In the Age of Rembrandt

Dutch Paintings from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Transcript

Descriptive Audio Tour:
In the Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings
from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston
STOP 1 - Welcome/Introduction
8.1 Touchable map
Welcome to the In the Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings from the
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. This exhibition was curated by Ronni
Baer, the Boston museum’s former curator of European paintings, to
celebrate an extraordinary gift of Dutch paintings from two private
family collections. These new additions make the Boston museum’s
collection one of the great repositories of Dutch paintings outside The
Netherlands. It is our great pleasure to bring these works to Toronto
and share them with you.
The ledge in front of you holds a touchable map of The Netherlands.
The Netherlands is the name of the country we sometimes mistakenly
call Holland. In fact, Holland refers only to two of the country’s twelve
provinces - North Holland and South Holland. The biggest cities are
clustered here, including Amsterdam, along with most of the
population. This was also true during the 1600s, a period known as the
Dutch Golden Age because of the remarkable prosperity and
tremendous artistic output. It was during this period that the paintings
in this exhibition were created.
The geography of The Netherlands played an important role in ushering
in this Golden Age. As you can feel on the touchable map, about half
the country is bordered by the North Sea. This helped The Netherlands
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become a major hub for international trade. To contextualize the
history, the Eighty Years’ War officially ended in 1648, and during the
Golden Age, the newly-formed Dutch Republic was finally free of
Spanish Rule. A monopoly on maritime trade in goods and people -
both enslaved and exiled - and the resulting growth of cities brought
economic stability and new wealth to many Dutch people.
In this period of rapid colonial and economic expansion, the Dutch art
market flourished. All but the poorest households owned paintings, and
more than a million works were created. Artists apprenticed with a
master painter from a young age. Most were men - only about a dozen
women gained master status from the Dutch artists’ guilds. At the next
stop, we will explore a painting by one of the few women painters of
the Dutch golden age.
By the way, if you are wondering why the people of the Netherlands
and their language are called Dutch, you’re not alone! On the touchable
map, you may notice that the southern border of the The Netherlands
tapers into a narrow land mass. To the west of that border is Belgium,
and to the east is Germany. In German, the language and people of the
country are called “Deutsch”. Over time, English-speaking people
applied this name to the whole region, and it stuck.
Let’s explore the paintings in this section of the exhibition. The next
stop is directly behind you.
STOP 2 - Section 1: Detail
1.8 Still Life with Flowers, Rachel Ruysch
The paintings in this exhibition are grouped by theme, instead of by
artist or time period. The theme in this section is DETAIL, because
there’s more to these paintings than meets the eye.
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Despite the seeming realism of Dutch painting, artists balanced direct
observation with invention. They included curious details as clues for
understanding the paintings on a deeper level. These paintings were
meant to be deciphered, like a puzzle or a riddle, with the viewer
enjoying the delight of discovery and the recognition of layered
meaning.
The telling details in these paintings were often familiar to Dutch
viewers of the 1600s. Coins and other signs of wealth could be
associated with the sin of avarice - greed for money or material goods.
Children's games, such as blowing bubbles, might suggest the fleeting
innocence of childhood and its whimsical pastimes. Paintings called
“vanitas” used motifs such as a skull, an hourglass, or books to suggest
the brevity of life.
This painting is called Still Life with Flowers. Still lifes show careful
arrangements of objects, typically bowls of fruits or vases of flowers,
often on lush tables overflowing with common or luxury goods. They
were hugely popular during the Dutch golden age, and viewers enjoyed
finding the symbolism in the artist’s selection and composition of
objects.
In this painting, a bouquet of flowers cascades from a glass bowl vase
set on a wooden table. The background is dark, nearly blank, so that
the flowers shine brightly in contrast. Roses in pink, red, and white are
shown in varied stages of opening. Tulips in several colours are
arranged among the roses, several with variegated petals in red and
white or yellow and orange, along with lilies and apple blossoms. The
arrangement fills the canvas and is in the shape of a pyramid, wider at
the bottom and pointed at the top. The artist creates her signature
composition—a dominant “S” curve—connecting the stem of the tulip
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at upper right to that of the marigold, which droops below the table-
top.
Fleetingly beautiful, flowers were a metaphor for the brevity of life. To
emphasize the point, the artist, Rachel Ruysch spotlighted the
marigold’s broken stem, reminding us that life is as fragile as a flower.
