Art Appreciation: Rachel Ruysch & the Dutch Baroque Era - Essay Example

Art Appreciation: Rachel Ruysch & the Dutch Baroque Era The Artist: Rachel Ruysch Rachel Ruysch is a world renowned still-life Dutch painter. She was born in 1664 in The Hague and when she was still a baby, her family later moved to Amsterdam. She was the eldest child born to prominent professor of anatomy and botany Frederik Ruysch. Her mother was Mary Post. Rachel’s father was famous for his life-like embalming techniques which became a major attraction in Amsterdam when he later took to preserving rare plants and insects (Kooijmans “Publications”). She later married painter Jurian Pool with whom she had 10 children. Historians claim that her father’s background accounts for her life-like portrayals of flowers, insects and fruits (Kleiner & Mamiya, p. 690). She showed great passion and talent for painting still life pictures that by the time she was fourteen, her parents decided to send her to study under renowned still-life painter Willem van Aelst (Greer, p. 242). Under his tutelage, she perfected her craft of producing images which were as near to the real images as possible. She used models from her father’s preserved collection of plants and insects. She depicted images of flowers, plants, and other woodland scenes so accurately that she soon gained fame and favor from many art lovers and enthusiasts (Kooijmans “Publications”). In 1695, Johann Wilhelm, the Elector Palatine (ruler of Palatinate, formerly part of Bavaria in Germany) saw some of her works displayed in her father’s museum. He was so impressed by her work that he hired her as court painter, commissioning her to submit at least one painting a year to the court (Brown & McBride, p. 264). Despite her growing family, she still managed to pursue a fruitful and lucrative career. She gained plenty of commissions for her work and she and her husband were able to comfortably support their family through their paintings. And even after the death of her patron Elector Palatine Wilhelm in 1716, she still had numerous commissions from other patrons because of her extraordinary work (Kooijmans “Publications”). She and her husband continued to paint many portraits during their lifetime. She and her husband later became members of the guild in The Hague and they both established creditable names in the art community (Greer, p. 242). Rachel Ruysch carefully crafted her paintings. In one of her more famed works – Flower Still Life – she “positioned the flowers to create a diagonal that runs from the lower left of the painting to the upper right corner and that offsets the opposing diagonal of the table edge” (Kleiner & Mamiya, p. 691). She showed great range in her paintings. She maintained soft diffused light from the left; and she used a variety of shapes and sizes to portray the still-life images on to the canvass. She had the brilliant knack of breathing life into the still-life genre that she never failed to earn great praise for her work. Many art enthusiasts admire how she often grouped her flowers in the “most tasteful and picturesque manner, and depicted them with a grace and a brilliance that rivaled nature” (Spooner, p. 136). Her paintings portrayed the warm and the simple yet elegant images of flowers and creeping plants in a strange version of van Schiek’s Vanitas genre. “Each painting, whether an asymmetrical spray of simple blooms or a dizzy interaction of multifarious shapes and contrasting colors, is successful” (Greer, p. 243). She outlived 7 of her children who died throughout the years from various illnesses. Her husband died in 1745 at the age of 79; five years later, at the age of 86, she also died leaving behind an extraordinary and renowned body of work (Rijksmuseum, p. 291). She continued to paint even through her advancing years; and she spent long and laborious hours on her paintings, perfecting every single detail about them. At one point, she spent seven years painting two pictures for her daughters’ marriage portion (Spooner, p. 136). The span of her life’s work featured the rise and the fall of Dutch flower painting. She was there when this genre was successfully taking off, and just as she was nearing the end of her life, this genre too was starting to decline (Greer, p. 243). The quality and brilliance of her work is renowned to this day. They are still very much in great demand and command great value in the art market on the rare occasions that they are sold. They represent about 60 years of talent and labor for a wife, a mother, and one of the best talents of the Dutch Baroque era. History Era: Dutch Baroque (1664-1750) The Dutch Baroque era marked the rise of the Dutch middle class. This period emerged just after the Dutch Republic was established in the Netherlands. The Dutch Republic