In the 1600s the northern Netherlands broke away from Spanish rule and formed the Dutch Republic. It was small, but trade made it one of the richest places in Europe. Its art looked very different from the Baroque of Rome and Madrid, because the buyers were different.
Most Dutch churches were Calvinist Protestant, and they did not use religious paintings in worship. There was no great royal court and few grand palaces. Instead, merchants, shopkeepers, craftsmen and city officials bought pictures for their homes. Visitors from abroad were struck by how many paintings ordinary Dutch houses held.
Key idea
Why it works
Looking closely: The Milkmaid
Describe. A kitchen maid in a yellow bodice and blue apron pours milk into a bowl, with bread on a table by a window. Analyze. Light from the left window falls on her and on the bread; the wall behind is pale and bare, so she stands out. Interpret. A picture of household work, painted for sale, became a picture of quiet attention. It is the kind of everyday subject the Dutch market wanted, raised to great art. You will look at it closely in Vermeer.
Common mistake
Worked example: Commission or market?
- It is small, fits a home, and has a common subject.
- The painter made many similar works, a sign of specializing for buyers.
- It sat in a dealer's stock, waiting to sell.
Answer: Made for the market.
Painters were organized in the Guild of Saint Luke of each city, which controlled who could sell paintings and take pupils. The same market drove other Dutch passions, including flowers: in 1636 and 1637 prices for rare tulip bulbs soared and then collapsed, an episode called tulip mania.