17 th Century Europe sees division of categories of art

1. 17th Century Europe sees division of categories of art • History painting is on the top—consists of myth, allegories, and history. Is moralistic, and meant to teach people how to behave • Genre painting is the painting of scenes of everyday life

2. Hierarchy of Genres • History • Nudes • Portraiture • Genre • Landscape • Animal Paintings • Still Life

3. Changes in patronage—newly emerging Middle class shows wealth by Collecting art Luxury items are portrayed in paintings But scale of paintings is modest, in line With Protestant teachings Willem Kalf Still Life with Late Ming Ginger Jar 1669

4. Clara Peeters Still Life With Flowers, Goblet, Dried Fruit, and Pretzels 1611

5. Genre painting is not moralistic in character, unlike history painting • Genre painting is said to appeal to women due to its portrayal of worldly goods over high-minded ends • South perceives Northern painting as too exact and not about heroic subjects, and therefore lower in the hierarchy

6. William Kalf Still Life with Drinking Horn c. 1653 Still life= Representation of Inanimate forms Celebrates the Accumulation of goods Is scientifically accurate In detail All about textures and surfaces

7. Philippe_de_Champaigne_Still-Life_with_a_Skullc. 1671 Example of “vanitas” painting: reminds the viewer of fleetingness of life, human finitude And mortality. Contains skull as memento mori Has to to with Protestant belief in temperance

8. Caravaggio Basket of Fruit 1599

9. Jan VermeulenVanitas 1654

10. Jan de Heem Still Life of Books 1628 Books in disarray show fleetingness of human life and activity

11. Franz Snyders Still Life with Game and Larder c. 1610

12. Dutch Landscape • Depicts land reclamation efforts (windmills, canals)—swampland is made agriculturally useful • Paintings are made repetitively—artists will reproduce same subjects over and over (artists become specialized) • Landscape paintings are all about the specificity of place and a national spirit

13. Claude Lorrain Landscape with Sacrifice to Apollo 1662-3 Ideal landscape: not based in nature. Often contain ruins of classical architecture as A reference to the high art tradition. Combines elements of landscape and history painting

14. Cuyp Distant View of Dordrecht late 1640's Cows refer to prevalence of dairy industry in the Netherlands Recognizable architecture

15. Jan Van Goyen A Windmill by a River 1642 In Dutch landscapes, windmills replace classical temples. Land is rendered exactly, without idealization

16. Jan Vermeer View of Delft 1660 Descriptive painting renders the world as it is seen, not for significant actions, as in the case Of history painting. Painting is almost like a map. “Roving eye” vs perspectival construction

17. Peter Breughel the Elder View of Naples 1562-3

18. Jacob van Ruisdael View of Haarlem c. 1670 People are inconsequential. Painter remains a craftsperson—continuity of tradition is evident

19. Vermeer The Letter 1666 Interior domestic scenes become a subject for Dutch 17th century painting Vermeer is most prominent painter of these scenes Paintings are descriptive but contain symbolism, such as lute, which is a Symbol of love.

20. Pieter de Hooch Courtyard of a House in Delft 1658

21. Vermeer the Procuress 1656

22. Jan Vermeer Allegory of Painting c. 1666 Painter in this scene is Recognizable as Durer Model is Clio, the muse of History Vermeer pays close attention to the impact of light Uses small dots of paint called “pointilles”—give the impression of light on form Used a camera obscura to make images This produces “halation,” or the distortion of the image around the edges

23. L: Titian Venus at Her Mirror 1555R: Jan Vermeer Woman with a Pearl Necklace 1664 Difference between Southern and Northern depictions of women dressing—Southern is Allegory about female vanity, Northern is more ambiguous

24. L: Jan Steen in the Tavern 1660'sR: Jan Vermeer Girl With a Wine Glass 1659-60