|
By the end of the course students will have enhanced their understanding of 17th-century Dutch cultural history, and of recent research in this field. Students will also have developed more advanced research and presentation skills: they will have learnt to build their own research project, including an analysis of visual and literary primary sources, and to report on their findings in oral presentations and a research paper.
|
|
|
The founding of the Dutch Republic in the late sixteenth century started a period of extraordinary economic and cultural vigour. This so-called “Dutch Golden Age” was characterized by a dominant position in world-wide trade and a flowering of the arts and sciences. It witnessed mass migration and religious conflicts, but also remarkable forms of religious tolerance.
This course will explore the cultural history of the Dutch Republic in the long seventeenth century. It seeks to relate historical developments to their cultural representations in a wide variety of primary sources, such as paintings, prints, illustrations, architecture, pamphlets, plays and memoirs, thus exploring the use of these sources as tools of historical analysis.
|
|