The Universal Art of Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627-1678): Painter, Writer, and Courtier (Amsterdam Studies in the Dutch Golden Age) - Tapa dura

The book is beautifully edited and the good quality of the illustrations contributes to the reader's pleasure. -- Victor I. Soichita, De Zeeventiende Eeuw, translated from French into English by Marie Gyger [-][-]"This volume on the artist, writer, and poet Samuel van Hoogstraten adds considerably to our understanding of Rembrandt's most learned and cosmopolitan pupil. The rich contributions cover all aspects of his career, highlighting little known activities such as Van Hoogstraten's poetry and novels. These inspiring and thought-provoking proceedings complement recent monographic publications on Samuel van Hoogstraten. Moreover, this book is an important contribution to the history of knowledge in the early-modern Netherlands." -- C. Tico Seifert, Senior Curator of Northern European Art, Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh [-][-]"Samuel van Hoogstraten is a fascinating, complex artist whose art and writings make him central to understanding seventeenth-century Dutch art. Despite several recent studies devoted to aspects of his contribution, he remains understudied and perhaps misunderstood. He is also an artist who is currently of great interest. The proposed volume of collected essays, which will surely appeal to a broad readership, is most welcome not just for its subject matter - Samuel van Hoogstraten - but also for its original interpretations and impressive range of perspectives and approaches. (..) Thijs Weststeijn is an outstanding, rigorous researcher and an original thinker who has more significantly than anyone else advanced the study of SvH. H." -- Perry Chapman, Professor of Art History, University of Delaware [-][-]"The work of Samuel van Hoogstraten as painter, poet, and art theorist opens a fascinating window on the intellectual culture of the Dutch Golden Age. This book brings together a roster of distinguished scholars to explore all facets of Hoogstraten's career. It is especially welcome given the scarcity of substantive publications in English on Dutch literature and art theory." -- Stephanie Dickey, Bader Chair in Northern Baroque Art, Queen's University[-]

Samuel van Hoogstraten was not only one of Rembrandt's most succesful pupils and a versatile painter. His experiments in optical illusion also attracted the interest of the natural scientists of his time. Furthermore, he wrote some of the first Dutch novels, plays, and a treatise on painting. After travelling to Rome, Vienna, and London he introduced European courtiers' manners in the Low Countries.[-] In this book, a collective of specialists with different backgrounds sheds light on the facets of Van Hoogstraten's work that demonstrates in a unique manner how art, literature, and science were interrelated in the Dutch Golden Age. The contributors devote special attention to his theory of art and his literary writings, the role of paintings in his social network, his contacts in Italy and Britain, and finally the art of his master, Rembrandt. Bringing to the fore hitherto unknown works and highlighting new connections between word and image, the book is an important contribution to our understanding of Van Hoogstraten's universal art and its implications for Early Modern cultural history.