ARTH 257 - Dutch Arts, Patrons, and Markets

FDR: HA
Credits: 3
Planned Offering: Winter 2014 and alternate years

During the 17th century, the practices of making and buying art boomed as never before in the Dutch Republic. With the creation of the first large-scale open art market, prosperous Dutch merchants, artisans, and civil servants bought paintings and prints in unprecedented numbers. Foreign visitors were astonished that even modest members of Dutch society such as farmers and bakers owned multiple works of art. Dutch 17th-century art saw the rise of new subjects, as landscapes, still lifes, and scenes of daily life replaced formerly dominant religious images and scenes from classical mythology. Portraiture also flourished in this prosperous atmosphere. Among the artists covered are Frans Hals, Judith Leyster, Jan Steen, Frans Post, Johannes Vermeer, and Rembrandt. Lepage.