1.
Jan Steen
–
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
2.
Rijksmuseum
–
The Rijksmuseum is a Dutch national museum dedicated to arts and history in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and the Concertgebouw. The Rijksmuseum was founded in The Hague in 1800 and moved to Amsterdam in 1808, the current main building was designed by Pierre Cuypers and first opened its doors in 1885. On 13 April 2013, after a renovation which cost €375 million. In 2013 and 2014, it was the most visited museum in the Netherlands with record numbers of 2.2 million and 2.47 million visitors and it is also the largest art museum in the country. The museum also has a small Asian collection, which is on display in the Asian pavilion, in 1795, the Batavian Republic was proclaimed. The Minister of Finance Isaac Gogel argued that a museum, following the French example of The Louvre. On 19 November 1798, the government decided to found the museum, on 31 May 1800, the National Art Gallery, precursor of the Rijksmuseum, opened its doors in Huis ten Bosch in The Hague. The museum exhibited around 200 paintings and historic objects from the collections of the Dutch stadtholders, in 1805, the National Art Gallery moved within The Hague to the Buitenhof. In 1806, the Kingdom of Holland was established by Napoleon Bonaparte, on the orders of king Louis Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon, the museum moved to Amsterdam in 1808. The paintings owned by city, such as The Night Watch by Rembrandt. In 1809, the museum opened its doors in the Royal Palace in Amsterdam, in 1817, the museum moved to the Trippenhuis. The Trippenhuis turned out to be unsuitable as a museum, in 1820, the historical objects were moved to the Mauritshuis in The Hague, and in 1838 the 19th-century paintings were moved to Paviljoen Welgelegen in Haarlem. In 1863, there was a design contest for a new building for the Rijksmuseum, Pierre Cuypers also participated in the contest and his submission reached the second place. In 1876 a new contest was held and this time Pierre Cuypers won, the design was a combination of gothic and renaissance elements. The construction began on 1 October 1876, on both the inside and the outside, the building was richly decorated with references to Dutch art history. Another contest was held for these decorations, the winners were B. van Hove and J. F. Vermeylen for the sculptures, G. Sturm for the tile tableaus and painting and W. F. Dixon for the stained glass. The museum was opened at its new location on 13 July 1885, in 1890 a new building was added a short distance to the south-west of the Rijksmuseum
3.
Amsterdam
–
Amsterdam is the capital and most populous municipality of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Its status as the capital is mandated by the Constitution of the Netherlands, although it is not the seat of the government, which is The Hague. Amsterdam has a population of 851,373 within the city proper,1,351,587 in the urban area, the city is located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country. The metropolitan area comprises much of the part of the Randstad, one of the larger conurbations in Europe. Amsterdams name derives from Amstelredamme, indicative of the citys origin around a dam in the river Amstel, during that time, the city was the leading centre for finance and diamonds. In the 19th and 20th centuries the city expanded, and many new neighborhoods and suburbs were planned, the 17th-century canals of Amsterdam and the 19–20th century Defence Line of Amsterdam are on the UNESCO World Heritage List. As the commercial capital of the Netherlands and one of the top financial centres in Europe, Amsterdam is considered a world city by the Globalization. The city is also the capital of the Netherlands. Many large Dutch institutions have their headquarters there, and seven of the worlds 500 largest companies, including Philips and ING, are based in the city. In 2012, Amsterdam was ranked the second best city to live in by the Economist Intelligence Unit and 12th globally on quality of living for environment, the city was ranked 3rd in innovation by Australian innovation agency 2thinknow in their Innovation Cities Index 2009. The Amsterdam seaport to this day remains the second in the country, famous Amsterdam residents include the diarist Anne Frank, artists Rembrandt van Rijn and Vincent van Gogh, and philosopher Baruch Spinoza. The Amsterdam Stock Exchange, the oldest stock exchange in the world, is located in the city center. After the floods of 1170 and 1173, locals near the river Amstel built a bridge over the river, the earliest recorded use of that name is in a document dated October 27,1275, which exempted inhabitants of the village from paying bridge tolls to Count Floris V. This allowed the inhabitants of the village of Aemstelredamme to travel freely through the County of Holland, paying no tolls at bridges, locks, the certificate describes the inhabitants as homines manentes apud Amestelledamme. By 1327, the name had developed into Aemsterdam, Amsterdam is much younger than Dutch cities such as Nijmegen, Rotterdam, and Utrecht. In October 2008, historical geographer Chris de Bont suggested that the land around Amsterdam was being reclaimed as early as the late 10th century. This does not necessarily mean there was already a settlement then, since reclamation of land may not have been for farming—it may have been for peat. Amsterdam was granted city rights in either 1300 or 1306, from the 14th century on, Amsterdam flourished, largely from trade with the Hanseatic League
4.
Netherlands
–
The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
5.