Ruysch who lived from 1664 to 1750, was one of the few prominent
female artists of her time. She was first exposed to botanical specimens
through her father, Frederik, a botanist and anatomist in Amsterdam,
and went on to have a long and successful career as a painter. She
specialized in flower and fruit still lifes, earning more for her paintings
than most of her male contemporaries. Rachel Ruysch raised ten
children and was still painting well into her 80s.
STOP 3 – Section 2: Style
2.5 Young Girl Eating Sweets, Godfried Schalcken
This section contains ten paintings that show variations in STYLE from
smooth to rough. This refers to two ways of wielding the paintbrush.
Two painters whose paintings represent these two styles, are Gerrit
Dou and Frans Hals. Gerrit Dou was one of the most highly paid
painters of the Dutch Golden Age. He developed a style known as
smooth or fine painting because of the tiny, careful brushstrokes he
used. Small in scale, his labour-intensive paintings earned the artist
great fame and fortune during his lifetime. His style was praised
because it, quote, “engag[es] the eye of the viewer for a long time,
delighting his eyes and affecting his heart”, end quote.
At the other end of the spectrum is the art of Frans Hals, whose loose,
broad brushwork gives his sitters immediacy and brilliance. A
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contemporary described his late work as, quote, “very rough and bold,
nimbly touched and well-ordered. They are pleasing and ingenious and,
seen from afar, they seem alive and appear to lack nothing”, end quote.
This painting is entitled Young Girl Eating Sweets. This is a very small
work, measuring only 13 by 15 inches (or about 33 by 38 centimetres),
including the frame. It shows a teenaged girl with dark eyes and blonde
hair in a messy bun. She wears an orange dress with puffed sleeves and
over it, a sheer white shawl and apron. She has just dipped her finger
into a silver bowl of sugar - a costly product imported from the
Caribbean - and is about to lick it off. She looks directly at the viewer,
her tongue sticking out slightly. The window behind her is open,
revealing the neighbouring building, a tree, and blue sky with puffy,
white clouds in the background.
The artist, Godfried Schalcken, was a student of Gerrit Dou. Schalcken
developed a style of painting even more refined than his teacher’s. His
brushwork is so fine and smooth, that you can’t see the individual
strokes, resulting in polished, mirror-like surfaces. Here, this shows in
the shimmer of the young girl’s dress, on the blue velvet tablecloth
covering the table where her elbows rest, and in the way the luminous
sugar bowl reflects her fingers.
Schalcken’s younger sister, Maria, was also an artist. She learned her
smooth style from her brother. The painting to the left of this one,
entitled The Artist at Work in Her Studio, was painted by Maria
Schalcken. For decades, this painting was attributed to her brother until
a recent cleaning revealed Maria’s signature in the upper left corner.
This work features a woman with pink cheeks smiling at the viewer. She
wears a blue and gold dress and a white lace shawl. She sits on a red
chair before an easel that holds a painting of a landscape dominated by
a large tree, with blue sky in the background. There is no record of this
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landscape as part of Maria’s body of work, leaving us with the mystery
of why she chose to include it in this self-portrait.
STOP 4 - Section 3: Sight
3.2 Judah and Tamar, Ferdinand Bol
In this section, the paintings all tell stories from the Bible and from
antiquity that relate to the theme of SIGHT.
The idea that our senses govern the way we understand the world was
revolutionary in Europe in the 1600s. Empiricism—the theory that
knowledge comes from sensory experience—spurred scientific inquiry
and discovery by the likes of Galileo, Isaac Newton, and Antonie van
Leeuwenhoek, a Dutch biologist who developed the microscope and
described micro-organisms.
Sight was considered the most powerful of the senses, and the Dutch
were fascinated by all manner of visual representation - from maps to
books to paintings. While scientists viewed nature through magnifying
lenses, artists experimented with optics to create realistic effects of
light, shadow, and colour. Such Dutch innovations reflected new ways
of seeing, even as the senses remained tied to traditional Christian
ideas about sin and virtue.
The painting before you is entitled Judah and Tamar. It was made by
Ferdinand Bol, who lived from 1616 to 1680 and trained in Rembrandt’s
workshop. Like many of Rembrandt’s pupils, Bol developed a style of
his own that was smoother and lighter in colour than his teacher’s. He
made this painting in 1644, relatively early in his career. He went on to
specialize in portraits and became one of the leading painters in
Amsterdam.
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Here, the artist tells the story of the biblical Tamar, who was twice
widowed by Judah’s older sons. While the patriarch promised her to his
youngest, he failed to deliver on his pledge. Tamar refused to accept
her role as a childless widow and hatched a plan to assure the
continuation of her family line. She disguised herself as a courtesan to
seduce Judah.
