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151-598: The Amsterdamse Joffers were a group of women artists who met weekly in Amsterdam at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. They supported each other in their professional careers. Most of them were students of the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten and belonged to the movement of the Amsterdam Impressionists . Each one became a successful artist. As a group they contributed to

302-542: A bodegón is a still-life painting depicting pantry items, such as victuals, game, and drink, often arranged on a simple stone slab, and also a painting with one or more figures, but significant still-life elements, typically set in a kitchen or tavern. Starting in the Baroque period, such paintings became popular in Spain in the second quarter of the 17th century. The tradition of still-life painting appears to have started and

453-556: A Stand by Gustave Caillebotte , a painting which was mocked at the time as a "display of fruit in a bird's-eye view." Vincent van Gogh 's "Sunflowers" paintings are some of the best-known 19th-century still-life paintings. Van Gogh uses mostly tones of yellow and rather flat rendering to make a memorable contribution to still-life history. His Still Life with Drawing Board (1889) is a self-portrait in still-life form, with Van Gogh depicting many items of his personal life, including his pipe, simple food (onions), an inspirational book, and

604-404: A bride and groom visiting a goldsmith is a typical example of a transitional still life depicting both religious and secular content. Though mostly allegorical in message, the figures of the couple are realistic and the objects shown (coins, vessels, etc.) are accurately painted but the goldsmith is actually a depiction of St. Eligius and the objects heavily symbolic. Another similar type of painting

755-479: A city thought to be overwhelmed by the tourist influx. Construction of a new metro line connecting the part of the city north of the IJ to its southern part was started in 2003. The project was controversial because its cost had exceeded its budget by a factor of three by 2008, because of fears of damage to buildings in the centre, and because construction had to be halted and restarted multiple times. The new metro line

906-689: A contrast. One change was a new enthusiasm among French painters, who now form a large proportion of the most notable artists, while the English remained content to import. Jean-Baptiste Chardin painted small and simple assemblies of food and objects in a most subtle style that both built on the Dutch Golden Age masters, and was to be very influential on 19th-century compositions. Dead game subjects continued to be popular, especially for hunting lodges; most specialists also painted live animal subjects. Jean-Baptiste Oudry combined superb renderings of

1057-726: A defense of Catholicism during the Protestant Reformation. The main reasons for the uprising were the imposition of new taxes, the tenth penny, and the religious persecution of Protestants by the newly introduced Inquisition . The revolt escalated into the Eighty Years' War , which ultimately led to Dutch independence. Strongly pushed by Dutch Revolt leader William the Silent , the Dutch Republic became known for its relative religious tolerance. Jews from

1208-493: A diversity of objects, fruits, flowers and dead game, often together with living people and animals. The style was soon adopted by artists from the Dutch Republic . Especially popular in this period were vanitas paintings, in which sumptuous arrangements of fruit and flowers, books, statuettes, vases, coins, jewelry, paintings, musical and scientific instruments, military insignia, fine silver and crystal, were accompanied by symbolic reminders of life's impermanence. Additionally,

1359-507: A few objects of food and tableware laid on a table. Still-life painting in Spain, also called bodegones , was austere. It differed from Dutch still life, which often contained rich banquets surrounded by ornate and luxurious items of fabric or glass. The game in Spanish paintings is often plain dead animals still waiting to be skinned. The fruits and vegetables are uncooked. The backgrounds are bleak or plain wood geometric blocks, often creating

1510-609: A flood in 1916, the depleted municipalities of Durgerdam, Holysloot, Zunderdorp and Schellingwoude , all lying north of Amsterdam, were, at their own request, annexed to the city. Between the wars, the city continued to expand, most notably to the west of the Jordaan district in the Frederik Hendrikbuurt and surrounding neighbourhoods. Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940 and took control of

1661-602: A full-service bank for Dutch merchant bankers and as a reserve bank. From the 17th century onwards, Amsterdam also became involved in the Atlantic slave trade . The city was a major destination port for Dutch slave ships participating in the triangular trade , which lasted until the United Netherlands abolished the Netherlands' involvement in the trade in 1814 at the request of the British government . Amsterdam

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1812-737: A given profession, as with the Cornelis Norbertus Gysbrecht's painting "Painter's Easel with Fruit Piece", which displays all the tools of a painter's craft. Also popular in the first half of the 17th century was the painting of a large assortment of specimens in allegorical form, such as the "five senses", "four continents", or "the four seasons", showing a goddess or allegorical figure surrounded by appropriate natural and human-made objects. The popularity of vanitas paintings, and these other forms of still life, soon spread from Holland to Flanders and Germany, and also to Spain and France. The Netherlandish production of still lifes

1963-466: A junction of international waterways. A settlement was built here immediately after the landscape change of 1170. Right from the start of its foundation it focused on traffic, production and trade; not on farming, as opposed to how communities had lived further upstream for the past 200 years and northward for thousands of years. The construction of a dam at the mouth of the Amstel, eponymously named Dam ,

2114-589: A later generation than the French female impressionists Marie Bracquemond (1840–1916), Mary Cassatt (1845–1926), Eva Gonzalès (1847–1893) and Berthe Morisot (1841–1895). Characteristic of the french female impressionists is the powerful, light-filled color palette with lively motifs. The Joffers used colours typical of the leading Dutch impressionist movement, the Hague School . These darker colours create

2265-506: A letter from his brother, all laid out on his table, without his own image present. He also painted his own version of a vanitas painting Still Life with Open Bible, Candle, and Book (1885). In the United States during Revolutionary times, American artists trained abroad applied European styles to American portrait painting and still life. Charles Willson Peale founded a family of prominent American painters, and as major leader in

2416-488: A modest semi-permanent or seasonal settlement. Until water issues were controlled, a permanent settlement would not have been possible, since the river mouth and the banks of the Amstel in this period in time were too wet for permanent habitation. The origins of Amsterdam are linked to the development of a dam on the Amstel River called Amestelle , meaning 'watery area', from Aa(m) 'river' + stelle 'site at

2567-427: A multitude of still-life elements ostensibly to reproduce a 'slice of life ' ". The trompe-l'œil painting, which intends to deceive the viewer into thinking the scene is real, is a specialized type of still life, usually showing inanimate and relatively flat objects. Still-life paintings often adorn the interior of ancient Egyptian tombs. It was believed that food objects and other items depicted there would, in

2718-605: A number of hot and humid days with occasional rain every month. The average daily high in August is 22.1 °C (72 °F), and 30 °C (86 °F) or higher is only measured on average on 2.5 days, placing Amsterdam in AHS Heat Zone 2. The record extremes range from −19.7 °C (−3.5 °F) to 36.3 °C (97.3 °F). Days with more than 1 mm (0.04 in) of precipitation are common, on average 133 days per year. Amsterdam's average annual precipitation

2869-532: A painting's artistic merit was based primarily on its subject. In the Academic system, the highest form of painting consisted of images of historical , Biblical or mythological significance, with still-life subjects relegated to the very lowest order of artistic recognition. Instead of using still life to glorify nature, some artists, such as John Constable and Camille Corot , chose landscapes to serve that end. When Neoclassicism started to go into decline by

