Saskia died in 1642, so he hired a widow to look after his young son. They became lovers, broke up, and he lived with his former maid. In 1656 he was made insolvent, and spent the rest of his life in poverty, painting even more wonderfully.
Golden Age
A master at the age of only 19, he was discovered 4 years later, then moved to Amsterdam where he shot to fame and success. He married Saskia in 1634, and they moved into their own house in a fashionable quarter in 1639.
The Renaissance provided the tools of realist painting, but remained largely bound to religious and mythical motifs. Seventy years later, many new genres had appeared.
In 1579, 7 of the more northerly provinces in the Low Countries formed the Dutch Republic. That soon prospered from its international trade, and saw the creation of millions of paintings that changed European art.
Dramatic paintings of towns and cities on fire, usually at night, were popular during the Dutch Golden Age, and known as brandjes. Examples to well into the 19th century.
Examples of interiors by Gerard ter Borch, who liked open-ended narrative, Gabriël Metsu, Pieter de Hooch, and Jan Vermeer.
Ariadne, Mary Magdalene, a woman with a snake wound around her wrist, Medea after she had been abandoned by Jason, and the unusual story of Cydippe.
Some of his finest landscapes painted during the late 1650s. Then in 1658, he married, and within two years stopped painting completely.
His landscapes gained a rich Claudean light, as he painted ferries on the nearby River Maas, and cattle enjoying the cool water.
First of three articles to celebrate the 400th anniversary of this master of the Dutch Golden Age, who painted almost anything with aplomb.
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