The Great Golden Age Book

boo k

j e ro e n g i lta i j

Previous books in this serie

Het Grote 40-45 Boek

René Kok en Erik Somers

in collaboration with the NIOD

Institute for War, Holocaust and

Genocide Studies

Het Grote Jaren 50 Boek

Paul Brood, René Kok en

Erik Somers

in collaboration with the National

Archives of the Netherlands

Het Grote Boerderijen Boek

Ben Kooij en Judith Toebast

In collaboration with the

Cultural Heritage Agency of the

Netherlands

Het Grote Gouden Eeuw Boek

Jeroen Giltaij

w w w . w b o o k s . c o m

he Great Golden Age Book gives a complete overview of the art

from one of the most remarkable periods in Dutch history.

The seventeenth century is often known as the Dutch Golden

Age, not only because of the great wealth the country amassed

but also because of the impressive cultural flowering. The art

of painting in particular reached a high point. Throughout the

century, countless highly talented artists created masterpieces

that still evoke our admiration more than four centuries later.

Their paintings are the jewels in the collections of museums all

over the world.

At the start of the seventeenth century, artists began painting

landscapes, still lifes, scenes from everyday life, marine pictures

and church interiors in a way that had never been done before. It

was as if the artists wanted to record daily life around them, but

they all did this in their studios at their easels. These painters

had a degree of imaginative power that we find difficult to

imagine. Throughout the century, talented new artists continued

to emerge with their own styles. The art of the Dutch Golden Age

is characterised by ceaseless creativity, huge levels of production

and a style that was unique and typical of that time. The great

names of Rembrandt, Vermeer and Frans Hals are world famous

but the paintings of the lesser known old masters are often

wonderful, splendid, exquisite or imposing.

The Great Golden Age Book was written and put together by Jeroen

Giltaij, the former head curator of Old Master Paintings at the

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.

t

After graduating, Jeroen Giltaij

became assistant curator of

drawings in 1972 at the Museum

Boijmans Van Beuningen, where

he wrote the catalogue of the

drawings of Rembrandt and his

school. In 1978, he became head

curator of old paintings and

sculptures, in which capacity he

organised various exhibitions

including exhibitions on themes

in seventeenth-century painting.

The catalogue of the exhibition on

architectural painting was awarded

the Prix Minda de Gunzburg

in 1991. In 1997 he obtained a

doctorate for his thesis on the

Sicilian collector Antonio Ruffo,

who commissioned paintings from

Rembrandt. His brief overview of

the paintings of the Dutch Golden

Age was published in 2004 and

served as the starting point for this

book.

D U T C H P A I N T I N g s

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c O N t E N t

Preface 5

Introduction 6

1 The crucible: Haarlem 15

2 Mannerism and Caravaggism in Utrecht 27

3 The Hague, Delft and Amsterdam at the start of the century 47

4 Landscape painting in the first half of the century 59

5 The still life in the first half of the century 87

6 Portrait Painters 105

7 Painters of everyday life in the first half of the century 141

8 Rembrandt and his pupils: emerging and flourishing 159

9 Rembrandt and his pupils: Late works 187

1 0 Landscape painting in the second half of the century 207

1 1 Italianate landscape painters 223

1 2 Architectural painters 243

1 3 Marine painters 259

1 4 History painters 277

1 5 The decoration of the Huis ten Bosch 295

1 6 The still life in the second half of the century 299

1 7 Painters of everyday life in the second half of the century 315

1 8 Townscapes 341

1 9 Animal painters 357

2 0 Paintings for the Amsterdam town hall 365

2 1 The final years of the Dutch Golden Age 371

Literature 378

Index of artists 382

Colophon 384

Ambrosius Bosschaert (1573-1621)

Vase with Flowers in a Window, c. 1618 (detail)

Panel, 64 x 46 cm.

the hague, Mauritshuis

The seventeenth century is often called the Golden Age of

the Netherlands, and the paintings produced in the Dutch

Republic during that period are an impressive aspect of Dutch

history. The century saw the rise of one artist after another,

often demonstrating incredible creativity and sometimes

producing large numbers of paintings. It has been estimated

that there must have been between fifty and a hundred

thousand artists in the period from 1580 to 1800, producing

between five and ten million paintings in total. Of course

these were not just the works of the great masters we know

today, but it does show how deeply painting was embedded

in the life of the Dutch Republic.

