Northern Europe,

1
Gardners Art Through the Ages, 13e

• Chapter 25
• Northern Europe,
• 1600 to 1700

2
Europe in the 17th Century
3
Figure 25-2 PETER PAUL RUBENS, Elevation of the
Cross, from Saint Walburga, Antwerp, 1610. Oil on
wood, 15 1 7/8 x 11 1 1/2 (center panel), 15'
1 7/8" x 4' 11" (each wing). Antwerp Cathedral,
Antwerp.
4
Figure 25-3 PETER PAUL RUBENS, Arrival of Marie
de Medici at Marseilles, 16221625. Oil on
canvas, 12 11 1/2 x 9 7. Louvre, Paris.

• Marie de Medici had Rubens paint 21 large
  canvases glorifying her career this scene
  celebrates her safe arrival in France from Italy
• Rubens understood royalty and the ostentation and
  spectacle of Baroque art that appealed to them
  this lavishness also extended to the Catholic
  Church

5
Figure 25-4 PETER PAUL RUBENS, Consequences of
War, 16381639. Oil on canvas, 6 9 x 11 3
7/8. Palazzo Pitti, Florence..

• Rubens was a man of peace and continually
  promoted peace in his art his many diplomatic
  missions gave him insight into European politics
  above is his attitude toward the Thirty Years
  War.

6
Figure 25-5 ANTHONY VAN DYCK, Charles I
Dismounted, ca. 1635. Oil on canvas, 8 x 11 x
6 11 1/2. Louvre, Paris.

• Van Dyck, Rubens most famous student, left native
  Antwerp to become court portraitist to Charles I
• Psychologically powerful portrait-regal pose,
  absolute authoritative look on face (which his
  own Parliament resented and would soon rise
  against) his back toward his attendants as he
  surveys his land
• Figure is slightly off-center but gaze toward
  viewer balances composition.

7
Figure 25-6 CLARA PEETERS, Still Life With
Flowers, Goblet, Dried Fruit, and Pretzels, 1611.
Oil on Panel, 1 7 3/4 X 2 1 1/4. Museo Del
Prado, Madrid.
8
Figure 25-7 HENDRICK TER BRUGGHEN, Calling of
Saint Matthew, 1621. Oil on canvas, 3 4 x 4
6. The Hague.
9
Figure 25-8 GERRIT VAN HONTHORST, Supper Party,
1620. Oil on canvas, 4 8 x 7. Galleria degli
Uffizi, Florence.
10
Figure 25-9 FRANS HALS, Archers of Saint
Hadrian, ca. 1633. Oil on canvas, approx. 6 9 x
11. Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem.
11
Figure 25-10 FRANS HALS, The Women Regents of
the Old Mens Home at Haarlem, 1664. Oil on
canvas, 5 7 x 8 2. Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem.
12
Figure 25-11 JUDITH LEYSTER, Self-Portrait, ca.
1630. Oil on canvas, 2 5 3/8 x 2 1 5/8.
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (gift
of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss).

• A student of Franz Hals, Judith Leyster became a
  well-known portraitists
• This work is imbued with the spontaneity of
  Halss work, is detailed, precise and most
  importantly communicates a lot about her
  self-assurance in both pose and smile
• Leyster didnt portray herself as an artist in
  traditional garb but rather her attire
  distinguishes her socially as a member of a
  wealthy family.

13
Figure 25-14 REMBRANDT VAN RIJN, Return of the
Prodigal Son, ca. 1665. Oil on canvas, approx. 8
8 x 6 9. Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg.

• In sharp contrast to Italian-Baroque
  Counter-Reformation works, Rembrandts religious
  paintings invoke inward-turning contemplation
• His hallmark is his use of light he refined
  light and shade gradually making them so fine
  that subtle nuances blended with one another
• This technique is close to reality because the
  eyes perceive light and dark not as static but as
  always subtly changing.