3020-729: A quieter and more melancholic atmosphere. The French women painters preferred landscape painting of coasts, harbors and countryside with views of the city, together with still life and portrait. The Dutch women chose almost exclusively still life and portrait. The style and subject of each group reflect the time and context in which they worked, which is in a way the essence of impressionism. The 1947 book by Johan van Eikeren identified eight artists as Amsterdamse Joffers: Ansingh, Ritsema, van den Berg, Bauer-Stumpff, Bodenheim, Westendorp-Osieck, Surie and van Regteren-Altena. Other analysts often include also Robertson and Ansingh´s sister, Sorella Therese. The influence of host and mentor Theresa Schwartz

3171-518: A shoreline', 'river bank'. In this area, land reclamation started as early as the late 10th century. Amestelle was located along a side arm of the IJ. This side arm took the name from the eponymous land: Amstel. Amestelle was inhabited by farmers, who lived more inland and more upstream, where the land was not as wet as at the banks of the downstream river mouth. These farmers were starting the reclamation around upstream Ouderkerk aan de Amstel , and later at

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3322-419: A similar sympathetic female portrait with images of game birds. In Catholic Italy and Spain, the pure vanitas painting was rare, and there were far fewer still-life specialists. In Southern Europe there is more employment of the soft naturalism of Caravaggio and less emphasis on hyper-realism in comparison with Northern European styles. In France, painters of still lifes ( nature morte ) were influenced by both

3473-426: A skull, an hourglass or pocket watch, a candle burning down or a book with pages turning, would serve as a moralizing message on the ephemerality of sensory pleasures. Often some of the fruits and flowers themselves would be shown starting to spoil or fade to emphasize the same point. Another type of still life, known as ontbijtjes or "breakfast paintings", represent both a literal presentation of delicacies that

3624-556: A strong influence on the 'Amsterdam dialect' adding a large Yiddish local vocabulary. Despite an absence of an official Jewish ghetto , most Jews preferred to live in the eastern part, which used to be the centre of medieval Amsterdam. The main street of this Jewish neighbourhood was Jodenbreestraat. The neighbourhood comprised the Waterlooplein and the Nieuwmarkt . Buildings in this neighbourhood fell into disrepair after

3775-507: A surrealist air. Even while both Dutch and Spanish still life often had an embedded moral purpose, the austerity, which some find akin to the bleakness of some of the Spanish plateaus, appears to reject the sensual pleasures, plenitude, and luxury of Dutch still-life paintings. Even though Italian still-life painting (in Italian referred to as natura morta , "dead nature") was gaining in popularity, it remained historically less respected than

3926-516: Is 838 mm (33 in). A large part of this precipitation falls as light rain or brief showers. Cloudy and damp days are common during the cooler months of October through March. In 1300, Amsterdam's population was around 1,000 people. While many towns in Holland experienced population decline during the 15th and 16th centuries, Amsterdam's population grew, mainly due to the rise of the profitable Baltic maritime trade especially in grain after

4077-411: Is above another who only produces fruit, flowers or seafood. He who paints living animals is more estimable than those who only represent dead things without movement, and as man is the most perfect work of God on the earth, it is also certain that he who becomes an imitator of God in representing human figures, is much more excellent than all the others ...". Still life developed as a separate category in

4228-590: Is added to elevate the subject. This sort of large-scale still life continued to develop in Flemish painting after the separation of the North and South, but is rare in Dutch painting, although other works in this tradition anticipate the " merry company " type of genre painting . Gradually, religious content diminished in size and placement in this type of painting, though moral lessons continued as sub-contexts. One of

4379-666: Is also often recognized. Although Suze Robertson is sometimes named as one of the Joffers, she is not one of them. Many museums in the Netherlands and abroad have works by the Amsterdam Joffers in their collections. [REDACTED] Media related to Amsterdamse Joffers at Wikimedia Commons Amsterdam Amsterdam ( / ˈ æ m s t ər d æ m / AM -stər-dam , UK also / ˌ æ m s t ər ˈ d æ m / AM -stər- DAM , Dutch: [ˌɑmstərˈdɑm] ; lit.   ' Dam in

4530-544: Is completely absent, as is meticulously detailed brushwork. Impressionists instead focused on experimentation in broad, dabbing brush strokes, tonal values, and colour placement. The Impressionists and Post-Impressionists were inspired by nature's colour schemes but reinterpreted nature with their own colour harmonies, which sometimes proved startlingly unnaturalistic. As Gauguin stated, "Colours have their own meanings." Variations in perspective are also tried, such as using tight cropping and high angles, as with Fruit Displayed on

4681-649: Is considered its Golden Age , during which it became the wealthiest city in the Western world. Ships sailed from Amsterdam to the Baltic Sea , the Caribbean, North America, and Africa, as well as present-day Indonesia , India, Sri Lanka , and Brazil , forming the basis of a worldwide trading network. Amsterdam's merchants had the largest share in both the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and

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4832-483: Is historically estimated to have occurred between 1264 and 1275. The settlement first appeared in a document from 1275, concerning a road toll granted by the count of Holland Floris V to the residents apud Amestelledamme 'at the dam in the Amstel' or 'at the dam of Amstelland'. This allowed the inhabitants of the village to travel freely through the County of Holland , paying no tolls at bridges, locks and dams. This

4983-586: Is in the southwest. Amsterdam is connected to the North Sea through the long North Sea Canal . Amsterdam is intensely urbanised, as is the Amsterdam metropolitan area surrounding the city. Comprising 219.4 km (84.7 sq mi) of land, the city proper has 4,457 inhabitants per km and 2,275 houses per km . Parks and nature reserves make up 12% of Amsterdam's land area. Amsterdam has more than 100 km (60 mi) of canals , most of which are navigable by boat. The city's three main canals are

5134-511: Is located in the Western Netherlands, in the province of North Holland , the capital of which is not Amsterdam, but rather Haarlem . The river Amstel ends in the city centre and connects to a large number of canals that eventually terminate in the IJ . Amsterdam's elevation is about −2 m (−6.6 ft) below sea level . The surrounding land is flat as it is formed of large polders . An artificial forest, Amsterdamse Bos ,

5285-432: Is one of the first examples of pure still life, precisely rendered and set at eye level. Though not overtly symbolic, this painting was owned by Cardinal Federico Borromeo and may have been appreciated for both religious and aesthetic reasons. Jan Bruegel painted his Large Milan Bouquet (1606) for the cardinal, as well, claiming that he painted it 'fatta tutti del natturel' (made all from nature) and he charged extra for

5436-463: Is one of the outstanding examples of this trend, with borders featuring an extraordinary range of objects, including coins and fishing-nets, chosen to complement the text or main image at that particular point. Flemish workshops later in the century took the naturalism of border elements even further. Gothic millefleur tapestries are another example of the general increasing interest in accurate depictions of plants and animals. The set of The Lady and

5587-402: Is surpassed by only a very few...He painted barbershops and shoemakers' stalls, donkeys, vegetables, and such, and for that reason came to be called the 'painter of vulgar subjects'; yet these works are altogether delightful, and they were sold at higher prices than the greatest [paintings] of many other artists." By 1300, starting with Giotto and his pupils, still-life painting was revived in

5738-401: Is the family portrait combining figures with a well-set table of food, which symbolizes both the piety of the human subjects and their thanks for God's abundance. Around this time, simple still-life depictions divorced of figures (but not allegorical meaning) were beginning to be painted on the outside of shutters of private devotional paintings. Another step toward the autonomous still life was

