE LORRAIN, Landscape with Cattle and Peasants, 1629. Oil on canvas, 3’ 6” x 4’ 10 1/2”.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia

93. CLAUDE LORRAIN, Landscape
with Cattle and Peasants
• Well defined foreground-middle-
background
• Serene orderliness
• Landscape dissolves into
luminous mist
• Ideal classical world bathed in
sunlight in infinite space
• “golden hour”
• Infusion of nature with human
feelings
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LOUIS LE NAIN, Family of Country People, ca. 1640. Oil on canvas, 3’ 8” x 5’ 2”. Louvre, Paris.

97. LOUIS LE NAIN, Family of
Country People,
• Somber stillness of rural family
reflects the thinking of French
social theorists who celebrated
the natural virtue of peasants
• Grave dignity of peasant family,
stoic-resigned to hardship with
little reason for merriment
• Peasant life very miserable
during Thirty Years War
• Docile calm family does not
reflect the many uprisings and
revolts, which possibly
appealed to Le Nains
Aristocratic patrons
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GEORGES DE LA TOUR, Adoration of the Shepherds, 1645–1650. Oil on canvas, approx. 3’ 6” x 4’ 6”.
Louvre, Paris.

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103. Virtue and Civilization
With the advent of the Age of the
Individual-Artists look away from
Western Civilization to the
Romanticized past and the margins
of society in search for models of
consciousness unburdened by the
ills of and vices required to survive in
the world of the individual.
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