Peasant Dance

Pieter Bruegel the Elder

painting of lower class and peasant life

Peasant Wedding

Pieter Bruegel

painting of lower class and peasant life

Fat Kitchen

Pieter Bruegel

Skinny Kitchen

Pieter Bruegel

Peasant Drinkers

Adriaen Brouwer

Peasant Feast

Adriaen Brouwer

A Tavern Scene

Adriaen Brouwer

less use of local color; later style; same cast of characters

A Boor Asleep

Adriaen Brouwer

The Smokers

Adriaen Brouwer

fully signed painting, meant to be offensive, self portrait of Brouwer and other artists, good tonal quality with bits of local color

The Bitter Drink or Bitter Medicine

Adriaen Brouwer

vulgar painting, rapid brush stokes; probably a character study; strong emotions and facial expressions

St. Praxadis

Johannes Vermeer

Catholic Saint, rather large and atypical, copy of an obscure Italian Baroque painting

Christ in the House of Martha and Mary

Johannes Vermeer

large, religious scene, atypical; touches on the concerns that middle-class Dutch people had: the role of the woman in the home

The Procuress

Vermeer

similar to the Utrecht school but with restraint; same cast of characters but less humorous; figures cropped by object in foreground

A Girl Asleep at a Table

Vermeer

upper-middle class female, self absorbed, beautifully dressed, domestic interior, ambiguous, rich warm red-tones

Woman Reading a Letter by an Open Window

Vermeer

she could be reading a love letter, says a lot about contemporary Dutch women and their eduction, solitary woman by a window in a corner of a room, barrier of table between her and the viewer

The Soldier and the Laughing Girl

Vermeer

typical corner of room with window, baroque play of near/far; dark/light; front/back; male/female; soldier acts as a sort of repoussior figure

The Milkmaid

Vermeer

one of few of Vermeer's working class women; corner of a room with window - possibly a basement

Woman with a Pitcher

Vermeer

typical setting; smoother quality; silvery light; simple composition comprising of primary colors

Woman Putting on Pearls

Vermeer

very uppercrust of society; ambiguous meaning; simple; familiar setting; dark lower third

Girl with a Red Hat

Vermeer

character study; retains a liquid quality; captures light on pearl, eyes, lips and lions head beautifully, has a fuzzy/softness to it

The Letter or The Love Letter

Vermeer

2 women; lady of the house and maid; perhaps the letter is from us, the viewer, viewer possitioned in a dark room, looking into the lit room; upper class home

The Allegory of Painting

Vermeer

ambitious, more complicated space, not a genre scene but an allegory; artist could be a portrait of Vermeer; about the attentions man pays to a woman

The Allegory of the Catholic Faith

Vermeer

same space as allegory of painting; woman is a stock character out of catholic iconography; globe hanging from the ceiling represent Jesuit iconography - Vermeer lived in a Jesuit community

Domestic Interior

Pieter de Hooch

similar to Vermeer but more complicated space, always see 2-3 walls, floor and ceiling, doorsiene, informative about domestic Dutch life; borderlines the sacred; introduction of children in art

A Dutch Courtyard

Pieter de Hooch

new cast of characters; no symbolism; rigid straight lines with local color; realistic but not representative

Interior of Amsterdam Town Hall

Pieter de Hooch

rhetorical tapestry/curtain; shows interest in local architecture; man in painting looks out over viewer at what would be a painting above the viewer

Church of St. James at Utrecht

Pieter Jansz. Saendredam

accurate and somewhat documenatry; vague position in church

Church of St. Bavo at Haarlem

Pieter Jansz. Saendredam

accurate and vague; manipulates point of view, perspective, color, and scale; Baroque play of near/far; large/small; building is pristine - majesty, granduer, spirituality, well-ordered existance

