1.
1660s in architecture
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1660 - Completion of Moti Masjid in the Red Fort of Delhi. Tilya-Kori Madrasah in the Registan of Samarkand,1661 - Work begins on Versailles, near Paris. 1662 King Charles Court of the Greenwich Hospital in London, designed by John Webb, coleshill House in the Vale of White Horse, England, designed by Roger Pratt, completed. 1663-1665 - Kingston Lacy in Dorset and Horseheath Hall in Cambridgeshire, 1664-1667 - Clarendon House in London, designed by Roger Pratt, built. 1665 September 21 - New chapel at Pembroke College, Cambridge, England, chapel of Brasenose College, Oxford is consecrated. SantAndrea al Quirinale in Rome, designed by Bernini, is completed,1667 January 27 - The Opernhaus am Taschenberg in Dresden, designed by Wolf Caspar von Klengel, is opened. Saint Peters Square in the Vatican City, designed by Bernini, is completed,1669 July 9 - Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford, England, designed by Christopher Wren for University ceremonial, is inaugurated. September 28 - Second Royal Exchange, London, designed by Edward Jarman, is opened for business,1666, September 2–5 - The Great Fire of London destroys most of the city including Old St Pauls Cathedral. 1668 - Roger Pratt becomes the first person knighted for services to architecture,1669 - Christopher Wren appointed Surveyor of the Kings Works in England
2.
Dutch Gift
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The gift reflected the taste Charles shared with his father, Charles I, whose large collection, one of the most magnificent in Europe, had mostly been sold abroad after he was executed in 1649. His English successor, Queen Anne, tried to recover these after Williams death in 1702, but failed, fourteen paintings from the 1660 gift remain in the Royal Collection, with others now in different collections around the world. The 24 Italian paintings and the 12 sculptures had been part of the Reynst Collection assembled by Gerrit Reynst and his brother Jan Reynst, much of the collection originated from the famous Vendramin family collection there, though others had been acquired separately. After the death of Gerrit Reynst in 1658, his widow sold a selection of the finest works in the collection to the States-General in 1660 for the considerable sum of 80,000 guilders. In 1660 this group and twelve Roman sculptures was presented to Charles II, the gift was organized by the regents, especially the powerful Cornelis de Graeff and his younger brother Andries. Much later he was to flee from financial difficulties to England and become Surveyor of the Kings Pictures to Charles, the gift was unpopular with many of the Dutch people, and became a bone of contention between the Dutch political factions. 1514–18, and The Virgin and Child in a landscape with Tobias, lorenzo Lottos portrait of Andrea Odoni,1527, and his Portrait of a bearded man, c. 1512–15 Andrea Schiavones Judgement of Midas, c, giulio Romano, Portrait of Margherita Palaeologa, c.1531 Parmigianino, Pallas Athene, c. 1531–8 Paolo Veronese and workshop, The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine of Alexandria, attributed to Vittore Belliniano, The Concert, c. 1505–15 Giovanni Cariani, Reclining Venus, the work in the Dutch gift which can be traced back to the Vendramin collection. It is now classed as after Reni though no Reni original is known, whether this, or an original work, formed part of the Gift cannot be confirmed, although one or the other seems likely. Jacopo Bassanos Christ carrying the Cross is now in the National Gallery, London, having given to Catherine of Braganza, Charless queen. Virgin St John and St Elizabeth and these may have returned with her to Portugal in 1692. Of the four works, two were by Gerrit Dou, one of which, The Young Mother, was only two years old when presented. At the time of the Restoration, Charles sister Mary was in perilous political waters as the guardian of her son and this was one of those works repatriated by William III and is now in the Mauritshuis in The Hague. The composition is known from a copy in the Prado and an engraving, and the painting was still in the Royal Collection during the reign of George II. This was apparently given to one of William IIIs Dutch courtiers, William van Huls, Clerk of the Robes and Wardrobe, as it appeared in his sale, the Cabinet of the Brothers Gerard and Jan Reynst. Mahon, Denis, Notes on the Dutch Gift to Charles II, The Burlington Magazine, Vol.91, Part I in,560, pp. 303–305, Part II in No
3.
