Main trends, stages of development of painting and iconic painters of Holland.
Dutch painting
Introduction
Dutch painting of the 17th century is sometimes mistakenly considered art for the middle class, admiring Flemish painting of this period and calling it courtly, aristocratic. No less erroneous is the opinion that Dutch artists deal only with depicting the immediate human environment, using landscapes, cities, seas, and people’s lives for this purpose, while Flemish art is devoted to historical painting, which in art theory is considered a more sublime genre. In contrast, public buildings in Holland, which were expected to have an imposing appearance, as well as wealthy visitors, whatever their religious beliefs or origins, required paintings with allegorical or mythological themes.
Any division of the Dutch school of painting into Flemish and Dutch branches until the beginning of the 17th century. due to the constant creative exchange between the areas, it would be artificial. For example, Pieter Aertsen, born in Amsterdam, worked in Antwerp before returning to his hometown in 1557, and his student and nephew Joachim Bukelaer spent his entire life in Antwerp. In connection with the signing of the Union of Utrecht and the separation of the seven northern provinces, many residents after 1579–1581. emigrated from the northern Netherlands to the Protestant part of the artificially divided country.
"Butcher shop". Artsen.
Development of art
Impulse to independent development Dutch painting came from Flemish artists. Bartholomeus Spranger, born in Antwerp and educated in Rome, became the founder of a virtuoso, courtly, artificial style, which, as a result of Spranger's temporary residence in Vienna and Prague, became an international "language". In 1583, the painter and art theorist Karel van Mander brought this style to Haarlem. One of the main masters of this Haarlem or Utrecht mannerism was Abraham Bloemaert.
Then Isaiah van de Velde, born in Holland to a family of emigrants from Flanders, and studying in a circle of painters centered on the Flemish artists David Vinkboons and Gillies Koninksloe, developed a realistic painting style in his early paintings, which referred to Jan Bruegel the Elder, with bright color gradations of artistic plans. Around 1630, a trend towards unification took hold in Holland artistic space and the merging of colors from different layers. Since then, the multifaceted nature of the things depicted gave way to a sense of space and an atmosphere of airy haze, which was conveyed with a gradually increasing monochrome use of color. Isaiah van de Velde embodied this stylistic revolution in art together with his student Jan van Goen.
Winter landscape. Velde.
One of the most monumental landscapes of the High Baroque, "The Great Forest", by Jacob van Ruisdael, belongs to the next period of development of Dutch painting. The viewer no longer has to experience the rather amorphous appearance of a sprawling space in gray-brown tones with a few striking motifs; henceforth the impression is made of a fixed, energetically accentuated structure.
Genre painting
Dutch genre painting, which, in fact, can hardly be called just a portrait Everyday life, often carrying a moralistic message, is represented in Vienna by the works of all its major masters. Its center was Leiden, where Gerard Doux, Rembrandt's first student, founded a school known as the Leiden School of Fine Painting (fijnschilders).
Figurative painting
Meeting of company officers. Frans Hals.
The three greatest Dutch masters of figurative painting, Frans Hals, Rembrandt and Johannes Vermeer of Delft, followed each other at intervals of almost a generation. Hals was born in Antwerp and worked in Haarlem mainly as a portrait painter. For many, he became the personification of the open, cheerful and spontaneous virtuoso painter, while the art of Rembrandt, a thinker - as the cliché goes - reveals the origins of human destiny. This is both fair and wrong. What immediately catches your eye when looking at a portrait or group portrait by Hals is the ability to convey a person who is overwhelmed with emotion in movement. To depict a fleeting moment, Hals uses open, noticeably irregular strokes, intersecting in zigzags or cross-hatching. This creates the effect of a constantly shimmering surface, like a sketch, which merges into a single image only when viewed from a certain distance. After the return of Rothschild's "gifts", an expressive portrait of a man in black was acquired for the collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein and thus returned to Vienna. The Kunsthistorisches Museum owns only one painting by Franz Hals, a portrait young man, which already appeared in the collection of Charles VI as one of the few examples of “Protestant” art in Holland. Portraits painted in late period works of Hals, closer to the works of Rembrandt in terms of psychological penetration and lack of posing.
Thanks to subtle transitions of shades and areas of chiaroscuro, Rembrandt's chiaroscuro seems to envelop the figures in a resonant space in which mood, atmosphere, something intangible and even invisible reside. Works of Rembrandt in Vienna art gallery is represented only by portraits, although "The Artist's Mother" and "The Artist's Son" can also be considered single-figure history paintings. In the so-called “Large Self-Portrait” of 1652, the artist appears before us in a brown blouse, with his face turned in three quarters. His gaze is self-confident and even defiant.
