LILY

​​ Dutch Still Life Paintings

Jan Davidsz de Heem Dutch, 1606-1683/1684
 * //Vase of Flowers//**, 1660

**Willem Claesz Heda** Dutch, 1593/1594- 1680
 * //Banquet Piece with Mince Pie//**, 1635

**Isack Van Ostade** Dutch, 1621-1649
 * //Workmen before an Inn//**, 1645

**Willem Van Aelst** Dutch, 1626-1683
 * //Still Life with Dead Game//**, 1661

**Aelbert Cuyp** Dutch, 1620-1691
 * //The Maas at Dordrecht//**, 1650

Powerpoint

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Demo of a still life.

Notes for Powerpoint

** Slide 2: ** ** History ** - Ma ny wars in this area in the 1500s which forced the population into mass migrations yielded 2 distinct groups w/ different values and tastes in art. - Flanders (modern-day Belgium) was under the domination of Spain and remained Catholic and religious images were allowed to appear in art. - The northern countries, Holland, was dominated by **Calvinists** who believed that altarpieces and religious images encourages idol worship and were not allowed to paint them, this is why artists turned towards nature and daily life for subject matter for work- birth of still life paintings. - Even though the subject matter is seemingly simple, Dutch still life paintings are actually quite complicated and often play with the idea of “realism” and have many underlying significant meaning hidden in the paintings. - Exotic flowers were a common theme in Dutch still life paintings; they showed the amount of interest that the Dutch people had in science as well as their expertise in botany. à tulips were even used as money in Amsterdam - Example of deceptive apparent realism in Dutch art: the 31 species of plants in the vase cannot bloom in the same season. - Stick a feeling of religion into painting: the flowers closest to the top thrive in the sunlight (heaven) while the ones closer to the bottom and farther from heaven are dead and wilted. - Salamander, spider, snail, ants: symbolize night and decay - Butterfly, caterpillar, moth: symbolize rebirth - Slide 7: the reflection of the window: very cool. - The artist’s largest known painting - Appears to be a normal feast, but the plates and knives teeter over the edge of the table, actually a very unordinary-looking feast - The half-peeled lemon and candle represent the briefness of life - Example of how Dutch artists preferred to use monochrome and almost dull colors for their works from around the 1620s to the 1640s. - You can’t see the brushstrokes- so meticulously painted, can see almost no artist work at all. - While tavern drinker and idlers frequently appear in Dutch still life paintings, depictions of workers restocking an inn are very unusual, which is shown in this painting. - May suggest the conflicting values represented by the contrast between the tavern and the church (steeple over the village) - The stork’s nest is a sign of good luck on the tavern chimney - Because the painting is life size but it’s of dead animals kind of creates a sense of reality, but somewhat misleading because the animals are dead. - The only sign of life in the entire painting is the fly on the rooster’s head. - Van aelst was one of the first still-life painters to paint dead hunt animals, influenced later French, British and American hunt still lifes. - Dark setting, gives the painting an eerie feel. - Amazing shadows transitioning from the rooster to the rabbit. ** Slide 19: Boat ** - Scene of Holland’s Maas River which flows through France and Belgium, where it is known as the Meuse. Scene of the 2 week-long festival in honor of 30,000 soldiers which was held at the estuary at Dordrecht after the end of the Eighty Years’ War (July 12th, 1646) - The composition accents one figure: the dude standing in the dinghy beside the huge ship à the anchored ships on the left kind of point at him as well as some of the rigging lines, his head lies directly on the horizon, black apparel greatly contrasts from the light nature of the painting. - However, the building on the left might be a church? And the wood poles on the boats seem to point towards it. or it may be the capitol building?
 * Slide 3-7: Flowers **
 * Slide 8-12: Banquet **
 * Slides 13-15: Tavern/Inn **
 * Slides 16-18: Dead Stuff **