The Upside Down World/Benjamin Moser

This book is an assessment of the Golden Age of Dutch Art – the 17th century- by an American who relocated from the States to Utrecht.

He is not an art historian but an appreciator. I was recommended to it by a friend whose bag was more Renaissance Art but looked for an introduction to Dutch Art.

Certainly Moser provides autobiographical sketches of the principal painters but often his viewpoint is random.

He introduces his chapter on Jam Steen by referring to the definition of “camp” by Feminist activist Susan Sontag.

This period was remarkable as it was the first free market – the number of paintings are estimated at over a million – and it produced Rembrandt and Vermeer.

The problem is that these two painters, whilst undeniably masters, created works with which we are too familiar. In Vermeer’s case he painted no more than 38 extant works.

Rembrandt was more prolific with 600 portraits, mainly of himself, but he was not a nice man.

I found Moser more interesting on the lesser known painters of the era like Hendricks Averkamp and Jacob van Ruysdael.

Averkamp, much influenced by Peter Bruegel the Elder, painted fabulous winter scenes – typically of ice skating as the Netherlands suffered a very cold winter. Unlike Bruegel, who painted bucolic peasants, Averkamp depicted the wealthy middle class.

His picture Dancing on Ice was covered on the excellent Moving Pictures programme. Averkamp may well have been both deaf and dumb and was a shy withdrawn character. His works were popular and sold in his lifetime.

Jacob van Ruysdael, nephew of Solomon, was the supreme landscape painter which is remarkable as the Dutch countryside is generally flat and dull.

I can recommend better – and less idiosyncratic books on the Golden Age – such as Master Painters  of the Dutch Golden Age ( Lorenz books) by Susie Hodge.

I prefer the calmer scholarship of Martin Gayford and when, at the afterword, Moser reflected on the differences between American and Dutch society I lost all interest.

Not that the book should be dismissed altogether. The colour plates are excellent and Moser is an enthusiast.