Dutch painting. The golden age of Dutch painting

In our article we will talk about two artists: Jan van Goyene and Jacob van Ruisdale.

They both lived in the era of the liberation of Holland from a foreign yoke, and this was the Golden Age of Dutch painting. It was in the art of Holland that the following genres began to develop: portrait, landscape, everyday genre, still life. This was not observed then even in the outstanding centers of art - in Italy or France. The art of Holland in the 17th century. became a peculiar phenomenon in the artistic world of Europe in the 17th century. The Dutch masters paved the way for the artists of other national European art schools.

Jan van Goyen (1596-1656)

Terborch "Portrait of van Goyen" (c. 1560)

Jan van Goyen is one of the first artists to depict nature naturally, simply, without embellishment. He is the creator of the national Dutch landscape. The nature of his country gave him enough subjects for his whole life.
Jan van Goyen was born in 1596 in Leiden to a shoemaker's family.
Although Jan van Goyen spent some time in Paris in his youth, love for a simple landscape was unknown in France, so it is hardly worth talking about any influence of representatives of French painting on his work.
In his own country, he had several painting teachers, but only in the studio of Isaiah van de Velde did he spend a year, and he communicated even less with the rest of the mentors.

Jan van Goyen "Landscape with Dunes" (1630-1635). Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna)

Creation

At first, Goyen painted Dutch villages or surroundings with their vegetation, then coastal views began to predominate in his paintings, where most of the paintings were occupied by sky and water.

Jan van Goyen "View of the River" (1655). Mauritshuis (The Hague)

Trees, huts or city buildings play a secondary role in his paintings, but have a very picturesque appearance, as well as small sailing and rowing ships with figures of fishermen, helmsmen and passengers.
Goyen's paintings are predominantly monotonous. The artist loved the simplicity of color, but at the same time his colors are harmonious. He applied paint with a light layer.

Jan van Goyen View of the Merwede near Dordrecht (c. 1645). Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam)

The late works of the artist are distinguished by an almost monochrome palette, and the translucent ground gives them a special depth and unique charm.

Jan van Goyen Landscape with Two Oaks (1641). Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam)

His paintings are pleasant precisely for their simplicity and realism. The artist created quite a lot of art canvases, but his work was not always rewarded in a worthy way. Therefore, Goyen had to earn extra money in other ways: he traded tulips, was engaged in the evaluation and sale of works of art, real estate, and land. But attempts at entrepreneurship usually did not lead to success.

Jan van Goyen "Winter Scene on Ice"

Now his work is appreciated, and any museum considers his paintings valuable exhibits.
Several paintings by Jan van Goyen are also in the Hermitage: “View of the river. Meuse, near Dortrecht", "Scheveningen coast, near The Hague", "Winter landscape", "View of the river. Meuse", "Rural View", "Landscape with Oak", etc.

Jan van Goyen "Landscape with Oak"

In addition to painting, Goyen was engaged in etching (a type of engraving on metal) and drawing.

In 1632, Goyen moved with his family to The Hague, where he lived until the end of his life - until 1656.

Jacob van Ruisdael (1628/1629-1682)

Jacob Isaacs van Ruisdael was born and died in Haarlem (Netherlands). There are no exact portraits of him. This portrait is only speculative.
Currently, Ruisdael is considered the most important Dutch landscape painter, but during his lifetime his talent was not appreciated in due measure. His teacher could be his own uncle - the artist Solomon van Ruysdael.
Ruisdael was also a practicing surgeon based in Amsterdam.

Creation

The artist skillfully conveyed human emotions through the landscape. And for him, any component of the landscape was important: a tree branch bent by a gust of wind, a crushed blade of grass, a thundercloud, a trodden path ... And all these components were harmoniously combined in his paintings into a single NATURE.
He wrote in small strokes. He liked to paint forest thickets, swamps, waterfalls, small Dutch towns or villages, and above all this - a triumphant sky. Ruisdael's landscapes are understandable to any person of any nationality, because they express a common unity with nature for all people.
Ruisdael created about 450 paintings. Other sources give the number as 600. Most of his landscapes are dedicated to the nature of his native Netherlands, but he also painted the oak forests of Germany and the waterfalls of Norway.

Meanwhile, this is a special area of ​​European culture worthy of more detailed study, which reflects the original life of the people of Holland of those times.

History of appearance

Bright representatives of art began to appear in the country in the seventeenth century. French culturologists gave them a common name - "small Dutch", which is not associated with the scale of talents and denotes attachment to certain topics from everyday life, opposite to the "big" style with large canvases on historical or mythological subjects. The history of the emergence of Dutch painting was described in detail in the nineteenth century, and the authors of works about it also used this term. The "Little Dutchmen" were distinguished by secular realism, they turned to the world around them and people, they used painting rich in tones.

Milestones of development

The history of the emergence of Dutch painting can be divided into several periods. The first lasted approximately from 1620 to 1630, when realism took hold in national art. The second period of Dutch painting was experienced in 1640-1660. This is the time when the real heyday of the local art school falls. Finally, the third period, the time when Dutch painting began to decline - from 1670 to the early eighteenth century.

