For a relatively tiny country the Netherlands certainly has produced a wide swath of well known entities, as you have seen in my previous posts, and it is no slouch when it comes to renowned painters.  While visiting a number of churches and museums I was awestruck by their magnificent work.

Van Gogh

Van Gogh was born in Zundert, a town near the Belgium border and began his connection to the art world at 16 working as an art dealer trainee. However, he didn’t become serious about art until he was 27 years old, when on recommendation of his brother Theo he started to work on his drawing technique – Vincent often had included drawings in his letters to Theo. – and also started painting lessons.

The  Kroller-Muller Museum. has the second largest Van Gogh collection in the world.   Here are just a few:

Rubens – Peter Paul Rubens was born in 1577  in Germany.  However his family was there because they had fled religious persecution  in Antwerp, Belgium  (at that time was called the Spanish Netherlands.  He soon returned to Antwerp  and began his artistic training  in 1591. He is considered an expert in Baroque – dynamic, vital and sensuous. He is best known for his religious and mythological paintings. Antwerp’s cathedral (Cathedral of Our Lady) showcases a number of his masterpieces:

The photo doesn’t do this triptych justice – it is enormous –  15 feet in height and 21 feet wide

 

Vermeer – Johannes Vermeer was born in 1632 in Delf and he lived and worked in Delft all his life.  He and his rich wife Catharine  had fourteen children and lived with Catharina’s mother.Johannes Vermeer is considered one  of the most famous Dutch painters of the 17th century. He is famous for his intimate household scenes with amazing light.  Vermeer started working as a painter around 1654. His earliest works were history paintings, pictures of scenes from the Bible and from mythology.

Vermeer always spent a long time on every painting, so he did not complete many pictures. There are only about 36 paintings by him. Some of his works can be seen in the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum. including the most famous “Girl With a pearl Earring” seen at the top of this post.

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