Initially, the works were created using watercolor technique. Later acrylic was added. The last series of works are mostly acrylic. With acrylic, the artist began to paint warm, and sometimes even hot, paintings. Some works seem to have been written in mixed media. And watercolor, and acrylic, and pastel V. Heijenraets is an impressionist artist. Willem's works are permeated with air, color, tenderness, lightness, surrounded by a special watercolor mood of relaxation, peace and freedom...website... 
Willem Haenraets
born in October 1940 in Rotterdam
At the age of 16 he entered the Antwerp Art Academy. Teachers at the academy quickly noted the obvious talent of the young talent and encouraged him in every possible way. creative growth. Four years later, from the moment he entered the academy, Willem Haenraets began to receive a state scholarship from the Belgian government and was able to continue his education at the National Institute of Fine Arts in Antwerp. There he soon had his own workshop. Willem Haenraets studied with eminent professors Sarina and Vaarten. Experienced craftsmen were glad that a worthy replacement was growing, and they contributed in every possible way to William’s promotion. In it they saw a continuation of the traditions of the Belgian-Dutch school. In those same years, the first exhibition of the young artist took place. With the proceeds, he bought himself a motor scooter, which he subsequently traveled to many picturesque places in the area, especially the area of the port of Antwerp. Here he met one of the wealthy shipowners, with the help of whom Willem began to paint many commissioned portraits. When the customer died, William went to Paris for several months. On the city square Place de Tetre he painted portraits from morning to evening, and eventually was able to buy himself a house in the city of Bergen (in Holland). Later he settled there with his first wife Hannah. This was the time when a large number of paintings were painted, which were sold in art salons and galleries. Soon a great misfortune happened - Hannah died in an accident, leaving her husband alone with a six-week-old child. During these years, William’s life lost order. But in the end, he decided to return to his native Herpen, where he settled in the small castle Kasteel Terworm, immersing himself in work. He sold his works in Holland and Germany.
In the late 70s, the artist found his second wife, who already had a small daughter. Later they had a son. During this period, William began to publish his works. This made a big difference in his life financially and in terms of participating in art fairs and exhibitions. There were regular invitations to exhibitions in the USA and England. His originals have been exhibited in a gallery in Beverly Hills, and lithographs of his work have been shown in exhibitions. As a result, exhibition activities brought the painter world fame. The exhibition in Nagoya (which is in Japan) was a huge success. The Japanese really liked the artist's style, his soft colors, romantic mood. During this period, the artist became close to the owner of the gallery on Stokstraat in Maastricht. Together they held wonderful exhibitions at Gallery Renoir every two years. However, due to the illness of the gallery owner, this collaboration ended.
2000s
During these years, Willem Haenraets bought a house in Spain, in the municipality of Hondon de las Nieves. The administration asked him to present his paintings at the city House of Culture. The artist mentions this event as very pleasant.
William currently works with a publishing house that represents his work worldwide in the form of high quality posters and lithographs. The artist sells originals himself and through galleries.
In 2009, Willem Haenraets was invited by the committee of the Biennale Internazionale Della Arte contemporanea to take part in this famous exhibition. The artist himself considers this participation his great success.
Within the framework of the Year of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Russian Federation
at the State Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin (Gallery of art of European and American countries of the 19th-20th centuries)
until January 26, 2014 there was an exhibition of works from the ING Group corporate collection
The magic of Dutch realism.
ING Group is one of the largest international financial companies Dutch origin. The ING art collection today includes over 15 thousand works of various national schools and movements. At the exhibition of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, ING Group is showing the most significant part of its collection - paintings related to the artistic movement of magical realism.
In the 1920s in Europe, under the slogan “return to order,” a revival of the classical trend in art began. IN European art the passion for abstract art of the previous decade is weakening and realistic tendencies are being revived. This was partly due to the painful experience of the First World War: the language of abstract art was quite limited, and artists were forced to look for a new style to express the brutality of the past carnage. This led to the birth of a new form of realism, which abandoned the image everyday life, as it was in the art of the 19th century, and focusing on other techniques. Similar art movements began to emerge throughout Europe: "new materiality" in Germany, "metaphysical art" in Italy, "surrealism" in France and, in the 1930s, "magical realism" in the Netherlands.
The term "magical realism" was first introduced in Germany and was later used in Holland by some writers. Its distinctive feature is that objects from the real world are depicted with photographic precision (realism), however, since they are placed in an unreal context - a figment of the artist’s imagination - the effect of detachment (magic), destruction of the standard perception of the surrounding world is born. To achieve this effect, the magical realists turned to the refined techniques of 17th century painting. At the same time, behind the façade of an emphatically realistic painting style lies a penetrating and deeply personal look, and the scrupulous precision with which the paintings are made gives rise to a feeling of alienation.
Artists are beginning to show interest in the painting tradition itself. One of the first followers of this trend is the Dutchman Karel Willink, the only artist who has the honor of being included not only in the ING collection, but also in the greater history of art of the 20th century. Since he viewed modern styles as transitory, Willink decides to end his experiments and move on to traditional realistic painting.
Karel Willink. Girl in a Renaissance dress. 1946
The gaze of anyone entering the exhibition is immediately drawn to “Girl in a Renaissance Costume” by Karel Willink. Rubens's girl in a heavy brocade dress with a toy sheep on a leash, depicted against the backdrop of a regular park that stretches in Patinirov's perspective right up to the horizon, seems like the heroine of some kind of nightmare. Either the icy electric light, like from Lars von Trier’s “Melancholia,” gives such an effect, or the contrast between the model’s not at all childish and not at all innocent face and the idyllic setting in the spirit of the old masters, where this face is inserted, as if in a painting, is triggered. a fake from a provincial photo studio. “Girl” was written in 1945 - during the occupation, Karel Willink, even though he was recognized as a completely Aryan artist, refused to sell his paintings to the Germans and made a living from portraits. However, this picture, with all its custom-made character, is seen as a reflection on Old Europe, which has died and which must now be populated by young, unfamiliar tribes.
The rest of the artists shown at the exhibition are much less famous and seem to want to enter into an argument with Willink, proving to him with their manic realism that the values of the old world have a right to life. But at the same time, the ING collection does not at all look like a manifestation of conservatism.
The term "magical realism", veiled in the title of the exhibition, was coined by the German art historian and critic Franz Roch in 1925 for artists of the “new materiality”, but quickly migrated to the field of literature and practically lost any clear meaning in the field of visual art. What we see in the exhibition is a wide range of “isms”. From hyperrealism - like in "The Box" Frans Clement, from which construction tools will fall out at any moment, to the point of banal academicism - as in still life productions Peter Sebens And Bernard Ferkayka. There are fans of Andrew Wyeth here too... Johan Abeling with "House", which could easily become "Christina's House". And conceptualists like the author of 7 thousand self-portraits Philip Ackerman, student of the great Jan Dibbets. And fans of postmodern games like Barenda Blankert, quoting old Italians mixed with Georges Seurat. And that very “new materiality”, which includes Karel Willink’s peers - Wim Schumacher with silver portraits and landscapes and Dick Kath with collage still lifes returning to the cubist objective world illusionistic persuasiveness. However, Dick Ket, in “Still Life for St. Nicholas Day”, encrypting his name, since the marionette doll that ended up on the festive table is called “ket” in West Frisian, plays surrealist games. Like Karel Willink, his northern mannerism is close to Max Ernst and Salvador Dali, and his Cartesianism is close to Rene Magritte.
Probably, the ING collection has a patriotic program: after all, realism is considered a great achievement of the Dutch golden age. Many artists here appeal to the golden age, and under “Still life with fruit against the backdrop of a landscape” by a brilliant stylist Raoul Hinkes I would like to correct the date by writing "1635" instead of "1935". But one cannot say that the motives that prompted the collection of this corporate collection are limited to the desire to support the national artistic brand. The exhibition occupies only three halls, and the paintings are simply distributed among them in accordance with the genre principle: portrait, landscape, still life. However, with all the photographic realism of the works, you don’t feel the difference between the genres: designed mainly in dull silvery-gray tones, illuminated mainly by an even matte light, distinguished by the unnatural clarity of lines, all of them at first evoke the idea of a typical Dutch landscape, and then begin to seem like a still life. A masterly and dispassionate cast of reality from which life has disappeared. Not a holistic image of the real world, but a set of index signs referring to real world like a crime scene, like a crack on one and a bow on the other armrest of the “Chair” Barenda Blankert. Which was partly described by the poet Joseph Brodsky in a poem inspired by the painting of Carl Willink: “This is what is called “mastery”:
The ability not to be afraid of the procedure
Non-existence - as forms of its own
Absence, having copied it from life.
Following Willink, such representatives of magical realism as Peike Koch, Raoul Hinkuis, Dick Kaeth, and Wim Schumacher are becoming more popular.
Peike Koch. Harvest. 1953
“Magical realism depicts phenomena that are possible and yet implausible; surrealism, for its part, demonstrates situations that are impossible, do not exist or cannot exist,” said Peike Koch, explaining the difference between magical realism and surrealism, two art movements that are often confused with each other. Surrealism is primarily a world of fantasy and dreams, while magical realism is everyday life in a new context.
A common feature of all magical realists is the atmosphere created by their paintings. The feeling of unease that these paintings evoke is partly due to their extreme realism, which reduces the distance between the viewer and the work. At the same time, there is no strict narrative or complete narrative here. The artist only offers a set of possible readings, but never gives a complete answer. The viewer is given the right to draw his own conclusions.
The aesthetics of magical realism, this combination of reality and magic, of course, needed certain stylistic devices. The works of magical realists are distinguished by a certain coldness and the artist’s seemingly detached glance at the subject of the image, sliding over the surface, which was especially evident in portraiture and still lifes (Dick Kath, Wim Schumacher).
Wim Schumacher. Portrait of Adin Mees. 1933;
Wim Schumacher "Melita in White" 1928
Wim Schumacher "Prats de Mollo" 1929
Dick Ket. Saint Nicholas, still life. 1931
Dick Ket (1902-1940).Still Life with Violin and Newspaper clippings with Self-Portraits of W.Schumacher and R.Hynckes.Ca.1936
Raoul Hynckes (1893-1973).Still Life with Fruit and Landscape/Still Life with Fruit in the Background of a Landscape.1935.
Ger Langeweg (1891-1970).Pears in a Landscape.Ca.1937/Ger Langeweg.Pears in a landscape.
For modern representatives of magical realism in Holland, it is characteristic and not accidental that they have a connection with such phenomena in the art of the 20th century as pop art, neo-expressionism and photorealism. Techniques of demonstrative construction of the imaginative world, the desire to play up the utilitarianism and stereotyping of the surrounding space, escape into the world of the imaginary, the use of hidden allusions, free play with images and meanings make the work of modern “magical” artists similar to surrealism. At the same time, the extreme degree of figurativeness and attention to detail is undoubtedly an appeal to the realistic tradition of the old Dutch masters.
The purpose of the exhibition “The Magic of Dutch Realism” is to show one of the brightest phenomena in the art of the Netherlands of the 20th century - as a dialogue between painters of several generations, between magical realists of the first half of the 20th century, including Wim Schumacher, Karel Willink, Peike Koch, and their modern followers: Philipp Akkerman, Frans Stuurman, Koos van Koulen and others, a dialogue that makes you remember the traditional culture of the Netherlands. The exhibition features about forty works by Dutch artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, demonstrating technical mastery, a combination of tradition and innovation.
Jan van Tongeren (1897-1991).Still Life with white Jug.1967/ Jan van Tongeren.Still life with a white jug
Franc Clement (b.1941).Box.1985/ Franc Clement.Box.
Frans Stuurman "Delfshaven" 1979
Frans Stuurman (g.1952) The Gulf.1994 / Frans Stuurman.Seagull
Jan Worst "Adventurer" 1993
Kick Sailer "In front of the mirror" 1993
Kick Seiler "Night" 1992
Pete Sebens "Hilda's Table" 1995
Henk Helmantel (born 1945). Still life with pomegranate fruits. 1998. Wood, oil
Barend Blankert (g.1941).The Exercise.1991 / Barend Blankert. Exercise
Barend Blankert "Two boys in nature" 1988-1990
Philip Ackerman. Self-portrait. 2001
Philip Akkerman (b.1957) 4 Self-Portraits No. 132, No. 51, No. 80, No. 20 / Philip Akerman.4 self-portraits
The light in magical realist paintings often looks artificial, overly harsh and intermittent. Artists used this technique in order to fully realize the methods of using perspective developed by the Cubists.
Also, in the paintings of magical realists one can hardly find any nuances or soft color schemes: the foreground and background are often depicted with the same degree of detail. Among modern followers of magical realism, this technique is used by Koos van Koulen.
Koos van Koulen. Olga. 2007
Koos van Keulen "Itier and Pisanello" 2003
Matthijs Roling(b.1943).Garden.2005 / Matthijs Roling.Garden
Bernard Verkaaik(b.1946). Pot, Onions and black Cloth.2004/ Bernard Ferkaaik. Pot, bulbs and black cloth
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Kenne Gregoire (b. 1951). Coffee break. 2003. Canvas on wood, acrylic
Harry van der Woude "Self-portrait with an orange bowl" 2007
In the 1960s, new realism appeared in France, and pop art appeared in the USA and Great Britain - the demand for magical realism as a movement dropped sharply. At this time, neo-expressionism began to emerge in Europe. In this process, among others, the Belgian and Dutch artists Alphonse Freimuth And Roger Roveel. They begin to create paintings in a “natural style,” returning from time to time to the traditions of their predecessors, who discovered the direction of “magical realism.” Now the masters are more typical of such themes as love, harmony, death, feelings, while the new neurotic realism often turns to issues taboo in society. Artists of all these movements strongly believe in the need to express both their personal positions, thoughts, and universal human values, which unites these periods in art.
The exhibition as a whole clearly not only shows the continuity of contemporary Dutch artists from their immediate predecessors, but also a constant dialogue with traditional culture and connection with the golden age of Dutch painting. Finding these intersections and mutual references becomes a fascinating quest for the viewer. However, magic also works with passive contemplation. Still, magical realism is an oxymoron, and paradoxes and contradictions always attract.
