Dutch Golden Age

Painting in the Dutch Republic in the seventeenth century, when a small, rich, Protestant trading nation produced more pictures than any country before it. With no church altarpieces and no royal court to speak of, painters sold to merchants and burghers, and specialised: portraits and group portraits (Rembrandt, Frans Hals), quiet interiors (Vermeer, Pieter de Hooch), lively tavern scenes (Jan Steen), flat landscapes under huge skies (Ruisdael), seascapes, church interiors and still lifes of flowers, food and silver. Technique is often astonishingly exact, and ordinary life is treated with dignity and a moral undertone.

How to tell it apart: Flemish and Italian Baroque is grand, religious and full of movement; Dutch painting is smaller, calmer and about everyday life, with cool daylight and precise detail.

3,071 works in the quiz. Play a round on Dutch Golden Age.

Artists

Rembrandt · Johannes Vermeer · Frans Hals · Carel Fabritius · Gerard van Honthorst · Jan Steen · Jacob van Ruisdael · Judith Leyster · Gerrit Dou · Pieter Claesz · Pieter de Hooch · Jan Davidsz. de Heem · Aelbert Cuyp · Samuel van Hoogstraten · Gerard ter Borch · Willem Claesz. Heda · Jan van Goyen · Meindert Hobbema · Govert Flinck · Albert Eckhout · Ambrosius Bosschaert · Jan Lievens · Bartholomeus van der Helst · Adriaen van Ostade · Paulus Potter · Daniël Mijtens · Jan van der Heyden · Godfried Schalcken · Arent de Gelder · Roelant Savery

Best-known works

“Girl with a Pearl Earring” — Johannes Vermeer, 1665
“The Night Watch” — Rembrandt, 1642
“The Milkmaid” — Johannes Vermeer, 1660
“The Goldfinch” — Carel Fabritius, 1654
“The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp” — Rembrandt, 1632
“View of Delft” — Johannes Vermeer, 1661
“Return of the Prodigal Son” — Rembrandt, 1668
“Danaë” — Rembrandt, 1636
“The Procuress” — Johannes Vermeer, 1656
“The Jewish Bride” — Rembrandt, 1667
“The Art of Painting” — Johannes Vermeer, 1667
“Belshazzar's Feast” — Rembrandt, 1636
“Malle Babbe” — Frans Hals, 1640–1646
“The Storm on the Sea of Galilee” — Rembrandt, 1633
“The Feast of Saint Nicholas” — Jan Steen, 1665
“The Geographer” — Johannes Vermeer, 1668
“Syndics of the Drapers' Guild” — Rembrandt, 1662
“The Concert” — Johannes Vermeer, 1663
“The Courtyard of a House in Delft” — Pieter de Hooch, 1658
“Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window” — Johannes Vermeer, 1658
“A Militiaman Holding a Berkemeyer, Known as the ‘Merry Drinker’” — Frans Hals, 1629
“Diana and her Nymphs” — Johannes Vermeer, 1655–1656
“The Abduction of Europa” — Rembrandt, 1632
“The Lacemaker” — Johannes Vermeer, 1669
“The Little Street” — Johannes Vermeer, 1658
“Aristotle with a Bust of Homer” — Rembrandt, 1653
“A Girl Asleep” — Johannes Vermeer, 1657
“Landscape with Obelisk” — Govert Flinck, 1638
“Woman with a Water Jug” — Johannes Vermeer, 1660
“Woman Holding a Balance” — Johannes Vermeer, 1665