blockade of Antwerp in the 1580s which propelled the necessity for an economic consensus to be considered and secondly the influx of fleeing immigrants from the southern provinces which partially fuelled this consensus, providing skilled workers. Another vitally important factor was the geography of the Netherlands, with the long coastline and the fact that the ‘great bog of Europe’ had to become self-sustaining through trade. The same water which formed an impregnable barrier against the Spanish began to fuel an extremely prosperous fishing trade, and soon the pre-eminence of trade began to spill into the commercial art market, the economic character of the republic forming the mechanism by which Dutch artists could make their living, and express their values and ideas. The economy was the persona by which the Netherlands became established, but it seemed that behind these economic values and the affluence experienced lay the typical attitude of moral ambivalence, typified in vanitas paintings, and for this reason, I believe that it was moral values which shaped the republic and its art in the most profound way.Therefore it is now necessary to analyse the religious motives behind the revolt, as it seems that Calvinist fervour provided the impetus for many of the leading provinces to emerge independent. Religion – despite the view of some modern studies of the Dutch Republic – was a vitally important part of every day family and social life for the republicans. Perhaps this was only due to the fact that religion was so inextricably linked within all political and economic values already stated possessed by the revolting classes, but nevertheless, the iconoclastic riots in 1566, provoked by Phillip II’s intolerant religious policy showed a distinct hatred of popery due to its absolutist connotations. The fact that the Spanish Inquisition was thwarting the fundamental human rights which the patriotic Netherl...
