THIJS WESTSTEIJN

The Visible World

Samuel van Hoogstraten’s
Art Theory and the
Legitimation of Painting in
the Dutch Golden Age

Amsterdam University Press

 1
2
3
T h e V is i bl e W or l d 4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 1 09-10-2008 17:02:49

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 2 09-10-2008 17:02:49

 1

T h e V i sibl e W orl d
2
3
4
5
6
7
s a m u el va n hoo g st r at e n ’s art t he ory 8
9
a nd t h e l eg i t im at ion of pain t in g 10
11
i n th e D u tc h golde n ag e 12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Thijs Weststeijn 19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
translated by
28
Beverley Jackson and Lynne Richards 29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
amste rdam univ er s ity pr es s 43
44
45
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 3 09-10-2008 17:02:49

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20 The publication of this book has been made possible by: The Netherlands Organisation for
21 Scientific Research (NWO); the Prince Bernhard Fund; Stichting Charema, Fonds voor
22 Geschiedenis en Kunst; Dr Hendrik Muller’s Vaderlandsch Fonds; J.E. Jurriaanse Stichting;
23 M.A.O.C. Gravin van Bylandt Stichting; Historians of Netherlandish Art.
24
25
26
27 Cover design: Kok Korpershoek, Amsterdam
28 Cover illustration: Samuel van Hoogstraten, Perspective with a Woman Reading a Letter (Formerly
29 Identified as Margaret Cavendish), canvas, 242 x 179 cm, Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, The
30 Hague.
31
32 Lay-out: ProGrafici, Goes
33
34 ISBN 978 90 8964 027 7
35 E-ISBN 978 90 4850 789 4
36 NUR 642
37
38 © Thijs Weststeijn / Amsterdam University Press, 2008
39
40 All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this
41 book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any
42 form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without
43 the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book.
44
45
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 4 09-10-2008 17:02:49

 [Ik] derf vaststellen, dat een oprecht oeffenaer der Schilderkonst, die haer alleen om haer zelfs wil, en 1
om haeren deugtsaemen aert navolgt, waerlijk t’onrecht zoude versmaet worden. Alle wijsgeerigen 2
zijn tot geen staeten of burgerbestieringen beroepen, en niettemin zijnze in ’t versmaeden der werelt- 3
sche hoogheden by Plutarchus ... hoog genoeg gepreezen, schoonze aen de werelt geen grooter sieraet, 4
noch aen haer zelven meerder gerustheit en vernoegen, als onze Schilders in ’t oeffenen dezer beval- 5
lijke wijsgeerte, hebben toegebracht. 6
Samuel van Hoogstraten, 7
Inleyding tot de Hooge Schoole der Schilderkonst 8
9
Jene trefflichen Niederländer, welche solche rein objektive Anschauung auf die unbedeutendsten 10
Gegenstände richteten und ein dauerndes Denkmal ihrer Objektivität und Geistesruhe im Stilleben 11
hinstellten, welches der ästhetische Beschauer nicht ohne Rührung betrachtet, da es ihm den ruhigen, 12
stillen, willensfreien Gemüthzustand des Künstlers vergegenwärtigt, der nöthig war, um so unbedeu- 13
tende Dinge so objektiv anzuschauen, so aufmerksam zu betrachten und diese Anschauung so besonnen 14
zu wiederholen ... Im selben Geiste haben oft Landschaftsmaler ... höchst unbedeutende landschaftliche 15
Gegenstände gemalt, und dadurch die selbe Wirkung noch erfreulicher hervorgebracht. 16
Arthur Schopenhauer, 17
Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung I 18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
To Marieke 43
44
45
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 5 09-10-2008 17:02:49

1
2
3
4 Tab le of Con ten ts
5
6
7
8
9 pr efa c e a nd a ck n owl e d g e m e n t s 9
10
11 intr oduc tion 11
12
13 i. s a m u e l va n h o o g s t r at e n i n t h e r e p u b l i c o f
14 letter s 25
15 A learned artist: Van Hoogstraten as painter and poet 25
16 A courtiers’ handbook, novels and drama 34
17 ‘Visible’ and ‘Invisible’ Worlds 38
18 Elevating the status of painting 41
19 ‘The whole of Painting and all that pertains to it’ 48
20 Painting and rhetoric: rules of art and rules of conduct 65
21
22 ii. t h e v i s i b l e wo r l d 83
23 The ‘soul of art’: examining the ‘properties’ of things 90
24 The painter’s rewards: painting and philosophy 91
25 Painting as ‘universal knowledge’ 95
26 The meaning of the depiction of the visible world 108
27 The outlook of Stoicism 113
28 The Book of Nature and the eloquence of painting 115
29
30 iii. p i c t o r i a l i m i t at i o n 123
31 An ideology of imitation 124
32 Imitation and self-knowledge 129
33 The imitation of examples and the imitation of nature 130
34 Imitating the inimitable 132
35 Painting as virtual reality 132
36 ‘As if he were another bystander’: the response theory of ekphrasis 137
37 ‘A gratifying indulgence in disparate parities’ 162
38 Emulation and the history of art 164
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
6         
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 6 09-10-2008 17:02:49

 iv. t h e d e p i c t i o n o f t h e p a s s i o n s 171 1
The soul’s three parts 174 2
Body and mind, actions and passions 175 3
Passionate persuasion: beweeglijkheid and enargeia 182 4
Ethos and pathos 191 5
The depiction of the passions and pictorial realism 200 6
The ideal painter of passions: Rembrandt as pathopoios 206 7
8
v. the eloquenc e o f c o l o u r 219 9
Paint as flesh 220 10
The cosmetics of colour 223 11
‘Rough’ versus ‘fine’ brushwork 229 12
The colours of the Dutch countryside 241 13
A painterly art 252 14
The mute rhetoric of the visible world 260 15
16
vi.
p a i n t i n g a s a m i r r o r o f n at u r e 269 17
Paintings as mirrors 271 18
Deceiving the eye 273 19
‘Making things appear to be that are not’: painting as metaphor 281 20
Illusion and vanity 285 21
‘Through a glass, darkly’: visible and invisible worlds 295 22
Van Hoogstraten’s perspective box: 23
the bifocal gaze as memento mori 304 24
The painter and the visible world: 25
self-portraits by Van Hoogstraten and Rembrandt 312 26
27
exc ur sus: pa inti n g a s a ‘s i s t e r o f p h i l o s o p h y ’ 329 28
The visible and the invisible 330 29
From qualities to particles: theories about optics 331 30
Van Hoogstraten and Van Blijenberg discuss body and soul 338 31
The philosophical status of the visible world 343 32
33
c onc lusion 353 34
35
notes 361 36
b ib liog r a phy 443 37
indic es 463 38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
table of contents          7
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 7 09-10-2008 17:02:49

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 8 09-10-2008 17:02:49

 1
2
3
Preface an d A c kno w led ge ments 4
5
6
7
8
‘Painting, sir, I have heard say, is a mystery’, says the pimp Pompey in Shakespeare’s Measure for 9
Measure. Implicitly he elucidates this mystery with a reference to his whores, who use the deceit 10
of painting to enhance their looks. I never sought such irony in Samuel van Hoogstraten. My 11
interest in his treatise was sparked by a fundamental question, which I first encountered during 12
my studies at a small art college in Amsterdam: ‘Why do artists depict the visible world?’ Van 13
Hoogstraten’s book of painting seemed to reveal what he and his colleagues were about in their 14
apparently unpretentious depictions of cloudy skies, interiors and the play of the light. 15
Soon I found that neither my question nor my expectations of Van Hoogstraten’s trea- 16
tise accorded with the seventeenth-century situation. Fortunately I was supported in the re- 17
ordering of my ideas by Eric Jan Sluijter, the supervisor of the dissertation at the University 18
of Amsterdam which was the basis for this book. His expertise and the great confidence with 19
which he guided the research saved me from many a false step. He also unfailingly shared my 20
conviction that Van Hoogstraten has something particular to say about the extraordinary blos- 21
soming and the specific nature of Dutch art in the seventeenth century. 22
This book had existed as an idea, however, for rather longer: Ernst van de Wetering’s 23
attachment to Van Hoogstraten as a rare conduit to the thoughts of important Dutch masters 24
was a source of inspiration. I am also indebted in this regard to Maarten van Nierop, whose 25
encouragement sustained me as I wrote. His ideas about traditions and structures in history 26
provided a framework for my treatment of works of art and figures from the past. 27
The English translation was undertaken with great skill by Beverley Jackson and Lynne 28
Richards, whose lives I often made difficult with my specific wishes – not least my insistence 29
on retaining the word ‘legitimation’, even in the title. Their work was made possible by the 30
Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, which also funded my appointment and 31
enabled me to proclaim the importance of Van Hoogstraten’s ideas from Amsterdam to Rome 32
and from Tokyo to Rio de Janeiro. 33
To some extent I have been able to follow in the footsteps of Van Hoogstraten’s peri- 34
patetic career, and my gratitude goes to the Dutch University Institute for Art History in 35
Florence, where Gert-Jan van der Sman and Bert Meijer made me welcome, and the Royal 36
Netherlands Institute in Rome. I should also like to thank the people at the library of the Art 37
History Institute of the University of Amsterdam, the Rijksmuseum, the Bibliotheca Hertz- 38
iana, the Deutsches Kunsthistorisches Institut, the Warburg Library and the British Library. 39
40
A great many of the staff of the Amsterdam University Press were involved in some way in 41
the book: I was able to call for assistance on Paulien Retèl and Christine Waslander, as well as 42
Marleen Souverein, Chantal Nicolaes and Ilona van Tuinen. My thanks also go the members 43
of the editorial board who included the book in the Dutch Golden Age series. 44
45
          9
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 9 09-10-2008 17:02:49

1 There were a number of other people who contributed in some way and at some time to
2 the origin of this book, among them my colleagues at the Art History Institute in Amsterdam:
3 Junko Aono, Boudewijn Bakker, Marten Jan Bok, Anton Boschloo, Inge Broekman, Celeste
4 Brusati, Wiep van Bunge, Hans-Jörg Czech, David DeWitt, Stephanie Dickey, Huib van den
5 Doel, Caroline van Eck, Rachel Esner, Franzeska Gottwald, Peter Hecht, Lex Hermans, Jeroen
6 Jansen, Koenraad Jonckheere, Bram Kempers, Ulrike Kern, Elmer Kolfin, Arjan de Koomen,
7 Johan Koppenol, Michael Kwakkelstein, Frauke Laarmann, Leah Mendelssohn, Hessel Mie-
8 dema, Henk van Nierop, Margaret Oomen, Koen Ottenheym, Lideke Peese Binkhorst, Rob
9 Ruurs, Madelon Simons, Paul Taylor, Andreas Thielemann, Anna Tummers, Roosje Voor-
10 hoeve and Jan Waszink.
11
12 Last but by no means least, I want to thank my friends and family who joined me in staging
13 Van Hoogstraten’s play Hof-krakkeel in the KunstKerk in Amsterdam on May 7, 2005. Perhaps
14 even more than the diligent study of his treatise on painting, this joyous performance brought
15 the ‘mystery’ of Van Hoogstraten’s world closer.
16 I dedicate this book to Marieke, who advised and assisted me times beyond number and
17 who was and is my Muse – in art and in everything else.
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
10          preface and acknowledgements
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 10 10-10-2008 17:27:22

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21

I n t r od uction
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 11 10-10-2008 16:53:38

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43 fig.1 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, title page to Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst, Rotterdam 1678.
44
45
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 12 09-10-2008 17:03:15

 1
2
3
Introd uction 4
5
6
7
8
‘Is there a Baroque theory of art?’ The art historian Jan Białostocki posed this famous question 9
in an article in which he set out to define the specific characteristics of seventeenth-century 10
ideas about painting, as distinct from the older tradition. He was responding to the prevail- 11
ing view that only fifteenth- and sixteenth-century artists wrote about their profession in an 12
interesting manner.1 His question is most relevant in relation to Dutch art: is there a theory of 13
Northern Netherlandish painting in its so-called ‘Golden Age’? Godfried Hoogewerff, noting 14
in 1939 that Dutch painters had not written a great deal, concluded: ‘We find ourselves in an 15
Arctic expanse!’2 There could scarcely be a greater contrast, in his view, than that between the 16
high quality of painting in the seventeenth century and the paucity of contemporary writings 17
on art. Hoogewerff’s study highlighted what he perceived as an intellectual contrast between 18
Dutch writers and their counterparts in Italy, where dozens of painting treatises were pub- 19
lished in this period. France, too, was the scene of lively debate. The view that authors from 20
the Netherlands were in some sense the exception that confirms the rule is still propagated to 21
this day. The rarity of Dutch texts and their limited dissemination gave rise to the view that 22
those few Dutch authors who did venture into literature merely repeated the prevailing inter- 23
national views, displaying little insight into the specific aspects of their own country’s art.3 24
Hoogewerff’s negative verdict may go some way towards explaining the relative neglect 25
of seventeenth-century art theory in present-day debates on the nature and significance of 26
Netherlandish painting, which focus on its so-called ‘realism’.4 The new genres that were de- 27
veloped in the Netherlands, such as landscape and still-life painting, have been interpreted in 28
different ways. Two rival camps have locked horns in this controversial field: the iconologists, 29
who see a religious and moralistic symbolism below the surface of seemingly everyday objects, 30
and those who maintain that Golden Age painting had a purely ‘descriptive’ function: the func- 31
tion of surveying or ‘mapping out’ the visible world.5 This is not just a dispute about academic 32
approaches; at the heart of the disagreement is the question of whether or not Dutch painting 33
is substantially different from other artistic traditions of the age. Was it simply a continuation 34
of Mediaeval art in which visible things were presented as allusions to more general religious 35
ideas, or can it be regarded as a kind of l’art pour l’art avant la lettre? 36
This book seeks to clarify the ideological background of seventeenth-century Dutch 37
painting. It also explores a specific question in the context of the debate about the presumed 38
‘realism’ of this art: what are a painter’s underlying motives for depicting the visible world? In 39
other words: the book explores the issue of how seventeenth-century texts describe and explain 40
specific qualities of the art of the Netherlands using themes from the tradition of art theory. It 41
attempts to chart the ways in which new artistic forms and genres were invested with theoreti- 42
cal legitimacy. 43
44
45
          13
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 13 09-10-2008 17:03:15

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37 fig. 2 – Egidius Sadeler after Hans von Aachen, Minerva Introduces Painting to the Liberal Arts, engraving.
38 Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
14          introduction
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 14 09-10-2008 17:03:32

 The best-known painting treatise in Dutch, Karel van Mander’s Schilder-boeck (Book on 1
Painting), published in 1604, largely reflects views on sixteenth-century art. It was followed, 2
in the seventeenth century, by Philips Angel’s oration in praise of painting (1642) and Willem 3
Goeree’s writings on painting and draughtsmanship dating from 1668-1682. In comparison to 4
all these texts, Samuel van Hoogstraten’s Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst; anders de 5
zichtbaere werelt (Introduction to the Academy of Painting; or the Visible World, 1678) is more ambi- 6
tious in terms of both theoretical scope and volume (fig. 1).6 This treatise draws on a plethora 7
of literary, philosophical and historical sources as well as other texts such as travel accounts 8
and collections of quotations, and may thus be assumed to present a cross-section of general 9
seventeenth-century views. In recent years, both adherents of the iconological approach and 10
those favouring a more ‘modern’ interpretation of seventeenth-century art have quoted from 11
this treatise to corroborate their own points of view. But neither group has taken the objectives 12
of Van Hoogstraten’s text as a whole into account.7 The present study looks at the aims of the 13
treatise and its position in the literary tradition, and from this point of departure explores a 14
number of themes expounded in his treatise that are related to the theoretical status he accords 15
to the depiction of the visible world. 16
Although readers will seek in vain for words like ‘justification’ or ‘legitimacy’ in early 17
modern art literature, many treatises set out explicitly to assert the status of painting as one 18
of the liberal arts, those activities that were seen as essential aspects of a humanist’s education, 19
corresponding to the ideal of the ‘universal man’. Van Hoogstraten himself openly deplores 20
the relative absence of this emancipatory project in the Netherlands, which he seeks to remedy. 21
He states that he was inspired to write his book because ‘the Art of Painting has come to be 22
seen, in most people’s eyes, as a common art or craft’. He names Leon Battista Alberti’s Italian 23
treatise Della pittura of 1435 as the first text to bring together ancient views on painting in a 24
systematic framework, thus laying the foundations of art theory as a genre. By emphasizing 25
painting’s intellectual basis, these theories endowed it with fresh legitimacy as it gradually 26
struggled free from the old constraints of guild regulations and church patronage. Exemplary 27
to this project is Hans von Aachen’s image of a personification of painting who is introduced 28
to the select group of the artes liberales by Minerva, the goddess of wisdom (fig. 2). In the sev- 29
enteenth century, the issue of painting’s legitimacy was especially topical for genres such as 30
landscape and still-life painting, which were not informed by traditional religious or literary 31
iconography. 32
One of the main instruments that Van Hoogstraten used to place the art of painting of 33
his contemporaries and fellow-countrymen on firm foundations was the authority of literary 34
tradition. The present study will take this tradition and its international background as its 35
point of departure and will include relevant theories of Van Hoogstraten’s contemporaries in 36
the analysis, as well as drawing on older material, mainly from Southern Europe. In this re- 37
spect, its vantage point differs from those of earlier works on Van Hoogstraten’s theory, which 38
have largely glossed over these traditions.8 Similar research has been done primarily for the 39
Italian literature of art.9 For the texts written in Dutch, while various individual theoretical 40
concepts have been studied, little attention has been paid to the literary framework in which 41
these concepts operated.10 Although Jan Emmens set out to provide a historical overview of 42
Dutch-language art theory in his Rembrandt en de regels van de kunst (Rembrandt and the Rules 43
44
45
introduction          15
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 15 09-10-2008 17:03:32

1 of Art, 1964), he was unable to find a place in it for Van Hoogstraten’s treatise.11 One of the
2 basic assumptions of the present study is that the framework within which Van Hoogstraten’s
3 theory must be placed is determined by a moral philosophy rooted in classical rhetoric, which
4 endured in the seventeenth century in the courtiers’ ideal of the honnête homme. It was an ideal
5 that combined didactic, aesthetic and ethical concepts.
6
7 The first chapter explores the limits and scope of a reconstruction of Van Hoogstraten’s philo-
8 sophical views by determining his role in the European ‘republic of letters’. It sets out to
9 analyse his use of the humanist arsenal afforded by his literary milieu and the way in which he
10 sought to situate his treatise within the tradition of art theory. This refers not only to the Inley-
11 ding, but also to his other writings, in the fields of poetry and drama. The chapter addresses the
12 encyclopaedic multiplicity of views provided by the treatise and the significance of rhetoric to
13 views on art as part of a comprehensive theory of communication and action.
14 The second chapter focuses explicitly on the theoretical status of the depiction of the
15 visible world. It explores Van Hoogstraten’s emphasis, as part of his effort to legitimize paint-
16 ing, on the concept of the ‘visible world’ – which is highlighted in the subtitle and illustrations
17 of his treatise, and explains certain basic assumptions of his text. Van Hoogstraten’s ideas about
18 this concept become clearer when they are placed within their philosophical and religious con-
19 text as well as within the context of art theory. From the material thus compiled, preliminary
20 conclusions are drawn concerning the debate on the so-called ‘realism’ of seventeenth-century
21 painting.
22 In the third chapter, general questions relating to the representation of the visible world
23 are narrowed down to problems surrounding the concept of imitation. Both the imitation of
24 nature and the emulation of artistic examples are discussed, as well as the significance of pro-
25 ductive rivalry. Van Hoogstraten’s views are linked to the didactic and ultimately ethical ideals
26 that can be traced back to ancient rhetorical theory.
27 Chapter four elaborates on a specific aspect of the theory of imitation: the power to
28 evoke emotions. The reality of emotion, in contrast to the fiction of art, is the painter’s most
29 powerful tool in his effort to involve the viewer. Clearly, this is much more than a matter of ap-
30 plying illusionist devices. The passions are central to Van Hoogstraten’s views on the purpose
31 and subject of painting. His assertions are embedded in a cosmology in which planetary influ-
32 ences, the four elements and the related humours play fundamental roles, and in which works
33 of art are believed to effectuate ‘action at a distance’: the making and enjoyment of painting is
34 deemed to have a strong physical component. The affective influence attributed to painting
35 arises not merely from the choice of subject, but also from stylistic aspects, whereby colouring
36 is of especial importance: this is the subject of chapter five. From Van Hoogstraten’s views re-
37 garding the persuasiveness of colouring follows an ambivalent appreciation of the ephemeral,
38 superficial and seductive aspects of painting. This proves significant to a subject that has often
39 raised questions for art historians analyzing the supposed ‘realism’ of seventeenth-century art:
40 landscape painting.12 According to the ideas set out in the Inleyding, the superficial temptations
41 of landscape may lead the viewer to focus on the deceptiveness of the visible world itself.
42 Chapter six, which illuminates the definition of painting as a ‘mirror of nature’, revolves
43 around the fundamental duplicity of the artwork that ‘deceives the eye’. In this connection,
44
45
16          introduction
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 16 09-10-2008 17:03:32

 it explores in detail the status of visual perception in seventeenth-century art theory. The 1
epistemological and religious attitudes that come to the fore prompt a final analysis of the rel- 2
evance of contemporary philosophical trends to the theory set forth in the Inleyding. Venturing 3
beyond the realm of art history proper, the chapter is followed by an ‘excursus’ concerning a 4
philosophical controversy in Van Hoogstraten’s own circle, to explore from a different vantage 5
point the issue of the intellectual authority vested in the concept of the ‘visible world’. 6
7
The conclusion returns to the historiographical debate on the presumed existence of an 8
authentically Dutch theory of art and so-called ‘Dutch realism’, and reviews the divergent an- 9
swers that have been given to this question. The debate may perhaps reflect certain contradic- 10
tions within seventeenth-century culture, opposing vantage points that can also be identified in 11
Van Hoogstraten’s theory of art: the ‘Book of Nature’ versus the ‘Holy Scriptures’, the visible 12
versus the invisible world, and the paradox between appearance and reality that underlies pain- 13
terly illusion. The Inleyding itself, combining as it does, for example, a belief in magic with an 14
interest in the ‘new philosophy’ of the seventeenth century, bristles with inconsistencies. The 15
discussion of Van Hoogstraten’s place in the wider ‘rhetorical culture’ of his humanist milieu 16
will shed new light on these contradictions. 17
18
19
Talking about art in the seventeenth century 20
This book aims to reconstruct the terms and concepts that Van Hoogstraten and his readers 21
used for discussions of painting. It also recognizes that isolated terms do not suffice to give a 22
full account of seventeenth-century thinking about art; the study of the painter’s vocabulary 23
is supplemented by an analysis of the rhetorical framework in which the different terms oper- 24
ate.13 A few words of explanation about the rhetorical nature of Van Hoogstraten’s theory are 25
essential to introduce a methodological issue that will come up several times in this study. 26
As will become clearer, to develop his theory, Van Hoogstraten borrowed the rational 27
framework, the terms and concepts of classical rhetoric. Although he may have been trained 28
in rhetoric himself, he closely followed the work of Franciscus Junius, who reconstructed the 29
views of classical authors in De schilderkonst der oude (The Painting of the Ancients, 1641) (fig. 3). 30
In writing this most systematic of Dutch treatises on painting, Junius, in the knowledge that no 31
ancient theory of art had survived, applied the ideas on oratory of Cicero and Quintilian to the 32
visual arts, often simply by changing the word ‘orator’ to ‘painter’. Van Hoogstraten’s adapta- 33
tion of these ideas produces a conception of painting that is predicated on the assumption that 34
its primary aim, like that of rhetoric, is not simply to convey a visual (or verbal) message but to 35
create an affective relationship between artist (speaker) and viewers (audience). 36
As far back as in ancient rhetorical theory, one means of speaking persuasively was the 37
graphic evocation of a state of affairs, and several terms were developed for the stylistic virtues 38
needed to achieve this. These terms – such as ‘imitation’, ‘affect’, ‘perspicuity’, ‘ornament’ and 39
‘energy’ – all recur in Van Hoogstraten’s treatise, in which they are linked to concrete painterly 40
issues. Indeed, some of the metaphors used in rhetorical theory for evoking a narrative in a 41
‘lifelike’ manner seem to invite this application to painting, such as the orator’s need to embel- 42
lish his speech with ‘colours of rhetoric’ and the ‘lights of an oration’. We shall see that Van 43
44
45
introduction          17
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 17 09-10-2008 17:03:32

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28 fig. 3 – Wenceslaus Hollar after Anthony van Dyck, Franciscus Junius,
29 engraving from De Schilderkonst der oude, Middelburg 1641.
30
31 Hoogstraten’s central views regarding the function of art as imitating nature in a lifelike way
32 are greatly influenced by Junius’s ideas on rhetorical persuasion. Thus, it is not surprising that
33 seventeenth-century art theory accords to painting the same functions as it does to oratory:
34 that of persuading one’s public in order to change their ethical outlook and ultimately ‘move
35 them to action’.
36 Once we have understood the significance to Van Hoogstraten’s ideas of the topos that
37 ‘painting is just like oratory’, we will find that it illuminates numerous elements relating to the
38 aims and structures developed in his treatise. His wish to link his ideas to classical rhetoric may
39 be explained from a desire to position himself within the tradition of writing about painting as
40 it had developed in Italy. Given its objective of demonstrating that painting, as one of the lib-
41 eral arts, was a subject worth writing about, early modern art theory can be classified as a kind
42 of ‘rhetoric of praise’ or epideictic rhetoric, as apposed to the forensic and political species of
43 oratory. Epideictic rhetoric was used to prove a subject’s merit, and those who wrote about art
44
45
18          introduction
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 18 09-10-2008 17:03:34

 used it to invest their profession with intellectual legitimacy. In his treatise, which invokes the 1
authority of literary tradition to describe the art of his contemporaries, Van Hoogstraten states 2
explicitly that he seeks to elevate the intellectual status of painting. We shall explore and define 3
the ways in which epideictic rhetoric influenced the structure and nature of the Inleyding, and 4
the findings will serve as the point of departure for the subsequent analysis of the basic princi- 5
ples and system of his theory. 6
One thing that will become clear is that this rhetoric is governed by a different mode 7
of reasoning than that of logic: in an epideictic treatise, one persuades by invoking authority 8
and by citing a large variety of arguments. The Inleyding abounds in repetitions of traditional 9
views; the mutual consistency of these views and their compatibility with contemporary studio 10
practice are subordinate to the author’s main goal, which is to cite ancient, preferably classi- 11
cal, authority. It is this goal that explains why Alberti names only painters from antiquity, and 12
why Van Hoogstraten also alludes to them more frequently than to contemporaries from the 13
Netherlands (indeed, preferring to leave living masters out of consideration altogether).14 14
The structure that can be identified in the Inleyding is also related to Van Hoogstraten’s 15
wish to elevate the status of painting. At first sight, the treatise seems to confront the reader 16
with an abundance of different kinds of information and vantage points. This multiplicity 17
seems to derive from an ideal of encyclopaedic completeness; Jan Emmens described the Inley- 18
ding as a ‘not uncongenial amalgam’.15 But the early modern ideal of comprehensive knowl- 19
edge of the world does not suffice to explain Van Hoogstraten’s way of thinking: the epideictic 20
rhetoric of this treatise essentially possesses its own rational structure. The structure that can 21
be identified here is first and foremost that of rhetoric itself. Ever since antiquity, authors of 22
rhetorical treatises have applied an authoritative vocabulary of flexible terms to different areas 23
and ages of human endeavour. Rhetoric provided a discursive framework for these terms, a 24
framework within which certain terms relate, for instance, to the process of creating a speech 25
or a work of art, while others focus on the end result or on the public’s reaction, and still oth- 26
ers on the ‘actor’ himself. The overall objective of ancient rhetorical theory was general and 27
didactic, and this too affects the way in which Van Hoogstraten composes his treatise and its 28
interpretation. 29
After outlining these general issues in the first chapter, this book will discuss a number 30
of terms used by Van Hoogstraten by explaining their place in the framework of epideictic 31
rhetoric. Thus, it will become clear that concepts like imitatio and affectus have connotations 32
relating to general ideas about civic virtues. Other terms that can be linked to matters beyond 33
mere questions of style are gratia and perspicuitas, for instance. The proposed selection of terms 34
is determined by the scope for linking rhetorical theory to elements of seventeenth-century 35
painting as discussed by Van Hoogstraten. This will reveal the shifts in meaning that took place 36
in time-honoured rhetorical terms in the course of the seventeenth century. In fact, Junius 37
himself was by no means a neutral philologist who sought to make material from antiquity 38
available to painters: he incorporated it into a systematic whole, in which his own preferences 39
and modifications are discernible. One example is his combination of the two Greek terms of 40
energeia and enargeia to coin the new term energia, from which it becomes clear that the ulti- 41
mate effect of the work of art on the viewer is the central subject of his theory – more so than 42
in antiquity. The fact that rhetorical terms can be adapted to different circumstances, which 43
44
45
introduction          19
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 19 09-10-2008 17:03:34

