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WHO'S WHO

Notable Artistic Figures of the Golden Age

 Jacob Cats (1577-1560)

A moralist storyteller, Jacob Cats’ writings combine Calvinist teachings with practical wisdom.  His poems were read throughout the Netherlands during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, and some scholars believe that Dutch genre painters of the period referenced them in their works.  Many present-day Dutch proverbs have their origins in Cats’ writings.

Abraham van Beyeren (1620/21-1690)

Born in The Hague, Abraham van Beyeren entered the city’s Guild of St. Luke in 1640.  He spent his early career producing marine paintings and river views, but shifted to flower pieces and fish and vanitas still lifes as his work matured. These still lifes are thought to have been influenced by the works of Pieter de Putter and Jan Davidsz. de Heem. 

Pieter de Bloot (1601-1658)

Pieter de Bloot devoted much of his career to painting peasant interiors with still life arrangements.  Some scholars believe that he influenced the works of Willem Kalf and Gerrit Battem.

Gerard ter Borch (1617-1681)

Among the most accomplished Dutch painters of the seventeenth century, Ter Borch spent the early years of his career in Haarlem painting barrack-room scenes.  In 1640, he developed the full-length portrait, a pictorial type that had not previously appeared in Dutch painting.  Ter Borch’s works of this type are usually small and upright in format, depicting two or three elegantly-dressed figures engaged in letter-writing, music-making or another activity typical of the upper classes.  Ter Borch’s works are celebrated for their subtle psychological undertones and their masterful handling of color, light and texture, especially in the portrayal of women’s clothing.

Jan Davidsz. de Heem  (1606-1683/4)

Among the most accomplished of Dutch still life painters, Jan Davidsz. de Heem is particularly well-known for combining attention to fine detail—a characteristic associated with his native Utrecht school of painting—with elaborate composition, a trait typical of Flemish styles.  De Heem specialized in banquet pieces (banketje). 

Willem Kalf (1619-1693)

Willem Kalf started his career painting crowded interiors and barnyard scenes, but he is best known for the pronkstilleven that he began to produce during the 1650s.  A successful art dealer as well as an artist, Kalf had the means to purchase the luxury items typically depicted in these “ostentation pieces,” and his works demonstrate a particular attention to surface textures such as the soft pile of carpet or the high shine of silver.  Kalf’s mature works are recognizable for their focus on a reduced number of objects placed closer to the viewer and highlighted with a simple dark background.  Kalf’s coloration and painting techniques have been compared to those of Rembrandt van Rijn and Johannes Vermeer, and some scholars believe Kalf’s work may have influenced that of the latter.   

Clara Peeters (1594-1640)

Many art historians have credited Clara Peeters with the development of two categories of still life painting, breakfast pieces (ontbijte) and flower pieces.  Peeters’ works generally feature arrangements of humble foodstuffs and serving vessels.  For example, “cheesestacks”—several different types of cheese piled on top of each other—are present in a number of works, as are groupings of perch, shrimp and oysters arranged to emphasize their contrasting shapes, colors and sizes.  Peeters also frequently included a bread roll on a pewter plate or a knife projecting over a table ledge in order to stress the illusion of three-dimensional space in her paintings. Willem Claesz. Heda, Pieter Claesz. and others repeated Peeters’ conventions in their own paintings.

Jan Steen (1626-1679)

Often called the humorist of Dutch painters, Jan Steen portrayed rowdy tavern scenes and images of simple domestic life.  Despite their apparently straightforward subject matter, many scholars believe that these “low life” scenes reference emblems, literature, proverbs and theater in order to convey an underlying moralistic message.  A devout Catholic, Steen also painted more than sixty overtly religious-themed works; notably, he set these interpretations of biblical images in seventeenth century Netherlands, endowing them with all of the wit and humanity of his “low life” paintings.  Lively or cluttered houses are still referred to as “Jan Steen households” in the Netherlands today.

Adriaen van Ostade (1610-1685)

Holland’s leading painter of “low life” scenes, Adriaen van Ostade devoted the early years of his career to depicting the raucous antics of peasants and other less respectable members of seventeenth century Dutch society.  His later paintings tend to portray the upper classes at work and play in comfortable, carefully structured interior spaces.  Throughout his career, Van Ostade favored scenes of inns, fairs, family life, and domestic, agricultural and trade work. 

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