Western Civilization

FRENCH CLASSICISM AND DUTCH REALISM In the second

half of the seventeenth century, France replaced Italy

as the cultural leader of Europe. Rejecting the Baroque

style as showy and overly passionate, the French

remained committed to the classical values of the High

Renaissance. French late Classicism, with its emphasis

on clarity, simplicity, balance, and harmony of design,

was a rather austere version of the High Renaissance

style. Its triumph reflected the shift in seventeenth-

century French society from chaos to order. Though it

rejected the emotionalism and high drama of the Ba-

roque, French Classicism continued the Baroque’s con-

ception of grandeur in the portrayal of noble subjects,

especially those from classical antiquity.

A brilliant flowering of Dutch painting paralleled

the supremacy of Dutch commerce in the seventeenth

century. Wealthy patricians and burghers of Dutch

urban society commissioned works of art for their

guild halls, town halls, and private dwellings. The

interests of this burgher society were reflected in the

subject matter of many Dutch paintings: portraits of

themselves, landscapes, seascapes, genre scenes, still

lifes, and the interiors of their residences. Neither

Classical nor Baroque, Dutch painters were primarily

interested in the realistic portrayal of secular every-

day life.

The finest product of the golden age of Dutch

painting was Rembrandt van Rijn (REM-brant vahn

Rembrandt van Rijn,The Night Watch.Dutch burghers and patricians of Dutch urban society

commissioned works of art, and these quite naturally reflected the burghers’ interests. This painting

by Rembrandt shows the two leaders and sixteen members of a civic militia preparing for a parade

in the city of Amsterdam.

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam//DEA Picture Library/Getty Images

380 Chapter 15 State Building and the Search for Order in the Seventeenth Century

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