ources 4-7. Through all the above sources, it can be seen that there was a ‘Golden Age’ in the Dutch Republic, but that alongside it was an increasingly troubled view of how to react to the ‘prosperity’ which existed, due to the ‘moral ambiguity’ of the role of ‘the hand of God,’ and the unparalleled affluence. The Netherlands was unique as a society, and therefore the golden age perhaps accidental and certainly ephemeral, nevertheless the social experience and beliefs of the Netherlanders, as conveyed in their art, proved to be a prototype for future generations. In Dutch Art, it can be seen that the view of Theophile Thore is correct, that the Dutch have ‘written its history in …art’ and within this history is a constant transition between the literal and the metaphorical, the transient and the enduring, and hence the title of Simon Schama’s influential book ‘The Embarrassment of Riches.’ ‘The Revolt and the military strategy and geographical facts by which the northern provinces were enabled to emerge independent and victorious had a profound influence also on the Netherlands’ art.’How did the Dutch Revolt influence the character of the Dutch Republic and subsequently that of its art in the seventeenth century?The Northern Provinces established themselves as a leading social and economic power in the seventeenth century, at a time when the majority of its European counterparts were torn apart by the thirty years’ war and politically stagnated by absolutism and monarchical society. Through a series of separate revolts and rebellions, the Dutch emerged victorious against Spanish rule in what became a war of attrition and the resulting ‘golden age’ was shaped by a common denominator which was a concern for liberties. It was the social and political structure of the emerged Netherlands which seemed to set it apart so dr...