It is worth noting that cultural centers have changed throughout this time. In the first period, the leading artists worked in Haarlem, and Halsa was the main representative. Then the center shifted to Amsterdam, where the most significant works were performed by Rembrandt and Vermeer.

scenes of everyday life

When listing the most important genres of Dutch painting, one should definitely start with the everyday life - the most striking and original in history. It was the Flemings who opened to the world scenes from the everyday life of ordinary people, peasants and townspeople or burghers. The pioneers were Ostade and his followers Oudenrogge, Bega and Dusart. In Ostade's early paintings, people play cards, quarrel and even fight in a tavern. Each picture is distinguished by a dynamic, somewhat brutal character. Dutch painting of those times also tells about peaceful scenes: in some works, peasants talk over a pipe and a mug of beer, spend time at a fair or with their families. The influence of Rembrandt led to the widespread use of soft golden chiaroscuro. Urban scenes have inspired artists such as Hals, Leyster, Molenaer and Codde. In the middle of the seventeenth century, the masters depicted doctors, scientists in the process of work, their own workshops, household chores, or Every plot was supposed to be entertaining, sometimes grotesquely didactic. Some masters were inclined to poeticize everyday life, for example, Terborch depicted scenes of playing music or flirting. Metsu used bright colors, turning everyday life into a holiday, and de Hooch was inspired by the simplicity of family life, flooded with diffused daylight. Late exponents of the genre, such as the Dutch masters Van der Werf and Van der Neer, often created somewhat pretentious subjects in their pursuit of elegant depiction.

Nature and landscapes

In addition, Dutch painting is widely represented in the landscape genre. It first originated in the work of such masters of Haarlem as van Goyen, de Moleyn and van Ruisdael. It was they who began to depict rural corners in a certain silvery light. The material unity of nature came to the fore in the works. Separately, it is worth mentioning the seascapes. Marine painters in the 17th century included Porcellis, de Vlieger and van de Capelle. They did not so much seek to convey certain sea scenes as they tried to depict the water itself, the play of light on it and in the sky.

By the second half of the seventeenth century, more emotional works with philosophical ideas emerged in the genre. Jan van Ruisdael maximized the beauty of the Dutch landscape, depicting it in all its drama, dynamics and monumentality. Hobbem, who preferred sunny landscapes, became the successor of his traditions. Koninck depicted panoramas, while van der Neer was engaged in the creation of night landscapes and the transmission of moonlight, sunrise and sunset. A number of artists are also characterized by the depiction of animals in landscapes, for example, grazing cows and horses, as well as hunting and scenes with cavalrymen. Later, artists began to get involved in foreign nature - Bot, van Laer, Venix, Berchem and Hackert depicted Italy bathed in the rays of the southern sun. The pioneer of the genre was Sanredam, whose best followers are the brothers Berkheide and Jan van der Heyden.

Image of interiors

Scenes with church, palace and domestic rooms can be called a separate genre that distinguished Dutch painting during its heyday. Interiors appeared in the paintings of the second half of the seventeenth century by the masters of Delft - Haukgest, van der Vliet and de Witte, who became the main representative of the direction. Using Vermeer's techniques, the artists depicted scenes bathed in sunlight, full of emotion and volume.

Picturesque dishes and utensils

Finally, another characteristic genre of Dutch painting is still life, especially the image of breakfasts. For the first time, Klas and Kheda from Harlem, who painted laid tables with luxurious crockery, took up the art. The picturesque mess and the special rendering of a cozy interior are filled with a silvery-gray light, characteristic of silver and pewter utensils. Utrecht artists painted lush floral still lifes, and in The Hague, the masters were especially successful in depicting fish and marine reptiles. In Leiden, a philosophical direction of the genre arose, in which skulls and hourglasses are adjacent to symbols of sensual pleasure or earthly glory, designed to remind of the transience of time. Democratic kitchen still lifes have become a hallmark of the Rotterdam art school.

Dutch culture in the 17th century

The victory of the bourgeois revolution in the Northern Netherlands led to the formation of an independent state - the Republic of the Seven United Provinces - Holland (after the name of the most significant of these provinces); for the first time in one of the countries of Europe, a bourgeois-republican system was established. The driving forces of the revolution were the peasants and the poorest sections of the urban population, but the bourgeoisie, which came to power, took advantage of its conquests.
Liberation from the yoke of Spanish absolutism and the Catholic Church, the destruction of a number of feudal restrictions opened the way for the rapid growth of the productive forces of the republic, which, according to Marx, “was an exemplary capitalist country of the 17th century.” Only in Holland at that time did the urban population prevail over the rural, but the main source profits were not industry (although textile production and especially shipbuilding were developed here), but intermediary trade, which expanded due to colonial policy. As the ruling classes became richer, the poverty of the working people grew, the peasants and artisans were ruined, and by the middle of the 17th century class contradictions intensified.
However, in the first decades after the establishment of the republic, the democratic traditions of the revolutionary era were alive. The breadth of the national liberation movement, the rise of the self-consciousness of the people, the joy of liberation from the foreign yoke united the most diverse sections of the population. The country has developed conditions for the development of sciences and arts. The advanced thinkers of that time, in particular the French philosopher Descartes, found refuge here, and the fundamentally materialistic philosophical system of Spinoza was formed. The highest achievements were achieved by the artists of Holland, such painters as Rembrandt, Ruisdael, Terborch, Hals, Hobbema, Honthorst and many other masters of painting. Dutch artists were the first in Europe to be freed from the oppressive influence of court circles and the Catholic Church and create democratic and realistic art that directly reflects social reality.

