The seventeenth century has long been considered a “golden age” for Dutch art, fueled by the Dutch Republic’s growth as an economic world power. Nourished by an innovative stock market and burgeoning global trade network, this vibrant economy not only provided artists with a rich context in which to make their art, but also directly influenced the art itself—in its subject matter, materials, meaning, and interpretation. The genre scenes and still lifes that today seem quintessentially Dutch actually project a global vision, and often address the positive and the negative of economic and global expansion.

Drawing on the world-renowned collection of Dutch paintings, works on paper, decorative arts, and illustrated books at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, this book offers a fresh look at seventeenth-century Dutch art, accompanied by authoritative essays that ask readers to consider the global context in which this work was made.