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Micheline's Blog

Tag Archives: Netherlands

The Coronavirus.2

11 Wednesday Mar 2020

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Disease, Illustrations, Middle Ages

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Coronavirus, Netherlands, Pieter Bruegel, Plague

Thetriumphofdeath

The Triumph of Death by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

This may seem to contradict an earlier post on Intellectual Property, but it doesn’t.

One copies, but one names one’s source. My post on Coronavirus can be shared.

Would that we could listen time and again to Smetana’s “Moldau.” Played on the harp by a lovely young woman, it is heavenly. But the spectrum of heavenly music is rather wide.

Love to everyone ♥

1024px-Pieter_Bruegel_d._Ä._037

The Land of Cockaigne (1567), Alte Pinakothek, an illustration of the  medieval mythical land of plenty called Cockaigne, by Pieter Brueghel the Elder (Wikipedia)

© Micheline Walker
11 March 2020
WordPress

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The Netherlandish Renaissance: a Glimpse

01 Sunday Dec 2013

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Music

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Adrian Willaert, Albrecht Dürer, Franco-Flemish school, Hare, Heinrich Isaac, mistakes, Netherlands, Renaissance

 hare-1528-1
Hare by Albrecht Dürer, 1528
 

Little Mistakes

Once my post on Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published, on 29 November 2013, I realized there were mistakes: typos and repetitions.  So I played editor and now fear that WordPress will fire me.  They should!

Typos and repetitions are the bane of people who suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome /Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.  We repeat  sentences, misspell words and get lost in mid-sentence.  Fortunately, we are perfectly lucid.  CFS/ME is a neurological illness for which there is no known cure.

CFS/ME may be triggered by the H1N1 virus (1976 epidemic), which is my case.  It is a debilitating condition, but it can be managed.  One must organize one’s daily activities.  Never go beyond your limits and ignore the people who think you are an imaginary invalid and tell you to go to a gym every day.  If you do, you may not have sufficient energy to lead a ‘normal’ life, i.e. to earn a living. Exercise in moderation.

About Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)

In my post, I  stated that Harriet Beecher Stowe (14 June 1811 – 1 July 1896) was not an abolitionist, which seemed strange.  Sources differ.  According to Wikipedia, Stowe was an abolitionist, but not according to the Oxford Companion to American Literature.

I doubt that anyone made a mistake.  Beecher’s views may have changed.  For instance, she travelled to Kentucky to escape a cholera epidemic and was taken to a slave auction, which was a wake-up call.  Moreover, at some point in her life, she and her father, Lyman Beecher, an austere and controversial figure, parted ways.  Finally, she married Calvin Ellis Stowe (6 April 1802 – 22 August 1886), an active abolitionist and a member of the Underground Railroad.

My next post is almost ready, so this is an ‘in-between’ post.

imagesCARO0FZR

The Netherlandish & Northern Renaissance

The hare featured above is Albrecht Dürer‘s (21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528).  It must be one of Dürer’s last paintings.  It is a watercolour painting, but the white specks on the hare’s fur are little touches of gouache.  Gouache was also applied to the hare’s nose.

Dürer did not let his colours run.  He painted on dry paper (cotton), which has remained an acceptable practice.  He was a superb draftsman who often used ink and personalized his art using a logo (shown above).

Albrecht lived during the Northern Renaissance.  But, at that moment in history, the Netherlands was the cultural hub of Europe, especially in the area of music.  The Franco-Flemish style dominated Western music.  Adrian Willaert (ca 1490 – 7 December 1562) was asked to go to Venice, where he founded the Venetian School.  At that time, musicians were perfecting polyphony, combining voices.

Heinrich Isaac: Netherlandish Renaissance

The music is Heinrich Isaac‘s (c. 1450 – 26 March 1517) Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen, Innsbruck, I must leave you.  Isaac is associated with the Netherlandish Renaissance. Innsbruck, ich must dich lassen is one of the most famous compositions in Western music.  It was made into a Lutheran chorale entitled O Welt, ich muss dich lassen (O World, I must leave you).  It was also used by Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March 1685 – 28 July 1750) in In allen meinen Taten, a Church cantata, BMW 97.