Italian Renaissance
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The term Renaissance is in essence a modern one that came into currency in the 19th century, in the work of historians such as Jules Michelet and Jacob Burckhardt. The French word renaissance means Rebirth, and the era is best known for the renewed interest in the culture of classical antiquity after the period that Renaissance humanists labeled the Dark Ages. Though today perhaps best known for Italian Renaissance art and architecture, the period saw major achievements in literature, music, philosophy, Italy became the recognized European leader in all these areas by the late 15th century, and to varying degrees retained this lead until about 1600. This was despite a turbulent and generally disastrous period in Italian politics, the European Renaissance began in Tuscany, and centred in the city of Florence. It later spread to Venice, where the remains of ancient Greek culture were brought together, the Renaissance later had a significant effect on Rome, which was ornamented with some structures in the new allantico mode, then was largely rebuilt by humanist sixteenth-century popes. The Italian Renaissance peaked in the century as foreign invasions plunged the region into the turmoil of the Italian Wars. However, the ideas and ideals of the Renaissance endured and spread into the rest of Europe, setting off the Northern Renaissance, the Italian Renaissance is best known for its cultural achievements. Accounts of Renaissance literature usually begin with Petrarch and his friend, famous vernacular poets of the 15th century include the renaissance epic authors Luigi Pulci, Matteo Maria Boiardo, and Ludovico Ariosto. 15th century writers such as the poet Poliziano and the Platonist philosopher Marsilio Ficino made extensive translations from both Latin and Greek, the same is true for architecture, as practiced by Brunelleschi, Leon Battista Alberti, Andrea Palladio, and Bramante. Their works include Florence Cathedral, St. Peters Basilica in Rome, yet cultural contributions notwithstanding, some present-day historians also see the era as one of the beginning of economic regression for Italy. By the Late Middle Ages, Latium, the heartland of the Roman Empire. Rome was a city of ancient ruins, and the Papal States were loosely administered, and vulnerable to external interference such as that of France, and later Spain. The Papacy was affronted when the Avignon Papacy was created in southern France as a consequence of pressure from King Philip the Fair of France, in the south, Sicily had for some time been under foreign domination, by the Arabs and then the Normans. Sicily had prospered for 150 years during the Emirate of Sicily, in contrast Northern and Central Italy had become far more prosperous, and it has been calculated that the region was among the richest of Europe. The Crusades had built lasting trade links to the Levant, the main trade routes from the east passed through the Byzantine Empire or the Arab lands and onwards to the ports of Genoa, Pisa, and Venice. Luxury goods bought in the Levant, such as spices, dyes, moreover, the inland city-states profited from the rich agricultural land of the Po valley. From France, Germany, and the Low Countries, through the medium of the Champagne fairs, land and river trade routes brought goods such as wool, wheat, and precious metals into the region. The extensive trade that stretched from Egypt to the Baltic generated substantial surpluses that allowed significant investment in mining, thus, while northern Italy was not richer in resources than many other parts of Europe, the level of development, stimulated by trade, allowed it to prosper
4.
Charles II of England
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Charles II was king of England, Scotland and Ireland. He was king of Scotland from 1649 until his deposition in 1651, Charles IIs father, Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War. Cromwell defeated Charles II at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, Cromwell became virtual dictator of England, Scotland and Ireland, and Charles spent the next nine years in exile in France, the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Netherlands. A political crisis followed the death of Cromwell in 1658 resulted in the restoration of the monarchy. On 29 May 1660, his 30th birthday, he was received in London to public acclaim, after 1660, all legal documents were dated as if he had succeeded his father as king in 1649. Charless English parliament enacted laws known as the Clarendon Code, designed to shore up the position of the re-established Church of England, Charles acquiesced to the Clarendon Code even though he favoured a policy of religious tolerance. The major foreign policy issue of his reign was the Second Anglo-Dutch War. In 1670, he entered into the treaty of Dover. Louis agreed to aid him in the Third Anglo-Dutch War and pay him a pension, Charles attempted to introduce religious freedom for Catholics and Protestant dissenters with his 1672 Royal Declaration of Indulgence, but the English Parliament forced him to withdraw it. In 1679, Titus Oatess revelations of a supposed Popish Plot sparked the Exclusion Crisis when it was revealed that Charless brother, the crisis saw the birth of the pro-exclusion Whig and anti-exclusion Tory parties. Charles sided with the Tories, and, following the discovery of the Rye House Plot to murder Charles and James in 1683, Charles dissolved the English Parliament in 1681, and ruled alone until his death on 6 February 1685. He was received into the Roman Catholic Church on his deathbed, Charless wife, Catherine of Braganza, bore no live children, but Charles acknowledged at least twelve illegitimate children by various mistresses. He was succeeded by his brother James, Charles II was born in St Jamess Palace on 29 May 1630. His parents were Charles I and Henrietta Maria, Charles was their second son and child. Their first son was born about a year before Charles but died within a day, England, Scotland and Ireland were respectively predominantly Anglican, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic. At birth, Charles automatically became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay, at or around his eighth birthday, he was designated Prince of Wales, though he was never formally invested. During the 1640s, when Charles was still young, his father fought Parliamentary, by spring 1646, his father was losing the war, and Charles left England due to fears for his safety. Charles I surrendered into captivity in May 1646, at The Hague, Charles had a brief affair with Lucy Walter, who later falsely claimed that they had secretly married
5.
