Masters of Light: Dutch Painters in Utrecht during the Golden Age [Paperback]

Joaneath A Spicer (Author), Lynn Federle Orr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1997

Provides a comprehensive treatment of the achievements of the school of the Dutch Golden Age. The volume is the catalogue for an exhibition at the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco; the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore; and the National Gallery, London, (May-July 1998).

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Can one ever tire of the luminous grace of the Dutch paintings produced in the first half of the 17th century, a unique period of economic and cultural flowering? This work, published to accompany an exhibition at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, and the National Gallery in London, answers most resoundingly in the negative. Essays by eminent scholars provide a cultural and social background to the art and the artists, but it is the paintings themselves, amassed from the best collections in the world, that speak out to the viewer. The tranquility of a landscape, the innovative lighting of an interior, the fantasy of an improbable assortment of flowers in a still life are all celebrations of a new sense of the world. The influence of the Caravaggesque style may well be traced through this period, but the final images are of a singularly personal body of work. Highly recommended for all art, academic, and large public collections.?Paula Frosch, Metropolitan Museum of Art Lib., New York
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

This beautiful catalog presents a comprehensive treatment of the achievements of the Utrecht school of painters. Unlike their more well known compatriots, Rembrandt and Vermeer, who perfected naturalistic portraits of seventeenth-century Dutch cultural life, the Utrecht masters (including Abraham Bloemart and Cornelis van Poelenburch) infused their canvases with a blend of mythological imagination, baroque religiosity, and a Dutch sense of nature. Van Poelenburch's Landscape with the Flight into Egypt, which sets the biblical flight of Joseph and Mary against a vast seventeenth-century Utrecht landscape, is one of many examples of this distinctive artistic approach. The catalog also features eight scholarly essays on the sociopolitical milieu that gave rise to the Utrecht school. As a predominantly Catholic province, Utrecht proved both receptive to the Caravaggesque sensibilities of these artists and more generous in its patronage of their works than other parts of Protestant mercantile Holland. The writing is at times uneven, but overall this is a solid academic study that promises to broaden our understanding of Dutch art. Veronica Scrol --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Walters Art Gallery & Fine Arts Museums; First Edition edition (1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0884010937
• ISBN-13: 978-0884010937
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,672,386 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Book, August 7, 2005

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J_B (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Masters of Light: Dutch Painters in Utrecht during the Golden Age (Paperback)

I checked this book out of a university library, and I can't imagine a more comprehensive collection of paintings from the 17th century in the Netherlands. There must have been 150-200 pages of color reproductions, and full analysis of the symbolism within each painting. If you can't go to Holland to see them in person, this book is worth it. (but quite honestly, for the $300 it costs, you might as well save up for the trip instead)