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30 fig. 4 – Cornelis Lodewijcksz van der Plasse,
31 title page to Karel van Mander, Het schilder-boeck, Amsterdam 1618.
32
33 gives them their enduring relevance, also enables their transformation; there is seldom a one-
34 to-one correspondence between a term used by Quintilian and one of Van Hoogstraten’s, for
35 instance, but the central paradigm of rhetorical persuasiveness remains the overall interpretive
36 framework.
37 The study of topoi, as well as terminology, can greatly help to clarify the position of a
38 text such as the Inleyding within the art-theoretical tradition. The selection of commonplaces
39 and their arrangement to form lines of argument constituted a separate discipline – dialectics
40 or ‘the art of reasoning’ – in the seventeenth century, the importance of which for discus-
41 sions of art in that period has only recently been acknowledged.16 One would suppose that for
42 the study of commonplaces an analysis of Van Hoogstraten’s borrowings from Van Mander’s
43 Schilder-boeck would be essential, since this was the book he sought most explicitly to surpass
44
45
20          introduction
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 20 09-10-2008 17:03:48

 (fig. 4). Yet comparisons of the Inleyding with Van Mander’s text are less fruitful than one might 1
expect. Van Hoogstraten’s borrowings appear to be primarily shifts of emphasis, and in many 2
cases his use of commonplaces differs from Van Mander’s more in degree than in absolute 3
terms. To clarify the significance of these borrowings, it is often more useful to look at what 4
Van Hoogstraten leaves out than what he includes, since this reveals a difference in emphasis. 5
One example is his opinion of Caravaggio: while he describes the latter’s art in terms derived 6
largely from Van Mander, he arrives at a positive verdict that contrasts with his predeces- 7
sor’s negative assessment. For the purposes of assessing the commonplaces reiterated in the 8
Inleyding it turns out to be more useful to contrast a range of material derived from the Italian 9
tradition with Van Hoogstraten’s phrases, rather than merely quoting Van Mander. 10
Besides the diachronic approach required for a study of the rhetorical foundations of art 11
theory, Van Hoogstraten’s project of elevating painting’s intellectual status makes it useful to 12
adopt a second vantage point with a synchronous approach. This vantage point takes account 13
of the multiplicity of texts that he consulted while preparing the Inleyding. Van Hoogstraten 14
quite casually invokes philosophical literature, in most cases without noting explicitly why a 15
particular author is worthy of his interest. Giving the context of these borrowings may clarify 16
what an earlier study of the Inleyding defined as ‘the book’s profoundly religious conception 17
of the world and of art’.17 We shall analyse Van Hoogstraten’s position vis-à-vis certain con- 18
temporary religious views in order to show that his theory, though based on the authority of 19
antiquity, was not untouched by the intellectual and religious debates of his age. This will shed 20
new light on the most significant addition that the Inleyding makes to the art-theoretical tradi- 21
tion: the concept of the visible world. 22
This study sets out to show that the Inleyding should not be interpreted as a self-con- 23
tained treatise. Its internal contradictions are inherent to a specific literary genre, in which 24
various traditions in the sphere of rhetoric, literature and philosophy possess equal authority. 25
Rather than seeking explanations for possibly paradoxical or idiosyncratic elements in the text 26
itself, this study adopts an approach geared towards this wide-ranging reconstruction.18 27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
introduction          21
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 21 09-10-2008 17:03:48

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 22 09-10-2008 17:04:06

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Ch a p t er I 18
19
20
21

S a m uel van
22
23
24

Ho o g str ate n
25
26
27

i n t h e Re publ ic of
28
29
30

L e t te rs
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
ch a p t e r i 23
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 23 10-10-2008 16:53:42

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27 fig. 5 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, Self-portrait, 1644, panel, 59 x 74 cm.
28 Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam.
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 24 09-10-2008 17:04:17

 1
2
3
Chapter I 4
5
6
Samuel van Hoogstraten in the Republic of Letters 7
8
9
10
11
‘The human intellect is governed by speech ... for that is the sole means by which we 12
disclose to each other our thoughts, preferences and desires; and failure to maintain 13
it would deprive us of self-knowledge, disrupt the community and loosen the ties 14
within governments, and amount to disgraceful conduct.’ 15
Samuel van Hoogstraten, Den eerlyken jongeling 16
17
18
19
a learned artist: van hoogstraten as painter and poet 20
In 1924, Julius von Schlosser declared that Dutch painters took no interest in literature and 21
that art theory left them cold. ‘The very country that developed an art which, while being 22
wholly independent and self-contained, also revealed and paved the way for the work of the 23
moderns, the Netherlands, most notably Holland, was vastly uncommunicative in its main ut- 24
terances’. Van Hoogstraten did not succeed in bridging this gap, in Von Schlosser’s view: ‘The 25
great didactic poem by the Rembrandt pupil Samuel van Hoogstraten of Dordrecht shows him 26
to be a thorough classicist and rhetorician in the Romanic tradition ... Such exponents of offi- 27
cial theory scarcely had anything new to tell us.’ He concluded that the Dutch masters ‘painted 28
diligently in their studios; they did not talk, and any literary aspirations were alien to them.’1 29
Von Schlosser considered his characterization of Van Hoogstraten (1627-1678) as a 30
‘rhetorician’ to somehow invalidate the latter’s theory of art. This theory, he maintained, re- 31
flects the official dogmas and is not relevant to the art of the Netherlands. The present study 32
will confront the literary output of this learned painter-poet, playwright, courtier, traveller, 33
and pupil of Rembrandt, with the works of art he describes and analyses. By seeking to define 34
Van Hoogstraten’s position in the republic of letters, it will be argued that his rhetorical quali- 35
ties in no way undermined his capacity to give proper theoretical legitimacy to his profession 36
and that of his colleagues: the art of painting. 37
That Van Hoogstraten liked the image of himself as a man of letters from an early 38
age is clear from a painting, dated 1644, in which he represented himself reading, and from a 39
self-portrait he made showing himself well-supplied with books (figs. 5 and 6). In his paint- 40
ing treatise, the Inleyding, he observes that ‘the practice, or in any case reading, of Poetry’ is 41
unquestionably essential for a painter.2 Van Hoogstraten owes his current fame primarily to 42
his two-pronged career: he was both a successful painter and a writer of plays, poetry and art 43
44
45
          25
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 25 09-10-2008 17:04:17

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20 fig. 6 – Attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten,
21 Young Man (Self-portrait?) with Books and Mask Reaching for a Red Beret,
22 canvas, 112 x 105 cm. City Art Gallery, Manchester.
23
24 theory. This range of interests was certainly not exceptional in the Netherlands. Van Hoog-
25 straten’s great example may have been Karel van Mander, who belonged to the literary society
26 Den Nederduytschen Helikon and who is referred to in the Inleyding as ‘our poet’.3 Many seven-
27 teenth-century painters, including Frans Hals and Adriaen Brouwer, belonged to Chambers of
28 Rhetoric. Others, such as Hendrik Bloemaert, Pieter Codde and Heiman Dullaert, concerned
29 themselves independently with poetry. Illustrious contemporaries from Italy may have served
30 as their examples. The Inleyding quotes from Michelangelo’s famous sonnets; the painter Gian-
31 paolo Lomazzo also published a collection of poems as well as his writings on art theory.4
32 Art theory traditionally urges painters to put into practice the commonplace ut pictura
33 poesis: a painting is just like a poem. When Van Hoogstraten maintains that painters can derive
34 great benefit from ‘consorting with wise and sharp-witted men and reading edifying books’
35 he is repeating a conviction, first phrased in Italy by Leon Battista Alberti, that painters must
36 go to rhetoricians for counsel.5 Similarly, Van Mander suggests that it is most advantageous
37 for the artist to be ‘experienced in languages or learned in fine literature’. Van Hoogstraten’s
38 successor Gerard de Lairesse, who published his Groot schilderboek (Great Book on Painting) in
39 1707, states that apprentice painters must know Latin and should read a great deal.6
40 As far as Van Hoogstraten’s life and work are concerned, what makes him stand out
41 among his contemporaries is the interplay between painting and literature, as reflected most
42 notably in the Inleyding. This text was partly written with a view to enhancing his reputation as
43 a painter while also serving to consolidate his social network, just like his other literary activi-
44
45
26          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 26 09-10-2008 17:04:21

 ties.7 The explicit aim of the Inleyding is more general: elevating the status of the art of painting 1
itself. Many of the author’s views relating to this endeavour can be clarified from his position 2
in the seventeenth-century ‘republic of letters’. The Inleyding develops an argument based on 3
traditional commonplaces that the author has applied in a specific way. As will be argued in 4
the next chapters, Van Hoogstraten’s approach to the representation of the visible world was a 5
reworking of the literary and scholarly commonplaces for which his humanist milieu provided 6
the framework. 7
The intellectual context of the Inleyding is wide-ranging, and a variety of themes will re- 8
cur throughout the subsequent chapters. The painter-poet’s position in the republic of letters 9
determines the conditions and scope for studying the ideological roots of his ideas and defines 10
the various vantage points available to him in his project to raise painting’s status, to provide it 11
with theoretical legitimacy. 12
13
14
Rhetorical culture 15
Several scholars have studied Van Hoogstraten’s life and the genesis of his Inleyding. These 16
studies have focused on the Inleyding primarily as the expression of his ambitions as a social 17
climber, and have discussed the treatise’s theoretical premises and its supposed internal coher- 18
ence.8 The present book aims at a wider contextualization to situate the views expounded in 19
the Inleyding within the cultural context best described as ‘international humanism’, focusing 20
on two central subject areas: rhetoric and moral philosophy. 21
As Van Hoogstraten was writing his treatise, the intellectual movement that is generally 22
labelled ‘Renaissance humanism’ was apparently on its last legs. Influential authors like Gerar- 23
dus Johannes Vossius, who still aspired to universal scholarship, have been called ‘the last of the 24
Renaissance monsters’.9 In many ways, Van Hoogstraten’s text is a late product of the humanist 25
encyclopaedic project; with its jumble of borrowings from diverse literary sources, the treatise 26
is not always easily accessible to modern readers.10 It cannot be properly appreciated without 27
an understanding of the rhetorical ideal pursued by scholars such as Vossius and Junius. Rather 28
than defining Van Hoogstraten’s theory of art in a particular literary or philosophical school, 29
it can more appropriately be placed in the context of a ‘rhetorical culture’. In this connection 30
it is important to emphasize that in the seventeenth century, rhetoric – in the Republic as 31
elsewhere – was far more than a general theory of communication. Eloquence was regarded as 32
a prerequisite for diverse occupations – not just for preachers and scholars, but also for mer- 33
chants and people who pursued the arts.11 Rhetoric provided guidelines for human behaviour 34
in general, and it was applicable in fields ranging from politics and ethics to painting. 35
36
37
Van Hoogstraten’s literary education 38
It is not known what school Van Hoogstraten attended before he went to Amsterdam to train 39
with Rembrandt. The Latin School in Dordrecht is the most plausible option. His younger 40
brother Frans was well-grounded in Latin and letters from an early age; he may have been 41
taught by his uncle David de Coning of Rotterdam before his apprenticeship to a Dordrecht 42
printer.12 In the seventeenth century it was quite common for only the younger children of 43
44
45
ch a p t e r i          27
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 27 09-10-2008 17:04:21

1 middle-class craftsmen to be offered a school education, while the eldest son pursued a lucra-
2 tive craft.13 Still, it is certainly not impossible that Samuel attended the Latin school for some
3 time, given that he later associated with Dordrecht literati with all the self-assurance of an
4 intellectual equal. When he started writing novels, several of his contemporaries followed his
5 example.14
6 After Van Hoogstraten’s training in Rembrandt’s studio, Dordrecht’s local circle of
7 poets supplied his most noteworthy literary ‘education’.15 Hans-Jörg Czech, who compiled an
8 index of Van Hoogstraten’s borrowings from other authors, demonstrated the sheer number of
9 sources that the painter-poet relied on in writing his Inleyding, and showed that he could read
10 English and Italian.16 In his study of the classical sources for the treatise, Czech also concluded
11 that Van Hoogstraten probably had the original Latin texts at his disposal or at least main-
12 tained contact with scholars who knew the original works. Latin texts are reproduced untrans-
13 lated in two sections of the Inleyding.17 Van Hoogstraten also refers to works that did not exist
14 in Dutch translation.18 It is probable that all who belonged to the intellectual circle around Van
15 Hoogstraten and his brother had a fairly sound knowledge of Latin;19 this would have been in
16 line with Goeree’s advice that painters derive great benefit from knowing a foreign language
17 such as Latin, French or Italian.20 Van Hoogstraten himself writes that a knowledge of Latin
18 in the first place, and French and English in the second place, was indispensable to a ‘gentle-
19 man’.21 Even so, the classical texts were widely available in translation in the Netherlands,
20 and additional compilations of translated quotations were published in philological compendia
21 such as Franciscus Junius’s Schilderkonst der oude and Petrus Lauremberg’s Acerra philologica,
22 two texts that Van Hoogstraten cites among his sources.22 As will become clear, many of Van
23 Hoogstraten’s statements are based on adaptations of concepts from ancient rhetorical theory
24 or on commonplaces from the Italian tradition of art literature.
25 Van Hoogstraten’s later literary work reflects his affinity with two central elements of
26 the curriculum at Latin school: rhetoric and drama. Among the texts studied most closely
27 were the writings of Gerardus Vossius, who had been headmaster of the Latin school in Dor-
28 drecht (fig. 7). His Rhetorices contractae (1621) served as a textbook throughout the seventeenth
29 century.23 Vossius also wrote a treatise on painting, entitled ‘De graphice’ (1650), for which
30 he drew on Junius’s treatise on the art of antiquity – one of the most important books about
31 painting available to artists in the Republic.24 Junius was Vossius’s brother-in-law, and also lived
32 in Dordrecht for several years. The two luminaries of humanist scholarship surely served as
33 intellectual role models to others.25 They corresponded about planned editions of Vitruvius’s
34 famous books on architecture and of Philostratus’s writings about the visual arts, which in fact
35 never materialized.26 Vossius’s example may have inspired Van Hoogstraten early in life to con-
36 ceive the idea of writing a treatise on art; Alberti and Junius are among the authors referred to
37 in this context in ‘De graphice’.27
38 At Latin school, Van Hoogstraten would not only have read Vossius’s work, but also
39 would have been acquainted with the ancient rhetorical theories of Cicero and Quintilian,
40 which he uses in the Inleyding: he refers to Cicero’s most important writings on the subject,
41 repeatedly quotes Quintilian’s Institutio oratoria, and also draws on the Orationes by the Greek
42 rhetorician Dio Chrysostom.28 In addition, he mentions authors of modern theories of poetics
43 such as Julius Caesar Scaliger, whose Poëtices libri septem was highly influential.29 The Inleyding
44
45
28          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 28 09-10-2008 17:04:21

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
fig. 7 – Theodorus Matham after Joachim von Sandrart, 19
Gerardus Johannes Vossius, 1634-1646, engraving. 20
21
applies the theories governing the training of rhetoricians to that of painters.30 In the minds of 22
some, it was only one short step from the didacticism of the Latin school to that of the painter’s 23
studio; the Antwerp art theorist Cornelis de Bie, for instance, describes art theory, in his Gul- 24
den cabinet van de edel vry schilderconst (The Golden Cabinet of the Noble and Free Art of Painting, 25
1661), as a ‘small Latin school’ for aspiring painters.31 26
The teaching of Latin was based primarily on the principle of imitatio: pupils built up 27
collections of commonplaces and subsequently devised variations. Quotations were arranged 28
in accordance with the dialectics of the Dutch humanist Rudolf Agricola, with topoi grouped 29
in structures reflecting particular lines of reasoning. The Inleyding probably has its roots in a 30
collection of this kind on which Van Hoogstraten had been working since boyhood.32 This 31
could be one explanation for the thematic diversity exhibited by his treatise. 32
Drama, with pupils performing plays themselves, also figured prominently at Latin 33
school.33 Van Hoogstraten was clearly familiar with this practice, since he emulated it in his 34
studio with his own pupils, an idea he may have derived from Rembrandt.34 Van Hoogstraten 35
himself wrote two elaborate plays that may have been staged there: De roomsche Paulina (1660) 36
and Dieryk en Dorothé (1666), which exhibit a distinct affinity to the theatre of his age. This af- 37
finity is also manifest in the Inleyding, which includes references to Vondel’s plays and theories 38
about drama.35 39
Dordrecht’s Latin school was seen as the ideal preparation for the university of Lei- 40
den.36 Throughout his life, Van Hoogstraten kept in contact with a number of contemporaries 41
from Dordrecht, nearly all of whom went to Leiden. They included the literary celebrities 42
Adriaan and Karel van Nispen, Johan van Someren and Lambert van den Bos.37 We also see 43
44
45
ch a p t e r i          29
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 29 09-10-2008 17:04:31

1 that someone like Samuel’s nephew David van Hoogstraten (1658-1724), a son of his brother
2 Frans, studied medicine and philology there before accepting a position at Dordrecht’s college,
3 the ‘Athenaeum illustre’. Later, he became deputy headmaster at the Latin school in Amster-
4 dam. David van Hoogstraten’s activities may be seen as the culmination of an intellectual de-
5 velopment initiated by the generation of his father and uncle. While his grandfather Dirk, as a
6 painter and goldsmith, had been a craftsman, David became a respected citizen of the ‘republic
7 of letters’, publishing in poetics and rhetoric.38
8 Unlike his peers who went off to university, Van Hoogstraten left Dordrecht for Am-
9 sterdam to train with Rembrandt.39 Rembrandt’s early work had certainly not gone unnoticed
10 by his intellectual contemporaries. Several art lovers took an interest in him, as recorded in Jan
11 Orlers’s 1641 eulogy on the city of Leiden; of particular importance were scholars well-read
12 in the humanist literature of art such as Theodorus Schrevelius, headmaster of Leiden’s Latin
13 school, and Constantijn Huygens, poet, statesman and secretary to Frederik Hendrik, who
14 described his visit to Rembrandt’s studio in his autobiography. Schrevelius may have discussed
15 Rembrandt’s work with the antiquarian Arnoldus Buchelius, who was acquainted with Van
16 Mander’s Schilder-boeck. The painter’s admirers also included the philologist Petrus Scriverius,
17 who contributed a eulogy to Van Mander’s treatise and owned two paintings by Rembrandt.40
18 Rembrandt’s teacher, Pieter Lastman, was one of the most erudite painters of his day,
19 and when in Leiden, Rembrandt had already sought to present himself as an ambitious painter
20 with intellectual aspirations.41 He had not only attended Latin school, but he had also enrolled
21 at the university. He may even have made a self-portrait posing as a student.42 Van Hoogstraten
22 may well have become acquainted with the application of rhetorical concepts to painting, and
23 to the role of literature in the painter’s choice of subject, in Rembrandt’s studio.43 In Amster-
24 dam he also became familiar with the novel, then a fashionable new genre, which he subse-
25 quently introduced to his peers in Dordrecht.44
26 It was evidently a desire to emulate the scholarly atmosphere of Rembrandt’s studio
27 that prompted Van Hoogstraten to join the Develstein circle – a group of poets in which Jacob
28 Cats had played a prominent role – when he returned to Dordrecht in 1646. There he com-
29 pleted his first literary work.45 Members of this group would furnish the Inleyding with liminary
30 poems, and Van Hoogstraten in turn wrote a variety of occasional poems for them.46 Lambert
31 van den Bos, a prolific poet who also wrote about Rembrandt, observed that Dordrecht’s liter-
32 ary circle had ‘a kind of Republic among them’, by which he meant a miniature republic of
33 letters in which information was exchanged and people commented on each other’s writings.47
34 Groups like this were the Netherlands’ answer to Italy’s literary academies, which provided an
35 institutional context in which painters could develop their knowledge of literature and publish
36 theoretical treatises.48
37 The Develstein group was decidedly progressive. It included a substantial number of
38 women; the prominent member Margaretha van Godewijk was compared by her contempo-
39 raries to the ‘learned maid’ Anna Maria van Schuurman and praised for her painting.49 Van
40 Hoogstraten produced an engraving after one of her self-portraits for a book on the city of
41 Dordrecht (fig. 8). In the caption, the artist commends Van Godewijk’s knowledge of languag-
42 es and her proficiency in art and learning. The group also became acquainted with modern
43 and controversial philosophy: one important figure, who became a good friend of Van Hoog-
44
45
30          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 30 09-10-2008 17:04:31

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
fig. 8 – Samuel van Hoogstraten after Margareta van Godewijk, Margareta van Godewijk, 19
engraving from Matthijs Balen, Beschryvinge der Stad Dordrecht, Dordrecht 1677, p. 203. 20
21
straten’s, was the philosopher and theologian Willem van Blijenberg, chiefly known for his 22
correspondence with Spinoza.50 23
Philosophical discussions loomed large in another literary group that Van Hoogstraten 24
joined ten years later. Formed in 1656, it met at the publishing-house of his brother Frans in 25
Rotterdam. Frans’s son, David, describes in detail how his father and uncle welcomed Rem- 26
brandt’s pupil Heiman Dullaert to the circle.51 This group was chiefly concerned with the 27
philosophical issues that had moved to the forefront of intellectual discourse in the Republic 28
from the middle of the century onwards. For Samuel, it provided access to international in- 29
tellectual debates.52 Frans’s catalogue provides an impression of the literature that this group 30
discussed: most of it had an international philosophical and theological orientation, which sug- 31
gests that Frans included other kinds of literature only for commercial reasons.53 The painters 32
Joost van Geel and Willem Paets also belonged to this group; in terms of intellectual standing, 33
however, Joachim Oudaen was the key figure. Secretary to the scholar Scriverius, Oudaen had 34
developed into something of a connoisseur of the visual arts, a theologian and a historian. His 35
writings included poems to accompany the paintings of Rembrandt’s teacher Pieter Lastman, 36
a commentary on the poetics of Andries Pels, and a critique of Spinoza.54 Van Hoogstraten 37
maintained an extensive correspondence with Oudaen; among other things, he wrote to him 38
about the Inleyding. For this treatise he drew on a variety of philosophical texts, and it is fair to 39
assume that Van Hoogstraten had absorbed more than a superficial knowledge of the prevail- 40
ing philosophical climate. 41
With its plethora of references to literary sources, ancient rhetorical theory and mod- 42
ern philosophy, the Inleyding makes it clear that the genesis of Van Hoogstraten’s theory of art 43
44
45
ch a p t e r i          31
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 31 09-10-2008 17:04:41

1 certainly derived from a lifelong interest in scholarship. In this context, it should be borne in
2 mind that literacy skills were well-developed in the Republic, even among painters and other
3 craftsmen.55 Most attended elementary school, some went on to Latin school and a few even
4 studied briefly at university, although a painter such as Dirk Barendsz, whom Van Mander
5 describes as ‘versed in Letters, a Latinist, and a Man of Learning’ and who corresponded with
6 the art theorist Domenicus Lampsonius in Latin, was an exception.56 In painting, there was a
7 certain – admittedly small – overlap between the categories of craftsmen and erudite art lovers.
8 Prolific authors such as Junius and Goeree, the lawyer Jan de Bisschop and the Leiden profes-
9 sor Paulus Merula concerned themselves on an amateur basis with drawing, and in some cases
10 also with painting.57 The ideal of the ‘learned artist’ was proclaimed, of course, in art theory.
11 That pictura and poesis could also be combined in practice is clear from the careers of painters
12 who ventured into literature, and by some who switched from one profession to the other:
13 the famous poet Gerbrant Bredero started life as a painter, as did Heiman Dullaert and the
14 church minister Dirk Rafaelsz Camphuysen. A few noteworthy women straddled the worlds of
15 craftsmen-painters and erudite humanists – one was Margareta van Godewijk, celebrated for
16 her twin gifts for art and letters.
17
18
19 Travels and international contacts
20 Many of Dordrecht’s prominent literary scholars undertook educational journeys to Rome.
21 Among them were Johan van Beverwijck and Cornelis Pompe van Meerdervoort, two patri-
22 cians to whom Van Hoogstraten dedicated the Inleyding. The painter made a portrait drawing
23 of Matthijs van de Merwede, a member of the Develstein group, notorious for the erotic poetry
24 that he wrote in Rome (fig. 9).58 Shortly after completing his education, Van Hoogstraten too
25 set off on a European trip, and Italy was one of the countries he visited. In his case, however, it
26 would not be entirely accurate to speak of a grand tour. While travellers from the upper classes
27 sought primarily to attain practical wisdom or prudentia, Van Hoogstraten was most concerned
28 to make a living by securing commissions.59 Just as when he later went to London, the painter
29 focused primarily on destinations known for the opportunities they provided for Dutch paint-
30 ers: Rome and the Habsburg court in Vienna. On his return, however, Van Hoogstraten did
31 use his travels to claim a social and cultural status equal to that of patricians’ sons who had vis-
32 ited Italy. He even became dean of the ‘Gentlemen of St Peter’s’, a Dordrecht society for those
33 who had visited Rome.60 His social standing appears to have been based partly on this journey:
34 eulogies celebrating his literary work often referred to his supposed international fame and
35 experience.61 As Goeree observed in his Inleyding tot de practijck der algemeene schilderkonst (In-
36 troduction to the Universal Art of Painting, 1670), the work of masters who had travelled abroad
37 achieved popularity almost automatically.62
38 The ideal of a courtier-painter who was widely educated in rhetoric and literature had
39 been formulated at the Habsburg court in the sixteenth century.63 Vienna’s courtly culture was
40 not as ceremonial and hierarchical as that of Versailles, but the assumptions of a God-given
41 social order and the accompanying rhetorical codes of conduct were just as ingrained.64 While
42 staying at this court, Van Hoogstraten, who was rewarded with a medal by the Emperor Ferdi-
43 nand III for one of his still-life paintings, may have become aware of the rhetorical background
44
45
32          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 32 09-10-2008 17:04:41

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
fig. 9 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, Matthijs van de Merwede, 20
pencil on vellum, 164 x 140. Leiden University Library, Special Collections. 21
22
underlying the codes of conduct of courtiers, an understanding that would later prompt him to 23
write an adaptation of a French courtiers’ manual. With veneration he wrote in 1651 about the 24
arrival in Vienna of the painter and art theorist Joachim von Sandrart; perhaps Von Sandrart’s 25
efforts to produce a major treatise on art theory (the Teutsche Academie, published in 1675- 26
1679) came to his attention when he later embarked on his own Inleyding. In his turn, Von 27
Sandrart was aware of Van Hoogstraten’s reputation in Vienna, and refers to him in his treatise 28
as a pupil of Rembrandt and a skilled painter.65 29
The fierce competition in Rome, where painters from all over Europe congregated, 30
probably made it impossible for Van Hoogstraten to earn a living from his work there.66 In 31
fact, the main benefit arising from his stay was the opportunity it furnished to study Italian and 32
classical art. Van Hoogstraten’s Italian experiences in this respect, however, are hard to recon- 33
struct; he probably visited Naples, Florence, Siena and Venice. In the Inleyding he frequently 34
refers to Italian masters and describes his visits to collections and towns. But the account of 35
his travels stops at Vienna, and according to the text it was completed there in July 1651.67 Van 36
Hoogstraten’s route can be reconstructed from an ode in a travel account by his friend Van 37
den Bos, the Weghwyser door Italien (Guide to Italy, 1657). Van den Bos’s book is not based on 38
his own experience; he compiled it from ‘the best writers and observations’. The ‘observations’ 39
were probably Van Hoogstraten’s; the pages dealing with Rome, in particular, and to a lesser 40
extent those on Venice and Florence, reflect an affinity with the experiences of an interested 41
eyewitness.68 Where the Inleyding is concerned, Van Hoogstraten’s knowledge of the Italian 42
tradition is most evident from his effort to trace certain assertions back to Italian masters 43
44
45
ch a p t e r i          33
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 33 10-10-2008 16:24:20

