#dutchgoldenage — Public Fediverse posts

"Forest Floor with a Classical Facade Beyond," Rachel Ruysch, 1680s.

Here's our old friend Rachel Ruysch, again showing off her distinct and meticulous style.

She was in her 20s when she painted this, and cementing the style that was to make her a wealthy woman and respected artist. Her later style was mostly still lifes, but here she's got a natural scene with a building in the background.

We've got tulips and morning glories and I'm not sure what else, along with a bird, moths, and a lizard. The house in the background is unusual for her; one wonders if she was courting a patron, or just trying something new.

Ruysch was described by a poet as a "flower goddess" and she's one of my favorites. Happy Flower Friday!

From a private collection.

#Art #RachelRuysch #DutchGoldenAge #FlowerFriday #StillLife #OurOldFriendRachel

We remember the #DutchGoldenAge for its paintings – which may be why so few realise that it was Europe’s publishing powerhouse.

⌛️ Last chance to read this article for free

https://buff.ly/DehyKtf

The engraved lines carve deep shadows around Jan Cornelis Sylvius’s furrowed brow, his fingers pressing into the spine of a heavy book. This portrait frames a preacher not in quiet study, but as a man whose words are already set in ink and doctrine.

What does the tension in his grip reveal about the weight of the text he holds?
#ClevelandMuseumofArt #DutchGoldenAge #PortraitEngraving
https://clevelandart.org/art/1942.756

The lace collar and slashed sleeves of Abraham Francen’s doublet catch the light, while his fingers press into the pages of an open herbal. This portrait of a 17th-century apothecary suggests knowledge as both remedy and devotion—note the crucifixion scene hanging just behind his shoulder.

Which detail in the background reveals more about his trade than the book in his hands?

#ClevelandMuseumofArt #DutchGoldenAge #
https://clevelandart.org/art/1989.245

The fur trim of the old man’s coat catches the light in sharp, jagged strokes, while his cap’s split crown casts a deep, uneven shadow. This meticulous contrast between texture and tone suggests a study in both material and mortality—how fabric outlasts flesh. What does the small object in his hand reveal about his gaze?

#DutchGoldenAge #PortraitDrawing #ClevelandMuseumofArt
https://clevelandart.org/art/1934.348

The seated figure in *The Great Jewish Bride* grips a serpent coiled around her wrist, its scales rendered in precise, fine lines. This tension between adornment and danger suggests a meditation on identity and constraint.

What does the interplay of fabric folds and serpent reveal about the figure’s stillness?
#ClevelandMuseumofArt #Printmaking #DutchGoldenAge
https://clevelandart.org/art/1926.477

https://www.europesays.com/uk/1056158/ Van Gogh and the Dutch old masters: latest research reveals the links – The Art Newspaper #AdventuresWithVanGogh #Arts #ArtsAndDesign #Design #DutchGoldenAge #Entertainment #UK #UnitedKingdom #VincentVanGogh

Van Gogh and the Dutch old masters: latest research reveals the links – The Art Newspaper

This week a Dutch journal is publishing the first comprehensive account of Van Gogh’s admiration for the country’s…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Artsanddesign #AdventureswithVanGogh #Arts #ArtsAndDesign #Design #DutchGoldenAge #Entertainment #vincentvangogh
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/727614/

"A Four Year Old Girl with a Cat and a Fish," Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp, 1647.

Cuyp (1594-1652) was a Dutch painter of still lifes and landscapes who later shifted to portraits, often containing allegorical content.

The subject of this portrait is unknown, but the allegorical nature makes it seem absurd and surreal to modern eyes. Why is she holding a fish? What's up with the cat? This has become an internet meme for its very weirdness.

But...there is a meaning here...it's about curbing your lust. The cat, at the time, was a symbol of rampant carnal desire. The fish is suppressed temptation. The cat, instead of lunging for the fish, is doing its damnedest to get away. Meanwhile, the tapestry in the back has a courting couple, and beyond them, a castle. It looks as if it's about how they'll behave themselves and achieve the goal of having a healthy child. Maybe.

Or maybe it's just freakin' weird.

Happy Portrait Monday!

From the Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY.

#Art #JacobGerritszCuyp #PortraitMonday #DutchGoldenAge #Meme #Weird

"A Still Life of Flowers in a Glass Vase on a Marble Table before a Niche," Rachel Ruysch, 1742.