Vermeer
Vermeer's undramatic art, focused entirely on contemplation, was considered a reflection of the Dutch middle class, now independent and content with what it had. However, the simplicity of Vermeer's artistic concepts is deceptive. Their clarity and calm are the result of precise analysis, including the use of the latest technical inventions such as the camera obscura. "Allegory of Painting", created around 1665-1666, Vermeer's pinnacle work in terms of work with color, can be called his most ambitious painting. The process initiated by Jan van Eyck, a native of the northern Netherlands, passive, detached contemplation of the motionless world, has always remained main theme Dutch painting and in the works of Vermeer reached an allegorical and at the same time real apotheosis.
Updated: September 16, 2017 by: Gleb
Until the end of the 16th century, Dutch painting was inseparably linked with Flemish painting and had the general name of the “Dutch school”. Both of them, being a branch of German painting, consider the van Eyck brothers to be their ancestors and have been moving in the same direction for a long time, developing the same technique, so that the artists of Holland are no different from their Flanders and Brabant brothers.
When the Dutch people got rid of the oppression of Spain, Dutch painting acquired a national character. Dutch artists are distinguished by their reproduction of nature with special love in all its simplicity and truth and a subtle sense of color.
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.
Among landscape painters interpreting their domestic nature, are especially respected by Jan van Goyen (1595-1656), who, together with Ezaias van de Velde (c. 1590-1630) and Pieter Moleyn the Elder (1595-1661), is considered the founder of the Dutch landscape.
But the artists of Holland cannot be divided into schools. The expression “Dutch school of painting” is very arbitrary. In Holland, there were organized societies of artists, which were free corporations that protected the rights of their members and did not influence creative activity.
The name of Rembrandt (1606-1669) shines especially brightly in history, in whose personality all the best qualities of Dutch painting were concentrated and his influence was reflected in all its types - in portraits, historical paintings, everyday scenes and landscape.
In the 17th century, household painting successfully developed, the first experiments of which were noted in the old Dutch school. In this genre, the most famous names are Cornelis Beg (1620-64), Richart Brackenburg (1650-1702), Cornelis Dusart (1660-1704) Henrik Roques, nicknamed Sorg (1621-82),
Artists who painted scenes of military life can be classified as genre painters. The main representative of this branch of painting is the famous and extraordinarily prolific Philips Wouwerman (1619-68)
In a special category we can single out masters who in their paintings combined landscapes with images of animals. The most famous among such painters of rural idyll is Paulus Potter (1625-54); Albert Cuyp (1620-91).
Dutch artists paid the greatest attention to the sea.
In the work of Willem van de Velde the Elder (1611 or 1612-93), his famous son Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633-1707), Ludolf Backhuisen (1631-1708), painting of sea views was their specialty.
In the field of still life, the most famous 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) .
The brilliant period of Dutch painting did not last long - only one century.
Since the beginning of the 18th century. its decline is coming, the reason for this is the tastes and views of the pompous era of Louis XIV. Instead of a direct relationship to nature, love of what is native and sincerity, the dominance of preconceived theories, convention, and imitation of the luminaries of the French school is established. The main propagator of this regrettable trend was the Flemish Gerard de Leresse (1641-1711), who settled in Amsterdam.
The decline of the school was also facilitated by the famous Adrian van de Werff (1659-1722), whose dull coloring of his paintings once seemed the height of perfection.
Foreign influence weighed heavily on Dutch painting until the twenties of the 19th century.
Subsequently, Dutch artists turned to their antiquity - to strict observation of nature.
The latest Dutch painting by landscape painters is especially rich. These include Andreas Schelfhout (1787-1870), Barent Koekkoek (1803-62), Anton Mauwe (1838-88), Jacob Maris (b. 1837), Johannes Weissenbruch (1822-1880) and others.
Among the newest marine painters in Holland, the palm belongs to Johannes Schotel (1787-1838).
Wouters Verschoor (1812-74) showed great skill in painting animals.
You can buy reproductions of paintings by Dutch artists in our online store.
The Netherlands is a unique country that has given the world dozens of outstanding artists. Famous designers, artists and simply talented performers - this is a small list that this small state can flaunt.