1 whose status had come to equal that of the painters from antiquity, in particular Titian and
2 Michelangelo, who figure prominently in the Inleyding. It is hard to determine to what extent
3 the painter absorbed the prevailing climate of art theory while in Italy; as we shall see in chap-
4 ter II (pages 97-101), he most probably took note of the debates that arose around the Roman
5 Accademia di San Luca, but he was also familiar with the ideas of others.
6 During his travels, Van Hoogstraten tried to make contact not only with painters, but
7 also with art lovers with scholarly interests. In Rome he lodged with Otto Marseus van Schriek,
8 a painter and a collector of biological curiosities whose name is linked to the ideas of the
9 Florentine scientific society Accademia del Cimento. In Germany he visited the painter-pub-
10 lisher Matthäus Merian, of the famous family of cartographers of that name. A third example
11 is Gabriel Bucelinus, a historian, genealogist and architectural designer, and a key figure in the
12 European republic of letters, whom Van Hoogstraten met in Regensburg.69 This Benedictine
13 abbot was in contact with Von Sandrart and with Italian masters such as Guido Reni and Giulio
14 Benso. Around 1664 he composed a list of painters, just as Jan de Bisschop and others did in
15 the Netherlands.70 This list consists primarily of the names of Italian masters, but also includes
16 Van Hoogstraten and his master, Rembrandt.71 On a later trip to London, in 1662-1667, Van
17 Hoogstraten would again try to become acquainted with the latest scientific developments,
18 when he visited the recently founded Royal Society. This was one of the first independent
19 institutes of scientific research that, based on the ideas of experimental learning propagated by
20 Francis Bacon, actively promoted the ‘new philosophy’.72
21
22
23 a co u rt i ers ’ h a ndbook, novels and dram a
24 While P.S. Schull, writing in 1833, could assert that Van Hoogstraten’s literary qualities greatly
25 surpassed his talent as a painter, present-day literary history generally passes over his writings
26 in silence.73 In any event, Van Hoogstraten was a productive writer, who even exerted a certain
27 influence on his contemporaries. In 1657 he published his greatly abridged and free translation
28 of Nicolas Faret’s courtiers’ manual, L’Honneste homme ou l’art de plaire à la cour (1630), to which
29 he gave the title Den eerlyken jongeling, of de edele kunst, van zich by groote en kleyne te doen eeren en
30 beminnen (The Honest Youth, or the Noble Art of Making Oneself Loved and Honoured by Those Great
31 and Small). On the title page, Van Hoogstraten presents himself as the author; we shall likewise
32 refer to him as such. The genesis of the Eerlyken jongeling is in some respects comparable to
33 that of the Inleyding. The work may be regarded as a preliminary foray into the theoretical
34 project to which Van Hoogstraten would continue to apply himself throughout his life. The
35 book was published by Abraham Andriesz, the printer to whom Frans van Hoogstraten – who
36 would later publish the Inleyding – was apprenticed in Dordrecht, and it was dedicated, like the
37 Inleyding, to burgomaster Van Blijenburg. In the Eerlyken jongeling, Van Hoogstraten takes the
38 opportunity to expound his views on the benefits of painting to ‘gentlemen’. This was his first
39 attempt to write about the art of painting in the context of rhetorical codes of conduct and the
40 ethos of honnêteté, and we shall return to it repeatedly in our analysis of the Inleyding.74
41 After Van Hoogstraten’s first novel, entitled Schoone Roselijn (Beautiful Roselijn, 1650),
42 four similar works were published in rapid succession in Dordrecht (figs. 10 and 10a, b, c).75
43 Dordrecht’s like-minded literati set about mastering the ‘arcadian’ genre, taking internation-
44
45
34          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 34 09-10-2008 17:04:44

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
fig. 10 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, fig. 10a 20
title page to Schoone Roselijn, Dordrecht 1650. 21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
fig. 10b fig. 10c – figs. 10a, b, c, Samuel van Hoogstraten, 42
engravings from Schoone Roselijn, Dordrecht 1650. 43
44
45
ch a p t e r i          35
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 35 09-10-2008 17:05:20

1 ally renowned authors like Philip Sidney and Jacopo Sannazaro as their examples.76 Schoone
2 Roselijn and a second novel, entitled De gestrafte ontschaking of zeeghafte herstelling van den jongen
3 Haegaenveld (The Punished Abduction; or, the Victorious Reparation of the Youth Haegaenveld, 1669),
4 illustrate Van Hoogstraten’s self-assurance as a literary author; he also emphasizes, however,
5 that he earns his living by painting – something that he is apparently by no means ashamed of
6 (figs. 11 and 11a, b, c). He writes that his pen sometimes falls short in describing a scene that
7 he would rather have painted,77 and uses his painter’s occupation to excuse any imperfections
8 in his work: ‘If even the great Poet who polished his hymns all day long was not flawless, how
9 then should I, who, having served another goddess [Pictura] all day long, cannot turn to Rose­
10 lijn until bedtime, be free from error?’78 He also expresses the hope that his painting might
11 yield enough income to leave more time for his literary pursuits. In the middle of Haegaenveld
12 he notes: ‘I begin to doubt whether all this writing is to any purpose, since I am bound to a
13 different Muse, who rewards her servants better than Poetry’.79 At the end of the book, by con-
14 trast, he promises that if his ‘goddess Pictura’ will allow – that is, if he earns enough by painting
15 and has some free time left – he will soon have ‘even stranger and more unheard-of things to
16 relate’.80
17 Here Van Hoogstraten unhesitatingly equates poetry with painting, in referring to two
18 equivalent Muses: efforts spent on one could equally well have been devoted to the other. Ap-
19 parently, the medium itself does not present any barrier in this regard; the most fundamental
20 difference between the two art forms is that you can earn a living by painting and not by writ-
21 ing poetry.81 Van Hoogstraten’s explicit wish to vie with Virgil and Ovid by writing in Dutch
22 can therefore be compared to his ambitions as a painter. He opens Haegaenveld in a classical
23 way by invoking the Muses, his ‘proud heroines of Song, whose exertions embrace the ver-
24 nacular [i.e. they inspire in Dutch as well as in Latin]’;82 he similarly invokes one of the Muses
25 at the beginning of each separate chapter of the Inleyding, and the treatise thus becomes a plea
26 for the art of painting to be invested with the same social and intellectual status as that due to
27 the writing of poetry.
28 Van Hoogstraten’s Roomsche Paulina, ofte Bedrooge Kuisheyt (Roman Paulina; or, Chastity
29 Deceived) is structured as a classical tragedy, in five acts (separated by choruses), dealing with an
30 action that takes place in approximately a day and a night. Dieryk en Dorothé, on the other hand,
31 is a long-winded account of the siege of Dordrecht in the year 1084; contemporaries compared
32 it to the works of none other than Pieter Cornelisz Hooft, the Republic’s main historiogra-
33 pher.83 Van Hoogstraten bends the historical facts to suit his dramatic purpose, shortening the
34 siege and liberation of the city to a twenty-four hour period.84 The plays reflect an affinity with
35 the doctrine classique emanating from France, which was institutionalized from 1669 onwards
36 in the Amsterdam art society Nil Volentibus Arduum (known popularly as Nil). It should be
37 said that Nil’s views appear to have passed Van Hoogstraten by, since its doctrine of art left no
38 traces on the Inleyding (it is unclear whether the painter shared the criticism of Nil’s activities
39 expressed by Oudaen, for instance);85 this in contrast to Gerard de Lairesse’s painting treatise,
40 published in 1707, which was greatly influenced by the society’s views.86
41 It is hard to overstate the importance of the theatre to Van Hoogstraten’s art theory. It
42 is quite possible that he concerned himself with the stage, as he urged others to do in the Inley-
43 ding, in order to develop his skills as a painter. As we shall examine in more detail in chapter
44
45
36          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 36 09-10-2008 17:05:20

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
fig. 11 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, title page to fig. 11a 21
De gestrafte ontschaking, Amsterdam 1669. 22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
fig. 11b fig. 11c – figs. 11a, b, c, Samuel van Hoogstraten, 42
engravings from De gestrafte ontschaking, 43
Amsterdam 1669. 44
45
ch a p t e r i          37
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 37 09-10-2008 17:05:58

1 IV, the metaphor ut pictura poesis is based largely on the supposed performative nature of both
2 literature and painting (see below, pages 182-197). A play, like an oration, does not come into
3 its own until performed or recited; in the seventeenth-century painting too was treated as a
4 performative art. The visual arts were frequently assessed for their theatrical qualities, aimed at
5 arousing emotions. In some cases, paintings were even kept concealed behind curtains, which
6 would be drawn when the owner wanted to exhibit them.87
7 In Schoone Roselijn too, Van Hoogstraten asserts that having been trained as a painter,
8 he is already well-versed in manipulating the public’s affective response. The same assertion
9 about the painter’s proficiency in representing emotions recurs in a number of poems written
10 in praise of the Roomsche Paulina.88 Here Van Hoogstraten does not shrink from comparing
11 himself with Erasmus, who practised depicting human emotions in diverse ways from an early
12 age, ‘in consequence of which he attained a near-supreme measure of eloquence, being able to
13 describe in lively manner all properties of mind and passions, as well as flaws and the remedies
14 whereby these may be improved’.89
15
16
17 ‘vi s i ble’ a n d ‘i n visibl e’ worl ds
18 In 1678, which would be the year of his death, Van Hoogstraten published his ‘Introduction to
19 the Academy of Painting’ at his brother Frans’s printing-house, furnished with a large number
20 of introductory poems by literati among his circle of friends. The subtitle of the treatise, An-
21 ders de zichtbaere werelt (Or the Visible World) refers both to the subject of the book, that is,
22 the entire ‘visible world’ that can be depicted by the painter, and the comprehensive scope of
23 the book itself, which deals with all aspects of visible reality. The subtitle also distinguishes
24 the treatise from an unpublished second volume, entitled De onzichtbare werelt (The Invisible
25 World). Arnold Houbraken, one of Van Hoogstraten’s pupils, writes in his biography of his
26 mentor that he has a manuscript of this second volume lying on his table, which he plans to
27 publish after completing his own painters’ biographies.90 This never happened, however, and
28 the manuscript was lost. The Inleyding refers several times to the second volume, which appar-
29 ently adopts a more philosophical approach: ‘we shall save our more profound discussion of the
30 invisible to our Invisible World’.91
31 The division into ‘visible’ and ‘invisible’ worlds is rooted in a theological or philo-
32 sophical tradition that distinguished between mundus sensibilis and mundus intelligibilis. It is
33 not improbable that the lost volume was a philosophical treatise; alternatively, it may have
34 been a series of artists’ biographies.92 In adding painters’ lives to his work, the author would
35 have been emulating Van Mander’s Schilder-boeck, which combines a didactic poem with the
36 lives of painters, and also includes sections with iconographical notes; the first volume of Von
37 Sandrart’s Teutsche Academie likewise pairs a theoretical section to biographies. However, Van
38 Hoogstraten states that he does not wish to imitate Van Mander in publishing painters’ lives,
39 leaving this task to someone else ‘who has more time’.93 That the painter did indeed write a
40 philosophical book is suggested by one passage in the Inleyding relating that ‘the Philosophers’
41 distinguish three parts of the soul: the author states that he will save the discussion of this
42 distinction for his Invisible World.94 The addition of a philosophical treatise to a theoretical ex-
43 position on the art of painting has a precedent in a two-volume treatise on drawing by Federico
44
45
38          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 38 09-10-2008 17:05:58

 Zuccari (1607): one volume being a practical guide to drawing and the other a discussion of the 1
subject’s philosophical foundations.95 2
Can we make an informed guess as to the contents of the Invisible World? We shall dis- 3
cuss two hypotheses, the first being that it was a treatise on moral philosophy, and the second 4
that it dealt with themes from the ‘new philosophy’ that were topical in the years preceding the 5
publication of the Inleyding. The possibility that the ‘invisible’ subjects discussed in this volume 6
were moral lessons, and that it was primarily a treatise in ethics, is suggested by a reference in 7
the Inleyding that ‘the benefits to be gained from the constant endeavour to generally do good 8
will be addressed in the final chapter of this book, and elsewhere at greater length’ (italics mine).96 9
If ‘elsewhere’ is a reference to the Invisible World, this text would be a continuation of the ideas 10
on moral philosophy that crop up at certain points in the Inleyding. This might indeed have 11
been a treatise with guidelines for a virtuous life. It would have elaborated again on some of 12
the themes that Van Hoogstraten discussed in the Eerlyken jongeling, such as dealing with the 13
human passions or the doctrine of the vanity of all earthly things – themes that were popular 14
in the latter half of the seventeenth century.97 15
16
17
A treatise on moral philosophy 18
It has been suggested that Van Hoogstraten based the second volume of his publication, in 19
rivalry with Van Mander, on the latter’s work of moral philosophy, Kerck der deucht (The Church 20
of Virtue, 1600); in this case, the Invisible World would likewise relate to a dreamlike tour of 21
moralistic dangers on the artist’s path to virtue.98 In the seventeenth century, ethics was domi- 22
nated largely by Neostoicism, one of the most authoritative of the intellectual schools in the 23
Republic that reinterpreted ideas from antiquity. To illustrate the spread of Stoic ideas in the 24
Republic, it may suffice here to point out that Justus Lipsius’s De constantia, the central text of 25
Neostoicism in the Netherlands, was translated and published as late as 1674 by Van Hoog- 26
straten’s brother Frans.99 The circle of educated men who assembled in his publishing-house 27
discussed the work of Dutch Stoics such as Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert, Hendrik Laurensz 28
Spiegel and Pieter Cornelisz Hooft.100 Stoic ethical views also played a role in theories of art, 29
as was acknowledged in Hessel Miedema’s comments on Van Mander’s didactic poem which, 30
referring to Coornhert’s work, primarily preaches moderation and modesty.101 Most of the 31
Inleyding’s philosophical borrowings are accompanied by references to the ancient Stoics, in 32
particular to the works of Plutarch and Seneca. This ideology was by no means reserved to 33
the earliest stage of the seventeenth century; Arnold Houbraken too, in his painters’ lives pub- 34
lished in the period 1718-1721, expresses a world view coloured by Stoicism.102 35
One of the central views of this philosophy is that the rules of meaningful human be- 36
haviour are embedded in nature. The study of the natural world and that of ethics, Stoicism 37
maintains, are closely related. That is why painting was expected to fulfil an ethical function, 38
for instance by depicting scenes from everyday life, and why even the painting of landscapes 39
could be seen as a meaningful activity.103 In discussing these views, it should be borne in mind 40
that in the early modern period, ‘philosophy’ always had a practical component, in contrast to 41
modern academic philosophy that increasingly developed into an autonomous intellectual dis- 42
cipline. In Van Hoogstraten’s age, philosophy was seen primarily as a set of guidelines to help 43
44
45
ch a p t e r i          39
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 39 09-10-2008 17:05:58

1 one preserve constancy in times of political unrest; moreover, it provided a justification for
2 this position by basing itself on a literary tradition. Marsilio Ficino, for instance – to whose De
3 vita libri tres (1489) Van Hoogstraten expressly refers to legitimize the structure of his treatise
4 – was an outspoken supporter of ‘practical philosophy’; he called himself a ‘doctor of souls’, a
5 doctor who alleviated spiritual rather than physical pains, and provided practical guidelines for
6 life. The rhetorical aspects of philosophy in the early modern period should also be assessed in
7 this context. Abstract wisdom without rhetoric was seen as worthless; the point was not merely
8 to propagate virtue, but to behave virtuously and thus to set a good example to others. Van
9 Hoogstraten observes in his Eerlyken jongeling, for instance, that ‘it is indeed a sad misfortune
10 to live a virtuous life according to one’s own views and yet to be considered lacking in virtue by
11 all around one’, and he believes that a true philosopher would assert ‘that he did not even de-
12 sire wisdom if he would have to retain it in the recesses of his mind, without propagating it’.104
13 In the seventeenth century, philosophy was deemed just as much for the untutored as for those
14 with an academic education. As will be observed in the next chapter, this ‘practical reason’, a
15 code of conduct based on inner constancy and an attitude of equanimity to the things of this
16 world, may ultimately include a comparison between painting and philosophy.
17
18
19 A discussion of the ‘new philosophy’
20 In assessing the content of the Invisible World, it should be noted that Van Hoogstraten’s inter-
21 est was not confined to literature and painting alone; he also sought to link his ideas to the em-
22 pirical science of his day and the ‘new philosophy’ as pursued at the Royal Society. At the time
23 when he was completing his Visible World and Invisible World, the Republic was in the throes of
24 philosophical debates. Although the universities officially disapproved of Cartesianism, it had
25 become a recurring factor in seventeenth-century thought, especially outside academic circles.
26 Van Hoogstraten befriended several thinkers, like Oudaen and Van Blijenberg, who could help
27 to involve him in the international philosophical debate; it is clear that he was more interested
28 than his brother in the scientific side of the ‘new philosophy’ and that he did not focus exclu-
29 sively on the pietistic texts which Frans translated.
30 A few comments are needed on the different terms to be used in the present discus-
31 sion of Van Hoogstraten’s understanding of philosophy – terms that will be applied here not
32 only to specific concepts but also to different philosophical vantage points, such as ‘Stoicism’,
33 ‘Neoplatonism’ and ‘Aristotelianism’. For the early modern period, it is not always possible to
34 distinguish rigidly between the lines of argument that are denoted by these terms. The Neo­
35 stoic world view, for instance, contains many features of Neoplatonism, and in the seventeenth
36 century, modern Cartesian views were frequently combined with elements of Aristotelian-
37 ism: a case in point is the work of the British philosopher Kenelm Digby, whom Van Hoog-
38 straten quotes in the Inleyding.105 It would certainly be a misconception to assume that Van
39 Hoogstraten distinguishes clearly between different philosophical views in his treatise, which
40 combines many, frequently logically contradictory, points of view. So terms such as ‘Stoicism’
41 and ‘Aristotelianism’ will be used in this discussion not so much to refer to separate schools
42 of thought as in relation to the work of specific authors: Stoicism (or Neostoicism) refers here
43 primarily to the ethics of Seneca and Plutarch as reintroduced in the seventeenth century by
44
45
40          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 40 09-10-2008 17:05:58

 Lipsius, and Aristotelianism to the ideas on perception laid down in Aristotle’s De anima. We 1
shall be using the term ‘Platonism’ (and ‘Neoplatonism’) mainly in relation to the denuncia- 2
tion in Plato’s Republic of an art focusing purely on outward forms, and the converse – that an 3
art capable of penetrating to what lies behind these outward forms would be of value. Where 4
possible, the relevant texts will be indicated whenever these terms are used. 5
6
7
elevati n g th e s t atus of painting 8
Art historians who have discussed Van Hoogstraten in the past have presented the Inleyding 9
as an idiosyncratic offshoot of his social aspirations: as a use of literature largely to boost his 10
reputation.106 This interpretation fails to take into account the fact that the painter-poet shows 11
himself to be perfectly aware that his work stands in a particular literary tradition. He puts 12
himself forward as Van Mander’s successor – and his surpassor. Van Hoogstraten was indeed 13
seen as such in his Dordrecht literary milieu, and as late as the 1730s he was included in a list 14
of illustrious authors including Van Mander, Junius and De Lairesse, as well as the Frenchmen 15
André Félibien, Charles Aufonse du Fresnoy and Roger de Piles.107 16
In the preliminary text to his book, entitled ‘To the Reader’, the author justifies his 17
project by stating that the tradition of art theory has been neglected; that ‘no-one has recently 18
seen fit to describe the entire Art of Painting with all that pertains to it.’ The deplorable result 19
of this lack of art theory, it seems, is: 20
21
‘that the Art of Painting has come to be seen, in most people’s eyes, as a common art 22
or craft: and in consequence, thousands have strayed into art, or been led to it, without 23
ever considering the difficulties involved, indeed, neither more nor less than if they had 24
taken up the cobbler’s trade: entirely oblivious to the fact that this art encompasses the 25
entire Visible World; and that there is scarcely a single art or science of which it is fitting 26
for a Painter to remain ignorant (italics SvH).’108 27
28
From the stated aim of investing painting with a status among the liberal arts, it is clear that we 29
are dealing here with an epideictic text, a text ‘in praise of the art of painting’.109 This choice 30
of words regarding painting’s putative loss of status is similar to certain observations found in 31
handbooks of rhetoric. Quintilian writes, in his De causis corruptae eloquentiae, that rhetoric has 32
declined because it is taught as a craft, and not as an art with an ethical objective. This is why 33
didactic manuals are essential.110 Insight into the epideictic and didactic objectives pursued in 34
rhetoric are crucial to a proper appreciation of the Inleyding. 35
To attain his didactic goal, Van Hoogstraten offers his readers ‘an Introduction’ in the 36
form of nine chapters, ‘as if we were to take pupils by the hand and lead them around our Acad- 37
emy, which we have divided into nine rooms of learning, and indicate to them ... which parts 38
of painting (deelen der konst) they should be practising at each stage.’ In the first chapter, he 39
states that he has been inspired in part by the academy founded by King Louis XIV in Rome.111 40
This had developed, in 1666, into the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in Paris. 41
The Inleyding may be viewed as the programme for an academy of art that was never built. 42
Van Hoogstraten’s interest in this institute is apparent from the fact that in 1671 he joined 43
44
45
ch a p t e r i          41
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 41 09-10-2008 17:05:58

1 the Hague painters’ confraternity Pictura, which would become the Northern Netherlands’
2 first academy of art in 1682, when it started organizing classes in drawing from live models.112
3 Van Hoogstraten compares the programme of his own written hooge schoole or ‘academy’ to
4 Le Brun’s academy, where students ‘do not simply practise painting, but work according to a
5 certain order, under supervision’; we shall see that, in Van Hoogstraten’s book, this ‘order’ is
6 determined in large measure by the didactic framework of rhetorical theory.113
7 The Inleyding sets out to elevate painting above the crafts, to instruct the pupil, and to
8 supply criteria on the basis of which painters and art lovers can judge paintings. Professional
9 artists (meesters in de kunst) will benefit from reading the book, since it will make it easy for
10 them to examine their own work in the light of certain rules (zoo zullen zy haer eygene werken ...
11 tegen onze regels kunnen toetsen). Each chapter focuses on one of these criteria or ‘virtues’ of art.
12 Van Hoogstraten maintains:
13
14 ‘Thus, our Introduction will greatly help all lovers of Painting, even those entirely
15 without experience in this regard, not to be deceived when buying a work of art, since
16 they will appreciate works according to the virtues they see in them.’114
17
18 Apparently, the Inleyding is intended not only for skilled painters and their pupils, but also for
19 art lovers too, whom Van Hoogstraten includes in his address on the title page: he commends
20 his book to ‘all those who pursue this noble, free and high Art, or seek diligently to learn it, or
21 otherwise bear some love for it’. These art lovers will have included dilettante draughtsmen as
22 well as patrons and other clients.115 Studying the Inleyding will not automatically equip them
23 to judge a painting, though, Van Hoogstraten warns; this requires the help of an experienced
24 painter.116 He considers authors ‘who did not wield the brush themselves’ as not being entitled
25 to write about art.117 In this regard, Van Hoogstraten is as strict as Lomazzo, for example,118
26 – unlike some theorists who lump painters and art lovers together, such as Junius and the Ital-
27 ian art theorist Rafaello Borghini, who regard art lovers as ‘artists’ on the grounds that they
28 have developed their powers of imagination.119 Van Hoogstraten’s manifest emphasis on the
29 painter’s practical experience and on the concrete application of theory is prominent through-
30 out his book.
31 The encyclopaedic nature of texts such as the Inleyding presents fewer problems of in-
32 terpretation if these texts are construed as attempts to create a rhetorical context for judging
33 paintings. The Inleyding sets out to provide a standard for ways of speaking about painting in
34 studios and in collections. When the text’s rhetorical objective is taken into consideration,
35 there is no need to distinguish between two possible readerships – artists reading about paint-
36 ing practice on the one hand, and erudite art lovers whose interest lies in the various moral
37 and intellectual implications on the other – or two different levels of interpretation.120 Rather,
38 one may speak of a kind of mutual interaction. Painters needed the educated interest of art
39 lovers, just as much as the latter needed a theory that was informed by the practice of painting,
40 to arrive at a ‘meaningful discourse’ that legitimized both activities. The intended readerships
41 of art theory were just as varied as the authors’ backgrounds. Humanists writing about art
42 like Alberti, Junius and the Neapolitan Pomponius Gauricus were prominent scholars with
43 wide-ranging interests, who pursued painting or sculpture not to earn a living but as part of
44
45
42          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 42 09-10-2008 17:05:58

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
fig. 12 – Detail from Samuel van Hoogstraten, Terpsichore, title page of Chapter 6 of the 15
Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst, Rotterdam 1678. 16
17
their encyclopaedic studies. Others, such as Lodovico Dolce and Benedetto Varchi, probably 18
had no practical experience of art, and wrote art theory as a popular literary genre and as one 19
of the pursuits expected of a courtier.121 Goeree, Van Hoogstraten and De Lairesse all make a 20
point of addressing ‘art lovers’ – both on their title pages and repeatedly in their texts. There 21
is little point in drawing a strict distinction between different intended readerships; a more 22
helpful suggestion is the ‘symbiosis’ between artists and art lovers posited by Ernst van de 23
Wetering. This symbiosis came into being in the studio, the setting for the civil’ conversazione 24
pittorica (to use a term coined by Ricardo de Mambro Santos).122 The studio thus functioned 25
as a showroom for visitors from different social classes, a practice to which Van Hoogstraten 26
refers on the title-page of his sixth chapter, in which a number of well-to-do burghers stand 27
looking over the painter’s shoulder (fig. 12). An indication that art theory was indeed used as a 28
requisite for conversation is that several painting treatises are cast in the form of dialogues, for 29
instance between a painter and an art lover.123 Art theory supplied all the necessary material for 30
‘civil conversation’ – that is, discussion governed by humanist principles: a vocabulary, a set of 31
commonplaces, and a structure determined by the theory of rhetoric and dialectics that could 32
link these concepts and commonplaces. 33
That the Inleyding at length succeeded in acquiring a place in the literary tradition is 34
clear from the fact that later Dutch theorists all knew of Van Hoogstraten’s ideas.124 Rather 35
than enquiring into whether his work was read by painters and whether his theories were ‘put 36
into practice’, it is evidently more useful to approach his treatise from the opposite direction: 37
as a reflection of discussions that took place in painters’ studios in the seventeenth century. Van 38
Hoogstraten describes such discussions in Rembrandt’s studio as largely determined by rhe- 39
torical commonplaces.125 He may have been alluding to this state of affairs in the picture on the 40
frontispiece of his second chapter, dedicated to the Muse of rhetoric, which shows two young 41
men, possibly aspiring painters. While discussing the work of art at their knees, one of them 42
is holding a reference book (fig. 13). Erudite art lovers could contribute to this discourse by 43
44
45
ch a p t e r i          43
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 43 09-10-2008 17:05:59

