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September 19, 2006
Elmer Kolfin The Young Gentry at Play: Northern Netherlandish Scenes of Merry Companies Trans. Michael Hoyle. Leiden: Primavera Press, 2005. 312 pp.; 14 color ills.; 192 b/w ills. Paper $28.00 (9059970136)
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CrossRef DOI: 10.3202/caa.reviews.2006.99

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The early Dutch Republic witnessed an explosive growth in the popularity of paintings and prints representing groups of handsome young men and women absorbed in social pleasantries. These “merry company” scenes, as they are often termed, characteristically show their ostentatiously attired figures occupying richly appointed interiors or elegant open-air gardens. Gathered around tables covered by freshly ironed linens and set with expensive goblets and platters, they engage in good-natured conversation, make music on various instruments,...