446px-Innsbruck_castle_courtyardcourtyard-of-the-former-castle-in-innsbruck-with-clouds-1494
Courtyard of the Former Castle in Innsbruck without Clouds, by A. Dürer, c 1494
Courtyard of the Former Castle in Innsbruck with Clouds, by A. Dürer, c 1494
 
Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen (artwork by Pieter Bruegel the Elder)
 

Young Hare by Dürer, 1502

© Micheline Walker
30 November 2013
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Hendrick Avercamp, Comments & the News

02 Sunday Dec 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, History

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Balthasar van der Ast, Francis Drake, Hendrick Avercamp, Martin Frobisher, Netherlands, Still-life Paintings, Walter Raleigh

Winter Landscape, Hendrick Avercamp (Photo credit: Wikimedia)
Winter Landscape, Hendrick Avercamp
(Photo credit: Wikimedia)
 

Looking at the Past Week

It was not an easy week for this author. If there is any way to avoid bunions, use it. The only possible cause I can think of, in my case, is being made to look feminine by wearing shoes that had high heels and a pointed front. However, the cause could be genetic. At any rate, try to avoid the surgery. Your doctor will supply you with morphine and codeine, but if you kill the pain entirely, you may not notice that there is infection.

The week was otherwise rather pleasant and informative.  We saw that:

  • Sir Walter Raleigh was instrumental in spreading the love of tobacco in Europe.
  • We were introduced to Queen Elizabeth I’s four “sea dogs:” Sir Francis Drake, Sir Martin Frobisher, Sir John Hawkins and Sir Walter Raleigh. All four participated in repelling the Spanish Armada (1588).
  • We noted that there was “legitimate” piracy. These legitimate pirates were called privateers and made a fortune on their own, but they were also in the service of the Crown: Elizabeth the first’s England. Although they were privateers in England, they were pirates in the eyes of the enemy du jour, Spain.
  • Furthermore, we have associated the rise of capitalism with explorations.  I did not know about the Muscovy Trading Company.  But as a Canadian, I was familiar with the Hudson’s Bay Company.
  • We saw that still-life painting in the seventeenth-century Netherlands were Vanitas. They reminded human beings of their mortality.
  • We met Balthasar van der Ast, his brother-in-law Ambrosius Bosschaert, his three Bosschaert nephews and Roelandt Savery, an artist but also a scientist.
  • I nearly forgot the unfortunate dodo. Savery made paintings of the now extinct dodo.

Hendrick Avercamp: Winter and Playing Golf on Ice

And now that winter is here, we are being introduced to Hendrick Avercamp, a seventeenth-century Dutch artist who painted many lovely winter scenes. Thanks to the internet, we can see that in the Netherlands of the seventeenth century, people played golf on ice wearing skates and looked very much as though they were playing hockey. Moreover, in the Netherlands one could commute quickly by skating down frozen waterways. As well, notice the shape of the roofs.

(click on picture to enlarge) 
Winter Landscape with Skaters, by  Henrick Avercamp

Winter Landscape with Skaters, by Hendrick Avercamp

The News

English
The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/
The Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
The Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
The Montreal Gazette: http://www.montrealgazette.com/index.html
Le Monde diplomatique: http://mondediplo.com/ EN
 
CBC News: http://www.cbc.ca/news/
CTV News: http://www.ctvnews.ca/
CNN News: http://www.cnn.com/
 
French:
Le Monde: http://www.lemonde.fr/
Le Monde diplomatique: http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/
Le Devoir: http://www.ledevoir.com/
La Presse: http://www.lapresse.ca/
 
German:
Die Welt: http://www.welt.de/
 
composer: Antonio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741),
piece:  The Seasons, Winter, 2nd movement, piano arrangement
performers: Apollo Chamber Ensemble 
 
 
 
Related articles
  • Sir Martin Frobisher as Privateer and Hero to his Queen (michelinewalker.com)
  • Comments on Simon Frobisher as Privateer (michelinewalker.com)
  • Still-life Paintings: Vanitas Vanitatum (michelinewalker.com)
  • Roelandt Savery: from Flowers to the Dodo (michelinewalker.com)
  • The Bosschaert “Dynasty,” Jan Davidsz de Heem & Bartholomeus Assteyn (michelinewalker.com)

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Roelandt Savery: from Flowers to the Dodo

30 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Art

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Balthasar van der Ast, Bosschaert dynasty, Encyclopædia Britannica Online, Gillis d'Hondecoeter, Gillis van Conninxloo, Jan Davidsz. de Heem, Mannerism, Netherlands, the dodo, Utrecht

Stilllife (130x80cm, 1624) the largest painting he ever made, with 44 different species of animals and 63 species of flowers.[3]

Still life (130x80cm, 1624) the largest painting [Roelandt] ever made, with 44 different species of animals and 63 species of flowers.

Still-Life Paintings

Roelandt Savery (1576 – buried 25 February 1639), was a friend of Balthasar van der Ast and Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder. Roelandt Savery bought a house in Utrecht where he joined the Guild of St Luke. The house had a large garden visited by fellow artists. Not only could fellow artists observe flowers, many of which were new to the Netherlands, such as tulips, but they could also examine little animals  and incorporate them in their still-life paintings.