Dutch painting of the 17th century

A distinctive feature of the development of Dutch art was a significant predominance among all its types of painting. Pictures adorned the houses not only of representatives of the ruling elite of society, but also of poor burghers, artisans, and peasants; they were sold at auctions and fairs; sometimes artists used them as a means of paying bills. The profession of an artist was not rare, there were a lot of painters, and they competed fiercely with each other. Few of them could feed themselves by painting, many took on a variety of jobs: Sten was an innkeeper, Hobbema was an excise official, Jacob van Ruysdael was a doctor.
The rapid development of Dutch painting in the 17th century was explained not only by the demand for paintings by those who wanted to decorate their homes with them, but also by their view as a commodity, as a means of profit, a source of speculation. Having got rid of the direct customer - the Catholic Church or an influential feudal philanthropist - the artist was completely dependent on the demands of the market. The tastes of bourgeois society predetermined the paths of development of Dutch art, and the artists who opposed them, defending their independence in matters of creativity, found themselves isolated, dying untimely in need and loneliness. Moreover, these were, as a rule, the most talented masters. Suffice it to mention the names of Hals and Rembrandt.
The main object of the image for the Dutch artists was the surrounding reality, which had never before been so fully reflected in the works of painters of other national schools. Appeal to the most diverse aspects of life led to the strengthening of realistic tendencies in painting, the leading place in which was occupied by the everyday genre and portrait, landscape and still life. The more truthfully, the deeper the artists reflected the real world that opened before them, the more significant their works were.
Each genre had its own branches. So, for example, among the landscape painters there were marine painters (depicting the sea), painters who preferred views of flat places or forest thickets, there were masters who specialized in winter landscapes and landscapes with moonlight: among the genre painters, artists who depicted peasants, burghers, scenes of feasts and domestic life, hunting scenes and markets; there were masters of church interiors and various types of still lifes - “breakfasts”, “desserts”, “shops”, etc. The features of the limitations of Dutch painting affected, narrowing the number of tasks for its creators. But at the same time, the concentration of each of the artists on a particular genre contributed to the refinement of the painter's skill. Only the largest of the Dutch artists worked in various genres.
The formation of realistic Dutch painting took place in the struggle against the Italianizing trend and mannerism. Representatives of these trends, each in their own way, but purely outwardly, borrowed the techniques of Italian artists, deeply alien to the traditions of national Dutch painting. At an early stage in the formation of Dutch painting, covering the years 1609-1640, realistic tendencies were more clearly manifested in the portrait and everyday genre.

Landscape of Holland

The principles of the Dutch realistic landscape took shape during the first third of the 17th century. Instead of conditional canons and idealized, imaginary nature in the paintings of the masters of the Italianizing direction, the creators of the realistic landscape turned to depicting the real nature of Holland with its dunes and canals, houses and villages. They not only captured the character of the area with all the signs, creating typical motifs of the national landscape, but also sought to convey the atmosphere of the season, humid air and space. This contributed to the development of tonal painting, the subordination of all components of the picture to a single tone.
One of the largest representatives of the Dutch realistic landscape was Jan van Goyen (1596-1656). He worked in Leiden and The Hague. The favorite motifs of the artist Jan van Goyen in his small landscapes: valleys and the water surface of wide rivers with cities and villages on their banks on gray, cloudy days. A lot of space (about two-thirds of the picture) Jan van Goyen left the sky with swirling clouds saturated with moisture. Such is the painting “View of the Vaal River near Nijmegen” (1649, Moscow, the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts), sustained in a thin brown-gray range of colors.
A special kind of landscape depicting animals, pastures with cows, sheep was created by Paul Potter (1625-1654). Having perfectly studied the habits of animals, the artist often gave them close-ups, carefully writing out the texture of each material, soft wool, and the smallest details. Such are the paintings "Bull" (1647, The Hague, Mauritshuis), "Dog on a chain" (St. Petersburg, Hermitage).

Dutch still life

Along with landscape painting, the still life, which was distinguished by an intimate character, became widespread in Holland in the 17th century. Dutch artists chose a wide variety of objects for their still lifes, they knew how to perfectly compose them, to reveal the features of each object and its inner life, inextricably linked with human life.
Dutch painters of the 17th century Pieter Claesz (circa 1597 - 1661) and Willem Heda (1594-1680/1682) painted numerous variants of "breakfasts", depicting hams, ruddy buns, blackberry pies, fragile glass goblets half-filled with wine, with amazing skillfully conveying the color, volume, texture of each item. The recent presence of man is palpable in the disorder, the accidental arrangement of things that have just served him. But this disorder is only apparent, since the composition of each still life is carefully thought out and found. A discreet greyish-gold, olive tonal range unifies the subjects and gives a special sonority to those pure colors that emphasize the freshness of a freshly cut lemon or the soft silk of a blue ribbon.
Over time, the “breakfasts” of the still life masters, the painters Claes and Heda give way to the “desserts” of the Dutch artists Abraham van Beijeren (1620/1621-1690) and Willem Kalf (1622-1693). Beieren's still lifes are strict in composition, emotionally rich, colorful. Willem Kalf throughout his life painted in a free manner and democratic "kitchens" - pots, vegetables and still lifes, aristocratic in the selection of exquisite precious objects, full of restrained nobility, like silver vessels, goblets, shells saturated with internal burning of colors.
In the further development, the still life follows the same paths as all Dutch art, losing its democracy, its spirituality and poetry, its charm. Still life turns into a decoration of the home of high-ranking customers. With all the decorativeness and skill of execution, late still lifes anticipate the decline of Dutch painting.
Social degeneration, the well-known aristocratization of the Dutch bourgeoisie in the last third of the 17th century, give rise to a tendency to converge with the aesthetic views of the French nobility, lead to the idealization of artistic images, their refinement. Art is losing ties with the democratic tradition, losing its realistic basis and entering a period of long decline. Strongly exhausted in the wars with England, Holland is losing its position as a great trading power and the largest artistic center.

