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Dutch Courage
Monday 21st October
The Golden Age of Dutch Art During the Seventeenth Century
With Nick Nelson
During the 17th century, driven by new freedom from Spanish Catholic rule, the Dutch Republic experienced a surge in economic and cultural prominence. An influx of trade boosted commerce, leading to the rise of a large middle and merchant class in the market for the proliferation of art that had cropped up in response to the burgeoning celebration of Dutch life and identity. The Dutch Reformed church and a rising sense of Dutch nationalism informed the Golden Age, from c.1588 to 1672.
Landscape painting exploded during the Dutch Golden Age, bringing with it an emphasis on the unique characteristics of Dutch landscape features. Genre painting experienced a magnificent evolution, with a distinct look at the contemporary lifestyle, trends, and interests of the Dutch people of the time. The stilleven, or still life surged in popularity, utilised to imaginatively express objects of beauty. This dominant element of Dutch art developed into a number of subtypes, of which floral still life, presented with scientific accuracy, was the most popular.
Some scholars have referred to Dutch Golden Age painting as Dutch Realism.
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78 members and visitors attended this DSI. This full day covered the 17th century explosion of art produced in the Netherlands. Nick Nelson divided his talks into three parts – The Golden Age, Visions of Plenty and Interiors and Exteriors.
He defined the reasons for this explosion of art as a result of the freedim from Spanish Catholic rule and a sense of Dutch Nationalism and the politics and historical events of the time. This generated an influx of trade, commerce and wealth created by the middle and merchant classes.
After a break for coffee and flapjacks and as an hors d’ouevre before lunch, his next talk covered “visions of plenty”. This included the well known still life paintings of tables laden with food and flowers and the inclusion of “caterpillage” – the inclusion of snails, caterpillers and butterflies in paintings.
Following an excellent hot two course lunch, where the tables were decorated with tulips and colourful tulip napkins, the final talk introduced “interiors and exteriors”. The well known “Milkmaid” and “Art of Painting” by Vermeer were discussed in detail as well as “City Scapes” by de Hooch. Some landscapes and sea scapes completed the description of genre paintings.
Nick’s talks were interspersed with so many extras, such as explaining how the word Delft coming from the word can, ditch, a delve. So we had not just art but also entomology and etymology!
Many thanks to Nick for providing us with such an enjoyable day and sharing his passion for art history with us.
Nick Nelson
Brief Biography
Nick is currently Head of History of Art at Cheltenham College, where he has also taught Art and Design, Architecture, Music, English, Classical Civilisation, Theology, Philosophy and Ethics. Prior to this, Nick studied History of Art and Architecture at The University of East Anglia, took a PGCE in Art & Design at The University of Reading, and completed his Masters in The History of Art at The University of Buckingham. The spot focus for his Masters was on ‘Synaesthesia, Harmony and Discord in the work of Wassily Kandinsky and Arnold Schoenberg 1909-14.’
Nick established Arcadia Education with his wife Katie in 2014 for teaching, tutoring and touring with History of Art. Since such time he has lectured around the world for the Soho House Group, and in the UK for the Arts Society, and, formerly, NADFAS. Nick has run several courses in Art History at Barnsley House, Marlborough College Summer School and The Ellenborough Park Hotel. He lectures on a wide array of topics, from the Renaissance to Modernism.
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