14
Figure 25-12 REMBRANDT VAN RIJN, Anatomy Lesson
of Dr. Tulp, 1632. Oil on canvas, 5 3 3/4 x 7
1 1/4. Mauritshuis, The Hague.
15
Figure 25-13 REMBRANDT VAN RIJN, The Company of
Captain Frans Banning Cocq (Night Watch), 1642.
Oil on canvas (cropped from original size), 11
11 x 14 4. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
16
Figure 25-15 REMBRANDT VAN RIJN, Self-Portrait,
ca. 16591660. Oil on canvas, approx. 3 8 3/4 x
3 1. Kenwood House, London (Iveagh Bequest).

• Rembrandt reveals his soul in this late portrait
  giving focus to his expressive face the
  controlled use of light and the nonspecific
  setting contribute to this focus
• Light and dark are not in conflict in his
  portraits the psychology of light rather
  light and dark merge softly and subtly to produce
  the visual equivalent of quietness mood of
  tranquil meditation, philosophical resignation,
  musing recollection.

17
Figure 25-16 REMBRANDT VAN RIJN, Christ with the
Sick around Him, Receiving the Children (Hundred
Guilder Print), ca. 1649. Etching, 11 x 1 3
1/4. Pierpont Morgan Library, New York.
18
Aelbert Cuyp, Distant View of Dordrecxht, with a
Milkmaid and Four Cows, and Other Figures, late
1640s. Oil on canvas, 51 X 6 4 7/8.
National Gallery, London.
19
Figure 25-18 JACOB VAN RUISDAEL, View of Haarlem
from the Dunes at Overveen, ca. 1670. Oil on
canvas, 1 10 x 2 1. Mauritshuis, The Hague.
20
Figure 25-1 JAN VERMEER, Allegory of the Art of
Painting, 16701675. Oil on canvas, 4 4 x 3
8. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

• This painting is Vermeers tribute to his craft
  and includes a model holding the attributes of
  Clio-muse of history
• Ex. of Repousssoir achieving perspective using
  illusionistic devices (i.e. placment of large
  curtain in foreground)
• Map shows extensive panorama of military history
  of war from liberation of 17 Provinces from
  Spanish rule.

21
Figure 25-19 JAN VERMEER, The Letter, 1666. Oil
on canvas, 1 5 1/4 x 1 3 1/4. Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam.

• Many of the same illusionistic devices are used
  here Vermeer was a master of pictorial light in
  rendering space so convincingly through his
  depiction of light
• Historians believe that he used mirrors and the
  camera obscura not to copy but rather as aides
  to rework compositions
• Vermeer understood color and was ahead of his
  time he knew what shadows were made of.

22
Figure 25-20 JAN STEEN, The Feast of Saint
Nicholas, ca. 16601665. Oil on canvas, 2 8 1/4
x 2 3 3/4. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

• Christmas time in a Dutch middle-class household
  Steens energetic scene creates a moralistic tone
  in concepts of selfishness, pettiness and
  jealousy
• This in direct contrast to Vermeers work full of
  charm and warmth in Dutch domesticity
• Steen often used children to satirically comment
  on foolish adult behavior.

23
Figure 25-21 PIETER CLAESZ, Vanitas Still Life,
1630s. Oil on panel, 1 2 x 1 11 1/2.
Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg.

• Vanitas still lifes reflect the pride Dutch had
  in their material possessions however Calvinist
  morality tempered that pride skull and timepiece
  are reminders of lifes transience.

24
Figure 25-22 WILLEM KALF, Still Life with a Late
Ming Ginger Jar, 1669. Oil on canvas, 2 6 x 2
1 3/4. Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis.
(gift in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of
the Art Association of Indianapolis, in memory of
Daniel W. and Elizabeth C. Marmon).

• The opulence of the objects in this
  painting-Indian carpet, Chinese jar-attest to the
  prosperous Dutch maritime trade but also suggest
  that this painting is also a vanitas still life.

25
Figure 25-23 RACHEL RUYSCH, Flower Still Life,
after 1700. Oil on canvas, 2 5 3/4 x 1 11
7/8. The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo (purchased
with funds from the Libbey Endowment, gift of
Edward Drummond Libbey).

