Amsterdam University Press Creating Distinctions in Dutch Genre Painting: Repetition and Invention (Visual and Material Culture, 1300-1700)

In the mid- to late seventeenth century, a number of Dutch painters created a new type of refined genre painting that was much admired by elite collectors. In this book, Angela Ho uses the examples of Gerrit Dou, Gerard ter Borch, and Frans van Mieris to show how this group of artists made creative use of repetition-such as crafting virtuosic, self-referential compositions around signature motifs, or engaging esteemed predecessors in a competitive dialogue through emulation-to project a distinctive artistic personality. The resulting paintings enabled purchasers and viewers to exercise their connoisseurial eye and claim membership in an exclusive circle of sophisticated enthusiasts-making creative repetition a successful strategy for both artists and viewers. Review This book offers a vigorous analysis of iteration as stratagem within the painter's arsenal. (...) Ho is to be commended for bringing fresh insights to what has often been a conventional interpretation of repetition and invention in relation to a slew of pictures with which we are now newly acquainted. - Canadian Journal of Netherlandic Studies 2019, Alistair Watkins Citing the repetition of motifs and subjects in Dutch Golden Age art as evidence of a conservative, market-driven conventionality has long been a commonplace, yet the nature of convention and repetition is not in actuality self-evident. Angela K. Ho's *Creating Distinctions in Dutch Genre Painting: Repetition and Invention* offers a fresh interrogation of repetition as an artistic strategy [...] The result is a book that often hovers attentively over the connoisseur's shoulder but lingers longest and most satisfyingly at the painter's side. - Elisabeth Berry Drago, Renaissance Quarterly, Volume LXXI I, No. 3 Ho's thesis is a compelling one that goes far in explaining the readily observable phenomena of repetition and invention in seventeenth-century Dutch genre painting. - Wayne Franits, Syracuse University, CAA Reviews April 2018. Read the full review here. Winner of the 2017 Historians of Netherlandish Art (HNA) Grant on Northern Art! From the Inside Flap In the mid- to late seventeenth century, a number of Dutch painters created a new type of refined genre painting that was much admired by elite collectors. In this book, Angela Ho uses the examples of Gerrit Dou, Gerard ter Borch, and Frans van Mieris to show how this group of artists made creative use of repetition-such as crafting virtuosic, self-referential compositions around signature motifs, or engaging esteemed predecessors in a competitive dialogue through emulation-to project a distinctive artistic personality. The resulting paintings enabled purchasers and viewers to exercise their connoisseurial eye and claim membership in an exclusive circle of sophisticated enthusiasts-making creative repetition a successful strategy for both artists and viewers. From the Back Cover In the mid- to late seventeenth century, a number of Dutch painters created a new type of refined genre painting that was much admired by elite collectors. In this book, Angela Ho uses the examples of Gerrit Dou, Gerard ter Borch, and Frans van Mieris to show how this group of artists made creative use of repetition-such as crafting virtuosic, self-referential compositions around signature motifs, or engaging esteemed predecessors in a competitive dialogue through emulation-to project a distinctive artistic personality. The resulting paintings enabled purchasers and viewers to exercise their connoisseurial eye and claim membership in an exclusive circle of sophisticated enthusiasts-making creative repetition a successful strategy for both artists and viewers. About the Author is Assistant Professor of Art History at George Mason University, USA.