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27 fig. 13 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, Polymnia, title page of Chapter 2 of the
28 Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst.
29
30 drawing on commonplaces and concepts that enjoyed international currency at the time, such
31 as those recorded in Vossius’s ‘De graphice’. The written tradition is probably only a fragmen-
32 tary reflection of what was discussed on a larger scale in the numerous studios and collections
33 in the Netherlands.126 Given that the Inleyding is an epideictic amalgam, based on a collection
34 of quotations, it is practically impossible to separate observations originating in the studio
35 from those reflecting tradition. Even so, the treatise has often proved a valuable resource in
36 studies aimed at gathering historical facts. The research on discussions in Rembrandt’s studio,
37 for which the Inleyding is the central source text, is the most productive example.127
38
39
40 The Inleyding in the tradition of art theory
41 Van Hoogstraten emphasizes that his text is designed to fill a gap that has arisen in the art-
42 theoretical tradition; he asserts that ‘no-one’ has recently written on the art of painting. What
43 is the place of the Inleyding among traditional descriptions of the art of painting ‘with all that
44
45
44          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 44 09-10-2008 17:06:02

 pertains to it’? Van Hoogstraten’s attempt to construe the intellectual importance of painting 1
is based largely on the authority of literary tradition. It is essential to define his relationship to 2
older sources more precisely; this will allow us, in the following chapters, to draw on material 3
from the international tradition with which the author is likely to have been familiar. 4
In the introduction to his first chapter, Van Hoogstraten urges the importance of art 5
theory. He begins by enumerating ‘some of those who have written on the art of Painting’. 6
After a number of authors from antiquity whose work has not survived, he dwells on the Ital- 7
ian tradition. He mentions the ‘three books on Painting, in Latin’ written by Alberti, and 8
Leonardo da Vinci, who wrote ‘boldly and wisely’ on painting, in his view, although only a 9
few ‘remnants’ of his texts have appeared in print. When Van Hoogstraten comes to Vasari’s 10
Vite (the first editions of which date from 1550 and 1568), he notes that the biographer used 11
the ‘notes’ made by other Italian artists (such as Lorenzo Ghiberti, Ridolfo Ghirlandaio and 12
Raphael).128 13
Van Hoogstraten may have become acquainted with some of these texts outside Italy. 14
Alberti’s De pictura was reprinted in Amsterdam in 1649 in a joint edition together with Vit- 15
ruvius’s books on architecture and Gauricus’s De statua (1504); Gauricus’s work probably had 16
a larger readership in the North than in Italy.129 In 1651 an Italian edition of Alberti’s work 17
on painting and sculpture and a selection of Leonardo da Vinci’s notes were both published in 18
Paris. 19
Of the Dutch art theorists, Van Hoogstraten mentions Van Mander, who ‘aside from 20
his Painters’ lives’ had also written a verse treatise on art: the didactic poem ‘Grondt der edel- 21
vry schilder-const’ (‘Foundations of the Noble and Free Art of Painting’) in his Schilder-boeck; 22
a few unnamed writers ‘who did not wield the brush’; and Franciscus Junius, whom he praises 23
for his ‘great diligence’ (fig. 2).130 In citing Van Mander and Junius, Van Hoogstraten is refer- 24
ring to the most important texts in the Dutch tradition of art literature. The body of texts 25
about painting produced in the Netherlands has scarcely been studied as a whole. Contrary to 26
the damning pronouncement of Von Schlosser that opened the present chapter, seventeenth- 27
century texts about Dutch painting are both numerous and rich in content. Besides texts that 28
can be labelled ‘art theory’ proper, a variety of eulogies on painting were produced, such as the 29
playwright Jan Vos’s well-known Zeege der schilderkonst (The Triumph of Painting, 1654), while 30
the church minister Camphuysen wrote a censorious poem: Geestichdom der schilderkonst (The 31
Spectres of the Art of Painting, 1638).131 The storehouse of poems inspired by paintings, cap- 32
tions to images and ‘explanations’ of prints has scarcely yet been opened up for art historical 33
research.132 34
If the theoretical texts written in both Latin and Dutch from the Northern and South- 35
ern Netherlands are gathered together, they form a sizeable body of texts.133 Those that will 36
be cited most liberally in the present study, besides the works of Van Mander and Junius, are 37
Philips Angel’s Lof der schilderkonst (In Praise of Painting, 1642), Cornelis de Bie’s Het gulden 38
cabinet (The Golden Cabinet, 1661) and De Lairesse’s Groot schilderboek (Great Book on Painting, 39
1707). Huygens’s unpublished autobiography (written in the period 1629-1631), which dis- 40
cusses painters and his own training as a draughtsman, is also relevant.134 The Dutch tradition 41
is remarkably heterogeneous, as Paul Taylor recently commented.135 The debate conducted 42
in France and Italy concerning the theoretical poles of drawing and colour (disegno versus 43
44
45
ch a p t e r i          45
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 45 09-10-2008 17:06:02

1 colorito) and their ideological connotations, is not so prominent in the Dutch tradition. Certain
2 consequences of this debate are discernible, however, in explicit attitudes to the ‘fine painters’
3 (fijnschilders), the adepts of Gerard Dou (in relation to whom Philips Angel was ‘for’ and Van
4 Hoogstraten ‘against’) and to Rembrandt (in relation to whom Van Hoogstraten was ‘for’ and
5 De Lairesse fiercely ‘against’), controversies to which we shall return in due course.136 The
6 ‘War of the Poets’ (Poëtenoorlog), a debate about the relative merits of Ancients and Moderns
7 in literature that arose at the beginning of the eighteenth century, and in which David van
8 Hoogstraten played a key role, is without a parallel in the theory of the visual arts.
9 How should the Inleyding be situated within this Dutch tradition? First of all, it should
10 be noted that the encyclopaedic nature of this treatise is based on a desire to emulate the erudi-
11 tion of Junius’s book on the artists of classical antiquity. The Schilderkonst der oude, Junius’s own
12 translation (1641) of his work De pictura veterum (1637), is Van Hoogstraten’s primary source.
13 It is a fairly free translation from the Latin original, greatly abridged but furnished with several
14 new additions adapted to the Dutch context; the author comments that he has seized the op-
15 portunity of the translation process to effectuate certain substantive changes.137 Junius prob-
16 ably had some experience as an amateur draughtsman. It may have been his book that inspired
17 the Earl of Arundel, for whom Junius had written the first version of De pictura veterum, to have
18 his children tutored in the art of drawing.138 Vossius’s ‘De graphice’ is primarily based on the
19 philological work of Junius, but it is also related to modern painting, with discussions of Dürer
20 and a number of Italian painters.
21 Of all Dutch writings on painting, Van Mander’s ‘Grondt’, the first theoretical treatise
22 to be published in this language, was unquestionably the best known internationally.139 Van
23 Hoogstraten criticizes Van Mander’s work, however, because its purpose is more inspirational
24 than didactic.140 The Inleyding shows him to be a faithful reader of Van Mander, so it is not im-
25 mediately clear how he intends to surpass him in didactic terms. Van Hoogstraten is probably
26 referring to a systematic classification according to principles derived from rhetoric, which
27 Junius provided and which the Inleyding modifies in its own individual way, as will become
28 clearer below.
29 Van Hoogstraten’s comments on the tradition of art theory relied heavily on paraphrases
30 of Junius and Van Mander. He also used the works on painting and drawing by Goeree – who is
31 probably the butt of his remark about theorists who did not wield the brush.141 For the chapter
32 on proportion, Van Hoogstraten drew on passages from Dürer’s treatment of anatomy. The
33 ideas of various Italian and other foreign authors may have reached him through these sources.
34 Van Mander translated passages from Vasari, and he used a German translation of Alberti; he
35 was probably also familiar with a manuscript by Leonardo.142 More in general, Van Mander
36 was acquainted with Italian views of art: he studied under Pieter Vlerick – who had been ap-
37 prenticed to Tintoretto from 1555 to 1560 and lived in Italy from 1573 to 1577. It is difficult
38 to assess Junius’s familiarity with the international tradition of art theory; he approaches paint-
39 ing on the basis of a rhetorical classification much like that which had been customary in Italy
40 since Alberti. Given his philological bias and the fact that he refers exclusively to authors from
41 antiquity, it is clear he was certainly acquainted with the content of several Italian treatises.143
42
43
44
45
46          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 46 09-10-2008 17:06:02

 Knowledge passed on by word of mouth 1
Van Hoogstraten probably acquired much of his knowledge of art-theoretical tradition from 2
oral rather than written sources. We may assume that information was constantly being passed 3
on in painters’ studios: the popularity of certain standard anecdotes that recur in diverse texts, 4
sometimes in a slightly altered form, adapted to the lives of different painters, is indicative of a 5
lively exchange of ideas. Views originating from Italy loomed large in the discussions in his cir- 6
cle – Rembrandt’s teachers, Lastman and Jacob van Swanenburgh, as well as Van Hoogstraten’s 7
father, Dirk, who was also a painter, had all visited Italy. 8
Humanism involved so many international ties that some modern scholars have re- 9
ferred to a ‘humanist Internationale’, sustained in the seventeenth century partly by large cor- 10
respondence networks connecting scholars throughout Europe. Karl Borinski, for instance, 11
showed that writings on poetics published in various Western European countries can only be 12
properly appreciated when studied as parts of this larger whole. Other, more recent researchers 13
have based their work on this principle.144 Similarly, the tradition of ‘art theory’ – an umbrella 14
term justified by the substantive and formal similarities between the different texts on painting 15
– was international in nature: painters visited studios in diverse European countries, ensuring a 16
constant transfer of ideas. In this context, the relationship between poetics and art theory must 17
not be seen as one-way traffic;145 while Alberti’s comprehensive, systematic theory of painting 18
had been completed as early as 1435, the first systematic poetics did not emerge until the end 19
of the fifteenth century.146 In the Netherlands, texts on poetics remained scarce; indeed, there 20
was more theorizing about art than about poetry.147 21
One particular meeting place where international views on art theory may have been 22
passed on orally or in writing was Rembrandt’s studio, which attracted erudite art lovers and 23
where Van Hoogstraten was trained together with the German pupil Jurriaen Ovens and Ber- 24
nard Keil of Denmark. What is more, Van Hoogstraten belonged to Bucelinus’s network, 25
which, as we have already noted, included painters from the Italian and German states. A 26
pivotal networker was Von Sandrart, who befriended famous Italian artists like Domenichino, 27
Guercino, Poussin, Testa and Da Cortona, as well as several members of the Dutch painters’ 28
community in Rome. He later left Rome for Amsterdam, where he was living at the same time 29
that Van Hoogstraten was working in Rembrandt’s studio.148 30
Texts of art theory written in Latin could easily acquire the status of authoritative works 31
in the European respublica litteraria.149 Most, however, were written in one of the vernaculars. 32
The most important of the above-mentioned texts, Alberti’s De pictura and Junius’s De pictura 33
veterum, were published in Latin as well as in the vernacular. Alberti’s treatise was in many 34
respects a seminal text: the first handbook on one of the arts to be written in the vernacular, it 35
showed the relevance of rhetorical concepts to painting. 36
It is not easy to define the precise relationship between Dutch and Italian art theory. To 37
art historians like Von Schlosser and Emmens, the influence of ideas from Southern Europe 38
was self-evident. In practice, this influence is difficult to pinpoint. Dutch authors seldom quote 39
texts from the Italian tradition verbatim. Van Mander’s painters’ lives are the main excep- 40
tion – these contain numerous borrowings from Vasari’s work. Although Lampsonius writes 41
of learning Italian especially so as to be able to read Vasari’s Vite before embarking on his own 42
project of Dutch painters’ biographies, and De Bisschop too read Vasari in Italian, for the 43
44
45
ch a p t e r i          47
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 47 09-10-2008 17:06:02

1 rest we can find few explicit borrowings.150 Where the biographical literature is concerned,
2 Giovanni Baglione’s Vite (1642) and Carlo Ridolfi’s Maraviglie dell’arte (1648) were known
3 in the Netherlands, but the extent of their influence is unclear.151 The only texts produced
4 in Italy from which Van Hoogstraten quotes literally are Vincenzo Cartari’s Imagini degli dei
5 degl’antichi (1556), which he reproduces in Italian, and the poetry of Michelangelo, which
6 he may have translated himself.152 Curiously perhaps, Lomazzo’s major Trattato della pittura
7 (1584), which was translated into English soon after publication, is mentioned only a few times
8 in the entire body of Dutch texts.153 The Trattato was one of the most comprehensive and prac-
9 tically oriented treatises on painting in the Italian tradition. It is one of the texts with which
10 Van Hoogstraten is most likely to have become acquainted on his European travels. Lomazzo’s
11 views were well suited to adaptation to Dutch authors, because he had a greater understanding
12 of Netherlandish art than other Italian theorists and thought highly of it. His general observa-
13 tions on landscape and genre painting and his detailed treatment of stylistic matters such as
14 light and reflection also make his text particularly applicable to Dutch art.154
15 From the mid-seventeenth century onwards, France was the main conduit through
16 which international views of art reached the Dutch Republic. Goeree noted in 1697 that France
17 had taken over Italy’s role as a desirable destination for painters; Van Hoogstraten maintains
18 in the Inleyding that, as a result of effective patronage, ‘Italy seems to have moved to France’.155
19 In the case of French authors, too, their contemporary influence is hard to ascertain. The first
20 French texts, by De Piles and Du Fresnoy, were not translated into Dutch until 1722;156 Féli-
21 bien is mentioned by a few Dutch authors in the early eighteenth century.157
22 In spite of the paucity of direct allusions, it is certainly justifiable to study the northern
23 and southern traditions as a related body of theory. Authors such as Zuccari and De Piles vis-
24 ited the Netherlands.158 Van Mander, Von Sandrart and Van Hoogstraten probably conceived
25 the idea of writing lengthy treatises on art theory while travelling in Italy. The Dutch painters
26 were known for their international orientation and the fact that ‘almost all’ of them visited It-
27 aly, to return, ‘experienced and skilled’, to their country, wrote Lodovico Guicciardini as early
28 as 1567.159 The present study will frequently invoke Southern European – especially Italian
29 – art theory, including texts such as Francisco de Holanda’s Diálogos em Roma (1548), Benedetto
30 Varchi’s Della maggioranza e nobiltà dell’arti (1549), Gabriele Paleotti’s Discorso le immagini sacre
31 e profane (1582) and Marco Boschini’s La carta del navegar pitoresco (1660). Literal borrowings
32 are rare, but this study will take as a basic premise that there was a widely shared conception of
33 art throughout Northern and Southern Europe. It is tempting to see internationally oriented
34 figures such as Van Hoogstraten as ‘idea brokers’ who disseminated views about art. The role
35 played by the Danish painter Bernhard Keil, for instance, who studied in Rembrandt’s studio
36 at the same time as Van Hoogstraten, invites speculation. Van Hoogstraten may have visited
37 him in Rome; Filippo Baldinucci subsequently derived his information about Rembrandt in his
38 Notizie de’ professori del disegno (1681-1728) from Keil.160
39
40
41 ‘th e wh ole o f pa inting and al l that pertains to it’
42 At the beginning of his book, Van Hoogstraten stresses the importance of his chapter divi-
43 sion. While noting that the material itself is largely familiar to painters and is based mainly
44
45
48          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 48 09-10-2008 17:06:02

 on existing commonplaces, he maintains that his division into nine chapters, nine ‘parts of 1
painting’, will be of great benefit to the training of painters: ‘For although [other masters] may 2
understand art as a whole through their experiments, they may not have wished to divide it into 3
parts, such that they can proficiently pass on their knowledge to another.’161 Van Hoogstraten’s 4
specific preferences emerge more clearly from the place he accords in his book to certain time- 5
honoured principles. His treatise is structured around elements from diverse intellectual tradi- 6
tions: the rhetorical division of a speech into parts (the partes orationis), the cosmology based on 7
the planetary spheres, and the different qualities ascribed to the nine Muses in mythographical 8
literature. Each chapter is dedicated to one of the Muses, who are described as ‘goddesses’ ac- 9
companying the aspiring painter on his life’s path. 10
In dedicating each chapter to a Muse, Van Hoogstraten bases himself explicitly on the 11
iconography codified in Vincenzo Cartari’s Imagini degli dei and Cesare Ripa’s Iconologia (pub- 12
lished in Dutch in 1644), two handbooks on symbolism and allegory often used by seven- 13
teenth-century painters. This makes him the first art theorist to use the division into Muses 14
and their qualities to structure his views: Sebastiano Resta’s treatise, which also uses the Muses 15
to distinguish the various parts of painting, did not appear until 1707.162 The verse captions 16
to the chapter frontispieces show that Van Hoogstraten also links his Muses to the five known 17
planets, the moon (associated on account of its alleged mutability to the chapter on composi- 18
tion) and the sun (linked to the chapter on chiaroscuro). The eighth chapter is associated with 19
the harmony of the spheres, and the final chapter with the fixed stars. 20
Van Hoogstraten rejects Cartari’s order, instead applying a hierarchical order of his own 21
that reflects his didactic aims.163 This classification is an adaptation of his two main sources. In 22
broad outline, his first seven chapters correspond to the subjects of the fourteen chapters of 23
Van Mander’s didactic poem. The subjects dealt with in the last two chapters derive to a large 24
extent from Junius.164 25
The first chapter of the Inleyding (dedicated to the Muse Euterpe) sets forth the aim and 26
foundations of the art of painting and the artist’s profession (fig. 14). Here, the art of draw- 27
ing is presented as essential to human perception and imitation in general. Then follow three 28
chapters on the painter’s choice of subject: chapter 2 on proportion – that is, Man; chapter 3 29
on the passions and historical scenes – that is, Man interacting with his kind; and chapter 4 on 30
Man’s entire natural and architectural surroundings. This structure serves to emphasize the 31
all-inclusive scope of painting, which embraces – as Van Hoogstraten asserts in his words ‘To 32
the reader’ – ‘the entire visible world’. 33
Chapter 5 deals with painterly composition, while chapters 6 and 7 relate to the paint- 34
ing’s execution: colouring, brushwork, and chiaroscuro (figs. 15 and 16). The eighth chapter 35
discusses the concept of ‘grace’ (fig. 17). This quality, which refers to the pleasing and lifelike 36
effect of painting in general, is a cohesive principle linking all the parts of painting dealt with 37
in the previous chapters (we shall study it in more detail on pages 159-160). The caption to the 38
frontispiece of this chapter invokes Calliope, as ‘foremost among the Muses’, who controls ‘the 39
art that makes a complete master’. In the margin, Van Hoogstraten quotes Cartari, who de- 40
scribes this Muse as perfettione di Scientia, ‘a discipline’s finishing touch’, rather than associating 41
her with a specific property.165 This chapter closes with a treatise on ‘good behaviour’: ‘How an 42
Artist Should Conduct Himself in the Face of Fortune’s Blows.’ Finally, chapter 9 describes the 43
44
45
ch a p t e r i          49
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 49 09-10-2008 17:06:02

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27 fig. 14 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, Euterpe, title page of Chapter 1 of the
28 Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst.
29
30 benefits that a painter can expect to derive from his work, whereby Van Hoogstraten articu-
31 lates an ethical objective. He presents the art of painting as a contemplative activity; if it arises
32 from ‘the love of art’, it gives the painter peace of mind.166
33 Van Hoogstraten’s chapter division has two functions. On the one hand it charts the
34 chronology of the painter’s education: the aspiring painter is expected to pass through the vari-
35 ous stages of his training ‘as if climbing steps’. On the other hand, each chapter contains one of
36 the ‘parts of painting’ that the art lover too must be able to distinguish as critical categories.167
37 Thus, the author counsels art lovers who want to buy a painting to take account of each ‘part
38 of painting’.168
39 In this division, Van Hoogstraten’s adaptation of the structures of his predecessors is
40 rather free, and can be traced back to several notions developed in ancient rhetoric. Alberti
41 followed Quintilian’s three-part division into Rudiments, Art and Artist. The Inleyding too can
42 be fitted into this scheme: chapter 1 supplies the basic principles, chapters 2 to 8 deal with art
43 itself, and chapter 9 deals with the artist’s morals.
44
45
50          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 50 09-10-2008 17:06:05

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
fig. 15 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, Thalia, title page of Chapter 5 of the 27
Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst. 28
29
According to the rhetoricians, the process that leads to a speech may subsequently be 30
divided into different elements. Traditional art theory frequently distinguishes between three 31
or five ‘parts of painting’ (partes pingendi), echoing the parts of an oration (partes orationis) ac- 32
cording to the theory of rhetoric.169 The most authoritative theory regarding this division, 33
from Cicero’s De inventione, is repeated as follows in Vossius’s Beghinselen der redenrijk-konst 34
(Elementary Rhetoric, 1648): ‘There are four tasks for the orator: discovery of the arguments, 35
arrangement, embellishment, and enunciation of the arguments. And it follows that the art of 36
rhetoric possesses an equal number of parts: invention, disposition, elocution and delivery’.170 37
The point of this kind of classification is not so much to analyse the different elements of a 38
speech as to analyse the process of its preparation. It is applied to the visual arts in the same 39
sense. In his treatise on painting, Vossius again names four elements: inventio, dispositio, color 40
and motus (whereby motus relates to animation through the passions).171 On the basis of this 41
scheme, Junius distinguishes five parts of painting: invention, proportion, colour, passions and 42
composition, besides which he discusses the cohesive concept of grace and adds a section on 43
the role of the viewer. 44
45
ch a p t e r i          51
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 51 09-10-2008 17:06:08

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27 fig. 16 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, Melpomene, title page of Chapter 7 of the
28 Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst.
29
30 In applying the division into partes to his chapters about painting, Van Hoogstraten
31 does not follow either Vossius or Junius precisely. This demonstrates the flexible nature of
32 rhetorical rules, and the fact that they may be applied with a certain latitude to a field such as
33 painting. Van Hoogstraten does not treat rhetoric as a fixed framework, but as an aid in writing
34 and thinking about his multi-faceted subject. (The nine chapters of the Inleyding may be associ-
35 ated with the following rhetorical keywords: 1. introductio and imitatio; 2. inventio: proportio and
36 memoria; 3. inventio: historia, affectus/motus, the genera dicendi; 4. inventio: parerga and decorum;
37 5. ordo/dispositio; 6. elocutio: colores; 7. elocutio: lumina orationis; 8. gratia; and 9. artifex.172)
38
39
40 The order of nature
41 When we analyse Van Hoogstraten’s chapter division as a key to the didactic ideals in his trea-
42 tise, it is relevant, first of all, to note that two different aims are distinguished in traditional art
43 theory. Lomazzo defines these aims clearly in his Trattato della pittura, quoting from Aristotle’s
44
45
52          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 52 09-10-2008 17:06:20

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
fig. 17 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, Calliope, title page of Chapter 8 of the 27
Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst. 28
29
Physics: the first focuses on ordine della dottrina, the order prescribed by the rules of argumenta- 30
tion, and the second on ordine della natura, the order of nature itself. Lomazzo himself explic- 31
itly chooses a ‘doctrinal’ structure. This means that he starts by providing abstract definitions 32
before discussing the details of painting. The ordine della natura, by contrast, is not based on 33
this kind of strict argument that moves from ‘abstract to concrete’, but on the human capacity 34
for learning. It starts with the incomplete and ends with the complete, which thus reflects the 35
supposed chronology of the human learning process, from the newborn’s first sensory im- 36
pressions via the development of memory in childhood, to the faculty of rational judgement. 37
This ‘order of nature’ runs parallel to the chronology according to which the various aspects 38
of art were supposedly discovered in the past: first contours, then light and shade, and finally 39
colour.173 40
In the Dutch tradition, Lomazzo’s term trattato (traktaat in Dutch) is not included on 41
title pages – the emphasis is apparently on the didactic nature of art literature, rather than on 42
its doctrinal qualities. Van Mander’s ‘Grondt’ (or ‘Rudiments’) is manifestly an elementary 43
44
45
ch a p t e r i          53
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 53 09-10-2008 17:06:24

1 textbook or primer; this is confirmed by the fact that when the Frisian painter Wybrand de
2 Geest wrote a prose adaptation of the ‘Grondt’ in 1702, he called it Leermeester der schilderkunst
3 (Instructor in the Art of Painting).174 The titles of Van Hoogstraten’s Inleyding and Goeree’s so-
4 called ‘introductions’ to drawing and painting identify the texts unequivocally as primers. It
5 is striking that more general treatises on human conduct bear similar titles: Van Hoogstraten
6 refers, for instance, to Hugo Grotius’s popular Inleydinge tot de Hollandsche rechtsgeleerdheyt
7 (Introduction to Dutch Law, 1631),175 and Frans van Hoogstraten translated a text by Vives as
8 Inleyding tot de ware wysheid (Introduction to True Wisdom, 1670).176
9 This anchoring of art theory in didactic views originating largely with Quintilian influ-
10 enced several aspects of the Inleyding – its many repetitions, for instance, the purpose of which
11 is purely didactic.177 Van Hoogstraten’s description of the development of painting (‘On the
12 Beginning, Rise and Fall of Painting’) links up directly to the ordine della natura, starting with
13 Pliny’s anecdote of the invention of drawing by shepherds tracing the shadows of their flock on
14 the ground.178 The traditional view in this regard is that the natural order of Creation is also
15 based primarily on lines and shapes, to which colour is a secondary, less elementary addition.179
16 The view that the ‘rules of art’ reflect the ‘rules of nature’ is a commonplace in art theory,
17 corresponding to the doctrine that following nature is the ultimate guiding principle – both
18 in art and in ethics. Ghiberti, for instance, states that in the most fundamental precepts of art
19 theory, he has ‘always sought to find out how nature operates and how he could base himself
20 on it’.180 Goeree too states that the rules of the arts derive from the rules of nature, and Van
21 Hoogstraten himself concludes: ‘art is immersed in nature; if you take it from there, you will
22 avoid many errors in your work.’181
23 An order that is supposedly ‘derived from nature’ also determines the chapter divisions
24 of the Inleyding. The first chapter, on aspects of training relating to imitatio, discusses draw-
25 ing as a general and fundamental skill: the attentive observation of the visible world, ‘so as to
26 imitate things precisely as they are’.182 Just as Quintilian says that a child must start by copying
27 individual letters, Van Hoogstraten counsels aspiring painters to start with separate elements
28 of the face: eyes, noses, mouths.183 At the next stage, according to Quintilian, the child must
29 learn to combine letters into words, and words into sentences, eventually doing exercises in
30 composition. Van Hoogstraten describes how the pupil practises composition by copying the
31 work of others until he can trust his own inventions.184
32 After studying the interaction of figures in scenes of history, the ideal painter of the
33 Inleyding moves on to the landscape as staffage, extending his choice of subject to ‘everything
34 under the sun’. Colour and light, treated in two separate chapters, are among the finesses of
35 execution (or rhetorical elocutio); finally, an entire chapter is devoted to the concept of grace,
36 as a gift that cannot be learned (the ‘finishing touch’ that is also deemed necessary in rhetoric).
37 The treatise’s final chapter contains a discussion of the painter’s task in society, placing the vir-
38 tues of painting in the context of a code of moral behaviour, in the same manner as Quintilian’s
39 discussion of the orator.185
40
41
42 The order of doctrine
43 In the Inleyding, although the ‘order of nature’ is the primary structural principle, Lomazzo’s
44
45
54          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 54 09-10-2008 17:06:24

 ordine della dottrina, the order prescribed by the rules of argument, is discernible as well. For 1
the ‘parts of painting’ are not only placed in a didactic order, but serve alongside one another 2
as critical categories for the appraisal of painters and their work. In this Van Hoogstraten again 3
follows Quintilian, who was the first to ascribe certain qualities to specific painters. Using the 4
example of artists, rhetorical theory explains that in oratory, too, speakers may excel in specific 5
areas. Quintilian praises the ancient painter Parrhasios for his circumscriptio, for example; he 6
also mentions Zeuxis’s rendering of light and shade, and links Apelles’s name with grace.186 7
Similarly, Van Hoogstraten illustrates his ‘parts of painting’ with diverse names of artists, not 8
only from antiquity but from his own time as well, frequently using rhetorical categories: in 9
one passage, for instance, he writes that while Rubens focuses on rich compositions (dispositio) 10
and Anthony van Dyck on elegance (gratia), Rembrandt concentrates on the passions (pas- 11
siones) of the soul, and Hendrik Goltzius’s skill lies in ‘imitating faithfully the hand of certain 12
great Masters’ (imitatio).187 Such links between specific artists and particular artistic qualities 13
are furnished with astrological explanations by Lomazzo, and appear in their most systematic 14
form in De Piles’s Traité du peintre parfait (1699). De Piles actually awards marks to different 15
artists for the qualities in which they excel.188 The theory of distinct qualities can be used to 16
explain the existence of different schools of painting; as Giovanni Battista Agucchi writes in his 17
Trattato della pittura (1607): ‘Art was not born from one artist but from many, and only with the 18
passage of time’.189 Van Hoogstraten distinguishes not only the ‘Sikyonian, Ionian and Attic’ 19
styles from antiquity, but also the modern centres of art in Rome, Florence, Venice, Germany, 20
and the Low Countries.190 21
Van Hoogstraten’s combination of didacticism and art criticism reflects the rhetorical 22
principle that children learn best from simple facts combined with practical demonstrations. 23
Clearly, theory alone does not suffice to teach the liberal arts: practical experience is essen- 24
tial.191 The Inleyding reiterates this view several times: art lovers cannot learn to appraise art 25
judiciously just by reading; they must themselves pass through the successive stages of the 26
learning process. 27
28
29
‘Three times three beacons’ 30
The Inleyding is cast in the form of a course of instruction in which aspiring painters develop 31
their intellectual faculties one step at a time. Their goal is ultimately construed as a moral 32
objective. The chapter divisions thus provide indications that enable one to interpret the text 33
as a whole. 34
The frontispiece, the first illustration in the Inleyding, shows the aspiring painter, clad 35
in armour and sporting Hermes’ winged helmet and sandals, being assisted by the Muses as he 36
takes his first steps on the steep path of learning that leads upwards behind him (fig. 18).192 In 37
Cartari’s manual the Muses are linked to all the human qualities that are required for one to 38
develop into a homo universalis. Van Hoogstraten’s iconography is similar to that developed by 39
Giovanmaria Butteri, who depicted a middle-aged Michelangelo surrounded by the Muses and 40
crowned with laurels by Apollo (fig. 19). 41
The Inleyding refers in this context to Ficino’s De vita libri tres, borrowing its view on 42
‘three times three beacons’ that one who wishes to study the liberal arts must follow.193 These 43
44
45
ch a p t e r i          55
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 55 09-10-2008 17:06:24