States General of the Netherlands
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The States General is the bicameral legislature of the Netherlands, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The parliament meets at the Binnenhof in The Hague, the States General originated in the 15th century as an assembly of all the provincial states of the Burgundian Netherlands. The States General were replaced by the National Assembly after the Batavian Revolution of 1795, only to be restored in 1814, the States General was divided into a Senate and a House of Representatives in 1815, with the establishment of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. On exceptional occasions, the two form a joint session known as the United Assembly. The President of the Senate serves as President of the States General during a United Assembly, ankie Broekers-Knol has been President of the Senate since 2013. The archaic Dutch word staten originally related to the classes in which medieval European societies were stratified, the clergy, the nobility. The word eventually came to mean the political body in which the estates were represented. Each province in the Habsburg Netherlands had its own staten and these representative bodies in turn were represented in the assembly that came to be known as Staten-Generaal, or Algemene Staten. The English word states may have a meaning as the Dutch word staten. The English phrases States General is probably a translation of the Dutch word. Historically, the term was used for the name of other national legislatures as, for example, the Catalan and Valencian Generalitat. Several geographic place names are derived from the States General, in 1609, Henry Hudson established Dutch trade in Staten Island, New York City and named the island Staaten Eylandt after the States General. Isla de los Estados, now an Argentine island, was named after this institution. Abel Tasman originally gave the name Staten Landt to what would become New Zealand, Staaten River is a river in the Cape York Peninsula, Australia. Later, regular sessions were held at Coudenberg in Brussels, Brabant, the next important event was the convocation of the States General by the ducal Council for 3 February 1477 after the death of Charles the Bold. In this session the States General forced the grant of the Great Privilege by Mary of Burgundy in which the right of the States General to convene on their own initiative was recognised, in 1576 the States General as a whole, however, openly rebelled against the Spanish crown. In 1579 the States General split as a number of provinces, united in the Union of Arras returned to obedience, while other provinces. After the Act of Abjuration in 1581 the northern States General replaced Philip II as the authority of the northern Netherlands
6.
Self-Portrait (Rembrandt, Altman)
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Self-Portrait is a 1660 oil on canvas painting by the Dutch artist Rembrandt, one of over 40 self-portraits by Rembrandt. Painted when the artist was fifty-four, it has noted as a work in which may be seen the wrinkled brow. Part of the Benjamin Altman Collection, it has been in the Metropolitan Museum of Art since 1913, the Altman portrait is dated 1660, when he was fifty-four years old. This was a year of anxiety for him and he had just been declared bankrupt. He saw his collection of art treasures disposed of at auction and himself deserted by his pupils and his friends, in this portrait we have a work of mature years, when he brought all the skill and resources of a lifetime to its creation. The lift of the eyebrows that wrinkle his forehead is that of whimsical impatience, the mouth is drawn and the mark of undeserved neglect is evident in the premature wrinkles, but a certain merry pride lurks in the tilted cap and raised head. A pang of pity shoots through us, only to be replaced by one of satisfaction that he, the neglected, is remembered and they. Though this great artist lived several years longer, they were years of misery and his great reputation suffered an almost total eclipse, although to-day he is probably the most popular painter that ever lived. Yet he never lost his courage, and as we see him in this portrait he carries his head bravely and wears his hat jauntily, as if in defiance of the evils that engulfed him. Heretofore we may have felt acquainted with Rembrandt the painter, but now we know Rembrandt the man, technically this portrait shows Rembrandt at his best. The hat, a black, and the background, a warm green, are smoothly painted. Over a red waistcoat Rembrandt wears a heavy, brownish coat, Frick, will find a comparison of the moods of that picture and our work an interesting one. In the portrait owned by Mr. Frick, though it was painted in a troubled time, he paints himself as though he were a philosopher or prophet to whom all things. In the Altman picture he is prematurely aged by his troubles and is pestered with worries and his forehead is wrinkled and the mouth is drawn, but the cap is tilted a little jauntily on one side and the head is erect and proud. This article incorporates text from Century illustrated monthly magazine, by A. T, van Lear, a publication from 1916 now in the public domain in the United States. This article incorporates text from What pictures to see in America, by Lorinda Munson Bryant and this article incorporates text from Handbook of the Benjamin Altman collection, by Metropolitan Museum of Art, a publication from 1914 now in the public domain in the United States. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Long Island University Copy at Victoria & Albert Museum
7.
