the churches had no pictures, as we can see in this painting of the mariakerk in utrecht by pietersz saenredam. nevertheless, the netherlands experienced an explosion in the production and consumption of art. the first mass art market in history arose because for the first time, ordinary people bought paintings, etchings, drawings. artists produced in large quantity for that market. the society was defining itself in the images it produced. the simplicity of these domestic scenes is often deceptive. this still life with trout by willem claesz heda, while reassuring the dutch of the plenty in their lives, also warns them of the remorseless passage of time. jan steen's painting the world upside-down was intended to amuse, but it also cautions against the dangers of excess. here drink and sexual license cause a household to slide into complete domestic disorder. jan vermeer's woman weighing pearls stands before a painting of the last judgment, warning that wealth must not distract us from our ultimate fate. the dutch genre paintings are not just innocent images of everyday life, but of the moral