1555 – Philip II of Spain succeeds to his
father the Emperor Charles V. The Netherlands are under Spanish sovereignty.
Philip begins a campaign to eradicate Protestantism from his domains. He
transfers the capital of the Netherlands to Brussels.
1568 – The 7 northern provinces of
the Netherlands rebel against Spanish rule. Beginning of the “Eighty years
war”.
1579 – The 7 provinces unite under the
treaty of Utrecht to form the Republic
of the Seven United Netherlands.
1581 – The Act of Abjuration or Plakkaat van
Verlatinghe was signed on July 26,
1581, and was the formal declaration
of independence of the northern Low Countries from the Spanish
king. William of Orange (1533 -1584),
the founder of the Dutch royal family, leads the Dutch during the first part of
the war. Calvinism is the dominant
religion of the new state.
1584 – William is assassinated in Delft and is succeeded by
his son Maurice.
1585 – The Spanish take Antwerp. Many of its wealthiest
citizens and merchants flee to Amsterdam.
During the Eighty Years' War the Dutch
provinces became the most important trading centre of Northern Europe,
replacing Flanders and the port of Antwerp in this respect. Amsterdam will become the leading city
and port. Dutch ships hunted whales off Svalbard,
dominated the Baltic trade, traded spices
in India and Indonesia
(via the Dutch East
India Company) and founded
colonies in New Amsterdam (New York),
South Africa and the West Indies.
1602 – Founding of the Dutch East India Company given the monopoly on trade east of the Cape of
Good Hope (with India and the Far East).
1609
– Truce signed with Spain.
1611
– Founding in Amsterdam of the first
stock exchange in Europe.
1619
– Batavia (later Jacarta) becomes
the main trading post of the East India Company in Indonesia.
1621 - Founding of the Dutch West India Company which specializes in the slave trade between Africa and America. The Netherlands become
the pre-eminent slave trading country in Europe, a position overtaken by
Britain around 1700.
1621
– Hostilities with Spain resume.
1625
– Death of Maurice
succeeded by his half brother Frederick
Henry who will lead the Dutch to great military victories over the Spanish
(taking of Breda, 1637).
1637 – Speculation in the tulip trade led to a
first stock market crash, but the economic crisis was soon overcome.
1641 – Opening of a
trading post in Japan, near Nagasaki, which will remain the only foreign
settlement in Japan until 1853.
1648 – The Peace of Westphalia, signed on January 30, 1648, confirms the independence of the United
Provinces from Spain and the Holy Roman Empire.
1649 – Death of Frederick
Henry. Beginning of new city hall on Dam square in Amsterdam.
1650 – The new stadtholder William
II, Prince of Orange
suddenly died of smallpox; his son, the later stadtholder and subsequent king
of England, William
III,
was born only 8 days later, hence leaving the nation without an obvious
successor. Since the conception of the Republic, there had been an ongoing
struggle for power between the 'regents', an informal elite of affluent
citizens on the one hand and the House of
Orange
on the other hand, whose supporters, Orangists, were mainly to be found among the common
people. For now, the regents seized the opportunity: there would be no new stadtholder
(in Holland) for 22 years to come. Johan de Witt, a brilliant politician and diplomat,
emerged as the dominant political figure.
1652 - First
Anglo-Dutch War
over trade disputes ends with the Treaty
of Westminster (1654).
1658 –
The Dutch control Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
1672-78
– 1672
is known in the Netherlands as the "Disastrous Year" (Rampjaar).
England declared war on the Republic, (the Third
Anglo-Dutch War),
followed by France, Münster and Cologne, which had all signed alliances against
the Republic. France, Cologne and Münster invaded the Republic. Johan de Witt
and his brother Cornelis, who had accomplished a diplomatic balancing act for a
long time, were now the obvious scapegoats. They were lynched, and a new stadtholder, William III, Prince of Orange, was
appointed. An Anglo-French attempt to land on the Dutch shore could only just
be repelled in three desperate naval battles under command of admiral Michiel de
Ruyter.
The advance of French troops from the south could only be halted by a costly
inundation of the Dutch heartland, by breaching river dykes. With the aid of
friendly German princes, the Dutch succeeded in fighting back Cologne and Münster, after which the peace was signed with
both of them, although some territory in the east was lost forever. Peace was
signed with England as well, in 1674 (Second treaty of Westminster) and with
France in 1678.
