Romanticism, nations and the Hague School
Two new nations, the Netherlands and Belgium, sought their history in art, and in The Hague a group of artists painted the grey Dutch light.
In the 19th century the Netherlands and Belgium took on their modern form. After the Napoleonic era a joint kingdom was created, but in 1830 the south rebelled and became independent Belgium. Both countries used art to build a national identity. Museums were founded, old masters were celebrated, and history painters portrayed the heroes of the past. Rembrandt and Rubens became national symbols, and statues of them were raised in the squares of Amsterdam and Antwerp. Art became a concern of the state and of the educated public.
In Belgium, Romantic history painting became especially important. Gustaf Wappers, Nicaise de Keyser and Louis Gallait painted large, dramatic pictures of struggles for freedom and medieval victories. In the Netherlands a cautious style long prevailed, with detailed landscapes and winter scenes in the spirit of the Golden Age. After the middle of the century realism took over in both countries. Artists began to paint ordinary people, work and nature as they were, without idealisation. It was an art that wanted to be true rather than beautiful.
The most important movement in the Netherlands was the Hague School, which emerged in the 1860s and 1870s. Artists such as Jozef Israëls, the Maris brothers, Anton Mauve and Hendrik Willem Mesdag painted fishermen, cows in meadows, dunes and the sea at Scheveningen. They were influenced by the French Barbizon painters, but their grey and silvery tones were typically Dutch. The Hague School became very popular with collectors in Britain, Canada and the United States. Their pictures were seen as the very image of Holland.