My object that I chose at the beginning of the semester is Jan Steen’s Merry Company on a Terrace, an artwork that could be classified as a genre painting during the Dutch Golden Age. In my research proposal, I wanted to look further into how Dutch Golden Age portrayed people. For example, how did the Dutch view the human body? Was it viewed as a temple, or just an earthly shell? Was religion frowned upon or was it embraced? What was a general overview of Dutch philosophy? All of these are questions are compelling to explore through artwork of the Dutch Golden Age, as art can often serve as a means to explore the human condition. When it comes to curating a gallery, I chose other paintings of both individual and multiple humans that have similar characteristics to Merry Company on a Terrace. In this exhibit, you will find various paintings from the Dutch Golden Era depicting mundane aspects of life to vivid and lively parties with over a dozen people in the frame. Each one may have different subjects, but all point back to how Dutch Golden Age paintings served as commentary or even if some of them really were just “art for art’s sake.”
Johannes Vermeer, Woman with a Water Jug, 1660-1662, Oil on canvas, 45.7 cm x 40.6 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Considered to be one of the quintessential artists of the Dutch Golden Age, Johannes Vermeer depicts a woman with a water jug in her every day life. She is dressed as a middle class woman of her time. Her map of Europe in the background and the nice silverware also implies her social standing of the time. Like a lot of Dutch Golden Age painters, Vermeer keeps his color palette very simple, with mostly shades of blue and white/tan to depict this scene. This painting can serve as an example of Dutch art being fascinated with even the most ordinary of people and lifestyles.
Judith Leyster, The Proposition, 1631, Oil on panel, 11 3/8 " x 9.5 ", Royal Picture Gallery, Mauritshuis, The Hague
This painting has more recently been seen through a more feminist lens. For starters, the woman is the focus of the painting as opposed to the man. Secondly, the man is more or less in the background, implying a form of submission to the woman. Also, the woman is painted in a bright and lighted form as she writes, while the man is contrasted in a more dark and shadowy context that leads one to believe that he is learning from the woman in a reversal of traditional gender roles. This painting could be interpreted as one where women are viewed to be truly equal to men and are just as capable of teaching men as men are of teaching women.
Rembrandt, The Jewish Bride, 1665, Oil on canvas, 121.5 cm x 166.5 cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Part of what makes this painting stand out is its ambiguity. It is considered to be a depiction of an Old Testament marriage, but it is not specified which one it exactly is. It could be Isaac and Rebekah, Boaz and Ruth, or Abraham and Sarah. With this ambiguity in mind, one could interpret this rather as being a depiction of marriage as not just a legal or physical bond, but a spiritual one as well. The different colors worn by the groom and bride could also serve as a symbol of two becoming one, implying the Dutch had a somewhat sacred view of marriage.
Bartholomeus van der Heist, Banquet of the Amsterdam Civic Guard in Celebration of the Peace of Münster, 1648, Oil painting, 232 cm x 547 cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
This painting is known as a group portrait, and is famous for being the one of the few group portraits where all the subjects can be identified and all objects are accounted for. With over two dozen subjects, the portrait portrays high ranking politicians as eating and drinking together as good friends having a jolly ole time. Contrasted with the world's polarized politics of today, politicians are shown to be having a grand time together without showing animosity towards each other over differences in belief.
Rembrandt, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolas Tulp, 1632, Oil on canvas, 216.5 cm x 169.5 cm, Mauritshuis, The Hague
In this painting, Rembrandt depicts what one could call a medical lecture with a deceased body as a means of teaching anatomy. This was also the first painting Rembrandt felt confident enough to sign. Once a year, surgeons would be allowed to dissect a body that of a dead criminal to examine the anatomy and to further learn surgery techniques. This could be an indicator that the Dutch were fascinated with the human body and viewed it as a never-ending set of mysteries for them to solve.
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