5889-688: The Concertgebouw were built; At the same time, the Industrial Revolution reached the city. The Amsterdam–Rhine Canal was dug to give Amsterdam a direct connection to the Rhine , and the North Sea Canal was dug to give the port a shorter connection to the North Sea . Both projects dramatically improved commerce with the rest of Europe and the world. In 1906, Joseph Conrad gave a brief description of Amsterdam as seen from

6040-581: The Amstel ' ) is the capital and most populated city of the Netherlands . It has a population of 921,402 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the urban area and 2,480,394 in the metropolitan area . Located in the Dutch province of North Holland , Amsterdam is colloquially referred to as the " Venice of the North ", for its large number of canals , now a UNESCO World Heritage Site . Amsterdam

6191-829: The Dam Square , where the Royal Palace of Amsterdam and former city hall are located; the Amsterdam Museum ; Stedelijk Museum , with modern art; the Concertgebouw concert hall; the Anne Frank House ; the Scheepvaartmuseum , the Natura Artis Magistra ; Hortus Botanicus , NEMO , the red-light district and cannabis coffee shops . The city is known for its nightlife and festival activity, with several nightclubs among

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6342-563: The Delft University of Technology . Nelly Bodenheim was an illustrator, not a painter like the other members. Ansingh, Ritsema, Robertson, Jacoba Surie and Betsy Westendorp-Osieck were members of artist associations Arti et Amicitiae , kunstvereniging Sint Lucas and Pulchri Studio . Ritsema is considered the most talented of the group. She initially received her education at the Haarlem School of Art before joining

6493-634: The Dutch East Indies in the 1940s and 1950s. In the 1960s guest workers from Turkey, Morocco, Italy, and Spain immigrated to Amsterdam. After the independence of Suriname in 1975, a large wave of Surinamese settled in Amsterdam, mostly in the Bijlmer area. Other immigrants, including refugees asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants , came from Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa. In

6644-474: The Dutch Republic , which itself was a much smaller state than Great Britain, France or the Ottoman Empire . In contrast to those other metropolises, Amsterdam was also surrounded by large towns such as Leiden (about 67,000), Rotterdam (45,000), Haarlem (38,000) and Utrecht (30,000). The city's population declined in the early 19th century, dipping under 200,000 in 1820. By the second half of

6795-593: The Dutch West India Company . These companies acquired overseas possessions that later became Dutch colonies . Amsterdam was Europe's most important hub for the shipment of goods and was the leading financial centre of the Western world. In 1602, the Amsterdam office of the Dutch East India Company became the world's first stock exchange by trading in its own shares. The Bank of Amsterdam started operations in 1609, acting as

6946-688: The Edict of Fontainebleau in 1685, while the Flemish Protestants came during the Eighty Years' War against Catholic Spain. The Westphalians came to Amsterdam mostly for economic reasons; their influx continued through the 18th and 19th centuries. Before the Second World War, 10% of the city population was Jewish . Just twenty percent of them survived the Holocaust . Amsterdam experienced an influx of religions and cultures after

7097-523: The Emperor Rudolf II , and there were many engraved illustrations for books (often then hand-coloured), such as Hans Collaert 's Florilegium , published by Plantin in 1600. Around 1600 flower paintings in oils became something of a craze; Karel van Mander painted some works himself, and records that other Northern Mannerist artists such as Cornelis van Haarlem also did so. No surviving flower-pieces by them are known, but many survive by

7248-664: The Iberian Peninsula , Protestant Huguenots from France, prosperous merchants and printers from Flanders , and economic and religious refugees from the Spanish-controlled parts of the Low Countries found safety in Amsterdam. The influx of Flemish printers and the city's intellectual tolerance made Amsterdam a centre for the European free press . During the 17th century, Amsterdam experienced what

7399-399: The Low Countries in the last quarter of the 16th century. The English term still life derives from the Dutch word stilleven while Romance languages (as well as Greek, Polish, Russian and Turkish) tend to use terms meaning dead nature . 15th-century Early Netherlandish painting had developed highly illusionistic techniques in both panel painting and illuminated manuscripts , where

7550-766: The North Sea to the west, with prevailing westerly winds. Amsterdam, as well as most of the North Holland province, lies in USDA Hardiness zone 8b. Frosts mainly occur during spells of easterly or northeasterly winds from the inner European continent. Even then, because Amsterdam is surrounded on three sides by large bodies of water, as well as having a significant heat-island effect , nights rarely fall below −5 °C (23 °F), while it could easily be −12 °C (10 °F) in Hilversum , 25 km (16 mi) southeast. Summers are moderately warm with

7701-792: The Prinsengracht , the Herengracht and the Keizersgracht . In the Middle Ages , Amsterdam was surrounded by a moat, called the Singel , which now forms the innermost ring in the city, and gives the city centre a horseshoe shape. The city is also served by a seaport . It has been compared with Venice , due to its division into about 90 islands, which are linked by more than 1,200 bridges. Amsterdam has an oceanic climate ( Köppen : Cfb ) strongly influenced by its proximity to

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7852-517: The Roman wall paintings and floor mosaics unearthed at Pompeii, Herculaneum and the Villa Boscoreale , including the later familiar motif of a glass bowl of fruit. Decorative mosaics termed "emblema", found in the homes of rich Romans, demonstrated the range of food enjoyed by the upper classes, and also functioned as signs of hospitality and as celebrations of the seasons and of life. By

8003-623: The Surrealists placed recognizable still-life objects in their dreamscapes. In Joan Miró 's still-life paintings, objects appear weightless and float in lightly suggested two-dimensional space, and even mountains are drawn as simple lines. In Italy during this time, Giorgio Morandi was the foremost still-life painter, exploring a wide variety of approaches to depicting everyday bottles and kitchen implements. Dutch artist M. C. Escher , best known for his detailed yet ambiguous graphics, created Still life and Street (1937), his updated version of

8154-497: The UNESCO World Heritage List . In the 21st century, the Amsterdam city centre has attracted large numbers of tourists: between 2012 and 2015, the annual number of visitors rose from 10 to 17 million. Real estate prices have surged, and local shops are making way for tourist-oriented ones, making the centre unaffordable for the city's inhabitants. These developments have evoked comparisons with Venice ,

8305-562: The social housing projects in Amsterdam-West and the Bijlmer. Today, people of non-Western origin make up approximately one-fifth of the population of Amsterdam, and more than 30% of the city's children. A slight majority of the residents of Amsterdam have at least one parent who was born outside the country. However, a much larger majority has at least one parent who was born inside the country (intercultural marriages are common in

8456-594: The tulip (imported to Europe from Turkey), were celebrated in still-life paintings. The horticultural explosion was of widespread interest in Europe and artist capitalized on that to produce thousands of still-life paintings. Some regions and courts had particular interests. The depiction of citrus, for example, was a particular passion of the Medici court in Florence, Italy. This great diffusion of natural specimens and

8607-609: The "grand manner" painting of historical, religious, and mythic subjects. On the other hand, successful Italian still-life artists found ample patronage in their day. Furthermore, women painters, few as they were, commonly chose or were restricted to painting still life; Giovanna Garzoni , Laura Bernasconi , Maria Theresa van Thielen , and Fede Galizia are notable examples. Many leading Italian artists in other genre, also produced some still-life paintings. In particular, Caravaggio applied his influential form of naturalism to still life. His Basket of Fruit ( c.  1595 –1600)