I can't say much about our friend Rachel Ruysch, the patron saint of Flower Fridays, that I haven't said before.

Here's a painting done when she was 79 years old (!) and leaning toward a more delicate palette. You can see the effect of a lifetime's work here; the roses are exquisite and everything else is just lovely. She was also one of the first artists in the Netherlands to use Prussian Blue, then a new pigment that was cheaper than the usual ultramarine and other traditional blues.

Ruysch had a long and successful career, and left behind a body of work that still delights the eye today.

Happy Flower Friday!

From the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

#Art #RachelRuysch #WomenArtists #FlowerFriday #DutchGoldenAge

The fur cap’s split crown casts a sharp shadow across the old man’s brow, its folds deep as knife cuts. Rembrandt’s ink bleeds into the paper’s grain, suggesting both weight and fragility in the sitter’s gaze.

What does the small object in his hand—perhaps a nut or a coin—reveal about his quiet scrutiny?

#Rembrandt #DutchGoldenAge #ClevelandMuseumofArt
https://clevelandart.org/art/1934.348

I’ve visited 1 European city each year for the last 8 years | Europe | Travel

There are some places you visit and remember fondly, and there are other places that have you longing…
#Netherlands #Nederland #NL #Europe #Europa #EU #Amsterdam #amsterdamweather #CanalHouses #DutchGoldenAge #europe #Holiday #MocoMuseum #visitingamsterdam
https://www.europesays.com/netherlands/17513/

https://www.europesays.com/dk/95509/ I’ve visited 1 European city each year for the last 8 years | Europe | Travel #Amsterdam #AmsterdamWeather #CanalHouses #DutchGoldenAge #europe #holiday #MocoMuseum #Netherlands #VisitingAmsterdam

The lace collar and fur-trimmed robe of Abraham Francen absorb light unevenly, their textures rendered in precise, varying strokes. This portrait of a learned apothecary suggests a quiet tension between scientific inquiry and spiritual devotion—note the crucifixion scene hanging just behind his shoulder.

What does the open book on the table reveal about his daily practice?

#DutchGoldenAge #Portraiture #ClevelandMus
https://clevelandart.org/art/1989.245

The ink bleeds slightly where the artist’s hand rested, darkest at the cuffs and collar. This self-portrait tests the limits of line—each curl of hair and fold of fabric rendered with restless precision, as if the act of drawing could hold time still.

What does the faint script at the top left reveal about the moment before the pen touched paper?

#Rembrandt #DutchGoldenAge #ClevelandMuseumofArt
https://clevelandart.org/art/1989.244

"Vase of Flowers with an Ear of Corn," Rachel Ruysch, 1742.

We can always count on our old friend Rachel Ruysch to see out the week in style. Here Ruysch, regarded as one of the greatest still life artists of all time, gives us a bouquet of flowers that likely couldn't exist in real life....as they wouldn't be blooming at the same time. The roses and tulips and forget-me-nots all belong to different parts of the spring, and that ear of corn, with its dry husk, is definitely late summer.

Still, Ruysch depicts them all with loving precision, and creates an image of beauty that pleases the eye and rests the mind. Heaven bless you, Rachel Ruysch.

Happy Flower Friday!

From the National Gallery of Ireland.

#Art #RachelRuysch #FlowerFriday #StillLife #DutchGoldenAge #WomenArtists

"Portrait of the Painter Andries van Bochoven and His Family," Andries van Bochoven, 1629.

Van Bochoven (1609-34) died young, only 25, and didn't make much of a career as an artist, but he was obviously talented and well-taught. He only completed a handful of known paintings, of which this is the most popular.

His father Rutger, a prosperous merchant, sits at one end of the small table, about to lead the family in prayer. His wife Johanna sits at the other end, with the smallest children. The painter's grown sisters sit at the table, holding their own books, as if ready to follow along in the prayer. The grown brothers, with Andries holding brushes, stand in the back.

It has a certain charm but Andries, and several other members of the family, passed away during a plague epidemic in 1634-8. The painting stayed in the family until Rutger's death, evidently a reminder of times past.

Happy Portrait Monday, A Day Late! (I got the days mixed up....)

From the Centraal Museum, Utrecht.

#Art #AndriesVanBochoven #DutchGoldenAge #GroupPortrait #PortraitMonday #FamilyDinner

"The Love Letter," Johannes Vermeer, c. 1669-70.

Vermeer (16321675) is a much-acclaimed and much-studied painter of the Dutch Golden Age, and hailed as one of the all-time greatest.

