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| Anonymous artist Anamorphous Portrait of King Charles II of England ca. 1660-1700 oil on panel Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
Catoptric Anamorphosis (also called Mirror Anamorphosis) is a distorted perspective requiring the use of a conical or cylindrical mirror to create – and subsequently to reconstitute and view – the image. The deformed image is painted on a plane surface surrounding the mirror. Only by positioning such a mirror correctly and looking into it, can the viewer perceive the image undeformed.
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| Willem de Poorter Vanitas Allegory before 1668 oil on panel Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert and Paul de Vos Triumphant Cupid among Emblems of Art and War before 1654 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Jan van Kessel Emblems of War before 1679 oil on copper Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
"The allegory of the seventeenth century is not convention of expression, but expression of convention. At the same time expression of authority, which is secret in accordance with the dignity of its origin, but public in accordance with the extent of its validity. And the very same antinomies take plastic form in the conflict between the cold, facile technique and the eruptive expression of allegorical interpretation. . . . By its very essence classicism was not permitted to behold the lack of freedom, the imperfection, the collapse of the physical, beautiful, nature. But beneath its extravagant pomp, this is precisely what baroque allegory proclaims, with unprecedented emphasis. A deep-rooted intuition of the problematic character of art – it was by no means only the coyness of a particular social class, it was also a religious scruple which assigned artistic activity to 'leisure hours' – emerges as a reaction to its self-confidence at the time of the Renaissance."
– Walter Benjamin, from The Origin of German Tragic Drama (1928), translated by John Osborne (1977)
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| Gérard de Lairesse Achilles playing the Lyre before Patroclus ca. 1675-80 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Jan Verkolje Company making Music before 1693 oil on panel Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Gillis van Tilborgh Music-making Company ca. 1655-60 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Pieter Codde Company making Music before 1678 oil on panel Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
"Social conventions have applied to both playing and listening to music, but over the years they have operated very differently. In the 16th century musical ability was seen as an expression of good birth and good education. Lord Herbert of Cherbury regarded playing the lute as a more civilised pastime than drunken debauchery. The Tudor monarchs Henry VIII and Elizabeth I were both renowned for their skill, the king on the lute and the queen on the virginals. This attitude continued into the following century. Roger North, a gentleman architect and amateur musician writing in the 1690s, recommended the viol, violin, organ, harpsichord and double bass for men, and the spinet or harpsichord, lute and guitar for women. However, he thought the harpsichord better for a lady's posture then the lute."
– curator's notes from the Victoria & Albert Museum
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| Pieter Codde A Conversation 1628 oil on panel Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Gerard Seghers Feast of the Gods in a Cave near the Sea-shore before 1651 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Gabriel Metsu Card Game ca. 1655-60 oil on panel Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Nicolas Regnier Sleeper awakened by Young Woman holding a Flame ca. 1620-25 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Jacob Ochtervelt The Sleeping Officer before 1682 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Constantin Verhout The Sleeping Student 1663 oil on panel Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
"A student has fallen asleep in a chair. On the table are gloves, writing materials and books. The focus is on the pile of books, with its intricate play of light and shadow that creates a tension in the picture. The painting has been interpreted as conveying a moral message – about the importance of making proper use of one's time. But when it was brought to attention in the major Rembrandt exhibition in 1992, interest in the work was also prompted by associations with a modern aesthetic – the arrangement of piled-up books recalled a stylised idiom akin to Modernism."
– curator's notes from the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm