Rembrandt's Amsterdam: Society and the Arts in the Golden Age: Program Notes

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

Full Registration

(includes all weekend
events and concert)

FRIDAY Address,
recital, and recep-
tion only (8pm)

$100.00

$90.00

$50.00

15.00

13.50

7.50

SATURDAY events

(9am -5pm only)

60.00

54.00

30.00

SUNDAY events

(9am -1pm only)

30.00

27.00

15.00

Concert Saturday

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).