Art History 333
Netherlandish Painting of the 17th Century

Ideally, a student enrolling in this course should already have successfully completed a survey course in Renaissance to Modern Art (such as Art History 202). This is not actually a departmental requirement, but students who lack such background may find themselves at a disadvantage during the first few weeks.

The artists covered in detail in this course are Rubens, Van Dyck, Jordaens, Brouwer, Terbrugghen, Hals, Rembrandt and Vermeer. A general overview of stylistic changes in landscape, still life and genre painting will also be given, touching briefly upon such artists as Jacob van Ruisdael, Jan Davidsz de Heem and Jan Steen, among others.

In order to give a clearer picture of the basic stylistic and iconographic differences between the art produced in Catholic Flanders (e.g., Rubens and Van Dyck) as opposed to that of the Calvinist United Provinces, or "Holland" (e.g., Rembrandt and Vermeer), the course is divided along geographic lines. The first half of the course deals with Flemish painting, with emphasis on the Rubens studio in Antwerp, while the second half takes up the Dutch schools of Utrecht, Haarlem, Amsterdam and Delft, with emphasis on Rembrandt.

Two one-hour examinations will be given during the semester, along with the final examination. They will be weighted equally.

Each graduate student will be required to present a research paper of 10-15 pages, which will count as 1/3 of the course grade. The topic of the paper is subject to the professor's approval, but may deal with the student's particular area of interest (economic history, glass-blowing or whatever) insofar as it has bearing on the material covered in the course.