This book looks at those artists and their paintings in the

period from around 1590 to around 1710. The intention was

to give a brief overview, making grateful use of the wealth of

literature on the subject. In the course of writing the book, a

good 230 artists were selected, with more than 320 paintings

— a selection that had to take account of the intended size

of the book. The artists and their paintings are discussed

and presented in twenty-one chapters in an attempt to

give a representative impression of the art of the Golden

Age. The topics covered by these chapters were often more

or less suggested by the paintings themselves, for example

a particular movement, paintings of a certain subject or a

particular project. The result was a diversity of chapters

of varying length that allowed the most important artists

to be discussed in a clear overview. It should be noted that

not all paintings could be fitted into this scheme so neatly,

and I hope some allowance will be made for the occasional

expedient solution.

In principle, the paintings in the book have been chosen

from the collections of Dutch museums, especially those in

Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam, as they happen to

have the most important paintings. However, in one or two

cases it was necessary to look abroad for examples of a work

by a particular artist, because there were none in Dutch

museums. Once you have read this book, you should really

go and look at the original paintings. After all, that is the only

way to appreciate them properly; the images in the book can

never be more than reproductions.

The website of the Netherlands Institute for Art History was

used for the spelling of the artists’ names and their dates

of birth and death (rkdartists) and to some extent for the

selection of the paintings (rkdimages). It should be noted that

there are one or two deviations from the spellings on the

website for various reasons. Other important websites were

those of the Rijksmuseum and the Mauritshuis. Quotes from

the Bible and the spelling of biblical names are taken from

the Good News Bible (1992). The list of references contains

the literature consulted specifically for this book rather

than being a general overview. The key source for the text

and chapters was the book Het Gouden Eeuw Boek (The Golden

Age Book), compiled by the current author and published

by Waanders in 2004, with Ronald de Leeuw providing the

introduction and selecting the images.

The collaboration with the publishers Henk van de Wal and

Johan de Bruijn went very smoothly and was a most enjoyable

experience, for which I would like to thank them very much.

Finally, I would also like to thank Prof. Volker Manuth of

the Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands, who

knows a great deal about Dutch art and the literature in this

field, and has published widely on the subject. He was willing

to read the draft of this book and made some useful and

important comments. In putting together this book, I always

found it a great privilege to be so closely involved with the art

of the Dutch Golden Age.

Jeroen Giltaij

5

p r E f A c E

th e gre at g o ld e n age bo o k preface

Pieter Saenredam (1597-1665)

Interior of the Sint-Odulphuskerk in Assendelft, seen from the Choir

facing West, 1649 (detail)

Panel, 50 x 76 cm.

amsterdam, rijksmuseum

314 schilders van het dagelijks leven in de tweede helft van de eeuw h et grote g o u d e n e euw bo e k

315th e gre at g o ld e n age bo o k painters of everyday life in the second half of the century

1

Gerard Dou (1613-1675)

The Quack, 1652

Panel, 112.4 x 84.4 cm.

Rotterdam, museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

Dou has used a panel, which surprisingly is made from tropical cedar

wood, and has painted the quack and his audience with a very fine

brush. The quack is standing on a platform and holding up a small

bottle that he is recommending as a medicine. But all sorts of strange

things are happening at the same time, such as the boy trying to attract

a bird, the woman wiping her child’s bottom next to the pancake dough

and the boy stealing the woman’s purse. The artist himself is looking

out of the window at us, seemingly saying that the people want to be

deceived and that art deceives too.

17 p A i N t E r s O f E v E r y D A y L i f E i N t h E s E c O N D h A L f O f t h E c E N t u r y

there were painters of everyday life in the second

half of the seventeenth century who would win

great acclaim for their work. One of them is the

Leiden master Gerard Dou (1613-1675). He spent

three years from 1628 as an apprentice in Rembrandt’s studio.

At that time he had a very refined painting technique, as

could be seen for example in his painting Jeremiah Lamenting

the Destruction of Jerusalem, from 1630 (Chapter 8, fig. 3). Dou

developed his style to become even finer, establishing a

reputation for this. He became the leading member of the

group of artists known as the Leiden ‘Fine’ painters, with a

large number of pupils. His largest painting, The Quack from

1652, is now in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (fig. 1).

It shows a man dressed as an actor trying to sell so-called

medicines to the people gathered around. The meaning of the

picture seems to be that the people want to be deceived. The

artist has depicted himself in the window with a palette and

brushes; he seems to be saying that art is also deception — it

is not real, even though it might look real.

Most of his pictures have just a few figures, as in the painting

A Young Woman at her Toilet from 1667, which is also in the

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (fig. 3). The curtain has

been pulled up on the right to give a view of a woman who

is having her hair cut by a maid. She is looking in the mirror,

which is turned towards us so that we can see her face. The

portrayal of the fabrics is so meticulous that you can almost

feel the material.