P.S. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the exhibition; I collected material about it on the Internet:
Links:
http://pda.mn.ru/culture/20131114/362619469.html
Dutch painting its emergence and initial period merge to such an extent with the first stages of the development of Flemish painting that the latest art historians consider both for the entire time until the end of the 16th century. inseparably, under one general name "Dutch school". Both of them, constituting the offspring of the Rhine branch, are dumb. painting, the main representatives of which are Wilhelm of Cologne and Stefan Lochner, consider the van Eyck brothers to be their founders; both have been moving in the same direction for a long time, are animated by the same ideals, pursue the same tasks, develop the same technique, so that the artists of Holland are no different from their Flemish and Brabant brethren. This continues throughout the reign of the country, first by the Burgundian and then by the Austrian house, until a brutal revolution breaks out, ending in the complete triumph of the Golls. people over the Spaniards who oppressed them. From this era, each of the two branches of Dutch art begins to move separately, although sometimes they happen to come into very close contact with each other. G. painting immediately takes on an original, completely national character and quickly reaches a bright and abundant flowering. The reasons for this phenomenon, the like of which can hardly be found throughout the history of art, lie in topographical, religious, political and social circumstances. In this “low country” (hol land), consisting of swamps, islands and peninsulas, constantly washed away by the sea and threatened by its raids, the population, as soon as it threw off the foreign yoke, had to create everything anew, starting with the physical conditions of the soil and ending with moral and intellectual conditions, because everything was destroyed by the previous struggle for independence. Thanks to their enterprise, practical sense and persistent work, the Dutch managed to transform swamps into fruitful fields and luxurious pastures, conquer vast expanses of land from the sea, acquire material well-being and external political significance. The achievement of these results was greatly facilitated by the federal-republican form of government established in the country and the wisely implemented principle of freedom of thought and religious beliefs. As if by a miracle, everywhere, in all areas of human labor, ardent activity suddenly began to boil in a new, original, purely folk spirit, among other things in the field of art. Of the branches of the latter, on the soil of Holland, one was lucky mainly in one - painting, which here, in the works of many more or less talented artists who appeared almost simultaneously, took on a very versatile direction and at the same time completely different from the direction of art in other countries. The main feature that characterizes these artists is their love for nature, the desire to reproduce it in all its simplicity and truth, without the slightest embellishment, without subsuming it under any conditions of a preconceived ideal. The second distinctive property of Goll. painters are composed of a subtle sense of color and an understanding of what a strong, enchanting impression can be made, in addition to the content of the picture, only by the faithful and powerful transmission of colorful relationships determined in nature by the action of light rays, proximity or range of distances. Among the best representatives of geometric painting, this sense of color and chiaroscuro is developed to such an extent that light, with its countless and varied nuances, plays in the picture, one might say, the role of the main character and imparts high interest to the most insignificant plot, the most inelegant forms and images. Then it should be noted that most Goll. artists do not go on long searches for material for their creativity, but are content with what they find around them, in their native nature and in the life of their people. Typical features of distinguished compatriots, the physiognomies of ordinary Dutchmen and Dutchwomen, the noisy fun of common holidays, peasant feasts, scenes of rural life or the intimate life of townspeople, native dunes, polders and vast plains crossed by canals, herds grazing in rich meadows, huts, nestled at the edge of beech or oak groves, villages on the banks of rivers, lakes and hills, cities with their clean houses, drawbridges and high spiers of churches and town halls, harbors cluttered with ships, a sky filled with silvery or golden vapors - all this, under the brush of gall. masters imbued with love for the fatherland and national pride, turns into paintings full of air, light and attractiveness. Even in those cases when some of these masters resort to the Bible, ancient history and mythology for themes, even then, without worrying about maintaining archaeological fidelity, they transfer the action to the environment of the Dutch, surrounding it with a Dutch setting. True, next to the crowded crowd of such patriotic artists is a phalanx of other painters, looking for inspiration outside the fatherland, in classic country art, Italy; however, in their works there are also features that expose their nationality. Finally, as a feature of the goal. painters, one can point to their renunciation of artistic traditions. It would be in vain to look for among them a strict continuity of well-known aesthetic principles and technical rules, not only in the sense of academic style, but also in the sense of the students’ assimilation of the character of their teachers: with the exception, perhaps, of Rembrandt’s students alone, who more or less closely followed in the footsteps of their genius mentor, almost all painters in Holland, as soon as they passed their student years, and sometimes even during these years, began to work in their own way, in accordance with where their individual inclination led them and what direct observation of nature taught them. Therefore, the goal. artists cannot be divided into schools, just as we do with the artists of Italy or Spain; it is difficult even to form strictly defined groups of them, and the very expression " G. painting school", which came into general use, should be understood only in a conditional sense, as denoting a collection of tribal masters, but not an actual school. Meanwhile, in all the main cities of Holland there were organized societies of artists, which, it would seem, should have influenced the communication of their activities of one general direction. However, such societies, called guilds of st. Bows, if they contributed to this, then to a very moderate extent. These were not academies, the custodians of well-known artistic traditions, but free corporations, similar to other craft and industrial guilds, not much different from them in terms of structure and aimed at mutual support of their members, protection of their rights, care for their old age, care for the fate of their widows and orphans. Every local painter who met the requirements of the moral qualifications was admitted to the guild upon preliminary confirmation of his abilities and knowledge or on the basis of the fame he had already acquired; visiting artists were admitted to the guild as temporary members for the duration of their stay in this city. Those belonging to the guild met to discuss, under the chairmanship of the deans, their common affairs or for the mutual exchange of thoughts; but in these meetings there was nothing that resembled the preaching of a certain artistic direction and would tend to restrict the originality of any of the members. The indicated features of G. painting are noticeable even in its early days - at a time when it developed inseparably from the Flemish school. Her vocation, like that of the latter, was then mainly to decorate churches with religious paintings, palaces, town halls and noble houses with portraits of government officials and aristocrats. Unfortunately, the works of primitive Greek painters have reached us only in very limited quantities, since most of them perished in that troubled time when the Reformation devastated Catholic churches, abolished monasteries and abbeys, and incited “icon breakers” (beeldstormers) to destroy picturesque and sculptural sacred images, and the popular uprising destroyed everywhere the portraits of the hated tyrants. We know many of the artists who preceded the revolution only by name; We can judge others only by one or two samples of their work. So, regarding the oldest of the Golls. painters, Albert van Ouwater, there is no positive data, except for the information that he was a contemporary of the van Eycks and worked in Harlem; There are no reliable paintings of him. His student Gertjen van Sint-Jan is known only from two panels of a triptych kept in the Vienna Gallery ("Holy Sepulcher" and "Legend of the Bones of St. John"), which he wrote for the Harlem Cathedral. The fog that shrouds us in the initial era of the G. school begins to dissipate with the appearance on the scene of Dirk Bouts, nicknamed Stuerboat († 1475), originally from Haarlem, but who worked in Leuven and is therefore considered by many to be part of the Flemish school (his best works are two paintings " The Wrongful Trial of Emperor Otto" are in the Brussels Museum), as well as Cornelis Engelbrechtsen (1468-1553), whose main merit is that he was the teacher of the famous Luke of Leiden (1494-1533). This latter, a versatile, hardworking and highly talented artist, knew how, like no one before him, to accurately reproduce everything that caught his eye, and therefore can be considered the real father of the Dutch genre, although he had to paint mainly religious paintings and portraits. In the works of his contemporary Jan Mostaert (circa 1470-1556), the desire for naturalism is combined with a touch of Gothic tradition, the warmth of religious feeling with a concern for external elegance. In addition to these outstanding masters, the following deserve to be mentioned during the initial era of Georgian art: Hieronymus van Aken, nicknamed J. de Bosch (c. 1462-1516), who laid the foundation for satirical everyday painting with his complex, intricate and sometimes extremely strange compositions; Jan Mundain († 1520), famous in Harlem for his depictions of devilry and buffoonery; Peter Aertsen († 1516), nicknamed “Long Peter” (Lange Pier) for his tall stature, David Ioris (1501-56), a skilled glass painter, carried away by Anabaptist nonsense and imagining himself as the prophet David and the son of God, Jacob Swarts (1469 ? - 1535?), Jacob Cornelisen (1480? - later 1533) and his son Dirk Jacobs (two paintings of the latter, depicting rifle societies, are in the Imperial Hermitage). Wed. Van Eyden u. van der Willigen, "Geschiedenis der vaderlandische schilderkunst, sedert de helft des 18-de eeuw" (4 volumes, 1866) A. Woltman u. K. Woermann, "Geschichte der Malerei" (2nd and 3rd volumes, 1882-1883); Waagen, "Handbuch der deutschen und niderländischen Malerschulen" (1862); Bode, "Studien zur Geschichte der holländischen Malerei" (1883); Havard, "La peinture hollandaise" (1880); E. Fromentin, "Les maîtres d"autrefois. Belgique, Hollande" (1876); A. Bredius, "Die Meisterwerke des Rijksmuseum zu Amsterdam" (1890); P. P. Semenov, "Sketches on History Dutch painting based on its samples located in St. Petersburg." (special supplement to the journal "Vestn. Fine Arts", 1885-90). A. Somov.
Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron. - S.-Pb.: Brockhaus-Efron. 1890-1907 .
Dutch painting, in fine arts
About half of the 16th table. among Dutch painters there is a desire to get rid of the shortcomings of Russian art - its Gothic angularity and dryness - by studying Italian artists the Renaissance and combining their manner with the best traditions of their own school. This desire is already visible in the works of the aforementioned Mostert; but the main disseminator of the new movement should be considered Jan Schorel (1495-1562), who lived for a long time in Italy and later founded a school in Utrecht, from which came a number of artists infected with the desire to become Dutch Raphaels and Michelangelos. In his footsteps, Maarten van Van, nicknamed Gemskerk (1498-1574), Henryk Goltzius (1558-1616), Peter Montford, nicknamed. Blokhorst (1532-83), Cornelis v. Haarlem (1562-1638) and others belonging to the next period of the Italian school, such as, for example, Abraham Bloemaert (1564-1651), Gerard Gonthorst (1592-1662), went beyond the Alps to become imbued with the perfections of the luminaries of Italian painting, but fell , for the most part, under the influence of representatives of the decline of this painting that was beginning at that time, they returned to their homeland as mannerists, imagining that the whole essence of art lies in the exaggeration of muscles, in the pretentiousness of angles and the panache of conventional colors. However, the Italians' passion for painting, which often extended to extremes in the transitional era of Georgia, brought a kind of benefit, since it brought into this painting better, more learned drawing and the ability to manage composition more freely and boldly. Together with the Old Netherlandish tradition and boundless love for nature, Italianism became one of the elements from which the original, highly developed art of the flourishing era was formed. The onset of this era, as we have already said, should be dated to the beginning of the 17th century, when Holland, having won independence, began to live a new life. The dramatic transformation of an oppressed and poor country just yesterday into a politically important, comfortable and wealthy union of states was accompanied by an equally dramatic revolution in its art. From all sides, almost simultaneously, wonderful artists are emerging in countless numbers, called to activity by the rise of the national spirit and the need for their work that has developed in society. To the original artistic centers, Haarlem and Leiden, new ones are being added - Delft, Utrecht, Dortrecht, The Hague, Amsterdam, etc. Everywhere the old tasks of painting are being developed in a new way under the influence of changing demands and views, and its new branches, the beginnings of which were barely noticeable in the previous period. The Reformation drove religious paintings out of churches; there was no need to decorate palaces and noble chambers with images of ancient gods and heroes, and therefore historical painting, satisfying the tastes of the rich bourgeoisie, discarded idealism and turned to an accurate reproduction of reality: it began to interpret long-past events as the events of the day that took place in Holland, and in especially took up portraiture, perpetuating in it the features of people of that time, either in single figures or in extensive, multi-figure compositions depicting rifle societies (schutterstuke), which played such a prominent role in the struggle for the liberation of the country - the managers of its charitable institutions (regentenstuke) , shop foremen and members of various corporations. If we decided to talk about all the talented portrait painters of the flourishing era of Gaul. art, then just listing their names with an indication of their best works would take many lines; Therefore, we limit ourselves to mentioning only those artists who are especially outstanding from the general ranks. These are: Michiel Mierevelt (1567-1641), his student Paulus Morelse (1571-1638), Thomas de Keyser (1596-1667) Jan van Ravesteyn (1572? - 1657), predecessors of the three greatest portrait painters of Holland - the sorcerer of chiaroscuro Rembrandt van Rijn ( 1606-69), an incomparable draftsman who had an amazing art of modeling figures in light, but somewhat cold in character and color, Bartholomew van der Gelst (1611 or 1612-70) and striking with the fugue of his brush Frans Gols the Elder (1581-1666). Of these, the name of Rembrandt shines especially brightly in history, at first held in high esteem by his contemporaries, then forgotten by them, little appreciated by posterity, and only in the current century elevated, in all fairness, to the level of world genius. In his characteristic artistic personality, all the best qualities of G. painting are concentrated, as if in focus, and his influence was reflected in all its types - in portraits, historical paintings, everyday scenes and landscapes. The most famous among Rembrandt's students and followers were: Ferdinand Bol (1616-80), Govert Flinck (1615-60), Gerbrand van den Eckhout (1621-74), Nicholas Mas (1632-93), Art de Gelder (1645-1727 ), Jacob Backer (1608 or 1609-51), Jan Victors (1621-74), Carel Fabricius (c. 1620-54), Salomon and Philips Koning (1609-56, 1619-88), Pieter de Grebber, Willem de Porter († later 1645), Gerard Dou (1613-75) and Samuel van Googstraten (1626-78). In addition to these artists, for completeness, a list of the best portrait painters and historical painters of the period under consideration can be named Jan Lievens (1607-30), Rembrandt’s fellow student of P. Lastman, Abraham van Tempel (1622-72) and Peter Nason (1612-91), who worked, apparently, under the influence of. d. Gelsta, imitator of Hals Johannes Verspronck (1597-1662), Jan and Jacob de Braev († 