The Age of Rembrandt and Hals

Walter Liedtke, Curator of European Paintings

The development and main characteristics of Dutch art during the Golden Age (ca. 1600-1675) are the focus of this series. Special attention is given to the relationship between style and observation in the work of such artists as Frans Hals and Rembrandt, and the importance of local schools such as Hals's Haarlem and Rembrandt's native Leiden. Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam around 1632, and many Dutch painters moved to that great port and commercial center during the 1650s and 1660s. Dutch art became increasingly cosmopolitan in this period, but values distinctive to the northern Netherlands continued to set painters such as Rembrandt, Ruisdael, Hobbema, Cuyp, Metsu, and Vermeer apart from artists in France, Italy, Spain, and the Spanish Netherlands.