Before moving to Utrecht, Savery had owned a house in Amsterdam that he did not sell and which also had a large garden for artist friends to visit and from which to drew their inspiration.

The above painting is Savery’s most famous still life. Given, however, that it represents 44 species of animals and 63 species of flowers (see the caption), it is difficult to call it a still-life. It is brimming with life.

bouquet1

Bouquet of Flowers (detail), 
by Roelandt Savery, 1612

(please click on the picture to enlarge it)

Gillis d’Hondecoeter and Gillis van Conninxloo

As a student, Savery had traveled to Prague around 1604, where he became court painter of the Emperors Rudolf II (1552-1612) and Mathias (1557-1619), who had made their court a center of Mannerist art. Between 1606-1608 he traveled to Tyrol to study plants.

Moreover, Savery met Gillis d’Hondecoeter (Antwerp, ca. 1575-1580 – Amsterdam, buried 17 October 1638) and became his student. Gillis d’Hondecoeter painted landscapes, trees, fowl and birds. Savery also studied under Gillis van Conninxloo (1544 – 1607) a landscape artist.

Therefore, although Roelandt Savery painted a number of still-life paintings resembling the still-lives of Balthasar van der Ast, he was interested in both flora and fauna and, particularly, in the dodo.

The Dodo

(please click on the picture to enlarge it)

Landscape with Birds showing a Dodo in the lower right, by Roelant Savery, 1628

Gillis d’Hondecoeter had painted the now extinct dodo, a former inhabitant of the island of Mauritius, and so would Savery and his student and nephew Jan Savery (1589, Haarlem – bur. 7 August 1654, Utrecht).

© Micheline Walker
November 30th, 2012
WordPress
 
Photo credit: Wikipedia
and Web Gallery of Art
 
One of the most famous paintings of a dodo, from 1626. The image came into the possession of the ornithologist George Edwards, who later gave it to the British Museum.

One of the most famous paintings of a dodo, from 1626. The image [by Roelandt Savery] came into the possession of the ornithologist George Edwards, who later gave it to the British Museum.

Mannerism

Savery’s style is associated with Mannerism.  As mentioned above the court Emperors Rudolf II and Mathias were centers of Mannerist art.  Mannerists paint figures with elongated and at times distorted limbs. Their paintings are very busy and meticulous. The movement was a reaction against the harmonious realism of High Renaissance artists: Leonardo da Vinci (April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519, Michelangelo (6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564) and Raphael (April 6 or March 28, 1483 – April 6, 1520). Yet, Michelangelo was an early Mannerist.

Conclusion

(click on the picture to enlarge it)
Paradise, by Roelant Savery

The Paradise (detail), by Roelandt Savery, 1618

Roelandt Savery went bankrupt in 1638, because of heavy drinking, and died a few months later. He was a still-life painter, but he also painted landscapes, trees, fowl, animals and, among animals, the dodo. So his legacy is immense and varied.

We will therefore look at paintings by members of the Bosschaert “dynasty,” by Jan Davidszoon de Heem, by artists who also studied under Balthasar van der Ast, and still-life paintings by other more traditional Dutch Masters.

Yet, Savery’s still-life painting, featured at the beginning of this post, is an epiphany and the model for many, albeit less abundant, still-lives of his age.

 

RELATED ARTICLE

  • Still-life Paintings: Vanitas Vanitatum (michelinewalker.com)

_________________________

[1] “Mannerism”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2012 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/362538/Mannerism>.

[2] “Dodo”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2012
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/167601/dodo>.

Jan Savery, 1561

Jan Savery, 1561

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The Hague School: Hendrik Willem Mesdag

11 Friday May 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Art

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Barbizon School, Carl Larsson, Hague, Hague School, Hendrik Willem Mesdag, Netherlands, Pulchri Studio, Wikipedia, Willem Roelofs

Pink in the Breakers, by Mesdag (23 February 1831 – 10 July 1915)

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)                             
Preparations for Departure, Mesdag

The Art of Hendrik Willem Mesdag

When I discovered the work of Dutch marine painter Hendrik Willem Mesdag, I caught a tiny glimpse of all things infinite.  Look at the yellow and mauve hues of the sky in the picture to your left.  If I lived near a marina, I would produce paintings of tall ships and sailboats.  Mesdag’s paintings therefore speak to me.  They are immensely evocative. 

My ancestors crossed the ocean in sail boats to settle on the North-American continent.  

(please click on the pictures to enlarge them) 
Beethoven: Sonatas for Cello and Piano, Rostropovich & Richter 
(also click on the title to hear the music)
 

Hendrik Willem Mesdag was born in Groningen, the Netherlands.  He was the son of banker Klaas Mesdag and his wife Johanna Wilhelmina van Giffen.  Hendrik Willem’s father was an amateur painter and encouraged his son to persevere in his artistic endeavours.