The rise of Dutch art
The era of prosperity of the art of realism did not last long in Holland. This period covers the entire 17th century, but the scale of its significance greatly exceeds the data chronological framework. Dutch artists of that time became role models for the subsequent generation of painters. So that these words do not sound unfounded, it is worth mentioning the names of Rembrandt and Hals, Potter and Ruisdael, who forever strengthened their status as unsurpassed masters of realistic depiction.
A very significant representative of the Dutch Jan Vermeer. He is considered to be the most mysterious character in the heyday of Dutch painting, since, although famous during his lifetime, he lost interest in his person less than half a century later. Little is known about Vermeer’s biographical information; mostly art historians have explored the history of him by studying his works, but there were difficulties here too - the artist practically did not date his paintings. The most valuable from an aesthetic point of view are considered to be Jan's works "Maid with a Jug of Milk" and "Girl with a Letter".
No less famous and respectable artists were Hans Memling, Hieronymus Bosch, and the brilliant Jan van Eyck. All creators are distinguished by their appeal to everyday life, which is reflected in still lifes, landscapes and portraits.
Left its mark on subsequent development French art the second half of the 17th century and became a model for realistic landscapes created during the Renaissance. Russian realist artists also paid attention to the Dutch. We can safely say that the art of the Netherlands has become progressive and exemplary and has managed to be reflected in the canvas of everyone outstanding artist, who wrote natural studies.
Rembrandt and his legacy
The artist's full name is Rembrandt van Rijn. He was born in the memorable year 1606 into a family that was quite prosperous at that time. Being the fourth child, he still received a good education. The father wanted his son to graduate from the university and become an outstanding figure, but his expectations were not met due to the boy’s low academic performance, and so that all efforts would not be in vain, he was forced to give in to the guy and agree with his desire to become an artist.
Rembrandt's teachers were the Dutch artists Jacob van Swanenburch and Pieter Lastman. The first had rather mediocre skills in painting, but managed to gain respect for his personality, since he spent a long time in Italy, communicating and working with local artists. Rembrandt did not stay with Jacob for long and went in search of another teacher to Amsterdam. There he studied with Peter Lastman, who became a real mentor for him. It was he who taught the young man the art of engraving to the extent that his contemporaries can observe it.
As evidenced by the master’s works, executed in huge quantities, Rembrandt became a fully formed artist by 1628. His sketches were based on any objects, and human faces were no exception. When discussing portraits of Dutch artists, one cannot fail to mention the name of Rembrandt, who, from his youth became famous for his remarkable talent in this field. He painted a lot of his father and mother, which are now kept in galleries.
Rembrandt quickly gained popularity in Amsterdam, but did not stop improving. In the 30s of the 17th century, his famous masterpieces “Anatomy Lesson” and “Portrait of Coppenole” were created.
An interesting fact is that at that time Rembrandt married the beautiful Saxia, and a fertile time of abundance and glory began in his life. Young Saxia became the artist’s muse and was embodied in more than one painting, however, as art historians testify, her features are repeatedly found in other portraits of the master.
The artist died in poverty, without losing the fame he had acquired during his lifetime. His masterpieces are concentrated in all major galleries in the world. He can rightfully be called a master, whose works represent a synthesis of the entire medieval realistic painting. Technically, his work cannot be called ideal, since he did not strive for accuracy in the construction of the drawing. The most important artistic aspect that distinguished him from representatives of the schools of painting was his unsurpassed play of chiaroscuro.
Vincent Van Gogh - a genius nugget
Hearing the phrase “great Dutch artists,” many people immediately picture in their heads the image of Vincent Van Gogh, his undeniably beautiful and lush paintings, which were appreciated only after the artist’s death.
This person can be called a unique and brilliant personality. Being the son of a pastor, Van Gogh, like his brother, followed in their father's footsteps. Vincent studied theology and even was a preacher in the Belgian town of Borinage. He also works as a commission agent and various moves. However, service in the parish and close contact with the harsh everyday life of miners revived the inner feeling of injustice in the young genius. Contemplating the fields and the life of working people every day, Vincent was so inspired that he began to draw.
Dutch artists are primarily known for their portraits and landscapes. Vincent Van Gogh was no exception. By his thirtieth birthday, he gives up everything and begins to actively engage in painting. During this period it was created famous works"Potato Eaters", "Peasant Woman". All his works are imbued with frenzied sympathy for ordinary people who feed the entire country, but can barely feed their own families.
Later, Vincent heads to Paris, and the focus of his work changes somewhat. Intense images and new themes for empathy appear. The half-prison lifestyle and marriage to a prostitute were reflected in his art, which is clearly visible in the paintings “Night Cafe” and “Prisoners’ Walk.”
