in cooperation with The Fine Arts Museums
of San Francisco
, presents
Rembrandt van Rijn, The Sampling-Officials of the Cloth-Maker’s Guild at Amsterdam (The Syndics). 1662. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
REMBRANDT'S AMSTERDAM: SOCIETY AND THE ARTS IN THE GOLDEN AGE
October 12-14, 1984
Little Theater, California Palace of the Legion of Honor
San Francisco, California
The City of Amsterdam crowned the Golden Age of the Dutch Republic in the seventeenth century. The mightiest sea power in Europe also possessed the largest merchant fleet, which helped it to become the richest trading empire in the world. Amsterdam replaced Venice as the financial capital of Europe, attracting many foreign investors. Its extensive trading empire fostered modern techniques in map-making as well as the establishment of international law. Dutch universities were the center of learning in 17th century Europe, with more than half their students coming from outside The Netherlands. The Dutch were also pioneers in the fields of medicine, scientific instrument making, and optics.
Eor the first time, Dutch became the language of classical drama; poets such as Hooft, Huygens, and Vondel established a national literature. Architects introduced new art forms which made Amsterdam architecturally unique. Dutch gem-cutters and artisans in pewter, linen and ceramics drew international attention. Holland then had more artists than butchers and bakers. But most of all it was the painters who were associated with the Golden Age, names such as Cuyp, Hals, De Hoogh, Steen, and the greatest of them all, Rembrandt.
Yet all that glittered in Amsterdam was not necessarily golden. Major social problems emerged, challenging the capitalist Republic, such as the swelling population of unskilled immigrants and an increase in crime, while freedom of worship and freedom of thought were strangely at odds with one another. In this society, intellectuals, artists, and poets often paid the price of poverty while producing their immortal masterpieces.
But the confluence of excellence in so many fields— commerce, science, scholarship, and the arts— represented a unique historical phenomenon, the distinctive era that was Amsterdam's Golden Age.
]ohan P. Snapper, Conference Coordinator
Rembrandt van Rijn, The Ni^htwatch. 1642. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
HUMAN!
REMBRANDT'S AMSTERDAM
INTHEG(
FRIDAY, October 12
• The Great Town Hall of Amsterdam: Power, Wealth and Justice in Rembrandt's City, Simon Schama, Professor of History, Harvard University
• Recital: The Songs of Constantijn Huygens, with Judith Nelson, soprano, and Kent Underwood, lute
• Reception follows the recital.
SATURDAY, October 13
• The Rise of Capitalism in Seventeenth Century Amsterdam, Jan de Vries, Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley
• Dramatic Presentation: The Ways of Merchants, a seventeenth- century Dutch farce
• The City of Amsterdam and the Emergence of a National Literature, Jan van Dorsten, Professor of English, University of Leiden
• Those Who Paint and Those Who Pay: Painters and Their Commissioners in Amsterdam, Bob Haak, Director, Historical Museum, Amsterdam
• Not for Scouring: Dutch Ceramics of the Seventeenth Century, Clifford A. Coon, Jr., San Francisco Ceramics Circle
• Panel Discussion: Baffling Paradoxes in Seventeenth Century Dutch Society, with Jan van Dorsten, Bob Haak, Simon Schama, Johan Snapper, and Jan de Vries
• Concert: Chamber Music of Rembrandt's Amsterdam, with Jaap Schroder and Kinloch Earle, violin; Judith Nelson, soprano; Barbara Blaker, cello; and Elaine Thornburgh, harpsichord
ES WEST
: SOCIETY AND THE ARTS DEN AGE
Humanities West was founded in 1983 as a non-profit organization to explore the relationships of selected historical, artistic and social developments in world culture. We sponsor public events of an interdisciplinary nature in the broad field of the humanities twice each year. We invite you to participate in our program on Rembrandt's Amsterdam.
The co-founders of Humanities West are Theresa Nelson, and Elaine Thornburgh, Executive Director.
Advisory Council
Eleanor Selfridge-Field, D.Phil., Musicologist, Center for Computer Assisted Research in the Humanities; Chair of the Advistory Council
Johan R Snapper, Ph.D., Queen Beatrix Professor of Dutch Language, Literature and Culture, University of California, Berkeley
Paul Karlstrom, West Coast Regional Director, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution Edward Kaufmann, Ph.D., Professor of Humanities, San Francisco State University
Charles S. Moffett, Curator-in-Charge of Paintings, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Peter Pierson, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, University of Santa Clara
Gloria Ravitch, Assistant Curator of European Decorative Arts, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Jaap Schroder, Professor of Music, Yale University and Schola Cantorum Basiliensis
Michael Steinberg, Artistic Advisor, the San Francisco Symphony
This program is presented in cooperation with The Consul General of The Netherlands and his staff, and with the support of the Dutch Ministry of Culture.
