, _Les Artistes de Harlem_; Van Mander, _Leven der
Nederlandsche en Hoogduitsche Schilders_; Vosmaer,
_Rembrandt, sa Vie et ses OEuvres_; Westrheene, _Jan
Steen, Etude sur l'Art en Hollande_; Van Dyke, _Old Dutch
and Flemish Masters_.

THE DUTCH PEOPLE AND THEIR ART: Though Holland produced a somewhat
different quality of art from Flanders and Belgium, yet in many
respects the people at the north were not very different from those at
the south of the Netherlands. They were perhaps less versatile, less
volatile, less like the French and more like the Germans. Fond of
homely joys and the quiet peace of town and domestic life, the Dutch
were matter-of-fact in all things, sturdy, honest, coarse at times,
sufficient unto themselves, and caring little for what other people
did. Just so with their painters. They were realistic at times to
grotesqueness. Little troubled with fine poetic frenzies they painted
their own lives in street, town-hall, tavern, and kitchen, conscious
that it was good because true to themselves.

At first Dutch art was influenced, even confounded, with that of
Flanders. The Van Eycks led the way, and painters like Bouts and
others, though Dutch by birth, became Flemish by adoption in their art
at least. When the Flemish painters fell to copying Italy some of the
Dutch followed them, but with no great enthusiasm. Suddenly, at the
beginning of the seventeenth century, when Holland had gained
political independence, Dutch art struck off by itself, became
original, became famous. It pictured native life with verve, skill,
keenness of insight, and fine pictorial view. Limited it was; it never
soared like Italian art, never became universal or world-embracing. It
was distinct, individual, national, something that spoke for Holland,
but little beyond it.

In subject there were few historical canvases such as the Italians and
French produced. The nearest approach to them were the paintings of
shooting companies, or groups of burghers and syndics, and these were
merely elaborations and enlargements of the portrait which the Dutch
loved best of all. As a whole their subjects were single figures or
small groups in interiors, quiet scenes, family conferences, smokers,
card-players, drinkers, landscapes, still-life, architectural pieces.
When they undertook the large canvas with many figures, they were
often unsatisfactory. Even Rembrandt was so. The chief medium was oil,
used upon panel or