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Dancer – Popular or Respectable?
What is the difference between a popular dancer and a respectable dancer? And is there a similar distinction for musicians? Today this question might seem trivial but in the Middle-Ages there was a sharp differentiation between popular and respectable music and dancing. In my previous posts I have written about the role of the musician,… Read more
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Dancing Hybrids and Monkey Antics
Neither music nor dance was considered respectable within the Medieval Christian Church. The classical Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle appreciated the science of music but regarded the professional musician with contempt and dancing fared no better. Their ideas influenced the early Church Fathers to the point where music and dancing were seen as corrupt, distracting… Read more
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Dancer and her Musician
The margins of early illuminated manuscripts are occupied by a great variety of musicians and to lesser extent dancers. Dancers and musicians are recurring motifs common to manuscripts from various centres including Paris, England and the Low Countries. In this post I will be looking at manuscripts produced in the Low Countries showing dancers together… Read more
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The Acrobatic Dancer
Dance technique today, whether classical, modern or urban, embodies movements derived from acrobatics. High leg extensions, the splits and acrobatic lifts have become part of the dance vocabulary. The great choreographer George Balanchine embraced acrobatic movements into his magnificent ballets. Twentieth century choreographers have followed suit and contemporary break dancers do no less when they… Read more
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Dancing on the Musicians Shoulders
Perusing through many illuminated manuscripts I noticed that the same or very similar motifs regularly appeared. One would expect rabbits, unicorns, dragons, monkeys, grotesques and jugglers to make frequent appearances but to repeatedly find dancing ladies standing on the shoulders on their musical companions was rather surprising. The dancer perched on the musician’s shoulder motif… Read more
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Dancing on a Vine
The celebrated Italian painters Giotto, Ambrogio Lorenzetti and Andrea di Bonaiuto painted dance images in the 14th century. As early as 1306 Giotto painted a fresco of a peasant couple dancing to the accompaniment of a musician. Another famous image is the fresco Allegory of Good Government in the Palazzo Pubblico of Siena (Ambrozio Lorenzetti… Read more
14th century 15th century 16th century 17th century 18th century 19th century 20th century 21st century Adriaen Brouwer Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne Adriaen van Ostade Albrecht Dürer Alma-Tadema art Arthurian Legends Bal des Ardents ballet Bergen School Bernard Picart Burgundian Court CoBrA Constant Cornelis Dusart Cornelis Massijs dance Dance/Dancers Dance around the Golden Calf dancers David Ryckaert III David Teniers the Younger David Vinckboons De Stijl Egg dance Else Berg Erhard Schön Flemish Art Frans Francken II Frans Huysmans George Hendrik Breitner Gertrud Leistikow Gillis Mostaert Hans Bol Hans Vredeman de Vries Harmen Meurs Henri Braakensiek Herman Bieling Hieronymus Bosch Hieronymus Francken the Younger illuminated manuscript Isaac Israels Isaac van Ostade Jacob Grimmer Jacob Savery I Jacobus van Looy Jan Brueghel the Elder Jan Mandijn & followers Jan Miense Molenaer Jan Sierhuis Jan Sluijters Jan Steen Jan Toorop Jean-Baptiste Vanmour Jean de Wavrin Jean Froissart Karel Appel Karel van Mander Kees Maks Kees van Dongen Leo Gestel Loyset Liédet Lucas van Valckenborch Maarten van Heemskerck Maastricht Hours Marius Bauer Marten van Cleve Mommie Schwarz Mondrian Paolo Fiammingo/Pauwels Franck Pieter Aertsen Pieter Balten/Peeter Baltens Pieter Bruegel the Elder Pieter Brueghel the Younger Pieter Codde Pieter de Bloot Pieter van der Borcht Pieter van der Heyden Piet Mondrian Piet van der Hem Romance of Alexander Roman de la Rose Rothschild Canticles Salome Sebald Beham Simon Bening Tango Theo van Doesburg Toer van Schayk Vilmos Huszár Vincent van Gogh Willem de Zwart
About me
As a young aspiring dancer I loved to ponder over the magnificent paintings created by Edgar Degas. How his ballerinas inspired me. The atmosphere of the Paris Opera, the beautiful tutus and the hard working dancers never failed to trigger my imagination. As the years past, I retained my love of dance, of Degas, of art, and developed an interest in knowing more about the cross fertilization between art and dance.
DANCE IMAGES IN THE ART OF THE NETHERLANDS 