ARTH 4604

Rembrandt and Vermeer: New Takes on Old Masters

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2015-2016.

This course evaluates the immense popularity of 17th-century Dutch artists Rembrandt and Vermeer. Together these two great exponents of the Golden Age span three-quarters of their century, from the forward-looking nature of Rembrandt's oeuvre to the retrospective cast of Vermeer's. Moreover their oeuvres—one impressively large and the other equally small—exhibit startling divergent interests in the issues of visuality and representation. From their headquarters in Amsterdam and Delft, respectively, they develop contrasting studio practices and relations with the market, and explore different subjects and mediums. Topics will include: investigations of the uses of light; methods of self-representation; depictions of women and the domestic sphere; Rembrandt's experiments in etching and Vermeer's with the camera obscura and opticality; and their histories of reception, including the consequential results of the Rembrandt Research Project. We will also take advantage of the Johnson Museum Dutch painting and print collections, and the collections of the Frick and Met in NYC.

When Offered Spring.

Breadth Requirement (HB)
Distribution Category (CA-AS)

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