1664, † 1697), Cornelis van Zeulen (1594-1664) and Nicholas de Gelta-Stokade (1614-69). Household painting , whose first experiments appeared in the old Dutch school, found itself in the 17th century. especially fertile soil in Protestant, free, bourgeois, self-satisfied Holland. Small pictures, artlessly representing the customs and life of different classes of local society, seemed to enough people more entertaining than large works of serious painting, and, along with landscapes, more convenient for decorating cozy private homes. A whole horde of artists satisfies the demand for such pictures, without thinking long about the choice of themes for them, but conscientiously reproducing everything that is encountered in reality, showing at the same time love for their family, then good-natured humor, accurately characterizing the depicted positions and faces and refined in the mastery of technology. While some are occupied with common people's life, scenes of peasant happiness and sorrow, drinking bouts in taverns and taverns, gatherings in front of roadside inns, rural holidays, games and skating on the ice of frozen rivers and canals, etc., others take the content for their works from a more elegant circle - they paint graceful ladies in their intimate surroundings, the courtship of dandy gentlemen, housewives giving orders to their maids, salon exercises in music and singing, the revelry of golden youth in pleasure houses, etc. In the long series of artists of the first category, they excel Adrian and Izak v. Ostade (1610-85, 1621-49), Adrian Brouwer (1605 or 1606-38), Jan Stan (about 1626-79), Cornelis Bega (1620-64), Richart Brackenburg (1650-1702), P. v. Lahr, nicknamed Bambocchio in Italy (1590-1658), Cornelis Dusart (1660-1704), Egbert van der Poel (1621-64), Cornelis Drohslot (1586-1666), Egbert v. Gemskerk (1610-80), Henrik Roques, nicknamed Sorg (1621-82), Claes Molenaar (formerly 1630-76), Jan Minse-Molenar (about 1610-68), Cornelis Saftleven (1606-81) and some. etc. Of the equally significant number of painters who reproduced the life of the middle and upper, generally sufficient, class, Gerard Terborch (1617-81), Gerard Dou (1613-75), Gabriel Metsu (1630-67), Peter de Gogh ( 1630-66), Caspar Netscher (1639-84), France c. Miris the Elder (1635-81), Eglon van der Naer (1643-1703), Gottfried Schalcken (1643-1706), Jan van der Meer of Delft (1632-73), Johannes Vercollier (1650-93), Quiring Brekelenkamp (†1668 ). Jacob Ochtervelt († 1670), Dirk Hals (1589-1656), Anthony and Palamedes Palamedes (1601-73, 1607-38), etc. The category of genre painters includes artists who painted scenes of military life, idleness of soldiers in guardhouses, camp sites , cavalry skirmishes and entire battles, dressage horses, as well as falconry and hound hunting scenes akin to battle scenes. The main representative of this branch of painting is the famous and extraordinarily prolific Philips Wouwerman (1619-68). In addition to him, her brother of this master, Peter (1623-82), Jan Asselein (1610-52), whom we will soon meet among the landscape painters, the aforementioned Palamedes, Jacob Leduc (1600 - later 1660), Henrik Verschuring (1627- 90), Dirk Stop (1610-80), Dirk Mas (1656-1717), etc. For many of these artists, landscape plays as important a role as human figures; but in parallel with them, a mass of painters are working, setting it as their main or exclusive task. In general, the Dutch have an inalienable right to be proud that their fatherland is not only the homeland the latest genre, but also landscape in the sense as it is understood today. In fact, in other countries, e.g. in Italy and France, art had little interest in inanimate nature, did not find in it either a unique life or special beauty: the painter introduced landscape into his paintings only as a side element, as a decoration, among which episodes of human drama or comedy are played out, and therefore subordinated it conditions of the scene, inventing picturesque lines and spots that are beneficial to it, but without copying nature, without being imbued with the impression it inspires. In the same way he “composed” nature in those rare cases when he tried to paint a purely landscape painting. The Dutch were the first to understand that even in inanimate nature everything breathes life, everything is attractive, everything is capable of evoking thought and exciting the movement of the heart. And this was quite natural, because the Dutch, so to speak, created the nature around them with their own hands, treasured and admired it, like a father cherishes and admires his own brainchild. In addition, this nature, despite the modesty of its forms and colors, provided such colorists as the Dutch with abundant material for developing lighting motifs and aerial perspective thanks to climatic conditions the country - its steam-saturated air, softening the outlines of objects, producing a gradation of tones on different planes and covering the distance with a haze of silvery or golden fog, as well as the changeability of the appearance of areas determined by the time of year, hour of day and weather conditions. Among the landscape painters of the flowering period, the Dutch. schools that were interpreters of their domestic nature are especially respected: Jan V. Goyen (1595-1656), who, together with Esaias van de Velde (c. 1590-1630) and Pieter Moleyn the Elder. (1595-1661), considered the founder of the Goll. landscape; then this master's student, Salomon. Ruisdael († 1623), Simon de Vlieger (1601-59), Jan Wijnants (c. 1600 - later 1679), lover of the effects of better lighting Art. d. Nair (1603-77), poetic Jacob v. Ruisdael (1628 or 1629-82), Meinert Gobbema (1638-1709) and Cornelis Dekker († 1678). Among the Dutch there were also many landscape painters who embarked on travels and reproduced motifs of foreign nature, which, however, did not prevent them from maintaining a national character in their painting. Albert V. Everdingen (1621-75) depicted views of Norway; Jan Both (1610-52), Dirk v. Bergen († later 1690) and Jan Lingelbach (1623-74) - Italy; Ian V. d. Mayor the Younger (1656-1705), Hermann Saftleven (1610-85) and Jan Griffir (1656-1720) - Reina; Jan Hackart (1629-99?) - Germany and Switzerland; Cornelis Pulenenburg (1586-1667) and a group of his followers painted landscapes inspired by Italian nature, with ruins of ancient buildings, bathing nymphs and scenes of an imaginary Arcadia. In a special category we can single out masters who in their paintings combined landscapes with images of animals, giving preference to either the first or the second, or treating both parts with equal attention. The most famous among such painters of rural idyll is Paulus Potter (1625-54); Besides him, Adrian should be included here. d. Velde (1635 or 1636-72), Albert Cuyp (1620-91), Abraham Gondius († 1692) and numerous artists who turned for themes preferably or exclusively to Italy, such as: Willem Romain († later 1693), Adam Peinaker (1622-73), Jan-Baptiste Vanix (1621-60), Jan Asselein, Claes Berchem (1620-83), Karel Dujardin (1622-78), Thomas Weick (1616?-77) Frederic de Moucheron (1633 or 1634 -86), etc. Painting is closely related to landscape architectural views, which Dutch artists began to engage in as an independent branch of art only in the half of the 17th century. Some of those who have since worked in this area have been sophisticated in depicting city streets and squares with their buildings; these are, among others, less significant, Johannes Bärestraten (1622-66), Job and Gerrit Werk-Heide (1630-93, 1638-98), Jan v. d. Heyden (1647-1712) and Jacob v. village Yulft (1627-88). Others, among whom the most prominent are Pieter Sanredan († 1666), Dirk v. Delen (1605-71), Emmanuel de Witte (1616 or 1617-92), painted interior views of churches and palaces. The sea was of such importance in the life of Holland that her art could not treat it except with the greatest attention. Many of its artists who dealt with landscapes, genres and even portraits, breaking away from their usual subjects for a while, became marine painters, and if we decided to list all the Dutch painters. schools depicting a calm or raging sea, ships rocking on it, harbors cluttered with ships, naval battles, etc., then we would get a very long list that would include the names of Ya. Goyen, S. de Vlieger, S. and J. Ruisdal, A. Cuyp and others already mentioned in the previous lines. Limiting ourselves to pointing out those for whom painting of marine species was a specialty, we must name Willem v. de Velde the Elder (1611 or 1612-93), his famous son V. v. de Velde the Younger (1633-1707), Ludolf Backhuisen (1631-1708), Jan V. de Cappelle († 1679) and Julius Parcellis († later 1634). Finally, the realistic direction of the Dutch school was the reason that a type of painting was formed and developed in it, which in other schools until then had not been cultivated as a special, independent branch, namely painting of flowers, fruits, vegetables, living creatures, kitchen utensils, tableware etc. - in a word, what is now commonly called “dead nature” (nature morte, Stilleben). In this area between the The most famous artists of the flourishing era were Jan-Davids de Gem (1606-83), his son Cornelis (1631-95), Abraham Mignon (1640-79), Melchior de Gondecoeter (1636-95), Maria Osterwijk (1630-93) , Willem V. Aalst (1626-83), Willem Geda (1594 - later 1678), Willem Kalf (1621 or 1622-93) and Jan Waenix (1640-1719).
The brilliant period of Dutch painting did not last long - only one century. Since the beginning of the 18th century. its decline is coming, not because the coasts of the Zuiderzee cease to produce innate talents, but because In society, national self-awareness is weakening more and more, the national spirit is evaporating, and the French tastes and views of the pompous era are taking hold. Louis XIV. In art, this cultural turn is expressed by the oblivion on the part of artists of those basic principles on which the originality of painters of previous generations depended, and an appeal to aesthetic principles brought from a neighboring country. Instead of a direct relationship to nature, love of what is native and sincerity, the dominance of preconceived theories, convention, and imitation of Poussin, Lebrun, Cl. Lorrain and other luminaries of the French school. The main propagator of this regrettable trend was the Flemish Gerard de Leresse (1641-1711), who settled in Amsterdam, a very capable and educated artist in his time, who had a huge influence on his contemporaries and immediate posterity both with his mannered pseudo-historical paintings and with the works of his own pen, among which one - "The Great Book of the Painter" ("t groot schilderboec") - served as a code for young artists for fifty years. The decline of the school was also contributed to by the famous Adrian V. de Werff (1659-1722), whose sleek painting with cold, as if cut out ivory figures, with a dull, powerless color, once seemed the height of perfection. Among the followers of this artist, Henrik V. Limborg (1680-1758) and Philip V.-Dyck (1669-1729), nicknamed “Little V.,” were famous as historical painters. -Dyck". Of the other painters of the era in question, endowed with undoubted talent, but infected with the spirit of the time, it should be noted Willem and France v. Miris the Younger (1662-1747, 1689-1763), Nicholas Vercollier (1673-1746), Constantine Netscher (1668-1722), Isaac de Moucheron (1670-1744) and Carel de Maur (1656-1738). Some shine was given to the dying school by Cornelis Trost (1697-1750), primarily a cartoonist, nicknamed Dutch. Gogarth, portrait painter Jan Quincgard (1688-1772), decorative and historical painter Jacob de Wit (1695-1754) and painters of dead nature Jan V. Geysum (1682-1749) and Rachel Reisch (1664-1750).
Foreign influence weighed on Dutch painting until the twenties of the 19th century, having managed to more or less reflect in it the changes that art took in France, starting with the wigmaking of the times of the Sun King and ending with the pseudo-classicism of David. When the style of the latter became obsolete and everywhere in Western Europe, instead of the fascination with the ancient Greeks and Romans, a romantic desire was aroused, mastering both poetry and the figurative arts, the Dutch, like other peoples, turned their gaze to their antiquity, and therefore to their glorious past painting. The desire to give it again the brilliance with which it shone in the 17th century began to inspire the newest artists and returned them to the principles of the ancient national masters - to a strict observation of nature and an ingenuous, sincere attitude towards the tasks at hand. At the same time, they did not try to completely eliminate foreign influence, but, going to study in Paris or Dusseldorf and others art centers Germany, they took home from there only an acquaintance with the successes of modern technology. Thanks to all this, the revived Dutch school again received an original, attractive physiognomy and is moving today along the path leading to further progress. She can easily contrast many of her newest figures with the best painters of the 19th century in other countries. Historical painting in the strict sense of the word is cultivated in it, as in the old days, very moderately and has no outstanding representatives; but in part historical genre Holland can be proud of several significant recent masters, such as: Jacob Ekgout (1793-1861), Ari Lamme (b. 1812), Peter V. Schendel (1806-70), David Bles (b. 1821), Hermann ten-Cate (1822-1891) and the highly talented Lawrence Alma-Tadema (b. 1836), who deserted to England. In terms of the everyday genre, which was also included in the circle of activity of these artists (with the exception of Alma-Tadema), one can point to a number of excellent painters, headed by Joseph Israels (b. 1824) and Christoffel Bisschop (b. 1828); besides them, Michiel Verseg (1756-1843), Elhanon Vervaer (b. 1826), Teresa Schwarze (b. 1852) and Valli Mus (b. 1857) are worthy of being named. The newest goal is especially rich. painting by landscape painters who worked and work in a variety of ways, sometimes with careful completion, sometimes with the broad technique of the impressionists, but faithful and poetic interpreters of their native nature. These include Andreas Schelfgout (1787-1870), Barent Koekkoek (1803-62), Johannes Wilders (1811-90), Willem Roelofs (b. 1822), Hendrich v. de Sande-Bockhuisen (b. 1826), Anton Mauwe (1838-88), Jacob Maris (b. 1837), Lodewijk Apol (b. 1850) and many others. etc. Direct heirs of Ya. D. Heyden and E. de Witte, painters of promising views appeared, Jan Verheiden (1778-1846), Bartholomews v. Gowe (1790-1888), Salomon Vervaer (1813-76), Cornelis Springer (1817-91), Johannes Bosbohm (1817-91), Johannes Weissenbruch (1822-1880), etc. Among the newest marine painters of Holland, the palm belongs to Jog. Schotel (1787-1838), Ari Plaisir (b. 1809), Hermann Koekkoek (1815-82) and Henrik Mesdag (b. 1831). Finally, animals were shown in painting great art Wouters Verschoor (1812-74) and Johann Gas (b. 1832).
Wed. Van Eyden u. van der Willigen, "Geschiedenis der vaderlandische schilderkunst, sedert de helft des 18-de eeuw" (4 volumes, 1866) A. Woltman u. K. Woermann, "Geschichte der Malerei" (2nd and 3rd volumes, 1882-1883); Waagen, "Handbuch der deutschen und niderländischen Malerschulen" (1862); Bode, "Studien zur Geschichte der holländischen Malerei" (1883); Havard, "La peinture hollandaise" (1880); E. Fromentin, "Les maîtres d"autrefois. Belgique, Hollande" (1876); A. Bredius, "Die Meisterwerke des Rijksmuseum zu Amsterdam" (1890); P. P. Semenov, "Studies on the history of Dutch painting based on its samples located in St. Petersburg." (special appendix to magazine "Vestn. Fine Arts", 1885-90).
Almost two hundred years later, in 1820, the Royal Art Gallery was located in this building - one of the best collections of Dutch painting of the 15th-17th centuries in the world.
XVII century is called the "golden age" of Dutch painting (not to be confused with the Flemish "golden age", which refers to the work of the artists of Flanders in the 15th century - the so-called "Flemish primitivists").
All genres of this era of Dutch fine art are fully and variedly represented in the gallery: magnificent examples of portraits, landscapes, still lifes, historical paintings, and finally, the main discovery of the Dutch masters - genre scenes, or scenes of everyday life.
It seems that there is not a single significant artist from the Netherlands whose work would not be represented in the Hague Museum. Here are portraitists Anton van Dyck and Jacob van Kampen, and still life masters Willem van Elst and Balthasar van der Ast, famous landscape painters: Hendrik Averkamp with his famous “Winter Landscape”, Jan van Goyen and Salomon van Ruisdel, and, of course, brilliant masters genre scene Gerard ter Borch, Pieter de Hooch, Gerard Dou and others.
Among the many famous names, four of the most important for Dutch art stand out. These are Jan Steen, Frans Hals and two of the greatest Dutch geniuses, Rembrandt van Rijn and Johannes Vermeer.
In that era, the Dutch artist often devoted his art to any one favorite genre. Such are Sten and Hals. All their lives these artists each worked in their own field: Sten developed genre scene, Hals achieved the highest skill in portraiture.