Saint Nicholas
–
Saint Nicholas, also called Nikolaos of Myra, was a historic 4th-century Christian saint and Greek Bishop of Myra, in Asia Minor. Because of the miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker. The historical Saint Nicholas is commemorated and revered among Anglican, Catholic, Lutheran, in addition, some Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and other Reformed churches have been named in honor of Saint Nicholas. Saint Nicholas is the saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers. The historical Saint Nicholas, as known from history, He was born at Patara. In his youth he made a pilgrimage to Egypt and the Palestine area, shortly after his return he became Bishop of Myra and was later cast into prison during the persecution of Diocletian. He was released after the accession of Constantine and was present at the Council of Nicaea, in 1087, Italian merchants took his body from Myra, bringing it to Bari in Italy. Nicholas was born in Asia Minor in the Roman Empire, to a Greek family during the century in the city of Patara. He lived in Myra, Lycia, at a time when the region was Greek in its heritage, culture and he was the only son of wealthy Christian parents named Epiphanius and Johanna according to some accounts and Theophanes and Nonna according to others. He was very religious from an age and according to legend. His wealthy parents died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young and he tonsured the young Nicholas as a reader and later ordained him a presbyter. In the year AD305, several monks from Anatolia in Asia Minor came to the Holy Land to Beit Jala, Judea and this was before St. Sava’s Monastery was founded in the desert east of Bethlehem on the Kidron Gorge near the Dead Sea. These monks lived on the mountain overlooking Bethlehem in a few caves, in the years 312–315, St. Nicholas lived there and came as a pilgrim to visit the Holy Sepulchre, Golgotha, Bethlehem, and many other sites in the Holy Land. The Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church is located on the site of his cave in Beit Jala where today there are stories about Nicholas still handed down from generation to generation. A text written in his own hand is still in the care of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, in 317 he returned to Asia Minor and was soon thereafter consecrated bishop in Myra. In 325, he was one of many bishops to answer the request of Constantine and appear at the First Council of Nicaea, there, Nicholas was a staunch anti-Arian, defender of the Orthodox Christian position, and one of the bishops who signed the Nicene Creed. Tradition has it that he became so angry with the heretic Arius during the Council that he struck him in the face. The modern city of Demre, Turkey is built near the ruins of the home town of ancient Myra
6.
Sinterklaas
–
Sinterklaas or Sint-Nicolaas is a historical figure with legendary, and folkloric origins based on Saint Nicholas. Other names for the figure include De Sint, De Goede Sint, and De Goedheiligman in Dutch, Saint Nicolas in French, Sinteklaas in Frisian and he is also well known in territories of the former Dutch Empire, including Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, and Suriname. He is the source of the popular Christmas icon of Santa Claus. Sinterklaas is an elderly, stately and serious man with white hair and he traditionally rides a white horse. In the Netherlands, the horse is called Amerigo, and in Belgium, it is named Slecht Weer Vandaag, Sinterklaas carries a big, red book, called The Book of Sinterklaas, in which is written whether each child has been good or naughty in the past year. Zwarte Piet is a companion of Sinterklaas, dressed up based on 16th-century clothes of nobles in colourful attire, often sporting a lace collar, among other things, the black represents the black-white difference, but also helps people playing Zwarte Piet to stay unrecognisable to the children. Children are told that Zwarte Piet is black due to the soot in the chimneys, according to Hélène Adeline Guerber and others, the origin of Sinterklaas and his helpers has been linked by some to the Wild Hunt of Wodan. Riding the white horse Sleipnir he flew through the air as the leader of the Wild Hunt and he was always accompanied by two black ravens, Huginn and Muninn. Those helpers would listen, just like Zwarte Piet, at the chimney – which was just a hole in the roof at that time – to tell Wodan about the good and bad behaviour of the mortals. Due to its character, however, this older Germanic theory has little support among present-day scholars. At the same time, it clear that the Saint Nicholas tradition contains a number of elements that are not ecclesiastical in origin. Some of the older Sinterklaas songs make mention of naughty children being put in the bag and this part of the legend refers to the times that the Moors raided the European coasts, and as far as Iceland, to abduct the local people into slavery. This quality can be found in other companions of Saint Nicholas such as Krampus, in recent years the roe has been absent, to adapt to modern times. Over the years many stories have been added, and Zwarte Piet has developed from a rather unintelligent helper into an assistant to the absent-minded saint. Traditionally Zwarte Piets face is said to be black because he is a Moor from Spain, Today, some prefer to say that his face is blackened with soot because he has to climb through chimneys to deliver gifts for Sinterklaas. The figure of Zwarte Piet is considered by some to be racist, as such, the traditions surrounding the holiday of Sinterklaas have been the subject of numerous editorials, debates, documentaries, protests and even violent clashes at festivals. Nevertheless, both Zwarte Piet and the holiday remain popular in the Netherlands, in a 2013 survey, 92% of the Dutch public did not perceive Zwarte Piet as racist or associate him with slavery, and 91% were opposed to altering the characters appearance. Despite Zwarte Piets popularity, many cities and television channels now only display Chimney Petes
7.