Aelbert Cuyp
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Aelbert Jacobsz Cuyp was one of the leading Dutch landscape painters of the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century. The most famous of a family of painters, the pupil of his father Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp, Aelbert Cuyp was born in Dordrecht on October 20,1620, and also died there on November 15,1691. Known as the Dutch equivalent of Claude Lorrain, this landscape artist went on to inherit a considerable fortune and his family were all artists, with his uncle Benjamin and grandfather Gerrit being stained glass cartoon designers. Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp, his father, was a portraitist, the amount of biographical information regarding Aelbert Cuyp is tremendously limited. Even Arnold Houbraken, a historian of Dutch Golden Age paintings. The year after his marriage Cuyp became the deacon of the reformed church, even Houbraken recalled that Cuyp was a devout Calvinist and the fact that when he died, there were no paintings of other artists found in his home. Generally, Cuyp learned tone from the exceptionally prolific Jan van Goyen, light from Jan Both and form from his father, Cuyps van Goyen phase can be placed approximately in the early 1640s. Cuyp probably first encountered a painting by van Goyen in 1640 when van Goyen was, as Stephen Reiss points out at the height of powers. Cuyp took from van Goyen the straw yellow and light brown tones that are so apparent in his Dunes and this technique, a precursor to impressionism, is noted for the short brush strokes where the colors are not necessarily blended smoothly. In the mid-1640s Both, a native and resident of Utrecht, had just returned to his hometown from a trip to Rome and it is around this same time that Cuyps style changed fundamentally. In Rome, Both had developed a new style of composition due, at least in part and this new style was focused on changing the direction of light in the painting. Instead of the light being placed at angles in relation to the line of vision. In this new form of lighting, the artist faced the sun more or less contre-jour, Both, and subsequently Cuyp, used the advantages of this new lighting style to alter the sense of depth and luminosity possible in a painting. To make notice of new capabilities, much use was made of elongated shadows. Cuyps third stylistic phase is based on the influence of his father, as has been mentioned and as will be explained in depth below, there are pieces where Aelbert provided the landscape background for his fathers portraits. The evidence for Aelberts evolution to foreground figure painter is in the production of paintings from 1645-50 featuring foreground animals that do not fit with Jacobs style. Adding to the confusion that is, Aelberts stylistic development and the problem of attribution is of course the fact that Jacobs style was not stagnant either, sunlight in his paintings rakes across the panel, accentuating small bits of detail in the golden light. The richly varnished medium refracts the rays of light like a jewel as it dissolves into numerous glazed layers, Cuyps landscapes were based on reality and on his own invention of what an enchanting landscape should be
8.
Rembrandt
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Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was a Dutch draughtsman, painter, and printmaker. A prolific and versatile master across three media, he is considered one of the greatest visual artists in the history of art. Having achieved youthful success as a painter, Rembrandts later years were marked by personal tragedy. Yet his etchings and paintings were popular throughout his lifetime, his reputation as an artist remained high, Rembrandts portraits of his contemporaries, self-portraits and illustrations of scenes from the Bible are regarded as his greatest creative triumphs. His self-portraits form a unique and intimate biography, in which the artist surveyed himself without vanity and his reputation as the greatest etcher in the history of the medium was established in his lifetime, and never questioned since. Few of his paintings left the Dutch Republic whilst he lived, but his prints were circulated throughout Europe, because of his empathy for the human condition, he has been called one of the great prophets of civilization. Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born on 15 July 1606 in Leiden, in the Dutch Republic and he was the ninth child born to Harmen Gerritszoon van Rijn and Neeltgen Willemsdochter van Zuijtbrouck. His family was quite well-to-do, his father was a miller, religion is a central theme in Rembrandts paintings and the religiously fraught period in which he lived makes his faith a matter of interest. His mother was Roman Catholic, and his father belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church, unlike many of his contemporaries who traveled to Italy as part of their artistic training, Rembrandt never left the Dutch Republic during his lifetime. He opened a studio in Leiden in 1624 or 1625, which he shared with friend, in 1627, Rembrandt began to accept students, among them Gerrit Dou in 1628. In 1629, Rembrandt was discovered by the statesman Constantijn Huygens, as a result of this connection, Prince Frederik Hendrik continued to purchase paintings from Rembrandt until 1646. He initially stayed with an art dealer, Hendrick van Uylenburgh, Saskia came from a good family, her father had been a lawyer and the burgemeester of Leeuwarden. When Saskia, as the youngest daughter, became an orphan, Rembrandt and Saskia were married in the local church of St. Annaparochie without the presence of Rembrandts relatives. In the same year, Rembrandt became a burgess of Amsterdam and he also acquired a number of students, among them Ferdinand Bol and Govert Flinck. In 1635 Rembrandt and Saskia moved into their own house, renting in fashionable Nieuwe Doelenstraat, in 1639 they moved to a prominent newly built house in the upscale Breestraat, today known as Jodenbreestraat in what was becoming the Jewish quarter, then a young upcoming neighborhood. The mortgage to finance the 13,000 guilder purchase would be a cause for later financial difficulties. Rembrandt should easily have been able to pay the house off with his income, but it appears his spending always kept pace with his income. It was there that Rembrandt frequently sought his Jewish neighbors to model for his Old Testament scenes, in 1640, they had a second daughter, also named Cornelia, who died after living barely over a month
9.
