Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The golden Age
(1600s)
Who bought this art? Look around at the Rijksmuseum's
many portraits, and you'll see ordinary middle-class people,
merchants, and traders. Even in their Sunday best, you can
tell that these are hardworking, businesslike, friendly, simple
people (with a penchant for ruffled lace collars).
Dutch fishermen sold their surplus catch in distant areas
of Europe, importing goods from these far lands. In time,
fishermen became traders, and by 1600, Holland's merchant
fleets ruled the waves with colonies as far away as India,
Indonesia, and America (New York was originally “Nieuw
Amsterdam”). The Dutch slave trade—selling Africans to
Americans—generated a lot of profit for luxuries such as the
art you're viewing. Back home, these traders were financed
by shrewd Amsterdam businessmen on the new frontiers of
capitalism.
Look around again. Is there even one crucifixion? One
saint? One Madonna? OK, maybe one. But this art is made
for the people, not for the church. In most countries, Catholic
bishops and rich kings supported the arts. But the Republic
of the Netherlands, recently free of Spanish rule and Vatican
domination, was independent, democratic, and largely
Protestant, with no taste for saints and Madonnas.
Instead, Dutch burghers bought portraits of themselves,
and pretty, unpreachy, unpretentious works for their homes.
Even poor people bought smaller canvases painted by “no-
name” artists and designed to fit the budgets and lifestyles
of this less-than-rich-and-famous crowd. We'll see examples
of their four favorite subjects—still lifes (of food and mundane
objects), landscapes, portraits (often of groups), and scenes
from everyday life.
the little things: the pewter-
ware, the seafood, the lemon
peels, the rolls, and the glow-
ing goblets that cast a warm
ref lection on the tablecloth.
You' d swear you could see
yourself reflected in the pew-
ter vessels. At least, you can
see the faint reflections of the
food and even of surrounding
windows. The closer you get, the better it looks.
• Enter Room 8.
