A.D. 1600 - 1800
(3 displayed of 198 in collection)
Wheat Fields (ca. 1670; Jacon van Ruisdael) Twenty-seven views of fields by Ruisdael survive today. In this celebrated example, the artist used the building blocks of land, sky, and sea to create an imposing vision of cultivated nature. On the road before us, a man with a traveler’s pack approaches a woman and child, while the cumulus clouds dominating the sky add their own element of drama. A glimpse of boats at sea on the far left knits this quintessentially Dutch landscape into the wider world.
A Bouquet of Flowers (ca. 1612; Clara Peeters) Clara Peeters was a founding figure in the history of European still life, a genre that attracted many women artists who did not have the opportunity to study nude models. In this ambitious composition, Peeters paid close attention to naturalistic details like dewdrops, insect bites, and drooping tulips that hint at transience and decay. At the same time, she asserted her own achievement by inscribing her signature in the stone ledge, juxtaposed with a fallen sprig of forget-me-nots. The crisp edges and acute observation that characterize her work reveal the close link between floral painting and botanical illustration during the Scientific Revolution.
Self-Portrait (1660; Rembrandt) Rembrandt was a dedicated self-portraitist all his life, and roughly forty self-portraits by him survive today. In this example, painted when Rembrandt was fifty-four, the artist was unsparing in depicting the signs of aging in his own face, building up the paint in high relief to convey his furrowed brow, the heavy pouches beneath his eyes, and his double chin. The recent removal of a synthetic varnish has revealed more of Rembrandt’s working method, showing for example how he flipped the brush to incise with its butt end the rough curls spilling out of his cap.