What period is known as the Dutch Golden Age?
Q: What period is known as the Dutch Golden Age?
A: The Dutch Golden Age was a period in the 17th century where Dutch trade, science and art were among the most advanced in Europe.
Q: What type of government was present during this period?
A: During this period, there was the Dutch Republic which was the most prosperous nation in Europe.
Q: What is 'idealisation'?
A: Idealisation is when paintings show scenes more pretty than they really were. The Dutch paintings of this time often lacked this feature.
Q: Why were there relatively few religious paintings during this period?
A: There were relatively few religious paintings during this period because most Dutch people were Calvinist and Calvinism forbade religious painting in churches.
Q: What is hierarchy of genres?
A: Hierarchy of genres is a theory that some types of painting are more prestigious than others. History painting was at the top of the list, so many painters wanted to produce historical paintings but these were difficult to sell.
Q: What types of painting did the Dutch focus on heavily?
A: The Dutch focused heavily on "lower" categories such as portrait painting, landscape, still life and scenes from everyday life.
Q: How did artists paint large works during this time? A: Most paintings during this time were relatively small with group portraits being one of the only types of large works produced by artists. Painting directly onto walls hardly existed and when it did canvas frames would normally be used instead for extra precision possible on a hard surface.
