HOW DOES DUTCH ART OF THE GOLDEN AGE REFLECT THE REPUBLIC’S

GLOBAL ECONOMY AND ITS EMERGING NATIONAL IDENTITY?

Christine La RueSocial Studies

Elgin High SchoolElgin, IL

NEH Seminar For School Teachers, 2015, London and Leiden The Dutch Republic and Britain

National Endowment for the Humanities University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

(Note: To use the internet links in this presentation, be sure to view it in slide show mode)

1.Explain to the class how art is a primary source and that visual sources are required study in the curriculum of most history courses.

2. Show the students the next slide and have them look at it and jot down some possible answers to our guiding question: How does Dutch art of the Golden Age reflect the Republic’s global economy and its emerging national identity?

Woman Holding a Balance c. 1662-1665 by Johannes Vermeer Oil on canvas 42.5 x 38 cm. (16 3/4 x 15 in.)National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

Have the students listen carefully to the following analysis of the painting by Speakers: Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris.Then take the video quiz .

Johannes Vermeer, Woman Holding a Balance

Have the students share some possible answers to our guiding question: How does Dutch art of the Golden Age reflect the Republic’s global economy and its emerging national identity? Tell the students that now we will look at a painting by Rachel Ruysch, titled Fruit and Insects. Students should jot down their answers to our guiding question. Then they will view another video which offers incite into the painting.

Rachel Ruysch, Fruit and Insects

Have the students share some possible answers to our guiding question: How does Dutch art of the Golden Age reflect the Republic’s global economy and its emerging national identity?

Introduce students to the website Essential Vermeer and show them how to use the interactive catalogue. Allow them time in the computer lab to do a formative assessment or assign it as homework.Students should choose one Vermeer painting and list three answers to our guiding question: How does Dutch art of the Golden Age reflect the Republic’s global economy and its emerging national identity?Essential Vermeer

Have students study the painting by Jan Steen , In Luxury , Look Out 1663. Ask them to look for the messages in the painting by looking at it carefully.

Jan Steen’s favourite theme for his paintings was ordinary daily life.  The scenes he painted were often lively and chaotic and the Dutch to this day often use the phrase “A Jan Steen household” meaning a chaotic and messy household.  His paintings of household chaos were supposed to act as a warning to observers that life needed to be more organised and orderly.  This painting is one of these typical works of art of Jan Steen – chaotic, messy and full of hidden meanings.

In Luxury, Look Out by Jan Steen

As the woman sleeps.... Total and utter chaos !  But should we read more into the painting?  Take for instance the sleeping woman and the child furtively stealing money from the purse in the cupboard.  Could this mean that if one is not resolute and in control of what is happening around one, then poverty will follow?   This is indicated by the flat purses hanging on the wall above the woman’s head and which appear to be empty and devoid of coins.  The dog being allowed to get on the table and eat the food of the humans underscores the negligence of the adults and sets out a bad example to the children.  Moralists traditionally likened dogs licking pots to children being brought up badly.  

What of the pig ?   There is a Dutch proverb which says “The pig runs off with the tap” meaning “the party is drinking with abandon”. 

The pig nuzzling the rose was a reminder of another proverb.   “Throwing roses before the swine” meaning wastefulness. 

The monkey stopping the clock reminds us of the saying “In folly, time is forgotten”.  A “quacking” duck symbolizes nonsensical banter.  The duck on the man’s shoulder therefore probably alludes to his conversation being futile banter during which they have chosen to ignore the chaos around them.

Hanging basketWill the occupants of this room receive what they deserve for their lack of attention ?  The artist hints that they may receive their “come uppance” by in the way he drew a basket hanging from the ceiling above their heads – a kind of Sword of Damocles !  The content of this hanging basket is full of items which suggest poverty and disease.  There are crutches, a leper’s rattle and switches which were used to lash petty criminals.

This painting by Jan Steen is a real but comical distortion of a Dutch family household, living in chaotic conditions and may act as a warning to observers of the folly and the consequences of such a lifestyle.  If you live in chaotic conditions maybe you should go out and buy yourself a print of this painting and hang it on the wall to remind yourself and your housemates of the dire consequences of living in such disarray.  https://mydailyartdisplay.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/in-luxury-look-out-by-jan-steen/

Have the students share some possible answers to our guiding question: How does Dutch art of the Golden Age reflect the Republic’s global economy and its emerging national identity?after viewing the additional slides and using the links to Smart History to hear the art historians’ opinions.

Room Corner with Curiosities (c 1712) Jan van der Heyden

Family Making Music c1630s Jan Miense Molenaer

Gerard Dou - Old Woman Reading a Bible

Rembrandt, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp

Rembrandt, The Night Watch

The IJ at Amsterdam with the former flagship 'Gouden Leeuw' (Willem van de Velde II)

Willem Van Swanenburg and Christoffel van SichemI ,Sailing Cars

Africa, from the "Atlas Blaeu-van der Hem" (engraved, etched and hand-colored by Dirk van Santen); Jeremias Falck after Nicolaes Berchem?; c1662-1667

How does Dutch art of the Golden Age reflect the Republic’s global economy and its emerging national identity?

Global ecomony•Emphasis on globes and maps, books, fine objects from foreign lands

Emerging national identity•Love of music•Use of proverbs•Special sense of humor•Love of nature•Respect for women•Love of science•Importance of religion

Bibliography

Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: A Global History. 13th ed. United States: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009

Mariet Westerman, A Worldy Art: The Dutch Republic 1585-1718 (1996).

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/monarchy-enlightenment/baroque-art1/holland

https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/ap-art-history

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/u/umdvrc1ic/x-d09-11247/d09-11247

https://mydailyartdisplay.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/in-luxury-look-out-by-jan-steen/

Google images

•Mariet Westerman, A Worldy Art: The Dutch Republic 1585-1718 (1996).