However, the depiction of the fabrics in the work of Gerard

ter Borch (1617-1681) is perhaps even more refined. This artist

was mentioned earlier in the chapter on portraits (Chapter 6).

His paintings of scenes of everyday life are highly poetic and

so detailed that you scarcely notice they are made of paint. A

high point in his work is the painting A Mother Combing the Hair

of her Child, from around 1652/1653, now in the Mauritshuis

(fig. 2). In this painting, a mother sits on a chair and lets

316 painters of everyday life in the second half of the century th e gre at g o ld e n age bo o k

2

Gerard ter Borch (1617-1681)

A Mother Combing the Hair of her Child, c. 1652/1653

Panel, 33.5 x 29 cm.


The mother is sitting on a chair next to the window, with the light

entering from the right. Her son is leaning with his back on her

knees so that she can check his blond hair for lice with a comb. He

is waiting for her to finish with his eyes to one side. A pitcher and a

glass stand on a shelf in the dark in the background. Ter Borch often

used his family as figures in his paintings, and the woman could

be his stepmother and the boy his seven-year-old half-brother.

3

Gerard Dou (1613-1675)

A Young Woman at her Toilet, 1667

Panel, 75.5 x 58 cm.

Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

The woman is looking in the mirror in such a way that we can see her

face. A curtain is pushed to one side in the richly decorated interior

and a gilt and silver ewer on a gilt and silver plate stands on the table.

On the ground is a stone wine cooler on a stand with four lion’s feet.

These objects emphasise the wealth. The painting on the back wall

that can just be made out is a self-portrait of the artist from 1663 that

has survived to this day.

her child lean back on her between her legs so that she can

examine the child’s hair for lice with a comb. The child has long

blond hair and would seem to be a boy, going by the clothes.

This picture is about taking care of others and domesticity.

Ter Borch is best known for his interiors featuring elegant

figures. The Rijksmuseum has Gallant Conversation, from about

1654 (fig. 4). A young man is sitting on a chair in a room with

a four-poster bed in the background. He has one leg resting

on the other and is holding his hat in his lap. He is looking

at a woman, whom we see from behind, and gesturing with

his hand. A second woman is sitting on a chair and sipping a

glass of wine. The nature of the events being portrayed is often

rather mysterious in Ter Borch’s works. For instance, we may

wonder here what the man is saying to the woman and what

this picture means.

Working in Rotterdam at that time was an artist named

Ludolf de Jongh (1616-1679), who is not so well known. He

had studied with Jan van Bijlert in Utrecht (Chapter 2). The

Museum Rotterdam has a a remarkable painting by him, Young

Woman at the Virginal from 1651 (fig. 5). The young woman is

playing the virginal with her right hand while she holds a rose

in her left hand and smiles at us. The painting is not a portrait,

it shows a moment in everyday life, as does the painting by

Metsu of the same subject that is discussed later (fig. 12).


318 painters of everyday life in the second half of the century th e gre at g o ld e n age bo o k

4

Gerard ter Borch (1617-1681)

Gallant Conversation, c. 1654

Canvas, 71 x 73 cm.

Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum

A young man is sitting in a chair with his hat on his lap. He looks

at the woman, whom we see on the left from behind, and gestures

with his hand. She is wearing a splendid white satin dress. Another

young woman is sitting in the background drinking from a glass. On

the left is a table with a looking glass that has been opened up and

a powder brush. There is a four-poster bed in the background and a

dog is walking past on the right. We would like to know what is going

on in this painting but, as so often with Ter Borch, we can only guess.

5

Ludolf de Jongh (1616-1679)

Young Woman at the Virginal, 1651

Canvas, 136 x 104.5 cm.

Rotterdam, Museum Rotterdam

The woman has turned to give us a friendly look as she plays the

virginal with her right hand and holds a rose in her left hand. You

might wonder if this might be a portrait but it is not. The smile, the

rose and the music make this an attractive subject.

6

Emanuel de Witte (1617-1692)

Interior with a Woman at the Virginal, c. 1660

Canvas, 77.5 x 104.5 cm.

Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, on loan from the

Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands

The architectural painter Emanuel de Witte gives a view of various

rooms one after another, whereby the floor tiles and light create an

intriguing pattern. A woman on the right is playing the virginal; her

eyes can be seen in the mirror. On the left, a man has put his clothes

on the chair and is lying in the four-poster bed. The maid in the

background is sweeping the floor.


