Course syllabus

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Art for the City and the Court: The Dutch Republic and Stuart England

 

Teacher: Erin Griffey

Course delivery format:

Friday 1-3pm

(Timetable and room details can be viewed on Student Services Online)

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Course Description: 

The Dutch Republic and Stuart England were major centres of political power and cultural efflorescence in the seventeenth century. There were close and at times fraught political and cultural relationships between the two countries, which saw the exchange of diplomats and artists as well as intermarriage and war. The Republic was a complex space, since it had both financially and politically powerful cities, especially Amsterdam, but also had a court based in The Hague that served as a figurehead, site of international diplomacy and princely display. This paper will examine the production, patronage and display of art and its function within the political, religious and social frameworks of the court and the city. It will focus on Amsterdam and The Hague in the Dutch Republic and London as the epicentre of the Stuart court. The full panoply of visual and material culture will be discussed including painting, sculpture, tapestries, prints, clothing, jewellery and interior decoration. Gender will be a key theme, since women played active roles as patrons and subjects of art. Artists covered include Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Honthorst and Inigo Jones.    

   

 Course outcomes:

A student who successfully completes this course will have the opportunity to:

  • Acquire an overview of the mechanics of power and the role of visual and material culture in the early modern Dutch Republic and England
  • Engage in an interdisciplinary study of the early modern period
  • Become conversant in different methodological approaches and be able to articulate your approach
  • Use both primary and secondary sources
  • Gain confidence in critically engaging with key readings
  • Develop and deploy skills in connoisseurship
  • Hone research, formal essay writing and academic presenting skills
  • Create your own research topic and questions
  • Establish a basis for future postgraduate research in the early modern period

Assessment Summary:

4 x critical reading reviews (500 words each): 25% 2,500 words. 

The first two will be due on 7 June and the second set of two will be due on 23 August .

Essay: 25% 2,500 words: Due 11 May at 4pm.

Research essay: 50% 5,000 words: Due 18 October.

Weekly Topics:

Part One        Political, Religious and Social Contexts

March 8          Introduction to the Early Modern City and Court in the Dutch Republic &  

                       England: Amsterdam, The Hague and London

March 15       Amsterdam: The City of Burghers

March 22      The Orange and Stuart Courts: Dynasty and Diplomacy

Part Two       Artists and Patrons

March 29       Rembrandt and Amsterdam Burghers

April 5            Images of rule at The Hague Court

April 12          Images of kingship at the Stuart court

May 3             Commemorating women at court: consorts, queens, mothers, widows

May 10           Patronage and display of history painting in Amsterdam, The Hague and the Stuart Court

Part Three    Workshop Practice and Connoisseurship

May 17           Rembrandt              

May 24           Van Dyck

Part Four      Architects and Palaces, Cityscapes and Genre Scenes

May 31           Amsterdam New Town Hall, Noordeinde, Huis ten Bosch &

                        Painted views: cityscapes and genre interiors

June 7          Stuart Palaces: Whitehall, Somerset House, Hampton Court,

/July 26        Greenwich, Windsor and Oatlands &

                        Picturing the Stuart court in action: genre scenes       

Part Five       Thematic Seminars on Gender, the Body and Material Culture

August 2           Case Study: Henrietta Maria (Erin)

August 9        Trade, exchange and material culture: objects of desire and display (Suzanne and Emily)

August 16        Virtue and Beauty: The performance of femininity (Sophie, Mirabelle, Augustine)

August 23      Female dress and jewellery (Katherine and Maya)

August 30      Private/public: The closet and the miniature (Megan, Jemma, Karen)

 Recommended Texts:

If you fancy some summer reading --here are some readings that will be assigned for next year:

John Adamson, ed., The Princely Courts of Europe, 1500-1750 (1999), chapters 3 and 4 (by Adamson on the Tudor and Stuart courts and Israel on the Orange court)

Ronald G. Asch and Adolf M. Birke, eds., Princes, Patronage and the Nobility (Oxford, 1991), chapters 14, 15 and 17 (by Asch on Charles I and Hibbard on Henrietta Maria and Schilling on the Orange court)

Simon Schama, The Embarrassment of Riches (1987)

Mariet Westermann, Rembrandt (2005)

Natasha Awais-Dean: Bejewelled: Men and Jewellery in Tudor and Jacobean England (2017)

Jonathan Israel, The Rise of the Dutch Republic (Oxford, 1995), pp. 300-348; 506-565.

Erin Griffey, Henrietta Maria (Yale, 2015)

Oliver Millar's essay on Van Dyck's English period in Susan Barnes et al, Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue of Paintings (Yale, 1994)

 

 Workload and deadlines for submission of coursework:           

The University of Auckland's expectation is that students spend 10 hours per week on a 15-point course, including time in class and personal study. Students should manage their academic workload and other commitments accordingly. Deadlines for coursework are set by course convenors and will be advertised in course material. You should submit your work on time. In extreme circumstances, such as illness, you may seek an extension but you may be required to provide supporting information before the assignment is due. Late assignments without a pre-approved extension may be penalised by loss of marks – check course information for details.

Course summary:

Date Details Due