Dutch painting of the Golden Age

Course reviews

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  LifeLong Scholar 2 November 2026 4:00PM

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  I learned a great deal from this course so I gave it 4 stars. But it would have deserved 5 stars if it did not have 3 major drawbacks. First there was too much scholarly attribution in the course - I did not need to hear what one 17th century scholar thought and how a 19th century scholar argued about it. Instead I would have preferred to have the theories plainly stated and let me make up my own mind. Second the course illustrated too many minor Dutch painters. Instead it should have focused on the main ones of the golden age, these being: Hals, Leyster, Rembrandt, Ruisdael and Vermeer (although the last had a couple of paintings on the last page). I would also have preferred a grand overview of Dutch painters that would include Bosch, Breughel the Elder, and Eyck. And the third drawback: If you want to study the paintings illustrated in this course you have to go on a search of the internet to find clear, detailed renditions. I don't understand how a college level course got away with using such blurry, muddy versions of the paintings!

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  Laurie Borthwick 4 September 2026 2:45PM

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  Excellent course! Most of my knowledge of this period concerned Vermeer but this course opened up a lot more insights into this part of Dutch history.

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