Amsterdam (Rough Guide) - Martin Dunford [184]
Dutch art |
The Golden Age
The seventeenth century begins with Karel van Mander (1548–1606), Haarlem painter, art impresario and one of the few contemporary chroniclers of the art of the Low Countries. His Schilderboek of 1604 put Flemish and Dutch traditions into context for the first time, and in addition specified the rules of fine painting. Examples of his own work are rare – though Haarlem’s Frans Hals Museum (see "The Hallen") weighs in with a couple – but his followers were many. Among them was Cornelius Cornelisz van Haarlem (1562–1638), who produced elegant renditions of biblical and mythical themes; and Hendrik Goltzius (1558–1616), who was a skilled engraver and an integral member of van Mander’s Haarlem academy. The enthusiasm these painters had for Italian art, combined with the influence of a late revival of Gothicism, resulted in works that combined Mannerist and Classical elements. An interest in realism was also felt, but, for them, the subject became less important than the way in which it was depicted; biblical stories became merely a vehicle whereby artists could apply their skills in painting the human body, landscapes, or copious displays of food. All of this served to break the religious stranglehold on art, and make legitimate a whole range of everyday subjects for the painter.
In what is now the Netherlands (and this was where the north and the south finally diverged) this break with tradition was compounded by the Reformation: the austere Calvinism that had replaced the Catholic faith in the United (ie northern) Provinces had no use for images or symbols of devotion in its churches. Instead, painters catered to the burgeoning middle class, and no longer visited (Catholic) Italy to learn their craft. Indeed, the real giants of the seventeenth century – Hals, Rembrandt, Vermeer – stayed in the Netherlands all their lives. Another innovation was that painting split into more distinct categories – genre, portrait, landscape – and artists tended (with notable exceptions) to confine themselves to one field throughout their careers. So began the Golden Age of Dutch art.
Dutch art | The Golden Age |
Historical and religious painting
The artistic influence of Renaissance Italy may have been in decline, but Italian painters still had clout with the Dutch, most notably Caravaggio (1571–1610), who was much admired for his new realism. Taking Caravaggio’s cue, many artists – Rembrandt for one – continued to portray classical subjects, but in a way that was totally at odds with the Mannerists’ stylish flights of imagination. The Utrecht artist Abraham Bloemaert (1564–1651), though a solid Mannerist throughout his career, encouraged these new ideas, and his students – Gerard van Honthorst (1590–1656), Hendrik Terbrugghen (1588–1629) and Dirck van Baburen (1590–1624) – formed the nucleus of the influential Utrecht School, which followed Caravaggio almost to the point of slavishness. Honthorst was perhaps the leading figure, learning his craft from Bloemaert and travelling to Rome, where he was nicknamed “Gerardo delle Notti” for his ingenious handling of light and shade. In his later paintings, however, this was to become more routine technique than inspired invention, and though a supremely competent artist, Honthorst is somewhat discredited among critics today. Terbrugghen’s reputation seems to have aged rather better; he soon forgot Caravaggio and developed a more individual style, his later, lighter work having a great influence on the young Vermeer. After a jaunt to Rome, Baburen shared a studio with Terbrugghen and produced some fairly original work – work which also had some influence on Vermeer – but today he is