An entrance for the eyes : space and meaning in seventeenth-century Dutch art / Martha Hollander.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hollander, Martha.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Painting, Dutch--17th century.

Painting, Dutch.

Space (Art).

Physical Description:

xvi, 263 pages, 10 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 26 cm

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, [2002]

Summary:

Martha Hollanders' lively and gracefully written book considers one of the most intriguing features of seventeenth-century Dutch painting: the pictorial language of space, in particular the use of secondary scenes. Many Dutch pictures, especially genre scenes and portraits, introduce a gap through the trees; a view of distant mountains; views through windows, archways, open doors, and pulled-back curtains; or mirrors and pictures-within-pictures to comment on, explain, and enrich the primary scene that unfolds on the canvas. Hollander uncovers the meanings generated by the formal structure of such pictures, tracing their heritage in the medieval and Renaissance pictorial traditions of illuminated manuscripts, emblems, and stage design. A number of Dutch painters, working for a fiercely competitive art market that fostered experiment and novelty, created these secondary scenes in remarkably various and inventive ways. An Entrance for the Eyes focuses on striking features in the works of several artists who carried out bold experiments with space and meaning. Hollander introduces the ideas of pictorial organization formulated by Karel van Mander in both his paintings and his theoretical treatise Het Schilderboeck. She explains how Gerard Dou (1613-1675), in his tightly constructed allegorical pictures, particularly those set in niches, used the secondary space to comment on the figure in the foreground. In a penetrating analysis of the early domestic scenes of Nicolaes Maes (1634-1693), she relates the juxtaposition of rooms in the household to the status and representation of women in seventeenth-century Holland. In the courtyard scenes and interiors of Pieter de Hooch (1629-1684), always open to the outdoors, she examines the articulation of the fluid relationship between public and private life. Hollander's narrative deals with complex issues in lucid and direct language. In tracing how the inventive juxtaposing of public and private spaces played out social anxieties and ideals, she inspires readers to look more closely and thoughtfully at the paintings.

Contents:

1 Karel van Mander: The Doorsien and the Language of Space 7

"An Entrance for the Eyes" 7

Images in Conversation 18

Into the Seventeenth Century 35

Ideas of Order 42

2 Gerard Dou: The Reconfigured Emblem 48

Foreground and Background 48

An Art of Surfaces 67

Drape and Curtain 69

The Space of Emblems 77

Uses of the Background Scene 79

Pictures within Pictures 87

An Empty Room 97

3 Nicolaes Maes: Space as Domestic Territory 103

The Eavesdroppers 103

Pictorial Space at Mid-Century 112

Re-creating the Dutch Interior 119

Mistresses and Maids 129

Diligence and Desire 140

4 Pieter de Hooch: Indoors and Out 149

Figures in a Courtyard 149

Home and Cityscape 154

Masculine and Feminine Spaces 161

Privacy and Community 177

Exchanges at the Doorway 184

Public Interiors 190.

Notes:

"Ahmanson Murphy fine arts imprint."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 229-251) and index.

ISBN:

0520221354

OCLC:

45610184