Mesdag married Sina van Houten (also an artist) in 1856 and, after the couple inherited a fortune from Sina’s family, Mesdag was able to go to Brussels and study art under Willem Roelofs who would later join the Hague School (described below).

In 1868, the Mesdags moved to The Hague, which allowed Mesdag to paint his seascapes with sailboats, a vanishing world.  In 1870, Mesdag won a gold medal for The Breakers of the North Sea at the Paris Salon, the official art exhibition of the Paris Académie des Beaux-Arts.  Between 1748–1890, the Paris Salon was “the greatest annual or biannual art event in the Western world.” (Wikipedia)

The Hague School

Mesdag is associated with The Hague School and was also a member of the Pulchri [beauty] Studio, an art society of which he was elected chairman in 1889.  Members of the Hague School were painters who, following members of the plein air (outdoors) Barbizon School, Corot for instance, painted their surroundings: landcapes, seascapes, farm animals (cows, sheep, etc.).  They painted their world, yet a world we can identify as well as identify with, and which can therefore be especially evocative.

Critic, Jacob van Santen Kolff, who coined the term The Hague School, spoke of “a new way of seeing and depicting things” and of an “intent to convey mood, [where] tone takes precedence over color.”  Hague School artists had a preference for the consummately dramatic ‘bad weather’ effects, and for a “gray mood.”  Many enjoyed using dark colours, which is, in fact, a characteristic of the The Hague School. (Wikipedia)

It is true that an approaching storm is quite literally breathtaking.  We wait for what is about to happen and, if what happens is not destructive, nature is refreshed and acquires an intoxicating smell.  There is, in the world of art, a love of approaching storms and of storms.  They are a drama and they have a resolution.  This could be said of Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony, “The Pastoral.”  As for Mesdag, a marine painter, his moods are contained in seascapes and sailboats.

Members of the Hague School 

Members of the Hague School, also called the Romantic period in Dutch painting, were active between 1860-1890 and its representatives include Mesdag’s teacher Willem Roelofs (1822-1897), mentioned above, Israëls, Jozef (1824-1911) who was from Groningen, Gerard Bilders (1838-1865),  Gerard’s father Johannes Warnardus Bilders (1811-1890),  Paul Gabriël 1828- 1903), Jacob Maris (1837-1899), Anton Mauve (1838-1888), and several other artists.  All are listed in the Wikipedia entry on the Hague School. 

Wikipedia is very generous.  Its Hague School entry provides us with the name of all its members and each name is a link, which affords us the privilege of spending several hours visiting various “art galleries,” private collections and sites featuring works for sale or sold in art auctions.

Realism and Naturalism

Not all members of the Hague School chose to depict the sea.  They in fact depicted a variety of motifs or “subjects,” but all painted familiar scenes, or what they saw or their vision of what they saw.  They therefore produced landscapes, seascapes, paintings of farm animals and other subjects.  They were chroniclers and shared a common umbrella in the fine arts: Realism and Naturalism.  However, it was first and foremost a Dutch school. 

Looking at the works of the Hague School, one thinks first of the Dutch masters, such as Vermeer.  Second we think of earlier artists, the Limbourg brothers, miniaturists who decorated Jean de France’s book of Hours, Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry.  But let us return to Mesdag and witness the whims of fashion. 

The Scheveningen Panorama

According to Wikipedia, “[i]n 1880 [Mesdag] received a commission from a Belgian company to paint a panorama giving a view over the village of Scheveningen on the North Sea coast near The Hague.”  However, Mesdag bought his own Panorama at an auction when the buyers’ company crumbled.  Suddenly, realism and naturalism had gone out of fashion.   

Carl Larsson’s Midvinterblot

Hendrik Willem Mesdag’s Scheveningen Panorama seems to have suffered the same fate as Carl Larsson’s Midvinterblot, a rejection of realistic and naturalistic art.  Abstract art can be extremely beautiful, but there is nothing wrong with Leonardo da’ Vinci’s “Mona Lisa.”

The Museum Mesdag

In 1903, Mesdag and Sina gave their house at Laan van Meerdervoort and their collection of works of art to the Netherlands. They had acquired many works of art, including Japanese art.  Laan van Meerdervoort is now the Museum Mesdag.

There is a sense in which this story is its own conclusion. Fashions change, but the Pendulum swings back.  More importantly,there are works the beauty of which can never be Diminished. This discussion is not over.

 

The return of the fishing fleet on Scheveningen Beach, by Mesdag

(Photo credit: artnet.com)
Micheline Walker©
May 11, 2012
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