His output was almost entirely scenes of middle-class life, although sometimes with religious or allegorical meaning, and all painted in the same two rooms of his house, but with expertly-depicted light. He was famous in his hometown of Delft but after his death he was largely forgotten until the 19th century when he was rediscovered and his work acclaimed for modern generations. Today, only about 34 paintings of his survive, although a number of fakes were produced over the years, including one forger who sold to Nazi soldiers.

Here we have an interior scene of a woman being handed a letter, but her expression is an eager one. Her instrument, a cittern, was a symbol of passionate love, and the loss of one of her slippers is also a racy hint. The paintings behind her, of a stormy sea and a traveler on a road, suggest her lover is on a voyage.

From the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

#Art #JohannesVermeer #DutchGoldenAge #WomenInArt

"The Tulip," Judith Leyster, 1643.

Leyster (1609-60) suffered a fate common to many women artists....she was respected and popular in her time, but after her death her work was attributed to male artists.

Leyster was a busy painter of still lifes, portraits, and genre scenes (everyday life). Details of her early life and education are scant, but she joined the local artists' guild when she was 20. She busily painted until her marriage in 1636 to another painter, Jan Molenaer, when she slowed down, and she died at 50. After her passing, her work was credited either to her husband or to painter Frans Hals, whom she once sued, but also may have been her teacher, as their styles are very similar.

Her work was rediscovered in 1893 and a huge project was undertaken to analyze various works. Now a substantial body of work is credited to her.

Happy Flower Friday!

From the Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem.

#Art #DutchGoldenAge #JudithLeyster #WomenArtists #FlowerFriday

"Flower Still Life," Rachel Ruysch, c. 1716-20.

Here's our old friend Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750) with another one of her lovely floral still lifes.

The flowers here include poppies, roses, carnations, and I think I see some tulips as well. There's a bee, a moth, and a caterpillar visible as well, and maybe a few other small creatures. Some of the flowers are drooping, and some leaves are brown and have been nibble on by insects.

Ruysch, the daughter of a scientist, depicted flowers and insects with great precision and detail. There's a lot of realism in the individual flowers, but the overall painting is not realistic, as these flowers would not be in bloom at the same time!

I won't go on about her life, having talked about her before, but she had a long and successful career and achieved greater fame and wealth than many other painters of her time, and even today she is regarded as one of the greatest and most talented still life artists of any sex, of any era. All hail Rachel Ruysch!

Happy Flower Friday!

From the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH.

#Art #RachelRuysch #DutchGoldenAge #FlowerFriday #StillLife #Floral #AllTimeGreatPainters #WomenArtists #ILoveYouRachelRuysch
#WomensHistory #Herstory

"Titus van Rijn, the Artist's Son, Reading," Rembrandt van Rijn, 1656/7.

What can I say about Rembrandt (1606-69), other than he's one of the most recognizable names in art? A painter and printmaker, he pretty much defines the Dutch Golden Age. But unlike may other artists of the period, he didn't specialize.

Unlike, say, our friend Rachel Ruysch, who specialized in flowers, Rembrandt did all sorts of genres. Portraits, historic, religious, landscapes, mythical scenes, animals...he was all over the artistic map. Some of his work courted controversy; a painting of Bathsheba created a furor as everyone knew the nude Bathsheba was Rembrandt's mistress. He also had persistent financial troubles that led to him being ruled incompetent and his affairs managed by his son.

Titus van Rijn (1641-68) was the only child by Rembrandt's wife Saskia to live to adulthood. He was a frequent model for his father, and his death at 26 was a sad blow. Here he is, absorbed in a book, and looking like the apple of his father's eye.

Happy Portrait Monday!

From the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

#Art #DutchGoldenAge #Rembrandt #PortraitMonday #TitusVanRijn

Tomatos

https://gregurbano.com/2026/01/21/tomatos/

"Titus at His Desk," Rembrandt van Rijn, 1655.

Who doesn't know Rembrandt?

This is a portrait of his one surviving son by his first wife, Saskia van Uylenburgh. (Three other children died within weeks of their birth.) Saskia herself died of tuberculosis a year after Titus' birth, and her illness and death affected him greatly, as we can see from his paintings of her on her deathbed. There is a tender sort of anxiety in his depictions of Titus, who he painted frequently, as if fearful that he could leave any day.