Nowadays the work of these masters is considered classic in its genre. In the museum you can see "The Laughing Boy" by Frans Hals and "The Old Man Sings - The Young People Sing Along" by Jan Steen.
Neither Rembrandt nor Vermeer associated their work with any one genre. Both of them, although with different intensity, worked in a variety of fields, from portraiture to landscape, and everywhere they reached unattainable heights, decisively tearing Dutch painting out of the narrow genre framework.
Rembrandt is generously represented in the museums of his homeland. The diversity of his heritage is also reflected in the Hague exhibition. The museum displays three paintings by the artist: “Simeon Praising Christ”, “The Anatomy Lesson of Doctor Tulpa” and one of the last self-portraits of the great master.
Vermeer, on the contrary, left extremely few paintings. The number of museums that own one or two paintings by this enigmatic painter can be counted on one hand.
Only six of his masterpieces remain in the artist’s homeland. Four of them - the largest collection of Vermeer in the world - are kept in the Riksmuseum in Amsterdam. The Hague is rightfully proud of the other two. This is the famous "View of Delft" - hometown Vermeer and, perhaps, his most famous painting, which became the “calling card” of the museum - “Girl with Pearl Sulfur”.
The collection of paintings from the Netherlands of the 17th century is the main wealth of the museum. However, the exhibition is not limited to it: the Hague gallery is proud of the creations of artists from another “golden age” - the Flemish one. It houses works by masters of the 15th century: “Lamentation of Christ” by Rogier van der Weyden and “Portrait of a Man” by Hans Memling.
The Moritzhaus collection is complemented by the Prince Willem V Picture Gallery. This is chronologically the first art museum Holland. Its exposition, once collected by the prince himself and reflecting his taste, is dedicated to painting XVIII V.
Moritzhaus is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Sundays and weekends - from 11 to 17 hours. Closed on Monday. Ticket price 12.50 NLG. Children from 7 to 18 years old - 6.50 NLG.
The Willem V Gallery is open daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closed on Monday. Ticket price is 2.50 NLG. Children from 7 to 18 years old - 1.50 NLG. Entrance to the Willem V Gallery is free upon presentation of a Moritzhaus ticket.
We all know that unique works of art have been created in Holland over the centuries. But what is happening on the contemporary art scene today? Which young artist can take his place in history? Amsterdam, like many other large Dutch cities, has many interesting galleries, who organize large exhibitions of talented creative artists from all over the country. Since contemporary Dutch artists, famous both at home and abroad, huge amount, their works can be found both in large museums of the Stedelijk level and in small galleries KochxBos Gallery or Nederlands Fotomuseum.
Below are five rising Dutch artists who have attracted global attention and will undoubtedly contribute to Dutch art history.
Daan Roosegaard
“The goal of my work is to make people think about the future,” says Roosegaard. This artist and innovator is the winner of several awards. He rose to prominence in the contemporary art world with his 2006 installation Dune. Interactive illuminated signs installed along the Maas River in Rotterdam have opened the door for an artist obsessed with technology, design and architecture. In his works, Roosegaard creates a futuristic world in which people and technology interact harmoniously with each other. From February to May 5, the “Lotus Dome” will be on display in the Beuning hall of the Rijksmuseum. This two-meter dome reacts to the approach of people: hundreds of aluminum flowers bloom, feeling the warmth of visitors.
Levi van Veluw
Traditional ways of creating works of art for van Veluwu, an artist from Heuwelaken, are clearly not enough. His portfolio includes photographs, sculptures, drawings and installations, and the use of himself as material is the hallmark of his work. It is no coincidence that his first exhibition at the Ron Mandos gallery in Amsterdam featured a series of six photographs depicting beautifully detailed ballpoint pen drawings. Instead of a canvas, the artist painted on his own face. The connection between body and surface was discovered by post-war artists, who developed performance art to a level never before seen. But the use of such everyday items, like an ordinary pen, to create a work of art, played an important role for van Veluwe in achieving success. By developing the idea in his own personal style, Levi van Veluw was able to exhibit his work in the world's best museums and bring contemporary Dutch art to the international stage.
Tony Van Til
Tony Van Til received higher education in Fine Arts from St. Justa, an educational institution located in the small southern town of Breda, in 2007. After graduation, the young artist is engaged in interesting projects. One of them is "Twitter Sculptures". Since 2012, he has maintained a Twitter account where he describes ideas for sculptures in 140 characters. For example, one of the ideas is “a portrait of a Botox beauty, enlarged to the size of a 4-story wall,” others are more abstract: the creation of “shadows with growing pain.” Among the artist’s other works are a series of drawings containing more ideas for sculptures. Is tweeting a creative process? For Van Til, the answer is yes.
Anouk Kruythof
This Dordrecht-based artist uses photographs as source material to create sculptures, installations, books and brochures for distribution. She sometimes creates anonymous items (such as cards and posters) that visitors can take home. The Stedelijk Museum is currently hosting an exhibition of her and fellow Dutch artist Pauline Olseten. The installation on the ground floor presents their interpretation of street photography. A characteristic feature of the works is an emphasized admiration for people and strangers. Another aspect of life that attracts her attention is color. According to the artist, she “creates order in chaos” using the method of color gradation.
Harma Heikens
It is difficult not to mention Harma Heikens when talking about contemporary Dutch art. Her first exhibitions date back to the early 1990s. The life-size sculptures combine manga style and contemporary street art. The work of Harma Heikens is not easy to perceive, especially at first. Many even called them “quirky kitsch.” This is due to the fact that the artist chose a very painful topic: the exploitation of children in a consumer society where values are distorted. Her sculptures depict the disturbed world of poor and exploited children, acting as a wake-up call to the viewer to address deep-rooted social problems.
Holland. 17th century The country is experiencing unprecedented prosperity. The so-called "Golden Age". At the end of the 16th century, several provinces of the country achieved independence from Spain.
Now the Protestant Netherlands have gone their own way. And Catholic Flanders (present-day Belgium) under the wing of Spain is its own.
In independent Holland, almost no one needed religious painting. The Protestant Church did not approve of luxury decoration. But this circumstance “played into the hands” of secular painting.
Literally every resident of the new country awoke to love this type of art. The Dutch wanted to see their own lives in the paintings. And the artists willingly met them halfway.
Never before has the surrounding reality been depicted so much. Ordinary people, ordinary rooms and the most ordinary breakfast of a city dweller.
Realism flourished. Until the 20th century, it will be a worthy competitor to academicism with its nymphs and Greek goddesses.
These artists are called "small" Dutch. Why? The paintings were small in size, because they were created for small houses. Thus, almost all paintings by Jan Vermeer are no more than half a meter in height.
But I like the other version better. Lived and worked in the Netherlands in the 17th century great master, the “big” Dutchman. And everyone else was “small” in comparison with him.
We are talking, of course, about Rembrandt. Let's start with him.
1. Rembrandt (1606-1669)
Rembrandt. Self-portrait at the age of 63. 1669 National Gallery London Rembrandt experienced a wide range of emotions during his life. That's why there's so much fun and bravado in his early work. And there are so many complex feelings - in the later ones.
Here he is young and carefree in the painting “The Prodigal Son in the Tavern.” On his knees is his beloved wife Saskia. He is a popular artist. Orders are pouring in.
Rembrandt. The Prodigal Son in a Tavern. 1635 Old Masters Gallery, Dresden But all this will disappear in about 10 years. Saskia will die of consumption. Popularity will disappear like smoke. A large house with a unique collection will be taken away for debts.
But the same Rembrandt will appear who will remain for centuries. The bare feelings of the heroes. Their deepest thoughts.
2. Frans Hals (1583-1666)
Frans Hals. Self-portrait. 1650 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Frans Hals is one of the greatest portrait painters of all time. Therefore, I would also classify him as a “big” Dutchman.
In Holland at that time it was customary to order group portraits. This is how many similar works appeared depicting people working together: marksmen of one guild, doctors of one town, managers of a nursing home.
In this genre, Hals stands out the most. After all, most of these portraits looked like a deck of cards. People sit at the table with the same facial expression and just watch. It was different for Hals.
Look at his group portrait “Arrows of the Guild of St. George."
Frans Hals. Arrows of the Guild of St. George. 1627 Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, Netherlands Here you will not find a single repetition in pose or facial expression. At the same time, there is no chaos here. There are a lot of characters, but no one seems superfluous. Thanks to the amazingly correct arrangement of figures.
And even in a single portrait, Hals was superior to many artists. His patterns are natural. People from high society his paintings are devoid of contrived grandeur, and the models from the lower classes do not look humiliated.
And his characters are also very emotional: they smile, laugh, and gesticulate. Like, for example, this “Gypsy” with a sly look.
Frans Hals. Gypsy. 1625-1630 Hals, like Rembrandt, ended his life in poverty. For the same reason. His realism ran counter to the tastes of his customers. Who wanted their appearance to be embellished. Hals did not accept outright flattery, and thereby signed his own sentence - “Oblivion.”
3. Gerard Terborch (1617-1681)
Gerard Terborch. Self-portrait. 1668 Royal Gallery Mauritshuis, The Hague, Netherlands Terborch was a master of the everyday genre. Rich and not-so-rich burghers talk leisurely, ladies read letters, and a procuress watches the courtship. Two or three closely spaced figures.
It was this master who developed the canons of the everyday genre. Which would later be borrowed by Jan Vermeer, Pieter de Hooch and many other “small” Dutchmen.
Gerard Terborch. A glass of lemonade. 1660s. State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg “A Glass of Lemonade” is one of famous works Terborha. It shows another advantage of the artist. Incredibly realistic image of the dress fabric.
Terborch also has unusual works. Which speaks to his desire to go beyond customer requirements.
His "The Grinder" shows the life of the poorest people in Holland. We are used to seeing cozy courtyards and clean rooms in the paintings of the “small” Dutch. But Terborch dared to show unsightly Holland.
Gerard Terborch. Grinder. 1653-1655 State Museums of Berlin As you understand, such work was not in demand. And they are a rare occurrence even among Terborch.
4. Jan Vermeer (1632-1675)
Jan Vermeer. Artist's workshop. 1666-1667 Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna It is not known for certain what Jan Vermeer looked like. It is only obvious that in the painting “The Artist’s Workshop” he depicted himself. The truth from the back.
It is therefore surprising that it has recently become known new fact from the life of a master. It is connected with his masterpiece “Delft Street”.
Jan Vermeer. Delft street. 1657 Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam It turned out that Vermeer spent his childhood on this street. The house pictured belonged to his aunt. She raised her five children there. Perhaps she is sitting on the doorstep sewing while her two children play on the sidewalk. Vermeer himself lived in the house opposite.
But more often he depicted the interior of these houses and their inhabitants. It would seem that the plots of the paintings are very simple. Here is a pretty lady, a wealthy city dweller, checking the operation of her scales.
Jan Vermeer. Woman with scales. 1662-1663 National Gallery of Art, Washington Why did Vermeer stand out among thousands of other “small” Dutchmen?
He was an unsurpassed master of light. In the painting “Woman with Scales” the light softly envelops the heroine’s face, fabrics and walls. Giving the image an unknown spirituality.
And the compositions of Vermeer’s paintings are carefully verified. You won't find a single unnecessary detail. It is enough to remove one of them, the picture will “fall apart”, and the magic will go away.
All this was not easy for Vermeer. Such amazing quality required painstaking work. Only 2-3 paintings per year. As a result, the inability to feed the family. Vermeer also worked as an art dealer, selling works by other artists.
5. Pieter de Hooch (1629-1884)
Pieter de Hooch. Self-portrait. 1648-1649 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam Hoch is often compared to Vermeer. They worked at the same time, there was even a period in the same city. And in one genre - everyday. In Hoch we also see one or two figures in cozy Dutch courtyards or rooms.
Open doors and windows make the space of his paintings layered and entertaining. And the figures fit into this space very harmoniously. As, for example, in his painting “Maid with a Girl in the Courtyard.”
Pieter de Hooch. A maid with a girl in the courtyard. 1658 London National Gallery
Until the 20th century, Hoch was highly valued. But few people noticed the small works of his competitor Vermeer.
But in the 20th century everything changed. Hoch's glory faded. However, it is difficult not to recognize his achievements in painting. Few people could so competently combine the environment and people.
Pieter de Hooch. Card players in a sunny room. 1658 Royal Art Collection, London Please note that in a modest house on the canvas “Card Players” there is a painting hanging in an expensive frame.
This is in once again talks about how painting was popular among ordinary Dutch people. Paintings decorated every home: the house of a rich burgher, a modest city dweller, and even a peasant.
6. Jan Steen (1626-1679)
Jan Steen. Self-portrait with a lute. 1670s Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, MadridJan Steen is perhaps the most cheerful “little” Dutchman. But loving moral teaching. He often depicted taverns or poor houses in which vice existed.
Its main characters are revelers and ladies of easy virtue. He wanted to entertain the viewer, but latently warn him against a vicious life.
Jan Steen. It's a mess. 1663 Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna Sten also has quieter works. Like, for example, “Morning Toilet.” But here too the artist surprises the viewer with too revealing details. There are traces of stocking elastic, and not an empty chamber pot. And somehow it’s not at all appropriate for the dog to be lying right on the pillow.
Jan Steen. Morning toilet. 1661-1665 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam But despite all the frivolity, Sten’s color schemes are very professional. In this he was superior to many “little Dutchmen”. Look how perfectly the red stocking goes with the blue jacket and bright beige rug.
7. Jacobs Van Ruisdael (1629-1882)
Portrait of Ruisdael. Lithograph from a 19th century book. Almost two hundred years later, in 1820, the Royal Art Gallery was located in this building - one of the best collections of Dutch painting of the 15th-17th centuries in the world.
XVII century is called the "golden age" of Dutch painting (not to be confused with the Flemish "golden age", which refers to the work of the artists of Flanders in the 15th century - the so-called "Flemish primitivists").
All genres of this era of Dutch fine art are fully and variedly represented in the gallery: magnificent examples of portraits, landscapes, still lifes, historical paintings, and finally, the main discovery of the Dutch masters - genre scenes, or scenes of everyday life.
It seems that there is not a single significant artist from the Netherlands whose work would not be represented in the Hague Museum. Here are portraitists Anton van Dyck and Jacob van Kampen, and still life masters Willem van Elst and Balthasar van der Ast, famous landscape painters: Hendrik Averkamp with his famous “Winter Landscape”, Jan van Goyen and Salomon van Ruisdel, and, of course, brilliant masters genre scene Gerard ter Borch, Pieter de Hooch, Gerard Dou and others.
Among the many famous names, four of the most important for Dutch art stand out. These are Jan Steen, Frans Hals and two of the greatest Dutch geniuses, Rembrandt van Rijn and Johannes Vermeer.
