Week 3

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5 & 6   THE NORTHERN LANDSCAPE

 

 In the 17^th century, the Low Countries were divided into two areas – the south (later Belgium) which remained under Spanish rule, and the provinces of the north (later the Netherlands) which rebelled against Catholic Spain and established an independent republic, finally recognised in the Treaty of Munster in 1648. The new country was strongly Protestant but tolerant of other religions. Through trade and industry, the bourgeoisie rapidly became the dominant class in place of the landed nobility. These new patrons purchased works on the open market rather than commissioning art, other than portraits. Without the patronage of the court or the church, artists developed new genres, notably everyday scenes, still life and landscapes. The latter were the most popular, judging by the high proportion of landscape paintings recorded in the inventories of deceased estates.

 

Unlike the ideal landscapes of Italy, these paintings were more closely related to empirical observation. But while they were naturalistic in approach, they also demonstrated individual style, particularly in terms of their compositions and tonal arrangements. Most of the literature on Dutch landscape painting has concentrated on these formal qualities, but the works were also social and historical records, possibly related to the reclamation of the land, and revealing interesting aspects of Dutch thinking at the time, even ethical concepts.

 

KEY HISTORICAL DATES for NETHERLANDS

1555                 Philip II becomes ruler of Spain & the seventeen provinces of the Netherlands when Charles abdicated as Holy Roman Emperor.

1560s                Unrest under Spanish oppression.

1579                 Southern provinces revert to Spanish rule (Antwerp surrendered 1585).

1581                 Union of Utrecht proclaims independence of Northern provinces from Spanish rule.

1609-21            Twelve Years Truce between Spain and the Northern provinces.

1648                 Treaty of Munster finally ratifies the independence of the Northern provinces (Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelderland, Friesland, Drenthe, Overijsel and Groningen).

 

5 & 6 READINGS

 

The standard text on landscape in Dutch painting is

Stechow, Wolfgang. Dutch landscape painting of the seventeenth century. New York: Hacker, 1980.

A variety of innovative methodological approaches to Dutch landscape are offered in

Adams, Ann Jensen. ‘Competing communities in the “Great Bog of Europe”: identity and seventeenth-century Dutch landscape’ in Mitchell, W.J.T. Landscape and power. University of Chicago Press, 1994, 35-76.

Alpers, Svetlana. The art of describing. Dutch art in the seventeenth century. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1983.

Brown, Christopher. Dutch Landscape: The Early Years. Haarlem and Amsterdam 1590-1650. London: National Gallery, 1986.

De Jongh, Ernst. ‘Mountains in the Lowlands’ in Questions of Meaning: Theme and motif in Dutch seventeenth-century painting. Leiden: Primavera Pers, 2000, 167-191.

Sutton, Peter C. Masters of 17th‑century Dutch landscape painting. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1987.

Slide List Lectures 5 and 6: THE NORTHERN LANDSCAPE

 

Works are paintings in oil unless otherwise stated. Most dates are approximate.

 

MASTER OF FLEMALLE (possibly Robert Campin, c 1375-1444)

1 St Barbara. 1438. Prado, Madrid.

JAN VAN EYCK (c 1380-1441)

2  Adoration of the Lamb. 1432. Ghent altarpiece, St Bavo, Ghent.

LUCAS CRANACH (1472-1553)

3 St Jerome in Penitence. 1509, woodcut.

4 Landscape. 1510, pen on paper. Frankfurt.

JOHANNES VERMEER (1632-1675)

5 View of Delft.  1660s. Mauritshuis, The Hague.

CLAUDE       

6 Embarkation of St Ursula. 1641. Nat Gall, London.

AELBERT CUYP (1620-1691)

7 River Scene with View of Dordrecht. After 1647. Wallace Coll. London.        

PETER PAUL RUBENS (1577-1640)

8 The Watering Place. 1620-25. Nat. Gall, London.

9 A Shepherd with his Flock in a Woody Landscape 1615-22.

10 The Return of the Peasants from the Fields 1632-4. Pitti, Florence.

11 Autumn Landscape with the Chateau Steen. 1635. Nat. Gall, London.

JACOB VAN RUISDAEL (1628/9-1682)

