What is Dutch Golden Age painting?
There was a period in the 17th century, where [[Netherlands|Dutch]] [[trade]], [[science]] and [[art]] were among the most advanced in [[Europe]]. The period is known as the [[Dutch Golden Age]]. In general, this period started in the second half of the [[Eighty Years' War]]. After the war, there was the [[Dutch Republic]] which was the most prosperous nation in Europe. The historical period of the time was called [[Baroque]]. Many of the paintings of this period show the scenes more pretty than they really were. This is called 'idealisation'. The Dutch paintings of the time often lack this feature. Artists of the movement include [[Peter Paul Rubens]], [[Johannes Vermeer]], [[Bartholomeus van der Helst]], and [[Jacob van Loo]]. There were relatively few paintings with religious themes during this period. The reason for this was that most Dutch were [[Calvinism|Calvinist]]. Calvinism forbade religious painting in churches. Even though such subjects were acceptable in private homes, they were not very popular. The other traditional classes of history and portrait painting were present, but the period is more notable for a huge variety of other genres, sub-divided into numerous specialized categories, such as scenes of peasant life, landscapes, townscapes, landscapes with animals, maritime paintings, flower paintings and [[still life]]s of various types. The development of many of these types of painting was decisively influenced by 17th-century Dutch artists. There was a theory in painting, that some types of painting were more prestigious than others. This theory is known as ''hierarchy of genres''. Because history painting was at the top of the list, many painters wanted to produce historical paintings. The problem with this was that historical paintings were the most difficult to sell. To be able to live from their painting, many painters were forced to produce portraits or genre scenes, which sold much more easily. The hierarchy was as follows: *[[history painting]], including [[Allegory|allegories]] and