In this painting, Tamar, a young woman, sits on the right wearing a
flowing white dress with a low, square neckline and a pearl necklace.
Her expression is troubled, and she grips a staff and cord by her left hip.
Judah, an older, bearded man in a dark red robe and gold turban, leans
over her right shoulder. One arm is around her and, with his other
hand, he offers her a gold ring. Judah looks intently at Tamar’s face but
cannot see her eyes, which are hidden behind a white veil.
There is a subdued landscape behind them, mostly in shadows, so that
we focus only on the two figures. Bol painted the moment of amorous
deception when - with her eyes, those windows into the soul, hidden -
the beautiful Tamar convinces Judah to offer her his ring, staff, and
cord in payment. Later, Tamar uses these belongings to prove that
Judah is the father of her twins.
STOP 5: Section 4: The World
4.5 An Italianate Landscape with Travelers on a Path, Jan Both, and
4.6 Twilight View of Schwanenburg Castle, Joris van der Haagen
The Netherlands sits at or below sea level -- water is everywhere. It is
not surprising, then, that the Dutch were an important maritime power,
and at the forefront of shipbuilding. The Dutch designed trade vessels
to maximize cargo and efficiency, while armed warships protected the
merchant ships.
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In the 1600s, The Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India
Company controlled trade with Asia and the Americas. Over 3,000 ships
travelled the world, establishing trade monopolies with countries like
Japan and Indonesia, and bringing great wealth to the Dutch Republic.
But the riches gained through global trade came with a human cost -
enslaved people from west central Africa were transported by the
Dutch for profit, along with all sorts of luxury goods and commodities.
Although few Dutch artists travelled beyond Europe, they became
increasingly interested in painting this expanded world view. By
painting foreign goods and lands, Dutch artists reflected their country’s
primacy in world trade.
The paintings in this section all include elements of THE WORLD beyond
The Netherlands.
On the left is Italianate Landscape with Travellers on a Path, painted by
Jan Both between 1645 and 1650. While living in Rome in the late
1630s, Both began to paint imaginary views inspired by the Italian
countryside. This painting shows one of these views, with a rocky
mountain on the left covered with tufts of green vegetation and criss-
crossed by a small waterfall - all painted in soft, realistic detail.
Mountains stretch back into the distance, and a path meanders
towards the viewer along the right side, where the travelers are. A man
in a blue coat sits on a donkey loaded with bundles. Three other
travelers are on the ground beside him, taking a break from walking.
Bathed in golden sunlight Both’s landscapes allowed Dutch viewers to
discover Italy without leaving the comforts of home.
On the right is Twilight View of Schwanenburg Castle, painted by Joris
van der Haagen in the 1660s. Van der Haagen enjoyed travelling and
was especially drawn to the hilly countryside on the Dutch-German
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border. He made detailed drawings during his travels that he later used
as source material for his paintings. Here, we see Schwanenburg Castle
in Cleves, Germany. The castle stands majestically on the left,
silhouetted by pale evening light and pink-tinged clouds. The low-lying
valley and wooded area at right form a dark backdrop for the foraging
cows and sheep that are illuminated by the subtle light reflecting off
the water in the centre of the painting.
STOP 6: Section 5: Landscapes
8.3 Touchable Dutch motifs
On this ledge, you can feel some of the Dutch motifs that are so
common in landscape paintings of the Golden Age.
In the 1600s, landscape was the most popular subject for Dutch artists,
who used canvas and paint to explore local topography and the effects
of changing weather and light. Most of the Dutch population was
clustered in cities, and for them, these landscapes offered a pleasing
view of rural life.
Winter landscapes, known as wintertjes in Dutch, were especially loved
by both artists and collectors. Europe was colder in the 1500s and
1600s than it is today, giving the period the nickname, the “Little Ice
Age.” Harsher weather conditions caused canals and rivers to freeze
solid enough to support skating, games, and social gatherings on the
ice, as seen in both of these paintings.
This painting is entitled Winter Landscape with Two Windmills. It was
painted by Jacob van Ruisdael around 1675. This painting is only about
two feet by two feet in size, or about 60 centimetres square, including
the frame, yet it feels like we are looking at a wide expanse. A frozen
river takes up most of the canvas, divided by a wooden dam. You can
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feel the frozen river on the touchable ledge, running through the centre
of the painting. On shore at the right are two houses or buildings with
peaked, snow-covered roofs, as well as a tall windmill. Another
windmill is visible in the background. You can feel the roof and the
windmill too.