8758-529: The 16th century, food and flowers would again appear as symbols of the seasons and of the five senses. Also starting in Roman times is the tradition of the use of the skull in paintings as a symbol of mortality and earthly remains, often with the accompanying phrase Omnia mors aequat (Death makes all equal). These vanitas images have been re-interpreted through the last 400 years of art history, starting with Dutch painters around 1600. The popular appreciation of

8909-457: The 1830s, genre and portrait painting became the focus for the Realist and Romantic artistic revolutions. Many of the great artists of that period included still life in their body of work. The still-life paintings of Francisco Goya , Gustave Courbet , and Eugène Delacroix convey a strong emotional current, and are less concerned with exactitude and more interested in mood. Though patterned on

9060-527: The 1970s and 1980s, many 'old' Amsterdammers moved to 'new' cities like Almere and Purmerend , prompted by the third Land-use planning bill of the Dutch Government. This bill promoted suburbanization and arranged for new developments in so-called "groeikernen", literally cores of growth . Young professionals and artists moved into neighborhoods De Pijp and the Jordaan abandoned by these Amsterdammers. The non-Western immigrants settled mostly in

9211-422: The 19th century, industrialization spurred renewed growth. Amsterdam's population hit an all-time high of 872,000 in 1959, before declining in the following decades due to government-sponsored suburbanisation to so-called groeikernen (growth centres) such as Purmerend and Almere . Between 1970 and 1980, Amsterdam experienced a sharp population decline, peaking at a net loss of 25,000 people in 1973. By 1985

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9362-778: The American art community, also founded a society for the training of artists and a famous museum of natural curiosities. His son Raphaelle Peale was one of a group of early American still-life artists, which also included John F. Francis , Charles Bird King , and John Johnston. By the second half of the 19th century, Martin Johnson Heade introduced the American version of the habitat or biotope picture, which placed flowers and birds in simulated outdoor environments. The American trompe-l'œil paintings also flourished during this period, created by John Haberle , William Michael Harnett , and John Frederick Peto . Peto specialized in

9513-931: The Burgundian victory in the Dutch–Hanseatic War in 1441. The population of Amsterdam was only modest compared to the towns and cities of Flanders and Brabant , which comprised the most urbanized area of the Low Countries. This changed when, during the Dutch Revolt , many people from the Southern Netherlands fled to the North, especially after Antwerp fell to Spanish forces in 1585. Jews from Spain, Portugal and Eastern Europe similarly settled in Amsterdam, as did Germans and Scandinavians. In thirty years, Amsterdam's population more than doubled between 1585 and 1610. By 1600, its population

9664-414: The Catholic Southern Netherlands the genre of garland paintings was developed. Around 1607–1608, Antwerp artists Jan Brueghel the Elder and Hendrick van Balen started creating these pictures which consist of an image (usually devotional) which is encircled by a lush still life wreath. The paintings were collaborations between two specialists: a still life and a figure painter. Daniel Seghers developed

9815-459: The Netherlands. This led to the establishment of many non-Dutch-speaking churches. In 1603, the Jewish received permission to practice their religion in the city. In 1639, the first synagogue was consecrated. The Jews came to call the town " Jerusalem of the West ". As they became established in the city, other Christian denominations used converted Catholic chapels to conduct their own services. The oldest English-language church congregation in

9966-434: The Northern and Southern schools, borrowing from the vanitas paintings of the Netherlands and the spare arrangements of Spain. The 18th century to a large extent continued to refine 17th-century formulae, and levels of production decreased. In the Rococo style floral decoration became far more common on porcelain , wallpaper , fabrics and carved wood furnishings, so that buyers preferred their paintings to have figures for

10117-407: The Second World War a large section of the neighbourhood was demolished during the construction of the metro system. This led to riots, and as a result the original plans for large-scale reconstruction were abandoned by the government. The neighbourhood was rebuilt with smaller-scale residence buildings on the basis of its original layout. Catholic churches in Amsterdam have been constructed since

10268-409: The Second World War. With 180 different nationalities, Amsterdam is home to one of the widest varieties of nationalities of any city in the world. The proportion of the population of immigrant origin in the city proper is about 50% and 88% of the population are Dutch citizens. The first mass immigration in the 20th century was by people from Indonesia, who came to Amsterdam after the independence of

10419-450: The Stedelijk Museum. In 1910, Ritsema won the bronze medal at the Brussels international . At that time, the young women were established artists. In 1919, Ansingh and Ritsema became the first female board members with voting rights of the Arti and Amicitiae artist association. Albert Plasschaert, art critic and pen friend of Ansingh, named the group Amsterdamse Joffers in a newspaper article in 1912. The term Amsterdamsche Joffers , as it

10570-647: The Unicorn is the best-known example, designed in Paris around 1500 and then woven in Flanders . The development of oil painting technique by Jan van Eyck and other Northern European artists made it possible to paint everyday objects in this hyper-realistic fashion, owing to the slow drying, mixing, and layering qualities of oil colours. Among the first to break free of religious meaning were Leonardo da Vinci , who created watercolour studies of fruit (around 1495) as part of his restless examination of nature, and Albrecht Dürer who also made precise coloured drawings of flora and fauna. Petrus Christus ' portrait of

10721-518: The afterlife, become real and available for use by the deceased. Ancient Greek vase paintings also demonstrate great skill in depicting everyday objects and animals. Peiraikos is mentioned by Pliny the Elder as a panel painter of "low" subjects, such as survive in mosaic versions and provincial wall-paintings at Pompeii : "barbers' shops, cobblers' stalls, asses, eatables and similar subjects". Similar still life, more simply decorative in intent, but with realistic perspective, have also been found in

10872-471: The attention of the Royal Académie and the numerous collectors who purchased her paintings. This interaction between art and nature was quite common in Dutch , Flemish and French still lifes. Her work reveals the clear influence of Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin , as well as 17th-century Dutch masters, whose work has been far more highly valued, but what made Vallayer-Coster's style stand out against

11023-550: The borders often featured elaborate displays of flowers, insects and, in a work like the Hours of Catherine of Cleves , a great variety of objects. When the illuminated manuscript was displaced by the printed book, the same skills were later deployed in scientific botanical illustration; the Low Countries led Europe in both botany and its depiction in art. The Flemish artist Joris Hoefnagel (1542–1601) made watercolour and gouache paintings of flowers and other still-life subjects for

11174-434: The burgeoning interest in natural illustration throughout Europe, resulted in the nearly simultaneous creation of modern still-life paintings around 1600. At the turn of the century the Spanish painter Juan Sánchez Cotán pioneered the Spanish still life with austerely tranquil paintings of vegetables, before entering a monastery in his forties in 1603, after which he painted religious subjects. Prominent Academicians of

11325-600: The butterfly represents transformation and resurrection while the dragonfly symbolizes transience and the ant hard work and attention to the harvest. Flemish and Dutch artists also branched out and revived the ancient Greek still life tradition of trompe-l'œil , particularly the imitation of nature or mimesis , which they termed bedriegertje ("little deception"). In addition to these types of still life, Dutch artists identified and separately developed "kitchen and market" paintings, breakfast and food table still life, vanitas paintings, and allegorical collection paintings. In

