Featured is this Original First Edition of "The Golden Age: Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century" by Bob Haak, 1984 Harry N. Abrahams, Inc., Publishers New York. This big beautiful art book is by the author of the important monograph Rembrandt: His Life, His Work, His Time. The text is lavishly illustrated by 1,117 reproductions from the Golden Age, including 74 in full color. This is original US edition publshed by Abrams in conjunction with Meulenhoff/Landshoff of Amsterdam. This remains the seminal book on the subject of Dutch painting in the seventeenth century. Justifiably known as the Golden Age, this was one of the most intensely creative periods of artistic activity the world has ever known. Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals, Ruisdael, and Jan Steen are a few of the more famous great Dutch painters of this era. Yet also painting in Holland at that time were hundreds of artists of merit who specialized in both traditional subjects and those invented to satisfy the demands of the newly liberated Dutch Republic. The scope of this volume is extraordinary and remains unrivaled by any subsequent publication. This book includes more than 400 Dutch artists, some with one representative work, some with many. Through these extraordinary works, the rich fabric of seventeenth-century Dutch society comes alive: scenes and portraits of men and women in public office; paired husband-and-wife portraits; domestic scenes; outdoor life on Holland's canals, boating in summer and skating in winter; scenes of grand new buildings and of old churches newly whitewashed inside; the look of the land and the seacoast in all weathers. And in sharper focus are the marvelous still-life paintings, from tiny works showing a pit of bread and an oyster to rich displays of game, fruits, and wine; still lives of fish and of insects; grand arrangements of flowers, often featuring priceless tulips--all of these imbued with the sense of the passing of time, of fading or evanescent beauty. Dutch painting, so full of life and vitality, has haunting overtones of moral and psychological subtlety which readily find echoes in our own world. Bob Haak's text is a guide through all the Dutch cities and towns where painters were at work. His familiarity with the historical circumstances of their art is remarkably complete, and he understands how Dutch art forged its own pictorial style as the nation forged its independence; how, in their freedom from the patronage of the Catholic Church, Dutch patrons and artists found a new wealth of subjects to enjoy and explore, subjects close to their life yet enriched by their sense of life's pleasures and obligations. And how they invented a painting style to express this, using light, color, and movement with greater freedom than had ever been done before. Bob Haak (1926-2005) was a Dutch art expert known mostly as one of the founders of the Rembrandt Research Project. From 1954-1963 he worked in the department of paintings at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. This olive cloth bound gold gilt hardcover is in exceptional overall condition, tight spine, small soiling spot on cover top edge, slight scuffing observed to cover edges. Intact pages are bright and clean and sharp cornered, very slight soiling noted to bottom edges, no other marring noted. Original illustrated paper dust jacket exhibits very slight scuffing along edges, no other obvious marring observed. Book measures 11"W x 13.5"L x 1.75"D