Dutch Baroque Art
Characteristics of Dutch Art
• No church or aristocracy as patrons
• Art produced on the open market, specialized by subject
matter: portrait, genre, landscape
• Middle class, regular, borgeois characters and subjects
• Used to decorate homes, cover bare walls, give pleasure to the
eye
• Small paintings for small homes
• Cheerful subjects, unpleasant ones given humorous slant
• Easily understandable subjects, some allegorical, few religious
ecstasies or pagan myths
Leyster, Self
Portrait, c.1630
Steen, The Feast of
St. Nicholas
c. 1660-1665
Steen, The Feast of
St. Nicholas
c. 1660-1665
Steen, The Feast of
St. Nicholas
c. 1660-1665
Ruisdael, View of
Haarlem from the
Dunes at Overveen
c.1670
Ruisdael, View of
Haarlem from the
Dunes at Overveen
c.1670
Ruisdael, View of
Haarlem
c.1670
Hals, Archers of Saint Hadrian c.1633
Rembrandt van Rijn
Hals, Archers of Saint Hadrian c.1633
Rembrandt, Anatomy Lesson of Doctor Tulp c.1632
Rembrandt, The Company of Capt. Frans Banning
Cocq aka “Night Watch” 1642
Vermeer
Vermeer,
Allegory on
the Art of
Painting
1670-1675
Vermeer, The
Letter, 1666
Motifs in Vermeer’s Paintings
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Checkerboard floor
Horizontal beam ceiling
Light from the left
Heavy drapery or map
Figures seen from back or side
Figures occupied in daily pursuits
Sensitivity to light
Back wall is always flat against picture plane