Copy/Design: Arts Unlimited
1
Rembrandt van Rijn, Portrait of a Man. The Art Institute of Chicago.
SUNDAY, October 14
• The Art of Architecture in the City of Rembrandt, Rudolph Meischke, Director of Historic Buildings and Monuments, The Netherlands
• Amsterdam's Rembrandt: the Master's Touch, Svetlana Alpers, Professor of Art History, University of California, Berkeley
• Panel Discussion: Painters, Patrons and Politics: Contrasting Views of the Role of Art in The Netherlands and the United States, with Svetlana Alpers, Bob Haak, John Henry Merryman (Sweitser Professor of Law and Affiliated Professor of Art, Stanford University), and Charles Moffett (Curator-in-Charge of Paintings, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco)
Registration
REMBRANDT'S AMSTERDAM
To register: please fill in the registration form below, and mail to: HUMANITIES WEST, 580 Funston Ave., San Francisco, CA 94118. Make your check or money order payable to Humanities West. A limited number of scholarships are available— please write for information. Our phone number is (415) 387-8780.
Members of Seniors and
The Museum Students with Total Total
|
Regular Fee |
Society |
valid l.D. |
Reservations Paid |
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Full Registration (includes all weekend events and concert) FRIDAY Address, recital, and recep- tion only (8pm) |
$100.00 |
$90.00 |
$50.00 |
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|
15.00 |
13.50 |
7.50 |
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SATURDAY events |
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|
(9am -5pm only) |
60.00 |
54.00 |
30.00 |
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SUNDAY events |
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(9am -1pm only) |
30.00 |
27.00 |
15.00 |
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Concert Saturday |
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evening, 8:00 pm |
8.00 |
7.00 |
5.00 |
Total Enclosed $.
Name(s)
Address
City
State Zip Code
Phone □ Daytime
□ Evening
Upon receipt of your registration, you will be sent an information packet containing transportation information, a bibliography of suggested readings, a schedule, registration confirmation and tickets. There will be no refunds for tickets purchased.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: GENERAL REFERENCES
NOTE: A supplemental bibliography will be available at the weekend seminar
or by advance request from Humanities West, (415)387-8780.
The following code indicates where the work can be found:
^ Cody's Bookstore, 2454 Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley, (414)845-7852.
** Book Passage, 57 Post Street, Suite 401, San Francisco, (415)982-7866.
*** may be borrowed from the Netherlands Consulate General, 601 California Street, Suite 712, San Francisco, (415)981-6454.
borrowed with special permission from the Dutch Studies Reading Room, German Department, University of California, Berkeley. Call Professor Snapper, (415)642-3010.
* Alpers, Svetlana, The Art of Describing: Dutch Art in the Seventeenth Century
(University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 1983).
** Baedeker's Netherlands, Belgium & Luxembourg (Prentice Hall Inc., New Jersey). 117.95.
Barbour, Violet, Capitalism in Amsterdam in the 17th Century (Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 1950).
*** Barnouw, A., Monthly Letters on the Culture and History of the Netherlands (Royal Van Gorcum Ltd.: As sen, 1969)
*** Barnouw, A. & B. Landheer, The Contribution of Holland to the Sciences (Querido: New York, 1943).
*** Boon, K. G., Rembrandt: The Complete Etchings (Thames & Hudson: London, 1963).
** Brown, Christopher, Images of a Golden Past: Dutch Genre Painting of the 17th Century (Abbeville Press: New York, 1984). $49.95.
■k-kf-k-k-k colijn, Helen, Of Dutch Ways (Dillon Press Inc.: Minneapolis, 1980). $5.95.
* Clark, Kenneth, An Introduction to Rembrandt (Harper & Row: New York, 1978).
DeJonge, C. H., Delft Ceramics (Praeger Publishers: New York, 1969).
DeJonge, C. H., Dutch Tiles (Praeger Publishers: New York, 1971).
*** Edler, Friedrich, The Dutch Republic and the American Revolution (AMS Press:
New York, 1971).
Fehmers, Frank (editor). The Bargain: Holland and America, 200 Years
of Friendship (Frank Fehmers Publishing B. V.: Amsterday, 1982).
* Friedlander, Max J., From Van Eyck to Bruegel (Cornell University Press:
Ithaca, 1981).
*** Goldscheider, Ludwig, Johannes Vermeer: The Paintings (Phaidon Press: London,
1967). — ^
*** Goudsblom, Johan, Dutch Society (Random House: New York, 1967).
Haak, Bob, Rembrandt Drawings, Translated by Elizabeth Willems-Treeman (Overlook Press: New York, 1976).
