Paper on Dutch Art

“A Socio-economic Look at Art of the Dutch Golden Age”

The Dutch Golden Age has produced some of the most recognizable masterpieces in all of the visual arts. There are many factors that have had an impact on the Dutch Golden Age of painting. From a Marxist perspective many factors stand out: the economic boom after independence and the rise of the Northern cities, most notably Amsterdam. This economic boom affected the art market as a whole. The two masters of the Dutch Golden Age are Rembrandt van Rijn and Johannes Vermeer. From a Marxist approach there are two ways, in particular, that they both participated in this new economy: how they ran their studios, and how they dealt with their particular art market.

In the medieval period, the Low Countries (roughly present-day Belgium and the Netherlands) consisted of various counties belonging to the Duchy of Burgundy and to the Holy Roman Empire. These were united into one state under Hapsburg rule in the sixteenth century. The Counter-Reformation, following the success of Calvinism in the Netherlands, and the attempts to centralize government and suppress religious diversity, led to a revolt against Philip II of Spain. On 26 July 1581, independence was declared, and finally recognized after the end of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) – with the Peace of Westphalia.

Rich Calvinist merchants and other refugees migrated to Amsterdam, which was at the time a tiny port, but was quickly transformed into one of the most important ports in the world in the seventeenth century. The exodus can be described as 'creating a new Antwerp'. This mass immigration from Flanders and Brabant (especially Antwerp) was an important driving force behind the Dutch Golden Age.

In addition to the mass immigration from the Southern Netherlands, there was also a massive influx of refugees fleeing from religious persecution, particularly Sephardic Jews from Portugal and Spain and, later, Huguenots from France. People were also marrying younger and having more children.[1]

Several other factors also contributed to the flowering of trade, industry, the arts and the sciences during this period. A necessary condition was the supply of cheap energy from windmills and from peat, easily transported by canal to the cities. The invention of the sawmill enabled construction of a massive fleet of ships for worldwide trading and to defend the republic's economic interests by military means.^[2]

During a large part of the seventeenth century the Dutch, traditionally able seafarers and keen mapmakers, dominated world trade, a position which before had been occupied by the Portuguese and Spaniards, and which later would be lost to England after a long competition that culminated in several Anglo-Dutch Wars (fought mainly at sea) — though these weren't the only cause of Dutch decline.

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[1] North, Michael. Art and Commerce in the Dutch Golden Age. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.

[2] Schama, Simon, The Embarrassment of Riches, Vintage Books: New York, 1997.