Wayne Franits – författare

Despite the tremendous number of studies produced annually in the field of Dutch art over the last 30 years or so, and the strong contemporary market for works by Dutch masters of the period as well as the public's ongoing fascination with some of its most beloved painters, until now there has been no comprehensive study assessing the state of research in the field. As the first study of its kind, this book is a useful resource for scholars and advanced students of seventeenth-century Dutch art, and also serves as a springboard for further research. Its 19 chapters, divided into three sections and written by a team of internationally renowned art historians, address a wide variety of topics, ranging from those that might be considered "traditional" to others that have only drawn scholarly attention comparatively recently.

In this new monograph, the latest in Phaidon's Art and Ideas series, Wayne Franits examines the work of Vermeer within the framework of his times, one of the most intellectually creative periods in this history of art. Written in a lively and accessible style, and incorporating the latest scholarship on the artist, Franits provides fresh insights into many of Vermeer's most famous works, uncovering the creative process behind them and their wealth of meanings.

In his own day, Godefridus Schalcken (1643—1706) was an internationally renowned Dutch painter, but little is known about the four years that he spent in London. Using newly discovered documents, this book provides the first comprehensive examination of Schalcken’s activities there. The author analyses Schalcken’s strategic appropriations of English styles, his attempts to exploit gaps in the art market, and his impact on tastes in London’s milieu. Five chapters survey his art during these years, concluding with a critical catalogue of all his London-period work.

Despite the tremendous number of studies produced annually in the field of Dutch art over the last 30 years or so, and the strong contemporary market for works by Dutch masters of the period as well as the public's ongoing fascination with some of its most beloved painters, until now there has been no comprehensive study assessing the state of research in the field. As the first study of its kind, this book is a useful resource for scholars and advanced students of seventeenth-century Dutch art, and also serves as a springboard for further research. Its 19 chapters, divided into three sections and written by a team of internationally renowned art historians, address a wide variety of topics, ranging from those that might be considered "traditional" to others that have only drawn scholarly attention comparatively recently.

Godefridus Schalcken: A Late 17th-century Dutch Painter in Pursuit ofFame and Fortune is the first book in English dedicated to the entireartistic output of seventeenth-century Dutch artist Godefridus Schalcken(1643–1706). It examines the artist’s paintings and career trajectory againstthe background of his ceaseless pursuit of fame and fortune. Combining acomprehensive analysis of Schalcken's artistic development and style with ourincreasing biographical knowledge, it provides an authoritative overview ofSchalcken’s ample production as an artist. It also integrates his art intothe circumstances of his life in relation to his ambitious careeraspirations, exploring how economic conditions, a concomitantly oversaturatedart market, talent and ambition, demographics, and even sheer luck all playeda role in Schalcken’s great professional success. Since Schalcken’s art,like that of all Dutch painters, provides a plethora of information aboutseventeenth-century culture—its predilections, its prejudices, indeed, itsvery mind-set—the book inevitably links his work to the broadersocio-cultural contexts in which it was created.