In that era, the Dutch artist often devoted his art to any one favorite genre. Such are Sten and Hals. All their lives these artists each worked in their own field: Sten developed the genre scene, Hals achieved the highest mastery in portraiture.
Nowadays the work of these masters is considered classic in its genre. In the museum you can see "The Laughing Boy" by Frans Hals and "The Old Man Sings - The Young People Sing Along" by Jan Steen.
Neither Rembrandt nor Vermeer associated their work with any one genre. Both of them, although with different intensity, worked in a variety of fields, from portraiture to landscape, and everywhere they reached unattainable heights, decisively tearing Dutch painting out of the narrow genre framework.
Rembrandt is generously represented in the museums of his homeland. The diversity of his heritage is also reflected in the Hague exhibition. The museum displays three paintings by the artist: “Simeon Praising Christ”, “The Anatomy Lesson of Doctor Tulpa” and one of the last self-portraits of the great master.
Vermeer, on the contrary, left extremely few paintings. The number of museums that own one or two paintings by this enigmatic painter can be counted on one hand.
Only six of his masterpieces remain in the artist’s homeland. Four of them - the largest collection of Vermeer in the world - are kept in the Riksmuseum in Amsterdam. The Hague is rightfully proud of the other two. This is the famous “View of Delft” - Vermeer’s hometown and, perhaps, his most famous painting, which became the “calling card” of the museum - “Girl with Pearl Sulfur”.
The collection of paintings from the Netherlands of the 17th century is the main wealth of the museum. However, the exhibition is not limited to it: the Hague gallery is proud of the creations of artists from another “golden age” - the Flemish one. It houses works by masters of the 15th century: “Lamentation of Christ” by Rogier van der Weyden and “Portrait of a Man” by Hans Memling.
The Moritzhaus collection is complemented by the Prince Willem V Art Gallery. This is chronologically the first art museum in Holland. Its exhibition, once collected by the prince himself and reflecting his taste, is dedicated to the painting of the 18th century.
Moritzhaus is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Sundays and weekends - from 11 to 17 hours. Closed on Monday. Ticket price 12.50 NLG. Children from 7 to 18 years old - 6.50 NLG.
The Willem V Gallery is open daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closed on Monday. Ticket price is 2.50 NLG. Children from 7 to 18 years old - 1.50 NLG. Entrance to the Willem V Gallery is free upon presentation of a Moritzhaus ticket.
The Golden Age of Dutch painting is one of the most outstanding eras in the history of all world painting. The Golden Age of Dutch painting is considered 17th century. It was at this time that the most talented artists and painters created their immortal works. Their paintings are still considered unsurpassed masterpieces, which are kept in famous museums around the world and are considered an invaluable heritage of humanity.
At the beginning 17th century In Holland, a rather primitive art still flourished, which was justified by the mundane tastes and preferences of rich and powerful people. As a result of political, geopolitical and religious changes, Dutch art changed dramatically. If before this artists tried to pander to the Dutch burghers, depicting their life and way of life, devoid of any lofty and poetic language, and also worked for the church, which commissioned artists to work in a rather primitive genre with long-worn subjects, then the beginning of the 17th century was a real breakthrough. In Holland, the dominance of Protestants reigned, who practically stopped ordering paintings on religious themes from artists. Holland became independent from Spain and asserted itself on the historical podium. Artists moved from previously familiar themes to depicting everyday scenes, portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and so on. Here, in a new field, the artists of the golden age seemed to have a new breath and real geniuses of art began to appear in the world.
Dutch artists of the 17th century introduced realism in painting into fashion. Stunning in composition, in realism, in depth and unusualness, the paintings began to enjoy enormous success. The demand for paintings increased sharply. As a result, more and more new artists began to appear, who at an amazingly fast pace developed the fundamentals of painting, developed new techniques, styles and genres. Some of the most famous artists of the Golden Age were: Jan Vermeer, Cornelis Trost, Matthias Stom, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Esaias van de Velde, Frans Hals, Adrian Brouwer, Cornelis de Man, Anthony van Dyck and many others.
Paintings by Dutch painters
Cornelis de Man - Whale Oil Manufactory
Cornelis Trost - Fun in the Park
Ludolf Backhuizen - East India Campaign Dock in Amsterdam
Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Alchemist's Catastrophe
Rembrandt - Andries de Graef
The first years of the 17th century are considered to be the birth of the Dutch school. This school belongs to the great schools of painting and is an independent and independent school with unique and inimitable characteristics and identity.
This has a largely historical explanation - a new movement in art and a new state on the map of Europe arose simultaneously.
Until the 17th century, Holland did not stand out for its abundance of national artists. Perhaps that is why in the future in this country one can count so many large number artists, and specifically Dutch artists. While this country was one state with Flanders, it was mainly in Flanders that original artistic movements were intensively created and developed. Outstanding painters Van Eyck, Memling, Rogier van der Weyden, the likes of whom were not found in Holland, worked in Flanders. Only isolated bursts of genius in painting can be noted at the beginning of the 16th century; this is the artist and engraver Luke of Leiden, who is a follower of the Bruges school. But Luke of Leiden did not create any school. The same can be said about the painter Dirk Bouts from Haarlem, whose creations hardly stand out against the background of the style and manner of the origins of the Flemish school, about the artists Mostart, Skorel and Heemskerke, who, despite all their significance, are not individual talents that characterize them with their originality country.
Then Italian influence spread to everyone who created with the brush - from Antwerp to Haarlem. This was one of the reasons that borders were blurred, schools were mixed, and artists lost their national identity. Not even a single student of Jan Skorel survived. The last, the most famous, the greatest portrait painter, who, together with Rembrandt, is the pride of Holland, an artist gifted with powerful talent, excellently educated, varied in style, courageous and flexible by nature, a cosmopolitan who has lost all traces of his origin and even his name - Antonis Moreau , (he was the official painter of the Spanish king) died after 1588.
The surviving painters almost ceased to be Dutch in the spirit of their work; they lacked the organization and ability to renew the national school. These were representatives of Dutch mannerism: the engraver Hendrik Goltzius, Cornelis of Haarlem, who imitated Michelangelo, Abraham Bloemaert, a follower of Correggio, Michiel Mierevelt, a good portrait artist, skillful, precise, laconic, a little cold, modern for his time, but not national. It is interesting that he alone did not succumb to Italian influence, which subjugated most of the manifestations in the painting of Holland at that time.
By the end of the 16th century, when portrait painters had already created a school, other artists began to appear and form. In the second half of the 16th century, a large number of painters were born who became a phenomenon in painting; this was almost the awakening of the Dutch national school. A wide variety of talents leads to many various directions and ways of development of painting. Artists test themselves in all genres, in different color schemes: some work in a light manner, others in a dark one (the influence of the Italian artist Caravaggio was felt here). Painters are committed to light colors, and colorists to dark colors. The search for a pictorial manner begins, and rules for depicting chiaroscuro are developed. The palette becomes more relaxed and free, as do the lines and plasticity of the image. Rembrandt's direct predecessors appear - his teachers Jan Pace and Peter Lastman. Genre methods are also becoming more free - historicity is not as obligatory as before. A special, deeply national and almost historical genre is being created - group portraits intended for public places - city halls, corporations, workshops and communities. With this event, the most perfect in form, the 16th century ends and the 17th century begins.
This is only the beginning, the embryo of the school; the school itself does not exist yet. There are many talented artists. Among them there are skilled craftsmen, several great painters. Morelse, Jan Ravestein, Lastman, Frans Hals, Pulenburg, van Schoten, van de Venne, Thomas de Keyser, Honthorst, Cape the Elder, and finally Esayas van de Velde and van Goyen - all of them were born at the end of the 16th century. This list also includes artists whose names have been preserved by history, those who represented only individual attempts to achieve mastery, and those who became teachers and predecessors of future masters.
This was a critical moment in the development of Dutch painting. With an unstable political balance, everything depended only on chance. In Flanders, where a similar awakening was observed, on the contrary, there was already a sense of confidence and stability that was not yet there in Holland. In Flanders there were already artists who had formed or were close to this. Political and socio-historical conditions in this country were more favorable. There was a more flexible and tolerant government, traditions and society. The need for luxury gave rise to a persistent need for art. In general, there were serious reasons for Flanders to become a great center of art for the second time. For this, only two things were missing: several years of peace and a master who would be the creator of the school.
In 1609, when the fate of Holland was being decided - Philip III agreed on a truce between Spain and the Netherlands - Rubens appeared.
Everything depended on political or military chance. Defeated and subjugated, Holland would have to completely lose its independence. Then, of course, there could not be two independent schools - in Holland and in Flanders. In a country dependent on Italian-Flemish influence, such a school and talented original artists could not develop.
In order for the Dutch people to be born, and for Dutch art to see the light with them, a revolution, deep and victorious, was needed. It was especially important that the revolution be based on justice, reason, necessity, that the people deserve what they wanted to achieve, that they be decisive, convinced that they are right, hardworking, patient, restrained, heroic, and wise. All these historical features were subsequently reflected during the formation of the Dutch school of painting.
The situation turned out to be such that the war did not ruin the Dutch, but enriched them; the struggle for independence did not deplete their strength, but strengthened and inspired them. In the victory over the invaders, the people showed the same courage as in the fight against the elements, over the sea, over the flooding of lands, over the climate. What was supposed to destroy the people served them well. Treaties signed with Spain gave Holland freedom and strengthened its position. All this led to the creation of their own art, which glorified, spiritualized and expressed the inner essence of the Dutch people.
After the treaty of 1609 and the official recognition of the United Provinces, there was an immediate lull. It was as if a beneficial, warm breeze touched human souls, revived the soil, found and awakened sprouts that were ready to bloom. It is amazing how unexpectedly and in what a short period of time - no more than thirty years - in a small space, on ungrateful desert soil, in harsh living conditions, a wonderful galaxy of painters, and great painters at that, appeared.
They appeared immediately and everywhere: in Amsterdam, Dordrecht, Leiden, Delft, Utrecht, Rotterdam, Haarlem, even abroad - as if from seeds that fell outside the field. The earliest are Jan van Goyen and Wijnants, born at the turn of the century. And further, in the interval from the beginning of the century to the end of its first third - Cuyp, Terborch, Brouwer, Rembrandt, Adrian van Ostade, Ferdinand Bol, Gerard Dau, Metsu, Venix, Wauerman, Berchem, Potter, Jan Steen, Jacob Ruisdael.
But the creative juices didn’t stop there. Next were born Pieter de Hooch, Hobbema. The last of the greats, van der Heyden and Adrian van de Velde, were born in 1636 and 1637. At this time, Rembrandt was thirty years old. Approximately these years can be considered the time of the first flowering of the Dutch school.
Considering the historical events of that time, one can imagine what the aspirations, character and fate of the new school of painting should be. What could these artists write in a country like Holland?
The revolution, which gave the Dutch people freedom and wealth, at the same time deprived them of what constitutes the vital basis of great schools everywhere. She changed beliefs, changed habits, abolished images of both ancient and gospel scenes, and stopped the creation of large works - church and decorative paintings. In fact, every artist had an alternative - to be original or not to be at all.
It was necessary to create art for a nation of burghers that would appeal to them, depict them, and be relevant to them. They were practical, not prone to daydreaming, business people, with broken traditions and anti-Italian sentiments. We can say that the Dutch people had a simple and bold task - to create their own portrait.
Dutch painting was and could only be an expression of the external appearance, a true, accurate, similar portrait of Holland. It was a portrait of people and terrain, burgher customs, squares, streets, fields, sea and sky. The main elements of the Dutch school were portraits, landscapes, and everyday scenes. This was the way this painting was from the beginning of its existence until its decline.
It may seem that nothing could be simpler than the discovery of this common art. In fact, it is impossible to imagine anything equal to it in breadth and novelty.
Immediately everything changed in the manner of understanding, seeing and conveying: point of view, artistic ideal, choice of nature, style and method. Italian and Flemish painting in its best manifestations is still understandable to us, because they are still enjoyed, but these are already dead languages, and no one will use them anymore.
At one time there was a habit of thinking loftily and generally; there was an art that consisted in the skillful selection of objects. In their decoration, correction. It loved to show nature as it does not exist in reality. Everything depicted was more or less consistent with the person’s personality, depended on it and was its likeness. As a result, an art arose in which man is at the center, and all other images of the universe were either embodied in human forms, or were vaguely displayed as a secondary environment of man. Creativity developed according to certain patterns. Each object had to borrow its plastic form from the same ideal. The man had to be depicted more often naked than clothed, well-built and handsome, so that he could play the role assigned to him with appropriate grandeur.
Now the task of painting has become simpler. It was necessary to give each thing or phenomenon its true meaning, to place a person in its proper place, and, if necessary, to do without him altogether.
It's time to think less, look closely at what's closest, observe better and write differently. Now this is the painting of the crowd, the citizen, the working man. It was necessary to become modest for everything modest, small for the small, inconspicuous for the inconspicuous, to accept everything without rejecting or despising anything, to penetrate into the hidden life of things, lovingly merging with their existence, it was necessary to become attentive, inquisitive and patient. Genius now consists of not having any prejudices. There is no need to embellish, or ennoble, or expose anything: all this is a lie and useless work.
Dutch painters, creating in some corner of the northern country with water, forests, sea horizons, were able to reflect the entire universe in miniature. A small country, carefully explored according to the tastes and instincts of the observer, turns into an inexhaustible treasury, as abundant as life itself, as rich in sensations as the human heart is rich in them. The Dutch school has been growing and working like this for a whole century.
Dutch painters found subjects and colors to satisfy any human inclinations and affections, for rough and delicate natures, ardent and melancholic, dreamy and cheerful. Cloudy days give way to cheerful sunny days, the sea is sometimes calm and sparkling with silver, sometimes stormy and gloomy. There are many pastures with farms and many ships crowded along the coast. And you can almost always feel the movement of air over the expanses and strong winds from the North Sea, which pile up clouds, bend trees, turn the wings of mills and drive light and shadows. To this must be added cities, home and street life, festivities at fairs, depictions of various morals, the need of the poor, the horrors of winter, idleness in taverns with their tobacco smoke and mugs of beer. On the other hand - a wealthy lifestyle, conscientious work, cavalcades, afternoon rest, hunting. In addition - public life, civil ceremonies, banquets. The result was new art, but with subjects as old as time.
Thus arose a harmonious unity of the spirit of the school and the most astonishing diversity ever to arise within a single movement of art.
In general, the Dutch school is called genre school. If we decompose it into its component elements, then we can distinguish in it landscape painters, masters of group portraits, marine painters, animal painters, artists who painted group portraits or still lifes. If you look in more detail, you can distinguish many and genre varieties- from lovers of picturesqueness to ideologists, from copyists of nature to its interpreters, from conservative homebodies to travelers, from those who love and feel humor to artists who avoid comedy. Let us recall the paintings of Ostade's humor and the seriousness of Ruisdael, the equanimity of Potter and the mockery of Jan Steen, the wit of Van de Velde and the gloomy dreaminess of the great Rembrandt.
