Flemish and Dutch paintings - Portraits, genre scenes, landscapes

This oil on canvas dating from 1620 is a characteristic example of the Flemish primitive style which developed in the northern regions of Europe during the late Middle Ages. This surprisingly realistic portrait on a plain, neutral background depicts a man wearing a doctor's hat.

The work of the shiny black fabric contrasting the transparent white of the ruff, the finesse of the hair and the precision of the work on the eye, reveal the great mastery of the painter.

Thanks to the introduction of new painting techniques in this era, the painter demonstrates real naturalism and realism in his brushstrokes, in order to be as faithful as possible to the model.

The antique-style backdrop and the perspective of a pleasure garden testify to the good taste and the erudition of this aristocrat accompanied by his wife and daughter.

It is a question here of displaying his possessions and his wealth, in a society where appearances are the main focus.

This display is evoked by the beautiful outfits (finesse of coloring and meticulous detailing of fabrics), elaborate hairstyles…

…and the presence of a rug, on the right, probably coming from the East, on which rare fruits are placed.

The dog, a symbol of loyalty, also provides this refined but frozen scene with a moment of time from a prosperous life.

This high ranking member of the Dutch army, or officer of the civilian militia, is depicted in three-quarter profile in this oil on canvas by Cornelis Bisschop. A 17th century Dutch painter, he was known for his powerful realism in his portraits, for which he accepted no concessions.

This portrait depicts this officer richly dressed, holding his head up in a very dignified manner. His hand is placed on his harness and his gaze is penetrating.

A successful painter, much appreciated by the Amsterdam upper class, Thomas Henricksz de Keser depicts here a person of note, his groom and his horse in an antique backdrop against a Mediterranean landscape setting.

The presence of the statue of Hercule Farnèse with his souvenirs of the 12 Labors (club, Nemean lion skin, golden apple of the Hesperides) suggests the power and erudition of this lord.

Guerrit Dou owes much of his talent to the great master Rembrandt. His specialty would become the chiaroscuro, a very recognizable style in Nordic painting.
This Young Woman holding a lamp is a perfect example of this study of light.

The soft glow from the candle flame subtly illuminates this young woman's face, glides across the fabric, and passes through the fingers of her hand, leaving the rest of the scene in shadow.

Dou is not the only one to work with light in these works. Goldfried Cornelisz Schlacken, from the Leiden School, also uses ingenious effects and techniques in order to create this soft, meticulous touch that we see in this Young Woman blowing on a stove.

The rendering of the different textures is revealed and modeled by the artificial light which, down to the last details of the small sparks escaping from the stove, would give the scene a certain poetry.

By the same painter, Jan Miensz Molenaer, this oil on wood features a scene from the daily life of a fortune teller.

A man, most likely a bourgeois, has come to ask her about his future.

A maid, in the shadows, is most likely bringing her new clients.

On the left, in the half-light, a man, perhaps accompanied by a woman, pushes back the curtains that are hiding a bed.

This is about denouncing the pleasures arising from excessive consumption: tobacco, gambling, lust, etc., because for the moralists of the 17th century, these are the mark "of a lazy nature and therefore by extension the attribute of personified vice".

Particularly appreciated by his contemporaries, Pieter Bout often worked with landscape painters, the most famous of whom were Jacques d'Arthois, or as here, Adriaen Frans Boudewijns.

This scene of popular piety combines the work of these two painters. Pieter Bout's work is above all recognized by his way of placing small figures in a half-rural, half-urban panorama.

As for Boudewijns, he demonstrates a sharp sense of observation but also of interpretation in his brushstrokes. It is through his architectures and his detailed touch for foliage that the spectator can admire the extent of his study.

Genre painting saw considerable success among the Antwerp bourgeoisie in the 18th century, who liked to be portrayed in everyday situations or in solemn contexts such as notarized acts.
Here, five people are gathered in a notary's office to sign a marriage contract.

The future spouses are seated on one side of the table facing the lawyer and flanked by, presumably, two witnesses.

With a wave of her hand, the woman addresses her husband who is holding a sheet, on which is probably the list of respective possessions. The upholstery is decorated with Cordoba leather.

Andreas Schelfhout brought winter scene painting to its highest level. He is one of the central figures from the Hague School in the first half of the 19th century.

Worked in a cold and luminous color harmony where the adamantine clarity of the ice mixes with the blue tones of winter, this scene of daily life on one of the canals of The Hague is very imbued with the influences that the painter was subjected to during his stays in Paris.

This large painting allows the spectator to appreciate the precision and realism of Schelfhout's work: the finesse of the branches, the composition of the brick wall, the scratched ice, taking our gaze far into the background where the city is shown, and where we can still distinguish the presence of a mill.

The beach at Scheveningen, near The Hague, was chosen many times over as a motif by the Dutch landscape painters. This type of panorama indeed made it possible to merge several genres: the seascape, the landscape, and the genre scene. The paintings featuring this seashore were so numerous that they are today considered as an independent category in 17th century Dutch landscape painting.

This coastal landscape is painted in shades whose warm browns in the foreground cool off toward the distance.

It is enhanced by a few notes of bright red, skillfully placed on the rider's jacket, the merchant's dress, and the villager's skirt, and by a luminous white for the horse's coat.

Painted at the end of his life, this view of Elten follows a trip that Jan van Goyen made to the banks of the Dutch Rhine in 1650 and 1651.

The impression of depth is suggested by the superimposition of horizontal bands of different sizes.

The horizon is placed low on the canvas, the foreground in shadow gives the idea of depth, while the sky, which takes up almost the entire composition, gives the painting all of its atmosphere, be it joyful, threatening, or majestic.

Simon Denis captures nature at the moment when the elements are unleashed, that moment when the wind brings the first raindrops to fall on the trees before the storm.

Here, the small figures and the cows are mere extras against a majestic backdrop with idealistic resonances.
This painting shows a desire for realism mixed with an idealized conception of nature, which is the very substance of neoclassicism, a movement to which this painter can be linked.

Probably produced in the early 1640s, this canvas is in keeping with the collective of Flemish landscapes which clearly influenced the Dutch conception of the pastoral scene.

In the middle of a winding path, a shepherd kneels before a shepherdess, squeezing her hand as if making a declaration of love to her.
A herd of goats surrounds them.

On the right, the perspective gives rise to a beautiful view over a vast panorama, in the background of which we can make out buildings, some of which have towers.

This pastoral scene is bathed in a warm harmony of yellowish browns with rich contrasting tones, animated by the small colored patches of the couple's clothing and the vivid white of the goats' fur.

Still life paintings are another genre much favored by Flemish painters for the attention to detail that they can bring to them, like with this oil on wood by Willem Gabron.

Here, this abandoned meal suggests the frailty of human existence.

The robustness of the tin and silver objects is set against the fragility of the glassware.

The brevity of our existence and the joys that are only fleeting are illustrated by the foodstuffs presented. Wine and beer, symbols of drunkenness; open oysters, an image of carnal pleasure; lemon peel also evoking the precariousness of life.

The skilfully organized disorder of this composition on copper by Jan van Kessel (known as the Old Man) also symbolically evokes the cycle of life and the fragility of human existence: a white butterfly, cut flowers, a fallen rose, a wicker basket containing wilted tulips dangling above the ground, snowballs, and a poppy.
The apples add the message of original sin to the register.

Note the presence of small domestic animals, recurrent in the still life paintings of this artist. Here, he has chosen a guinea pig.