I've always been interested in drawing, painting and other means of visual expression and it wasn’t until recently that I really started getting into painting and by getting into it I mean very modestly attempting to paint stuff by myself and as that was happening I discovered this sort of renewed love for painting, I started picking up on many details and it’s made me truly appreciate how beautiful and intense painting can be. Despite how good or bad you consider yourself at any kind of artistic expression my suggestion is just give it a chance and try doing something because first, it’ll be super fun and second, even if you don’t think you’re any good I can almost promise the experience itself will make your love for the art form of your preference grow stronger and that’s always a positive thing!
In the middle of this sort of sudden artistic inspiration, I found myself getting into sketching famous portrays originally immortalized by some of my favorite artists in painting and seeing how 90% of what I’d done were sketches of paintings by Rembrandt and Vermeer made me realize just how much I love the Dutch Golden Age and why it is probably my favorite artistic period. It’s actually fairly to see why it appeals so much to me as still lifes and portraiture are two of the coolest painting subjects for me and those two works of art reached a VERY high note during that period thanks to the work of prominent artistic figures like Rembrandt, Vermeer, van Utrecht and Hals (seriously, it was like the avengers of art at the time).
Vermeer was the creator of none other than Girl with a Pearl Earring, which is, hands down, one of my favorite paintings of all time. Technically speaking it is a tronie not a portrait but in all honesty very portraits are as good at being portraits as Girl with a Pearl Earring is despite being a tronie. There’s something so intriguing and mysterious about that girl; she’s wearing a turban and this sort of very unusual dress and the way she literally looks directly at the spectator’s eyes combined with her facial expression, done with ridiculous, otherworldly smoothness, it all makes for one of the most fascinating paintings ever made in terms of skill, delicacy and impact and it is my personal favorite Dutch Golden Age painting. Interestingly, in the 90’s it was found that the painting’s dark background was initially green but it eventually faded; and I say interestingly because to me that actually ended up enhancing the overall impact of the painting.
Rembrandt was a BEAST and he painted some of the craziest portraits ever. The Storm on the Sea of Galilee is an example of dynamism and emotion and Titus, as a Monk…well, I hardly doubt a better use of different tones and shades of brown has been seen; plus, the facial is expression is amazing. Frans Hals painted countless masterful portraits and to me his work deserves more recognition because he was unrealistically good at portraiture; one of the very best (Jester with a Lute is insane). In addition to that, there was also van Utrecht, whom I really admire when it comes to still lifes; he’s definitely the guy if you’re looking for some still life flowers and regarding that, his painting Flower Vase…well, you can’t really step still life flower painting up from that.
A special recognition must be given to Caravaggio in all this, though. Pretty much all of the greatest painters from the Dutch Golden Age drew a LOT of inspiration from him. Caravaggio’s influence was tremendous; he is easily one of the ten, perhaps five greatest painters of all time, in my opinion and his complete mastery of the chiaroscuro technique essentially redefined painting and paved the way for what was later known as the Golden Dutch Age; an artistic period exciting and inspiring like few others!
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