Dutch School of Paintings

The emergence of the Dutch school of painting in the early seventeenth century is one of the most noteworthy phenomenons in the history of the visual arts. The political and religious attitudes of the period are not readily apparent in the work of Dutch artists. The still life’s, portraits, landscapes, seascapes, and genre scenes that characterize this school of painting are surprisingly lacking in sequence on the major events of the day. Nevertheless, the thoughtful bases from which artists worked are clearly the same as those governing decisions in contemporary political, military, and religious activities. This ideology was essentially threefold: that God's work is evident in the world itself; that, even though things in this world are mortal and transitory, no facet of God's making is too light to be noticed, valued, or represented; and that the Dutch, like the ancient Israelites, were a chosen people, favored and blessed by God's protection.