• Cut flowers-a popular theme in vanitas paintings
  Rachel Ruysch was noted for her distinct work
  her father was a botanist and anatomist
• She acquired an international reputation for her
  lush floral paintings becoming court painter to
  the ruler of Dusseldorf, Germany.

26
Figure 25-24 NICOLAS POUSSIN, Et in Arcadia Ego,
ca. 1655. Oil on canvas, approx. 2 10 x 4.
Louvre, Paris.
27
Figure 25-25 NICOLAS POUSSIN, Burial of Phocion,
1648. Oil on canvas, 3 11 x 5 10. Louvre,
Paris.
28
Figure 25-26 CLAUDE LORRAIN, Landscape with
Cattle and Peasants, 1629. Oil on canvas, 3 6 x
4 10 1/2. Philadelphia Museum of Art,
Philadelphia (George W. Elkins Collection).
29
Figure 25-27 LOUIS LE NAIN, Family of Country
People, ca. 1640. Oil on canvas, 3 8 x 5 2.
Louvre, Paris.
30
Figure 25-28 JACQUES CALLOT, Hanging Tree, from
the Miseries of War series, 16291633. Etching, 3
3/4 x 7 1/4. Private collection.

• Callots war etchings were among the first
  realistic pictorial records of the human disaster
  of military conflict Hanging Tree depicts a mass
  execution of thieves in the presence of an army
• Callot made his reputation almost exclusively
  through etching Rembrandt studied his work.

31
Figure 25-29 GEORGES DE LA TOUR, Adoration of
the Shepherds, 16451650. Oil on canvas, approx.
3 6 x 4 6. Louvre, Paris.
32
Figure 25-30 HYACINTHE RIGAUD, Louis XIV, 1701.
Oil on canvas, 9 2 x 6 3. Louvre, Paris.

• King Louis XIV was the preeminent French art
  patron of the 17th c master of political
  strategy and propaganda he ensured subservience
  by establishing his rule as divine right (a
  belief in a kings absolute power as Gods will)
  adopted the title, le Roi Soleil-the Sun King.
• With his advisor, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, they
  sought to regularize taste and establish the
  classical style as the preferred French manner
• Founding the Royal Academy of Painting and
  Sculpture in 1648 advanced this goal.

33
Figure 25-31 CLAUDE PERRAULT, LOUIS LE VAU, and
CHARLES LE BRUN, east facade of the Louvre,
Paris, France, 16671670.
34
Figure 25-32 Aerial view (looking west) of the
palace and gardens, Versailles, France, begun
1669.
35
Figure 25-33 JULES HARDOUIN-MANSART and CHARLES
LE BRUN, Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors),
palace of Louis XIV, Versailles, France, ca. 1680.
36
Figure 25-34 FRANÇOIS GIRARDON and THOMAS
REGNAUDIN, Apollo Attended by the Nymphs, Grotto
of Thetis, Versailles, France, ca. 16661672.
Marble, life-size.
37
Figure 25-35 JULES HARDOUIN-MANSART, Royal
Chapel, with ceiling decorations by Antoine
Coypel, palace of Louis XIV, Versailles, France,
16981710.

• Because the apse is as high as the nave, the
  central space of the Royal Chapel at Versailles
  has a curved Baroque quality Louis XIV could
  reach the royal pew directly from his apartments

38
Figure 25-36 JULES HARDOUIN-MANSART, Église de
Dôme, Church of the Invalides, Paris, France,
16761706.

• Hardouin-Mansarts church marries the Italian and
  French architectural styles
• The grouping of the orders is similar to the
  Italian Baroque manner but without the dramatic
  play of curved surfaces

39
Figure 25-37 INIGO JONES, Banqueting House at
Whitehall, London, England, 16191622.
40
Figure 25-38 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN, new Saint
Pauls Cathedral, London, England, 16751710.

• Englands most renowned architect, Wren was a
  mathematical genius and skilled engineer whose
  work won the praise of Isaac Newton
• Wren became a professor of astronomy at age 25
  mathematics led to architecture
• Wrens cathedral was completed quickly, in 30
  years so that Wren lived to see it