French art of the 17th century

In the French art of the 17th century, the ideas about man and his place in society, generated by the time of the formation of centralized monarchies in Europe, found the most complete reflection. The classical country of absolutism, which ensured the growth of bourgeois relations, France experienced an economic boom and became a powerful European power. The struggle for national unification against feudal self-will and anarchy helped to strengthen the high discipline of the mind, the sense of responsibility of the individual for his actions, and interest in state problems. The philosopher Descartes developed the theory of will, proclaiming the dominance of the human mind. He called for self-knowledge and the conquest of nature, considering the world as a rationally organized mechanism. Rationalism became a characteristic feature of French culture. By the middle of the 17th century, a national literary language had developed - it affirmed the principles of logical clarity, accuracy and a sense of proportion. In the work of Corneille and Racine, the French classical tragedy reached its apogee. In his dramas, Molière recreates the "human comedy". France was experiencing the heyday of national culture, it is no coincidence that Voltaire called the 17th century "great".
French culture of the 17th century was formed in the conditions of the establishment of absolutism. However, its diversity and inconsistency determined a broad movement for national unification. It found vivid responses to the sharp social conflicts that accompanied the birth of a new society. In the first half of the 17th century, the foundations of the state were shaken by peasant and city uprisings, a large democratic movement of the parliamentary Fronde. On this basis, utopias were born, dreams of an ideal society based on the laws of reason and justice, and free-thinking criticism of absolutism. The development of French art in the 17th century went through two stages, coinciding with the first and second half of the century.

Art of Western Europe in the 18th century

The eighteenth century in Western Europe is the last stage of the long transition from feudalism to capitalism. In the middle of the century, the process of primitive accumulation of capital was completed, a struggle was waged in all spheres of social consciousness, and a revolutionary situation was ripening. Later, it led to the dominance of the classical forms of developed capitalism. Over the course of a century, a gigantic breakdown of all social and state foundations, concepts and criteria for evaluating the old society was carried out. A civilized society arose, a periodical press appeared, political parties were formed, a struggle was going on for the emancipation of man from the shackles of a feudal-religious worldview.
In the visual arts, the importance of a directly realistic depiction of life increased. The sphere of art expanded, it became an active spokesman for liberation ideas, filled with topicality, fighting spirit, denounced the vices and absurdities of not only feudal, but also the emerging bourgeois society. It also put forward a new positive ideal of an unfettered personality of a person, free from hierarchical ideas, developing individual abilities and at the same time endowed with a noble sense of citizenship. Art became national, appealed not only to the circle of refined connoisseurs, but to a broad democratic environment.

