Nine Reasons to Smile with Frans Hals’ Portraits
Frans Hals (c. 1582–1666) was one of the Dutch Golden Age painters. Born in Antwerp, he spent his entire adult life in Haarlem. Hals is most famous...
Joanna Kaszubowska 20 January 2025
#Dutch Golden Age
Masterpiece Story: Threatened Swan by Jan Asselijn
Swans are normally characterized as graceful birds. They are magnificent and majestic. However, Jan Asselijn displays another side of these elegant...
James W Singer 5 January 2025
Hendrick Avercamp: Chronicler of the Little Ice Age
A dog tears at the carcass of a long-dead horse. Nearby, a man brandishes what looks like a golf club, and a dandy grins alongside a woman in a...
Guest Author 26 December 2024
Delftware 101—The Brilliant Face of the Dutch Golden Age
When we think of the Netherlands, a few characteristic things come to mind: tulips, windmills, orange, cheese and painted clogs to name but a few.
Giordana Goretti 23 December 2024
Two Shades of Love in Vermeer’s Paintings
Many of the paintings by Johannes Vermeer (Dutch, 1632–1675) focus on the theme of love. Some of them involve music, letters, or a glass of wine,...
Tom Anderson 16 December 2024
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 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
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
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
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
Genres Explained: Still Life in 10 Paintings
Let’s explore the history of still life through a selection of 10 paintings corresponding to two key moments: the 17th century in the Netherlands,...
Soledad Castillo Jara 26 November 2024
Masterpiece Story: Two African Men by Rembrandt van Rijn
In the discourse on the Black presence in Western history, it is taken for granted that Africans in art represented solely enslaved people, and their...
Nicole Ganbold 3 November 2024
