The 17th Century Dutch Art in E. I. Rotenberg’s Studies

Abstract

The contribution of Evsei Rotenberg to the studies in history of the 17th century Dutch art is analyzed in this article. Investigations in Dutch art of the Golden Age were one of the main lines in scientific interests of Evsei Rotenberg, great specialist in classical West-European art, during all his activity. He also wrote about Italian Renaissance, especially Michelangelo and Titian, and about the most important esthetic and creative problems and tendencies of the 17th century art, the greatest masters of this epoch. The paper highlights his evolution as a researcher from point of view subjects and methodology of studies, analyzes the conceptual ideas explaining the specificity of the Dutch art, shows their place in Russian scientific tradition and their significance for the further development of art historian science. His professional formation was held under guidance of Prof. B. R. Vipper in Moscow University and in post-graduate course. Rotenberg’s PhD dissertation (1956) was devoted to realistic bases of Dutch art of the period of flourishing (Rembrandt and masters of genre painting). He is the author of works about Rembrandt and Vermeer, the monograph about development of the Dutch art including architecture, sculpture and decorative crafts. His most fundamental investigations — “West-European 17th Century Art” and “West-European 17th Century Painting. Thematic Principles” — were published in 1971 and 1989. Rotenberg analyzed Dutch school in aspects of style and non-style line and relationships between mythological and non-mythological creative conceptions in art of this epoch.