Stories in gilded frames: Dutch seventeenth-century paintings with biblical and mythological subjects

Abstract

"Paintings from the Dutch Golden Age have been praised for many years, but it took a long time before such praise was extended to history paintings. Today, these paintings by Rembrandt, Goltzius, Lastman, Ter Brugghen and De Lairesse are truly considered part of the seventeenth-century canon. The works showing biblical and mythological images are regarded as highly as their contemporary still lives, landscapes and genre scenes. Stories in Gilded Frames is the first coherent overview of history paintings. History painters tell tales using paint and brush and this book highlights one hundred paintings by the most important representatives of the genre. The emphasis is placed on the way the painters bring their topics out into the open. The reader is invited to consider the choices the artists made"--Back cover.