It was predominantly women who were depicted receiving and reading letters in elegant interiors in a calm, atmospheric setting. Pieter de Hooch painted different variations of the letter theme, from writing and delivering them to reading. When necessary, they even contained entire sample letters meant to help the writers to strike the right tone. Popular handbooks such as Le Secrétaire à la mode by the French writer Jean-Puget de la Serre offered help in formulating love, business or condolence letters. A veritable culture of letter writing thus emerged. Written correspondence became an important means for both the private exchange of ideas and the transmission of business messages. This resulted from its increasing importance as a means of communication in the educated Dutch society. The Letterįrom the mid-1650s, the letter attained a prominent role as a motif within the bourgeois genre. Beyond this, the wife – in her role as a housewife – is depicted carrying out numerous everyday tasks sewing, knitting or working on the loom were popular pictorial themes as symbols of female virtue. Child education also became an important motif, for instance, the mother caringly teaching her children to walk or read. Usually, until the 19th century, newborns from wealthy bourgeois families were handed over to nurses for care. As a young mother, she is shown withdrawn while nursing her child, a subject which is new in painting. She was considered to be the centre of the family and is portrayed as a virtuous daughter and wife, a capable housewife and loving mother who takes an active part in her child’s life. This also involved a revaluation of the woman’s tasks and their representation. The bourgeois idyll subsequently became a popular subject. In 1664 the Dutch folk poet Jacob Cats had, by way of example, described the typical everyday life of families, including the role of women as above all virtuous housewives. The social change taking place in the Northern Netherlands was also reflected in a reassessment of marriage and family cohabitation. This juxtaposition, unusual at first glance, creates an exciting dialogue that, in its interaction, enables new views and perspectives on the art of the Old Masters. The two artists reflect on the themes and motifs, place them in a larger context, and thereby remove traditional boundaries. In the exhibition, the works of the Dutch masters meet works by Stefan Marx and Lars Eidinger. In addition, the exhibition uses socio-critical issues of the 21st century to evaluate the depictions and links them to our own reality of life. The elegant, atmospheric interiors and family scenes of the Delft fine painters were popular, as were the exaggerated, ironic depictions of the peasant milieu and licentious goings-on of the common people.Īnother essential part of the presentation is dedicated to superordinate aspects and sketches, on the basis of socio-cultural developments and political backgrounds, the Dutch society of the 17th century, which the selected artists seemingly depicted in their paintings. Genre painting was held in high esteem by wealthy citizens and merchants because of its very realistic depictions. Painting experienced a great boom in the 17th century in the Netherlands in the course of economic development.
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