Friendship with Gauguin
Beginning in 1886, van Gogh became interested in studying plein-air painting by the Impressionists and developed an interest in Japanese prints. It was from that moment that the artist’s works showed character traits Gauguin and Toulouse-Lautrec. First of all, this can be seen in the change in the transmission of color mood. Rich strokes begin to dominate the works yellow color, as well as a blue “sparkle”. The first sketches in a characteristic color scheme were: “Bridge over the Seine” and “Portrait of Father Tanguy”. The latter dazzles with its brightness and bold strokes.
The friendship between Gauguin and Van Gogh was of a correlational nature: they mutually influenced creativity, although they used different expressive tools, actively exchanged gifts in the form of their own paintings and argued tirelessly. The difference between the characters, the insecure position of Vincent, who believed that his pictorial manners were “rural bestial,” gave rise to controversy. In some ways, Gauguin was a more down-to-earth personality than V an Gogh. The passions in their relationship became so intense that one day they quarreled in their favorite cafe and Vincent threw a glass of absinthe at Gauguin. The quarrel did not end there, and the next day there followed a long series of accusations towards Gauguin, who, according to Van Gogh, was guilty of everything. It was at the end of this story that the Dutchman was so furious and depressed that he cut off part of his ear, which he kindly gave it as a gift to a prostitute.
Dutch artists, regardless of the era of their lives, have repeatedly proven to society their unsurpassed manner of transferring moments of life onto canvas. However, perhaps no one in the world has ever been able to earn the title of genius without having the slightest understanding of drawing techniques, composition and methods of artistic expression. Vincent Van Gogh is a unique genius who managed to achieve worldwide recognition thanks to his perseverance, purity of spirit and exorbitant thirst for life.
Having won the fight against Spain for its independence, bourgeois Holland became the most economically developed state in Western Europe. The main Dutch city of Amsterdam has emerged as one of the largest shopping centers in Europe.
Along with the economy, Dutch painting is also developing. Unlike other Western European countries, baroque paintings of palaces and castles were not popular in Holland - the weakness of the nobility served as an obstacle to development decorative arts. The Calvinist Church of Holland also did not seek to decorate its churches with works of painting.
Nevertheless, painting flourished in Holland: artists received numerous orders from private individuals. Even Dutch peasants could hang a small painting in their homes - these artists’ creations were so cheap.
In the 17th century Over two thousand artists worked in little Holland. They put the production of paintings on stream, produced canvases in whole batches and handed them over to sellers. Almost every master performed from two to five compositions per week.
Often the production of paintings outpaced demand, so in order to feed themselves, artists had to simultaneously engage in other work. Such famous masters as J. Steen, M. Gobbema, J. van Goyen and many others were at the same time employees, gardeners, and tavern keepers.
Typically, painters specialized in one specific topic. For example, H. Averkamp painted winter views, E. van der Poel depicted night fires, G. Terborch and G. Metsu - everyday scenes, P. Claes and V. K. Heda - still lifes-breakfasts.
Very often, artists worked collectively on one picture: one painted the sky, another - grass and trees, the third - human figures. The most successful works that were successful with the public were copied and served as a model for the creation of countless versions.
Although the art of talented painters was subordinated to commercial goals, the masters usually managed to avoid falsehood. Most of these paintings are distinguished by their realism, integrity and clarity of composition, freshness of color and excellent execution technique.
The portrait genre became widespread in Dutch painting. played a major role in the life of the country various organizations(shooting society, groups of representatives of the medical corporation and trade shops), which contributed to the emergence of a group public portrait.
The long-term struggle with the Spanish colonialists sharpened the feeling national identity Therefore, in painting, in addition to realism, the depiction of characteristic national features was especially welcomed. Artists painted the sea and ships, livestock, flowers. In addition to portraiture, genres such as landscape and still life developed. There was also religious painting, but there was no element of mysticism in it; biblical stories introduced themselves
by the artist rather as everyday scenes.
Frans Hals
Frans Hals was born around 1581 in Antwerp into a weaver's family. As a young man, he came to Haarlem, where he lived almost constantly until his death (in 1616 he visited Antwerp, and in the mid-1630s - Amsterdam). Little is known about Hulse's life. In 1610 he entered the Guild of St. Luke, and in 1616 he entered the chamber of rhetoricians (amateur actors).
