Seventeenth Century Dutch Art - Vermeer, De Hoogh

In the Sixteenth century in Holland, the reformation of the church saw a revolutionary change in the depiction of women in painting. It saw the departure from the ethereal and

The territory of the household and family is the subject of much artwork in seventeenth century Dutch genre art. Maes discusses the relationship between mistress/housewife and maid: As mistress is to maid, so wife is to mistress. He investigates this doubled or split persona of a woman in a series of distinctive paintings featuring divided domestic interiors with the housewife situated between the flirtatious maid down (S. Alpers Dutch Art Ways of seeing first page of the photocopied)

The economy’s impact on the heavily urbanized Dutch society, one in which wealth was dispersed far down the social ladder as evidenced, for example, by the country’s huge and thriving middle class. The robust Dutch economy and prosperous citizenry provided an extremely favourable environment in which artists could work, even if their principa

Vermeer’s Woman Holding a Balance conveys a feeling of spirituality that is unusual in Dutch scenes of domestic life. As has often been remarked, the veil-like treatment of her head covering and the iconic solemnity of her presentation evoke associations with the Virgin Mary. A painting of The Holy Family from the previous century represents the kind of Marian image that comes to mind: the Blessed Mother stands at a table within a shallow interior, looking down at the Christ Child with a smile of contentment. In the Woman Holding a Balance Vermeer conveys the personage’s spirituality in yet another way. He makes the prospect of the Last Day properly fiersome – in contrast to the woman’s firm, reassuring shape, the religious painting teems with agitated, spectral forms, yet she links up visually with the scene behind her as if to suggest inescapable relevance. The jagged little figure of Christ, his arms raised in right angles, echoes in reverse the pendent lines of her set of scales, and the pale, oval-shaped nimbus floats around him above the oval of her beautifully modelled head. Despite this dramatic tension, she remains serene, as if assured that her kind will prevail, even at the end of time.

Representation of the social mores of the period Realist normality

The development of a bourgeois economy and a free-commercial art market resulted in a significant change in the kind of art produced. For the first time artists were able to support themselves by specializing in a category such as portraiture, still life or various kinds, genre or landscape. Art dealers sold work to middle-class citizens, who often purchased as much for investment and resale as for aesthetic pleasure. (History of Western Art, p. 344 Adams)

Maes represents the problem in terms of the relationship between mistress/housewife and maid. He investigates the doubled or split person of a woman in a series of d

Some topics in this essay:
Duck Maes, Western Art, , Balance Vermeer, Asleep Table, Dutch Art, Companion Vermeer, Upstairs Indeed, Eyes Representation, Holding Balance, domestic interiors, housewife situated flirtatious, interiors housewife situated, woman series, doubled split, paintings featuring, distinctive paintings, series distinctive, featuring divided domestic, mistress/housewife maid, divided domestic interiors, entrance eyes, domestic interiors housewife, divided domestic, featuring divided,