Course Detail: The 17th Century saw the full flowering of all main types of painting with which we are familiar today - Portraits, landscapes, still lifes, daily life scenes, as well as the more traditional Biblical and Mythological subjects. The whole of the 17th Century life will unfold, from Van Dyck and Rubens depictions of Royalty, to the impoverished, squalid world of drunks, gamblers and prostitutes depicted by Caravaggio and his followers all over Western Europe . We will also find a tremendous variety in painting styles from the harsh dramatic contrasts of light and shade in De La Tour , Caravaggio, and Rembrandt, to the bright sunny interiors of Vermeer. We will find the beginnings of a kind of Impressionism in the later works of Velasquez. Full list of slides studied will be provided together with handouts of relevant historical documents, including letters by the artists themselves.