With a low horizon and a high, cloudy sky, the artist creates an
impression of space. The muted winter tones are brightened by a patch
of blue sky in the centre and the pale, yellow sunlight that illuminates
the figures playing kolf on the ice, an early version of the game we now
know as golf, and some figures who are skating. You can feel the kolf
players and the skaters on the touchable ledge. You can also feel a bare
tree, one of several that line the riverbank, conveying effectively the
bitter cold and barrenness of a Dutch winter.
STOP 7: Section 6 - The City
6.2 View of Haarlem, Jacob van Ruisdael
The works in this section show the Dutch cities where the artists lived
or painted, or buildings they were commissioned to memorialize in
paintings. Although they appear true-to-life, many of the buildings in
these townscapes were adjusted for artistic purposes - they are often
idealized views. And the paintings don’t reflect the poverty and stench
that accompanied life in a rapidly growing urban environment.
This painting is titled View of Haarlem and it was painted by Jacob van
Ruisdael, who also painted the landscape we looked at in the previous
section. Van Ruisdael is considered one of the greatest landscape
painters of the Golden Age. There is often a dramatic element in his
landscapes, usually created through cloudy skies that appear to be
moving. Such is the case in this view of Haarlem, the city where he was
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born. The rolling skies take up the upper two thirds of the painting, with
grey-white clouds pushing across fading blue sky. There are fields in the
bottom third, close to the front of the scene, with two buildings and
some people looking into the distance, where the roof of the Church of
St. Bavo can be seen.
Van Ruisdael began painting sweeping views of Haarlem in the 1660s.
They depict panoramas of the city, always with the recognizable profile
of the Church of St. Bavo on the horizon. He painted this one between
1670 and 1675. Unlike his other works, this painting does not show the
city from the northwest but rather from the southwest, as it would
have appeared from the dunes near the town of Heemstede.
To the right of this painting is another, also titled View of Haarlem. It
was made around the same time by Gerrit Berckheyde, who specialized
in cityscapes and portraits of city monuments. Berckheyde shows a
closer perspective of the city but obscures our view by adding a wall
across the middle of the image. The tops of the buildings peek out from
behind the wall. In front of the wall is a field where people walk and a
man herds two cows along the shore of a lake.
STOP 8: Section 7 - Portraits/Conclusion
7.5 Reverend Johannes Elison and
7.6 Maria Bockenolle, Rembrandt
We have reached the final section in the exhibition: PORTRAITS.
Portraits were the bread and butter for artists of the Golden Age.
Recent estimates suggest that Dutch artists produced between 750,000
and 1,100,000 portraits in the 1600s. Many of these were
commissioned to mark important life events, such as a marriage or the
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birth of a child. Others simply served as records of a person’s likeness
and status. A large number of talented painters offered their services to
the ever-expanding middle class.
Artist and theorist Karel van Mander wrote in his 1604 Book on Painting
that, quote, “The making of portraits from life comprises the largest
part of the work which occurs in these lands for a young painter,
and…for this reason and for the sake of profit, many keep themselves
to a greater extent or entirely busy with that,
” end quote.
Here, the Reverend Johannes Elison, minister of the Dutch Reformed
Church in Norwich, England, is shown in the painting on the left. His
wife, Maria Bockenolle, is shown in the companion painting on the
right. Both figures look directly at the viewer and wear long, black robes
with ruffled white collars. Maria also has white, lace-edged cuffs at her
wrists. The minister wears a black skull cap and sits beside a table
covered with books and papers, while Maria wears a broad-brimmed,
black hat over the traditional white cap worn by Dutch women.
Life-size, full-length portraits like these were typically associated with
royal or noble patrons - they were substantially more expensive than
the usual bust or half-length formats. That the couple’s son, a wealthy
merchant, commissioned these imposing paintings from Amsterdam’s
leading portraitist says much about his social aspirations. This is one of
only three full-length pairs by Rembrandt known today.
Of all the Dutch portrait painters, the most esteemed and well-known is
Rembrandt. Although he also produced landscapes and one still life, it is
in portraiture that he made his biggest mark. He is known for dramatic
compositions and powerful use of darkness and light, together with
loose brushwork and an uncanny ability to convey the psychology of
the sitter. Rembrandt also painted a number of self-portraits, allowing
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us to see him as he saw himself, through various stages of his
remarkable life.
This concludes our tour. We hope you have enjoyed your visit to In the
Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings from the Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston. It’s been our pleasure to introduce you to some of these works
from the Dutch golden age of painting, and we hope to welcome you
back again soon.