Example artist dissertation topic 4:

A study of the group portraits by Jan de Braij, 1663-1675.

Paintings such as Leading Members of the Haarlem Guild of St Luke (1675) and The Regents of the Children’s Orphanage in Haarlem (1663) are renowned for their sense of realism, bringing a liveliness to topics that may be considered dry, and record the minutiae of everyday life in focus. Such portraits tend to represent not only the gravitas of the subjects but the work that gave them such gravitas. De Braij’s work is compared with that of Frans Hals, and the differentiation in technique is explored at length. Finally, the thesis analyses the similarities of de Braij’s group portraits of burghers with those of families and mythological and religious subjects.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Berger, H. (2007). Manhood, marriage and mischief: Rembrandt’s Night Watch and other Dutch group portraits. Bronx, NY: Fordham University Press.
• Brown, C. (1999). Scenes of everyday life: Dutch genre paintings from the Mauritshuis. Oxford: Ashmolean Museum.
• Prak, M. (2003). ‘Guilds and the development of the art market during the Dutch Golden Age’, Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art, Vol. 30(3/4), pp. 236-251.