11476-527: The city expanded and new neighborhoods and suburbs were built. The city has a long tradition of openness, liberalism, and tolerance. Cycling is key to the city's modern character, and there are numerous biking paths and lanes spread throughout. Amsterdam's main attractions include its historic canals ; the Rijksmuseum , the state museum with Dutch Golden Age art; the Van Gogh Museum ;

11627-425: The city had only 675,570 residents. This was soon followed by reurbanization and gentrification , leading to renewed population growth in the 2010s. Also in the 2010s, much of Amsterdam's population growth was due to immigration to the city. In the 16th and 17th century, non-Dutch immigrants to Amsterdam were mostly Protestant Huguenots and Flemings , Sephardic Jews , and Westphalians . Huguenots came after

11778-496: The city's Zuidoost (southeast) exclave and the centre of Amsterdam. Further plans were to build a new highway above the metro to connect Amsterdam Centraal and the city centre with other parts of the city. The required large-scale demolitions began in Amsterdam's former Jewish neighborhood. Smaller streets, such as the Jodenbreestraat and Weesperstraat, were widened and almost all houses and buildings were demolished. At

11929-557: The city). Only a third of inhabitants under 15 are autochthons ( person with two parents of Dutch origin). In 2023, autochthons were a minority in 40% of Amsterdam's neighborhoods. Segregation along ethnic lines is clearly visible, with people of non-Western origin, considered a separate group by Statistics Netherlands , concentrating in specific neighborhoods especially in Nieuw-West , Zeeburg , Bijlmer and in certain areas of Amsterdam-Noord . In 2000, Christians formed

12080-673: The city. During the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars , Amsterdam's significance reached its lowest point, with Holland being absorbed into the French Empire . However, the later establishment of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815 marked a turning point. The end of the 19th century is sometimes called Amsterdam's second Golden Age. New museums, a railway station, and

12231-599: The classification of specimens. Natural objects began to be appreciated as individual objects of study apart from any religious or mythological associations. The early science of herbal remedies began at this time as well, which was a practical extension of this new knowledge. In addition, wealthy patrons began to underwrite the collection of animal and mineral specimens, creating extensive cabinets of curiosities . These specimens served as models for painters who sought realism and novelty. Shells, insects, exotic fruits and flowers began to be collected and traded, and new plants such as

12382-527: The country. Some Amsterdam citizens sheltered Jews, thereby exposing themselves and their families to a high risk of being imprisoned or sent to concentration camps. More than 100,000 Dutch Jews were deported to Nazi concentration camps , of whom some 60,000 lived in Amsterdam. In response, the Dutch Communist Party organized the February strike attended by 300,000 people to protest against

12533-467: The course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. During these centuries, the genre of still life was placed lowest on the hierarchical ladder. Vallayer-Coster had a way about her paintings that resulted in their attractiveness. It was the "bold, decorative lines of her compositions, the richness of her colours and simulated textures, and the feats of illusionism she achieved in depicting wide variety of objects, both natural and artificial" which drew in

12684-412: The earlier still-life subjects of Chardin , Édouard Manet 's still-life paintings are strongly tonal and clearly headed toward Impressionism. Henri Fantin-Latour , using a more traditional technique, was famous for his exquisite flower paintings and made his living almost exclusively painting still life for collectors. However, it was not until the final decline of the Academic hierarchy in Europe, and

12835-908: The early 17th century, such as Andrea Sacchi , felt that genre and still-life painting did not carry the "gravitas" merited for painting to be considered great. An influential formulation of 1667 by André Félibien , a historiographer, architect and theoretician of French classicism became the classic statement of the theory of the hierarchy of genres for the 18th century: Celui qui fait parfaitement des païsages est au-dessus d'un autre qui ne fait que des fruits, des fleurs ou des coquilles. Celui qui peint des animaux vivants est plus estimable que ceux qui ne représentent que des choses mortes & sans mouvement ; & comme la figure de l'homme est le plus parfait ouvrage de Dieu sur la Terre, il est certain aussi que celui qui se rend l'imitateur de Dieu en peignant des figures humaines, est beaucoup plus excellent que tous les autres ... He who produces perfect landscapes

12986-514: The early 20th century. Adapting Cézanne's shifting of planes and axes, the Cubists subdued the colour palette of the Fauves and focused instead on deconstructing objects into pure geometrical forms and planes. Between 1910 and 1920, Cubist artists like Pablo Picasso , Georges Braque , and Juan Gris painted many still-life compositions, often including musical instruments, bringing still life to

13137-521: The entire city centre. Although the success of this struggle is visible today, efforts for further restoration are still ongoing. The entire city centre has reattained its former splendour and, as a whole, is now a protected area . Many of its buildings have become monuments, and in July 2010 the Grachtengordel (the three concentric canals: Herengracht, Keizersgracht, and Prinsengracht) was added to

13288-643: The expression Amsterdamse Joffers in Dutch art history. The separate class for women at the Rijksacademie was long gone. The Amsterdamse Joffers used different styles but in general terms are part of the Amsterdam Impressionism art movement. Their subject choice is dominated by still life and portraiture . Ansing was famous for her paintings of dolls. The female painters of the Amsterdam Impressionism belonged to

13439-435: The extra effort. These were among many still-life paintings in the cardinal's collection, in addition to his large collection of curios. Among other Italian still life, Bernardo Strozzi 's The Cook is a "kitchen scene" in the Dutch manner, which is both a detailed portrait of a cook and the game birds she is preparing. In a similar manner, one of Rembrandt's rare still-life paintings, Little Girl with Dead Peacocks combines

13590-551: The first decade of the 20th century, the members of the circle were regularly present at the annual art exhibits of artist societies in Amsterdam. In 1905 Ansing, Ritsema and Marie van Regteren-Altena participated in a collective exhibit in Hamburg. In 1906, Ansingh received the Willink van Collenprijs , a prestigious recognition for young artists. In 1907, members of the group participated in an exhibition of international masters in

13741-597: The flower paintings were futile to her career. Nevertheless, this collection contained floral studies in oil, watercolour and gouache . With the rise of the European Academies, most notably the Académie française which held a central role in Academic art , still life began to fall from favor. The Academies taught the doctrine of the " Hierarchy of genres " (or "Hierarchy of Subject Matter"), which held that

13892-503: The forefront of artistic innovation, almost for the first time. Still life was also the subject matter in the first Synthetic Cubist collage works, such as Picasso's oval "Still Life with Chair Caning" (1912). In these works, still-life objects overlap and intermingle, barely maintaining identifiable two-dimensional forms, losing individual surface texture, and merging into the background—achieving goals nearly opposite to those of traditional still life. Fernand Léger 's still life introduced

14043-461: The foreground, while a background scene conveys the dangers of drunkenness and lechery. The type of very large kitchen or market scene developed by Pieter Aertsen and his nephew Joachim Beuckelaer typically depicts an abundance of food with a kitchenware still life and burly Flemish kitchen-maids. A small religious scene can often be made out in the distance, or a theme such as the Four Seasons

14194-650: The form of fictional niches on religious wall paintings which depicted everyday objects. Through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance , still life in Western art remained primarily an adjunct to Christian religious subjects, and convened religious and allegorical meaning. This was particularly true in the work of Northern European artists, whose fascination with highly detailed optical realism and symbolism led them to lavish great attention on their paintings' overall message. Painters like Jan van Eyck often used still-life elements as part of an iconographic program. In

