Exercise 1

As you know, Northern Renaissance artists pioneered the artistic sub-genre of self-portraiture.  Look again at Albrecht Dürer's Self-Portrait at 28, the last such work by Europe's first great self-portraitist.  During the Baroque period, several Northern artists extended the tradition established by Dürer.  Consider, for example, a Self-Portrait by Peter Paul Rubens, a Self-Portrait Anthony Van Dyck, and a Self-Portrait by Rembrandt van Rijn.  How do these works resemble and differ from Dürer's "Self-Portrait at 28"? How do they resemble and differ from each other? How does Dürer's self-portrait exemplify a Renaissance sensibility, and how do those by Rubens, Van Dyck, and Rembrandt display a Baroque sensibility? How do the three Baroque self-portraits represent each artist's distinctive style? What do those self-portraits suggest about how each artist viewed himself?

Exercise 2

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, artists throughout Europe depicted scenes of everyday life.  However, Dutch artists of this period took a special interest in this subject matter.  One of the first painters to represent daily life memorably was Pieter Bruegel the Elder, about whom you read in Chapter 14.  Take a look at his Peasant Wedding to see another example of his fascination with peasant life and the style he developed to represent it.  Now look at a few works by prominent Dutch Baroque artists: Young Man and Woman in an Inn (1623) by Frans Hals; The Milkmaid (1660s) by Johannes Vermeer; and The Dissolute Household (c. 1665) by Jan Steen.  How do these paintings resemble and differ from Bruegel's "Peasant Wedding"? How do the resemble and differ from each other? What do the three seventeenth-century paintings suggest about each artist's attitude toward his subject? What characteristics of Baroque art do they display? Consider the fact that these paintings were produced mainly for wealthy middle-class and aristocratic patrons. Why do you think members of these classes would be so interested in scenes such as these?