With the exception of Rembrandt, who must be considered an exceptional phenomenon, both for his country and for all times, then all other Dutch artists are characterized by a certain style and method. The laws for this style are sincerity, accessibility, naturalness, and expressiveness. If you take away from Dutch art what can be called honesty, then you will cease to understand its vital basis and will not be able to determine either its moral character or its style. In these artists, who for the most part have earned the reputation of short-sighted copyists, you feel a sublime and kind soul, loyalty to truth, and love of realism. All this gives their works a value that the things depicted on them themselves do not seem to have.
The beginning for this sincere style and the first result of this honest approach is a perfect drawing. Among Dutch painters, Potter is a manifestation of genius in precise, verified measurements and the ability to trace the movement of each line.
In Holland, the sky often takes up half, and sometimes the entire picture. Therefore, it is necessary for the sky in the picture to move, attract, and carry us along with it. So that the difference between day, evening and night can be felt, so that heat and cold can be felt, so that the viewer is both chilly and enjoys it, and feels the need to concentrate. Although it is probably difficult to call such a drawing the noblest of all, try to find artists in the world who would paint the sky, like Ruisdael and van der Neer, and would say so much and so brilliantly with their work. Everywhere the Dutch have the same design - restrained, laconic, precise, natural and naive, skillful and not artificial.
The Dutch palette is quite worthy of their drawing, hence the perfect unity of their painting method. Any Dutch painting is easy to recognize by its appearance. It is small in size and distinguished by its powerful, strict colors. This requires great accuracy, a steady hand, and deep concentration from the artist in order to achieve a concentrated effect on the viewer. The artist must go deep into himself in order to nurture his idea, the viewer must go deep into himself in order to comprehend the artist’s plan. It is Dutch paintings that give the clearest idea of this hidden and eternal process: to feel, think and express. There is no more rich picture in the world, since it is the Dutch who include so much content in such a small space. That is why everything here takes on a precise, compressed and condensed form.
Any Dutch painting is concave, it consists of curves described around a single point, which is the embodiment of the concept of the picture and shadows located around the main spot of light. A solid base, a running top and rounded corners tending towards the center - all this is outlined, colored and illuminated in a circle. As a result, the painting acquires depth, and the objects depicted on it move away from the viewer’s eye. The viewer is, as it were, led from the foreground to the last, from the frame to the horizon. We seem to inhabit the picture, move, look deep, raise our heads to measure the depth of the sky. The rigor of aerial perspective, the perfect correspondence of color and shades with the place in space that the object occupies.
For a more complete understanding of Dutch painting, one should consider in detail the elements of this movement, the features of the methods, the nature of the palette, and understand why it is so poor, almost monochromatic and so rich in results. But all these questions, like many others, have always been the subject of speculation by many art historians, but have never been sufficiently studied and clarified. The description of the main features of Dutch art allows us to distinguish this school from others and trace its origins. An expressive image illustrating this school is a painting by Adriaan van Ostade from the Amsterdam Museum "Artist's Atelier". This subject was one of the favorites of Dutch painters. We see an attentive man, slightly hunched over, with a prepared palette, thin, clean brushes and transparent oil. He writes in the twilight. His face is concentrated, his hand is careful. Only, perhaps, these painters were more daring and knew how to laugh more carefree and enjoy life than can be concluded from the surviving images. Otherwise, how would their genius manifest itself in an atmosphere of professional traditions?
The foundation for the Dutch school was laid by van Goyen and Wijnants at the beginning of the 17th century, establishing some laws of painting. These laws were passed down from teachers to students, and for a whole century Dutch painters lived by them without deviating to the side.
Dutch mannerism painting
Holland. 17th century The country is experiencing unprecedented prosperity. The so-called "Golden Age". At the end of the 16th century, several provinces of the country achieved independence from Spain.
Now the Protestant Netherlands have gone their own way. And Catholic Flanders (present-day Belgium) under the wing of Spain is its own.
In independent Holland, almost no one needed religious painting. The Protestant Church did not approve of luxury decoration. But this circumstance “played into the hands” of secular painting.
Literally every resident of the new country awoke to love this type of art. The Dutch wanted to see their own lives in the paintings. And the artists willingly met them halfway.
Never before has the surrounding reality been depicted so much. Ordinary people, ordinary rooms and the most ordinary breakfast of a city dweller.
Realism flourished. Until the 20th century, it will be a worthy competitor to academicism with its nymphs and Greek goddesses.
These artists are called "small" Dutch. Why? The paintings were small in size, because they were created for small houses. Thus, almost all paintings by Jan Vermeer are no more than half a meter in height.
But I like the other version better. In the Netherlands in the 17th century, a great master, the “big” Dutchman, lived and worked. And everyone else was “small” in comparison with him.
We are talking, of course, about Rembrandt. Let's start with him.
1. Rembrandt (1606-1669)
Rembrandt. Self-portrait at the age of 63. 1669 National Gallery London Rembrandt experienced a wide range of emotions during his life. That's why there's so much fun and bravado in his early work. And there are so many complex feelings - in the later ones.
Here he is young and carefree in the painting “The Prodigal Son in the Tavern.” On his knees is his beloved wife Saskia. He is a popular artist. Orders are pouring in.
Rembrandt. The Prodigal Son in a Tavern. 1635 Old Masters Gallery, Dresden But all this will disappear in about 10 years. Saskia will die of consumption. Popularity will disappear like smoke. A large house with a unique collection will be taken away for debts.
But the same Rembrandt will appear who will remain for centuries. The bare feelings of the heroes. Their deepest thoughts.
2. Frans Hals (1583-1666)
Frans Hals. Self-portrait. 1650 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Frans Hals is one of the greatest portrait painters of all time. Therefore, I would also classify him as a “big” Dutchman.
In Holland at that time it was customary to order group portraits. This is how many similar works appeared depicting people working together: marksmen of one guild, doctors of one town, managers of a nursing home.
In this genre, Hals stands out the most. After all, most of these portraits looked like a deck of cards. People sit at the table with the same facial expression and just watch. It was different for Hals.
Look at his group portrait “Arrows of the Guild of St. George."
Frans Hals. Arrows of the Guild of St. George. 1627 Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, Netherlands Here you will not find a single repetition in pose or facial expression. At the same time, there is no chaos here. There are a lot of characters, but no one seems superfluous. Thanks to the amazingly correct arrangement of figures.
And even in a single portrait, Hals was superior to many artists. His patterns are natural. People from high society in his paintings are devoid of contrived grandeur, and models from the lower classes do not look humiliated.
And his characters are also very emotional: they smile, laugh, and gesticulate. Like, for example, this “Gypsy” with a sly look.
Frans Hals. Gypsy. 1625-1630 Hals, like Rembrandt, ended his life in poverty. For the same reason. His realism ran counter to the tastes of his customers. Who wanted their appearance to be embellished. Hals did not accept outright flattery, and thereby signed his own sentence - “Oblivion.”
3. Gerard Terborch (1617-1681)
Gerard Terborch. Self-portrait. 1668 Royal Gallery Mauritshuis, The Hague, Netherlands Terborch was a master of the everyday genre. Rich and not-so-rich burghers talk leisurely, ladies read letters, and a procuress watches the courtship. Two or three closely spaced figures.
It was this master who developed the canons of the everyday genre. Which would later be borrowed by Jan Vermeer, Pieter de Hooch and many other “small” Dutchmen.
Gerard Terborch. A glass of lemonade. 1660s. State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg "A Glass of Lemonade" is one of Terborch's famous works. It shows another advantage of the artist. Incredibly realistic image of the dress fabric.
Terborch also has unusual works. Which speaks to his desire to go beyond customer requirements.
His "The Grinder" shows the life of the poorest people in Holland. We are used to seeing cozy courtyards and clean rooms in the paintings of the “small” Dutch. But Terborch dared to show unsightly Holland.
Gerard Terborch. Grinder. 1653-1655 State Museums of Berlin As you understand, such work was not in demand. And they are a rare occurrence even among Terborch.
4. Jan Vermeer (1632-1675)
Jan Vermeer. Artist's workshop. 1666-1667 Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna It is not known for certain what Jan Vermeer looked like. It is only obvious that in the painting “The Artist’s Workshop” he depicted himself. The truth from the back.
Therefore, it is surprising that a new fact from the master’s life has recently become known. It is connected with his masterpiece “Delft Street”.
Jan Vermeer. Delft street. 1657 Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam It turned out that Vermeer spent his childhood on this street. The house pictured belonged to his aunt. She raised her five children there. Perhaps she is sitting on the doorstep sewing while her two children play on the sidewalk. Vermeer himself lived in the house opposite.
But more often he depicted the interior of these houses and their inhabitants. It would seem that the plots of the paintings are very simple. Here is a pretty lady, a wealthy city dweller, checking the operation of her scales.
Jan Vermeer. Woman with scales. 1662-1663 National Gallery of Art, Washington Why did Vermeer stand out among thousands of other “small” Dutchmen?
He was an unsurpassed master of light. In the painting “Woman with Scales” the light softly envelops the heroine’s face, fabrics and walls. Giving the image an unknown spirituality.
And the compositions of Vermeer’s paintings are carefully verified. You won't find a single unnecessary detail. It is enough to remove one of them, the picture will “fall apart”, and the magic will go away.
All this was not easy for Vermeer. Such amazing quality required painstaking work. Only 2-3 paintings per year. As a result, the inability to feed the family. Vermeer also worked as an art dealer, selling works by other artists.
5. Pieter de Hooch (1629-1884)
Pieter de Hooch. Self-portrait. 1648-1649 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam Hoch is often compared to Vermeer. They worked at the same time, there was even a period in the same city. And in one genre - everyday. In Hoch we also see one or two figures in cozy Dutch courtyards or rooms.
Open doors and windows make the space of his paintings layered and entertaining. And the figures fit into this space very harmoniously. As, for example, in his painting “Maid with a Girl in the Courtyard.”
Pieter de Hooch. A maid with a girl in the courtyard. 1658 London National Gallery
Until the 20th century, Hoch was highly valued. But few people noticed the small works of his competitor Vermeer.
But in the 20th century everything changed. Hoch's glory faded. However, it is difficult not to recognize his achievements in painting. Few people could so competently combine the environment and people.
Pieter de Hooch. Card players in a sunny room. 1658 Royal Art Collection, London Please note that in a modest house on the canvas “Card Players” there is a painting hanging in an expensive frame.
This once again shows how popular painting was among ordinary Dutch people. Paintings decorated every home: the house of a rich burgher, a modest city dweller, and even a peasant.
6. Jan Steen (1626-1679)
Jan Steen. Self-portrait with a lute. 1670s Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, MadridJan Steen is perhaps the most cheerful “little” Dutchman. But loving moral teaching. He often depicted taverns or poor houses in which vice existed.
Its main characters are revelers and ladies of easy virtue. He wanted to entertain the viewer, but latently warn him against a vicious life.
Jan Steen. It's a mess. 1663 Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna Sten also has quieter works. Like, for example, “Morning Toilet.” But here too the artist surprises the viewer with too revealing details. There are traces of stocking elastic, and not an empty chamber pot. And somehow it’s not at all appropriate for the dog to be lying right on the pillow.
Jan Steen. Morning toilet. 1661-1665 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam But despite all the frivolity, Sten’s color schemes are very professional. In this he was superior to many “little Dutchmen”. Look how perfectly the red stocking goes with the blue jacket and bright beige rug.
7. Jacobs Van Ruisdael (1629-1882)
Portrait of Ruisdael. Lithograph from a 19th century book. Dutch painting, in fine arts
Dutch painting, its emergence and initial period merge to such an extent with the first stages of the development of Flemish painting that the latest art historians consider both for the entire time until the end of the 16th century. inseparably, under one general name of the “Dutch school”.
Both of them, constituting the offspring of the Rhine branch, are dumb. painting, the main representatives of which are Wilhelm of Cologne and Stefan Lochner, consider the van Eyck brothers to be their founders; both have been moving in the same direction for a long time, are animated by the same ideals, pursue the same tasks, develop the same technique, so that the artists of Holland are no different from their Flemish and Brabant brethren.
This continues throughout the rule of the country, first by the Burgundian and then by the Austrian house, until a brutal revolution breaks out, ending in the complete triumph of the Dutch people over the Spaniards who oppressed them. From this era, each of the two branches of Dutch art begins to move separately, although sometimes they happen to come into very close contact with each other.
Dutch painting immediately takes on an original, completely national character and quickly reaches a bright and abundant flowering. The reasons for this phenomenon, the like of which can hardly be found throughout the history of art, lie in topographical, religious, political and social circumstances.
In this “low country” (hol land), consisting of swamps, islands and peninsulas, constantly washed away by the sea and threatened by its raids, the population, as soon as it threw off the foreign yoke, had to create everything anew, starting with the physical conditions of the soil and ending with moral and intellectual conditions, because everything was destroyed by the previous struggle for independence. Thanks to their enterprise, practical sense and persistent work, the Dutch managed to transform swamps into fruitful fields and luxurious pastures, conquer vast expanses of land from the sea, acquire material well-being and external political significance. The achievement of these results was greatly facilitated by the federal-republican form of government established in the country and the wisely implemented principle of freedom of thought and religious beliefs.
As if by a miracle, everywhere, in all areas of human labor, ardent activity suddenly began to boil in a new, original, purely folk spirit, among other things in the field of art. Of the branches of the latter, on the soil of Holland, one was lucky mainly in one - painting, which here, in the works of many more or less talented artists who appeared almost simultaneously, took on a very versatile direction and at the same time completely different from the direction of art in other countries. The main feature that characterizes these artists is their love for nature, the desire to reproduce it in all its simplicity and truth, without the slightest embellishment, without subsuming it under any conditions of a preconceived ideal. The second distinctive property of Goll. painters are composed of a subtle sense of color and an understanding of what a strong, enchanting impression can be made, in addition to the content of the picture, only by the faithful and powerful transmission of colorful relationships determined in nature by the action of light rays, proximity or range of distances.
