Seventeenth-century Dutch Painting

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6 min readNov 7, 2017

The seventeenth century loosely frames what we now know as Dutch Golden Age painting. And it is genre painting, the depiction of scenes of the everyday, in which we find the importance of the descriptive nature of this art. Focusing on two works ‘View of Houses in Delft’, known as ‘The Little Street’, by Johannes Vermeer, and ‘The Interior of the Buurkerk at Utrecht’ by Pieter Saenredam. I will explore potential relationships between these artworks, their context, and their importance to painting. Why is the descriptive nature of genre painting of particular importance to us today and how does the art of describing remain just as compelling for us now as it did in the seventeenth century.

‘The Little Street’ by Johannes Vermeer

First, let’s examine the visual impression of ‘The Little Street’. To an ordinary citizen unfamiliar with art history, it might strike one as unusual. With this context still in mind, the assumption is that paintings and galleries can be expected to be filled with heroic imagery, momentous historic events or, in recent times, ineffable sensory delights beyond comprehension. Yet Vermeer brings us, a house. On a street. And not the kind of luxurious townhouse inhabited by the privileged elite of Delft either but a dwelling for modest, perhaps even ordinary, civilians. It had high ceilings, well-lit rooms and unusual step gables probably making it one of the surviving medieval houses of the time. The composition is asymmetrical with a blue sky filled with cumulous clouds next to the red brick of the houses, white washed on the ground floor, dark lead-light windows that invite us in. Wooden shutters in sun-mottled olive and effortlessly complimented in the lower-right corner of the picture plane with a single rusted red rectangle of colour. By now we realise we have been lured neck-deep into one mans vision of a European wabi-sabi. With very little atmospheric haze, we are afforded ample view of the buildings in the immediate distance, flattening the image somewhat, perhaps to secure the idea that this is indeed a cozy and secluded street. The painting is in perspective but is easily lost amongst the imperfect buildings, objects, and their lack of parallel lines. We can observe a creeping grape vine in the left. All in all I think Vermeer want’s to show us that the so called ‘ordinary’ can be very beautiful indeed, and such common of chores as darning, washing, and the upkeep of a home, and in turn society, where children can be seen playing freely in the streets, can also be heroic in it’s own special way.

Isn’t it interesting when we realise that Vermeer was in his teens when Holland became an independent state. Growing up then in what was the first bourgeois republic and, in contrast to it’s neighbours, Holland of the time diverted it’s honour and political power away from those at the pinnacle of society, and instead to merchants and administrators, artisans, and entrepreneurs. For the first time, ordinary citizens and families could afford to purchase and commission artworks and the shape of art changed to follow these tastes.

‘The Interior of the Buurkerk at Utrecht’ by Pieter Saenredam

The second piece we shall examine is the ‘The Interior of the Buurkerk at Utrecht’. Recognisable as a cathedral, yet with the stark white washed walls and lack of ornamentation we can understand this to be a depiction of the consequences of the Protestant Reformation. We can see that some dogs are now wandering through, people are standing around unceremoniously, and children are even defacing what would have been previously considered sacred walls. The painting makes no efforts to hide what it is and Saenredam describes both architecture and circumstance with visual acuity. The composition does however accentuate the last remaining remnant of the grandiose, the heavenward thrusting vertical columns. For seventeenth century civilians with new found wealth, this painting must have been a breath of fresh air and would possibly have gone hand in hand with the new ideas and aspirations of the Netherlandish.

Saenredam became known for his perspectival accuracy by using carefully prepared drawings produced on location and then taken back to the studio. The perspective in this, the National Gallery in London painting, sees the vanishing point off and to the left but if we look at the companion painting in the Kimbell Art Museum in Texas, they both appear to have been traced from same chalk construction drawing, and this drawing is kept in the Municipal Archives of Utrecht. Even though they share a source drawing and vanishing point, it’s unlikely that the two paintings were ever meant to be hung together as they are quite different in colour and painted a year apart. To speak of the colour, a soft creme and beige, like the soft rabbit felt robe of a monk, brings a calm and peaceful atmosphere and with this mostly monochromatic palate Saenredam is afforded ample opportunity to illuminate the church with the reflected and indirect light scattering and dispersing through the various chambers and arches.

We can see a dramatic contrast if we compare these particular paintings with the prescriptive Catholic art and historical painting that came before it. No longer are paintings to serve in an almost propagandistic way to the perpetuation of the Christian narrative, or as decoration for the interior of a church or cathedral, we now see the interior of a cathedral itself the subject of a painting, and conceptually taken even further, now denuded of it’s lavish adornments. Contrasting the endless repetition and validation of Christian stories and characters in artworks commissioned by the church, we have a shift in focus to a description of everyday life and the characters substituted with the ordinary heroes to be found there, if only we look a little deeper. In addition to this, the works themselves, less the propaganda, are now a source of entertainment and delight to be sought after by the citizenry and displayed proudly on the walls of their homes. Yet for this to continue the newer, more earthly subject matter needed to be described with the same verisimilitude as the paintings those very patrons were already familiar with and had seen countless times before in their churches.

Taste the feeling™

In 2016 we are constantly exposed to new art, yet a great deal of that comes in the form of the commercial art of advertising, billboards, and signage. Some of it even contains great artistry and talented artists the world over are hired to create these campaigns. Of course the enjoyment of a prescriptive message, no matter how ornate or aesthetically beautiful it’s form, will never resonate as much as having ones own direct experiences reflected back through the same artistic lens. As paintings in Holland before, something once reserved for those with the capital and power, suddenly becoming available to the masses. Almost as a matter of course the subjects turn away from the moralising autocratic images to more humble depictions of the very circumstance of those now commissioning the works. We cannot escape a comparison to what is happening today, as the capability for high quality film and video production, once reserved for expensive productions and advertising, now comes packaged and bundled for free with every new iPhone. The descriptive power of a film studio, literally in the pocket of the everyman.

Vermeer's camera phone

Just as the Catholic church put artists and artisans of the day to work in perpetuating their own narrative, “advertising” the salvation that the church offered, it might be seen now as inevitable that as access to that art opened up to ordinary citizens, that the hand of the artists would work hard to describe that very change itself. I think we can clearly observe this in both of these paintings. Viewing the depiction of scenes of the everyday, seeing something relevant to your own life and reality reflected back at you through a painting, after the stuffy dictatorial art of the church must have been as exciting and liberating to the Netherlandish, as today’s excitement of receiving private videos and photos streamed directly from friends and family members, after years of being forced to watch commercial broadcasts. For the Dutch citizens collecting and commissioning paintings in the 17th century, the exploration of their new found freedoms and the exploration of the descriptive potential for their art must have been quite something.

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