1688
- 1713 - After three undecided Anglo-Dutch
Wars,
the relations with England reached crisis level once again. Stadtholder William
III
was invited to invade England by Protestant British nobles feuding with
William's father-in-law the Catholic James II of
England.
This led to the Glorious
Revolution
and cemented the principle of parliamentary rule and Protestant ascendency in
England. James fled to France and William ascended to the English throne as
co-monarch with his wife Mary, James' eldest daughter. This maneuver secured
England as a critical ally of the United Provinces in its ongoing struggle with
Louis
XIV of France.
William was the commander of the Dutch and English armies and fleets until his
death in 1702. During William’s reign his primary focus was leveraging British
manpower and finances to aid the Dutch against the French. Nevertheless, the
end of the War
of the Spanish Succession
(1713) marked the end of the Dutch Republic as
a major player. In the 18th century, it just tried to maintain its independence
and stuck to a policy of neutrality. The Netherlands slowly lost its position
as the trading centre of Northern Europe. Amsterdam was gradually replaced as
the central financial market and book market in Europe by London.
Dutch
works from the Kremer collection on exhibition at the Pinacothèque de Paris:
Still Life and animal painting:
Adrian Coorte
(Middleburg and Amsterdam, active c. 1683-1707) Mountain landscape with ducks c. 1683
Jan Davidsz de Heem (Utrecht 1606 – 1683/84 Antwerp) – Still Life with Books and globe c. 1628
Judith Leyster
(haarlem 1609 – 1660 Heemstede) Still
life with fruit 1635-40 (one of few well known women painters of 17c)
Carstian Luyckx
(Antwerp 1623 – c. 1675) Fowl
attacked by a fox 1660-70
Michiel Simons
(Antwerp (?) – 1673 Utrecht) Dead fowl in
landscape 1650 (influenced by Italianate landscapes of Jan Both)
Marines, Landscape, Cityscape:
Ludolf Backhuysen
(Emden 1630 – 1708 Amsterdam) Ships on
stormy sea 1702 (best marine specialist left in Amsterdam after departure
of van de Velde father and son to London in 1672)
Abraham Bloemaert
(Gorinchem 1566-1651 Utrecht) A Cottage
with peasants and goats c. 1620
Adam Colonia
(Rotterdam 1634 – 1685 London) Village
fire by night c. 1660 (night light effect)
Albert Cuyp
(Dordrecht 1620 – 1691) – Lumber yard
near Dordrecht c. 1639
Meindert Hobbema
(Amsterdam 1638-1709) Wooded landscape
with cottage c. 1663-68
Philip Koninck
(Amsterdam 1619-1688) Panorama with
travelers and herdsmen 1676
Jan Lievens
(Leiden 1607 – 1674 Amsterdam) Hilly
landscape with peasants c. 1640
Isack van Ostade
(Haarlem 1621-1649) Ice scene near inn
1643 (one of 3 known by artist)
Ebbert van der Poel (1621-1664) Fire by
Night 1658 (night light effect)
Aerout Smit
(1640/41 – Amsterdam – 1710) Ships in
stormy sea off rocky coast 1670
Jan Baptist Weenix
(Amsterdam 1621 -1659 near Utrecht) Italianate
landscape with ruins 1656
Emanuel de
Witte (Alkmaar 1617 – 1692 Amsterdam) – Interior
of the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam 1678
Domestic scenes, Genre, Mythologies:
Abraham Bloemaert
(Gorinchem 1566-1651 Utrecht) Boy with
rumbling pot c. 1625-30 (Mardi Gras scene influenced by Caravagesque Haarlem
painters, notably Hals)
Adriaen Brouwer
(Oudenaarde c. 1605/6 – 1683 Antwerp) Peasant
cutting his thumbnail 1640-50
Hendrick ter Brugghen (The Hague (?) 1588 – 1629 Utrecht) Singing lute player 1624 (most famous of Utrecht Caravaggists)
Benjamin Gerritsz Cuyp (Dordrecht 1612-1652) Oriental
writer sharpening his pen 1640-50 (a Rembrandesque scene by the uncle of
the more famous Albert Cuyp)
Jan Hals (Haarlem
1620-1674) Boy eating porridge
Gerrit van Honthorst
(Utrecht 1592-1656) St Peter penitent
1618 (one of 17 known paintings from Italian period)
Gerrit van Honthorst
(Utrecht 1592-1656) Old woman
examining a coin by a lantern 1623 (allegory of Sight or Avarice) painted
shortly after his return from Italy had probable influence on Rembrandt.