Titus van Rijn (1641-1668) was by all accounts an intelligent and willful child who adored his father and did everything he could to help him, especially when Rembrandt's financial problems led to a bankruptcy. When Titus got older, he and Rembrandt's mistress Hendrickje set up a corporation as art dealers to generate work and support for his father.

Titus married in 1668 to Magdalena van Loo, but died a few months later of unstated causes. His daughter Titia was born six months after his passing. Rembrandt himself passed on the following year.

Happy Portrait Monday!

From the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam.

#Art #DutchGoldenAge #RembrandtVanRijn #PortraitMonday #Portraits

"Tree Trunk Surrounded by Flowers, Butterflies, and Animals," Rachel Ruysch, 1685.

Here's our old friend Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750), one of the greatest still life artists of all time.

Here we've got an arrangement of flowers around a tree trunk in a wild landscape that can be glimpsed in the upper left. Seeming to sprout from the trunk are roses, lilies, and poppies, amongst others, but these are cultivated flowers, not wild ones. Still, it's a pleasing image. A few butterflies can be seen, and by a mushroom at the bottom right there's a lizard, and a snail crawls away at the bottom left.

Everything is done with great precision and dedication. Even the mushroom at the bottom right looks real. I like to think that she loved what she did.

This is actually a pretty large painting for a still life of the period (32 by 38 inches) which indicates the popularity of her work.

I love sharing Ruysch's work. She depicted her subjects with loving precision, and she lived a rich, full life, enjoying success and acclaim. When so many women artists get forgotten or their work attributed to male artists, Ruysch shows us that women artists can (and should) have the same respect as men.

Happy Flower Friday!

From the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam.

#Art #RachelRuysch #DutchGoldenAge #StillLife #FlowerFriday

"The Feast of St. Nicholas," Jan Steen, 1665-8.

Steen (1626-79) was famous for his scenes of everyday life, which were both sentimental but also humorous.

In this Yuletide scene, the good little girl has a bucket of treats, while the sobbing brother has none...but grandmother seems to be beckoning to him from the back, hinting she may have a surprise for him. Another brother points up the chimney to amaze a youngster. There's a miniature still life in the lower left corner, and an assortment of goodies here and there. One child holds a gingerbread man in the form of St. Nicholas himself.

The scene is chaotic and jumbled, a hallmark of Steen's work, and many feel it was his way of depicting the society of the time. There's also a possible hint of darkness. The little girl's doll is John the Baptist; an odd selection for a child's toy. Some scholars have noted that John the Baptist is the patron of epileptics, and perhaps that it's an indication the girl has convulsions and that he's meant to watch over her.

Scenes of everyday life were popular in the Netherlands at the time, and Steen was popular for his visual storytelling & his tendency to poke gentle fun at society.

From the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

#Art #JanSteen #DutchGoldenAge #GenreArt #StNicholas #HoHoHo

"Still Life with Rose Branch, Beetle, and Bee," Rachel Ruysch, 1741.

An artist of the Dutch Golden Age, Ruysch (1664-1750) was meticulous about signing and dating her works, making her one of the best documented artists of her time. Her level of skill and talent has led to her being praised as one of the all-time great still life painters.

The daughter of a scientist/teacher, she had many examples of plants, insects, minerals, and animals to work with. By the age of 18 she was selling her own work under her own name, and her career spanned six decades. When so many women artists went unknown or neglected, she fetched top prices for her work, earning more than Rembrandt did. She was respected and acclaimed in her lifetime and for a long time after her death.

She married a portrait artist, Juriaen Pool, and bore him ten children...and yet she kept on painting, earning more than he did. She even managed to outlive him.

Painted when she was in her mid-70s, this lovely picture shows no sign of her slowing down. The flowers and insects all show her attention to detail and scientific accuracy. One gets a sense that she loved what she was doing.

Happy Flower Friday!

From the Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland.

#Art #RachelRuysch #WomenArtists #DutchGoldenAge #StillLife #FlowerFriday

"Still Life with Golden Goblet," Pieter de Ring, 1640-60.

Little is known of de Ring (1615/20 - 1660); he may have been born in Leyden or in Ypres, he may have been married or single, he may have had a brother....much is unknown and a lot of records didn't survive the two World Wars.

What is known is that he specialized in opulent still lifes like this. There was a de Ringh family (note the spelling) that worked in cloth, so it's believed he was part of them, as his skill in depicting cloth was remarkable. (Think of Vuillard whose mother was a seamstress, and his skill at depicting pattern...a link!)

