August de Bats

18026206

Advanced Professional English

Ms. Varjavandi & Spronk

Feature Piece

first opportunity

12-06-2021
The Dutch golden age may glitter, yet is it truly gold?

If you are familiar with the Dutch, you are probably familiar with the proudly historic title: ‘The

(Dutch) Golden Age’. A phrase that describes the 17th century, a crucial period for the Netherlands, in

which the newly existing republic of the united seven provinces strived in economics, art, science,

etc. and left a mark in the world. Yet in September 2019 the Amsterdam museum, a museum about

the capital city that has been founded within this Golden Age, tried an alternative approach and

announced that the museum itself will no longer use the phrase: “The Golden age”. The news spread

like wildfire and even reached national television, other museums began to question the same and

this resulted in diverse opinions, which differed from eye-opening agreements to shocked

disapprovals.

The erupted debate can be traced back to a small adjustment for a title of an exhibition within the

museum of Amsterdam. The Amsterdam museum decided to change their exhibition: ‘Dutchmen of

the Golden Age’ to ‘Group portraits of the 17th century’ and agreed in the end that the museum

would no longer use the Golden age as an educational title. The website of the museum clarifies their

decision by stating that: “the Amsterdam museum tries to make their museum and exhibitions

relevant for all visitors and sees the removal of the phrase as a first step to enlighten other

perspectives of the 17th century” (Amsterdam Museum, 2019). The curator, Jörgen Tjon A fong,

elaborates on that: “We should also remember that there are other stories, it wasn’t a good century

for everybody. There was for example slavery, war, poverty and only a small group of people

enriched themselves, of which their portraits can be seen in musea. Now what we want is that also

those other stories and other countries where the Dutch could be found, are told aswell.” (NOS,

2019b).

This decision sparked the debate rather the phrase ‘the Golden Age’ should be no longer

implemented in musea and the Dutch education system. The opinions are varying, there is
abhorrence like the prime minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, who named the action as:

“Nonsense I cannot use at all” (NOS, 2019b). The prime minister claimed that he find the phrase ‘the

Golden age’ a “magnificent phrase in which we (the Dutch) may be proud of (NOS, 2019). Yet there is

also disagreement with more openness, like the opinion of the director of the ‘Rijksmuseum’

Amsterdam, Taco Dibbits. Taco Dibbits is certain that his museum will not change the phrase, yet

explains that: “The Golden age is about a period and a country. That the history has its shadows is

unquestionable, yet that does not mean that you should eradicate the phrase out of our history.”

(NOS, 2019b). And then there are also proponents who think that the phrase should no longer be

used. One of these proponents is famous activist and former political party leader Sylvana Simons

who agrees that: “It is a good step of the Amsterdam Museum to overthrow this phrase, the Golden

age. We have quite a lot of notions of the past that also deserve to be enlighten.” (Van Lonkhuijsen,

2019). In a personal interview, Spoken word artist and Black Lives Matter Activist Zaïre Krieger

enthusiastically agrees with the statement and explains that: “Within the Netherlands, we only learn

certain parts of our history, that mostly glorifies the Netherlands as a very prosperous country within

this era, however we frequently forget where this wealth came from. It is time to open our eyes and

lay more focus upon the blood money to acknowledge and respect the ones who suffered within this

century” (de Bats, 2021).

So what is meant with the different perspectives of the Golden Age? What is it with this particular

period of time that is asked by some to enlighten other aspects? The Dutch Golden age glorifies a

century, approximately from 1600 till 1700, in which the new born Republic of the Netherlands

enriched itself and became, at that time being, a global super power (Petram, 2011). Within this era,

art was striving with famous painting artists, such as Rambrandt van Rijn, with one example of his

famous groups portraits ‘De nachtwacht’ (the Nights Watch) (Rijksmuseum, 2019) and Johannes

Vermeer, with his famous painting ‘Het meisje met de parel’ (The girl with the pearl) (Mauritshuis,

2019). Science was also discovered, rediscovered and further developed within this era. Especially

within math, physics, chemistry and astrology (Cook, 2007). The Dutch conquered land from water
with windmills, known as polders and astrology was further developed thanks to scientists like

Christiaan Huygens (Cook, 2007). Art and science were sometimes even combined, an example is the

painting of Rembrandt van Rijn ‘de anatomie les’ (The anatomy lesson) (Rembrandthuis, 2018). These

are the aspects of the golden age, which made the title and era so famous within the Netherlands

and on a global scale. Yet there are also other parts of the golden age that are not that well known

and the Dutch refer to as the ‘black pages’ or ‘Shadows’ of the Golden age. The Dutch and their

Golden age are also famous for the creation of the first multinational company in the world, The

Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company (Petram, 2011). These were the

companies that are described as the founding fathers of modern day capitalism and enriched

themselves by trading with overseas countries, who later became the colonies of Western Europe

(Petram, 2011). For the East India company the trade was manly focussed on spices, which were sold

in Europe for huge amount of profits (Petram, 2011). However the native populations had no freewill

of trading and were often met with horrific consequences (Petram, 2011). A notorious example is of

the Governor-General Jan Pieterszoon Coen, who committed a large scale genocide on the

population of the Banada islands, in current eastern Indonesia (Lape, 2015). The West India company

was manly focussed on the Americas and the Caribbean and were mainly involved within the

transatlantic slave trade (Petram, 2011). These neglected perspectives, combined with the high

poverty and wars that occurred in the Netherlands itself, are the stories that should also be

enlightened according to an amount of Dutch citizens. For them, these are the stories that are not

that well known amongst each other and are often not mentioned at all, when it comes to the Dutch

‘golden age’.

These neglected perspectives and stories were the main reason for the Amsterdam Museum to try

an alternative approach, with an alternative title, in order to enlighten other perspectives of that

particular century. Some people agree with the action of the Amsterdam museum, others disagree,

yet in general, everyone agrees upon the underlying message of the Amsterdam museum, even the
Dutch prime minister (NOS, 2019). The agreement that the many other and especially negative

perspectives of the golden age, should also be enlighten. Perhaps the Dutch golden age may not be

so gold after all, yet it will be enriched of history.

(Word count: 11
Bibliography

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meer. Amsterdam Museum. https://www.amsterdammuseum.nl/nieuws/gouden_eeuw

Bats, de A.P. (November 27, 2021). personal communication (interview)

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