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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
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Peasant festivals – the circle dance
Circle dances have existed since the dawn of civilization; they belong to all ages and all nationalities. Artists, from the earliest times, have depicted the circle dances in sculpture, murals, illuminated manuscripts, and paintings. This post will focus on images of circle dances, as danced in villages, by Netherlandish artists of the 16th and early Read more
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Peasant Festival – Bruegel’s Peasant Dance
Pieter Bruegel the Elder was by no means the first Netherlandish artist to paint peasants or peasant festivals, but he is unquestionably the most renowned. Bruegel’s earliest images of peasant festivals, like the slightly earlier Pieter van der Borcht, present the viewer a bird’s eye perspective of an entire village square where rustic folk are Read more
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The Peasant: from Miniature to Monumental
Images of peasants, dancing or otherwise, gradually evolved from marginal figures decorating illuminated manuscripts to the monumental figures that highlight Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s The Peasant Dance. Early peasant images, most especially by the German artists Sebald Beham, Barthel Beham, and Erhard Schön, invariably presented the rustic as foolish, grotesque, uncouth, and hideous. Art patrons Read more
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Lucas van Valckenborch – Dancers in a Landscape
An esteemed portraitist, painter of world landscapes and market scenes, man of the world and court painter, the Flemish artist Lucas van Valckenborch (c.1535 – 1597), depicted peasant dance and court dance in a number of his paintings. During his early training van Valckenborch studied in Mechelen, a centre specializing in world landscapes. He and 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 Anthonie Palamedesz. art Arthurian Legends Bal des Ardents ballet Bergen School Bernard Picart Burgundian Court CoBrA Constant Cornelis Dusart Cornelis Massijs dance Dance around the Golden Calf dancers David Ryckaert III David Teniers the Younger David Vinckboons De Stijl Egg dance Else Berg Erhard Schön Frans Francken II Frans Hals Frans Huysmans George Hendrik Breitner Gertrud Leistikow Gillis Mostaert Haarlem 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 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 