14345-451: The founding of Amsterdam is later than other urban centres in the Low Countries . However, around the area of what later became Amsterdam, farmers settled as early as three millennia ago. They lived along the prehistoric IJ river and upstream of its tributary Amstel. The prehistoric IJ was a shallow and quiet stream in peatland behind beach ridges . This secluded area was able to grow into an important local settlement centre, especially in

14496-525: The genre further. Originally serving a devotional function, garland paintings became extremely popular and were widely used as decoration of homes. A special genre of still life was the so-called pronkstilleven (Dutch for 'ostentatious still life'). This style of ornate still-life painting was developed in the 1640s in Antwerp by Flemish artists such as Frans Snyders and Adriaen van Utrecht . They painted still lifes that emphasized abundance by depicting

14647-595: The genre was the tradition, mostly centred on Antwerp , of the "monumental still life", which were large paintings that included great spreads of still-life material with figures and often animals. This was a development by Pieter Aertsen , whose A Meat Stall with the Holy Family Giving Alms (1551, now Uppsala ) introduced the type with a painting that still startles. Another example is "The Butcher Shop" by Aertsen's nephew Joachim Beuckelaer (1568), with its realistic depiction of raw meats dominating

14798-519: The growing Dutch middle classes, who were replacing Church and State as the principal patrons of art in the Netherlands. Added to this was the Dutch mania for horticulture, particularly the tulip . These two views of flowers—as aesthetic objects and as religious symbols— merged to create a very strong market for this type of still life. Still life, like most Dutch art work, was generally sold in open markets or by dealers, or by artists at their studios, and rarely commissioned; therefore, artists usually chose

14949-765: The heyday of the Stille Omgang , which became the expression of the pilgrimage after the Protestant Reformation , up to 90,000 pilgrims came to Amsterdam. From the 14th century on, Amsterdam flourished, largely from trade with the Hanseatic League . From the 15th century on the city established an independent trade route with the Baltic Sea in grain and timber, cutting out the Hanseatic League as middlemen. The city became

15100-401: The industry. The herring industry relied on international trade cooperation and large initial investments in ships. This required many highly skilled and unskilled workers cooperating, as well as the import of the necessary raw materials to turn an unfinished product into a marketable one. This required merchants to then sell it throughout the continent and book-keepers and accountants to divide

15251-470: The largely Catholic city of Amsterdam joined the revolt against Spanish rule, late in comparison to other major northern Dutch cities. Catholic priests were driven out of the city. Following the Dutch takeover, all churches were converted to Protestant worship. Calvinism was declared the main religion. It was forbidden to openly profess Roman Catholicism and the Catholic hierarchy was prohibited until

15402-549: The largest religious group in the city (28% of the population). The next largest religion was Islam (8%), most of whose followers were Sunni . In 2015, Christians formed the largest religious group in the city (28% of the population). The next largest religion was Islam (7.1%), most of whose followers were Sunni . Amsterdam has been one of the municipalities in the Netherlands which provided immigrants with extensive and free Dutch-language courses, which have benefited many immigrants. Religion in Amsterdam (2015) In 1578,

15553-515: The late Bronze Age , the Iron Age and the Roman Age . Neolithic and Roman artefacts have also been found in the prehistoric Amstel bedding under Amsterdam's Damrak and Rokin , such as shards of Bell Beaker culture pottery (2200–2000 BC) and a granite grinding stone (2700–2750 BC), but the location of these artefacts around the river banks of the Amstel probably point to a presence of

15704-524: The late 16th century, and has remained significant since then. One advantage of the still-life artform is that it allows an artist much freedom to experiment with the arrangement of elements within a composition of a painting. Still life, as a particular genre, began with Netherlandish painting of the 16th and 17th centuries, and the English term still life derives from the Dutch word stilleven . Early still-life paintings, particularly before 1700, often contained religious and allegorical symbolism relating to

15855-633: The late Middle Ages, still-life elements, mostly flowers but also animals and sometimes inanimate objects, were painted with increasing realism in the borders of illuminated manuscripts , developing models and technical advances that were used by painters of larger images. There was considerable overlap between the artists making miniatures for manuscripts and those painting panels, especially in Early Netherlandish painting . The Hours of Catherine of Cleves , probably made in Utrecht around 1440,

16006-554: The leading specialists, Jan Brueghel the Elder and Ambrosius Bosschaert , both active in the Southern Netherlands. While artists in the North found limited opportunity to produce the religious iconography which had long been their staple—images of religious subjects were forbidden in the Dutch Reformed Protestant Church —the continuing Northern tradition of detailed realism and hidden symbols appealed to

16157-443: The mid-19th century . This led to the establishment of clandestine churches , covert religious buildings hidden in pre-existing buildings. Catholics, some Jews and dissenting Protestants worshipped in such buildings. A large influx of foreigners of many religions came to 17th-century Amsterdam, in particular Sefardic Jews from Spain and Portugal, Huguenots from France, Lutherans , Mennonites , as well as Protestants from across

16308-478: The moralistic vanitas message of their Dutch predecessors. The Rococo love of artifice led to a rise in appreciation in France for trompe-l'œil (French: "trick the eye") painting. Jean-Baptiste Chardin 's still-life paintings employ a variety of techniques from Dutch-style realism to softer harmonies. The bulk of Anne Vallayer-Coster 's work was devoted to the language of still life as it had been developed in

16459-1106: The nostalgic wall-rack painting while Harnett achieved the highest level of hyper-realism in his pictorial celebrations of American life through familiar objects. The first four decades of the 20th century formed an exceptional artistic ferment and revolution period. Avant-garde movements rapidly evolved and overlapped in a march towards nonfigurative, total abstraction. The still life and other representational art continued to evolve and adjust until mid-century when total abstraction, as exemplified by Jackson Pollock 's drip paintings, eliminated all recognizable content. The century began with several trends taking hold in art. In 1901, Paul Gauguin painted Still Life with Sunflowers , his homage to his friend Van Gogh who had died eleven years earlier. The group known as Les Nabis , including Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard , took up Gauguin's harmonic theories and added elements inspired by Japanese woodcuts to their still-life paintings. French artist Odilon Redon also painted notable still life during this period, especially flowers. Henri Matisse reduced

16610-406: The objects depicted. Later still-life works are produced with a variety of media and technology, such as found objects, photography, computer graphics , as well as video and sound. The term includes the painting of dead animals, especially game. Live ones are considered animal art , although in practice they were often painted from dead models. Because of the use of plants and animals as a subject,

16761-479: The other side of the river at Amstelveen . The Van Amstel family , known in documents by this name since 1019, held the stewardship in this northwestern nook of the ecclesiastical district of the bishop of Utrecht . The family later served also under the count of Holland . A major turning point in the development of the Amstel river mouth was the All Saint's Flood of 1170 . In an extremely short period of time,

16912-493: The other still-life painters was her unique way of coalescing representational illusionism with decorative compositional structures. The end of the eighteenth century and the fall of the French monarchy closed the doors on Vallayer-Coster's still-life 'era' and opened them to her new style of florals. It has been argued that this was the highlight of her career and what she is best known for. However, it has also been argued that

17063-414: The painting of symbolic flowers in vases on the back of secular portraits around 1475. Jacopo de' Barbari went a step further with his Still Life with Partridge and Gauntlets (1504), among the earliest signed and dated trompe-l'œil still-life paintings, which contains minimal religious content. Though most still lifes after 1600 were relatively small paintings, a crucial stage in the development of

