1. ART HISTORY 132 Baroque: Dutch

2. Dutch Baroque context: political –United Dutch Republic Union of Utrecht (1579) –led by William of Orange –signed by several northern provinces of Hapsburg Flanders –bound them to maintain rights against foreign tyranny (re: SP) –achieved equal footing w/ other European powers (c. 1650) context: economic –center of world trade  Amsterdam heroic Dutch navy & merchant fleet helped break supremacy of Spain; succeeded in closing port of Antwerp –main professions fishermen & peasantry sailors & merchants –principal products  imports textiles & linens spices from colonies (East & West Indies)

3. Frans Hals Frans Hals (1580-1666) The Merry Drinker (c. 1625) –theme: secularized Bacchus –narrative: glance & gesture heightens immediacy –brushwork: painterly –figure: contemporary; realistic –composition: stability coupled w/ implicit dynamism –color: muted w/ ruddy flesh tones –light: dramatic implied tenebrism (e.g., broad- rimmed hat) chiaroscuro effects surface reflections

4. (Left) HALS’ Dutch Baroque Merry Drinker (c. 1625) vs. (right) BERNINI’s Scipione Borghese (c. 1625)

5. Judith Leyster (1609-1660) Self-Portrait (c. 1625) –tendency: Carravagio’s realism –brushwork: “painterly” –stylistic characteristics: large figure pressed into foreground Hals’ theatricality –narrative: momentary pause from work –composition: dynamic –color: narrow range –light/shadow: even distribution

6. Rembrandt (1606-1669) significance: empathy for human condition biography: –middle-class background (bakers) –university education –never traveled to Italy yet complete knowledge of classical iconography career: master of Dutch Golden Age –commissions from court of The Hague Prince Hendrik until 1646 –early work: (c. 1625) success as portraitist –late career: (c. 1650) personal tragedy & financial hardship –lived beyond his means »buying art, prints and rarities »objects from Asia

7. Rembrandt Self-Portrait (c. 1660) –aesthetic: realistic –brushwork: painterliness combined w/ glazing technique –composition: implicit triangular format –color: narrow range w/ vibrant accents –light/shadow: tenebrism & chiaroscuro –gaze: reveals interior emotions psychological power –tragic experiences –sorrow –vulnerability

8. Detail of face and hand from REMBRANDT’s Self-portrait (c. 1660)

9. Rembrandt Anatomy Lesson (1632) –genre: group portrait –patron: guild of surgeons –aesthetic: realism –figures: individualized characterizations profound psychological grasp of personalities –narrative: anecdotal & immediate –subject: dissection of publicly hung criminal for scientific progress –spatial order: breaks w/ Mannerist compression complex extension into background –composition: pyramidal –color: narrow range –light/shadow: chiaroscuro cadaver set off against dark costume leaning figure casts shadow on corpse’s head

10. (Left) REMBRANDT’S Dutch Baroque Anatomy Lesson (1632) vs. (right) CARAVAGGIO’s Italian Baroque Death of the Virgin (1606)

11. Rembrandt Night Watch (1642) –title: misnomer –scale: life-size –subject: militiamen/guards –narrative: insignificant event raised to level of historical spectacle –composition: dynamic looks random zigzag, reverse ‘W’ originally symmetric, but trimmed, cut –color: narrow range w/ primary & complimentary accents –light/shadow tenebrism  triumphant arch chiaroscuro & spotlighting

12. Rembrandt’s Night Watch (1642)

13. (Left) REMBRANDT’s Dutch Baroque The Nightwatch (c. 1650 CE) vs. (right) Early Roman Empire “Spoils of Jerusalem” from the Arch of Titus (c. 75 CE)

14. Rembrandt Night Watch (con’t.) –figures: realism highly animated complex motion united by use of light –light/shadow: chiaroscuro –technique: foreshortening arm/hand catches beam of light –casts shadow on opposite figure –color: vibrant accents repeated throughout composition

15. Rembrandt Prodigal Son (1665) –subject: New Testament (parable of Jesus) –theme: mercy –narrative: climatic & immediate –aesthetic: realism –brushwork: “painterly” –composition: synthetic symmetrical arrangement of principal narrative characters dynamic lines of sight –color: harmonious warm tonalities & rich highlights –light/shadow: chiaroscuro & tenebrism –perspective: limited linear depth complex extension of space into rear room

16. Details from REMBRANDT’S The Prodigal Son (left) father and son; and (right) of son’s tattered shoes

17. Johannes Vermeer Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) –subject: genre –theme: allegorical (re: Last Judgment) –iconography: blue cloak  Madonna pearls  see Book of Matthew (NT) –composition: synthetic asymmetrical strongly geometric –color: low-key w/ primary accents –light/shadow: chiaroscuro –perspective: linear b/w checkerred floor tiling ledge of table

18. Johannes Vermeer Johannes Vermeer La Tour’s French Baroque Repentant Mary Magdalen (c. 1650) vs. Vermeer’s Dutch Baroque Woman Weighing Pearls (1664)

19. Vermeer Allegory of Art (c. 1675) –setting: artist’s studio –theme: Humanist –figure: Clio  Goddess of History book trumpet garlands –perspective: linear –composition: synthetic –color: vibrant –light/shadow: chiaroscuro & full daylight brightness

20. IMAGE INDEX Slide 3:HALS. The Merry Drinker (c. 1630), Oil on canvas, 317/8 x 26 1/4”, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Slide 4:LEYSTER, Judith. Self-Portrait (1635), Oil on canvas 29 1/2 x 25 3/4 in., National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Slide 5:REMBRANDT. Self-portrait (c. 1625), Oil on canvas, The Mauritshuis, The Hague. Slide 6:REMBRANDT. Self-portrait (c. 1660), Oil on canvas, 52 5/8 x 40 7/8”, The Frick Collection, New York. Slide 7:Detail of (left) face; and (right) hand from REMBRANDT’s Self-portrait (c. 1660). Slide 8:REMBRANDT. The Anatomy Lecture of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (c. 1630), Oil on canvas, 169.5 x 216.5 cm., The Hague. Slide 9/10:REMBRANDT. The Nightwatch (c. 1640), Oil on canvas, 12’2” x 14’4”, Rijksmuseum. Slide 11:Detail of central figures in REMBRANDT’s The Nightwatch.

21. IMAGE INDEX Slide 12:(Left) REMBRANDT’s Dutch Baroque The Nightwatch (c. 1650 CE); and (right) Early Roman Empire “Spoils of Jerusalem” from the Arch of Titus (c. 75 CE) Slide 13:Detail from REMBRANDT’s Dutch Baroque The Nightwatch Slide 14:REMBRANDT. The Return of the Prodigal Son (c.1665), Oil on canvas, 8’8” x 6’7 3/4”, The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia. Slide 15:Details of (left) father and son; and (right) son’s tattered shoes from REMBRANDT’s The Return of the Prodigal Son Slide 16:VERMEER. Woman Weighing Pearls (1664), Oil on canvas, 16 3/4 x 15 in., National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Slide 17:VERMEER. The Allegory of Painting (c. 1675), Oil on canvas, 130 x 110 cm., Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.