In September 2019, the Amsterdam Museum announced that it was changing the title of its Portrait Gallery of the Golden Age to the Portrait Gallery of the 17th Century. In his article “The Problem of ‘the Golden Age,’” curator Tom van der Molen explained that the term “does not give an accurate representation of that century and creates a barrier impeding efforts to tell the history of that era in ways that are relevant to the entire breadth of the population of Amsterdam and the Netherlands at large.” The moniker became popular in the 19th century during a period of intense nationalism, to celebrate the era of Dutch history known for its unprecedented trade, science, military, and art. The “Golden Age” thus carries associations of peace, prosperity and innocence while ignoring the poverty, war, slavery, and conquest that also characterized the period.
Some scholars have attempted to separate the usage of the term in historical and art historical contexts, since the era certainly witnessed a boom in artistic production and creativity. However, as Van der Molen rightly observes, “Art history does not play out in a universe that is cut off from the rest of history.” The art of the 17th century, though largely produced by those benefiting from the influx of wealth, often depicted the lower classes, who did not receive any of the period’s gold, and enslaved people, who performed the unpaid labor to extract the raw material for wealthy Dutchmen. Although Dutch politician Michel Rog protested the Amsterdam Museum’s change, claiming that “erasing the past is nonsense,” replacing the term “Golden Age” with “17th century” instead creates space for a diversity of stories.
The recognizability of the phrase “Golden Age,” just like the “Belle Epoque” or even the “Renaissance,” however, has caused many museums to resist changing their terminology. The Rijksmuseum, the national museum of the Netherlands, has instead decided to “approach [sic] history from different perspectives,” specifically in its upcoming exhibition on slavery, rather than rewriting its labels. Considering museums’ supposed commitment to accessibility, this does not go far enough in the effort to reconsider how “golden” this period actually was for all involved. This catalogue intentionally utilizes the terms “17th century” and “early modern” (the period roughly between 1500 and 1800) to provide a more accurate and inclusive description of a period of Dutch history that was as tarnished by poverty, slavery, and conquest as it was blessed by prosperity and artistic production.
Written by Simone Edgar Holmes
Bibliography
Boffey, Daniel. “End of Golden Age: Dutch museum bans term from exhibits.” The Guardian. September 13, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/13/end-of-golden-age-amsterdam-museum-bans-term-from-exhibits#.
Van der Molen, Tom. “The Problem of ‘the Golden Age.’” CODART. November, 2019. https://www.codart.nl/feature/curators-project/the-problem-of-the-golden-age.