The main trends in the social and ideological development of Western Europe in the 18th century manifested themselves unevenly in different countries. If in England the industrial revolution that took place in the middle of the 18th century consolidated the compromise between the bourgeoisie and the nobility, then in France the anti-feudal movement had a more massive character and was preparing a bourgeois revolution. Common to all countries was the crisis of feudalism, its ideology, the formation of a broad social movement - the Enlightenment, with its cult of the primary untouched Nature and the Mind that protects it, with its criticism of the modern corrupted civilization and the dream of the harmony of benevolent nature and a new democratic civilization, gravitating towards the natural condition.
The eighteenth century is the age of Reason, all-destroying skepticism and irony, the age of philosophers, sociologists, economists; the exact natural sciences, geography, archeology, history, and materialistic philosophy, connected with technology, developed. Invading the mental life of the era, scientific knowledge created the foundation for accurate observation and analysis of reality for art. Enlighteners proclaimed the goal of art to imitate nature, but ordered, improved nature (Didero, A. Pope), cleared by reason from the harmful effects of a man-made civilization created by an absolutist regime, social inequality, idleness and luxury. The rationalism of the philosophical and aesthetic thought of the 18th century, however, did not suppress the freshness and sincerity of feeling, but gave rise to a striving for proportionality, grace, and harmonious completeness of the artistic phenomena of art, from architectural ensembles to applied art. Enlighteners attached great importance in life and art to feeling - the focus of the noblest aspirations of mankind, a feeling that longs for purposeful action, containing a force that revolutionizes life, a feeling capable of reviving the primordial virtues of a “natural person” (Defoe, Rousseau, Mercier), following natural laws. nature.
Rousseau's aphorism "A man is great only in his feelings" expressed one of the remarkable aspects of the social life of the 18th century, which gave rise to an in-depth, refined psychological analysis in a realistic portrait and genre, the lyrical landscape is imbued with poetry of feelings (Gainsborough, Watteau, Bernay, Robert) "lyrical novel", " poems in prose" (Rousseau, Prevost, Marivaux, Fielding, Stern, Richardson), it reaches its highest expression in the rise of music (Handel, Bach, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, Italian opera composers). On the one hand, “little people” became the heroes of artistic works of painting, graphics, literature and theater of the 18th century - people, like everyone else, placed in the usual conditions of the era, not spoiled by prosperity and privileges, subject to ordinary natural movements of the soul, content with modest happiness. Artists and writers admired their sincerity, naive immediacy of the soul, close to nature. On the other hand, the focus is on the ideal of an emancipated civilized intellectual man, generated by the enlightenment culture, analysis of his individual psychology, conflicting mental states and feelings with their subtle nuances, unexpected impulses and reflective moods.
Acute observation, a refined culture of thought and feeling are characteristic of all artistic genres of the 18th century. Artists sought to capture everyday life situations of various shades, original individual images, gravitated towards entertaining narratives and enchanting spectacle, sharp conflicting actions, dramatic intrigues and comedic plots, sophisticated grotesque, buffoonery, graceful pastorals, gallant festivities.
New problems were also put forward in architecture. The importance of church building has decreased, and the role of civil architecture has increased, exquisitely simple, updated, freed from excessive impressiveness. In some countries (France, Russia, partly Germany) the problems of planning the cities of the future were solved. Architectural utopias were born (graphic architectural landscapes - Giovanni Battista Piranesi and the so-called "paper architecture"). The type of private, usually intimate residential building and urban ensembles of public buildings became characteristic. At the same time, in the art of the 18th century, in comparison with previous eras, the synthetic perception and completeness of the coverage of life decreased. The former connection of monumental painting and sculpture with architecture was broken, the features of easel painting and decorativeness intensified in them. The subject of a special cult was the art of everyday life, decorative forms. At the same time, the interaction and mutual enrichment of various types of art increased, the achievements acquired by one type of art were more freely used by others. Thus, the influence of the theater on painting and music was very fruitful.
The art of the 18th century went through two stages. The first lasted until 1740-1760. It is characterized by the modification of late baroque forms into the decorative rococo style. The originality of the art of the first half of the 18th century - in a combination of witty and mocking skepticism and sophistication. This art, on the one hand, is refined, analyzing the nuances of feelings and moods, striving for elegant intimacy, restrained lyricism, on the other hand, gravitating towards the “philosophy of pleasure”, towards fabulous images of the East - Arabs, Chinese, Persians. Simultaneously with Rococo, a realistic trend developed - for some masters it acquired a sharply accusatory character (Hogarth, Swift). The struggle of artistic trends within national schools was openly manifested. The second stage is associated with the deepening of ideological contradictions, the growth of self-consciousness, the political activity of the bourgeoisie and the masses. At the turn of the 1760-1770s. The Royal Academy in France opposed Rococo art and tried to revive the ceremonial, idealizing style of academic art of the late 17th century. The gallant and mythological genres gave way to the historical genre with plots borrowed from Roman history. They were called upon to emphasize the greatness of the monarchy, which had lost its authority, in accordance with the reactionary interpretation of the ideas of "enlightened absolutism." Representatives of advanced thought turned to the heritage of antiquity. In France, the Comte de Caylus opened the scientific era of research in this area ("Collection of Antiquities", 7 volumes, 1752-1767). In the middle of the 18th century, the German archaeologist and art historian Winckelmann (History of the Art of Antiquity, 1764) urged artists to return to "the noble simplicity and calm grandeur of ancient art, bearing in itself a reflection of the freedom of the Greeks and Romans of the era of the republic." The French philosopher Diderot found plots in ancient history that denounced tyrants and called for an uprising against them. Classicism arose, contrasting the decorativeness of Rococo with natural simplicity, the subjective arbitrariness of passions - knowledge of the laws of the real world, a sense of proportion, nobility of thought and deeds. Artists first studied ancient Greek art at newly discovered monuments. The proclamation of an ideal, harmonious society, the primacy of duty over feeling, the pathos of reason are common features of classicism of the 17th and 18th centuries. However, the classicism of the 17th century, which arose on the basis of national unification, developed in the conditions of the flourishing of the noble society. Classicism of the 18th century is characterized by an anti-feudal revolutionary orientation. It was intended to unite the progressive forces of the nation to fight against absolutism. Outside of France, classicism did not have the revolutionary character that it had in the early years of the French Revolution.
Simultaneously with classicism, experiencing its influence, the realistic trend continued to live. Rationalist tendencies were outlined in it: artists sought to generalize life phenomena.
In the second half of the 18th century, sentimentalism was born with its cult of feeling and passion, admiration for everything simple, naive, sincere. A related pre-romantic trend in art arose, and interest in the Middle Ages and folk art forms arose. Representatives of these movements asserted the value of the noble and active feelings of a person, revealed the drama of his conflicts with the environment, prompting him to interfere in real public affairs in the name of the triumph of justice. They paved the way "to the knowledge of the human heart and the magical art of presenting to the eyes the origin, development and collapse of a great passion" (Lessing) and expressed the growing need for agitated, pathetic art.

19th century art

During the 19th century, capitalism became the dominant formation not only in Europe, but also on other continents. It was during this period that the struggle between two cultures sharply escalated - the progressive democratic and the reactionary bourgeois. Expressing the advanced ideas of the time, the realistic art of the 19th century affirmed the aesthetic values ​​of reality, glorified the beauty of real nature and the working man. The realism of the 19th century differed from previous centuries in that it directly reflected in art the main contradictions of the era, the social conditions of people's lives. Critical positions determined the basis of the method of realistic art in the 19th century. His most consistent incarnation was the art of critical realism - the most valuable contribution to the artistic culture of the era.
Various areas of culture of the 19th century developed unevenly. World literature (Victor Hugo, Honoré Balzac, Henri Stendhal, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy), music (Johann Beethoven, Frederic Chopin, Richard Wagner) reaches the highest heights. With regard to architecture and applied arts, after the rise that defined the Empire style, both of these arts are in crisis. There is a disintegration of monumental forms, stylistic unity as an integral artistic system, covering all types of art. The easel forms of painting, graphics, and partly sculpture, which gravitate towards monumental forms in their best manifestations, receive the most complete development.