Very quickly Hals became one of the most famous portrait painters Haarlem. In the XV-XVI centuries. in the painting of the Netherlands there was a tradition of painting portraits only of representatives ruling circles, famous people and artists. Hals's art is deeply democratic: in his portraits we can see an aristocrat, a wealthy citizen, an artisan, and even a person from the very bottom. The artist does not try to idealize those depicted; the main thing for him is their naturalness and uniqueness. His nobles behave as relaxed as representatives of the lower strata of society, who in Khals’s paintings are depicted as cheerful people who are not devoid of self-esteem.
Group portraits occupy a large place in the artist’s work. The best works Portraits of officers of the St. George rifle company (1627) and the St. Adrian rifle company (1633) became of this genre. Each character in the paintings has its own distinct personality, and at the same time, these works are distinguished by their integrity.
Hals also painted commissioned portraits depicting wealthy burghers and their families in relaxed poses (“Portrait of Isaac Massa,” 1626; “Portrait of Hethuisen,” 1637). Hals’s images are lively and dynamic; it seems that the people in the portraits are talking to an invisible interlocutor or addressing the viewer.
Representatives of the popular environment in Khals’s portraits are distinguished by their vivid expressiveness and spontaneity. In the images of street boys, fishermen, musicians, and tavern visitors, one can feel the author’s sympathy and respect. His “Gypsy” is remarkable. The smiling young woman seems surprisingly alive, her sly gaze directed at her interlocutor, invisible to the audience. Hals does not idealize his model, but the image of a cheerful, disheveled gypsy delights with its perky charm.
Very often, Hulse's portraits include elements of a genre scene. These are the images of children singing or playing musical instruments (“Singing Boys”, 1624-1625). The famous “Malle Babbe” (early 1630s) was performed in the same spirit, representing a well-known tavern owner in Haarlem, whom visitors called the Haarlem Witch behind her back. The artist almost grotesquely depicted a woman with a huge beer mug and an owl on her shoulder.
In the 1640s. The country is showing signs of a turning point. Only a few decades have passed since the victory of the revolution, and the bourgeoisie has already ceased to be a progressive class based on democratic traditions. The truthfulness of Hals painting no longer attracts wealthy clients who want to see themselves in portraits better than they really are. But Hulse did not abandon realism, and his popularity plummeted. Notes of sadness and disappointment appear in the painting of this period (“Portrait of a Man in a Wide-brimmed Hat”). His palette becomes stricter and calmer.
At the age of 84, Hulse created two of his masterpieces: group portraits of regents (trustees) and regents of a nursing home (1664). These latest works by the Dutch master are distinguished by their emotionality and strong individuality of images. The images of the regents - old men and women - emanate sadness and death. This feeling is also emphasized by the color scheme in black, gray and white.
Hals died in 1666 in deep poverty. His truthful, life-affirming art had a great influence on many Dutch artists.
Rembrandt
In the 1640-1660s. Dutch painting was flourishing. The most significant artist of this time was Rembrandt.
Rembrandt Harmens van Rijn was born in 1606 in Leiden. His father was a wealthy miller. His parents dreamed of a good education for their son and sent him to a Latin school, after which Rembrandt entered the University of Leiden. But the young man was attracted to art. He left the university and began studying with the painter Jacob Swannenburch. Three years later, the young artist went to Amsterdam, where he began taking lessons from Pieter Lastman.
In 1624 Rembrandt returned to Leiden. Here he rented a studio together with the painter Jan Lievens. The artist works a lot from life, painting not only in the studio, but also on the street and at the city bazaar.
At the end of the 1620s. Rembrandt gained popularity among the residents of Leiden. He received many orders and his first student was Gerard Dou, who later became a fairly famous painter.
Rembrandt's early paintings are characterized by careful composition and conscientious execution. At the same time, they are characterized by some stiffness (“The Torment of St. Sebastian”, 1625).
In 1631, Rembrandt settled in Amsterdam. His fame quickly spread throughout the city, and orders poured in for the painter. Rembrandt's personal life was also successful: in 1634 he married Saskia van Uylenburg, a girl from a famous bourgeois family. The marriage brought the artist a significant fortune, which provided him with creative independence and allowed him to start collecting works of art and antiques.
Rembrandt enjoyed happiness in the company of his beloved wife, whom he depicted many times in portraits. Saskia often served as a model for paintings with a wide variety of themes (“Flora,” 1634; “Self-portrait with Saskia on her knees,” c. 1639).
Rembrandt's work during this period is diverse; he painted historical, mythological and religious compositions, portraits, everyday scenes, landscapes, still lifes, paintings with images of animals. But the main object of his attention is man. Not only in portraits, but also in his other works, the artist strives to convey the character and inner world of his heroes.
