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Dutch 17th century art has secured a place for itself among the highlights of Western culture. It can be found in museums all over the world, many of which devote sections to the Dutch 'Golden Age'. Works from this period are valued for their quality of execution and naturalness. Although we may not understand all the cultural references contemporary experts recognize in such work immediately, they give a large share of the public an understanding of people, objects and environments of a different time.
The enormous production of paintings in a period of about 70 years (1600-1670) in a geographical region that had never before produced much art of a more than provincial level, and would not do so again for two centuries, has fascinated the generations that followed. Each has attempted to define in its way how the Dutch climbed to such heights, and what was typically Dutch about the art in question.
This is the general question around which the course centers. Along with an introductory survey of the most important art of the period, the course covers various controversies regarding the works’ essence.
Format
The course is divided into two segments. The central aspects and artists of the period are introduced in the first seven weeks. Based on the textbook, lectures and excursions, students are challenged to create a kind of survey for themselves. The second part of the course gives representative examples of the methods and fields of research that are central to the subject of seventeenth-century Dutch art. Although these different methods are often in conflict, we subscribe to the general argument that posits that efforts from these different angles eventually contributes to a better, more holistic understanding of Dutch 17th-century art.
An attempt is made to offer a more or less complete survey of the important painters from the seventeenth century, but of course a selection has to be made. There is an emphasis on Rembrandt, not only because he was the most important 17th-century Dutch artist, but also because his work has been researched in a number of ways. Additionally, there is an emphasis on painters and art historians from Utrecht, because their work is close at hand in the museums in this city, and because knowledge of Utrecht culture might contribute to a feeling of home.
The written exam consists of five questions: 4 essay questions and one slide test. The slides are chosen from the catalogue entries on paintings in the textbook. The class papers, assigned in the second half of the course, relate to seminar discussion about the articles in the reader that students prepare in small groups. The final essay (1300-1700 words) constitutes a critical evaluation of a scholarly article on the meaning of a particular painting.
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