With national identity in the art of any capitalist country, common features are enhanced: a critical assessment of the phenomena of life, historicism of thinking, that is, a deeper objective understanding of the driving forces of social development, both past historical stages and the present. One of the main achievements of the art of the 19th century is the development of historical themes, in which for the first time the role of not only individual heroes, but also the masses of the people is revealed, and the historical environment is more specifically recreated. All types of portraiture, everyday genre, landscape with a pronounced national character are widely used. The heyday is experiencing satirical graphics.
With the victory of capitalism, the big bourgeoisie becomes the main interested force in limiting and suppressing the realistic and democratic tendencies of art. The creations of the leading figures of European culture Constable, Goya, Gericault, Delacroix, Daumier, Courbet, Manet were often persecuted. The exhibitions were filled with polished works of the so-called salon artists, that is, those who occupied a dominant place in art salons. To please the tastes and demands of bourgeois customers, they cultivated superficial descriptions, erotic and entertaining motives, the spirit of apology for bourgeois foundations and militarism.
As early as the 1860s, Karl Marx remarked that "capitalist production is hostile to certain branches of spiritual production, such as art and poetry." Art interests the bourgeoisie mainly either as a profitable investment (collecting) or as a luxury item. Of course, there were collectors with a true understanding of art and its purpose, but these were few, exceptions to the rules. In general, acting as a trendsetter and the main consumer of art, the bourgeoisie imposed its limited understanding of art on artists. The development of large-scale mass production with its impersonality and reliance on the market entailed the suppression of creativity. The division of labor in capitalist production cultivates a one-sided development of the individual and deprives labor itself of creative integrity. Speaking about the hostility of capitalism to art, Marx and Engels did not have in mind the general impossibility of artistic progress in the 19th and 20th centuries. The founders of scientific communism praised in their writings the achievements of, for example, the critical realism of the 19th century.
The democratic line of art, revealing the role of the people as the driving force of history and affirming the aesthetic values ​​of the democratic culture of the nation, goes through a number of stages of development. At the first stage, from the Great French Revolution of 1789-1794 to 1815 (the time of the national liberation struggle of peoples against Napoleonic aggression), the exploitative essence of bourgeois society was not yet fully realized. Democratic art is formed in the struggle against the remnants of the nobility's artistic culture, as well as against manifestations of the limitations of bourgeois ideology. The highest achievements of art at that time were associated with the revolutionary pathos of the masses, who believed in the victory of the ideals of freedom, equality and fraternity. This is the heyday of revolutionary classicism and the birth of romantic and realistic art.
The second stage, from 1815 to 1849, falls at the time of the establishment of the capitalist system in most European countries. In the advanced democratic art of this stage, a transition is being made to a resolute critique of the exploitative essence of bourgeois society. This is the period of the highest flowering of revolutionary romanticism and the formation of the art of critical realism.
With the aggravation of class contradictions between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, reaching its apogee during the Paris Commune (1871), the antagonism between the reactionary bourgeois and democratic cultures is even more pronounced. At the end of the 19th century, criticism of the capitalist way of life, both in literature and in works of fine art, is carried out from the standpoint of the growing worldview of the revolutionary proletariat.

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The history of any country finds its expression in art, and this pattern is especially indicative in the example of painting. In particular, on the example of the painting of the Netherlands, which survived the revolution, which greatly influenced the future fate of the once unified state. As a result of the revolution in the 17th century The Netherlands was divided into two parts: to Holland and Flanders (the territory of modern Belgium), which remained under the rule of Spain.

historical they developed in different ways. as well as cultural. This means that it became possible to divide the once common concept of Netherlandish painting into Dutch and Flemish.

Dutch painting

The culture of Holland in the 17th century is a living embodiment of the triumph of the state that gained independence. Inspired by the taste of freedom, the artists filled this time with the pathos of social and spiritual renewal and for the first time paid close attention to their surroundings. - nature, human image. Dutch genre artists get inspired routine, small everyday episodes, which becomes one of the characteristic features of Dutch realism.

In addition, not only representatives of the elite elite, but also merchants and peasants became the main customers of art. This partly influenced the development of painting as an interior item, and also contributed to the growth of public interest in the topics of everyday life.

Dutch art of the 17th century is famous for branched genre system of painting.

For example, among the landscape painters there were marine painters, artists depicting views of flat places or forest thickets, there were also masters of winter landscapes or paintings with moonlight; there were genre painters specializing in the figures of peasants, burghers, and scenes of domestic life; were masters of various types of still lifes - “breakfasts”, “desserts”, “shops”.

The strict concentration of the painter on one subsystem of the genre contributed to the detailing and improvement of all Dutch painting as a whole.

17th century is truly golden age of Dutch painting.

Artistic Features

Light and subtle sense of color play a major role in the paintings of Dutch artists.

For example, as in the pictures Rembrandt - an artist who became the personification of an entire era of Dutch painting. Rembrandt was not afraid realistic details, contradicting the canons of the image of reality, and therefore among contemporaries was known as a "painter of ugliness".

