The seventeenth century is often known as the Dutch Golden Age, not only because of the great wealth the country amassed but also because of the impressive cultural flowering. The art of painting in particular reached a high point. Throughout the century, countless highly talented artists created masterpieces that still evoke our admiration more than four centuries later. Their paintings are the jewels in the collections of museums all over the world. The artists of this period began painting landscapes, still lifes, scenes from everyday life, marine pictures and church interiors in a way that had never been done before. It was as if the artists wanted to record daily life around them, but they all did this in their studios at their easels. These painters had a degree of imaginative power that we find difficult to imagine. The art of the Dutch Golden Age is characterised by ceaseless creativity, huge levels of production and a style that was unique and typical of that time. The great names of Rembrandt, Vermeer and Frans Hals are world famous but the paintings of the lesser known old masters are often wonderful, splendid, exquisite or imposing.