Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Rarities of these Lands is a rich reflection on the gap between the enchanting facade we call the Dutch Golden Age, on display...in every exhibition of 17th-century Dutch painting, and the riches, rarities and loot in the warehouse behind."
---Timothy Brook, Times Literary Supplement"
Claudia Swan’s masterful study explores the Dutch taste for consumption, and the means by which distant lands were reached and foreign goods accessed, first by seizing and plundering Portuguese and Spanish cargoes, then by engaging in war and conquest. . . . Rarities of these Lands provides a rich narrative about the circulation of exotic material culture and the history of collecting in the seventeenth century.
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---Annemarie Jordan Gschwend, Journal of the History of Collections"The early modern phenomenon of the
kunstcamer or
rariteytencamer (cabinets of curiosities) is a recurrent theme for Swan, and indeed each chapter might be likened to its own self-contained
kunstcamer, packed with amazing images and a wide array of intriguing anecdotes. . .All of these wonders and more await the reader in lavishly illustrated pages."
---Ellsworth Hamann, CAA Reviews"
Rarities of these Lands is a magnificent achievement. . . . [It] integrate[s] art historical and historical perspectives on the history of a single country into a compelling tale of global connections and entanglements."
---Maarten Prak, Early Modern Low Countries "
Rarities of these Lands not only makes important claims about the founding of the Dutch Republic but also speaks to the interdependence of commerce, art, and political self-fashioning among populations across the early modern world. . . . Rich in formal analysis, the passages describing individual works of art are beautifully articulated. . . . An essential work."
---Dawn Odell, Historians of Netherlandish Art Reviews"
Swan’s prose brings to life encounters in the Dutch Republic and overseas, as she introduces foreign visitors, travelers, and diplomats who were captured in text and images as they exchanged the types of goods discussed and depicted in this richly illustrated volume.—Marsely Kehoe, Renaissance Quarterly
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