Among the best representatives of Dutch painting, this sense of color and light and shade is developed to such an extent that light, with its countless and varied nuances, plays in the picture, one might say, the role of the main character and imparts high interest to the most insignificant plot, the most inelegant forms and images. Then it should be noted that most Goll. artists do not go on long searches for material for their creativity, but are content with what they find around them, in their native nature and in the life of their people. Typical features of distinguished compatriots, the physiognomies of ordinary Dutchmen and Dutchwomen, the noisy fun of common holidays, peasant feasts, scenes of rural life or the intimate life of townspeople, native dunes, polders and vast plains crossed by canals, herds grazing in rich meadows, huts, nestled at the edge of beech or oak groves, villages on the banks of rivers, lakes and groves, cities with their clean houses, drawbridges and high spiers of churches and town halls, harbors cluttered with ships, the sky filled with silvery or golden vapors - all this, under the brush of the Dutch masters imbued with love for the fatherland and national pride, turns into paintings full of air, light and attractiveness.
Even in those cases when some of these masters resort to the Bible, ancient history and mythology for themes, even then, without worrying about maintaining archaeological fidelity, they transfer the action to the environment of the Dutch, surrounding it with a Dutch setting. True, next to the crowded crowd of such patriotic artists there is a phalanx of other painters looking for inspiration outside the borders of their fatherland, in the classical country of art, Italy; however, in their works there are also features that expose their nationality.
Finally, as a feature of the Dutch painters, one can point to their renunciation of artistic traditions. It would be in vain to look for among them a strict continuity of well-known aesthetic principles and technical rules, not only in the sense of academic style, but also in the sense of the students’ assimilation of the character of their teachers: with the exception, perhaps, of Rembrandt’s students alone, who more or less closely followed in the footsteps of their genius mentor, almost all painters in Holland, as soon as they passed their student years, and sometimes even during these years, began to work in their own way, in accordance with where their individual inclination led them and what direct observation of nature taught them.
Therefore, Dutch artists cannot be divided into schools, just as we do with the artists of Italy or Spain; it is difficult even to compose strictly defined groups from them, and the very expression “Dutch school of painting”, which has come into general use, must be taken only in a conditional sense, as denoting a collection of tribal masters, but not an actual school. Meanwhile, in all the main cities of Holland there were organized societies of artists, which, it would seem, should have influenced the communication of their activities in one general direction. However, such societies, bearing the name of the guilds of St. Luke, if he contributed to this, did so to a very moderate extent. These were not academies, the custodians of well-known artistic traditions, but free corporations, similar to other craft and industrial guilds, not much different from them in terms of structure and aimed at mutual support of their members, protection of their rights, care for their old age, care for the fate of their widows and orphans.
Every local painter who met the requirements of the moral qualifications was admitted to the guild upon preliminary confirmation of his abilities and knowledge or on the basis of the fame he had already acquired; visiting artists were admitted to the guild as temporary members for the duration of their stay in a given city. Those belonging to the guild met to discuss, under the chairmanship of the deans, their common affairs or for the mutual exchange of thoughts; but in these meetings there was nothing that resembled the preaching of a certain artistic direction and that would tend to restrict the originality of any of the members.
The indicated features of Dutch painting are noticeable even in its early days - at a time when it developed inseparably from the Flemish school. Her vocation, like that of the latter, was then mainly to decorate churches with religious paintings, palaces, town halls and noble houses with portraits of government officials and aristocrats. Unfortunately, the works of primitive Dutch painters have reached us only in very limited quantities, since most of them perished during that troubled time when the Reformation devastated Catholic churches, abolished monasteries and abbeys, and incited “icon breakers” (beeldstormers) to destroy the painted and sculpted sacred images, and the popular uprising destroyed everywhere the portraits of the hated tyrants. We know many of the artists who preceded the revolution only by name; We can judge others only by one or two samples of their work. Thus, regarding the oldest of the Dutch painters, Albert van Ouwater, there is no positive data, except for the information that he was a contemporary of the van Eycks and worked in Harlem; There are no reliable paintings of him. His student Gertjen van Sint-Jan is known only from two panels of a triptych (“St. Sepulchre” and “Legend of the Bones of St. John”), which he wrote for the Harlem Cathedral, stored in the Vienna Gallery. The fog that shrouds us in the initial era of the G. school begins to dissipate with the appearance on the scene of Dirk Bouts, nicknamed Stuerboat († 1475), originally from Haarlem, but who worked in Leuven and is therefore considered by many to be part of the Flemish school (his best works are two paintings “ The Wrongful Trial of Emperor Otto,” are in the Brussels Museum), as well as Cornelis Engelbrechtsen (1468-1553), whose main merit is that he was the teacher of the famous Luke of Leiden (1494-1533). This latter, a versatile, hardworking and highly talented artist, knew how, like no one before him, to accurately reproduce everything that caught his eye, and therefore can be considered the real father of the Dutch genre, although he had to paint mainly religious paintings and portraits. In the works of his contemporary Jan Mostaert (circa 1470-1556), the desire for naturalism is combined with a touch of Gothic tradition, the warmth of religious feeling with a concern for external elegance.
In addition to these outstanding masters, the following deserve to be mentioned for the initial era of Dutch art: Hieronymus van Aken, nicknamed Hieronymus de Bosch (c. 1462-1516), who laid the foundation for satirical everyday painting with his complex, intricate and sometimes extremely strange compositions; Jan Mundain († 1520), famous in Harlem for his depictions of devilry and buffoonery; Pieter Aertsen († 1516), nicknamed “Long Peter” (Lange Pier) for his tall stature, David Ioris (1501-56), a skilled glass painter who was carried away by Anabaptist ravings and imagined himself as the prophet David and the son of God, Jacob Swarts (1469 ? - 1535?), Jacob Cornelissen (1480? - later 1533) and his son Dirk Jacobs (two paintings of the latter, depicting rifle societies, are in the Hermitage).
About half of the 16th table. among Dutch painters there is a desire to get rid of the shortcomings of domestic art - its Gothic angularity and dryness - by studying Italian artists of the Renaissance and combining their manner with the best traditions of their own school. This desire is already visible in the works of the aforementioned Mostert; but the main disseminator of the new movement should be considered Jan Schorel (1495-1562), who lived for a long time in Italy and later founded a school in Utrecht, from which came a number of artists infected with the desire to become Dutch Raphaels and Michelangelos. In his footsteps, Maarten van Van, nicknamed Gemskerk (1498-1574), Henryk Goltzius (1558-1616), Peter Montford, nicknamed. Blokhorst (1532-83), Cornelis v. Haarlem (1562-1638) and others belonging to the next period of the Italian school, such as, for example, Abraham Bloemaert (1564-1651), Gerard Gonthorst (1592-1662), went beyond the Alps to become imbued with the perfections of the luminaries of Italian painting, but fell , for the most part, under the influence of representatives of the decline of this painting that was beginning at that time, they returned to their homeland as mannerists, imagining that the whole essence of art lies in the exaggeration of muscles, in the pretentiousness of angles and the panache of conventional colors.
However, the fascination with Italians, which often extended to the extreme in the transitional era of Dutch painting, brought a kind of benefit, since it brought into this painting better, more learned drawing and the ability to manage composition more freely and boldly. Together with the Old Netherlandish tradition and boundless love for nature, Italianism became one of the elements from which the original, highly developed art of the flourishing era was formed. The onset of this era, as we have already said, should be dated to the beginning of the 17th century, when Holland, having won independence, began to live a new life. The dramatic transformation of an oppressed and poor country just yesterday into a politically important, comfortable and wealthy union of states was accompanied by an equally dramatic revolution in its art.
From all sides, almost simultaneously, wonderful artists are emerging in countless numbers, called to activity by the rise of the national spirit and the need for their work that has developed in society. To the original artistic centers, Haarlem and Leiden, new ones are being added - Delft, Utrecht, Dortrecht, The Hague, Amsterdam, etc. Everywhere the old tasks of painting are being developed in a new way under the influence of changing demands and views, and its new branches, the beginnings of which were barely noticeable in the previous period.
The Reformation drove religious paintings out of churches; there was no need to decorate palaces and noble chambers with images of ancient gods and heroes, and therefore historical painting, satisfying the tastes of the rich bourgeoisie, discarded idealism and turned to an accurate reproduction of reality: it began to interpret long-past events as the events of the day that took place in Holland, and in especially took up portraiture, perpetuating in it the features of people of that time, either in single figures or in extensive, multi-figure compositions depicting rifle societies (schutterstuke), which played such a prominent role in the struggle for the liberation of the country - the managers of its charitable institutions (regentenstuke) , shop foremen and members of various corporations.
If we decided to talk about all the talented portrait painters of the flourishing era of Dutch art, then just listing their names with an indication of their best works would take many lines; Therefore, we limit ourselves to mentioning only those artists who are especially outstanding from the general ranks. These are: Michiel Mierevelt (1567-1641), his student Paulus Morelse (1571-1638), Thomas de Keyser (1596-1667) Jan van Ravesteyn (1572? - 1657), predecessors of the three greatest portrait painters of Holland - the sorcerer of chiaroscuro Rembrandt van Rijn ( 1606-69), an incomparable draftsman who had an amazing art of modeling figures in light, but somewhat cold in character and color, Bartholomew van der Gelst (1611 or 1612-70) and striking with the fugue of his brush Frans Gols the Elder (1581-1666). Of these, the name of Rembrandt shines especially brightly in history, at first held in high esteem by his contemporaries, then forgotten by them, little appreciated by posterity, and only in the current century elevated, in all fairness, to the level of world genius.
In his characteristic artistic personality, all the best qualities of Dutch painting are concentrated, as if in focus, and his influence was reflected in all its types - in portraits, historical paintings, everyday scenes and landscapes. The most famous among Rembrandt's students and followers were: Ferdinand Bol (1616-80), Govert Flinck (1615-60), Gerbrand van den Eckhout (1621-74), Nicholas Mas (1632-93), Art de Gelder (1645-1727 ), Jacob Backer (1608 or 1609-51), Jan Victors (1621-74), Carel Fabricius (c. 1620-54), Salomon and Philips Koning (1609-56, 1619-88), Pieter de Grebber, Willem de Porter († later 1645), Gerard Dou (1613-75) and Samuel van Googstraten (1626-78). In addition to these artists, to complete the list of the best portrait painters and historical painters of the period under review, one should name Jan Lievens (1607-30), Rembrandt’s friend in his studies with P. Lastman, Abraham van Tempel (1622-72) and Pieter Nazon (1612-91), working, apparently, under the influence of V. d. Gelsta, imitator of Hals Johannes Verspronck (1597-1662), Jan and Jacob de Braev († 1664, † 1697), Cornelis van Zeulen (1594-1664) and Nicholas de Gelta-Stokade (1614-69). Household painting, the first experiments of which appeared in the old Dutch school, found itself in the 17th century. especially fertile soil in Protestant, free, bourgeois, self-satisfied Holland.
Small pictures, artlessly representing the customs and life of different classes of local society, seemed to enough people more entertaining than large works of serious painting, and, along with landscapes, more convenient for decorating cozy private homes. A whole horde of artists satisfies the demand for such pictures, without thinking long about the choice of themes for them, but conscientiously reproducing everything that is encountered in reality, showing at the same time love for their own, dear, good-natured humor, accurately characterizing the depicted positions and faces and refined in the mastery of technology. While some are occupied with common people's life, scenes of peasant happiness and sorrow, drinking bouts in taverns and taverns, gatherings in front of roadside inns, rural holidays, games and skating on the ice of frozen rivers and canals, etc., others take the content for their works from a more elegant circle - they paint graceful ladies in their intimate surroundings, the courtship of dandy gentlemen, housewives giving orders to their maids, salon exercises in music and singing, the revelry of golden youth in pleasure houses, etc. In the long series of artists of the first category, they excel Adrian and Izak v. Ostade (1610-85, 1621-49), Adrian Brouwer (1605 or 1606-38), Jan Stan (about 1626-79), Cornelis Bega (1620-64), Richart Brackenburg (1650-1702), P. v. Lahr, nicknamed Bambocchio in Italy (1590-1658), Cornelis Dusart (1660-1704), Egbert van der Poel (1621-64), Cornelis Drohslot (1586-1666), Egbert v. Gemskerk (1610-80), Henrik Roques, nicknamed Sorg (1621-82), Claes Molenaar (formerly 1630-76), Jan Minse-Molenar (about 1610-68), Cornelis Saftleven (1606-81) and some. etc. Of the equally significant number of painters who reproduced the life of the middle and upper, generally sufficient, class, Gerard Terborch (1617-81), Gerard Dou (1613-75), Gabriel Metsu (1630-67), Peter de Gogh ( 1630-66), Caspar Netscher (1639-84), France c. Miris the Elder (1635-81), Eglon van der Naer (1643-1703), Gottfried Schalcken (1643-1706), Jan van der Meer of Delft (1632-73), Johannes Vercollier (1650-93), Quiring Brekelenkamp (†1668 ). Jacob Ochtervelt († 1670), Dirk Hals (1589-1656), Anthony and Palamedes Palamedes (1601-73, 1607-38), etc. The category of genre painters includes artists who painted scenes of military life, idleness of soldiers in guardhouses, camp sites , cavalry skirmishes and entire battles, dressage horses, as well as falconry and hound hunting scenes akin to battle scenes. The main representative of this branch of painting is the famous and extraordinarily prolific Philips Wouwerman (1619-68). In addition to him, her brother of this master, Peter (1623-82), Jan Asselein (1610-52), whom we will soon meet among the landscape painters, the aforementioned Palamedes, Jacob Leduc (1600 - later 1660), Henrik Verschuring (1627- 90), Dirk Stop (1610-80), Dirk Mas (1656-1717), etc. For many of these artists, landscape plays as important a role as human figures; but in parallel with them, a mass of painters are working, setting it as their main or exclusive task.
In general, the Dutch have an inalienable right to be proud that their fatherland is the birthplace not only of the newest genre, but also of landscape in the sense that it is understood today. In fact, in other countries, e.g. in Italy and France, art had little interest in inanimate nature, did not find in it either a unique life or special beauty: the painter introduced landscape into his paintings only as a side element, as a decoration, among which episodes of human drama or comedy are played out, and therefore subjected it to conditions scene, inventing picturesque lines and spots that are beneficial to it, but without copying nature, without being imbued with the impression it inspires.
In the same way, he “composed” nature in those rare cases when he tried to paint a purely landscape painting. The Dutch were the first to understand that even in inanimate nature everything breathes life, everything is attractive, everything is capable of evoking thought and exciting the movement of the heart. And this was quite natural, because the Dutch, so to speak, created the nature around them with their own hands, treasured and admired it, like a father cherishes and admires his own brainchild. In addition, this nature, despite the modesty of its forms and colors, provided colorists such as the Dutch with abundant material for developing lighting motifs and aerial perspective due to the climatic conditions of the country - its steam-saturated air, softening the outlines of objects, producing a gradation of tones at different plans and covering the distance with a haze of silvery or golden fog, as well as the changeability of the appearance of areas determined by the time of year, hour of day and weather conditions.