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19 fig. 18 – Detail from Samuel van Hoogstraten, title page to
20 Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst, Rotterdam 1678.
21
22 are three celestial bodies, namely Mercury, the Sun, and Venus; three mental qualities, namely
23 strength of will, understanding and memory; and three other ‘beacons’ for the purpose of sup-
24 port: good parents, a capable teacher and an experienced physician.194 Ficino’s book contains
25 countless guidelines for a balanced life, and may have inspired Van Hoogstraten to present his
26 Inleyding too in the form of a path of life in which attaining tranquillity of mind plays an im-
27 portant role. In any case, Van Hoogstraten’s chapter divisions largely reflect Ficino’s structure,
28 being based on three specific planets, three mental qualities, and three ‘supporters’. Instead
29 of Ficino’s ‘beacons’ he posits ‘nine mistresses, who are of old placed over all the planets, the
30 heavenly stars, and their motions’.195 (To be precise, Euterpe, who is governed by Mercury, is
31 followed by Polymnia, who is associated with memory, and then by Clio, ‘for support’; then
32 follows the trio Erato, who is linked to Venus, Thalia, linked to the power of understanding,
33 and Terpsichore. The last three are Melpomene, linked to the sun, and Urania, who governs
34 the will, supported by Calliope.196)
35 The chapter division shows that the painter’s curriculum, as prescribed in the Inleyding,
36 is intended to have universal meaning. Like Ficino’s studiosus, the young painter depicted in
37 the frontispiece apparently achieves his goal by following a staged ‘introduction’ to virtue,
38 through a field governed by the entire range of human qualities (the Muses) and cosmological
39 correspondences (determined by the planetary spheres). In Ficino, this goal is the equanimity
40 of a life spent studying the liberal arts; in the Inleyding it is achieving a successful career as a
41 painter – which implicitly includes living a life of a high moral standard.
42 The ideals of the aspiring painter are thus ultimately comparable to those of the honnête
43 homme as described by Van Hoogstraten in his Eerlyken jongeling. Romein de Hooge’s title print
44
45
56          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 56 09-10-2008 17:06:42

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
fig. 19 – Giovanmaria Butteri, Michelangelo among the Muses, Crowned by Apollo, 1564, pen drawing. 21
22
for Lambert van den Bos’s Volmaekten hovelinck (The Perfect Courtier, 1675) depicts a young man 23
surrounded by figures representing the different challenges he may encounter on his path to vir- 24
tue, similar to the figure on the Inleyding’s frontispiece (fig. 20). In the title print to Den eerlyken 25
jongeling, the youth is already being crowned with laurel wreaths, rather prematurely, by Mars 26
and Venus (fig. 21). The topos of the youth being led towards the temple of virtue in successive 27
stages recurs in the traditional representation of the artist’s tasks. Thus, Federico Zuccari depict- 28
ed ‘the path to virtue’ in a fresco in his house in Rome. Lomazzo represents this in a drawing as 29
a flight of steps being ascended by putti who personify the painter’s rewards, similar to the steps 30
leading to artistic virtue depicted on Van Hoogstraten’s frontispiece (figs. 22 and 23).197 31
32
33
The learning process of the ‘vir proficiens’ 34
The comparison of the art of painting to an arduous ‘course of instruction’ prompts Joachim 35
Oudaen, in his liminary poem to the Inleyding, to describe painting metaphorically as a laby- 36
rinth in which the rules presented by Van Hoogstraten serve as Ariadne’s thread, to help one 37
find the ‘right way ... amid the confusion of so many winding paths’. Similarly, the reader’s 38
‘journey’ is compared to the legendary peregrinations of Amadis de Gaulle and those of Aeneas 39
through the underworld.198 Van Hoogstraten sketches a similar ‘career’ in his Eerlyken jongeling. 40
In the dedication ‘To the lovers of virtue’ he describes the honest youth as a ‘stroller’ exposed 41
to the ‘changes of fickle Fortune’. The ‘rules’ set forth in the treatise serve as guidelines ‘like 42
Theseus’s ball of thread, [so as] to find one’s way successfully in the labyrinth of this world’.199 43
44
45
ch a p t e r i          57
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 57 09-10-2008 17:06:44

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24 fig. 20 – Romein de Hooghe, title page to Lambert van den Bos, Den volmaakten hooveling, Amsterdam 1675.
25
26 The allegory of the path of life is a theme from Stoic philosophy, which holds, in the
27 words of Quintilian, that ‘Art is a skill used to achieve something by following a path, that is,
28 a method’.200 Seneca distinguishes in this context the ideal of the wise man, vir sapiens, from
29 the reality of the man who is progressing along the path to wisdom, vir proficiens. To his mind,
30 no one will acquire wisdom during this life; but the path to wisdom is a goal in itself.201 As the
31 Stoics maintain, on this path to happiness one will learn to control one’s passions through the
32 application of ‘right reason’ or recta ratio.
33 As is suggested by the metaphor of the path of life, the ideal of the vir proficiens is rel-
34 evant to the Eerlyken jongeling as well as to the aspiring painter, who has chosen the path to
35 virtue but needs to be constantly steered in the right direction. Van Hoogstraten writes that
36 his treatise on painting teaches ‘the road one should go down, in order to reach the end of
37 one’s life’s work, where so many have stumbled halfway or gone astray’.202 In line with Stoic
38 views, the chief guideline on this path is to ‘follow nature’: Van Mander, who compares the art
39 of painting to a labyrinth in his ‘Grondt’, states that nature itself provides the ball of thread (’t
40 clouwen der Natueren) to lead one through.203 Junius also sees the ‘setled short way’ to success
41 as identical to ‘following nature’; indeed, those wanting to achieve something in art ‘should
42 strongly be possessed with this opinion, that there is a certain good way, in which Nature must
43 do many things of her owne accord without any teaching’.204
44
45
58          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 58 09-10-2008 17:06:57

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
fig. 21 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, title page of Den eerlyken jongeling, 24
Dordrecht 1657, engraving. British Library, London. 25
26
Van Hoogstraten concludes his book, which is broadly framed as an allegory of life, with 27
several observations about death, the vanity of worldly fame in particular, and the hope of a 28
better life hereafter. The ‘temple of virtue’ depicted in the frontispiece will not be attained in 29
the sublunary sphere, the ‘visible world’. What matters is to lead a virtuous life on one’s way to 30
the unattainable and invisible goal. This train of thought is supported by traditional allegory 31
linking the Muses to the ‘ascent’ of the path of life, with Mount Helicon as the destination, as 32
is expressed, for example, in Hendrik Laurensz Spiegel’s Hertspiegel (Mirror of the Heart, 1614) 33
a treatise on ethics based on Neostoic principles that shows the ‘steps to salvation’; it may well 34
have served as one of Van Hoogstraten’s sources of inspiration.205 35
The large number of moral admonitions to aspiring painters in Van Mander’s ‘Grondt’ 36
led Hessel Miedema to conclude that the text as a whole can be interpreted on various ‘levels’ 37
by various groups of readers, such as apprentices, accomplished painters, and humanists. One 38
of these levels, to Miedema’s opinion, is an interpretation in terms of ethics. ‘Art’ (Konst) in 39
Van Mander, he suggested, essentially means ‘the art of living the good life’. Thus, when Van 40
Mander states that painters must ‘pay attention to the passions’, Miedema believed that this 41
means that they must not only become skilled in depicting emotions, but must also control 42
their own emotions.206 The Inleyding too contains a wealth of moral admonitions and guide- 43
44
45
ch a p t e r i          59
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 59 09-10-2008 17:06:58

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30 fig. 22 – Federico Zuccari, The Artist on his Path to Virtue, 1590-1600,
31 Casa Zuccari, ceiling of the entrance hall, Rome.
32
33 lines for good behaviour, which suggests that one of the objectives of these texts is to offer a
34 manual for ‘civil behaviour’ among painters and art lovers.207 Especially in the verse sections
35 of Van Hoogstraten’s text, he incorporates moralistic admonitions for young painters, warning
36 the ‘travel-loving youth’ against excesses, for instance. He discusses the moral importance of
37 moderation most explicitly in the chapter on pictorial composition:208 in ‘How an Artist Should
38 Conduct Himself in the Face of Fortune’s Blows’, he provides a code of conduct for painters
39 in their dealings with fellow artists and art lovers, and advises them not to condemn the views
40 of the ignorant, for instance, or to praise their own work too highly.209 In the ninth chapter,
41 which concludes the trajectory followed by the aspiring painter, the author also emphasizes
42 that painting is itself a virtuous activity: the most important reward that awaits the painter is
43 the satisfaction of his conscience arising from a disinterested ‘love of art’.210
44
45
60          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 60 09-10-2008 17:07:04

 Moral admonitions are by no means rare in early modern art theory. As early as 1390, 1
Cennino Cennini’s painting handbook advised young artists to avoid the temptations of the 2
senses, ‘as if they were studying theology or philosophy’.211 The painter’s profession was be- 3
lieved by its very nature – as we shall have frequent occasion to note below – to expose pupils 4
to all kinds of sensory seductions, such as those of deceptive colouring, physical beauty, and 5
sensual naturalism. It is evidently the task of a text such as the Inleyding to take the pupil ‘by the 6
hand’ and to help him to reach his virtuous final goal unscathed. 7
Hans-Jörg Czech concluded that in Van Hoogstraten’s treatise, his curriculum of art 8
(curriculum doctrinae) blends indistinguishably with a curriculum for life (curriculum vitae).212 9
Even if we do not follow Miedema’s assumption that art treatises can be read on distinct ‘levels’ 10
addressing different kinds of readers, it is clear that different objectives, including a philosoph- 11
ical one, merge within this one work. Philosophy as a specialized discipline, as already noted, 12
is a modern invention. In early modern art theory one cannot speak of separate categories for 13
practical guidelines on the one hand, and more general artistic and ideological views on the 14
other. In the Inleyding, these elements are construed as intimately connected. Let it suffice here 15
to note that both artistic and more general, ethical connotations are discernible in some of Van 16
Hoogstraten’s observations on art theory. The following two chapters will show, for instance, 17
that ‘following nature’ can be an ethical and philosophical principle as well as an artistic one. In 18
his theory, Van Hoogstraten discusses how one should ‘virtuously’ imitate nature’s properties 19
(de eygenschappen der simpele natuer zeedichlijk navolgen). He refers to ‘the practice of virtuous 20
morals’ as providing the ‘true repose for the Painter’s mind’, and admonishes the painter to 21
seek moral satisfaction in his work.213 Exemplary to this equation of painting with the art of 22
living a good life is his comparison of the apprentice painter’s relationship with his master, to 23
Alexander the Great’s relationship with Aristotle: in Van Hoogstraten’s view, this philosopher 24
taught his pupil ‘to live righteously by God’s grace’.214 25
26
27
The visible world as a microcosm 28
The Inleyding displays similarities to treatises written in northern Italy in the late sixteenth 29
and early seventeenth centuries that are distinctly encyclopaedic. In Lomazzo’s Idea del tempio 30
della pittura (1590) and Trattato della pittura, painting is taken as the point of departure for a 31
complete explanation of the world.215 Zuccari’s Idea de’pittori, scultori et architetti (1607) likewise 32
testifies to the desire to extrapolate from art to philosophy and to propagate a vision of the 33
world in a single treatise, taking draughtsmanship as a metaphor for understanding the world 34
in general.216 This desire for encyclopaedic and philosophical comprehensiveness also plays a 35
role in the Inleyding, which aspires to describe an art, ‘with all that pertains to it’, that has as 36
its subject ‘the entire Visible World’. Although he does not mention Lomazzo or Zuccari, Van 37
Hoogstraten resembles these authors in ascribing universal qualities to painting and in com- 38
paring it to ‘universal knowledge’, such that ‘there is scarcely a single art or science of which it 39
is fitting for a Painter to remain ignorant’. 40
The structure of the Inleyding reflects this claim to universality – indeed, the treatise’s 41
very subtitle, ‘Or the Visible World’ alludes to it. ‘World’ is a word that features frequently in 42
treatises on cosmology, such as De mundo, attributed to Aristotle. Comenius’s didactic work, 43
44
45
ch a p t e r i          61
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 61 09-10-2008 17:07:04

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41 fig. 23 – Attributed to Gian Paolo Lomazzo, Allegory of the Artist’s Career, Albertina, Vienna.
42
43
44
45
62          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 62 09-10-2008 17:07:07

 which was aimed at acquiring universal knowledge (he himself referred to ‘pansophy’), was 1
translated into German as Die sichtbare Welt (The Visible World, 1658). A similar title can be 2
found in art theory: Francesco Scanelli’s Il microcosmo della pittura (1657). Lomazzo too, in his 3
Idea del tempio della pittura, calls his virtual ‘temple of painting’ a microcosm.217 In the Inleyding, 4
the cosmological presumptions are emphasized by the author’s decision to link the nine ‘parts 5
of painting’ to planets and celestial spheres, akin to the classification in Lomazzo’s Idea, which 6
assigns seven stylistic virtues to the different planets. By adhering to chapter divisions parallel 7
to the division of reality into celestial spheres, Van Hoogstraten emphasizes his claim to cos- 8
mological all-inclusiveness. He may have been familiar with an image in a work by Athanasius 9
Kircher from 1650, linking the Muses to the celestial spheres; in any case, his classification is 10
based on the same principle (fig. 24). The harmony of the spheres in chapter 8 of the Inleyding 11
thus becomes the principle linking the different elements of the visible world that have been 12
discussed in the first seven chapters. The final chapter, which is devoted to the ‘fixed stars’, the 13
basis of heavenly harmony, provides a moral commentary on the whole. The Inleyding too, as 14
a ‘visible world’, has itself all the characteristics of a self-contained microcosm – a microcosm, 15
however, that is confined to the visible aspects of reality, the naturalia and artificialia that be- 16
long to the domain of painting. 17
The cosmological scope of the Inleyding is intended to lend a certain universality to 18
Van Hoogstraten’s assertions. It also emphasizes the comprehensive range of painting as an art 19
capable of representing the entire visible world, and the moral function of the painter’s educa- 20
tion, as a metaphor for a path of life in harmony with the ‘laws of nature’. 21
22
23
‘Ad fontes’ 24
The encyclopaedic nature of the Inleyding may also be clarified by an observation made by 25
the famous humanist Hugo Grotius concerning Junius’s philological research for the 26
Schilderkonst der oude: he compares the book to a mosaic, composed of many different-coloured 27
tesserae, the total effect of which is to produce a lifelike image.218 Grotius’s commonplace 28
illustrates the tension between variety and lucidity, and shows that each of the many quotations 29
collected with care over a long period of time acquired its own unique place in the whole.219 30
The fairly indiscriminate choice of quotations, which are included primarily because of 31
their venerable age, means that it is only in the framework of the composition of the Inleyding 32
that a new ‘mosaic image’, a new view of painting, comes into being.220 To assess how ‘original’ 33
this new view is, one should realize that the humanist creed ad fontes, ‘to the sources’, is one 34
of the most fundamental ideas underlying the genre of art theory. Invoking Greek and Roman 35
antiquity as the most important argument from authority plays a key role in Van Hoogstraten’s 36
text; as he observes, ‘nothing in this past century is entirely new’.221 This view should not be 37
construed as a preference for the art of the past: on the contrary, Van Hoogstraten believes 38
that the art produced by his contemporaries and fellow-countrymen has brought the art of the 39
Greeks back to life: it has arrived ‘in a new Greece’.222 In his discussions of antiquity, he follows 40
the practice among humanists of using classical literature as a means of interpreting and legiti- 41
mizing modern activities, with the underlying assumption that these two ages are connected 42
by an unbroken line. Characteristically, when Van Hoogstraten describes various objects from 43
44
45
ch a p t e r i          63
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 63 09-10-2008 17:07:07

1 the ‘visible world’, he refers at length to objects such as pieces of armour used in antiquity.
2 In Schoone Roselijn, Van Hoogstraten depicts an attitude to antiquity similar to the ap-
3 proach propagated in the Inleyding. He invokes the ‘proud Muse! who transposes Holland to
4 ancient Rome ... at once gird your loins, and let Bato’s people [i.e. the Batavians, the alleged
5 ancestors of the Dutch] hear poems in their own Language ... and raise monuments in honour
6 of our Nation’.223 The desire to equal the greatness of antiquity in their own times is common
7 among the Republic’s citizens; David van Hoogstraten ends his treatise on rhetoric with the
8 comment that ‘Dutch ingenuity ... need not yield pride of place ... to the Greek, Latin, Ital-
9 ian, or French’.224 His uncle displays concern, in the Inleyding, to have specific ‘artistic terms’
10 (Konstwoorden) translated into the Dutch of the Northern provinces, a concern shared by other
11 art theorists.225 For example, he coins neologisms like his Dutch terms vinding for invention
12 and doening for action (as opposed to lijding or passion). He even notes that he has himself
13 translated Van Mander’s ‘Flemish verses’ into ‘our Dutch language’.226 Goeree too explains
14 that his work is prompted by the concern that ‘nothing has been written about painting in our
15 mother tongue’, and articulates in this context the rhetorical requirement for brevity, stating
16 that ‘Instructions for Youths would be of far greater benefit if they were written in a common
17 language, succinctly and clearly, and without rhetorical flourishes’.227
18 In the Eerlyken jongeling, Van Hoogstraten describes his relationship to older authors
19 and his working method – which may also be deemed applicable to the Inleyding. ‘I have blend-
20 ed my views with those of old and new writers, and combined them with my own experience at
21 Court, and were I to give each one his due, I must confess that my own view is so intermingled
22 with theirs that I could neither disentangle nor unweave it.’ He claims to attach no value to
23 the reader’s opinion of his own additions and would rather admit that ‘the good things to be
24 found in this piece were stolen, the mediocre ones poorly copied from good originals, and the
25 flawed things that fill most of the pages come from my own head.’228 The encyclopaedic way in
26 which the Inleyding blends views from antiquity and the recent past into a new whole makes it
27 pointless to describe Van Hoogstraten as someone who inclined to any specific school of phi-
28 losophy, such as (Neo)Platonism, Aristotelism or rationalism. In developing his theory, he read
29 authors ranging from Agrippa von Nettesheim, Paracelsus and Ficino, all of whom adhered
30 to an analogical world view in which ‘everything relates to everything’ within a hierarchical
31 order, to authors espousing empiricist ideas and the ‘new philosophy’ such as Francis Bacon
32 and Descartes. As will become clear, the art theory of the Inleyding contains references to both
33 the mediaeval and the mechanistic world view. It is therefore more helpful to approach the text
34 from the vantage point of rhetoric, and to see its various positions as cumulative arguments
35 in an epideictic argument, rather than trying to fit Van Hoogstraten’s theory into any specific
36 school of thought.
37 The rationality that characterises seventeenth-century treatises on painting is related
38 to dialectics: the early modern discipline of finding arguments and arranging them into a line
39 of reasoning. Van Hoogstraten calls this by the contemporary term of redenkonst (‘the art of
40 reasoning’, very different from rederijkkonst, the art of rhetoric).229 Dialectics, as developed by
41 Rudolf Agricola in his De inventione dialectica (1479), was a relatively new branch of learning,
42 intended to teach how a problem can be seen from different points of view and how these dif-
43 ferent viewpoints may be combined within one argument.230
44
45
64          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 64 09-10-2008 17:07:07

 The idiosyncrasies of the Inleyding fit within a more general context of a ‘rhetorical 1
culture’, to use a term coined by Nicholas Wickenden in his assessment of Vossius’s work. This 2
rhetorical culture included the fundamental belief ‘that all learning did ... form a systematic 3
whole, all parts of which were harmoniously related to all other parts.’ In this encyclopaedic 4
ideal, he argues, a ‘coherence theory of truth’ prevails, in which the greatest authority is attrib- 5
uted to an accumulation of as many learned views as possible. The emphasis on the practical 6
application of this learning followed from the desire to place all forms of knowledge in the 7
service of leading a ‘good life’: ‘[The orators’] bent was always towards the practical; indeed, 8
probably their deepest concern was with ethics’.231 9
Some of the arguments invoked by Van Hoogstraten, drawn essentially from rhetorical 10
tradition, are central to this study. His place in this ‘rhetorical culture’ will become clearer if 11
we keep an eye on commonplaces and the ways in which they are applied and arranged in the 12
Inleyding. 13
14
15
A hybrid genre 16
Van Hoogstraten’s treatise belongs to a genre of writing about art that by no means arose as an 17
isolated phenomenon or as a rare combination of studio practice with theory derived artificially 18
from humanist tradition. The genre draws its material in large measure from the same sources 19
as the tradition of poetics, which flowered in a similar way from the fifteenth century onwards. 20
The same sources also underlie related texts such as handbooks of rhetoric, courtiers’ manuals 21
that codified good behaviour, and related texts with more general ethical guidelines. First and 22
foremost, Dutch art theory can be studied as an offshoot of the older international tradition, 23
and the present study will therefore frequently refer to older art theory, most notably to au- 24
thors from Southern Europe. However, a different type of analysis can be arrived at by drawing 25
on related texts that do not belong exclusively to poesis in the seventeenth-century sense – epic, 26
lyric, drama – but that describe specific social, scientific or philosophical subjects: the present 27
study will therefore draw on texts as diverse as Robert Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy (1621), 28
Jan de Brune the Younger’s Wetsteen der vernuften (Whetstone of the Mind, 1644), Balthasar 29
Gracián’s Arte de prudencía (The Art of Worldly Wisdom, 1647) and Spinoza’s Ethics (1677). 30
Before closing this chapter on Van Hoogstraten’s position in the republic of letters, we 31
need to address the subject of early modern rhetoric. It is possible to define ‘rhetorical culture’ 32
in relation to early modern art theory in various ways. Van Hoogstraten’s treatise, too, testifies 33
to the fundamental role played by rhetorical concepts and structures in speaking and thinking 34
about art. As will be argued below, the ‘rules of art’ laid down in his treatise are rhetorical in 35
nature, and are part of a larger whole that borrows its didactic scope and structure from the 36
theory of rhetoric. 37
38
39
painting and rhetoric: rules of art and rules of conduct 40
One of the central themes in studies of Dutch art literature has been ‘the rules of art’. Jan Em- 41
mens’s 1964 survey stated that a ‘classicist’ doctrine came to dominate writings about art ever 42
more strongly from the latter half of the seventeenth century onwards. Rather than merely 43
44
45
ch a p t e r i          65
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 65 09-10-2008 17:07:07

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23 fig. 24 – ‘Schema symbolicum novem musarvm et apollinis’, engraving from Athanasius Kircher,
24 Obeliscus Pamphilius, Rome 1650, p. 244.
25
26 focusing on the mathematical rules of perspective and proportion, this theory was predicated,
27 according to Emmens, on an ideological preference for teachable doctrine rather than innate
28 genius, and for an ideal of beauty based on that of antiquity.232 In relation to the ‘rules of art’,
29 Van Hoogstraten adopts an ambivalent position. His assumption that these rules exist is as old
30 as art theory itself; what he means by ‘rules’, however, is far less clear. In the sixteenth and sev-
31 enteenth centuries, following the rules of art is frequently equated with adherence to recta ra-
32 tio, the ‘codes’ for human behaviour that are supposedly found in nature itself. Lomazzo holds,
33 for instance, that the status of painting within the liberal arts is based precisely on the fact that
34 it draws its rules from nature.233 Similarly illuminating is a quotation from Dürer invoked by
35 Van Hoogstraten to show that the mathematical rules he gives for anatomical proportions do
36 not possess universal validity. To Dürer’s mind, physical beauty is so diverse and ‘concealed
37 within nature’ such that it can surprise our powers of judgement: ‘one may sometimes consider
38 two people most beautiful and lovely, while the two have nothing in common’.234 One initial
39 observation that should be made in this context is that in the Inleyding, the ‘rules of art’ are
40 didactic rules.235 Its didactic ‘order of nature’ does not provide a fixed system of rules, but a col-
41 lection of flexible concepts relating to the way in which human skills are developed, concepts
42 that refer to the processes that underlie a work of art and an artist’s development, rather than to
43 a canon of painterly forms and themes.
44
45
66          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 66 09-10-2008 17:07:19