De Ring was also painting at a time of great prosperity for the Netherlands; they were newly independent and already forging an overseas empire. This inspired a subgenre of still life, the "pronkstilleven" which was a particularly ostentatious display of goods, like we have here.

From the Rijsmuseum, Amsterdam.

#Art #PieterDeRing #StillLife #DutchGoldenAge #Pronkstilleven

"How Well We Go Together," Adriaen van de Venne, c. 1614-1662.

Delft-born van de Venne (1589-1662) remains a bit of a cipher; not much is known of his life or his outlook, except what we can deduce from his works.

While he did a number of portraits and genre scenes (pictures of everyday life), popular among the Dutch of his time, he also obviously had a sharp eye for satire. One of his most famous paintings, "Fishing for Souls," is a satirical view of the conflict between Protestants and Catholics during the Eighty Years War; he obviously took a dim view of religious fanaticism.

Today's work is part of a series of animals in human dress, seemingly illustrating various proverbs and sayings; it's thought this is a riff on "Birds of a feather flock together." Owls were a bird associated with winter in that culture, and the sight or skating owls probably tweaked someone's whimsey. It certain does now, with all the reproductions of this out there on the market...

From the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen.

#Art #DutchGoldenAge #AdriaenVanDeVenne #Owls #Surreal

"The Goldfinch," Carel Fabritius, 1654.

Fabritius (1622-54) was a Dutch Golden Age artist, a member of the Delft school and a pupil of Rembrandt who worked hard to create his own style. At a time when the main style was spotlighted subjects against dark backgrounds, he did delicately lit subjects against light backgrounds.

This is a bit unusual for the period in that it uses illusionary techniques to give a trompe l'oeil effect, and the original has the bird as life sized. Goldfinches were popular pets at the time; their song was pleasant, they could be taught some tricks, and they were thought to bring good health.

Fabritius was killed in 1654 by an explosion of a gunpowder store, which destroyed a quarter of the city and killed over 100 people. This painting was lost until 1859, when it turned up in the collection of a Belgian journalist and art critic, who got it from the family of a soldier who owned it for a long time; how he got it is a mystery.

These days it's famous for being central to a prize-winning novel by Donna Tartt, but its style and history are worth knowing on their own.

From the Mauritshuis, The Hague.

#Art #DutchGoldenAge #CarlFabritius #Birds #TrompeLOeil

"Self-Portrait with a Turban," Wallerant Vaillant, c.1650-60.

Vaillant (1623-77) was born in France, to a family of artists; he had four brothers who also all became painters. Wallerant is said to have taught all of his brothers to draw and paint, and they all settled in Amsterdam.

Vaillant was primarily a printmaker and engraver, and is thought to have developed the mezzotint style of printing, along with Prince Rupert of the Rhine, who he was tutoring. But he did turn out a small number of paintings, mostly portraits, including a series of self-portraits in various modes of dress.

Here we have him in a flamboyant red turban, echoing a similar self-portrait of Rembrandt. The fabric is richly printed and well-depicted; it's a very well-done portrait. I wonder about his expression, though....it seems a mixture of wariness and defiance, as if daring us to say something about the turban!

Happy Portrait Monday!

From a private collection.

#Art #DutchGoldenAge #WallerantVaillant #Selfie #PortraitMonday #Turban

Was it considered cheating for Jan Vermeer to have used a camera obscura for making his paintings?
#vermeer #janvermeer #arthistory #art #paintings #dutchgoldenage #cameras #cameraobscura

Johannes Vermeer should have become a photographer rather than a painter.
#vermeer #janvermeer #painters #dutchgoldenage #photography #art #arthistory

"Still Life with Five Apricots," Adriaen Coorte, 1704.

Next to nothing is known about Coorte (c. 1665 - after 1707) except he was a painter of still lifes who had been a student to animal painter Melchior d'Hondecoeter around 1680. His still lifes are noted for being simple and intimate, usually just a few fruits or vegetables simply displayed. All his known works are dated 1683-1707.

Coorte appears to have been unknown in the art world outside of the city of Middelburg, seemingly his home, and he was forgotten until the 1950s when art historians began to rediscover his works and exhibitions were organized that brought his work to the public eye. Now works by him are hotly sought after, and fetch millions at auctions.

Check your attic!

From the Mauritshuis, The Hague.