17214-592: The peak of the demolition, the Nieuwmarktrellen ( Nieuwmarkt riots ) broke out; the rioters expressed their fury about the demolition caused by the restructuring of the city. As a result, the demolition was stopped and the highway into the city's centre was never fully built; only the metro was completed. Only a few streets remained widened. The new city hall was built on the almost completely demolished Waterlooplein. Meanwhile, large private organizations, such as Stadsherstel Amsterdam , were founded to restore

17365-423: The perfect vehicle for his revolutionary explorations in geometric spatial organization. For Cézanne, still life was a primary means of taking painting away from an illustrative or mimetic function to one demonstrating independently the elements of colour, form, and line, a major step towards Abstract art . Additionally, Cézanne's experiments can be seen as leading directly to the development of Cubist still life in

17516-556: The profit. In short, the herring industry was setting up the foundations for what would later become the transcontinental trade system and the Dutch Golden Age , with Amsterdam at its centre, hence the saying "Amsterdam is built on Herring bones". The Low Countries were part of the Hapsburg inheritance and came under the Spanish monarchy in the early sixteenth century. The Dutch rebelled against Philip II of Spain , who led

17667-520: The public streets, however, were still forbidden under law at the time. Only in the 20th century was Amsterdam's relation to Catholicism normalised, but despite its far larger population size, the episcopal see of the city was placed in the provincial town of Haarlem . Still life With origins in the Middle Ages and Ancient Greco-Roman art, still-life painting emerged as a distinct genre and professional specialization in Western painting by

17818-532: The raids. The most famous deportee was the young Jewish girl Anne Frank , who died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp . At the end of the Second World War, communication with the rest of the country broke down, and food and fuel became scarce. Many citizens traveled to the countryside to forage. Dogs, cats, raw sugar beets , and tulip bulbs—cooked to a pulp—were consumed to stay alive. Many trees in Amsterdam were cut down for fuel, and wood

17969-461: The realism of still-life painting is related in the ancient Greek legend of Zeuxis and Parrhasius , who are said to have once competed to create the most lifelike objects, history's earliest descriptions of trompe-l'œil painting. As Pliny the Elder recorded in ancient Roman times, Greek artists centuries earlier were already advanced in the arts of portrait painting , genre painting and still life. He singled out Peiraikos , "whose artistry

18120-474: The relatively few Italian works in the style, Annibale Carracci 's treatment of the same subject in 1583, Butcher's Shop , begins to remove the moral messages, as did other "kitchen and market" still-life paintings of this period. Vincenzo Campi probably introduced the Antwerp style to Italy in the 1570s. The tradition continued into the next century, with several works by Rubens , who mostly sub-contracted

18271-550: The rendering of still-life objects even further to little more than bold, flat outlines filled with bright colours. He also simplified perspective and introduced multi-colour backgrounds. In some of his still-life paintings, such as Still Life with Eggplants , his table of objects is nearly lost amidst the other colourful patterns filling the rest of the room. Other exponents of Fauvism , such as Maurice de Vlaminck and André Derain , further explored pure colour and abstraction in their still life. Paul Cézanne found in still life

18422-439: The residence of Thérèse Schwartze , an established painter who was Ansingh´s aunt. They came from wealthy and artistic families, and did not depend on painting for their livelihoods. Almost all of them were students of the Rijksakademie and followed classes with August Allebé , Nicolaas van der Waay and Carel Dake. Suze Robertson was in certain ways an exception in the group. She was older, already married and had studied at

18573-661: The restoration of the episcopal hierarchy in 1853. One of the principal architects behind the city's Catholic churches, Cuypers , was also responsible for the Amsterdam Centraal station and the Rijksmuseum . In 1924, the Catholic Church hosted the International Eucharistic Congress in Amsterdam; numerous Catholic prelates visited the city, where festivities were held in churches and stadiums. Catholic processions on

18724-656: The rise of the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters, that technique and colour harmony triumphed over subject matter, and that still life was once again avidly practiced by artists. In his early still life, Claude Monet shows the influence of Fantin-Latour, but is one of the first to break the tradition of the dark background, which Pierre-Auguste Renoir also discards in Still Life with Bouquet and Fan (1871), with its bright orange background. With Impressionist still life, allegorical and mythological content

18875-738: The seaside, in The Mirror of the Sea . Shortly before the First World War , the city started to expand again, and new suburbs were built. Even though the Netherlands remained neutral in this war, Amsterdam suffered a food shortage, and heating fuel became scarce. The shortages sparked riots in which several people were killed. These riots are known as the Aardappeloproer (Potato rebellion). People started looting stores and warehouses to get supplies, mainly food. On 1 January 1921, after

19026-582: The second half of the 17th century, Amsterdam experienced an influx of Ashkenazim , Jews from Central and Eastern Europe . Jews often fled the pogroms in those areas. The first Ashkenazis who arrived in Amsterdam were refugees from the Khmelnytsky uprising occurring in Ukraine and the Thirty Years' War , which devastated much of Central Europe. They not only founded their own synagogues, but had

19177-472: The shallow river IJ turned into a wide estuary, which from then on offered the Amstel an open connection to the Zuiderzee , IJssel and waterways further afield. This made the water flow of the Amstel more active, so excess water could be drained better. With drier banks, the downstream Amstel mouth became attractive for permanent habitation. Moreover, the river had grown from an insignificant peat stream into

19328-425: The social acceptance in the Netherlands of women becoming professional artists. In 1894, Lizzy Ansingh and Coby Ritsema began their studies at the Rijksacademie in a separate class for female students. Around them, a group of young women, mostly fellow-students, came together to found a circle. The purpose was to exchange experiences as women who wanted to become professional artists. They had weekly meetings at

19479-410: The staple market of Europe for bulk cargo . This was made possible due to innovations in the herring fishery , from which Amsterdam reaped great wealth. Herring had demand in markets all around Europe. Inventions of on-board gibbing and the haringbuis in 1415, made longer voyages feasible, and hence enabled Dutch fishermen to follow the herring shoals far from the coasts, giving them a monopoly in

19630-480: The still-life and animal elements to specialist masters such as Frans Snyders and his pupil Jan Fyt . By the second half of the 16th century, the autonomous still life evolved. The 16th century witnessed an explosion of interest in the natural world and the creation of lavish botanical encyclopædias recording the discoveries of the New World and Asia. It also prompted the beginning of scientific illustration and

19781-504: The still-life category also shares commonalities with zoological and especially botanical illustration . However, with visual or fine art, the work is not intended merely to illustrate the subject correctly. Still life occupied the lowest rung of the hierarchy of genres , but has been extremely popular with buyers. As well as the independent still-life subject, still-life painting encompasses other types of painting with prominent still-life elements, usually symbolic, and "images that rely on

19932-831: The subject matter and arrangement. So popular was this type of still-life painting, that much of the technique of Dutch flower painting was codified in the 1740 treatise Groot Schilderboeck by Gerard de Lairesse, which gave wide-ranging advice on colour, arranging, brushwork, preparation of specimens, harmony, composition, perspective, etc. The symbolism of flowers had evolved since early Christian days. The most common flowers and their symbolic meanings include: rose (Virgin Mary, transience, Venus, love); lily (Virgin Mary, virginity, female breast, purity of mind or justice); tulip (showiness, nobility); sunflower (faithfulness, divine love, devotion); violet (modesty, reserve, humility); columbine (melancholy); poppy (power, sleep, death). As for insects,