Ahasuerus and Haman at the Feast of Esther
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The painting Ahasveros and Haman at the Feast of Esther is one of the few works of Rembrandt van Rijn whose complete provenance is known. The origin of the painting can be traced back to 1662, the subject is an episode from chapters 5-7 of the book of Esther in the Old Testament. The Jews were saved by the intercession of Mordechais cousin Esther and it is this rescue that is still celebrated in the Jewish festival of Purim. In that festival, Haman is portrayed as the villain, according to the Pushkin Museum this is one of the best creations of Rembrandts late period. Rembrandt was inspired by the play Hester, by Johannes Serwouters, the playwright was first performed in 1659 in the Schouwburg of Van Campen and dedicated to Leonore Huydecoper, the daughter of Joan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen. Serwouters wrote his play as a reaction to the pogroms in Eastern Europe and her husband may have ordered the painting, in this way helping Rembrandt being in financial difficulties. After its completion in 1660, Rembrandt sold the painting Ahasuerus, in the year 1662 a poetry book by Jan Vos was published, in which there were a number of poems based on the paintings belonging to Jan J. Hinlopen. Jan Vos describes the painting as following, Here one sees Haman eating with Ahasuerus, but it is in vain, his breast is full of regret and pain. He eats Esthers food, but deeper into her heart, the king is mad with revenge and rage. Part of Jan Hinlopens collection passed to his two daughters, this painting was one of them, sara Hinlopen, the longest living of her family, died 89 years old, but without children. Most of her belongings passed to Nicolaes Geelvinck and his three sisters, unfortunately, her will does not mention any painting, most probably to avoid inheritance taxes. In 1764 the painting came to Catherine the Great, most probably through the German entrepreneur Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky, after receiving 320 paintings at one time from Gotzkowsky, the Russian Tsarina started the Hermitage. Probably advised by Gustav Friedrich Waagen the painting went in 1862 to the Museum Rumyantsev in Moscow, since 1924 Ahasuerus and Haman at the Feast of Esther can be seen in the Pushkin Museum, also in Moscow
10.
Jan Steen
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Jan Havickszoon Steen was a Dutch genre painter of the 17th century. His works are known for their insight, sense of humour. Steen was born in Leiden, where his well-to-do, Catholic family were brewers who ran the tavern The Red Halbert for two generations and he was the eldest of eight or more children. Like his even more famous contemporary Rembrandt van Rijn, Jan Steen attended the Latin school and he received his painterly education from Nicolaes Knupfer, a German painter of historical and figurative scenes in Utrecht. Influences of Knupfer can be found in Steens use of composition, other sources of inspiration were Adriaen van Ostade and Isaac van Ostade, painters of rural scenes, who lived in Haarlem. Whether Steen actually studied with Ostade is not known, in 1648 Jan Steen and Gabriël Metsu founded the painters Guild of Saint Luke at Leiden. Soon after he became an assistant to the landscape painter Jan van Goyen. On Oct 3,1649 he married van Goyens daughter Margriet, Steen worked with his father-in-law until 1654, when he moved to Delft, where he ran the brewery De Slang for three years without much success. After the explosion in Delft in 1654 the art market was depressed and it does not seem to be clear if this painting should be called a portrait or a genre work. Steen lived in Warmond, just north of Leiden, from 1656 till 1660 and in Haarlem from 1660 till 1670 and in both periods he was especially productive. In 1670, after the death of his wife in 1669 and his father in 1670, Steen moved back to Leiden, when the art market collapsed in 1672, called the Year of Disaster, Steen opened a tavern. In April 1673 he married Maria van Egmont, who gave him another child, in 1674 he became president of the Saint Lucas Guild. Frans van Mieris became one of his drinking companions and he died in Leiden in 1679 and was interred in a family grave in the Pieterskerk. Daily life was Jan Steens main pictorial theme, subtle hints in his paintings seem to suggest that Steen meant to warn the viewer rather than invite him to copy this behaviour. Many of Steens paintings bear references to old Dutch proverbs or literature and he often used members of his family as models, and painted quite a few self-portraits in which he showed no tendency of vanity. Steen did not shy from other themes, he painted historical, mythological and religious scenes, portraits, still lifes and his portraits of children are famous. He is also known for his mastery of light and attention to detail, most notably in Persian rugs. Steen was prolific, producing about 800 paintings, of which roughly 350 survive and his work was valued much by contemporaries and as a result he was reasonably well paid for his work
11.
Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten
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Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten was a Dutch painter of the Golden Age, who was also a poet and author on art theory. Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten trained first with his father Dirk van Hoogstraten, on the death of his father, he moved to Amsterdam where he entered the workshop of Rembrandt. A short time later, he started out on his own as a master and painter of portraits and he later made several travels which took him to Vienna, Rome and London, finally retiring to Dordrecht. There he married in 1656, and held an appointment as provost of the mint, a sufficient number of Van Hoogstratens works have been preserved to show that he strove to imitate different styles at different times. In a portrait dated 1645, currently in the Lichtenstein collection in Vienna and he continued in this vein until as late as 1653 when he produced the wonderful figure of a bearded man looking out of a window. This, one of the characteristic examples of his style, is exhibited in the Kunsthistorisches Museum. He was especially skillful in his Tromp-loeil still lifes, where the reality of the scene of apparently haphazard objects often has deeper meanings, a view of the Vienna Hofburg, dated 1652, displays his skill as a painter of architecture. In contrast, a piece at the Hague representing a Lady Reading a Letter as she crosses a Courtyard or a Lady Consulting a Doctor, one of his last remaining works is a portrait of Mathys van den Brouck, dated 1670. Hoogstraten also employed his skill with perspective to construct peepshows, or perspective boxes. For example, A Peepshow with Views of the Interior of a Dutch House is a box with convincing 3D views of the interior of a Dutch house when viewed through peepholes on either end of the box. One of his perspective boxes is on show at the National Gallery in London and it shows the interior of a typical Dutch house of his time. He produced many etchings as well, and some of his plates are still preserved and his self-portrait, engraved by himself at the age of fifty, still exists. His pupils were his younger brother Jan van Hoogstraten, Aert de Gelder, Cornelis van der Meulen, Van Hoogstratens fame derives from his versatile career as a painter, poet and zealous social climber. Besides painting and directing a mint, he devoted some of his time to literary labours and it covers issues such as pictorial persuasion and illusionism, the painters moral standards and the relation of painting to philosophy, referring to various ancient and modern authors. He wrote it as a sequel to Karel van Manders early 17th century book on painting, one of van Hoogstratens many students, Arnold Houbraken, later wrote the book entitled The Great Theatre of Dutch Painters, which included a biography of his teacher. This biography is the basis of most of the information that we have about van Hoogstraten today, Van Hoogstraten also composed sonnets and tragedies. We are indebted to him for some of the sayings of Rembrandt. Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstratens paintings This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
12.
Infanta Margarita Teresa in a Pink Dress
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It is now in the Prado Museum in Madrid. It was generally considered to be the last work in his oeuvre, with the dress by Velázquez himself and the head, however, recent studies by experts suggest it may be entirely by Mazo. The Prado Museum currently assigns the work to Mazo and its subject was the royal most frequently portrayed by Velázquez, also appearing in his Las Meninas and Infanta Margarita Teresa in a Blue Dress. Infanta Margarita Teresa in a Blue Dress is still in Vienna as are two 1652-53 portraits of her one or two in a silver and pink dress. A replica of the latter of the two, with variations, is in the Liria Palace in Madrid, though this is attributed to another painter. Until the 19th century the painting was misidentified as a portrait of Infanta Maria Theresa of Spain, child of Philip IV of Spains first marriage, in an 1872 catalogue by the painter Pedro de Madrazo, then the Prados director, it was still misidentified in this way. Later research revealed that it actually is Margaret Theresa, child of Philip IVs second marriage to Mariana of Austria and it was especially admired by the Impressionists and painters of subsequent movements for the lightness of its stroke. Pintura española de los siglos XVI y XVII, aguilar S. A.1964 Work on its authorship Information at Prado Museum website
13.
Johannes Vermeer
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Johannes, Jan or Johan Vermeer was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. Vermeer was a successful provincial genre painter in his lifetime. He evidently was not wealthy, leaving his wife and children in debt at his death, Vermeer worked slowly and with great care, and frequently used very expensive pigments. He is particularly renowned for his treatment and use of light in his work. Vermeer painted mostly domestic interior scenes and he was recognized during his lifetime in Delft and The Hague, but his modest celebrity gave way to obscurity after his death. He was barely mentioned in Arnold Houbrakens major source book on 17th-century Dutch painting, since that time, Vermeers reputation has grown, and he is now acknowledged as one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age. Relatively little was known about Vermeers life until recently and he seems to have been devoted exclusively to his art, living out his life in the city of Delft. Until the 19th century, the sources of information were some registers, a few official documents. John Michael Montias added details on the family from the city archives of Delft in his Artists and Artisans in Delft, Johannes Vermeer was baptized in the Reformed Church on 31 October 1632. His father Reijnier Janszoon was a worker of silk or caffa. As an apprentice in Amsterdam, Reijnier lived on fashionable Sint Antoniesbreestraat, in 1615, he married Digna Baltus. The couple moved to Delft and had a daughter named Geertruy who was baptized in 1620, in 1625, Reijnier was involved in a fight with a soldier named Willem van Bylandt who died from his wounds five months later. Around this time, Reijnier began dealing in paintings, in 1631, he leased an inn, which he called The Flying Fox. In 1635, he lived on Voldersgracht 25 or 26, in 1641, he bought a larger inn on the market square, named after the Flemish town Mechelen. The acquisition of the inn constituted a financial burden. When Vermeers father died in October 1652, Vermeer took over the operation of the art business. In April 1653, Johannes Reijniersz Vermeer married a Catholic girl, the blessing took place in the quiet nearby village of Schipluiden. Vermeers new mother-in-law Maria Thins was significantly wealthier than he, according to art historian Walter Liedtke, Vermeers conversion seems to have been made with conviction
14.
