ABSTRACT
About 1620 this struggle had been decided in all essentials. The northern States had secured independence, religious freedom and a life under their own law. The visual arts no longer create triumphant symbols, are not heroic. The great event is not reflected that way at all in painting. The Dutch soul has roused itself and wards off everything foreign with quiet self-confidence. Protestantism holds its own against the "universal" Church, the Germanic element against the southern, the bourgeoisie against autocracy, simplicity against pomp, painting against drawing. The cut makes a deep mark in the history of the landscape picture.
