Answer:
During the 17th century, Holland was going through a great period of economic development. Unlike Italy and Spain, which were Catholic countries, Dutch Protestantism brought some difficulties for artists in the representation of religious scenes, but did not prevent them. Such difficulties, however, eventually generated beautiful portraits, landscapes and still life paintings. Descriptive and realistic, the Dutch artist was not concerned with classic beauty standards, preferring to portray everyday scenes. Two important painters of Dutch Baroque (also called Flemish Baroque) were Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) and Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669).