There is a painting of a similar subject by Emanuel de

Witte (1617-1692), an artist who was actually specialised in

architectural paintings (Chapter 12). His Interior with a Woman

at the Virginal, which dates from about 1660, is in the Museum

Boijmans Van Beuningen (fig. 6). It is clear from this that De

Witte was primarily an architectural painter, but the focus of

the painting is on the woman playing music, seen from behind

but also from the front in the mirror, making the painting

essentially a scene from everyday life.

Quiringh van Brekelenkam (after 1622-c. 1669), who was a

pupil of Gerard Dou, had a wonderful specialty: pictures of

trades, such as the coppersmith, the cobbler and the tailor. The

Rijksmuseum has The Tailor’s Workshop from 1661, in which the

tailor and his two apprentices sit cross-legged on the table to

prevent the fabric from becoming dirty (fig. 7). A woman with a

bucket on her arm has come in to discuss the work on a jacket.

There is a painting of a river scene in a black frame on the wall.

This is a demonstration of the remark by the English traveller

Peter Mundy in 1640 that was mentioned in the Introduction,

saying that even the butchers and cobblers had paintings on

their walls in Holland.

One of the most famous artists of the seventeenth century is

Jan Steen (1626-1679). He was born and died in Leiden but he

also lived for a number of years in The Hague, Delft, Warmond

and Haarlem. In The Hague, he married the daughter of

the landscape painter Jan van Goyen (Chapter 4) in 1649. In

Leiden, he became dean of the guild and also ran an inn.

The Mauritshuis has the small painting Girl Eating Oysters,

dating from around 1658/1660 (fig. 8). The girl is smiling at us

seductively as she pours salt on an open oyster. Oysters were

320 painters of everyday life in the second half of the century th e gre at g o ld e n age bo o k320 painters of everyday life in the second half of the century th e gre at g o ld e n age bo o k


7

Quiringh van Brekelenkam (after 1622-c. 1669)

The Tailor’s Workshop, 1661

Canvas, 66 x 53 cm.


The tailor and his two young apprentices are sitting cross-legged on

the table, working by the light from the window. A woman has entered

and is examining the jacket on the table. There are scissors and a pin

on the table, a pin cushion is hanging on the wall and an iron can be

seen on the floor. There is a painting of a river scene in a black frame

on the wall. So this is what a tailor’s workshop looked like in the

seventeenth century.

8

Jan Steen (1626-1679)

Girl Eating Oysters, c. 1658/1660

Panel, 20.5 x 14.5 cm.


The girl looks at us seductively as she sprinkles a pinch of salt on an

open oyster. A jug with a silver lid is standing on the table, as well as a

glass of wine, a silver dish with a bread roll, a knife, some salt and a bag

of peppercorns. More oysters are being opened in the kitchen in the

background; they were regarded as an aphrodisiac in the seventeenth

century.

considered to be an aphrodisiac in the seventeenth century.

The picture was painted in Warmond, a village close to Leiden

where his good friend and ‘fine’ painter Frans van Mieris

lived, who will be discussed later. Van Mieris may have had

some influence on Jan Steen’s fine painting technique. The

equally seductive painting Woman at her Toilet by Jan Steen

in the Rijksmuseum dates from the same period, namely

around 1655/1660 (fig. 9). In it, a woman is sitting on a bed

and pulling off her red stocking, lifting her knee right up so

that we are able to see under her skirt. She does not seem to

be aware of this at all. The Dutch have the expression “a Jan

Steen household” for a disorderly house but the large painting

“The Way you Hear it, is the Way you Sing it”, from 1665 and in

the Mauritshuis, is literally a Jan Steen household as the artist

has portrayed himself and his family as a merry crowd with

a great deal of drink and laughter (fig. 10). The old woman

is reading out the painting’s title (“Soo voer gesongen, soo na

gepepen” in Dutch), which means that the young learn from the

old. Jan Steen himself is sitting behind the table and laughing

as he passes a pipe to his son Cornelis to smoke, while his son

Thaddeus plays the bagpipes. His daughter Eva is on the far

right. The woman on the left who is holding out her glass for

more is his wife Griet. The parents are clearly not setting a

good example here. Another saying — “Easy Come, Easy Go” —

is shown on a painting from 1661 that is now in the Museum

322 painters of everyday life in the second half of the century th e gre at g o ld e n age bo o k322 painters of everyday life in the second half of the century th e gre at g o ld e n age bo o k


9

Jan Steen (1626-1679)

Woman at her Toilet, c. 1655/1660

Arched panel, 37 x 27.5 cm.


