#Dutch Golden Age

Jacobus Vrel (act. ca. 1650-1670), A Woman at a Window Waving at a Child, Fondation Custodia, Frits Lugt Collection, Paris Artist Stories

A Dutch Mystery: Jacobus Vrel

Jacobus Vrel is a ghostly figure in art history because, up to this moment, there is almost no official data about him. No record of his existence...

Irina Diana Calu 19 December 2025

Baroque

Frans Hals in 10 Paintings

Frans Hals, the prominent Dutch Golden Age painter, left an enduring legacy through his exceptional mastery of portraiture. The way he captured the...

Nicole Ganbold 19 December 2025

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 18 December 2025

Animals

The Goldfinch: Singing Across Time

See the lonely little bird, trapped in a situation over which it has no control. Chained, isolated. Sounds familiar? In these strange times we need...

Candy Bedworth 17 December 2025

Dine & Wine

This Article Is Only About Cheese in Painting

This article is best enjoyed with blue cheese fondue, a cheesecake, toast with butter and cheese, some nice onion soup with cheddar, a cheese muffin,...

Magda Michalska 4 December 2025

Dine & Wine

Baroque Foodies—Social Media of the Dutch Golden Age

Carefully arranged plates of food surrounded by carefully planned out backgrounds, images with hidden meanings, a snapshot of wealth… What may...

Rachel Witte 4 December 2025

Oosterwijck Painting

Maria van Oosterwijck in 5 Paintings

Maria van Oosterwijck was a talented but often overlooked artist of the Dutch Golden Age. She turned simple flowers into small stories about life,...

Jimena Aullet 27 October 2025

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 14 October 2025

Painting

Art and Science in Vermeer Paintings

As a scientist, I have always been attracted to images of science in works of art—whether a portrait of Newton, a depiction of Galileo using his...

Tom Anderson 14 October 2025

Jan de Baen (attributed to), The Corpses of the De Witt Brothers, c. 1672 - c. 1675, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands WTF Art History

A Bizarre Story of Brothers De Witt Who Were… Eaten by a Mob?

Legend has it that in 1672, two important Dutch statesmen and brothers, Johan and Cornelis de Witt, were murdered, mutilated, and eaten by an angry...

Nicole Ganbold 6 October 2025

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 3 August 2025

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Woman in a Large Hat by Caesar van Everdingen

Caesar van Everdingen’s Woman in a Large Hat is a captivating oil-on-linen painting that offers a fascinating glimpse into 17th-century Dutch...

Alessia Caldana 20 July 2025