Girl Interrupted at Her Music
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Girl Interrupted at Her Music is a painting by the Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer. It was painted in the style, probably between the years 1658 and 1659, using oil on canvas. In this painting, Vermeer depicts a woman at her music with an older gentleman. This painting shows the typical courtship during the 17th century in Europe and it also focuses on the importance of music when it comes to love. The room that they are shown in is one of higher class, the painting is very reminiscent of Vermeer’s other works. The wine glass, discreetly shown on the table behind the songbook, is tied with both joyfulness and seduction, in the 17th century it was popular to paint scenes that depicted feasts that included drinking, gaming, and playing music. Later on, these large gatherings became smaller and more exclusive with two or three people shown, drinking wine was also associated with love during this time period. You can see that the glass is full and untouched, which symbolizes the slow moving relationship between the man and the woman, on the left side of the painting is a multi-paned window, from which the light source is provided for the scene. Vermeer used the same design in eight of his other works. Some experts questioned whether this painting was by Vermeer, the precision of the lighting from the window was thought to prove that it was in fact an original Vermeer. The chairs depicted in the painting are thought to have been from Spain and they are some of the few objects in the painting that were not damaged by heavy restoration. You can see the minute details including the lion head carving, the studs. The hazy painting in the background of the scene is of Cupid, the painting within a painting was discovered after its restoration in 1907, it had been covered up by a wall and a hanging violin. The reason for Vermeer including the miniature Cupid painting may never be revealed due to the damaged condition. On the table sits a vase made of porcelain and silver, one of the main centers for porcelain in the Netherlands was and still is Delft, although they had limited success in recreating Chinese porcelain. The man in the painting is likely upper class, due to his fashionable attire, love and music often went hand in hand in the 17th century, especially with the presence of a musical duet between a man and a woman. Playing music with one another was one of the few activities where young people of the opposite sex could socialize. The two in the painting were likely part of the bourgeoisie, which meant that they were worldly and educated when it came to music
15.
View of Delft
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View of Delft is an oil painting by Johannes Vermeer, painted ca. The painting of the Dutch artists hometown is among his most popular and it is one of three known paintings of Delft by Vermeer, along with The Little Street and the lost painting House Standing in Delft. The use of pointillism in the work suggests that it postdates The Little Street, the technical analysis shows that Vermeer used a limited choice of pigments for this painting, lead white, yellow ochre, natural ultramarine and madder lake are the main painting materials. His painting technique on the hand is very elaborate and meticulous. In 2011, the painting was featured on gold and silver coins issued by the Royal Dutch Mint. The painting also features in Marcel Prousts novel In Search of Lost Time, proust himself greatly admired Vermeer, particularly a View of Delft. Liedtke, Walter A. Vermeer and the Delft School, arthur K. Wheelock Jr. and C. J. Kaldenbach, Vermeer’s View of Delft and His Vision of Reality, Artibus et Historiae, Vol.3, No. Http, //kalden. home. xs4all. nl/verm/view/Vermeer_main. html Johannes Vermeer, View of Delft, ColourLex Janson, J. Critical Assessments, View of Delft, Essential Vermeer, essays about this painting by several scholars quoted from books on Vermeer
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Carlo Cignani
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Carlo Cignani was an Italian painter. His innovative style referred to as his new manner introduced a reflective, intimate mood of painting and presaged the later pictures of Guido Reni and Guercino and this gentle manner marked a break with the more energetic style of earlier Bolognese classicism of the Bolognese School of painting. He was born to a family of noble ancestry, but limited resources and his fathers first name was Pompeo, and his mother, Maddalena Quaini. In Bologna, he studied first under Battista Cairo and later under Francesco Albani, to whom he remained closely allied and his first noted commission was a St Paul exorcising demon for the church of the Gesu in Bologna. He was also influenced by the genius of Correggio and by the masterworks by Melozzo da Forlì. These frescoes occupied Cignani for some twenty years, in 1681 Cignani returned to Bologna from Parma. He opened an accademia del nudo for painting from models and had as one of his pupils Giuseppe Maria Crespi and he had some of the defects of his masters, his elaborate finish and his audacious artificiality in the use of color and in composition mark Albanis influence. Despite that, he imparted to his work more of a character than his mentors. As a man Cignani was eminently amiable, unassuming and generous and he accepted no honors offered him by the duke of Parma, but lived and died an artist. In 1686 he moved to Forlì, where he died, when the Accademia Clementina for Bolognese artists was founded in 1706, Cignani was posthumously elected Principe in absencia for life. His son Felice Cignani and nephew Paolo Cignani were also painters and his most noted pupils were Marcantonio Franceschini and Federico Bencovich. and Sante Vandi. Media related to Carlo Cignani at Wikimedia Commons This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Cignani. Spike, John T. Centro Di, ed. Giuseppe Maria Crespi, fort Worth, Kimball Museum of Art. Vita del Gran Pittore Cavalier Carlo Cignani, Bologna, Nella Stamperia di L. dalla Volpe
