17th and 18th Centuries
Vermeer
Vermeer is now known to most as one of the 'great Dutch masters' which may be surreal to many as only 35 paintings by him are actually known.
Influences
The earliest work by Vermeer from the 1650's included a vast amount of religious and mythological subjects.
The sheer fact he has only got few paintings to show for his life times work may suggest that he would work on each one for an extended period of time.
Style
He had a distinct life like/ realistic style to his paintings portraying light as you would see it in real life and also by focusing great detail and care with object placement and architectural space.
Bellow is two examples of Vermeer's work:
The Girl With the Pearl Earring
'The girl with the pear earring' is one of the most famous paintings by Vermeer. This is a painting i certainly grew up knowing about. I vividly remember seeing this in a year 4 art class during my primary school days.
The painting (shown above) was originally called 'the girl with the Turban'. The name got changed half way through the twentieth century. This is said to be Vermeer's 'masterpiece' but it is often referred to as 'the Mona Lisa of the north' or 'the Dutch Mona Lisa'.
The girl in the painting is said to be Vermeer's eldest daughter believed to be round the age of twelve of thirteen at the time this painting was painted.
Her facial features are said to appear in several of his paintings but because he used multiple techniques on the subject of his paintings, it does make it harder to compare all the females faces due to the women being portrayed in various different lighting and poses.
When you look in depth at lots of examples of Vermeer's work you will notice a pattern. This pattern leads you to figuring out his main subjects. The main subject matter for his work is almost always women. Some would say it was obvious that he took a keen interest in women's various roles at the time.
He would depict within within his paintings women maintaining the idealist way of life by keeping certain order within the household and raising children, all within christian values.
Therefore arguing that women played a vital role in safe guarding tradition and moral values throughout generations.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/artists/-rembrandt-van-rijn
Rembrandt again was one of the most influential European/Dutch painters of his time (1604- 1669).
His main style of work was painting people mainly in a portrait style and in his time painted more paintings than Vermeer.
Many of which were paintings of his friends and also scenes from everyday life.
Wealth
He found great wealth early on with his paintings. These paintings showed stories from history, religion, poetry converted into intense drama.
An example is shown below:
I have inserted a link that within it holds a whole number of Rembrandt's work:
In comparison to Vermeer you can tell instantly the similarities, in the way they painted people and in there surroundings within the painting. They both captured realistic light well and also paint people in a realistic manor. One difference i feel is predominant is that Rembrandt's paintings depict a lot of wealth and actually appear to be painting specifically to show that.
I also notice that Vermeer's paintings hold a lot more color then Rembrandt's did.
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