HAA 155V

Making Art in Amsterdam, c.1645-1675; from Rembrandt and his Competitors to the Lower Tiers of the Art Market
Eric Jan Sluijter
Monday/Wednesday 12-1:15pm
This lecture course will focus on the production of paintings in Amsterdam between c. 1645 and 1675, a market which surged to its summit in the 1650s and early 1660s – both in quantity, and, propelled by artistic and economic rivalry, in quality ̶ and quickly contracted within a matter of years. Central will be the later career and work of Rembrandt (from c. 1645 until his death in1669) and of his most distinguished pupils and competitors, up to the highly successful Gerard de Lairesse, who arrived in 1665. The main thread of the lectures will be the question how painters positioned themselves in relation to each other within this competitive and continually changing art market. What choices did they make with respect to style, subject matter, techniques, and targeting audiences? How did they distinguish their works from, or follow the examples of, other artists, and how did they find buyers for their products or patrons for commissions? How did they acquire a reputation, and how was the monetary value of their works related to this? With these questions in mind, we will examine primarily the successful artists who made expensive high-quality paintings for wealthy patrons and knowledgeable connoisseurs, but we will also consider those making cheap, mass-produced work for the lower end of the art market.