strongly emerged as a successful economy and the middle class slowly established their presence in the society. There was a strong opposition to art by the dominant Calvinism idealists. Religious art was seldom, if at all, produced during this time. But, the Dutch were tolerant people; they allowed many Catholics to explore religious art during this puritanical era. Dutch Baroque art “centered on genre scenes, landscapes, portraits, and still-lifes, all of which appealed to the prosperous middle class” (Gardner, et.al., p. 598). The middle class community of successful merchants and businessmen were starting to look into art works as lucrative investments and collector items. The upper class concentrated their efforts towards more expensive and ostentatious luxuries, which did not necessarily include artwork. And the middle class, on the other hand had a disdain for the ostentatious. This led them to favor simpler artworks like still-lifes and portraits. This era was a time of relative freedom for artists because many of their patrons were not too particular about the paintings they wanted to buy. As a result, artists got to paint whatever themes they favored and if the patrons liked it, the paintings were sold (Gardner, et.al., p. 607). Purpose The purpose of the Dutch Baroque era was to cater to the demands of a growing middle class. This group of middle-class patrons sought for simpler and less ostentatious artwork. This era was a chance for the middle class to “announce their success and newly found status” (Kleiner & Mamiya, p. 680). The acquisition of artworks used to be the province of the rich and the aristocratic, but general prosperity for the Dutch now gave the middle class population a chance to purchase many artworks. This era is also considered by some historians as the era of protestant objection to art. “The prevailing Calvinism demanded a puritanical rejection of art in churches, and thus artists produced relatively little religious art in the Dutch Republic at this time…” (Gardner, et.al.,p. 598). This era was emerging as a period for the Dutch Republic to rise above and free itself from the confines and the influence of Catholicism, of Spain, and of its former monarchial rule. The purpose of this era was also to give artists the chance to explore less stifling and less constrictive themes in their artwork. As a result, non-religious art started to flourish. Symbolism: Genre Scenes “Often genre scenes could be read moralistically” (Gardner, et.al., p. 599). In the painting Supper Party by Gerrit van Honthorst, some analysts claim that the scene seems to portray a warning against gluttony and lust. Others interpret the scene as the Prodigal Son wallowing in lust with prostitutes. In any regard, this moralist interpretation seems to be supported by the strict Calvinists. Symbolism: Portraits Portraits in the Dutch Baroque genre portrayed a more relaxed pose for its subjects. It was again an adverse reaction against the ostentatious taste of the upper class. Now the patrons for the portraits were of less lofty stations in life; they were not kings, or popes, or other wealthy individuals. They were the middle class merchants, soldiers, and businessmen. These middle class favored a less traditional pose and attire. They “shunned ostentation, instead using uniform, subdued, and dark clothing with little variation or decoration” (Gardner, et.al., p. 600). As a result, Dutch Baroque portraitists like Hals were able to portray their subjects in a livelier and more relaxed pose. They were able to convey not just the image of their subjects, but also a glimpse of their personality and their emotions. There is also spontaneity in the work of Dutch portraitists that allows them to depict each subject’s individual personality and expression even while they may be dressed in similar outfits. Symbolism: Landscapes Dutch Baroque landscapes portrayed the daily lives of the urban mercantile people. Landscapes were popular during the Dutch Baroque era. “Due to topography and politics, the Dutch had a unique relationship to the terrain, one from differed from those of other European countries” (Gardner, et.al., p. 605). Their land reclamation efforts after gaining independence from Spain took about a century to materialize. This gave the Dutch a strong and personal affinity with their lands. Landscape artists during this era showed their deep respect for and attachment to their lands. Many of their paintings showed the gift and the benefits of the lands that they have now reclaimed. It showed their animals grazing in their lands, their milkmaids and shepherds herding cows and sheep, and dwellings that blended well with the lands. The landscapes depicted the peace and freedom that they have fought for and have now found in their lands. In other