Doll
–
A doll is a model of a human being, often used as a toy for children. The earliest documented dolls go back to the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, the use of dolls as toys was documented in Greece around 100 AD. They have been made as crude, rudimentary playthings as well as elaborate art, modern doll manufacturing has its roots in Germany, going back to the 15th century. With industrialization and new materials such as porcelain and plastic, dolls were increasingly mass-produced, during the 20th century, dolls became increasingly popular as collectibles. The earliest dolls were made from materials such as clay, stone, wood, bone, ivory, leather. Archaeological evidence places dolls as the foremost candidate for the oldest known toy, wooden paddle dolls have been found in Egyptian tombs dating to as early as the 21st century BC. Dolls with movable limbs and removable clothing date back to at least 200 BC, Greek dolls were made of clay and articulated at the hips and shoulders. There are stories from ancient Greece around 100 AD that show that dolls were used by girls as playthings. In Rome, dolls were made of clay, wood or ivory, Dolls have been found in the graves of Roman children. Like children today, the members of Roman civilization would have dressed their dolls according to the latest fashions. When Greek and Roman girls got married they would dedicate their doll to a goddess, rag dolls are traditionally home-made from spare scraps of cloth material. Roman rag dolls have been found dating back to 300 BC, traditional dolls are sometimes used as childrens playthings, but they may also have spiritual, magical and ritual value. There is no defined line between spiritual dolls and toys, in some cultures dolls that had been used in rituals were given to children. They were also used in education and as carriers of cultural heritage. In other cultures dolls were considered too laden with magical powers to allow children to play with them, African dolls are used to teach and entertain, they are supernatural intermediaries, and they are manipulated for ritual purposes. Their shape and costume vary according to region and custom, Dolls are frequently handed down from mother to daughter. Akuaba are wooden ritual fertility dolls from Ghana and nearby areas, the best known akuaba are those of the Ashanti people, whose akuaba have large, disc-like heads. Other tribes in the region have their own style of akuaba
8.
Chimney
–
A chimney is a structure that provides ventilation for hot flue gases or smoke from a boiler, stove, furnace or fireplace to the outside atmosphere. Chimneys are typically vertical, or as near as possible to vertical, to ensure that the gases flow smoothly, drawing air into the combustion in what is known as the stack, the space inside a chimney is called a flue. Chimneys may be found in buildings, steam locomotives and ships, in the United States, the term smokestack is also used when referring to locomotive chimneys or ship chimneys, and the term funnel can also be used. The height of a chimney influences its ability to transfer flue gases to the environment via stack effect. Additionally, the dispersion of pollutants at higher altitudes can reduce their impact on the immediate surroundings, in the case of chemically aggressive output, a sufficiently tall chimney can allow for partial or complete self-neutralization of airborne chemicals before they reach ground level. The dispersion of pollutants over an area can reduce their concentrations. Romans used tubes inside the walls to draw out of bakeries. The earliest extant example of an English chimney is at the keep of Conisbrough Castle in Yorkshire, however, they did not become common in houses until the 16th and 17th centuries. Smoke hoods were a method of collecting the smoke into a chimney. Another step in the development of chimneys was the use of built in ovens which allowed the household to bake at home, industrial chimneys became common in the late 18th century. Chimneys in ordinary dwellings were first built of wood and plaster or mud, since then chimneys have traditionally been built of brick or stone, both in small and large buildings. Early chimneys were of a brick construction. Later chimneys were constructed by placing the bricks around tile liners, to control downdrafts, venting caps with a variety of designs are sometimes placed on the top of chimneys. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the used to extract lead from its ore produced large amounts of toxic fumes. Lead and silver deposits formed on the inside of these long chimneys, todays central heating systems have made chimney placement less critical, and the use of non-structural gas vent pipe allows a flue gas conduit to be installed around obstructions and through walls. In fact, most modern high-efficiency heating appliances do not require a chimney, such appliances are generally installed near an external wall, and a noncombustible wall thimble allows a vent pipe to run directly through the external wall. On a pitched roof where a chimney penetrates a roof, flashing is used to seal up the joints, the down-slope piece is called an apron, the sides receive step flashing and a cricket is used to divert water around the upper side of the chimney underneath the flashing. Industrial chimneys are commonly referred to as flue gas stacks and are generally external structures and they are generally located adjacent to a steam-generating boiler or industrial furnace and the gases are carried to them with ductwork
9.
Museum Catharijneconvent
–
The Museum Catharijneconvent is a museum of religious art in Utrecht in the Netherlands. It is located in the former St. Catharine convent, having been sited there since 1979 and its collections include many artifacts from the museum of religious art of the Catholic Archbishopric of Utrecht, located in the convent until 1979. In 2006 the convent closed for restoration and it is part of the Utrecht Museum Night. The museum has a collection of historical and art-historical objects from the early Middle Ages to the present. The vast collection presents a picture of Protestant and Catholic art and cultural history of the Netherlands, one of the highlights of the collection is ivory objects from the early medieval Lebuïnuskerk
10.
International Standard Book Number
–
The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
_-_WGA21723.jpg)
.jpg)
"Old Dutch Masters. Jan Steen", in Century Magazine, December, 1893.
