A prosperous middle class eager to express its status and its new sense of national pride, replaced the church and monarchy as the primary patrons of art.
1600 - 1700
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Rembrandt, Self-Portrait with Two Circles
Rembrandt's enigmatic self-portrait at Kenwood House is an apt example of the artist's long career in self-exploration.
Saenredam, Interior of Saint Bavo, Haarlem
Perspective is the star of this painting. Saenredam expertly widens the viewpoint to create an interior panorama.
Rembrandt, The Jewish Bride
With its almost sculptural surface and dazzling range of textures, this painting once reduced van Gogh to tears.
Huis ten Bosch (House in the Woods)
Built for nobility and now home to royals, this palace has a checkered past. It held art, then political prisoners.
The Town Hall of Amsterdam
Is this the eighth wonder of the world? Amsterdam’s leaders thought so—their hall contains a universe in miniature.
Judith Leyster, The Proposition
Virtue, or vice? This seated woman is an icon of domesticity, but the man’s money may tempt her away from work.
Frans Hals, The Women Regents
The subjects appear quiet and austere, yet Hals’s expressive use of paint animates this group portrait.
Rembrandt, Girl at a Window
In this painting, Rembrandt plays with the division between reality and illusion, present and past. Who’s the girl?
Gerrit Dou, A Woman Playing a Clavichord
Are we awaiting a duet or interrupting a solo? One of Dou’s finest, this intimate scene defies easy interpretation.
Willem Kalf, Still Life with a Silver Ewer
Kalf celebrates the fruits of life but reminds us of our mortality. The light—and his technique—are otherworldly.
Rembrandt, Christ Crucified between the Two Thieves: The Three Crosses
Zero in on the beautiful passages of line in this print—and witness the artist at work.
Rembrandt, Aristotle with a Bust of Homer
What lies beneath the surface? Research into a “crusty” buildup of paint reveals Rembrandt’s editing process.