With much of the Dutch Republic close to water, views of the coast became marines, those of cities showed boats busy nearby, and the countryside was overrun by rivers.
van Goyen
How the first cloudscapes were painted of the flat lands of the Dutch Republic, and their supports were turned to devote even more space for the sky.
A woman spinning in front of her bed, a view of a street, a waterfront, marketplace, boats on the river, canals, windmills, a sandy beach, clouds, and frozen rivers – everyday life in the Golden Age.
Once widespread across Europe and many other lands, they used to grind all the grain into flour, provide power to sawmills, make paper and more.
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.
Rubens as a landscape painter influenced by the Brueghels, and the changing horizons seen in Dutch Golden Age paintings.
First of three articles to celebrate the 400th anniversary of this master of the Dutch Golden Age, who painted almost anything with aplomb.
Early landscapes constrained the sky to a backdrop. With Rubens and the Golden Age landscape painters it became the subject in its own right.
Paintings of windmills from Hieronymus Bosch, Rembrandt, Jacob van Ruisdael, Thomas Girtin, and others.
Many coasts are flat – a challenge to painters from the Netherlands and Belgium in particular. Here masters from the Golden Age, the Hague School, and others take on this challenge.
The Eclectic Light Company 