20083-534: The textures of fur and feather with simple backgrounds, often the plain white of a lime-washed larder wall, that showed them off to advantage. By the 18th century, in many cases, the religious and allegorical connotations of still-life paintings were dropped and kitchen table paintings evolved into calculated depictions of varied colour and form, displaying everyday foods. The French aristocracy employed artists to execute paintings of bounteous and extravagant still-life subjects that graced their dining table, also without

20234-402: The top financial centres in Europe, Amsterdam is considered an alpha world city . The city is the cultural capital of the Netherlands. Many large Dutch institutions have their headquarters in the city. Many of the world's largest companies are based here or have established their European headquarters in the city, such as technology companies Uber , Netflix , and Tesla . In 2022, Amsterdam

20385-437: The upper class might enjoy and a religious reminder to avoid gluttony. Around 1650 Samuel van Hoogstraten painted one of the first wall-rack pictures, trompe-l'œil still-life paintings which feature objects tied, tacked or attached in some other fashion to a wall board, a type of still life very popular in the United States in the 19th century. Another variation was the trompe-l'œil still life depicted objects associated with

20536-512: The use of abundant white space and coloured, sharply defined, overlapping geometrical shapes to produce a more mechanical effect. Rejecting the flattening of space by Cubists, Marcel Duchamp and other members of the Dada movement, went in a radically different direction, creating 3-D "ready-made" still-life sculptures. As part of restoring some symbolic meaning to still life, the Futurists and

20687-420: The war and other events of the 20th century, almost the entire city centre had fallen into disrepair. As society was changing, politicians and other influential figures made plans to redesign large parts of it. There was an increasing demand for office buildings, and also for new roads, as the automobile became available to most people. A metro started operating in 1977 between the new suburb of Bijlmermeer in

20838-600: The women´s group at the Rijksakademie. She was influenced by Dutch impressionists such as her brother Jacob Ritsema , George Hendrik Breitner and Fredrik Theodorus Grabijn. Some of Ritsema´s students were Jacoba Surie , Jan van den Hengst, Tine Honey, Victoire Winix and Lize Duyvis . Starting around 1900, at the annual art exhibitions of the artist societies Sint Lucas in the Stedelijk Museum , Arti et Amicitiae and Pulchri Studios, works of Ansingh, Ritsema and Robertson were exhibited and favourably received. In

20989-562: The world . The Dutch capital is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, with about 180 nationalities represented. Immigration and ethnic segregation in Amsterdam is a current issue. Amsterdam's notable residents throughout its history include painters Rembrandt and Vincent van Gogh , 17th-century philosophers Baruch Spinoza , John Locke , René Descartes , and the Holocaust victim and diarist Anne Frank . Due to its geographical location in what used to be wet peatland ,

21140-726: The world outside the United Kingdom is found at the Begijnhof . Regular services there are still offered in English under the auspices of the Church of Scotland . Being Calvinists, the Huguenots soon integrated into the Dutch Reformed Church , though often retaining their own congregations. Some, commonly referred to by the moniker 'Walloon', are recognizable today as they offer occasional services in French. In

21291-400: The world's most famous. Its artistic heritage, canals and narrow canal houses with gabled façades , well-preserved legacies of the city's 17th-century Golden Age, have attracted millions of visitors annually. The Amsterdam Stock Exchange , founded in 1602, is considered the oldest "modern" securities market stock exchange in the world. As the commercial capital of the Netherlands and one of

21442-420: Was a move in a years-long struggle for power in the area between the count of Holland and the Amstel family who governed the area on behalf of the bishop of Utrecht. By 1327, the name had developed into Aemsterdam . The bishop of Utrecht granted Amsterdam zone rights in either 1300 or 1306. The Mirakel van Amsterdam  [ nl ] in 1345 rendered the city an important place of pilgrimage . During

21593-545: Was also a member of the Society of Suriname , an organisation founded to oversee the management of the Dutch colony of Surinam , which was economically dependent on slave plantations . On 1 July 2021, the mayor of Amsterdam , Femke Halsema , apologised for the city's involvement in the slave trade. Amsterdam's prosperity declined during the 18th and early 19th centuries. The wars of the Dutch Republic with England (latterly, Great Britain ) and France took their toll on

21744-488: Was around 50,000. During the 1660s, Amsterdam's population reached 200,000. The city's growth levelled off and the population stabilized around 240,000 for most of the 18th century. In 1750, Amsterdam was the fourth largest city in Western Europe , behind London (676,000), Paris (560,000) and Naples (324,000). This was all the more remarkable as Amsterdam was neither the capital city nor the seat of government of

21895-502: Was completed in 2018. Since 2014, renewed focus has been given to urban regeneration and renewal, especially in areas directly bordering the city centre, such as Frederik Hendrikbuurt . This urban renewal and expansion of the traditional centre of the city—with the construction on artificial islands of the new eastern IJburg neighbourhood—is part of the Structural Vision Amsterdam 2040 initiative. Amsterdam

22046-410: Was enormous, and they were very widely exported, especially to northern Europe; Britain hardly produced any itself. German still life followed closely the Dutch models; Georg Flegel was a pioneer in pure still life without figures and created the compositional innovation of placing detailed objects in cabinets, cupboards, and display cases, and producing simultaneous multiple views. In Spanish art ,

22197-437: Was far more popular in the contemporary Low Countries , today Belgium and Netherlands (then Flemish and Dutch artists), than it ever was in southern Europe. Northern still lifes had many subgenres; the breakfast piece was augmented by the trompe-l'œil , the flower bouquet , and the vanitas . In Spain there were much fewer patrons for this sort of thing, but a type of breakfast piece did become popular, featuring

22348-411: Was founded at the mouth of the Amstel River, which was dammed to control flooding. Originally a small fishing village in the 12th century, Amsterdam became a major world port during the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century, when the Netherlands was an economic powerhouse. Amsterdam was the leading centre for finance and trade, as well as a hub of secular art production. In the 19th and 20th centuries,

22499-493: Was ranked the ninth-best city to live in by the Economist Intelligence Unit and 12th on quality of living for environment and infrastructure by Mercer. The city was ranked 4th place globally as a top tech hub in 2019. The Port of Amsterdam is the fifth largest in Europe. The KLM hub and Amsterdam's main airport, Schiphol , is the busiest airport in the Netherlands , third in Europe , and 11th in

22650-523: Was spelled at the time, was known because of an unrelated historical novel by Marie van Zeggelen from 1900. The novel carried illustrations by Ansingh. The name stuck, not in the least because the artists themselves, already approaching their 40´s, used it frequently. The word Joffer means maiden, Miss or young lady. In the 1920´s and under the name Amsterdam Joffers the group frequently exhibited their work at Kunstzaal Frans Buffa , an Amsterdam art gallery. A 1947 book by Johan van Eikeren consolidated

22801-512: Was taken from the houses, apartments and other buildings of deported Jews. The city was finally liberated by Canadian forces on 5 May 1945, shortly before the end of the war in Europe. Many new suburbs, such as Osdorp , Slotervaart , Slotermeer and Geuzenveld , were built in the years after the Second World War. These suburbs contained many public parks and wide-open spaces, and the new buildings provided improved housing conditions with larger and brighter rooms, gardens, and balconies. Because of

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