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Sculpture
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Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. It is one of the plastic arts, a wide variety of materials may be worked by removal such as carving, assembled by welding or modelling, or molded, or cast. However, most ancient sculpture was painted, and this has been lost. Those cultures whose sculptures have survived in quantities include the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, India and China, the Western tradition of sculpture began in ancient Greece, and Greece is widely seen as producing great masterpieces in the classical period. During the Middle Ages, Gothic sculpture represented the agonies and passions of the Christian faith, the revival of classical models in the Renaissance produced famous sculptures such as Michelangelos David. Relief is often classified by the degree of projection from the wall into low or bas-relief, high relief, sunk-relief is a technique restricted to ancient Egypt. Relief sculpture may also decorate steles, upright slabs, usually of stone, techniques such as casting, stamping and moulding use an intermediate matrix containing the design to produce the work, many of these allow the production of several copies. The term sculpture is used mainly to describe large works. The very large or colossal statue has had an enduring appeal since antiquity, another grand form of portrait sculpture is the equestrian statue of a rider on horse, which has become rare in recent decades. The smallest forms of life-size portrait sculpture are the head, showing just that, or the bust, small forms of sculpture include the figurine, normally a statue that is no more than 18 inches tall, and for reliefs the plaquette, medal or coin. Sculpture is an important form of public art, a collection of sculpture in a garden setting can be called a sculpture garden. One of the most common purposes of sculpture is in form of association with religion. Cult images are common in cultures, though they are often not the colossal statues of deities which characterized ancient Greek art. The actual cult images in the innermost sanctuaries of Egyptian temples, of which none have survived, were rather small. The same is true in Hinduism, where the very simple. Some undoubtedly advanced cultures, such as the Indus Valley civilization, appear to have had no monumental sculpture at all, though producing very sophisticated figurines, the Mississippian culture seems to have been progressing towards its use, with small stone figures, when it collapsed. Other cultures, such as ancient Egypt and the Easter Island culture, from the 20th century the relatively restricted range of subjects found in large sculpture expanded greatly, with abstract subjects and the use or representation of any type of subject now common. Today much sculpture is made for intermittent display in galleries and museums, small sculpted fittings for furniture and other objects go well back into antiquity, as in the Nimrud ivories, Begram ivories and finds from the tomb of Tutankhamun
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Stucco
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Stucco or render is a material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a dense solid. It is used as coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural. Stucco may be used to cover less visually appealing construction materials such as metal, concrete, cinder block, or clay brick and adobe. In English, stucco usually means a coating for the outside of a building, and plaster one for interiors, as described below, but other European languages, importantly including Italian, do not have the same distinction, stucco means plaster in Italian and serves for both. This has led to English often using stucco for interior decorative plasterwork in relief, especially in art history, the difference in nomenclature between stucco, plaster, and mortar is based more on use than composition. Animal or plant fibers were often added for additional strength, in the latter nineteenth century, Portland cement was added with increasing frequency in an attempt to improve the durability of stucco. At the same time, traditional lime plasters were being replaced by gypsum plaster, traditional stucco is made of lime, sand, and water. Modern stucco is made of Portland cement, sand, and water, lime is added to increase the permeability and workability of modern stucco. Sometimes additives such as acrylics and glass fibers are added to improve the properties of the stucco. This is usually done with what is considered a one-coat stucco system, lime stucco is a relatively hard material that can be broken or chipped by hand without too much difficulty. The lime itself is white, color comes from the aggregate or any added pigments. Lime stucco has the property of being self-healing to a degree because of the slight water solubility of lime. Portland cement stucco is very hard and brittle and can easily crack if the base on which it is applied is not stable, typically its color was gray, from the innate color of most Portland cement, but white Portland cement is also used. Todays stucco manufacturers offer a wide range of colors that can be mixed integrally in the finish coat. As a building material, stucco is a durable, attractive and it was traditionally used as both an interior and exterior finish applied in one or two thin layers directly over a solid masonry, brick or stone surface. The finish coat usually contained a color and was typically textured for appearance. The lath added support for the wet plaster and tensile strength to the brittle, cured stucco, while the increased thickness, the traditional application of stucco and lath occurs in three coats — the scratch coat, the brown coat and the finish coat
