During the Golden Age culture and art were flourishing in whole western Europe. The most popular style was the Baroque that was popular in Rome and Italy and had been introduced to the Dutch by Rubens, a painter from Flanders. In most countries there were just a few masters and many students and others that painted. In the Netherlands there was a dazzling amount of masters and paintors and they were all loved by the people. They each had a special style and came from different local schools in Amsterdam, Haarlem, Utrecht, Leiden, Delft etc. The reformed protestant Dutch artist did not have the large public comissions sponsored by State and Church that was available in the Catholic world. Municipal authorities and civic bodies provded a certain amount of art patronage but their generosity was limited. The private collectors were the painters’ source of support.
 
At this time Holland was a nation of merchants, farmers and seafarers. They were all proud of their hard-won freedom and the economy of the country was good, in these golden times paintings and other beautiful things were highly requested. The general public had developed an insatiable appetite for paintings and the whole country became gripped by a kind of collector’s mania. A regular farmer could pay two or three thousand pounds in this commodity. They kept the paintings at home and when there was time to go to the market, they sold them at much larger prices. The trade with paintings followed the law of supply and demand. Many artists produced for the market rather than for individual patrons. A number of people tried to make a living from painting, with or without talent. Some of the artist kept an inn or a small business on the side to make some extra money.