12 Extensive Landscape with Ruins. 1665. Nat. Gall, London.

CLAUDE

13 Echo and Narcissus. 1644. Nat. Gall, London

MEINDERT HOBBEMA  (1638-1709)

14 A Ruin on the Bank of a River. Wallace Coll, London.

15 View on a High Road. 1665. Nat. Gall, Washington.

16 Avenue at Middelharnis. 1689. Nat. Gall, London.

CUYP

17 Avenue at Meerdervoort. Dordrecht. 1652. Wallace Coll London.

PHILIPS DE KONINCK (1619-1688)

18 Extensive Landscape with a Road by a Ruin. Nat. Gall, London.

19 Extensive Landscape with Hawking Party. Nat. Gall, London.

JAN VAN GOYEN (1596-1656)

20 View of Leiden. 1647. Smith College Museum.

RUISDAEL

21 Panoramic View with Church of Beverwijk. 1670. Smith College Museum.

22 Landscape with a Waterfall and a Castle on a Hill. Nat. Gall, London.

23 Forest Scene. 1660. Nat. Gall, Washington.

24 Bentheim Castle 1653. Nat Gall, Dublin.

25 The Jewish Cemetery. 1655-60. Dresden.

26 The Jewish Cemetery. 1657. Detroit.

27 Ruins of Egmond. 1650s. Chicago.

REMBRANDT VAN RIJN (1606-1669)

28 Landscape with a Stone Bridge. late 1630s. Rijksmus, Amsterdam.

29 The Mill.  1650. Nat Gall, Washington.

30 Landscape with the Good Samaritan. 1638. Cracow.

31 Rest on the Flight in to Egypt. 1647. Nat. Gall, Dublin.

32 Sketches and drawings of landscape scenes

33 Landscape with a Tower. 1651, etching

34 View of Amsterdam. 1642, etching.

35 The Three Trees. 1643, drypoint and etching.

36 Cottage beside a Canal: A View of Diemen 1645, etching.

VAN DER CROOS

37 View of the Hague. 1661. The Hague.

GABRIEL METSU

38 Woman Reading a Letter 1661-5. Nat Gall, Dublin.

VERMEER

39 The Love Letter 1670. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

40 Woman in Blue Reading a Letter. 1663. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

41 The Art of Painting. 1665. Vienna.

DIEGO VELAZQUEZ (1599-1660)

42 The Surrender of Breda. 1634. Prado, Madrid.

GERARD TERBORCH (1617-1681)

43 Oath of the Treaty of Munster. 1648. Nat Gall, London.

RUISDAEL

44 Ruins of Egmond. 1650s. Chicago.

HOBBEMA

45 Ruins of Brederode Castle. 1671. Nat. Gall, London.

RUISDAEL

46 Dune Landscape. Hals Mus, Haarlem.

47 Mill near Wijk bij Duurstede. 1665. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

RUISDAEL

48 View of the Dunes. Museum of Art, Philadelphia.

49 Dune Landscape. Stadel, Frankfurt.

VAN GOYEN

50 Dune Landscape. Kunsthist. Mus, Vienna.

51 Cottage on a Heath. 1630. Nat Gall, London.

52 View of Dordrecht. 1649. Museum of Art, Toledo.

53 River Scene with Fishermen Hauling a Net. Nat. Gall, London.

CUYP

54 View of Dordrecht 1658. Kenwood House, London.

55 View of Dordrecht. Nat Trust, Ascott.

56 Landscape with Cattle. 1650s. Nat. Gall, London.

57 Distant View of Dordrecht with Milkmaid and Cows. 1650. Nat. Gall, London.

RUISDAEL

58 A Cornfield.  Rotterdam.

59 Wheatfields. 1670. Net. Mus, New York.

60 Bleaching Grounds at Haarlem. Museum of Fine Art, Montreal.

61 View of Haarlem with Bleaching Fields. 1670. Kunsthaus, Zurich.

62 View of Haarlem. The Hague. (detail)