Talk:Dutch Golden Age

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[edit] Culture section

Hello Erik,

Great article, but I have one small qualm with it: the article mixes subjects that were of a profound influence to the rest of the world with local, parochial things. Surely, Van den Vondel, no matter how great a writer he was, was not a writer of world fame. Everybody, however, still knows Rembrandt van Rijn. This is not to say that there is no place for Van den Vondel, or for Dutch writing during the Golden Age, but I don't think these subjects are central to the current topic.

To put it more cynically: isn't it remarkable how bad and underdeveloped Dutch literature was during the Golden Age, given the amount of other cultural aspects in the Northern Low Countries were blooming during those days? branko

Hi Branko, I do agree that Dutch literature is a lesser topic from a world perspective. The small paragraph dealing with the subject shows this. The same goes for sculpture and music, all small sections and at the bottom of the article. I would say that pariochial is a bit of an overstatement. Surely the mentioned writers are still well known names for most learned Dutch people, and shed a bit of light on the era under discussion, which had everything to do with an exceptional intellectual climate, to which they probably will have contributed. In my opinion, someone who really wants to know about the Dutch Golden Age and reads the whole article, deserves to hear their names at least once, they will show up in other contexts and books about the subject. Erik Zachte 23:51 13 Jul 2003 (UTC)

[edit] End of the Golden Age

It's a great article, but shouldn't it contain a paragraph about the ending of the Golden Age by the corruption in the VOC? Gemertp 08:14, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] A reference

Here I go plugging my own site again (it's highly relevant :) If anyone is less lazy than I, go look at http://eh.net/encyclopedia/Harreld.Dutch.php and see about adding some information aboud the Dutch economy during the Golden Age. - Fennec (はさばくのきつね) 23:46, 13 Aug 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Simon Stevin

Simon Stevin was not Dutch, and published his important works before 1600. Should he even be in this article? Piet 09:18, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

Certainly Simon Stevin would have considered himself Dutch, and - apart from his scientific work - he played his role in politics and public life early in the Dutch Golden Age. He was advisor of Prince Maurice and director of the (still existing) Dutch department of Waterstaat. He was from Bruges, Flanders. In his age Flanders was part of the Southern Netherlands, an integral and important part of the Dutch Republic, which covered present day's Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and small parts of Germany and France. You're right, today Bruges is located in Belgium, but Belgium did not exist until 1831. Jaho 01:08, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Culture section

I've moved a few pieces around, so culture is now one section. Problem is that the "Painting" subsection is now too complex. It is rightfully the most extensive section but I think it is too long for in this general article. I propose a new article is created for "Dutch Golden Age, Painting", in which case the subsection can be shortened here and expanded in the new article. Piet 10:28, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Yes! Title it "Dutch Golden Age painting". >>sparkit|TALK<< 13:52, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Here it is. Piet 15:16, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

And now the painting section is gone. I hope I didn't kill any information in the process. Probably some changes in the text will be necessary, I will reread but undoubtably forget some things. Piet 16:22, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Dutch Slave trade

I’ve added a section on how Dutch wealth during the “golden period” came partly from their extensive slaving. For references and for those interested in the appalling human cost of the Dutch wealth, se the following links:

--Stor stark7 Talk 15:53, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Why 1584?

Why is 1584 used as the beginning of the Dutch "Golden Age"? William the silent was assassinated that year, but I can't think of any other major marker. Wouldn't something like the 1581 Oath of Abjuration make more sense? --Stomme (talk) 07:36, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

I had the same question. The first sentence says 1584 - 1702, but these years are not mentioned anywhere else in the article. Those dates were added in 2006 without explanation (diff). I don't think that there a generally accepted definition exist, so I removed the years. The phrase "roughly the seventeenth century" should be enough. -- Jitse Niesen (talk) 13:58, 26 March 2008 (UTC)