A remarkable master of the portrait genre, only in the 1630s. Rembrandt executed more than sixty commissioned portraits. The main thing for a painter is not the external resemblance to the model, but the depth inner world, the power of mental movements and experiences. The group portrait “The Anatomy of Doctor Tulp” (1632) was greeted with delight by his contemporaries. The artist made changes to the traditional composition of the classic group portrait, arranging the figures not in a row, as was customary, but freely. This construction gave the image life and naturalness.
At the end of the 1630s. Rembrandt became the most famous master in Holland. His masterpiece, the famous “Danae” (1636), dates back to this period, the craftsmanship of which surpasses everything that was created by his contemporaries
artist. The perfection of its composition and the richness of the color scheme, designed in golden shades, are striking. It seems that there is nothing superfluous in this work; every detail is carefully thought out by the author. With the help of a free and lively brushstroke, the master conveys the lightness of the bedspread, the folds of heavy curtains and draperies. The flexible plasticity of the young woman lying on the bed and the soft golden shades of the body, illuminated by soft light, are striking. Although Danaë does not shine with ideal beauty, her image delights the viewer with its lively charm and freshness.
In the 1630s. The artist also works a lot in etching. He is attracted by everyday motives (“Seller of Rat Poison”, 1632). Elements of genre are also inherent in works with biblical themes (“The Return of the Prodigal Son”, 1636). One of the best etchings of this period is “The Death of Mary” (1639), emotional and imbued with a feeling of deep sorrow. The remarkable work “Christ Healing the Sick” (the so-called “Leaf of One Hundred Guilders” - this name indicates the cost of the work) is also distinguished by the complexity of the composition and the monumental grandeur of the images.
In the 1640s. Rembrandt becomes the most famous and highest paid painter in Amsterdam. He was commissioned for portraits and compositions for the palace of the Dutch Stadtholder in The Hague. Many aspiring artists seek to study in his workshop. The fame of Rembrandt's art extends beyond the borders of Holland. Several paintings by the famous master are kept in the palace of the English King Charles I.
Rembrandt's talent was evident in his realistic and expressive still lifes ("Bull's Carcass") and landscapes ("Landscape with a Mill", c. 1650). Subtle lyricism is inherent in the unassuming Dutch landscapes, striking the viewer with their almost tangible reality.
The death of his beloved wife in 1642 alienated Rembrandt from her noble relatives. The artist stopped communicating with his acquaintances from aristocratic society. The changes in the master’s life were reflected in his painting, which became deeper and more focused. If early works Rembrandt is distinguished by a calm and even mood, but now notes of anxiety and doubt begin to sound in his paintings. The palette, which is dominated by red and golden shades, also changes.
The canvas “David and Jonathan” (1642, Hermitage, St. Petersburg), executed in golden-pink and golden-blue tones, is distinguished by its vivid expressiveness.
All these new features in Rembrandt’s painting did not meet with understanding among his contemporaries. The large monumental composition “Night Watch” (1642) caused discontent. The painting received this name in the 19th century. In fact, the action takes place not at night, but during the day, in sunlight, which confirms the nature of the shadows.
Over time, the colors darkened, and only restoration carried out in 1946-1947 showed that the color scheme of this work was once much lighter.
The painting depicts the riflemen of Captain Banning Coke's company. The customer expected to see a traditional ceremonial portrait(a scene of a feast or a commander presenting his subordinates to the viewer). Rembrandt created a geo-
roico-historical painting depicting the performance of riflemen on the orders of the captain. The characters are excited and dynamic; the commander gives orders, the standard bearer raises the banner, the drummer beats the drum, the riflemen load their weapons. Here a little girl with a rooster at her belt is spinning around out of nowhere.
During these years, Hendrikje Stoffels appeared in Rembrandt's life, first a maid, and then his wife, who became his faithful friend and assistant. The artist still works a lot. He creates his famous " Holy family"(1645), in which the religious theme is interpreted as a genre theme. Along with biblical compositions, the painter painted realistic landscapes with images of the village (“Winter View”, 1646). His portraits of this period are distinguished by his desire to show the individual characteristics of his models.
In the 1650s. the number of orders is significantly reduced. Rembrandt is experiencing great financial difficulties. He faces complete ruin, because the debt associated with the purchase of a house during the life of his first wife, Saskia, has still not been paid. In 1656, the artist was declared insolvent, and his art collection and all his property were sold at auction. Rembrandt's family had to move to the poor Jewish quarter of Amsterdam.
