#The Netherlands

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Still Life with a Golden Goblet by Pieter de Ring

Why is food such a popular image for art and culture? For millennia it has been a source of inspiration from ancient Roman mosaics through Dutch...

James W Singer 22 December 2024

Women Artists

Maria Sibylla Merian. An Artist Who Changed Science Forever

In the 17th century, it has been widely believed that insects were just spontaneously born of mud, dirt, or rotting flesh, but that notion has been...

Nicole Ganbold 9 December 2024

Painting

Carel Fabritius in 10 Paintings: Rembrandt’s Most Promising Pupil

Any biography of Carel Fabritius (Dutch, 1622–1654) is necessarily short; there simply is not much known about him. He was born in Beemster, a...

Tom Anderson 9 December 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Young Woman Peeling Apples by Nicolaes Maes

Today’s Masterpiece Story is about this lovely genre painting by Nicolaes Maes (1634-1693), a Dutch Golden Age painter who specialized in...

Alexandra Kiely 8 December 2024

Jan Havicksz Steen, Woman at her Toilet, 1655-60, oil on panel, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Woman at Her Toilet by Jan Steen

Jan Steen’s Woman at Her Toilet is a provocative masterpiece of genre paintings because of its visual complexity and seductive allure, inviting...

James W Singer 8 December 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Gallant Conversation by Gerard ter Borch

Gallant Conversation by Gerard ter Borch is a genre painting filled with a mysterious narrative. What are the three people doing? Why are they in a...

James W Singer 8 December 2024

Quiz

QUIZ: Who Painted the Party? Awesome Parties in Art History

Ledys Chemin 7 December 2024

History

Yes, Santa Claus Is Real! His Name Is St. Nicholas

Who dressed in winter robes, bestowed gifts under the cover of night, and became a hero to children? This describes Nicholas of Myra, a Middle...

Helen Jeffery 6 December 2024

Piet Mondrian's Composition: Piet Mondrian, Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow, 1930, Kunsthaus Zürich, Switzerland. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow by Piet Mondrian

Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow is a golden example of Abstraction, De Stijl, and Constructivism. It purges the art of individual subjects by...

James W Singer 1 December 2024

Art History 101

A Small Guide to Still Life Symbols

You may think that all those marvelous Dutch still lifes from the 16th and 17th centuries were just some random sets of fruits, vegetables, and...

Zuzanna Stańska, Nicole Ganbold 26 November 2024

Baroque

Beautiful Chinese Porcelain in Dutch Still Lifes

Chinese culture has always been an object of European fascination – in art history, we see it in paintings, ornaments, architecture, fashion, and...

Nicole Ganbold 26 November 2024

Baroque

Dutch Still Life Explained in 6 Famous Painters

In the art world, it is commonly agreed upon that still life painting as a genre rose in the Netherlands in the last quarter of the 16th century. The...

Irina Diana Calu 26 November 2024