 For a proper evaluation of Van Hoogstraten’s ‘rules of art’, the present study will take 1
into account the nature and intended readership of texts such as the Inleyding, in which didactic 2
precepts for the aspiring painter occur alongside precepts for proper behaviour and morals. 3
The rules for the ‘good life’ are inherently different from the rigid rules of a doctrine classique. 4
After all, codes of conduct serve as guidelines for adapting to particular situations and to dif- 5
ferent audiences. They are pre-eminently rhetorical rules. 6
7
8
Rhetoric in the seventeenth century 9
The relationship between rules of art and rules of conduct in the early modern period needs 10
some explanation. Rhetoric, as a theory of eloquence, has the objective of convincing an audi- 11
ence. Its prime aim is not to transfer intellectual knowledge (although that may be part of it) 12
but to create an affective relationship between speaker and audience. To quote one scholar: 13
since in antiquity all important social, political and legal matters were resolved in an organized 14
public arena, ‘everything under the sun belonged to the orator’s field of competence, and elo- 15
quence was a matter of life and death’.236 Ancient rhetorical theory developed from a collection 16
of practical precepts for persuasive speech into a general theory of civilized communication. 17
Humanist learning promoted the reprinting of rhetorical manuals from antiquity in large edi- 18
tions and the publication of countless new ones, so that anyone referring to rhetorical theory 19
could be quite sure that his references would be understood. This meant that in the early mod- 20
ern period, basing a theoretical text (in fact almost any kind of text) on rhetorical foundations 21
was more of an enabling condition than something providing ‘added value’. 22
The seventeenth century witnessed an upsurge in literature on the rules of rhetoric, 23
some of which dealt with courtly codes of conduct, prompted by the organisation of society at 24
the Habsburg and French courts. The same applied to the Dutch Republic where, even in the 25
absence of a large court, considerable social mobility was possible and rhetoric was an indis- 26
pensable aspect of almost all aspects of public life.237 Van Hoogstraten, himself an able social 27
climber, demonstrated that he was well aware of this state of affairs when he translated courtly 28
ideals for a society of burghers in his Eerlyken jongeling. This book, which refers metaphorically 29
to ‘the great Court of this world’, belongs to the genre of courtiers’ manuals of which Bal­ 30
dassare Castiglione’s archetypal text was translated into Dutch in 1662 by Van Hoogstraten’s 31
close friend Van den Bos.238 The illustrations accompanying a later edition of this work by 32
Romein de Hooghe depict fashionably dressed burghers of the Dutch Republic (fig. 25).239 33
Above all, this courtly literature seeks to inculcate ‘political prudence’ or prudentia, a flexibility 34
in social situations corresponding to the Neostoic doctrine of constancy in complex political 35
conditions. In pursuing this aim, it repeats many of the exhortations from rhetorical theory; 36
the guidelines in Cicero’s De oratore are not only for public speaking but apply more generally 37
to appropriate conduct (he holds that the ideal orator is not only vir dicendi peritus, ‘skilled in 38
speaking’, but also a vir agendi peritus, skilled in acting according to his words).240 That speech 39
is assumed to imply appropriate action is expressed by Van Mander’s explanation of emblem- 40
atic representations of ‘the tongue’: ‘A tongue held upright with one hand signifies eloquence: 41
because eloquence is an act, and the hand is capable of performing that act, and is also proof of 42
power’ (fig. 26).241 43
44
45
ch a p t e r i          67
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 67 09-10-2008 17:07:19

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28 fig. 25 – Romeyn de Hooge, engraving from Lambert van den Bos,
29 Den volmaakten hooveling, Amsterdam 1675.
30
31 In the context of the pursuit of prudence, Den eerlyken jongeling emphasizes the exist-
32 ence of a regulated code of conduct: ‘To stand one’s ground amid so many pernicious hazards,
33 which may arise not only at Court but also in the business of common burghers, one must not
34 emulate bad examples but reconcile oneself to a fixed rule’ (italics mine).242 Nowhere does Van
35 Hoogstraten define the nature of this ‘fixed rule’ explicitly: in practice, it consists of the vari-
36 ous exhortations that he provides in his book, in chapters dealing with issues such as: ‘How to
37 Moderate One’s Passions’ and ‘How to Forge Friendships’, as well as ‘Which Historians Make
38 the Most Instructive Reading’, and ‘On Poetry and Painting and the Knowledge of Countries
39 and Languages’.
40 Elsewhere Van Hoogstraten discusses the need to be able to adapt one’s own conduct to
41 one’s public, and to ‘accede to the passions and opinions of one whose love we desire’.243 Appar-
42 ently, there is no single rule for swaying the public: ‘One’s speech will change in multiple ways
43 according to the person concerned, even though the speaker must always remain himself’.244
44
45
68          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 68 09-10-2008 17:07:30

 He refers to this ‘flexibility’ (buygsaemheyt), the capacity ‘to adopt many different personae’s as 1
one of the primary rules of good behaviour.245 These personae should be capable of persuading 2
different audiences; after all, ‘those with cheerful temperaments will want to hear a different 3
mode of speech from those who are melancholic or earnest’.246 4
What is important is that at various points in the Inleyding, the code for flexible be- 5
haviour serves as a metaphor for the ideal method for a painter. This transposition from the 6
domain of the court to that of the studio is reflected in the author’s love of social metaphors 7
and similes based on a military hierarchy (as Celeste Brusati explored, he calls good painters 8
‘commanders’ and lesser ones ‘soldiers’, and he compares painterly composition to the move- 9
ment of troops on a battlefield).247 For example, the concept of decorum, which in rhetorical 10
theory means judging the right style of speech for different social situations, is used by Van 11
Hoogstraten in a far broader sense, and relates to practical matters such as the artist’s adjust- 12
ment of painted vegetation to the surrounding landscape.248 He is not the only author to make 13
these connections; a striking parallel between the painter’s conduct and rhetorical decorum 14
occurs in De Lairesse’s theory, which exhorts painters to conduct a civil conversation attuned 15
to the sitter’s character when painting a portrait.249 Van Hoogstraten even measures the suc- 16
cess of the painter’s ability to ‘deceive the eye’ by the social rank of the one deceived; when 17
he himself had managed to deceive the emperor, he had attained the acme of artistic skill. But 18
the most important social element which plays a cohesive role in Van Hoogstraten’s treatise is 19
the elusive concept of grace. This concept, which relates to a wide field of associations ranging 20
from theology to dancing, is accorded a central role in courtiers’ manuals, in which it refers 21
to the ‘pleasing behaviour’ necessary to successful social intercourse as well as to convincing 22
oratory. In art theory, it refers to the painting’s ‘pleasing’ appearance, without which it cannot 23
persuade its viewers. As an essential element of political as well as artistic behaviour, grace is 24
accorded a central role in the fourth chapter of the Eerlyken jongeling and the eighth chapter of 25
the Inleyding. Grace is deemed a finishing touch, and as such it is pre-eminently beyond the re- 26
mit of a doctrinal system of rules. Van Hoogstraten describes it as ‘a natural favour that should 27
perforce be of assistance in all exercises. This is a factor of such sublimity that no teaching or 28
rules of art can achieve it.’250 29
How may Van Hoogstraten’s ‘rules of art’ be compared to the rhetorical rules in his 30
Eerlyken jongeling? For the Italian tradition, the relationship between rhetoric and art theory 31
has been the object of frequent study; little has been done in this area for the Dutch tradition, 32
however. There are many dimensions to the application of rhetoric to art theory. First of all, 33
rhetorical principles largely determine the terms, concepts and structures used in art theory. 34
Second, the Inleyding forges a link between painting and rhetoric. As the next chapters will ex- 35
plore, the treatise follows traditional art theory in adapting the orator’s tasks (officia oratoris: the 36
elements of the process of making a speech) to painting, as well as the virtues of speech (virtutes 37
dicendi: perspicuity, ornament and decorum). The same holds true for Van Hoogstraten’s ‘de- 38
grees of art’ (the genera pingendi), with their corresponding three functions: to teach, to delight 39
and to move (prodessse, delectare, movere). Furthermore, the treatise contains individual concepts 40
such as imitation, judgement, brevity and ‘energy’ (imitatio, iudicium, brevitas and energeia) 41
which play a role in rhetorical theory and are used in a specific sense in art theory too. 42
In the early modern period, rhetoric was one of the few ways of discussing the artes in a 43
44
45
ch a p t e r i          69
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 69 09-10-2008 17:07:30

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12 fig. 26 – ‘Tu servare potes tu perdere’, emblem from Sebastián de Covarrubias Orozco,
13 Emblemas Morales, Madrid 1610, vol. III, no. 66.
14
15 meaningful way. It was not just a general theory of communication; it also possessed political,
16 ethical and artistic components. In courtiers’ manuals, it is the ethical component that makes
17 itself felt most strongly, but this component also provides added value to art-theoretical views,
18 especially where a painting’s power to emotionally ‘move’ the spectator is involved, as will
19 be shown in detail in chapter IV. As Aristotle notes in the second book of his Rhetoric, which
20 relates to mass psychology, oratory has a vital function; it is capable of effecting an enduring
21 change of character in the public, and consequently to ‘move it to (political) action’.
22
23
24 The ‘Inleyding’ as an epideictic text
25 Dutch art theorists exhort painters to master rhetoric in order to sing the praises of their trade.
26 Philips Angel’s eulogy on painting, for instance, holds that painters should apply themselves to
27 ‘the sweet-tongued eloquence of Apelles, which was so sweet that Alexander took great delight
28 in it, frequently coming to visit, to converse with him.’251 Van Hoogstraten echoes this senti-
29 ment when he advises painters to consort with courtiers and men of letters: ‘since a painter
30 must associate frequently with the great and worldly-wise, it is apt for him to acquire a fluency
31 of speech drenched in knowledge’.252 He notes that art ‘is loved in all the courts of the world,
32 and sovereigns and princes who wish to speak eloquently about it will frequently be obliged
33 to hear our words.’253 Thus in writing the Inleyding, he calls on the Muse of rhetoric to assist
34 him.254
35 Three kinds of rhetoric were distinguished in ancient treatises on the subject: delibera-
36 tive, used in politics; judicial, used in law; and epideictic, used chiefly for ceremonial occasions.
37 Vossius’s Beghinselen der redenrijk-konst refers to these three kinds, describing an epideictic
38 oration as that in which one ‘praises or slanders’, for which the arguments of laudatio or vitu-
39 peratio may be used. He refers to ‘eloquence’ itself and to ‘agriculture’ as exemplary subjects
40 for a eulogy.255 The rhetorical theory of the Roman authors whom Van Hoogstraten repeat-
41 edly quotes is heavily biased towards epideictic speech: it is here that the orator can go to town
42 and show off his qualities. The Inleyding, along with Angel’s treatise explicitly entitled Lof der
43 schilderkonst (In Praise of Painting) and, in fact, most texts on art theory belong to the epideictic
44
45
70          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 70 09-10-2008 17:07:31

 genre; epideictic arguments underlie many of the incongruities in Van Hoogstraten’s text, in 1
which he flaunts as much learning as possible. The text is an eloquent ‘performance’ in which 2
different types of prose, poetry and visual material collaborate to ‘sing the praises of painting’. 3
The flexibility of rhetorical rules provides writings like this with a different structure than that 4
of a strictly logical line of reasoning. This may be clarified by looking at the adaptability of Van 5
Hoogstraten’s rules of art. 6
Regarding the ‘rules’ supplied by his Muses, Van Hoogstraten observes that the rhe- 7
torical description of any particular liberal art benefits more from amplification, or stylistic 8
flourishes, than from doctrinal rules.256 As Ernst Gombrich pointed out in his 1966 study ‘The 9
Renaissance Concept of Artistic Progress and its Consequences’, early modern views on the 10
status of the artes were based on the belief that the liberal arts were not governed by a rigid sys- 11
tem of rules.257 While crafts were supposedly founded on immutable rules handed down in the 12
workshop, an art developed in the course of history, its ‘rules’ constantly changing in response 13
to each new situation; the pursuit of the liberal arts thus called for a broad education. This 14
view is reflected in seventeenth-century painting treatises. Junius, for instance, emphasizes that 15
the rules of art are subordinate to the insight conferred by artistic imitatio: ‘The instruction to 16
be gained from rules is long and arduous, while the instruction to be gained from examples is 17
short and powerful’.258 Van Hoogstraten and Junius both maintain that for a liberal art, talent 18
is of fundamental importance; it is the good soil that determines the way in which the ‘seed’ of 19
the rules of art will develop.259 In this context, Goeree also repeats the Stoic comparison with 20
the ‘seed of art’.260 In the Eerlyken jongeling, the author holds that ‘rules’ are merely precepts 21
based on subjective judgement and long experience; ‘the arts ... cultivate a seed of wisdom, 22
such that when one has experienced a wealth of examples, when a particular case arises the 23
rule becomes apparent, and the mind becomes able to judge a matter well.’261 Education, in 24
consequence, cannot be confined to the provision of rules, but must be adapted to each pupil’s 25
personality.262 26
Rhetorical rules evidently belong to the realm of ‘practical reason’: only by being ap- 27
plied in everyday life do they prove their worth. In the Eerlyken jongeling, Van Hoogstraten 28
states: ‘Instruction serves only to guide, and does not in itself achieve anything.’263 In the Inley- 29
ding he writes, in a similar vein, that it is only through studio application that the rules of art 30
prove their validity. He posits that ‘no one will derive complete understanding from these 31
writings unless he labours to learn this Art until the sweat stands on his brow.’264 Here, Van 32
Hoogstraten shows himself to be aware of the danger that rhetoric poses to painting: after all, 33
‘it is more proper for Painting to show than to speak’; art consists of ‘doing well, not speaking 34
well’.265 Painters must beware lest they become mere ‘masters of the mouth’, and resemble the 35
orator who wanted to impersonate a general in the presence of Hannibal himself: Van Hoog- 36
straten compares this ridiculous figure to writers of art theory who are not skilled in the prac- 37
tice of art.266 The disparagement of a surfeit of empty rhetoric – which actually undermines 38
the persuasiveness of a speech – is, indeed, a popular theme in rhetoric itself.267 In the Eerlyken 39
jongeling, Van Hoogstraten simply warns against too much hot air and calls speech ‘a precious 40
treasure ... the motions of which are so delicate that they cannot be practised without distinct 41
danger.’268 He also distinguishes clearly between speaking about art, and the activity of painting 42
itself: ‘poets may become masters by thinking, painters by doing. We shall teach someone how 43
44
45
ch a p t e r i          71
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 71 09-10-2008 17:07:31

1 to speak beautifully about art, with the aid of the nine Muses, but we shall not make a painter
2 with this teaching, unless he sets to work diligently with his hands’.269
3 The need to combine theory and practice is expressed in Van Hoogstraten’s views on
4 the importance of the elusive quality of the ‘eye and judgement’ that the rhetoricians call iu-
5 dicium.270 He posits that while the rules of art may enable someone to speak about art, he will
6 find himself corrected by someone who is ‘untutored’ but who has ‘compasses in his eye’.271
7 Elsewhere he speaks of a ‘painterly eye, more skilful in representing with images than with
8 words’.272 The painter may develop this visual judgement, based on practical experience, even
9 by studying minor details of the visible world: ‘For almost any part of nature is capable of
10 fuelling this attentiveness, and honing one’s sharpness of eye.’273 He states that physical beauty
11 is a matter of subjective judgement as well, and that ‘the true benefit’ of anatomical knowl-
12 edge is not felt until it is held up to ‘living nature’.274 In considering this theoretical prefer-
13 ence for practice over theory, or action over speech, the famous pronouncement attributed to
14 Annibale Caracci may be borne in mind – that painters, unlike orators, ‘must talk with their
15 hands’.275
16 These observations about the importance of the practical application of theory suggest
17 that there is no point in searching for a single, unequivocal basic principle in an epideictic text.
18 Hessel Miedema concluded that Van Mander’s various views and pronouncements on painting
19 are not informed by any single theoretical preference, but that they are best summarized by the
20 comment ‘All is good that has a pleasing appearance’ (’t is al goed, wat wel staet).276 Van Man-
21 der’s treatise gives the appropriate commonplaces for informed discussions of painting, rather
22 than providing a fixed system of rules.277 This observation also holds true for the Inleyding
23 – the author, for instance, having defined three subdivisions or species of painting, adds that
24 these categories should be treated fairly loosely.278 All this does not mean that it is impossible
25 or unnecessary to assume that Van Hoogstraten’s art theory is internally cohesive and follows
26 a specific line of reasoning, merely that the line he follows is rhetorically rather than logically
27 consistent – a reasoning in which argument from tradition, from recognizability that fosters
28 persuasiveness, is the decisive factor.
29 This fundamental flexibility should be kept in mind when using rhetoric as a key to the
30 interpretation of Dutch texts of art theory. The problems involved in the transfer of concepts
31 from rhetoric and poetics to art theory and the visual arts have frequently been noted.279 Rhe-
32 torical terms, unlike philosophical ones, are not based on logical coherence, but can be adapted
33 to changing circumstances. Instead of a canon of doctrinal rules, rhetoric provides a versatile
34 vocabulary that can be used in speech, action, and aesthetic judgement. This flexibility makes it
35 easier to understand how rhetorical concepts have endured in different periods and in different
36 political and social contexts, and the multiplicity of skills and subjects with which rhetorical
37 theory was associated in the early modern period. One consequence is that we shall seldom
38 find a one-to-one relationship between a term used by, say, Quintilian and a similar term in
39 Van Hoogstraten’s text. For a contextualization of Van Hoogstraten’s vocabulary, however, it is
40 nonetheless very useful to incorporate the ancient rhetoricians into the analysis. What makes
41 the study of rhetorical terms interesting is not so much their specific meaning in antiquity (as
42 their transmission seldom follows a direct line), but their transformation when applied to new
43 situations.
44
45
72          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 72 09-10-2008 17:07:31

 The epideictic nature of the Inleyding means that aspects that may strike the modern 1
reader as completely unconnected are combined in Van Hoogstraten’s theory; for instance, in 2
his discussion of the passions, he links an exhortation to be filled with poetic frenzy, deriving 3
from tradition, to a practical suggestion to use a mirror and study one’s own facial features. A 4
little research reveals that this concrete piece of advice is also sanctioned by rhetorical tradi- 5
tion; in the Eerlyken jongeling it is ascribed to Demosthenes.280 6
7
8
Painting and eloquence 9
Van Hoogstraten uses the comparison between painting and rhetoric as an argument to bol- 10
ster his point that painting is one of the liberal arts, ‘since although it is said to be dumb, it 11
nonetheless speaks plentifully, in a Hieroglyphic manner.’281 At other times too, he compares 12
the powers of painting with those of eloquence and refers approvingly to the actor Rossius, 13
who claimed to Cicero that hand gestures were more eloquent than words.282 In this context, 14
it should be noted that the formula ut pictura poesis has an important rhetorical foundation. 15
Poetry belongs to the liberal arts only in its capacity as part of rhetoric, and is thus allotted the 16
same fundamental function of persuading the audience.283 In effect, Paleotti singles out pre- 17
cisely this rhetorical function as the correspondence between poetry and painting.284 18
The wish to raise painting’s intellectual status thus explains why many commonplaces 19
from art theory stem from rhetorical theory. Van Hoogstraten clarifies his views on painterly 20
composition (ordinnantie), for instance, by invoking the subdivisions of rhetoric.285 His German 21
colleague Von Sandrart compares painting and rhetoric on the basis of their three functions: 22
to instruct, to delight and to move;286 indeed, in the frontispiece to his Cabinet, De Bie depicts 23
Pictura next to Poesis, who is identified in the caption as ‘rhetoric with her sweet-rhyming po- 24
etry’ (fig. 27).287 In Italy, Lodovico Dolce remarks in his colloquy L’Aretino (1557) that rhetoric 25
and painting went hand in hand in antiquity, and that Demosthenes himself was a creditable 26
painter.288 Junius’s book likewise places painting and rhetoric on an equal footing, applying the 27
theory of rhetoric to painting almost unchanged, frequently by replacing the word ‘orator’ 28
with the word ‘painter’. 29
These comparisons of rhetoric to painting were self-evident to seventeenth-century 30
readers since they had been made by the ancient orators themselves. Quintilian, for example, 31
writes that visual aids can greatly enhance the persuasiveness of an argument, citing Phryne, 32
who, by exposing her nakedness, surpassed the rhetoric of Hyperides. But he is scornful of 33
orators who actually incorporate painted images into their arguments: by doing so, they show 34
themselves incapable of producing a similarly graphic effect in their speech.289 Rhetoric and 35
painting have indeed known simultaneous periods of flowering and decline, says Junius: ‘these 36
Arts do love one another wonderfull well: ... It is a wonderfull thing, that picture hath ever 37
flourished when eloquence did beare a great sway; ... but eloquence falling, picture also could 38
not stand any longer.’290 That painting and rhetoric developed in equal step, coinciding in their 39
times of flowering and decline, is another commonplace (dum viguit eloquentia, viguit pictura). 40
From this vantage point, both painting and rhetoric are liberal arts with an inherently flexible 41
tradition that endures in an essentially uninterrupted line from antiquity until the seventeenth 42
century; the classical painters and orators, even though they are known only by reputation, are 43
44
45
ch a p t e r i          73
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 73 09-10-2008 17:07:31

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28 fig. 27 – Title page to Cornelis de Bie, Het gulden cabinet van de edel vry schilderconst, Antwerp 1661.
29
30 regarded as real objects of emulation.291 Vossius explicitly compares art theory to rhetorical
31 theory, deriving his classification of the ‘parts of painting’ directly from rhetoric.292
32 In the art-theoretical tradition, comparisons between rhetoric and painting are fre-
33 quently justified by stating that they are both based on the same foundations. Speech and
34 painting, as representational activities, are predicated on the ability to form ‘mental images’ of
35 reality. The decisive factor, therefore, rather than the modern belief that all thought is related
36 to language, is precisely the belief that all thought is essentially visual in nature, as asserted
37 most notably by Aristotle in De anima: ‘The soul never thinks without images’.293 Vossius de-
38 fines the common origin of visual and verbal ‘speech’ as graphein, which he says meant ‘to draw’
39 as well as ‘to write’ in ancient Greek.294 Many authors emphasize the intellectual origin of both
40 skills:295 Van Mander, for instance, compares drawing to literacy: both are universally applied
41 to record and communicate mental images;296 Paleotti discusses the respective ages of the arts
42 of painting and speech, observing: ‘just as words, like messengers, convey our concepts to oth-
43 ers, the art of painting conveys the things we mean to the mind’s eye of others’, which compari-
44
45
74          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 74 09-10-2008 17:07:44

 son he uses to explain the Latin term graphice.297 These remarks suggest that the comparison 1
drawn in the early modern period between rhetoric and painting should be construed literally 2
rather than figuratively. There was certainly no ontological separation between two domains 3
of language and image in this period; in many cases, word and image were seen as supplemen- 4
tary and mutually enhancing elements, a view that explains the popularity of emblem books, 5
for instance, and of Comenius’s Sichtbare Welt, which propagates a didactic method based on 6
images.298 The use of personifications to represent virtues was not seen as a shift to a different 7
sphere, but precisely as a consolidation within a single cohesive domain. This explains that Van 8
Hoogstraten’s comparisons between pictura and poesis are more than metaphorical; they fulfil 9
a structural function in his theory of art. For instance, he compares knowledge of different 10
colours to a knowledge of the alphabet, and compares painting to pictographic scripts such as 11
(or so he believes) Egyptian hieroglyphics and Chinese script.299 12
The view that painting, like hieroglyphics – which were generally regarded in the sev- 13
enteenth century as a collection of emblematic symbols – ‘speaks’, illustrates that language was 14
not construed as a function of context. Words, like images, were seen primarily as symbols, 15
each with its own meaning (or, in the case of homonyms, with different fixed meanings), and 16
the two media can reinforce each other in a straightforward way. Von Sandrart says: ‘Thus 17
painting holds forth, and verses can play / orators, poets, word-colours convey’.300 The close 18
relationship posited between word and image is addressed in Camphuysen’s rhetorical vitu- 19
peratio, which calls painting a ‘dumb lie’ and states: ‘The image is an orator, (alas!) one all too 20
inarticulate’.301 The vehemence with which Camphuysen assails the dictum ut pictura rhetorica 21
demonstrates its great popularity in Dutch seventeenth-century culture. 22
The equation of the domains of word and image enables art theorists to arrive at the 23
paradoxical conclusion that painting can be more rhetorical than rhetoric itself. Junius states 24
that the best author tries to equal the painter’s powers: ‘he is the best Historian that can adorne 25
his Narration with such forcible figures and lively colours of Rhetorike, as to make it like unto a 26
Picture’.302 Accordingly, the playwright Jan Vos repeats Horace’s well-known maxim: ‘What we 27
hear, / with weaker passion will affect the heart, / than when the faithful eye beholds the part’, 28
and Van Hoogstraten too states that the testimony of the eyes is ‘far more acute’ than that of the 29
ear.303 Paleotti explains this preference by stating that painting is ‘closer to nature’ than writing 30
or speech, and that one can therefore more easily create the impression of simplicity and natural- 31
ness – which is a prerequisite for persuasiveness – through painting than through rhetoric.304 32
33
34
Painting and moral philosophy 35
David van Hoogstraten maintains, in his Rederykkonst (1725), that Plato and Aristotle made 36
rhetoric into ‘a queen of people, when they called her Stirrer of Souls’.305 The ancient Roman 37
theorists of rhetoric, who emphasized the function of movere, stirring the emotions, are espe- 38
cially important for the early modern view of rhetoric. Their emphasis is echoed in art theory. 39
Sperone Speroni, in his Dialogo della rhetorica (1596), asserts that both painting and rhetoric 40
have the function of exerting an affective influence on the viewer or listener, and of inducing 41
him to feel love, fury or hatred.306 This suggests that there is more than a demonstration of 42
proof at stake: rhetoric is believed to accomplish a permanent character change in members of 43
44
45
ch a p t e r i          75
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 75 09-10-2008 17:07:44

1 the audience. Paleotti emphasizes that painters are far more capable than orators of inducing
2 a ‘complete change of opinion’,307 while Francesco Bocchi writes in 1592 that the rhetorical
3 power of painting is such that the beholder ‘becomes another person’.308
4 Some of these observations come from adherents of the ideology of the Counter-Ref-
5 ormation; in chapter IV, we shall see how they relate to prevailing views of art in the seven-
6 teenth-century Netherlands. Broadly speaking, the emotional and ethical influence of a work
7 of art was thought to derive from how the scene represented was deemed applicable to the be-
8 holder’s own circumstances. Even without employing any complex symbolism or allegory, the
9 seventeenth-century beholder could make an ‘exegesis’ of aspects of reality and infer his own
10 position in society from the actions of others. In this connection, Paleotti holds that ‘where
11 profane paintings are concerned, which depict subjects as different as wars, lands, buildings,
12 animals, trees, plants and so forth, one cannot deny that almost all things, whether occurring
13 in nature or made by Man, if painted in the right way, may be of some practical benefit in one’s
14 life’.309 Similarly, Zuccari states that one may also infer guiding principles for a virtuous life
15 from representations of the actions of others, both praiseworthy and reprehensible, and thus
16 painting may ‘make one wise, prudent (prudente) and virtuous’.310
17 The orator, like the painter, can only achieve this enduring change of character by pro-
18 jecting a convincing ethos – that is, he himself must impress others as someone of exemplary
19 moral behaviour. Vossius, for instance, holds in his Beginselen that ‘an orator must ensure above
20 all that he radiates prudence, piety and benevolence. For we are easily inclined to believe those
21 who both understand their subject and are well-disposed to us’.311 It is by creating a shared
22 sense of ‘people like us’ with his audience that the orator maximizes his persuasiveness, and
23 at the same time he must guard against affectation and a surfeit of book learning that would
24 expose his true intentions. Accordingly, Van Hoogstraten believes that the eloquence of the
25 vir bonus or ‘good man’ must be curtailed by the impression of simplicity and prudence. Such
26 speakers are ‘modest and polite ... and if one consorts with them, their disposition glows with
27 so much grace and their heart with such piety ... that anyone would count himself fortunate to
28 spend his entire life in their company.’312
29 The orator or painter must therefore, above all, be master of his own passions, if he is
30 to sway the passions of others. The painter’s supposed experience of the passions makes him a
31 good judge of human nature. Goeree underpins the usefulness of his Natuurlyk en schilderkon-
32 stig ontwerp der menschkunde (Outline of Natural and Painterly Anatomy, 1682), which deals with
33 the human passions as well as anatomy for the artist, by pointing out that ‘Knowledge of
34 human nature is not only of great importance to Drawing and Painting, but also contributes
35 to a civilized society and enhances social intercourse’. Knowledge of how the passions are ex-
36 pressed in the human face is an aspect of communication: ‘Indeed, is this knowledge not also
37 necessary in everyday dealings with our fellow human beings?’313
38 These quotations suggest that the significance of rhetoric in terms of moral philosophy
39 is fundamental to the comparison of painting with the ‘art of living the good life’.314 The rhe-
40 torically trained man who has determined to lead a life of exemplary morals, the ideal of a vir
41 bonus dicendi peritus, is transformed in seventeenth-century art theory into the good man skilled
42 in the art of painting: vir bonus pingendi peritus, to repeat a dictum coined by Allan Ellenius.315
43 Leon Battista Alberti provides a fairly literal adaptation of rhetorical theory when he posits
44
45
76          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 76 09-10-2008 17:07:44

 that the ideal painter is a ‘good man and learned in the liberal arts’ (vir et bonus, et doctus bon- 1
arum artium), and that a painter who conducts himself with humanity (humanitas) and affability 2
is frequently better able to win over his public than one who may be more skilled in his craft, 3
but lacks the ability to make a good impression.316 Likewise, Lomazzo explains that painters 4
can use their understanding of the human passions to act as ‘philosophers’ by being ‘modest, 5
humane (umano) and considerate in all their dealings ... as one learns from philosophy’, citing 6
the examples of the ‘sage’ Leonardo, the ‘gymnosophist’ Michelangelo, the ‘mathematician’ 7
Mantegna, the ‘philosopher’ Raphael and the ‘great Druid’ Dürer. ‘They derived their fame 8
not only from their art, but from the humanity (l’umanità) of their conduct, which earned 9
them the affection of all who spoke to them.’317 This is more than a mere biographical note: as 10
we shall see in chapter III, according to early modern views, the painter’s character is directly 11
related to his work. 12
The passage in Dutch art theory that comes closest to the formulation vir bonus pingendi 13
peritus can be found in Van Mander’s ‘Grondt’. Van Mander explains the affective power of 14
painting to ‘sweetly move’ the viewer’s eyes, heart and feelings in terms of the painter’s capacity 15
to make an impression of ‘piety and honour’. This is ‘an Art above all Arts’, which is capable 16
of ‘frequently moving, stirring, even the hearts of peasants’. Van Mander refers to this prepos- 17
sessing behaviour as a quality peculiar to painters, and contrasts their ‘mild, wise, reasonable 18
words’ with the squabbling of market women.318 He names Raphael and Titian as perfect ex- 19
amples of vires boni, whose ‘noble and pleasant manner’ won favour with the learned and re- 20
nowned.319 This moral function makes painting a generally beneficial activity; De Bie believes 21
that ‘this Art consists of three qualities of Nobility, namely political, natural and spiritual’, 22
citing examples of kings, statesmen and churchmen who purportedly practised painting.320 23
The following chapters will discuss various elements that clarify the rhetorical nature 24
of Van Hoogstraten’s theory of art. It will become clear, for instance, how the supposed ‘il- 25
lusionist’ or ‘naturalistic’ aims of painting are, in his treatise, judged in rhetorical terms. Van 26
Hoogstraten also applies the universal scope that is traditionally ascribed to rhetoric to his 27
own profession, and accords the art of painting the status of ‘universal knowledge’. As will be 28
demonstrated in chapter II, which deals with the concept of imitatio, the rhetorical theory of 29
­ekphrasis is of great importance in this connection, as well as the supposedly persuasive func- 30
tion of specific themes and styles. It will also become clear that the rhetorical basis is neither 31
exclusive to Southern European views of art nor confined to the genre of history painting. 32
Rhetoric provides a complete theory, from the process of creating a work of art up to and 33
including its effect on the viewer, and is thus also relevant to subjects like landscapes and still- 34
lifes.321 35
It will become clear that rhetoric provides a cohesive thread linking what appear other- 36
wise to be unrelated views. The next chapters will explore in more detail how Van Hoogstraten’s 37
ideas are embedded in an essentially rhetorical culture. This culture supplies his conceptual 38
framework: a framework that establishes meaningful relationships between diverse terms and 39
concepts, relationships based not on the laws of logic, but on those of rhetoric itself. This ap- 40
proach is based on the belief that rhetoric not only determines the structure of the Inleyding, 41
but also provides the rational cohesiveness for the ostensibly quite dissimilar terms of art criti- 42
cism distinguished by Van Hoogstraten. 43
44
45
ch a p t e r i          77
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 77 09-10-2008 17:07:44

