17th century Dutch school

Dutch school of the XVII century.
"Still life".
Oil on canvas.
Presents humidities.
Measurements: 84 x 64 cm, 101,5 x 81 cm (frame).

The work is part of the important tradition of the Dutch still life of the seventeenth century, one of the most developed genres during the Dutch Golden Age. The composition brings together various objects related to study and writing-open books, quills, inkwells, papers and containers-arranged on a table through an elaborate play of light and texture.

During the 17th century, the United Provinces experienced an extraordinary economic, commercial and cultural boom that favored the development of a powerful urban bourgeoisie interested in art collecting. Unlike other European countries dominated by religious or courtly commissions, in Holland a large private market developed where genres such as landscape, daily scenes, portraits and especially still life triumphed.

Within this context emerged the so-called scholarly still lifes or vanitas, compositions loaded with symbolism related to knowledge, the passage of time and the fragility of human life. Books, manuscripts and writing implements not only represented everyday objects, but also symbols of knowledge, intellectual reflection and the transience of human activities.

The Dutch school was especially noted for its extraordinary ability to represent different materials and lighting effects with great realism: paper, leather, ceramics, metal or glass are treated with meticulous technical attention. The directed lighting and the dark background of this work fully respond to that Dutch Baroque tradition, where compositional sobriety and detailed observation are combined with a refined visual balance.

This type of compositions were developed by numerous Dutch artists specialized in intellectual still lifes and cabinet objects, very appreciated among cultured collectors and bourgeois environments of the 17th century.