Pieter de Hooch
(Rotterdam1629 – 1684 Amsterdam) Man
reading a letter to a woman 1670’s (one of artist’s best late works)
Jacob van Loo
(Sluis 1614-1670 Paris) Danae c.
1655-60 (ancestor of the French painters Michel and Carle van Loo.
Circle of Gabriel Metsu (Leiden 1629-1667 Amsterdam) A Woman and boy cooking pancakes 1650
Jan Miense Molenaer
(Haarlem 1610-1668) Young pipe smoker
(allegory of taste) c. 1628-29. Husband of Judith Leyster.
Paulus Moreelse
((Utrecht 1571-1636) Shepherdess 1617
Matthijs Naiveu
(Leiden 1647-1721 Amsterdam) Student of Geritt Dou – Gentleman smoking in courtyard 1690
Caspar Netscher
(Heidelberg (?) c. 1636/39 – 1684 The Hague) A Lady washing her hands 1657 (an allegory of purity painted while
working in ter Borch’s studio)
Adriaen van Ostade
(1610 - 1685) Laughing peasant c.
1640 (influenced by Brower, probably met in Hals’ studio in Haarlem)
Student of Rembrandt
Harmensz van Rijn (Leiden1606 – 1669 Amsterdam) A Painter in his studio c. 1630
Theodoor Rombouts
(Antwerp 1597-1637) Musicians with
Bacchus c. 1630 (includes self portrait and that of his wife)
Pieter Vereslst
(Dordrecht (?) 1618 – c. 1678 (?)) The
Schoolmaster with his pupils
Peter Wtewael
(Utrecht 1596-1660 Utrecht) Laughing man
with flute 1623. (Son of the more famous Joachim, this one of his 5 known
paintings. Musicians and players were a very popular theme with the Utrecht
Caravaggists)
Matthias Stom
(Amersfoort c. 1600 – after 1649 in Italy) Woman counting coins c. 1635, probably allegory of Avarice.
Biblical scenes and History paintings:
Ferdinand Bol (Dordrecht
1616-1680) Virgin and Child with St John the Baptist and Gabriel 1659
Jan van Bylert (Utrecht
1597/1598 – 1671) St Mark 1623-30
Pieter Codde
(Amsterdam 1599-1678) The Sacrifice of
Polyxena c.1640 (a rare Dutch history painting depicting scene from Trojan
War)
Abraham Janssens
(Antwerp c. 1575-1632) Virgin and
Child with St John the Baptist 1617-20
Jan Lievens (Leiden
1607-1674 Amsterdam) Christ at the column
c. 1625 (friend and rival of Rembrandt’s in their youth)
Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn ( Leiden1606 – 1669
Amsterdam) Bust of old man with turban
c. 1627
After Rembrandt
Harmensz van Rijn (1606 – 1669) Baptism
of a Eunuch 1661(copy of a lost painting of 1630)
Portraits and self portraits:
Jacob
Adrian Backer (1608-1651) – Portrait of woman with white headdress 1634
– influenced by Rembrandt
Gerrit Dou
(Leiden 1613-1675) Student of Rembrandt’s
- Self portrait c. 1645
Gerbrand van den Eeckhout
(Amsterdam 1621-1674) Portrait of Maria
Bogaert 1670
Attributed to Frans Hals (1581/85 - 1666) Portrait of man 1637
Adrian Hanneman
(The Hague c. 1604-1671) Self portrait
1669 painted for his third marriage at 65
Adrian Thomas Key
(Antwerp c. 1544 – after 1589) Portrait
of Spanish Grandee c. 1560
Michael Sweerts
(Brussels 1618-1664 goa) A young
maidservant c. 1660 (one of best known painings by the artist sometimes
compared to Vermeer’s Girl with pearl
earring)
Copper plates:
Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn ( Leiden1606 – 1669
Amsterdam) Man drawing from a cast c.
1640
Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (Leiden1606 – 1669 Amsterdam) Three heads of women, one asleep 1637
Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (Leiden1606 – 1669 Amsterdam) The Beheading of St John 1640