1 Seen from this point of view, rhetoric is an important factor in any discussion of sev-
2 enteenth-century painting that takes treatises from the period as its point of departure. It will
3 become clear that the analysis of distinct artistic terms may be supplemented by the study of
4 the lexical structure within which these terms operate – a structure that is fundamentally de-
5 termined by rhetoric.322 Rhetoric is an art-historical aid with the multifunctionality of a Swiss
6 army-knife: in the first place it provides a key to the apparently chaotic genre of treatises on
7 painting; in the second place, it provides a cohesive framework for the diverse words, concepts
8 and commonplaces used by authors such as Van Hoogstraten; and in the third place, it provides
9 a vantage-point for the modern viewer who seeks to understand the seventeenth-century sys-
10 tem for judging paintings, so as to work within the discursive structure applicable in the period
11 itself.
12
13 ◆
14
15 Van Hoogstraten’s position in the republic of letters defines the limitations and scope of our
16 study into the ideological background of his views; it also determines the options that were
17 available to him in his project of investing his profession with theoretical legitimacy. The
18 present analysis will take into account the fact that Van Hoogstraten’s text draws on argu-
19 ments from different origins, which are not necessarily logically compatible or directly related
20 to seventeenth-century painting practice. They are part of an encyclopaedic whole governed
21 not by a system of ‘rationalistic’ aesthetics but by the rules of epideictic reasoning, in which
22 arguments from antiquity are automatically invested with authority. We shall also return to
23 the observation that the didactic foundations of this reasoning were ultimately geared towards
24 an ethical objective. As rhetorical theory seeks to embrace all forms of communication and
25 action, it defines the seventeenth-century view of the artist as vir bonus pingendi peritus. In the
26 structure of his treatise, Van Hoogstraten indeed emphasizes the similarities between a cur-
27 riculum doctrinae and a curriculum vitae, in a hierarchical classification of the ‘parts of painting’
28 that ultimately leads to ethical perfection. As we shall see, his views can be linked to ideas about
29 the human passions informed by ancient Stoicism, to the analysis of emotion and hypocrisy in
30 courtiers’ manuals, and to ethical debates that were current when the Inleyding was published.
31 In this context, the ethical tasks of painting will be shown to be related to its assumed rhetorical
32 and theatrical powers.
33 Another matter that will receive attention is the international nature of art theory, and
34 more especially the formative influence of the Italian literary tradition on Van Hoogstraten’s
35 views. As the Inleyding is more than simply an idiosyncratic offshoot of the author’s social aspi-
36 rations, and reflects his express desire to contribute to the tradition of art theory, the present
37 study will analyse Van Hoogstraten’s position in this tradition, proceeding on the assumption
38 that the written sources reflect wider-ranging debates in the studios of Northern and South-
39 ern Europe. The analysis will also touch upon matters far broader than the teaching of young
40 painters. Texts such as the Inleyding provide examples for topoi and a lexical structure for the
41 ‘civil conversation’ in the studio, which could legitimize the activities of painters and art lov-
42 ers alike. In this context, it should be noted that Dutch authors within this international genre
43
44
45
78          in the republic of letters
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 78 09-10-2008 17:07:44

 were conscious that they were writing in Dutch. This raises the question of whether they were 1
concerned with identifying national characteristics of Dutch painting. 2
In short, the overview of Van Hoogstraten’s intellectual possibilities presented in this 3
chapter is the first stage in a study of his effort to give legitimacy to the art of painting. The 4
next chapters will explore in more detail how his contentions are anchored in, and informed 5
by, the scholarly, literary and ethical views for which his humanist surroundings composed the 6
framework.323 7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
chapter i          79
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 79 09-10-2008 17:07:44

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 80 09-10-2008 17:07:52

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Ch a p t er I I 18
19
20
21

T h e V i sibl e W orl d
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i 81
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 81 10-10-2008 16:24:27

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34 fig. 28 – Detail from Samuel van Hoogstraten, title page to
35 Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst, Rotterdam 1678.
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
82          
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 82 09-10-2008 17:07:57

 1
2
3
Chapter I I 4
5
6
The Visible World 7
8
9
10
11
‘[One can] succinctly but tellingly describe painting, the education of the eyes, the 12
full sister of poetry, as the art of seeing. I truly regard those who are not adept in 13
this scarcely as complete persons. I call them blind people, who look no differently at 14
the sky, the sea or the earth than do their cattle that they let graze with their heads 15
down. They look at those things without seeing them.’ 16
Constantijn Huygens, De vita propria 17
18
19
20
Van Hoogstraten begins his introductory address ‘To the Reader’ by expressing his desire to 21
invest the art of painting with a status among the liberal arts. He wants to contribute to the 22
tradition of art theory so as to make plain that his profession is more than a craft, since ‘this art 23
encompasses the entire Visible World; and ... there is scarcely a single art or science of which it 24
is fitting for a Painter to remain ignorant’ (italics SvH). The argument that painting requires a 25
thorough grounding in numerous fields of knowledge had already been put forward by Alberti; 26
earlier, Cicero demanded similar scholarship of the orator.1 The notion that painting should be 27
elevated so far above a craft because it ‘encompasses the entire Visible World’ is, though, less 28
manifestly a commonplace from the tradition.2 29
The subject of the ‘Visible World’ warrants an initial role in the analysis of Van Hoog- 30
straten’s views about the art of his countrymen. This chapter will adduce various elements 31
of the tradition of art theory to clarify the way the concept of the ‘visible world’ played not 32
just an original, but an essential, part in his endeavour to provide a legitimation for the art of 33
painting. 34
Van Hoogstraten expressly presents this concept in the design and illustration of his 35
book. The art theory expounded in the Inleyding elaborates on the depiction of the visible 36
world through specific themes; an analysis of these themes will make clear that Van Hoog- 37
straten presents the art of painting as a pre-eminently virtuous occupation and concludes that 38
it is comparable to philosophy as an investigative activity. 39
We will examine how Van Hoogstraten’s definition of the art of painting as ‘the mir- 40
ror of nature’ is on the one hand rooted in the older tradition of art theory; on the other, the 41
Inleyding appears to constitute a shift in the conception of nature as a subject of painting. This 42
shift sheds new light on a recent interpretation of artistic ‘realism’ in the seventeenth century, 43
44
45
          83
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 83 09-10-2008 17:07:57

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19 fig. 29 – Emblem no. 6 from Georgette de Montenay, Emblèmes ou devises chrestiennes, La Rochelle 1620.
20
21 an interpretation which takes the world view of Calvinism as its point of departure. As we shall
22 see, philosophy, particularly Stoicism, is also relevant.
23
24
25 ‘Or the visible world’
26 In structuring his treatise, Van Hoogstraten employs a range of devices to focus attention on
27 the important role that the depiction of the visible world plays in his art theory. The first and
28 most obvious is the subtitle, Or the Visible World (fig. 1). This subtitle is intended on the one
29 hand to link the Inleyding with its proposed supplement, the Invisible World. On the other it can
30 be conceived as a more precise identification of painting and its ability to depict the whole of
31 the visible world. Van Hoogstraten writes in ‘To the Reader’: ‘That I also call [the book] the
32 Visible World is because the Art of Painting shows all that is visible’.3
33 The illustration on the title page of the Inleyding presents the ‘visible world’ symboli-
34 cally (fig. 28). The muse Clio, whom Van Hoogstraten associates with the most demanding
35 subject for artists, namely history painting, shows the young painter the object of his initial
36 endeavours, while Melpomene (associated with chiaroscuro) throws light on it with a torch. It
37 is a terrestrial globe partly concealed under a drape. A poem on the facing page (‘On the Title
38 Print’) explains: ‘The Student Painter stands here in the title print ... And Clio shows him the
39 greatest beauties of the Visible World’ (italics SvH). The poem and illustration suggest that by
40 going through the learning process set down in the Inleyding, the pupil will be able to remove
41 the veil covering the globe and thus master ‘the entire visible world’. Van Hoogstraten may
42 have borrowed his symbolism from emblem literature, where it signifies the earth weighed
43 down with sin; this suggests that the attainment of painterly success implies concomitant moral
44 perfection (fig. 29).
45
84          the v isibl e worl d
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 84 09-10-2008 17:08:09

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
fig. 30 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, Urania, title page of Chapter 9 of the 27
Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst. 28
29
A globe of similar dimensions appears in the title print to the last chapter in the Inley- 30
ding, dedicated to the muse Urania (fig. 30). In this chapter, the reader is deemed to have 31
completed the hooge schoole or ‘academy’ of painting, and the rewards of a successful career as a 32
painter are revealed. The globe beside Urania is not concealed by a veil and can consequently 33
be conceived as the visible world, all of whose elements the painter can now depict.4 34
The globe also appears in Van Hoogstraten’s etched self-portrait on one of the first 35
pages of his book (figs. 31 and 32). Beside the painter, who has portrayed himself quill pen in 36
hand, stands a sculpture of Atlas bearing a large globe. While Van Hoogstraten pictures him- 37
self here as the author of art theory, he is at the same time presenting, allegorically, the subject 38
of the art of painting, that is ‘the entire visible world’. In the background there is a second 39
circle, shrouded in mist; an inscription enables us to identify it as the ‘invisible world’ (this is 40
not equally clear on all the states of the etching, see below, fig. 119). 41
In the first chapter Van Hoogstraten examines the aim and function of the art of paint- 42
ing and its relation to the visible world. He devotes a section to the definition of painting, titled 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i           85
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 85 09-10-2008 17:08:12

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26 fig. 31 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, Self-portrait, grisaille on panel, 28 x 22 cm.
27 Museum Mr. Simon van Gijn, Dordrecht.
28
29 ‘Van het oogmerk der Schilderkonst; wat ze is, en te weeg brengt’ (‘On the Purpose of Paint-
30 ing; What It Is, and Brings About’). This begins as follows:
31
32 ‘Painting is a science for depicting all ideas, or mental images, that the entire visible
33 world can provide: and deceiving the eye with outline and colour ... For a perfect
34 Painting is like a mirror of Nature, making things that are not appear to be, and deceiv-
35 ing in a permissible, diverting and commendable way.’5
36
37 In ‘To the Reader’ Van Hoogstraten observes straight away that painting is not a craft; it is, to
38 his mind, comparable with the arts and sciences because it can depict ‘the entire visible world’.
39 He urges painters not to confine themselves to one specialism but to become a ‘universal or
40 general master’: to become proficient in all the elements of the visible world.6 It is this all-
41 embracing character, in his view, that largely sets painting apart from the crafts, which are spe-
42 cialist by their very nature. The universality of painting means that it occupies an exceptional
43 position among the arts and sciences:
44
45
86          the v isibl e worl d
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 86 10-10-2008 16:24:29

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
fig. 32 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, engraved self-portrait in the 26
Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst, Rotterdam 1678. 27
28
‘And one must not doubt, says G[erardus] Vossius, that one science is of mutual help 29
to the other, indeed they are lame, unless they form a Round Dance of arts with one 30
another. How then should this our universal knowledge of the imitation of all visible 31
things not be joined with the others? While all [visible things] are understood in the 32
intellect in the same way, and the one as well as the other consist of form and colour. 33
That saying of the Italians, that he who attempts too much achieves little, does not 34
apply here; for the art of painting remains sole and singular, although it reflects the 35
whole of nature.’7 36
37
Van Hoogstraten believes that the art of painting, which ‘reflects the whole of nature’ (de 38
gansche natuer bespiegelt), should have an exemplary function in the ideal of the ‘unity of the 39
sciences’ formulated by Vossius. This is a popular theme in the seventeenth century. Descartes, 40
for instance, in his Rules for the Direction of the Mind (1628) posits that 41
42
43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i           87
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 87 09-10-2008 17:08:31

1 ‘all the sciences are so interconnected that it is much easier to study them all together
2 than to isolate one from all the others. If, therefore, anyone wishes to search out the
3 truth of things in earnest, he ought not to select one particular science, for all the sci-
4 ences are conjoined with each other and interdependent’.8
5
6 Van Hoogstraten does not, though, underpin the intellectual status he accords the ‘universal’
7 power of painting with a detailed explanation. With a view to gaining greater insight into his
8 argument that the depiction of visual reality is in some way intellectually important, we will
9 examine the relation between painting and the visible world that is set out in the Inleyding.
10
11 Earlier studies of the Inleyding lit upon various aspects of this text that supposedly revealed its
12 idiosyncratic character as compared with the international tradition. The Inleyding, it was said,
13 differed from the works of Van Mander and Junius, ‘both generally in its practical and empiri-
14 cal character, and more particularly in its concern with techniques of description and illusion’;
15 the text was seen as having an ‘overarching concern with the illusionistic and imitative aspects
16 of pictorial representation’.9 The present argumentation will not emphasize such aspects as
17 ‘description and illusion’, but will rather analyse how Van Hoogstraten shows little interest in
18 a supposed ‘hierarchy of Creation’ in which some elements are deemed more ‘spiritual’ and
19 hence more worthy than others to be depicted.
20 In the first instance Van Hoogstraten’s proposition that painting can depict the entire
21 visible world can be explained fairly literally. Because everything belongs to the domain of
22 painting, Van Hoogstraten does not deem the study of classical art to be necessarily more
23 meaningful than the depiction of objects of everyday reality. He consequently feels that a study
24 trip to Italy is by no means essential; in fact, it is of no use whatsoever if the young artist has
25 not first become accomplished in depicting the visible world. The teaching of drawing should
26 focus on rendering every part of nature:
27
28 ‘Learn first of all to follow the riches of nature, and imitate what is in it. The Sky, the
29 earth, the sea, the animals, and good and common people, all serve for our practice.
30 The flat fields, hills, streams and trees provide us with works enough. The towns, the
31 markets, the churches, and thousands of riches in Nature call us, and say: come, you
32 who are eager to learn, observe and imitate us. You will find in our own land so much
33 pleasure, so much sweetness and so much dignity that, once you had tasted it, you
34 would judge your life too short to depict it all. And in the least of objects one can learn
35 to apply all the fundamental rules that belong to the most glorious things.’10
36
37 The ‘least of objects’, according to Van Hoogstraten, are worth drawing because in them, too,
38 the painter can demonstrate his ability to depict the visible and apply the ‘fundamental rules’
39 of art. In general the disparate elements of the visible world are of interest to the artist, ‘for
40 there is some grace in everything’.11 Even the representation of the ugly and insignificant has
41 an essential place in the depiction of the entire visible world, and as such does not have to be
42 condemned out of hand. Van Hoogstraten observes, for instance, on the depiction of horses,
43 that ‘many others of our compatriots of this age have been more passionate about the ugliness,
44
45
88          the v isibl e worl d
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 88 09-10-2008 17:08:31

 leanness and unsightliness of them: not that I wholly condemn such, for the material we choose 1
often compels us to depict unpleasant things, which, if we render them fittingly, become seem- 2
ly.’12 He thus sees no need to idealize nature in all cases: ‘Do not scruple to follow the beauty 3
that is in nature, but be assured that what is pleasant in life will also make your work loved.’13 4
Another passage from the Inleyding that should be quoted in this context is the clas- 5
sification into ‘degrees of art’ (genera pingendi) that Van Hoogstraten works out; he formulates 6
the ideal of the ‘universal master’ who has to be accomplished in all three genres.14 This tri- 7
chotomy accords the highest intellectual status to the depiction of people in emotional interac- 8
tion; the first two degrees, that deal with still-lifes and genre painting respectively, nonetheless 9
also have a theoretical appreciation (we shall discuss the genera pingendi in more detail on pages 10
191-197). Even trivial objects are worth painting, Van Hoogstraten tells us, provided it is done 11
in a convincing manner; in Plutarch’s words: 12
13
‘Thus we say with Plutarch that we view the Painting of a Lizard, of an ape ... indeed 14
the most horrible and most despised thing, if it only be natural, with delight and ad- 15
miration, and say ... that the ugly can yet be made beautiful if it is true to nature and, 16
as regards the imitation, deserves the same praise as one is bound to give to the most 17
exquisite thing.’15 18
19
Elsewhere, too, Van Hoogstraten describes how ‘the ugly’ becomes ‘beautiful’, worthy of be- 20
ing depicted, because of the success of the imitation.16 He rejects Erasmus’s observation that 21
only rare or noble animals are worth depicting; common beasts are equally appropriate sub- 22
jects for painting: ‘[Erasmus’s] countrymen, however, take their greatest pleasure in painted 23
calves, pigs and asses ... For however trivial one deems these preferences to be, Clio has placed 24
them in the second degree of art, and it is more glorious to be the first in rank in the second 25
degree, than to be in the third [and highest] degree, but pushed far to the back.’17 Successful 26
imitation apparently transcends the hierarchy of the genera: Van Hoogstraten believes it is bet- 27
ter to shine in one of the lower ‘degrees’ than to be a mediocre history painter. The ‘universal’ 28
master should, moreover, become accomplished in all the elements of the visible world; the 29
youthful painter must strive to become ‘master in all the parts of our art’.18 It is in precisely this 30
universal skill that the painter can set himself apart from the tradesman: ‘It is so that those who 31
practise art as no more than a cobbler’s craft understand nothing beyond their last; but those 32
who understand what they make will become aware that all other things are also grasped by 33
that same understanding.’19 34
These remarks, revealing a preference for the imitation of nature above that of ideal 35
beauty, suggest that the Inleyding formulates a specific position in the tradition of art theory 36
that generally takes the opposite stand. Before establishing Van Hoogstraten’s place in this 37
tradition, we will examine a striking remark about ‘handling’ or brushwork, and Van Hoog- 38
straten’s views about the rewards for his labours that await the painter. 39
40
41
42
43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i           89
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 89 09-10-2008 17:08:31

1 ‘the soul of art’: examining the ‘properties’ of things
2 In both the first chapter, devoted, among other things, to drawing, and the sixth, which deals
3 with the use of colour and brushwork, Van Hoogstraten repeatedly urges the painter to tailor
4 his ‘handling’ or manner of painting entirely to the visible world. He stresses that the painter
5 must not apply himself to following a particular style or developing a style of his own. On the
6 contrary, he must adapt his manner to what he sees; singular properties of the visible, such as
7 materials with distinctive surfaces, must constantly redetermine the way he paints.
8 In the first phase of the learning process, drawing, the pupil must become proficient in
9 depicting the textures of various surfaces. After devoting two ‘lessons’ to painting, Van Hoog-
10 straten concludes that ‘the third Lesson is to give each thing its property / according to the
11 characteristics presented by working from life, / in handling: one must adopt no manner / but
12 that which flexibly adapts to the grace in every thing.’20
13 Van Hoogstraten usually uses ‘handling’ in connection with the handling of paint: here,
14 in the context of drawing, he means the differentiated use of lines ‘to give each thing its prop-
15 erty’. The artist should adapt the way he draws to the visual characteristics of the object he
16 is depicting: ‘for one must sometimes change one’s handling according to the properties of
17 things.’21
18 Likewise, when he explains the problems that arise in the use of colour and brushwork,
19 Van Hoogstraten urges the painter not to rely on routine in his ‘handling’, but always to allow
20 his brushstroke to be determined by what he sees in front of him:
21
22 ‘Do not bother too much about learning handling or a manner of painting, but do
23 persist in becoming more certain in observation ... Thus the hand and the brush will
24 become subordinate to the eye, in order properly to depict the diversity of things, each
25 in its own fashion, in the most graceful way.22
26
27 The painter must subordinate his manner of painting to his ‘eye and judgement’ in order to
28 express the ‘diversity of things’ properly:
29
30 ‘For the floating hair, the trembling foliage or things of that kind require different
31 kinds of loose handling (lossicheit van handeling); and again, a different sort of brush-
32 work in the beautiful nude and the gleaming marble. But you will get it all correctly if
33 only your hand is accustomed to obeying your eye and your judgement.’23
34
35 The method that involves using varied brushwork adapted to different objects in a single work
36 can be associated directly with Rembrandt and his pupils. Van Hoogstraten’s remarks bear out
37 Ernst van de Wetering’s analysis of Rembrandt’s early work, in which the movements of the
38 brush echo the shape of the things depicted, and Rembrandt’s method of working the texture
39 of the surface of the paint such that it resembles the surface texture of the objects themselves.24
40 Van Hoogstraten urges the painter to focus on the ‘properties’ of things: ‘One must virtuously
41 imitate the properties of simple nature.’25
42 In a discussion with Fabritius, so Van Hoogstraten tells us, he expressed his personal
43 views on the qualities that make a person suitable to pursue the artistic profession: ‘that he is,
44
45
90          the v isibl e worl d
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 90 09-10-2008 17:08:31

 as it were, in love with the soul of art: that is to say, examining nature’s properties’. It calls for a 1
‘very active and reflective mind’.26 This focus on the ‘properties’ of the visible can be regarded 2
as an essential element in the depiction of the visible world, and Van Hoogstraten presents it 3
here as the ‘soul of art’. 4
Van Hoogstraten’s comments about the ‘virtuous imitation’ of nature can be linked to 5
the specific elements of a painter’s training he identifies, but also to older commonplaces in the 6
tradition of art theory: the comparison of painting with philosophy and rhetoric. 7
8
9
th e pa i n ter’s rewa rds: p ainting and p hil osophy 10
The title page of the chapter devoted to the muse Urania has in the foreground an allegorical 11
representation of the rewards for his labours that await the painter (fig. 30). On the left are 12
three putti. One of them is engaged in gathering branches of laurel and represents honour or 13
gloria, another carries a great many bags of money, symbolic of monetary gain or lucrum, and 14
the third, sitting beside a basket of apples, has to be associated with amor and according to the 15
accompanying text must be interpreted as the personification of the ‘satisfaction of the mind’ 16
that the painter’s work brings him. Van Hoogstraten’s explanation reads: ‘[The painter] has 17
threefold fruits from his work: one is the satisfaction of his mind, which he receives through 18
the perfection of his work; the other is reputation; and the third is the benefit that shall come 19
to him either by gift, by sale or by other remuneration’.27 20
Echoing Seneca, Van Hoogstraten asserts that the second and third of these rewards, 21
‘honour’ and ‘gain’, are subordinate to the painter’s first and principal motive force: his ‘love of 22
art’. And this, says Van Hoogstraten, is not simply to do with producing important works that 23
contribute to the furtherance of the art of painting. The disinterested love of art also brings 24
the artist contentment, which arises in the first instance not from the completion of the work 25
but from the act of painting itself: ‘Ay such that an attentive Painter, as Seneca teaches us, finds 26
greater pleasure in painting itself than in having painted: for this activity which his work re- 27
quires, brings with it great pleasure in the work itself.’28 On the sides of a perspective box now 28
in the National Gallery in London, Van Hoogstraten depicted a painter alongside the three 29
putti with their attributes and their banderoles bearing the inscriptions lucri causa, gloria causa 30
and amoris causa (figs. 33-36).29 31
Junius comments on the characteristics of the artist in the context of the Stoic amor vir- 32
tutis – virtue should be its own reward. Fame and riches are not consonant with ‘the worthines 33
of these Arts, and of the sufficient contentment they doe finde in themselves.’30 The Stoic 34
connotations of this view are also evident in an emblem by Vaenius in which the same three 35
putti, representing love, profit and honour, are associated with the specific virtue of ataraxia 36
or a detached and balanced state of mind (the emblem is entitled ‘Who is rich? He who covets 37
nothing’) (fig. 37). Whereas Junius cannot reconcile pecuniary gain with the dignity of a liberal 38
art, Van Mander – in his biography of the painter Cornelis Ketel, for instance – uses the same 39
trichotomy as Van Hoogstraten.31 40
In the Inleyding Van Hoogstraten goes on to contest another concept from antiquity 41
– that painting’s sole function is to gratify the senses and that in consequence it may not be re- 42
garded as one of the artes liberales. Only those activities that are instructive and hence encour- 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i           91
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 91 09-10-2008 17:08:31

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37 fig. 33 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, Perspective Box with Views of a Dutch Interior, wood,
38 58 x 88 x 64 cm (exterior measurement), National Gallery, London.
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
92          the v isibl e worl d
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 92 09-10-2008 17:08:39

