Art and the Culture of Love in Seventeenth-Century Holland

Art and the Culture of Love in Seventeenth-Century Holland examines pictorial subjects and artists that have never been considered together and which collectively examine one of the most important themes of Dutch art of the Golden Age. H. Rodney Nevitt here offers analysis of paintings and prints of ‘garden parties’, merry companies, courting couples, and even landscape etchings that have amorous overtones. Placing these works in the context of the contemporary culture of love which manifested itself in the social practices of courtship and in a variety of amatory texts, Nevitt shows how they both reflect and shaped the experience of love. His study also reconstitutes the viewpoints from which these works were understood, taking seriously their moral and celebratory aspects.

• Proposes new interpretations of well-known artists as well as lesser-known artists • Examines a variety of Dutch love poetry, song texts and other literature that have never been examined in context with art from the time • Makes an important contribution to the cultural history of love, courtship and gender relations in The Netherlands in the early modern era

Introduction: courtship and the Dutch youth culture; 1. The new garden of love; 2. The morals of love; 3. Rembrandt’s hidden lovers; Conclusion: love, death, time.

\'His researches and obvious wide-ranging knowledge of the Dutch Golden Age, social, artistic and literary, have resulted in a complex interweaving of posible meanings of many genre paintings and prints, both well known and obscure, which he analyses in fascinating detail.\' The Art Newspaper

‘All of the art works considered in this Cambridge University press publication are beautifully reproduced, often with enlarged details, so that the reader cam easily follow Nevitt’s accurate descriptions and convincing interpretations. The author has a fine prose style that avoids jargon and makes his book … an excellent text for the general public.’ INTAMS

‘… entertaining book …’. Burlington Magazine