#Art #DutchGoldenAge #AdriaenCoorte #StillLife #CheckYourAttic

"The Fall of Man," Cornelis Corneliszoon van Haarlem, 1592.

Van Haarlem (1562-1638) was a painter of the Dutch Golden Age, a leader of the Northern Mannerist style, and an important precursor to Frans Hals in the realm of portraiture.

He started off as a painter of mythological subjects, with very Italian-inspired and fairly artificial styles, but later came to embrace a more Realist style favored in the Netherlands. He studied in France but was born in and spent his adult life in the city of Haarlem, where he became the official city painter, with a number of official commissions. He also was a noted portraitist, becoming an important influence on later painters, although his history, Biblical, and mythical scenes sometimes seem more like chances to paint naked bodies than anything else. Lots of bare limbs, buttocks thrust at the viewer, people being unclad for the sake of being unclad, to the point that the scene and its meaning get lost in all the flesh. I guess that's the Mannerist style for you...

From the RIjksmuseum, Amsterdam.

#Art #DutchGoldenAge #Mannerist #CornelisVanHaarlem #AdamAndEve #Nudity #Nekkid

"Still Life with Flowers and Butterflies," Maria van Oosterwijck, 1668.

Van Oosterwijck (1630-93) was a Dutch Golden Age painter of florals and still lifes. She was a significant painter for her time, in part because she was also a crafty businesswoman who marketed her paintings to various noble houses, generating quite a demand.

Historians are sometimes unkind to her; she never married, but raised an orphaned nephew, and taught one of her servants to paint and to be self-sufficient. As she never married she's sometimes seen as "incomplete" while fellow painter Rachel Ruysch, who married and raised ten children, is usually depicted very sympathetically.

I like to think of her as a dedicated professional, taking joy in her art and in her autonomy, as one of the few women who were professional artists at the time. I love that she elevated one of her servants to be her own person. Not many upper-class women would do that.

Happy Flower Friday!

From the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.

#Art #MariaVanOosterwijck #DutchGoldenAge #FlowerFriday #StillLife #WomenArtists

"View of Oudezijds Voorburgwal with the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam," Jan van der Heyden, 1670.

Van der Heyden (1637-1712) was a busy man...painter, draughtsman, glass painter, printmaker, engineer, and inventor.

He was one of the first painters of his era to specialize in cityscapes, and became noted as one of the top architectural painters of the Dutch Golden Age. His views of Amsterdam neighborhoods won him a great deal of popularity. Even though he painted with a great deal of detail, he also took artistic liberties, sometimes tweaking a building's proportions or the like.

He also painted a number of still lifes, mostly at the beginning of his career but also at the end; some see a sense of melancholy in his final works, as if he knew his end was coming.

He was never a professional painter; his chief employment was as an engineer. He invented a street lighting system for Amsterdam that was in use from 1669 to 1840, and copied by many cities. With his brother, a hydraulic engineer, he improved firefighting technology, created a new fire engine, and wrote the first manual on firefighting.

From the Mauritshuis, The Hague.

#Art #DutchGoldenAge #JanVanDerHeyden #Cityscape #Amsterdam

"Self-Portrait with Bushy Hair," Rembrandt van Rijn, c. 1631.

Rembrandt did many self-portraits in his life, and here's an earlier one, done when he was about 25. He doesn't compliment himself with this....his face is blocky, his expression almost sad, and his hair is a freakin' mess.

Rembrandt was unusual for the time for doing portraits in a very realistic, unidealized manner, painting others, and himself, as they were. His self-portraits tend to be very analytical, which him trying different expressions and styles of hair and dress.

Now, compare this to, say, later artists like 19th century painter Gustave Courbet, who did several self-portraits, usually presenting himself as a virile stud. And I think of 20th century painter Stanley Spencer, whose work I don't care for, but he had a knack for making himself look almost comical in his self-portraits.

Still, it's this unflinching drive to paint not only his world but himself as they are, with no idealization, that's one of the factors that makes Rembrandt one of history's great visual artists.

From the Rembrandthuis, Amsterdam.

#Art #DutchGoldenAge #Rembrandt #SelfPortrait #Realism

Step into the #DutchGoldenAge in Amsterdam with From #Rembrandt to #Vermeer, featuring 75 rare 17th-century masterpieces from the Leiden Collection - on view through Aug. 24 http://xhtxs.cn/2Xd

The Girl With the Pixel Earring

https://streetartutopia.com/2024/04/07/the-girl-with-the-pixel-earring/