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Lecture: Dutch Golden Age Painting with William Perthes
March 12, 2026 · 6pm-7:30pm
$25 members, $35 non-members
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Dutch Golden Age Painting:
At the end of the 16th century seven Netherlandish provinces joined together to form the Dutch Republic and throughout the 17th century ushered in an era of economic prosperity and military prowess. Known as the Dutch Golden Age it also produced some of the finest paintings of the time from artists such as Frans Hals, Jan van Goyen, Salomon and Jacob van Ruysdael, and Johannes Vermeer. This talk will explore the history surrounding the formation of the Dutch Republic and look closely at works by some of its most prominent painters. The talk can be enjoyed on its own or in preparation for the upcoming talk The Art of Rembrandt on 23 April.
Image: Frans Hals, The Laughing Cavalier, 1624, oil on canvas (32.7 x 26.5 in), The Wallace Collection, London
William Perthes is an educator, author, and curator. He is the Bernard C. Watson Director of Adult Education at the Barnes Foundation. Bill has a background in philosophy and art history and is the author of “The Barnes Method” included in the recently published The Barnes: Then and Now. Much of Bill's work focuses on how experiences with works of art, both short and long term, can impact and inform fields as varied as business, medicine, law enforcement. and restorative justice. Bill is the curator of Faces of Resilience a traveling exhibition of original works of art created by currently and formerly incarcerated artists at the State Correctional Institute Phoenix. In addition, his scholarship has focused on American Modernism with a special concentration on the Abstract Expressionist painter Robert Motherwell. He is the former Director of Education for the Violette de Mazia Foundation.
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