Book Reviews

Childhood Pleasures: Dutch Children in the Seventeenth Century

By Donna R. Barnes and Peter G. Rose, foreword by Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr.

Syracuse: Syracuse University Press 2012. 191 pp, 57 illus, mostly color. ISBN 978-0-8156-1002-1

Review published April 2014

In the preface to Childhood Pleasures, authors Barnes and Rose state their intention to explore “the pleasures of Dutch children” in the hope that “today’s children and adults will discover that while [...] Read More

The Paintings of Hendrick Goltzius, 1558-1617. A Monograph and Catalogue Raisonné (Aetas Aurea. Monographs on Dutch & Flemish Painting, XXIII)

By Lawrence W. Nichols

Doornspijk: Davaco Publishers 2013. 464 pp, [144] pp. of plates (some col.). ISBN 978-90-7028-828-1

Review published April 2014

While Goltzius’s prints and drawings have received a great deal of attention in recent years, his painted oeuvre has more frequently been left out of the conversation. This paucity of discussion may [...] Read More

Dutch and Flemish Still Lifes 1600-1800; Holland és flamand 17-18. századi csendéletek (Old Masters’ Gallery Catalogues Szépmüvészeti Múzeum Budapest, vol. 2)

By Ildikó Ember

Leiden: Primavera Press; Budapest: Szépmuvészeti Múzeum 2011. 308 pp, fully illustrated. ISBN 978-9-059-97101-1. English-Hungarian text. Translated from Hungarian into English by Lara Strong and Axel Vécsey

Review published April 2014

The depth and richness of the Szépmüvészeti Múzeum’s collection of Dutch and Flemish still life paintings, long known to European audiences, first came to the attention of Americans in 1989, when a [...] Read More

Dutch and Flemish Portraits 1600-1800; Holland és flamand 17-18. századi arcképek (Old Masters’ Gallery Catalogues Szépmüvészeti Múzeum Budapest, vol. 1)

By Rudi Ekkart

Leiden: Primavera Press; Budapest: Szépmüvészeti Múzeum 2011. 303 pp, 128 color, 92 b&w illus. ISBN 978-90-5997-100-4. English-Hungarian text. Translated from Dutch into English by Kist & Killian, and from Dutch into Hungarian by Júlia Tátrai

Review published April 2014

It is heartening that collection catalogues are still being produced in printed format, especially those devoted to museums previously lacking scholarly catalogues, or ones in which color [...] Read More

Family, Culture and Society in the Diary of Constantijn Huygens Jr, Secretary to Stadholder-King William of Orange (Egodocuments and History Series, 5)

By Rudolf Dekker

Leiden/Boston: Brill 2013. 195 pp, 37 b&w illus. ISBN 978-90-04-25094-9 (hardback) / ISBN 978-90-04-25095-6 (eBook)

Review published April 2014

In Leiden and The Hague, 2013 was declared a "Huygens Year," with several publications and exhibitions celebrating the achievements of Constantijn Huygens, Sr., and his son Christiaan. (See [...] Read More

The Dark Side of Genius: The Melancholic Persona in Art, ca. 1500-1700

By Laurinda S. Dixon

University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press 2013. 264 pp, 30 color and 110 b&w illus. ISBN 978-0-271-05935-8

Review published April 2014

In tackling the discourse on melancholia and its impact on the visual arts of the early modern era, Dixon is returning to a theme explored in such seminal studies as Kris and Kurz’s Die Legende vom [...] Read More

Historians of Netherlandish Art Reviews

Book Reviews