The Moving Statues of Seventeenth-Century Amsterdam

Angela Vanhaelen is Professor of Art History at McGill University. She is the author of the award-winning book The Wake of Iconoclasm: Painting the Church in the Dutch Republic, also published by Penn State University Press.

"This valuable book, written in an engaging storytelling mode that never sacrifices rigor, teaches us much that we did not know about Amsterdam's doolhoven. Before its publication, those enriched, dynamic display environments were nearly lost to us. Now, thanks to Vanhaelen, we at last have a clear vision of them." -Arthur Di Furia, The Historians of Netherlandish Art "A fascinating and convincing exploration of an undeservedly forgotten phenomenon, and a challenge to re-examine our perceptions of the Dutch 'Golden Age.'" -Kirsten Tambling, Apollo Magazine "The Moving Statues of Seventeenth-Century Amsterdam is an entirely original study of Amsterdam's pleasure palaces, or doolhoven, and a fascinating read that delights and instructs in a manner akin to the spaces it deftly analyzes. Vanhaelen's text considers courtyard fountains, labyrinths, automata, waxworks, and clockworks, moving beyond standard descriptions of wonder to reflect on the nature of the city, the body, and knowledge itself in the early modern period." -Stephanie Porras, author of Pieter Bruegel's Historical Imagination "The Moving Statues of Seventeenth-Century Amsterdam is highly original and will be fascinating to almost everyone with an interest in early modern visual culture. The book guides the reader on a dazzling tour with surprises at every corner. This fascinating study reveals the early modern park of public entertainment as a site of learning and lively debate." -Hanneke Grootenboer, author of The Pensive Image: Art as a Form of Thinking "This valuable book, written in an engaging storytelling mode that never sacrifices rigor, teaches us much that we did not know about Amsterdam's doolhoven. Before its publication, those enriched, dynamic display environments were nearly lost to us. Now, thanks to Vanhaelen, we at last have a clear vision of them." -Arthur Di Furia, The Historians of Netherlandish Art "A fascinating and convincing exploration of an undeservedly forgotten phenomenon, and a challenge to re-examine our perceptions of the Dutch 'Golden Age.'" -Kirsten Tambling, Apollo Magazine "The Moving Statues of Seventeenth-Century Amsterdam is an entirely original study of Amsterdam's pleasure palaces, or doolhoven, and a fascinating read that delights and instructs in a manner akin to the spaces it deftly analyzes. Vanhaelen's text considers courtyard fountains, labyrinths, automata, waxworks, and clockworks, moving beyond standard descriptions of wonder to reflect on the nature of the city, the body, and knowledge itself in the early modern period." -Stephanie Porras, author of Pieter Bruegel's Historical Imagination "The Moving Statues of Seventeenth-Century Amsterdam is highly original and will be fascinating to almost everyone with an interest in early modern visual culture. The book guides the reader on a dazzling tour with surprises at every corner. This fascinating study reveals the early modern park of public entertainment as a site of learning and lively debate." -Hanneke Grootenboer, author of The Pensive Image: Art as a Form of Thinking