Why did Dutch painters in the 1600’s turn away from religious subjects to focus on still lifes depicting table top scenes, food, and flowers?

Their where other traditional classes of history and portrait painting were present, but the period is way more notable for a huge variety of other genres, which where sub-divided into numerous specialized categories, such as scenes of peasant life, landscapes, townscapes, landscapes with animals, maritime paintings, flower paintings and still lifes of various types.

Explanation:

With the Reformation, the Netherlands broke away from the Catholic Church. For artists, that meant an opportunity to explore a wide range of non-religious subjects. Artists turned to still lifes: depictions of beautiful or everyday objects carefully curated and arranged to evoke meaning or send a message.

Explanation:

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