Despite all the adversities, the talent of the great painter does not dry out. But now the criterion of his skill is completely different. IN later works Rembrandt's colorful strokes appear sharply on the surface of the canvas. Now the colors in his paintings serve not only to convey the external appearance of the characters and the image of the interior - it is the coloring that takes on the semantic load of the work. Thus, the feeling of intense drama in the painting “Assur, Haman and Esther” (1660) is created through a complex tonal range and special lighting effects.
Deprived of orders, living in deep poverty, Rembrandt does not stop writing. He creates expressive and spiritual portraits, for which relatives and friends serve as models (“Portrait of the artist’s brother’s wife”, 1654; “Portrait of an old man in red”, 1652-1654; “Portrait of the son Titus reading”, 1657; “Portrait of Hendrikje Stoffels at windows", ca. 1659).
The son Titus, who has finally received the fortune of his deceased mother, is trying to protect his father from material deprivation and create conditions for him to work peacefully. But misfortunes continued to haunt the artist: Hendrickje died in 1663, and Titus followed her a few years later.
It was during this tragic time that the old, lonely artist created his masterpieces, distinguished by their monumental grandeur and spirituality (“David and Uriah,” 1665-1666; “The Return of the Prodigal Son,” c. 1668-1669).
Rembrandt died in 1669, forgotten by everyone. Only in the 18th century. his art was finally understood and appreciated.
In the 1640-1660s. The leading genre in Dutch painting was the everyday genre. The paintings depicting the most ordinary moments of reality are surprisingly poetic and lyrical. The main object of attention of painters is man and the world around him. Most genre compositions are distinguished by a calm narrative and lack of drama. They talk about the household chores of the mistress of the house (buying provisions, taking care of children, doing handicrafts), about the entertainment of the Dutch burgher (playing cards, receiving guests, concerts). Artists depict everything that happens in the house of a wealthy city dweller, ignoring the social side of a person’s life.
Genre painters were very popular: G. Dou, whose paintings were sold at very high prices, A. van Ostade, who painted scenes peasant life(“Rural Concert”), J. Sten, whose favorite themes were scenes of fun and holidays (“Merry Society”), G. Terborch, whose elegant painting represented the life of a rich burgher family (“Glass of Lemonade”), G. Metsu with his artless narration (“The Sick Child”), P. de Hooch, who created contemplative and lyrical canvases (“The Mistress and the Maid”).
Expand the scope everyday genre strived for K. Fabricius, who lived a short life (died in Delft in the explosion of a gunpowder warehouse). One of his best works is “The Raising of Lazarus” (c. 1643), notable for its drama and almost monumental scope. His portraits and self-portraits are also remarkable, putting the artist on a par with F. Hals and Rembrandt.
The fate of E. de Fabricius, a talented master of everyday scenes and works depicting church interiors (“Market in the port”, “Interior with a woman at the harpsichord”) is tragic. The artist did not seek to pander to the tastes of the bourgeois public, so his works, which were not successful with his contemporaries, were sold for pennies. Often Fabricius was forced to pay them off for debts to homeowners. On a winter night in 1692, a seventy-five-year-old artist, thrown out of his house by his owner, hanged himself on the railing of a bridge. A similar fate was typical for many Dutch painters who did not want to give up realistic traditions to please the public.
Jan Wermeer of Delft
A prominent representative of Dutch genre painting is Jan Vermeer, nicknamed Delft after his place of birth and activity. The painter was born in 1623 into the family of a painting and silk merchant. Little is known about Wermeer's life. Perhaps his teacher was C. Fabricius. In 1653, the artist became a member of the Guild of St. Luke and married the daughter of a wealthy townsman, Catherine Bolnes. In Delft he enjoyed respect and fame, lived in big house, located on the market square.
Vermeer worked on his paintings very slowly and thoroughly, carefully recording every detail. Painting could not provide a comfortable existence for the artist’s family, although his canvases enjoyed great success. This is probably why Vermeer began selling paintings, continuing his father’s work.
Already in Vermeer’s first works, a combination of realism and a certain amount of idealization of images, characteristic of his work, appears (“Diana with the Nymphs”, “Christ with Martha and Mary” - both before 1656). The next work, a large-figure canvas “At the Pimp” (1656), painted on a subject used by many painters, is distinguished by its originality of execution. An ordinary everyday scene for the artist acquires almost monumental significance. The painting stands out among other works with a similar theme for its bold coloring, sustained in pure yellow, red, black and white colors, and the bright expressiveness of the images.
