Two genres flourished on the Dutch market: landscapes of the flat, watery country, and still lifes of flowers, food and fine things. Both look like plain records of what was there. Both were carefully composed.
Looking closely: The Windmill at Wijk bij Duurstede
Describe. A tall, round stone windmill rises above a riverbank, with a few small figures, a sailboat and the roofs of a town. Most of the canvas is sky, heavy with clouds. Analyze. The horizon is set very low, so the sky fills about two-thirds of the picture. The mill, seen from below, stands dark against bright clouds, and a band of sunlight crosses the middle ground. Interpret. Jacob van Ruisdael (about 1628 to 1682) made a portrait of the Dutch land: water, wind and a mill that turns wind into work. Viewers also read the weather as feeling, a sense of grandeur in an ordinary place.
Key idea
Still life and vanitas
A vanitas (Latin for "emptiness," from a Bible verse about the vanity of all things) is a still life whose objects warn that life is short: a skull, a candle snuffed out, a watch, books, an overturned glass. Pieter Claesz (about 1597 to 1660) painted this one in browns, grays and greens, with a soft light that shows each texture: bone, paper, brass, glass. The objects are beautiful, and that is the point: even beautiful things pass.
Why it works
Common mistake
Worked example: A real bouquet?
- Tulips bloom in spring; these roses in early summer; marigolds late in the season.
- They could not all be fresh in one vase at once in the 1600s.
- The painter combined separate studies into one composed bouquet.
Answer: No: it combines flowers from different seasons.