Moral Messages in Dutch Realist Art of the Seventeenth-Century Golden Age

Abstract

The 'iconographic' faction of modern scholars of Dutch realist art in its Golden Age of the seventeenth century have claimed that a principal function of these works was to transmit educational, moral and uplifting messages. Here I argue that the evidence indicates otherwise. Buying decisions were made on economic, social, egotistical or aesthetic grounds. Moreover, there was a strong demand for works of a far less moral nature that tended to be displayed in spaces open to visitors. The continued survival of such frankly suggestive works indicates that Golden Age art was not necessarily a springtime of moral improvement.