Golden Age of Holland
Study Day November 8th 2010
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On Tuesday November 8th aficionados of
Dutch art met to learn more from our guest speaker, Shirley Turner. The
period to be covered was the Golden Age of Holland which, we were told,
lasted approximately 70 years during the 17th century. We
were shown many illustrations of the fascinating social background
through the interiors depicted in the paintings. Dutch society was
thriving via the merchant classes whose mastery of the seas brought
wealth to
The first part of our day concentrated on Rembrandt
who was responsible not merely for 60 self portraits but also for
introducing a new way of painting group portraits which was less formal
in style and was the precursor of what we now term ‘genre painting’ for
which Dutch artists are rightly renowned and traced links between
England and Holland with the Dutch artists dominating in both countries.
We moved on to Delft for the next session when we admired ‘porcelain’ items which we learnt were actually tin glazed earthenware in the familiar blue and white patterns. We also saw examples of lesser known artists alongside the more popular Jan Vermeer.
At the beginning of the afternoon session, whilst a
valiant battle was fought (and won) with the temperamental slide
projector, Brian Crossley, one of our own members, gave an impromptu
history of his interest in all things cane, (which was introduced from
the Far East), but the restoration of cane chairs in particular. The
final part of the day covered many examples of both art and furniture
(including Ham House) now in the
Margaret Bellis & Margery Mellor.
