Dutch Paintings 17th century

Paintings by Dutch artists are on their separate pages, because the Dutch costumes were different to those in France and England. In the 1650s it was wealthy Holland and its prosperous merchant class, which had become the leader in European fashion, with England wrecked by the Civil War, and France in the period before Louis XIV's coming of age of no major importance either. 

It was Holland which was the main naval, trading and thus economic power. 

In the course of the 1660s this was to change with the Restoration of Charles II in England and the rise of Louis XIV to become the famous/infamous 'Sun King'. Dutch fashion was to remain very similar to what it was like in the 1650s while English and French fashion developed and changed gradually towards the end of the century into the most recognisable Baroque silhouette: the male flared-skirted justaucorps and the female mantua gown with fontange head-dress.

Please do compare the French and English Picture Galleries and you will see the difference, especially from the 1660s onwards.

Contents © N. Kipar 1997