Die kunstreichste Kunst der Künste

In the 16th century, painting in the Netherlands experienced a remarkable period of prosperity. Praised as the most skillful art of arts, it is central to the debate about art and artists and plays a prominent role in the formation of a national identity and individual social status. As the author shows, the discourse manifests iteslf in the painted and engraved picture, in artistic production, in genuine Netherlandish picture forms, in the theoretical reflection on, dissemination of and collection of fine art. These debates can be particularly clearly understood with the help of the chambers of the rhetoric [rederijkerkamers], their theatrical art and the Christian humanist dramas inspired by Terence.