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Adriaen van de Venne – artist and poet
In the previous post I wrote about a number of grisailles portraying dancing peasants and beggars by the multi-talented artist/poet Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne. This post will look at yet another facet of van de Venne’s work, focusing on dance images featured in an exclusive album, on paintings illustrating the five senses, on a… Read more
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Adriaen van de Venne – dance, words, and paupers
Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne (1589-1662), artist and versifier, is best remembered for his sharp political satire ‘Fishing for Souls’. This multi-talented artist was, furthermore, a renowned miniaturist, book illustrator, poet, and writer. Among van Venne’s satirical works, merry companies, historical and religious subjects, he painted an array of grisailles depicting dancing peasants and beggars.… Read more
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Loïe Fuller – light, colour, shape, and space
For the non-dancers amongst us, the name Loïe Fuller may not ring a bell, but feel assured, you have encountered several images of this extraordinary trailblazing American dancer. Loïe Fuller (1862-1928) revolutionised dance. At a time when ballet was in decline and the dancers at the Moulin Rouge and Folies Bergère performed the voguish Can… Read more
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Dancing dogs and cats
There is nothing unusual about dogs and cats appearing in paintings. We frequently see them sleeping, eating, jumping and playing around. But how often have you seen a dancing dog or dancing cat? Now, I understand, I am pushing the term dancing to the very limits. When speaking of dance, dogs and cats are not… Read more
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Nymphs, muses, and putti dancing a round
Nymphs, muses, and putti are not the first figures that spring to mind when discussing art in The Low Countries. More likely our thoughts turn to peasant festivals, tavern scenes, landscapes, and portraits by celebrated artists like Bruegel the Elder, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Frans Hals, and Jan Steen. And yet, at a time when these and… Read more
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Circle dances – bizarre, eerie, and endearing
The circle dance, the most ancient of all dances, embodies varying emotions and qualities. There are, amongst other forms, folk dances, community dances, rituals, sacred dances, medicine dances, and religious dances. All these dances have a different character and distinctive purpose. Artists of The Low Countries regularly included images of peasants joyfully dancing a circle… 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 