Given the indentations under her knees, the woman must be pulling

her stocking off rather than on. She is getting undressed before retiring

for the night. The dog is lying on the pillow now but will have to make

way for her. A metal chamber pot can be seen on the ground. Because

of how she has placed one leg over another, we can see up her skirt.

10

Jan Steen (1626-1679)

“The Way you Hear it, is the Way you Sing it”, c. 1665

Canvas, 134 x 163 cm.


The title was a seventeenth-century Dutch saying, meaning that the

young imitate the old. The old woman is reading the saying out. Jan

Steen himself is sitting behind the table and laughing as he passes a

pipe to his son Cornelis to smoke, while his son Thaddeus plays the

bagpipes. His daughter Eva is on the far right. The woman who is

laughing and holding out her glass for more is Steen’s wife Griet. The

parents are not setting a good example here.

384 colophon th e gre at g o ld e n age bo o k

A p u b L i c A t i O N O f

WBOOKS, Zwolle, The Netherlands

[email protected]

www.wbooks.com

t E x t A N D c O m p i L A t i O N

Jeroen Giltaij

t r A N s L A t i O N

Tessera Translations, Wageningen

D E s i G N

Riesenkind, ’s-Hertogenbosch

© 2014 WBOOKS/ Jeroen Giltaij

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any

form of by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,

recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission

of the publisher.

The publisher has endeavoured to comply with all statutory

provisions regarding the rights to the illustrations. Those who

nevertheless wish to assert certain rights may contact the

publisher.

The copyright to works by visual artists affiliated with a CISAC

organisation has been obtained from Pictoright in Amsterdam.

© c/ Pictoright Amsterdam 2014.

ISBN 978 94 625 8027 5

NUR 640

c O L O p h O N

G O L D E N AGEt h E G r E At

b O O k

boo k

j e ro e n g i lta i j

Previous books in this serie

Het Grote 40-45 Boek

René Kok en Erik Somers

in collaboration with the NIOD

Institute for War, Holocaust and

Genocide Studies

Het Grote Jaren 50 Boek

Paul Brood, René Kok en

Erik Somers

in collaboration with the National

Archives of the Netherlands

Het Grote Boerderijen Boek

Ben Kooij en Judith Toebast

In collaboration with the

Cultural Heritage Agency of the

Netherlands

Het Grote Gouden Eeuw Boek

Jeroen Giltaij

w w w . w b o o k s . c o m

he Great Golden Age Book gives a complete overview of the art

from one of the most remarkable periods in Dutch history.

The seventeenth century is often known as the Dutch Golden

Age, not only because of the great wealth the country amassed

but also because of the impressive cultural flowering. The art

of painting in particular reached a high point. Throughout the

century, countless highly talented artists created masterpieces

that still evoke our admiration more than four centuries later.

Their paintings are the jewels in the collections of museums all

over the world.

At the start of the seventeenth century, artists began painting

landscapes, still lifes, scenes from everyday life, marine pictures

and church interiors in a way that had never been done before. It

was as if the artists wanted to record daily life around them, but

they all did this in their studios at their easels. These painters

had a degree of imaginative power that we find difficult to

imagine. Throughout the century, talented new artists continued

to emerge with their own styles. The art of the Dutch Golden Age

is characterised by ceaseless creativity, huge levels of production

and a style that was unique and typical of that time. The great

names of Rembrandt, Vermeer and Frans Hals are world famous

but the paintings of the lesser known old masters are often

wonderful, splendid, exquisite or imposing.

The Great Golden Age Book was written and put together by Jeroen

Giltaij, the former head curator of Old Master Paintings at the

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.

t

After graduating, Jeroen Giltaij

became assistant curator of

drawings in 1972 at the Museum

Boijmans Van Beuningen, where

he wrote the catalogue of the

drawings of Rembrandt and his

school. In 1978, he became head

curator of old paintings and

sculptures, in which capacity he

organised various exhibitions

including exhibitions on themes

in seventeenth-century painting.

The catalogue of the exhibition on

architectural painting was awarded

the Prix Minda de Gunzburg

in 1991. In 1997 he obtained a

doctorate for his thesis on the

Sicilian collector Antonio Ruffo,

who commissioned paintings from

Rembrandt. His brief overview of

the paintings of the Dutch Golden

Age was published in 2004 and

served as the starting point for this

book.

D U T C H P A I N T I N g s

DU

TC

H

PA

IN

TI

Ng

s

G o L D E N AGEt h E G r E At

boo k

t h E G r E At

G o L D E N AGEb o o k

Go

LD

EN

AG

Eb

oo

k

th

E Gr

EA

t

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The Great Golden Age Book