Haak, Bob, Rembrandt: His Life, His Work, His Time, Translated by Elizabeth
Wi 1 lems-Treeman (Harry N. Abrams: New York, 1969).
*** Hijmans, Willem, L. Kuiper & A. Vels-Heijn, Rembrandt's Nightwatch: The History
of a Painting (A. W. Sijthoff: Alphen aan den Rijn, 1978).
Holland (Blue Guide) (W. W. Norton & Co., Inc.: New York, 1982). $15.95.
*** Huizinga, J. H., Dutch Civilization in the 17th Century and other Essays,
(Wm Collins Sons & Co. Ltd.: London, 1968).
*** Huizinga, J. H., The Waning of the Middle Ages (Doubleday & Co.: New York, 1954).
* Janson, J. W., History of Art, Part IV: The Renaissance (Harvey N. Abrams Inc.:
New York, 2nd Edition, 1977).
** Kistemaker, Renee & Roelof van Gelder, Amsterdan: The Golden Age 1275 - 1795
(Abbeville Press: New York, 1982). $55.00.
*** Koningsberger, Hans, The World of Vermeer (Time Incorporated: New York, 1967).
*** Landheer, B. editor. The Netherlands (University of California Press: Berkeley, 1946).
*** Lepore, Mario & Enzo Orlandi editro. The Life and Times of Rembrandt (Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd.: London, 1968).
**** Meijer, Reinder P., Literature of the Low Countries (Royal Van Gorcum Ltd.:
Assen, 1971).
*** Nash, J. M., The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer (Phaidon Press Ltd.: London, 1972).
*** Newton, Gerald, The Netherlands: An Historical and Cultural Survey 1795 - 1977
(Westview Press: Boulder, 1978).
* Panofsky, Erwin, Early Netherlandish Painting (Harper & Row: New York, 1971).
* Parker, Geoffrey, The Dutch Revolt (Penguin Books: New York, 1977).
* Parry, J. H., The Establishment of the European Hegemony 1415 - 1715 (Harper &
Row: New Yorky; ~ ~
*** Rijskamp, Charles (Introduction), William & Mary and their House C^he Pierpont Morgan Library: New York, 1979).
Riley, James C., International Government Finance and the Amsterdam Capital Market (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1980).
page 2
Held, Julius Samuel, Rembrandt’s Aristotle and Other Rembrandt Studies (Princeton University Press: Princeton, 1969).
Kuyper, W. , Dutch Classicist Architecture; A survey of Dutch Architecture, Gardens and Anglo-Dutch Relations from 1652 t^ 1700. (Delft University Press: Delft, 1980).
Lane, Arthur, A Guide to the Collection of Tiles (Her Majesty’s Stationery Office: London, 1960).
Motley, John, History of the United Netherlands, 4 volumes (Harper & Brothers: New York, 1867).
Neurdenburg, Elisabeth, Old Dutch Pottery and Tiles (Benn Brothers, Ltd. : London, 1923) .
Rackham. Bernard, Early Netherlands’ Majolica (Geoffrey Bles Publishers: London, 1926).
Regin, Deric, Traders, Artists, Burghers (Van Gorcum: Assen, 1976).
Rembrandt after Three Hundred Years : An Exhibition of Rembrandt and His Followers, Exhibition catalogue (Chicago Art Institute: Chicago , 1969) .
Rembrandt and His Century: Dutch Drawings of the 17th Century, Exhibition catalogue (The Pierpont Morgan Library: New York, 1977-78) .
Rembrandt in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Exhibition catalogue (The National Gallery of Art: Washington,
1969) .
Rosenberg, Jakob, Rembrandt: Life and Work, revised edition (Cornell University Press: Ithaca , 1980) .
Schama, Simon, ”A Different Jerusalem: The Jews in Rembrandt’s Amsterdam”, The Jews in the Age of Rembrandt (Washington, D.C., 1982) .
Temple, William, Observations Upon the United Provinces of the Netherlands (Printed by A. Maxwell for Sa. Gellibrand: London,
1673) .
Unger, Richard W. , Dutch Shipbuilding Before 1800 (Van Gorcum: Assen, 1978) .
White, Christopher, Rembrandt as an Etcher: A Study of the Artist at Work (Pennsylvania State University Press: University Park,
1969) .
White, Christopher, and Boon, Karel G. , Rembrandt’s Etchings,
An Illustrated Critical Catalogue (Abner Schram: New York, 1969).
Wilson, Charles H. , Profit and Power: A Study of England and the Dutch Wars (Longmans, Green & Co.: London, 1957).