Daily Life in Rembrandt's Holland [Paperback]

Paul Zumthor (Author)

Book Description

Series: Daily Life | Publication Date: June 1, 1994

This engagingly written study presents a rich picture of a dynamic society that had torn itself away from the mediocrity of its past--a stagnant nation of peasants and fishermen--to pursue an overseas empire that led to great financial wealth and a highly sophisticated cultivation of the arts. This classic work first appeared in English translation in 1963.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 376 pages
• Publisher: Stanford University Press; 1 edition (June 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804722013
• ISBN-13: 978-0804722018
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #116,221 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #5 in Books > History > Europe > Central Europe
  • #28 in Books > Travel > Europe > Netherlands
  • #31 in Books > History > Europe > Netherlands

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good background reading for geneologists..., February 15, 2002

By 

Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Daily Life in Rembrandt's Holland (Paperback)

If you don't feel like reading Simom Schama's 600+ page EMBARRASSMENT OF RICHES, or Israel's 1100+ page THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, Simon Zumthor's DAILY LIFE IN REMBRANDT'S HOLLAND may be the book for you. Zumthor's book was written in French, and first published in English the early 1960s. My paperback copy was published in 1994 by Standford University as part of the "Daily Life" series.

If you're not particularly interested in the politics of the 17th Century, or the military action that took place during the various wars (which Schama and Israel cover in more detail), and you want to delve right into the everyday lives of the people, Zumthor's book allows you to do so. Zumthor covers everything from clothing to food to employment to housing to you name it--all those things all of us do that make up our daily lives.

The section on the artistic elements of Dutch society is relatively short, and Rembrandt is really only mentioned in passing, but you do get an impression of what he, and Vermeer, and other painters probably experienced as they went about their business. Rembrandt and the other painters were not seen as "artists" but rather as "painters" and as such were members of guilds--Medieval organizations that were organized by various occupational groups and still thrived in the first part of the 17th Century in the Netherlands. Zumthor spends some time discussing how the guilds worked and how they were regulated by not only their members but the towns and villages.

Zumthor also provides much interesting information about Dutch church life, community life, and home life and the obsession of the people with cleaning -- stoops, linens, clothes, but according to Zumthor, not always bodies. The Dutch in the 17th Century were a complicted folk, and although I have read Schama and Israel, I enjoyed this book. It's great background reading, especially if you wonder how your own ancestors lived. Read it with Poortvliet's illustrated books, however, as it lacks illustrations (my paperback copy did).

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A cross between Schama and Braudel., September 3, 2005

By 

frumiousb "frumiousb" (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Daily Life in Rembrandt's Holland (Paperback)

If you can, imagine a slice of time and space from The Structures of Everyday Life set in the world of An Embarassment of Riches. If you keep that idea in your head, and spice it with the tone of an occasionally ironic French medievalist then you have a fairly good idea what it is like to read Daily Life in Rembrandt's Holland.

Daily Life looks at what living would have been like in the Netherlands from the years 1606 to 1669. These years were not only the demarcation of the life of Rembrandt, but also corresponded with the Dutch golden age. Instead of focusing on the great political and military movements that happened during that period (the end of hostilities with Spain and participation in the Thirty Years War), Zumthor chooses to write about the commonplace.

The book is structured in eight chapters, with the first seven chapters addressing major subject groupings. The chapters include: The Background of Daily Life, The Dutch Interior, The Course of Life, Recreations, Arts and Letters, Dutch Society, and Holland At Work. The final chapter is a brief summing up in which Zumthor makes a number of points about Dutch life during that period that I believe would still be interesting and relevant when related to the Dutch society of today.

Living in the Netherlands as an expatriate, I have read quite a few books about the history of the country in both English and Dutch. Daily Life is a fine addition to my collection, and a very enjoyable reading experience. The translation by Simon Watson Taylor is clean and smooth and managed to capture the obvious quirks of the tone of the author. It is a good complement to Schama's book An Embarrassment of Riches. If it is less of a book than the Schama it is because the more encyclopedic nature of the project lacked a bit of depth and narrative flow.

I would recommend this book to other expatriates living in the Netherlands who would like to know a bit more about the history of the country. I can imagine that it would also be invaluable to someone who wanted to get a feel for the background of life at that time. Please note that Rembrandt is not the subject of the book, and his life is only used as a ruler to mark the relevant time period.