Rembrandt was the first to emphasize play of light which allowed him to invent a different from the rest writing style. According to André Felibien,“... often he just applied broad strokes with a brush and applied thick layers of paint one after another, not giving himself the trouble to make smoother and softer transitions from one tone to another.”

"The Return of the Prodigal Son", 1666-1669

Jan Vermeer(Vermeer/Vermeer of Delft ) - painter of harmony and clarity of vision of the world. Known for the strength of his imaginative solutions and image trend poeticized atmosphere of everyday life, he paid special attention colorful nuance, which made it possible to convey the nature of the light-air space.

"Young woman with a jug of water", 1660-1662

Jacob van Ruisdael wrote monumental landscapes in cold colors who embodied his subtle sense of dramatic and even gloomy variability of the world.

"Jewish Cemetery", 1657

Albert Cuyp famous for his unusual vision composition landscape - with him it is given, as a rule, from a low point of view, which allows you to convey the vastness of the observed space.

"Cows on the river bank", 1650

Frans Hals (Hals/Hals) known outstanding genre and group portraits, which are attractive due to their specificity.

"Gypsy", 1628-1630

Flemish painting

In Flanders, the cultural background was markedly different from the Dutch. Feudal nobility and the Catholic Church still played a major role in the life of the country, being the main customers of art . Therefore, the main types of works of Flemish painting remained paintings for castles, for the city houses of the rich and majestic altarpieces for Catholic churches. Scenes of ancient mythology and biblical scenes, huge still lifes, portraits of eminent customers, images of magnificent festivities are the main genres of art in Flanders in the 17th century.

The Flemish baroque art (cheerful, material-sensual, magnificent in abundance of forms) was formed from the features of the Italian and Spanish Renaissance in the refraction of its national color, which especially manifested itself in painting.

Flemish liveliness is different monumentality of forms, dynamic rhythm and triumph of decorative style. This was especially evident in the work Peter Paul Rubens, who became the central figure of Flemish painting.

His style is characterized by a lush, vivid image large heavy figures in rapid motion. Rubens is characterized by warm rich colors, sharp contrasts of light and shadow, the general spirit of a victorious holiday. Eugene Delacroix said:

“His main quality, if you prefer him to many others, - this is a piercing spirit, that is, a piercing life; without this no artist can be great... Titian and Paolo Veronese seem terribly quiet next to him.

Everything inherent in his brush became the common features of the whole school.

"Union of Earth and Water", 1618

Art Jacob Jordaens attracts cheerfulness, monumentality, but at the same time with sincere immediacy - Jordans' love for the image rich feasts(the repeated repetition of the plot of the “Bean King” confirms this. By the way, anyone who found a baked bean in his piece of pie was elected the bean king at feasts) and the heroes of Christian legends as healthy Flemings embody the spirit of the culture of Flanders of the 17th century.

"Feast of the Bean King", 1655

Anthony Van Dyck- a portrait painter who created a type of aristocratic portrait, filled with the finest psychologism, expressed in attention to the dynamics of the silhouette and the general expressiveness of the characters.

"Portrait of Charles I on the hunt", 1635

Frans Snyders known for depicting the sensual nature of things, represented by the colorfulness and monumentality of decorative still lifes, animal paintings.

Fruit Shop, 1620

Jan Brueghel the Younger- the grandson of the artist Pieter Brueghel the Elder, remembered for his skillful mixture of landscape and everyday painting, landscape and allegorical mythological subjects, as well as the talented transmission of the panorama effect due to the high horizon.

"Flora in the background of the landscape", 1600-1610

The main differences between Dutch and Flemish painting

1. In Holland becomes the main customer of art working class population in Flanders - the royal court and the nobility.
2. Plots. Different clients ask for different things. Ordinary people interested in paintings depicting the surrounding everyday life, among the nobility expected to be in demand antique and biblical scenes, a demonstration of luxury.
3. The manner of writing. characteristic a subtle sense of chiaroscuro becomes a feature of Dutch painting. From now on, this is the main tool that allows you to ennoble the image of an unsightly reality. In Flemish painting, the central position is occupied by means of artistic expression characteristic of the Baroque - splendor of forms, brilliant color, abundance and luxury.

The end of the era of Dutch and Flemish painting can be called similar - under the influence of French tastes and views, both Dutch and Flemish national consciousness is gradually weakening, and therefore the concept of Flemish and Dutch painting becomes a historical past.

The events of the 17th century in Holland and Flanders gave the world outstanding authors and a fresh look at the general development of world painting trends.

Sources:

1. Small history of arts. Western European Art XVII.

2. Flemish and Dutch art of the 17th century. As two poles of the worldview of the day // banauka.ru/6067.html.

3. The era of Renaissance art in the Netherlands // http://m.smallbay.ru/article/later_renaiss_niderland.html.

In the 17th century, the Dutch school of painting became one of the leading in Europe. It was here, for the first time in the history of world art, that the objects of the surrounding reality turned out to be a source of creative inspiration and artistic design. In the Dutch art of this time, the formation of a whole system of genres, which began in the Renaissance, was completed. In portraits, everyday paintings, landscapes and still lifes, the artists with rare skill and warmth conveyed their impressions of the surrounding nature and unpretentious life. They reflected the collective image of Holland - a young republic that defended its independence in the war with Spain.