Among the landscape painters of the flowering period, the Dutch. schools that were interpreters of their domestic nature are especially respected: Jan V. Goyen (1595-1656), who, together with Esaias van de Velde (c. 1590-1630) and Pieter Moleyn the Elder. (1595-1661), considered the founder of the Goll. landscape; then this master's student, Salomon. Ruisdael († 1623), Simon de Vlieger (1601-59), Jan Wijnants (c. 1600 - later 1679), lover of the effects of better lighting Art. d. Nair (1603-77), poetic Jacob v. Ruisdael (1628 or 1629-82), Meinert Gobbema (1638-1709) and Cornelis Dekker († 1678).
Among the Dutch there were also many landscape painters who embarked on travels and reproduced motifs of foreign nature, which, however, did not prevent them from maintaining a national character in their painting. Albert V. Everdingen (1621-75) depicted views of Norway; Jan Both (1610-52), Dirk v. Bergen († later 1690) and Jan Lingelbach (1623-74) - Italy; Ian V. d. Mayor the Younger (1656-1705), Hermann Saftleven (1610-85) and Jan Griffir (1656-1720) - Reina; Jan Hackart (1629-99?) - Germany and Switzerland; Cornelis Pulenenburg (1586-1667) and a group of his followers painted landscapes inspired by Italian nature, with ruins of ancient buildings, bathing nymphs and scenes of an imaginary Arcadia. In a special category we can single out masters who in their paintings combined landscapes with images of animals, giving preference to either the first or the second, or treating both parts with equal attention. The most famous among such painters of rural idyll is Paulus Potter (1625-54); Besides him, Adrian should be included here. d. Velde (1635 or 1636-72), Albert Cuyp (1620-91), Abraham Gondius († 1692) and numerous artists who turned for themes preferably or exclusively to Italy, such as: Willem Romain († later 1693), Adam Peinaker (1622-73), Jan-Baptiste Vanix (1621-60), Jan Asselein, Claes Berchem (1620-83), Karel Dujardin (1622-78), Thomas Weick (1616?-77) Frederic de Moucheron (1633 or 1634 -86), etc. Closely related to landscape painting is the painting of architectural views, which Dutch artists began to engage in as an independent branch of art only in the half of the 17th century.
Some of those who have since worked in this area have been sophisticated in depicting city streets and squares with their buildings; these are, among others, less significant, Johannes Bärestraten (1622-66), Job and Gerrit Werk-Heide (1630-93, 1638-98), Jan v. d. Heyden (1647-1712) and Jacob v. village Yulft (1627-88). Others, among whom the most prominent are Pieter Sanredan († 1666), Dirk v. Delen (1605-71), Emmanuel de Witte (1616 or 1617-92), painted interior views of churches and palaces. The sea was of such importance in the life of Holland that her art could not treat it except with the greatest attention. Many of its artists who dealt with landscape, genre and even portraits, breaking away from their usual subjects for a while, became marine painters, and if we decided to list all the painters of the Dutch school who depicted a calm or stormy sea, ships rocking on it, cluttered harbor ships, naval battles, etc., then we would get a very long list, which would include the names of Ya. Goyen, S. de Vlieger, S. and J. Ruisdal, A. Cuyp and others already mentioned in the previous lines. Limiting ourselves to pointing out those for whom painting of marine species was a specialty, we must name Willem v. de Velde the Elder (1611 or 1612-93), his famous son V. v. de Velde the Younger (1633-1707), Ludolf Backhuisen (1631-1708), Jan V. de Cappelle († 1679) and Julius Parcellis († later 1634).
Finally, the realistic direction of the Dutch school was the reason that a type of painting was formed and developed in it, which in other schools until then had not been cultivated as a special, independent branch, namely painting of flowers, fruits, vegetables, living creatures, kitchen utensils, tableware etc. - in a word, what is now commonly called “dead nature” (nature morte, Stilleben). In this area between the The most famous artists of the flourishing era were Jan-Davids de Gem (1606-83), his son Cornelis (1631-95), Abraham Mignon (1640-79), Melchior de Gondecoeter (1636-95), Maria Osterwijk (1630-93) , Willem V. Aalst (1626-83), Willem Geda (1594 - later 1678), Willem Kalf (1621 or 1622-93) and Jan Waenix (1640-1719).
The brilliant period of Dutch painting did not last long - only one century. Since the beginning of the 18th century. its decline is coming, not because the coasts of the Zuiderzee cease to produce innate talents, but because In society, national self-awareness is weakening more and more, the national spirit is evaporating, and the French tastes and views of the pompous era of Louis XIV are taking hold. In art, this cultural turn is expressed by the oblivion on the part of artists of those basic principles on which the originality of painters of previous generations depended, and an appeal to aesthetic principles brought from a neighboring country.
Instead of a direct relationship to nature, love of what is native and sincerity, the dominance of preconceived theories, convention, and imitation of Poussin, Lebrun, Cl. Lorrain and other luminaries of the French school. The main propagator of this regrettable trend was the Flemish Gerard de Leresse (1641-1711), who settled in Amsterdam, a very capable and educated artist in his time, who had a huge influence on his contemporaries and immediate posterity both with his mannered pseudo-historical paintings and with the works of his own pen, among which one, The Painter's Great Book ('t groot schilderboec), served as a code for young artists for fifty years. The famous Hadrian also contributed to the decline of the school. de Werff (1659-1722), whose sleek painting with cold figures, as if carved from ivory, with a dull, powerless color, once seemed the height of perfection. Among the followers of this artist Henryk v. enjoyed fame as historical painters. Limborg (1680-1758) and Philip V.-Dyck (1669-1729), nicknamed "Little V.-Dyck".
Of the other painters of the era in question, endowed with undoubted talent, but infected with the spirit of the times, it should be noted Willem and France v. Miris the Younger (1662-1747, 1689-1763), Nicholas Vercollier (1673-1746), Constantine Netscher (1668-1722), Isaac de Moucheron (1670-1744) and Carel de Maur (1656-1738). Some shine was given to the dying school by Cornelis Trost (1697-1750), primarily a cartoonist, nicknamed Dutch. Gogarth, portrait painter Jan Quincgard (1688-1772), decorative and historical painter Jacob de Wit (1695-1754) and painters of dead nature Jan V. Geysum (1682-1749) and Rachel Reisch (1664-1750).
Foreign influence weighed on Dutch painting until the twenties of the 19th century, having managed to more or less reflect in it the changes that art took in France, starting with the wigmaking of the times of the Sun King and ending with the pseudo-classicism of David. When the style of the latter became obsolete and everywhere in Western Europe, instead of the fascination with the ancient Greeks and Romans, a romantic desire was aroused, mastering both poetry and the figurative arts, the Dutch, like other
m peoples, turned their gaze to their antiquity, and therefore to the glorious past of their painting.
The desire to give it again the brilliance with which it shone in the 17th century began to inspire the newest artists and returned them to the principles of the ancient national masters - to a strict observation of nature and an ingenuous, sincere attitude towards the tasks at hand. At the same time, they did not try to completely eliminate themselves from foreign influence, but when they went to study in Paris or Dusseldorf and other artistic centers in Germany, they took home only an acquaintance with the successes of modern technology.
Thanks to all this, the revived Dutch school again received an original, attractive physiognomy and is moving today along the path leading to further progress. She can easily contrast many of her newest figures with the best painters of the 19th century in other countries. Historical painting in the strict sense of the word is cultivated in it, as in the old days, very moderately and has no outstanding representatives; But in terms of the historical genre, Holland can be proud of several significant recent masters, such as: Jacob Ekgout (1793-1861), Ari Lamme (b. 1812), Peter V. Schendel (1806-70), David Bles (b. 1821), Hermann ten-Cate (1822-1891) and the highly talented Lawrence Alma-Tadema (b. 1836), who deserted to England. The everyday genre, which was also included in the circle of activity of these artists (with the exception of Alma-Tadema), can be pointed to a number of excellent painters, headed by Joseph Israels (b. 1824) and Christoffel Bisschop (b. 1828); besides them, Michiel Verseg (1756-1843), Elhanon Vervaer (b. 1826), Teresa Schwarze (b. 1852) and Valli Mus (b. 1857) are worthy of being named.
The newest Dutch painting is especially rich in landscape painters who have worked and are working in a variety of ways, sometimes with careful finishing, sometimes with the broad technique of the Impressionists, but faithful and poetic interpreters of their native nature. These include Andreas Schelfgout (1787-1870), Barent Koekkoek (1803-62), Johannes Wilders (1811-90), Willem Roelofs (b. 1822), Hendrich v. de Sande-Bockhuisen (b. 1826), Anton Mauwe (1838-88), Jacob Maris (b. 1837), Lodewijk Apol (b. 1850) and many others. etc. Direct heirs of Ya. D. Heyden and E. de Witte, painters of promising views appeared, Jan Verheiden (1778-1846), Bartholomews v. Gowe (1790-1888), Salomon Vervaer (1813-76), Cornelis Springer (1817-91), Johannes Bosbohm (1817-91), Johannes Weissenbruch (1822-1880), etc. Among the newest marine painters of Holland, the palm belongs to Jog. Schotel (1787-1838), Ari Plaisir (b. 1809), Hermann Koekkoek (1815-82) and Henrik Mesdag (b. 1831). Finally, Wouters Verschoor (1812-74) and Johann Gas (b. 1832) showed great skill in animal painting.
Wed. Van Eyden u. van der Willigen, “Geschiedenis der vaderlandische schilderkunst, sedert de helft des 18-de eeuw” (4 volumes, 1866) A. Woltman u. K. Woermann, "Geschichte der Malerei" (2nd and 3rd volumes, 1882-1883); Waagen, “Handbuch der deutschen und niderländischen Malerschulen” (1862); Bode, “Studien zur Geschichte der holländischen Malerei” (1883); Havard, "La peinture hollandaise" (1880); E. Fromentin, “Les maîtres d’autrefois. Belgique, Hollande" (1876); A. Bredius, “Die Meisterwerke des Rijksmuseum zu Amsterdam” (1890); P. P. Semenov, “Sketches on the history of Dutch painting based on its samples located in St. Petersburg.” (special supplement to the journal “Vestn. Fine Arts”, 1885-90).
In the meantime, this is a special area worthy of more detailed study European culture, which reflects the original life of the people of Holland at that time.
History of appearance
Prominent representatives of artistic art began to appear in the country in the seventeenth century. French cultural experts gave them a common name - “little Dutch”, which is not related to the scale of talent and denotes an attachment to certain themes from everyday life, opposite to the “big” style with large canvases on historical or mythological subjects. The history of the emergence of Dutch painting was described in detail in the nineteenth century, and the authors of works about it also used this term. The “Little Dutch” were distinguished by secular realism, turned to the surrounding world and people, and used painting rich in tones.
Main stages of development
The history of Dutch painting can be divided into several periods. The first lasted approximately from 1620 to 1630, when realism was established in national art. Dutch painting experienced its second period in 1640-1660. This is the time when the real flowering of the local art school. Finally, the third period, the time when Dutch painting began to decline - from 1670 to the beginning of the eighteenth century.
It is worth noting that cultural centers changed during this time. In the first period, leading artists worked in Haarlem, and the main representative was Khalsa. Then the center shifted to Amsterdam, where the most significant works performed by Rembrandt and Vermeer.
Scenes of everyday life
When listing the most important genres of Dutch painting, it is imperative to start with everyday life - the most vivid and original in history. It was the Flemings who revealed to the world scenes from the everyday life of ordinary people, peasants and townspeople or burghers. The pioneers were Ostade and his followers Audenrogge, Bega and Dusart. In Ostade's early paintings, people play cards, quarrel and even fight in a tavern. Each painting is distinguished by a dynamic, somewhat brutal character. Dutch painting of those times also talks about peaceful scenes: in some works, peasants talk over a pipe and a glass of beer, spend time at a fair or with their families. Rembrandt's influence led to the widespread use of soft, golden-colored chiaroscuro. Urban scenes inspired artists such as Hals, Leicester, Molenaar and Codde. In the mid-seventeenth century, masters depicted doctors, scientists in the process of work, their own workshops, chores around the house, or Each plot should have been entertaining, sometimes grotesquely didactic. Some masters were inclined to poeticize everyday life, for example, Terborch depicted scenes of playing music or flirting. Metsyu used bright colors, turning everyday life into a holiday, and de Hooch was inspired by the simplicity of family life, bathed in diffused daylight. Later representatives of the genre, which include such Dutch masters of painting as Van der Werff and Van der Neer, in their quest for elegant depiction, often created somewhat pretentious subjects.
Nature and landscapes
In addition, Dutch painting is widely represented in the landscape genre. It first emerged in the works of such Haarlem masters as van Goyen, de Moleyn and van Ruisdael. It was they who began to depict rural areas in a certain silvery light. The material unity of nature came to the fore in his works. The seascapes are worth mentioning separately. The 17th century Marinists included Porsellis, de Vlieger and van de Capelle. They did not so much strive to convey certain sea scenes as they tried to depict the water itself, the play of light on it and in the sky.
By the second half of the seventeenth century, more emotional works with philosophical ideas emerged in the genre. Jan van Ruisdael revealed the beauty of the Dutch landscape to the maximum, depicting it in all its drama, dynamics and monumentality. Hobbem, who preferred sunny landscapes, continued his traditions. Koninck painted panoramas, and van der Neer created night landscapes and conveyed moonlight, sunrise and sunset. A number of artists are also characterized by the depiction of animals in landscapes, for example, grazing cows and horses, as well as hunting and scenes with cavalrymen. Later, artists began to become interested in foreign nature - Bot, van Laar, Wenix, Berchem and Hackert depicted Italy bathing in the rays of the southern sun. The founder of the genre was Sanredam, whose best followers can be called the Berkheide brothers and Jan van der Heijden.
Image of interiors
A separate genre that distinguished Dutch painting in its heyday can be called scenes with church, palace and home rooms. Interiors appeared in paintings of the second half of the seventeenth century by the masters of Delft - Haukgeest, van der Vliet and de Witte, who became the main representative of the movement. Using Vermeer's techniques, artists depicted scenes filled with sunlight, full of emotion and volume.
Picturesque dishes and dishes
Finally, another characteristic genre of Dutch painting is still life, especially the depiction of breakfasts. It was first taken up by Haarlem residents Claes and Heda, who painted laid tables with luxurious dishes. The picturesque chaos and special conveyance of a cozy interior are filled with silver-gray light, characteristic of silver and pewter. Utrecht artists painted lush floral still lifes, and in The Hague, artists were especially good at depicting fish and sea reptiles. In Leiden, a philosophical direction of the genre arose, in which skulls and hourglasses coexist with symbols of sensual pleasure or earthly glory, designed to remind of the transience of time. Democratic kitchen still lifes became a hallmark of the Rotterdam art school.