Page 51 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide 2016 - Amsterdam

Dutch Artists ❮❮ 49

Willem van der Velde II
7 TOP 10 DUTCH LITERARY FIGURES
The son of a painter, Willem
van der Velde the Younger (1633–1707)
was the go-to painter for anything
nautical, from the Dutch navy in
repose to battle scenes (always of
Dutch victories) and ships battered
by heavy seas and cruel winds.
Piet Mondriaan
8
Piet Mondriaan (1872–1944)
was born and grew up in Amersfoort,
later living in Amsterdam, New York
and London. A leading member of Desiderius Erasmus
the De Stijl movement, he created 1 Desiderius Erasmus
an abstract style using the simplest Scholar and humanist (1466–1536).
elements: straight lines and blocks Friend of Thomas More, but not of
of primary colour to create harmony Martin Luther.
and balance. 2 Hugo Grotius (or Hugo de Groot)
Statesman and philosopher
(1583–1645). Author of De Jure Belli
et Pacis, the foundation stone of
international law.
3 Gerbrant Bredero
Satirical poet and play wright
(1585–1618), best known for De
Spaanse Brabander.
4 Joost van den Vondel
Important playwright and poet
(1586–1679) famed for his ornate style.
Author of Gijsbrecht van Amstel.
5 Jan Six
The Merry Family by Jan Steen Poet, playwright (1618–1700) and
good friend of Rembrandt, who
Jan Steen
9 painted his portrait.
A prolific painter of the genre
(everyday) scenes so popular in 6 Baruch Spinoza
Philosopher (1632–1677) expelled by
the Dutch 17th century, Jan Steen Amsterdam’s Jewish community for
(1625–1679) was an inn keeper as his secular beliefs.
well as an artist. His often bawdy 7 Multatuli
narratives were packed with hidden Pen name of Eduard Douwes Dekker
messages (red stockings for (1820–1887), whose work in colonial
prostitution, broken eggshells for Java inspired his famous novel
mortality), creating allegories with Max Havelaar (1860).
a moral purpose. 8 Anne Frank
Teenage victim (1929–1944) of the
Karel Appel
0 Holocaust. Her eloquent diary has
sold in its millions.
Karel Appel (1921–2006) was
one of the founders of the CoBrA 9 Gerard Reve
movement, started in 1948, which Novelist (1923–2006) who wrote The
combined expressionist, abstract and Fourth Man.
surrealist influences (see p132). His 10 Cees Nooteboom
works display a savage, forceful Prolific man of letters (b.1933) whose
directness and an almost childlike fiction is observant and poignant, if
optimism. “I paint like a barbarian in at times experimental and elusive.
a barbarous age,” he said.

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