Subsequently, Vermeer turned to chamber compositions traditional for Dutch painting. Like other Dutch masters, he depicts events taking place in rich burgher houses. The artist’s favorite image is of a girl reading a letter or trying on a necklace. His canvases depict simple everyday scenes: a maid gives a letter to her mistress, a gentleman brings a glass of wine to the lady. But these paintings, simple in composition, amaze with their integrity, harmony and lyricism; their images attract with their naturalness and calm poetry.
In the second half of the 1650s. the artist created his most wonderful works. The deeply lyrical “Sleeping Girl”, “Glass of Wine”, “Girl with a Letter” are marked with a warm feeling. Many Dutch painters of that time depicted maids busy at work in their paintings, but only Vermeer’s image of a woman from the people has features of true beauty and greatness (“Maid with a Jug of Milk”).
Vermeer is a true virtuoso in conveying the essence of the world of things with the help of visual arts. The still lifes in his paintings are executed with great skill. A dish with apples and plums, standing on a table covered with a patterned tablecloth in the canvas “Girl with a Letter,” looks amazingly beautiful and natural.
In the painting “The Maid with a Jug of Milk,” the bread and milk flowing in a thick stream from the jug amaze with their freshness.
Light plays a big role in Vermeer's works. It fills the space of the canvases, creating the impression of extraordinary airiness; models shapes and penetrates paints, making them glow from within. It is thanks to this amount of light and air that a special emotional elation is created in most of Vermeer’s works.
The painter’s remarkable skill was also evident in landscape painting. Small corner the city, enveloped in the humid atmosphere of a cloudy day, is reproduced by the clear and simple composition of “Street” (c. 1658). The rain-washed city appears clean and fresh in the painting “View of Delft” (between 1658 and 1660). The sun's rays break through the soft silvery clouds, creating many bright reflections on the surface of the water. The sonorous coloring with its subtle color transitions gives the picture expressiveness and harmony.
In the 1660s. Vermeer's painting becomes more refined and elegant. The palette is also changing, now dominated by cool colorful shades (“Girl with a Pearl”). The main characters of the paintings are rich ladies and gentlemen surrounded by luxurious objects (“Love Letter”, ca. 1670).
Jan Wermeer of Delft. Maid with a jug of milk. Between 1657 and 1660
Jan Wermeer of Delft. Painter's workshop. OK. 1665
IN last period During the life of Vermeer, his works become superficial and somewhat far-fetched (“Allegory of Faith”), and the palette loses its richness and sonority. But even in these years individual works the artist is amazed by his former expressive power. Such is his “Painter's Workshop” (1665), in which Vermeer depicted himself at work, and the paintings “Astronomer” and “Geographer”, depicting scientists.
The fate of Vermeer, like many other Dutch masters, is tragic. At the end of his life, the sick artist, who had lost most of his previous customers, was forced to move his big family from your previous home to a cheaper home. Over the past five years he has not painted a single painting. The painter died in 1675. His art was forgotten for a long time, and only in mid-19th century V. Vermeer was appreciated and placed on a par with such Dutch masters as Rembrandt and F. Hals.
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 a large number of 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 his origins Flemish school, about the artists Mostert, Skorel and Heemskerk, who, despite all their importance, are not individual talents that characterize the country with their originality.
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, big number painters who have become a phenomenon in painting, this is almost the awakening of the Dutch national school. The wide variety of talents leads to many different directions and paths for the development of painting. Artists test themselves in all genres, in different color schemes: some work in a light manner, others in a dark manner (here the influence of the Italian artist Caravaggio). 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- 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. 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 Bohl, 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. Such was this painting from the beginning of its existence until its decline.
It may seem that nothing could be simpler than the discovery of this ordinary 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 their best manifestations they are 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, put a person in his proper place, and, if necessary, 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 northern country with water, forests, sea horizons, they were able to reflect the whole 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 ones on 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 we must add 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. Besides - 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 remember 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 his vital basis and will not be able to determine either his moral character or his style. In these artists, who for the most part have earned the reputation of short-sighted copyists, you feel the sublime and kind soul, loyalty to truth, 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 can be easily recognized by appearance. It is small in size and distinguished by its powerful, strict colors. This requires great precision, 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 picture in the world more saturated, since it is the Dutch who include such great content in such a small space. That is why everything here takes on a precise, compressed and condensed form.
Every Dutch painting is concave, it consists of curves described around one 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