"Morning of a Young Lady" 1660 Frans Miris the Elder. Wood, oil. State Hermitage

Paintings of artists on everyday topics (or genre paintings) depicting a person in a familiar, everyday environment, reflected the established forms of life, behavior and communication of people belonging to various classes of Dutch society. Designed to decorate the interiors of the houses of merchants, artisans or wealthy peasants, the paintings of Dutch artists were small in size. Artists made money by selling paintings that were painted with the possibility of detailed viewing at close range. This, in turn, gave rise to a particularly careful, delicate manner of writing.

Terrace Society. 1620 Esais Van De Velde. Wood, oil. State Hermitage

Throughout the 17th century, Dutch genre painting underwent a significant evolution. In the period of its formation, at the beginning of the century, plots on the themes of recreation, entertainment of young wealthy Dutchmen, or scenes from the life of officers were common. Such paintings were called "banquets", "societies", "concerts". Their painting was distinguished by a variegated color, an elevated joyful tone. The painting "Society on the Terrace" by Esaias van de Velde belongs to the works of this kind.

By the beginning of the 1930s, the formation of the Dutch genre painting was completed. Crowded "societies" gave way to small-figured compositions. The image of the environment surrounding a person began to play an important role. There has been a division of genre painting along social lines: plots on themes from the life of the bourgeoisie, and scenes from the life of peasants and the urban poor. Both those and other paintings were intended to decorate the interior.

"Fight". 1637 Adrian van Ostade. Wood, oil. State Hermitage

One of the most famous artists who worked in the "peasant genre" was Adrian van Ostade. In the early period of creativity, the image of the peasants in his paintings was distinguished by an accentuated comicality, sometimes reaching a caricature. So, in the painting “The Fight”, illuminated by a sharp light, the fighting people seem not to be living people, but puppets, whose faces are like masks distorted by grimaces of malice. The opposition of cold and warm colors, sharp contrasts of light and shadow further enhance the impression of the scene's grotesqueness.

Village Musicians. 1635 Adrian Van De Ostade 1635 Oil on wood. State Hermitage

In the 1650s, there was a change in Adrian Ostade's painting. The artist turned to more calm subjects, depicting a person during habitual activities, most often in moments of rest. Such, for example, is the interior painting “Village Musicians”. Ostade skillfully conveys the concentration of the “musicians” who are carried away by their occupation, depicting children watching them through the window with barely noticeable humor. The variety and softness of the play of light and shade, the greenish-brown color scheme unite people and their environment into a single whole.

"Winter view". 1640 Isaac Van Ostade. Wood, oil. State Hermitage

Adrian's brother, Isaac van Ostade, who died early, also worked in the "peasant genre". He depicted the life of rural Holland, in the nature of which a person felt at home. The painting "Winter View" presents a typical Dutch landscape with a gray sky hanging heavily over the earth, a frozen river, on the banks of which the village is located.

"The patient and the doctor." 1660 Jan Steen. Wood, oil. State Hermitage

The genre theme of the art of the Ostade brothers was continued by Jan Steen, a talented master who, with a sense of humor, noticed the characteristic details of the life and relationships of the characters in his paintings. In the painting “Revelers”, the artist himself looks merrily and slyly at the viewer, sitting next to his wife, who fell asleep after a fun feast. In the film “The Patient and the Doctor”, through the facial expressions and gestures of the characters, Jan Steen skillfully reveals the plot of an imaginary illness.

"A room in a Dutch house". Peter Janssens. Canvas, oil. State Hermitage

In the fifties and sixties of the 17th century, the subject of genre paintings gradually narrowed. The figurative structure of the paintings is changing. They become calmer, more intimate, more lyrical contemplation, quiet thought appear in them. This stage is represented by the works of such artists as: Pieter de Hooch, Gerard Terborch, Gabriel Metsu, Pieter Janssens. Their works embodied a poetic and somewhat idealized image of the everyday life of the Dutch bourgeoisie, who once fought for their rights and independence, and now have achieved sustainable prosperity. So, in the interior painting “A Room in a Dutch House” by Peter Janssens, a cozy room flooded with sunlight is depicted with sunbeams playing on the floor and on the walls, in the painting “The Old Lady by the Fireplace” by Jacob Wrehl, a room with a fireplace immersed in soft twilight is depicted. The choice of composition in the works of both artists emphasizes the unity of man and his environment.

"Glass of lemonade." 1664 Gerard Terborch. Host (translation from wood), oil. State Hermitage

During these years, the Dutch genre painters for the first time tried to reflect in their works the depth of a person's inner life. In everyday life situations, they found an opportunity to reflect the diverse world of the subtlest experiences. But, you can see this only with a careful and careful examination of the picture. So, in Gerard Terborch's painting "A Glass of Lemonade", the subtle language of gestures, touches of hands, and eye contact reveals a whole gamut of feelings and relationships between the characters.

"Breakfast". 1660 Gabriel Metsu. Wood, oil. State Hermitage

The object world begins to play a large role in the genre paintings of this period. It not only characterizes the material and emotional environment of a person's life, but also expresses the diversity of the relationship of a person with the outside world. The set of objects, their arrangement, a complex system of symbols, as well as the gestures of the characters - everything plays a role in creating the figurative structure of the picture.

"Revelers". 1660 Jan Steen. Wood, oil. State Hermitage

Dutch genre painting was not distinguished by a wide variety of subjects. Artists limited themselves to depicting only a certain circle of characters and their occupations. But, with their help, Dutch genre painting was able to convey a reliable image of mores, customs, and ideas about the life of a person in the 17th century.

In preparing the publication, materials from open sources were used.