Search Results: Amsterdam

The whale oil refinery of the Amsterdam chamber of the Greenland Company on Amsterdam Island off the coast of Spitsbergen. Oil on canvas, 1639.

The Dutch East India Company (VOC) was formed in 1602 by the Staten-Generaal (States General) of the then Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. The company was granted a 21-year charter with rights to trade exclusively in Asia and to...

The Grand Embassy was the name given to the long Western European tour that Tsar Peter I of Russia (aka Peter the Great, r. 1682-1725) undertook during 1697-1698. Peter was joined by hundreds of people, including noblemen, his friends, volunteers...

Henry Hudson (c. 1570-1611) was an English navigator and maritime explorer. He is known for his four voyages between 1607 and 1610 in search of a northwest passage via the Arctic Ocean to the Far East. The lure of a northwest passage became...

Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) was a Dutch philosopher who combined rationalism and metaphysics to create a unique system of thought. Spinoza was held up as an atheist philosopher in the 18th century, but this is not an entirely accurate representation...

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) was an Italian violin virtuoso and composer of baroque music (c. 1600-1750). Best known for his violin concertos, notably The Four Seasons, Vivaldi made a significant contribution to the evolution of instrumental...

An 1888 oil on canvas painting, The Sower, by Vincent van Gogh (1853-90), the Dutch post-impressionist artist. Painted in November near Arles in southern France. Sowers are a recurring theme in the artist's work, seen by him as a symbol through...

An 1885 oil on canvas painting, The Potato Eaters, by Vincent van Gogh (1853-90), the Dutch post-impressionist artist. Painted in Neunen, Netherlands. Van Gogh created this work by combining various earlier studies of individuals, hence their...

Portrait van Menno Simons on the title page of Opera omnia theologica, by Jan Luyken, 1681. Amsterdam Museum.

An 1888 oil on canvas painting, Boats on the Beach at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, by Vincent van Gogh (1853-90), the Dutch post-impressionist artist. Painted in June on the coast of southern France, one of three studies the artist made of this...