What historical era is this? (Girl with the Pearl Earring)?

Question

I finished viewing Girl with the Pearl Earring (with Scarlett Johansson). Great movie, I had to watch it for an AP history class.

Well, I was wondering what time period it would belong to. I know that 1665 would probably be considered the Age of Exploration, but because it takes place in the Netherlands itself and doesn't deal so much with the Age of Exploration, I don't know if there is another era I can group it into.

I know that Vermeer was after the Flemish School, and I've read that his time period belongs in the Dutch "Golden Age."

Is this accurate? I am going to write it as "Age of Exploration," but I just wanted to add the historical era in terms of art, because that is what the movie focuses on.

So does the Dutch Golden Age apply? Or is there another specific name?

Answer 1

i don't know that movie but if it really focuses on art, it will be better for me to classify it as the age of the "Dutch Masters" it is during the 17th century that many well known Dutch painters lived like rembrandt van rijn, johannes vermeer, jan steen, etc.

good luck! ! !

Answer 2

You are right that it is the Dutch Golden Age (in art as well as other areas.)

Answer 3

all you have to do is research the life of vermeer. the portrait girl with a pearl earring was painted in 1670, she came to work with him 1 and a half years before, and it finished 10 years later,

so the story goes from 1668-1680

Answer 4

Vermeer (~1632 to1675) lived in the period of Dutch flourishing which some call the Dutch Golden Age.  

The movie depicts the 1660's.

You already seem well informed regarding this.

I would not consider the mid to latter 1600's "Age of Exploration" though.  The globe had been circumnavigated several times by then.  The English and Dutch were fighting over the island of Run in the East Indies simply because of nutmeg.  The Dutch were kicking the Portuguese out of areas that the Portuguese had explored in the late 1400's and the 1500's which is the time period that I teach as the Age of European Exploration.

But there are differing interpretations. Historians make up time periods and call them "Ages of" this or that, so you can do the same if you like. None of these arbitrary time designations is written in stone.  The late 1600's into the 1700's is often called the "Age of Reason" with Rene Descartes and Isaac Newton.  Then the 1700's are referred to as the "Age of Enlightenment" with Voltaire, Montesquieu , Rousseau, and others.  Few historians agree as to when either of these "Ages" begins and ends.

Thanks for tipping me off to the movie. I was not aware of this flick.

Answer 5

Age of Discovery (also known as the Age of Exploration)  runs from 1400's to 1600's.  This includes exploration of multiple European nations, Portugal, Spain, England, France, and the Dutch. The Dutch Golden Age is a specific period within the Age of Discovery when The Netherlands dominated Science, Trade, and Art.