words, “these paintings offer the viewer glimpses into the lives of the prosperous, responsible, and cultured citizens” (Gardner, et.al., p. 606). Symbolism: Still-life Still-life paintings were also common in the Dutch Baroque era. As was previously mentioned, Rachel Ruysch was one of the most renowned artists in the still-life genre. Still-life paintings in the Dutch Baroque era is different from the Italian Baroque style, the former being known for its “beauty and its sincerity, as well as in the insights it provides into Calvinist Dutch life and history” (Gardner, et.al., p. 612). It is beautiful and elegant in its simplicity portraying the preferred peaceful life by the Dutch. Analysis: form and substance Dutch Baroque art is predominantly in the oil on canvass medium. This era also favored “small, low-key works” (Kleiner & Mamiya, p. 680) in contrast to the Italian Baroque era’s penchant for large-scale and grand frescoes. Some of the artists in this genre have mastered the pictorial light. One such artist, Vermeer, could “render space so convincingly through his depiction of light in his works, the picture surface functions as an invisible glass pane through which the viewer looks into the constructed illusion, (Kleiner & Mamiya, p. 688). Rachel Ruysch work is described as naturalist (Radford University “Women & Art”). Her vibrant depiction of flowers and insects and other woodland scenes rival nature itself. Many of the works of the Dutch Baroque artists are described as naturalist or realist. They illustrate everyday scenes and realities of life through landscapes, portraits, still-lifes, and genre scenes. They portrayed real people in their real lives (Cohen & Research & Education Association, p. 106). Many of the artists in this era like Vermeer, Hals, Honthorst, and Rembrandt also favored highlights and chiaroscuro. Ruysch richly displayed contrasts of dark and light in her still-life portraits, and this has been echoed by her fellow Dutch Baroque contemporaries. The Dutch Baroque artists who favored the ‘genre scenes’ showed themes that “were pervaded with a deep chiaroscuro effect, pronounced realism, and a warm, human, story-telling, narrative appeal” (Cohen & Research & Education Association, p. 107). Most of these genre scenes were painted in small canvasses because they were meant to be hung in the walls of middle-class Dutch homes. The paintings had a very tactile quality to them as they preferred more natural scenes and images. The use of chiaroscuro, details in gestures and human realities, and the use of warm and polychromatic colors gave Dutch Baroque art a smooth and tactile quality (Cohen & Research & Education Association, p. 109). Dutch Baroque art did not portray a hierarchical scale in its paintings. The relative importance of the people in the paintings and portraits did not dominate the artwork because the subjects of the paintings were ordinary people living ordinary lives. Their resistance to centralized rule was seen and depicted in their paintings. Their determination to support the Republic and to reject monarchial and authoritarian control was clearly displayed in their artwork (Kleiner & Mamiya, pp. 688-689). The Dutch Baroque art era represents a glorious time for the Dutch middle-class. Their stature in life reached relative prosperity; this allowed them to be patrons of art. As patrons of art, they favored the simple and naturalist life. And the artists during this time catered to the needs of the middle-class. For them, they painted genre scenes, still-lifes, portraits, and landscapes that depicted their peaceful and simple coexistence with each other and with nature. Rachel Ruysch was a still-life painter, and her vibrant paintings are now considered solid and extraordinary works of art. Works Cited Brown, M. & McBride, K. “Womens roles in the Renaissance”. 2005. Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group Cohen, G. & Research & Education Association. “The Essential of Art History”. 1996. New Jersey: Research & Education Association. Dawwgy. “Rachel Ruysch”. 03 September 2004. Everything2.com. 22 June 2009 Emily Carr and Georgia OKeeffe: Whitmanesque Visions of Nature (n.d) Radford University. 22 June 2009 Gardner, H., et.al., “Gardners Art Through The Ages”. 1970. New York: Brace & World Kleiner, T. & Mamiya, C. “Intl Stdt Edition-Gardners Art Thru/Ages”. 2005. Massachusetts: Thomson Wadsworth Kooijmans, L. “Ruysch, Rachel”. 07 April 2009. History of the Netherlands. 22 June 2009 Rijksmuseum. “Catalogue of the pictures, miniatures, pastels, framed water colour drawings, etc. in the Rijks-Museum at Amsterdam”. 1905. Amsterdam: Home Office Spooner, S. “Anecdotes of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Architects”, and Curiosities of Art. 1853. New York: J.P. Putnam Read More