Old City Hall of Amsterdam

Pieter Jansz. Saendredam

documentary; sketched it years earlier and painted from sketches

Sketch of City Hall of Amsterdam

Pieter Jansz. Saendredam

worked on sketch from sun up to sun down for 6 days, inscription telling when he sketched it and for how long, before this city hall burned down

Interior of Oude Kerk in Delft

Gerrit Houkgeest

similar to Saendredam, odd perspective, vague, shows tourists in the church, wonderful light, Trompe L'Oeil curtain in viewer's ground

View In Delft

Carl Fabritius

accurate documentary quality, peculiar angle and perspective, was probably a part of a curved viewing box that corrected the optics, may have been painted using a camera obscura

The Goldfinch

Carel Fabritius

Trompe l'Oeil in nature, simple of sexual love - chains of love, unvarnished realism, modern sensibility

Man at Window

Samuel van Hoogstraten

Trompe l'Oeil style; probably hung set into a wall; maybe about the passage of time

Trompe l'Oeil Still Life

Samuel van Hoogstraten

about morning grooming; all the objects of a gentleman; signs and dates the painting on a reciept

Perspective View of an Interior

van Hoogstraten

contrived and artificial, intended to be a game, hung in a closet-like room

Peep Box - View of Domestic Interior

van Hoogstraten

animorphous, extreme perspectives that are corrected when viewed though a lense

The Listening Housewife or Eavesdropper

Nicholas Maes

look up the stairs to a scene, down the stairs to a scene; issues of class; housewife poised between two worlds; Baroque - up/down; black/red; left/right; indoor/outdoor

The Sleeping Kitchen Maid or Idle Servant

Nicholas Maes

moral: don't sleep on the job - cat is eating the dinner; issues of class; humor

Old Woman Sleeping

Nicholas Maes

old, pious, reading her bible, making lace, woman of the house; not about vice, warm/shadowy scene

Old Woman Asleep in a Kitchen

Gabriel Metsu

duel example of proper behavior

Woman Reading A Letter

Gabriel Metsu

different classes doing different things, emphasis on letter

Man Writing a Letter

Gabriel Metsu

The Letter

Gerard Terborch

A Parental Admonition or A Fatherly Warning

Terborch

man is active; woman is passive

The Loafers

Jan Steen

self portrait of Steen, possibly his wife; comical, very sexual

Doctor's Visit or Lovesick Maiden

Steen

pose of the maiden is one of melancholy, unrequited love or perhaps pregnancy, doctor is meant to be a comical figure

Merry Company or Happy Family

Steen

all ages, Steen's portrait as well as a son and daughter

Dissolute Household

Steen

all ages, moral, doorsiene to the fire, monkey pulling the clock strings

Belvedere Torso

Peter Paul Ruebens

sketch of the belvedere torso scuplture that is now in the vatican museum

Ignudo

Peter Paul Rubens

sketch of ignudo figure from Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel

Laocoon

Peter Paul Rubens

sketch of the Laocoon statue

Samson and Delilah

Peter Paul Rubens

fairly accurate depiction of scene: Samson asleep on Delilah's lap while a Philistine cut's Samson's hair; four sources of light; adds a crone figure; exaggeration of musculature

The Raising of the Cross

Peter Paul Rubens

very Baroque- subject off center, plunges into space, diagonals; centurion a portrait of Rubens

The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus

Peter Paul Rubens

female nude, shows both sides with the two figures

The Three Graces

Peter Paul Rubens

later work, rich in color, softer; shows all three angles; each is a different expression - brightness, joyfulness and gloom

Helena Fourment in a Fur Coat

Peter Paul Rubens

his wife, painted for himself, paints her like venus

The Crucifixion

Jacob Jordaens

crowding of figures, exaggerated musculature,

Allegory of Fruitfullness

Jacob Jordaens

Family Concert

Jacob Jordaens

joys of excess; fills the canvas; old singing the young are piping; similar to steen

The King Drinks

Jacob Jordaens

celebration of 12th day/night; vulgar, loud, allegory of senses - hearing; filled to the brim