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
fig. 34 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, Lucri causa, side of the perspective box in London. 22
23
age greater virtue should qualify as liberal arts. Van Hoogstraten accepts that the fine arts can- 24
not easily imbue someone with as much dignity and virtue as ‘true works of virtue and piety’. 25
But, he insists, painting certainly should not be seen as a vice; in any event it no more distracts 26
from the spiritual life than occupations, not unvirtuous in themselves, like war or politics. Van 27
Hoogstraten goes so far as to say that, although in the first instance painting does not have a 28
moralizing function, in a philosophical sense it is a commendable activity: an occupation of 29
a reflective nature. ‘It investigates visible nature,’ states Van Hoogstraten in a marginal note, 30
even describing it as a ‘Sister of reflective philosophy’.32 31
Van Hoogstraten is of the opinion that the life of a philosopher, or a painter, is more 32
valuable as a speculative vita contemplativa than the vita activa of politics and war: ‘for the prac- 33
tice of the noble arts, in silent, observant pursuit of the secrets of nature, corresponds and runs 34
parallel to the exercise of the virtues’, and he continues: 35
36
‘Upon which I dare say that it would truly be unjust to scorn a sincere practitioner of 37
the Art of Painting, who pursues it for its own sake and for its virtuous nature. Not all 38
philosophers have been called to state or city government, and nevertheless they are 39
praised highly enough in their disdain for worldly powers by Plutarch ... although they 40
have brought no greater ornament to the world, nor more constancy and pleasure to 41
themselves, than our Painters in their pursuit of this graceful philosophy.’33 42
43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i           93
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 93 09-10-2008 17:08:46

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20 fig. 35 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, Gloriae causa, side of the perspective box in London.
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43 fig. 36 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, Amoris causa, side of the perspective box in London.
44
45
94          the v isibl e worl d
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 94 09-10-2008 17:09:05

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
fig. 37 – ‘Quis dives? Qui nil cupit’, emblem from Otto Vaenius, Quinti Horati Flacci emblemata, Antwerp 1607. 19
20
The painter who has no other aim in mind but painting itself, in the realization of the virtuous 21
character of this occupation, can be compared, says Van Hoogstraten, to a philosopher who 22
spurns worldly occupations and concerns himself with the contemplative study of his sur- 23
roundings. The depiction of the visible world, provided it is done ‘for its own sake’, that is to 24
say motivated by a desire to investigate visible nature, can hence be an end in itself.34 25
The comparison of painting and philosophy is a recurring theme in the tradition of art 26
theory; Van Mander, for instance, calls his favourite painter Goltzius a philosopher, as much 27
for his contemplative attitude towards life that places ‘love of art’ above monetary gain, as for 28
his courtesy and decency and for his ‘knowledge of Nature’.35 Alberti is even convinced that 29
Socrates, Plato, the skeptic Pyrrho and their colleague ‘Metrodorus’ were themselves eminent 30
artists; this remark probably inspired Achille Bocchi’s representation of Socrates as a painter 31
(fig. 38).36 As the following will demonstrate, Van Hoogstraten’s interpretation of the tradi- 32
tional comparison of painting to a form of ‘graceful philosophy’ encompasses more than just a 33
rhetorical equating of painting with an intellectual discipline. 34
35
36
pa i n t i n g a s ‘un i versal knowledge ’ 37
Van Hoogstraten’s description of painting as ‘universal knowledge’ and his view ‘that there is 38
scarcely a single art or science of which it is fitting for a Painter to remain ignorant’ answers 39
the topical description of the all-encompassing powers of the orator, as in Tacitus’ proposi- 40
tion that ‘rhetoric is the mistress of all the arts’.37 Cicero says that oratory should know ‘no 41
circumscribed domain’, after all, ‘the rhetorician must be able to skilfully present everything 42
that can arise in a dialogue between people’; for this reason he compares rhetoricians with phi- 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i           95
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 95 09-10-2008 17:09:13

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19 fig. 38 – Giulio Bonasone, Sokrates as a Painter, from Achille Bocchi,
20 Symbolicarum quaestionum de universo genere quas serio ludebat libri quinque, Bologna 1555.
21
22 losophers.38 Renaissance rhetoricians like Lorenzo Valla seized on this idea to present rhetoric
23 as the most fundamental human occupation. Valla also involves painting in this argument when
24 he stresses that the visual arts and rhetoric are so closely related that they flourish and fall into
25 decline at the same time.39 This topos serves Paleotti as a point of departure for observing
26 that, just as orators have to be accomplished in all skills and sciences if they are to be able to
27 persuade the people on various matters, so painting – as the ‘book of the illiterate’ – extends to
28 all things, ‘heaven, earth, plants, animals, and human actions’.40 Van Hoogstraten also draws
29 upon words attributed to Quintilian which assert that ‘a painter who has once mastered the
30 right way of Imitating, or copying, will easily depict everything he sees: indeed anything he
31 could see in nature’ as an argument in his plea that painting be accorded the status of ‘universal
32 knowledge’.41
33 The art-theoretical tradition stresses that just as rhetoric is the foundation not only of
34 literature but also of many other arts, so too is draughtsmanship not just the basis of paint-
35 ing, sculpture and architecture – it is also indispensable to a great many occupations such as
36 cartography, astronomy and so forth. As Van Hoogstraten also describes in his first chapter,
37 drawing is useful for ‘Military Arts, Architects, Writers, Natural History Writers, Geogra-
38 phers, Astronomers, Physicians, Historians’.42 Painting is consequently presented in courtiers’
39 manuals as an essential activity.43 The early modern conception of the equal foundations of
40 literature and the visual arts legitimates the self-evident way that ideas about a fundamental
41 art like rhetoric can be transferred to painting. Starting from the purported meaning of the
42 concept of graphein, which the Greeks apparently used to mean both writing and drawing,
43 Vossius declares that ‘it is necessary for the painter to know everything, because he imitates
44
45
96          the v isibl e worl d
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 96 09-10-2008 17:09:16

 everything. He is a philosopher, painter, architect and anatomist’.44 Referring to this same ety- 1
mology, Goeree bases the superiority of painting over the literary arts on his supposition that 2
writing is based on pictography.45 3
The equivalent of the Greek term graphike in the art-theoretical tradition is the Italian 4
concept of disegno, which relates both to the mental image or ‘design’ that is the basis for a 5
work of art, and to the actual practice of drawing. Draughtsmanship is not just the founda- 6
tion of the artist’s education: some authors present it as the basis for all the arts and sciences.46 7
Van Mander, for instance, says: ‘Painting, which is founded on Drawing, is the Wet Nurse of 8
all good Arts and sciences’, and he goes on to assert that the liberal arts cannot exist without 9
‘Drawing that embraces all things’. Goeree speaks in similar terms of drawing as ‘the Womb 10
and Wet Nurse of all the Arts and Sciences’.47 11
Some Italian theorists, particularly Federico Zuccari, attribute a universal status to 12
draughtsmanship, an idea to which Van Hoogstraten’s definition of painting as ‘universal 13
knowledge’ is indebted.48 In the Inleyding Van Hoogstraten repeatedly refers to Zuccari as 14
a painter and draughtsman, not as an art theorist. It is more than likely, however, that while 15
he was in Rome he encountered the debates sparked by Zuccari’s L’idea de’ pittori, scultori, et 16
architetti. Zuccari had been the first president of the Roman academy of art, the Accademia di 17
San Luca, where he had many adepts. Painters from the Netherlands like Karel van Mander 18
also moved in Zuccari’s circle and may have been familiar with the theory put forward in his 19
treatise.49 20
L’idea is divided into two parts, devoted to what are described as disegno interno and 21
disegno esterno.50 Zuccari uses the term disegno interno to refer to the mental image, which in 22
his view precedes the disegno esterno, the drawing. As all thinking involves the formation of 23
mental images, disegno is a universal concept, applicable to all objects and actions: ‘by disegno 24
interno I mean the image formed in our mind in order to be able to know anything’.51 Zuccari 25
says: ‘I want to treat disegno in so far as it occurs in all existing and non-existent, all visible and 26
invisible, spiritual and corporeal things ... I shall endeavour ... to show that this [disegno] is the 27
universal source of light not only of our knowledge and actions, but also of every other science 28
and skill.’52 ‘Following the philosophers,’ he believes, ‘that in its universality disegno interno 29
is an Idea and a form in the mind that clearly and distinctly represents the object that it [the 30
mind] has in view’.53 In the light of the universal significance of disegno, Zuccari depicted the 31
concept in the form of a bearded divinity on a ceiling fresco in his house in Rome (fig. 39). 32
Van Hoogstraten demonstrates his debt to ideas about disegno as formulated by Zuccari, 33
when he relates drawing – Teykeninge in his terminology – to the human faculty of forming 34
mental images. This is best illustrated by a passage titled ‘How visible Nature specifically 35
manifests itself’, accompanied by the gloss: ‘the visible part of nature has Teykeninge’: 36
37
‘In [the] exploration of nature, we only have to consider her visible aspect (alleen haer 38
zichtbaer deel), for everything that is visible in nature must provide the arts of Painting 39
and Drawing with their subjects. Thus we immediately see the appearances of things, 40
with their colours, the first of which we shall call forms, or shapes, or by our custom- 41
ary artistic word, Drawing (Teykeninge) ... The particular properties of all things thus 42
appear to us first in their forms and shapes: not as they are described by the natural 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i           97
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 97 09-10-2008 17:09:16

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42 fig. 39 – Zuccari, Personification of Disegno, 1590-1600, Casa Zuccari, ceiling of the Sala del Disegno, Rome.
43
44
45
98          the v isibl e worl d
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 98 09-10-2008 17:09:22

 philosophers, but only as they determine the outward shapes, like the shell around the 1
egg, and distinguish the bodies they comprise, as if by an external surface, from other 2
things: just as wine contained in a bottle assumes the shape of the goblet, so the shape 3
of the bottle becomes the object of the Painter’s mirroring art, and as such he under- 4
stands all natural things, and each in particular.’54 5
6
Van Hoogstraten states that the artist forms an image of the ‘forms or shapes’ of things that 7
corresponds to an inward design or ‘drawing’; this is why ‘all natural things’ can belong to the 8
artist’s domain. Although his abstract interpretation of Teykeninge is very similar to Zuccari’s, 9
Van Hoogstraten parts company with him in that he sees the scope of painting more literally 10
confined to the visible world; Zuccari also includes all ‘invisible’ things in the art of drawing 11
because in his view products of fantasy, like depictions of reality, originate in mental images. 12
Van Hoogstraten apparently subscribes to the ancient Stoic view that the mind is a ‘reflective 13
surface’ or a tabula rasa that can only be filled with information provided by the senses, whereas 14
the imagination leads to harmful illusions (see also below, pages 115-117). 15
Like Zuccari, Van Hoogstraten uses examples to illustrate the value of a mastery of 16
drawing in many different arts and sciences, ‘because there is not an Art nor craft, indeed no 17
occupation at all, in which it does not prove necessary as a second way of Writing’.55 Zuccari 18
writes ‘that no single science, understanding or activity is or can be this universal light, this 19
nourishment and lifeblood of all human sciences, other than this same intellectual and practical 20
disegno’, and he even reduces philosophy to disegno.56 In similar vein, Van Hoogstraten asserts 21
that drawing ‘is necessary ... to all people who use their intellect; since vision and judgement 22
are greatly enlightened by the art of drawing.’57 His colleague Goeree also emphasizes this in- 23
tellectual aspect when he describes drawing as ‘judgement and reason about all things that may 24
happen’; its subjects should extend to ‘all the abundant works of Nature’.58 How many ‘infinite 25
fields are there to walk through in the art of Drawing’, asks Van Hoogstraten, pointing to the 26
importance of drawing in education, because ‘it is concerned with everything nature brings 27
forth’, so that the pupil learns to ‘imitate things exactly as they are’.59 28
Van Hoogstraten starts his third chapter with a passage entitled ‘On Universality in 29
Painting’ (‘Van de algemeenheyd in de schilderkonst’). Here, he stresses that the painter must 30
extend his activities to encompass the whole of the visible world. His arguments are akin to 31
Zuccari’s theoretical justification of drawing. The passage begins: 32
33
‘We shall encourage the alert minds to become universal; that is, to depict as many 34
forms of things as may occur: because all of them together and each in particular, imi- 35
tated in the same manner, are understood in an Artist’s mind … visible things [are] all 36
understood in the mind in the same way’.60 37
38
Apparently, Van Hoogstraten was able to call on Zuccari’s views on disegno to bolster the au- 39
thority with which he surrounds his description of painting as an art that ‘reflects the entire 40
visible world’ and is superior to all other arts and sciences.61 41
42
43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i           99
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 99 09-10-2008 17:09:22

1 ‘Disegno’ and ‘Idea’
2 The intellectual and universal foundation of disegno is closely related to the belief that artists
3 are able to penetrate to the fundamentals of nature and distil a fixed core from the multiplicity
4 of phenomena. The development in the theory about the artist’s ability to perceive and repre-
5 sent these ideal forms was the subject of Erwin Panofsky’s classical study Idea; a Concept in Art
6 Theory (first edition 1927). As Panofsky pointed out, Zuccari’s theory about the relationship
7 between drawing and imagination adapts the term idea, which is also the title of his treatise, in
8 an idiosyncratic way.
9 On the one hand, Zuccari’s term idea is a synonym for the internal image or design that
10 the artist forms before he embarks on his work; in the same way Van Hoogstraten uses the
11 term ‘mental image’ (denkbeeld, literally ‘thought image’) as well as ‘idea’ (idee).62 Van Mander
12 identifies idea with imaginatio in a way that is very reminiscent of Zuccari, ‘Idea, imagination
13 or thought’,63 and states that drawing is always accompanied by a mental image (‘a preliminary
14 design in his mind’).64 Similarly, Vasari refers to drawing as the ‘Idea of all things in nature’.65
15 Alongside this identification of idea and imaginatio, Zuccari also uses the term in the
16 more philosophical meaning. Given the universal significance of his idea which, as the correlate
17 of disegno, extends to encompass the whole of the visible world, he is no orthodox Platonist.
18 Indeed, Zuccari explicitly states that he is not using the term idea in the Platonic sense:
19
20 ‘What our intellect knows in a natural and direct way are the essences of material
21 things ... and these essences are not found separate from the individual things, as the
22 divine Plato suggests in his positioning of Ideas, as some assert; but Ideas are in reality
23 only to be found in the associated individual things, for mankind exists only in certain
24 separate individuals, and the essence of the Lion exists only in individual Lions, and the
25 same is true of all other things.’66
26
27 Zuccari does not conceive of Ideas as assumed Platonic universalia ante rem (‘universals before
28 the fact’), the general principles allegedly inhabiting a higher spiritual realm and of which we
29 only see shadows in the multiplicity of the visible world. Nor does he see Ideas as principles
30 that are distilled from phenomena like a sort of mean, universalia post rem (‘universals after
31 the fact’).67 His disegno relates to every conceivable image that the mind can form, from which
32 it derives its all-embracing powers. The all-encompassing scope that he wishes to ascribe to
33 disegno leads rather to universalia in re, or a situation in which the essence of phenomena does
34 not exist outside the things themselves. In this situation the Idea has lost much of its ‘universal’
35 value. With Zuccari, it is difficult to distinguish Ideas from concrete things; every phenom-
36 enon, as it were, merits philosophical contemplation. In light of this view it is understandable
37 that in his theory of art Zuccari expressly asserts that artists must rely solely on their senses,
38 and certainly not on mathematical perspective or canonical proportions.68
39 Zuccari strips the concept of ‘Idea’ of much of its Platonic value. In his view, the artist
40 is not capable of penetrating to a higher reality; his job is first and foremost to depict the mul-
41 titude of objects in the world of phenomena. Zuccari writes:
42
43
44
45
100          the v isibl e worl d
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 100 09-10-2008 17:09:22

 ‘only the outward forms of perceptible, natural things can be imitated by painting: 1
and it can only imitate them in a lifelike and truthful way. And so this visible World 2
(questo Mondo visibile), made by the supreme Creator with such exceptional art, and 3
adorned with such mastery ... is the primary and most essential object of our imitation 4
as painters’.69 5
6
Zuccari’s term idea retains its metaphysical connotation only in the universal scope that he 7
grants the artistic focus on concrete individual things. He consequently refers to drawing as a 8
scintilla divina or ‘divine spark’, and reduces Disegno etymologically to Segno di Dio, a sign from 9
God that enables man to know His Creation.70 In view of the similarities that have emerged 10
here between Zuccari’s theory and passages in the Inleyding, it seems plausible that Zuccari’s 11
thinking inspired Van Hoogstraten when he defined painting as ‘the knowledge to depict all 12
ideas, or mental images, that the entire visible world can provide’.71 13
14
15
Two meanings of ‘ars imitatur naturam’ 16
Now that it has become clear that, in Van Hoogstraten’s view, the artist may give intellectual 17
attention both to the idealized human form and to other elements in the multiplicity of the 18
visible world, we must address his definition of painting as a ‘mirror of nature’. What does his 19
term ‘nature’ mean, and how is this definition related to the perceived intellectual status of 20
painting as foremost among the arts and sciences? 21
Before the Inleyding was published, Van Hoogstraten had already put forward the thesis 22
that art ‘mirrors’ or ‘apes’ nature in an allegorical drawing (fig. 40).72 It shows the personifica- 23
tion of Pictura engaged in portraying a many-breasted woman sporting the crown of a city 24
goddess. She is Natura, the personification of the natural and the inhabited world; as she poses 25
she holds out to the painter a chalice containing her abundant gifts.73 The scene is attended 26
by two of the by-now familiar three putti; here, with a personification of Fama, they repre- 27
sent the painter’s rewards.74 The proposition ars imitatur naturam, art imitates nature, boasts a 28
considerable tradition.75 Plato likened a painting to a mirror, and Italian art theory habitually 29
describes painting as scimmia della natura, the ape of nature.76 Van Hoogstraten’s formulation 30
echoes a tradition that is far from unambiguous. 31
We should begin by recalling that Plato’s equation of a painting with a mirror was 32
originally a disparaging judgement: art that imitates the visible world was seen as a worthless 33
copy, two steps removed from true reality, the world of Ideas. Neoplatonist thought developed 34
a view of the imitating of nature with a positive significance. The starting point for this posi- 35
tive assessment is the idea that art works not only ‘after nature’– produces a copy of the visible 36
– but also ‘in the manner of nature’: the methods and standards the artist uses have their origins 37
in nature itself. The artist recognizes the structural principles underlying nature’s appearance, 38
and creates a work of art by following those same principles. 39
Jan Białostocki pointed to the influence this view had on the theory of art in his article 40
‘The Renaissance Concept of Nature and Antiquity’ (1988).77 He cited a number of Italian 41
quattrocento art theorists to show that the term ‘nature’ had more than one meaning during 42
this period. When Alberti writes in his De pictura that the painter must turn to nature in order 43
44
45
c hap t e r i i           101
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 101 09-10-2008 17:09:22

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26 fig. 40 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, Pictura Painting Nature, pen and brown wash.
27 Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.
28
29 to depict faces convincingly, all he means by ‘nature’ is the everyday reality of the visible world.
30 Białostocki described this as a ‘passive’ meaning. But Alberti also uses nature in an ‘active’
31 sense. He tells us, for instance, that he once thought that the arts had been neglected since
32 antiquity, so that he ‘was convinced that nature, the mistress of things, having become old and
33 tired ... no longer produced many broad and remarkable minds’.78 Białostocki interpreted this
34 to mean that Alberti also conceived of nature as an active being, as an animated principle that
35 controls organic and human life, the ‘mistress of things’.
36 Białostocki linked these two definitions of the concept of nature with the concepts of
37 natura naturans and natura naturata derived from scholastic terminology.79 While natura natu-
38 rans denotes nature as an active, creative principle, natura naturata describes the static result
39 of this creative process. He states that in antiquity the proposition ars imitatur naturam could
40 already relate to each of these two notions. On the one hand art was defined as a faithful copy
41 of the visible (natura naturata), but at the same time it could be seen as penetrating right to
42 the principles that underlie Creation. This latter view was developed in the Neoplatonism of
43 Plotinus:
44
45
102          the v isibl e worl d
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 102 09-10-2008 17:09:27

 ‘And if someone disparages the arts because they are engaged in imitating nature in 1
their creations, then I must first remark that nature also imitates other things. And then 2
he must know that the arts do not only imitate visible things but ascend to the forma- 3
tive principles from which nature derives.’80 4
5
Painting ‘after nature’ can, according to this view, take on the meaning of ‘working in accord- 6
ance with the structural principles of nature’. Neoplatonism assumes an order in nature which 7
is the basis of every part of the Creation; the artist who ‘imitates nature’ accesses this order and 8
thus touches on fundamental cosmological principles. What is more, the work of art, which 9
itself is made ‘in accordance with the laws of nature’, can express these universal principles. 10
Zuccari puts it thus: ‘The reason art imitates nature is because ... in creating art objects, art 11
works in just the same way as nature itself works. And if we also want to know why nature can 12
be imitated, it is because nature is ordered according to an intelligible principle.’81 13
The distinction between natura naturans and natura naturata can be related to the dif- 14
ferent ways Van Mander uses the concept of nature in the ‘Grondt’. In his commentary on 15
this treatise, Hessel Miedema pointed out that Van Mander presents nature as an animated 16
principle, as that which, for instance, gives painters their talent and is the source of true beauty. 17
The painter can only penetrate more deeply to this ‘true nature’ of phenomena with the aid of 18
sound training and inspiration (spirit, or geest, in Van Mander’s terminology). The following 19
quotation from the ‘Grondt’ exemplifies this line of thought. The passage is glossed with the 20
marginal note: ‘Nature is beautiful, because of divers virtues or gifts she has’: 21
22
‘Heaven, being generous and kind, 23
wanted to add to Noble Nature, 24
besides other gifts residing in her, 25
the virtue of beauty, felicitously and skilfully 26
giving perfect pleasure to the eye; 27
but when we plough the origin and core, 28
then we find all manner of reasons why 29
Nature’s beauty is entirely perfect.’82 30
31
Van Mander presents ‘Noble Nature’ as a principle that is the source of beauty, but this prin- 32
ciple is difficult to fathom; it is only after ‘ploughing the origin and core’ of the beautiful ob- 33
ject that perfect beauty and its fundamentals can be found. In line with this train of thought, 34
Van Mander says that the origin of beauty is ‘invisible’, in other words cannot be accessed by 35
the senses: ‘The most beautiful beauty is the invisible / Beauty, honoured as the origin of all 36
beauty’.83 37
Miedema noted that there are indications in Van Mander’s Schilder-boeck that conter- 38
feyten, working from life as in portraiture, was treated with contempt. What should concern the 39
painter, according to Van Mander’s Neoplatonic framework, is not visible nature, but the ‘true 40
character’ of things, their ‘intrinsic nature’.84 Miedema concluded that the expression ‘work- 41
ing from nature’ as Van Mander used it had a meaning opposite to the modern understanding 42
of it, that is to say working from observation. In Van Mander, says Miedema, working ‘from 43
44
45
c hap t e r i i           103
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 103 09-10-2008 17:09:27

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23 fig. 41 – Karel van Mander, Natura, Man and the Ten Commandments, back of the painting The Continence of Scipio,
24 1600, copper 44 x 79 cm. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam (detail).
25
26 nature’ (de natuer) means ‘according to the laws of nature’; on the other hand, he used the expres-
27 sion ‘from life’ (naer het leven) to signify working from nature in the modern sense of the term,
28 for example working from a live model.85 For an illustration of this argument about the painter’s
29 revealing of the hidden laws of nature, we may point to the way Van Mander represented this
30 view of the topos ars imitatur naturam in a painting (fig. 41). It shows a human figure studying
31 ‘Natura’ who, as in Van Hoogstraten’s drawing, is personified by a many-breasted woman with a
32 city goddess’s crown. This personification points at tablets, similar to Moses’s tablets of stone, so
33 it would seem that she is showing the painter the hidden laws beneath her surface. Moses, as one
34 of the earliest philosophers, was generally deemed to have studied nature in an exemplary way.
35 What is left of these historical connotations of the concepts of ‘nature’ and ‘imitation’ in
36 Van Hoogstraten’s thought? Although Van Hoogstraten used much of the phraseology of his
37 predecessors who adhered to the Neoplatonist concept of nature, few echoes of a distinction
38 between two possible meanings of ars imitatur naturam can be found in the Inleyding.
39 To start with, we can say that Van Hoogstraten often quotes earlier authors who use the
40 concept of nature in the meaning of the creative principle, natura naturans. Van Hoogstraten
41 repeats a passage that also appears in Alberti about phenomena found in nature where there
42 appear to be images that have come about by chance. He writes: ‘it [is] clear that nature itself
43 appears to take pleasure and find enjoyment in Painting.’86 And he also tells us, referring to the
44
45
104          the v isibl e worl d
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 104 10-10-2008 16:24:30

 recognizable figures that can be seen in different types of stone, ‘Finally there remains for us 1
to observe how skilfully nature itself sometimes paints’; he concludes that ‘Nature and chance 2
imitate art, as art imitates nature.’87 3
Evidently, Van Hoogstraten was well aware of the additional weight that the concept 4
of ‘nature’ could have in earlier art theory. However, when he describes the painter’s tasks, the 5
way a painting comes about and the purpose of the art of painting, he does not make use of a 6
distinction between natura naturata and natura naturans. In his theory of art, the depiction of 7
the visible world is not subordinated to an endeavour to penetrate deeper to the ‘true reality’. 8
Nor can we find any passage in the Inleyding conveying the meaning of the passage from Zuc- 9
cari quoted above, in which the structure of nature is compared with the structure of art. 10
The Inleyding contains only the occasional phrase reflecting the view that the artist must 11
endeavour to discover the ‘true’ nature of things. In response to something said by Seneca, 12
who supposedly believed that knowledge of perspective is not necessary in everyday life, Van 13
Hoogstraten counters, ‘but I say that a Painter, whose job it is to deceive the eye, must also 14
know so much about the nature of things that he thoroughly understands why it is that the eye 15
is deceived.’88 In other words, if he wants to produce an image with convincing perspective, the 16
painter must have a thorough knowledge of the ‘nature of things’. Here, though, Van Hoog- 17
straten is referring to the mechanisms that make it possible to ‘deceive the eye’; the passage 18
gives us no reason to assume that, in Neoplatonist fashion, he is urging the artist to discover a 19
cosmological structure. What he says clearly relates to the laws of optics, as they were estab- 20
lished as part of the quest for natural physical laws in the seventeenth century, and not to the 21
Aristotelian view which holds that each thing develops according to ‘its own nature’.89 22
In this context we have only to repeat our earlier remarks about the status Van Hoog- 23
straten accords to the depiction of the visible. In his description of the artist’s method, he 24
describes one particular aspect as crucial: to express the ‘diversity’ of things, always varying his 25
brushwork according to what he sees so that the hand becomes ‘subordinate to the eye’. When 26
Van Hoogstraten demands that the painter must concentrate on the ‘soul of art’, in other 27
words ‘imitate the properties of simple nature’, he does not mean the deeper fundamentals of 28
nature, just the specific properties of the elements of the visible world. 29
We might conclude from this that at the time Van Hoogstraten wrote his Inleyding the 30
Neoplatonist concept of a structure underlying nature had vanished from the theory of art. 31
To add weight to this hypothesis we can point to some similar elements in Philips Angel’s Lof 32
der schilderkonst. Eric Jan Sluijter demonstrated the particular value given in this treatise to 33
the ‘imitation of nature’ in the form of a concern for the rendition of materials, reflections 34
of light and other ephemeral optical phenomena, such as looking through smoke, through 35
the spokes of a rotating wheel or at a burning brand that is being moved quickly.90 In Angel’s 36
view the painter must discover the specific properties of individual things; he speaks about 37
eyghentlickheyt, literally ‘specificality’ or ‘individuality’ – that which makes things specific – a 38
concept he associates with veranderlyckheyt or ‘changeability’, in other words, ephemeral ap- 39
pearance.91 Angel describes the difficulty that the painter must overcome to achieve this: ‘Now 40
many may judge this changeability to be much more difficult to imitate than other things; but 41
since we are imitators of life, so we must not fail to take rather more pains (if we can thus get 42
closer to natural things).’92 Just as Van Hoogstraten does not give the ‘properties of nature’ a 43
44
45
c hap t e r i i           105
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 105 09-10-2008 17:09:31

1 double meaning, Angel does not suggest anything abstract by getting ‘closer to natural things’.
2 Indeed, he presents painters as no more and no less than ‘imitators of life’: apparently, captur-
3 ing the ‘specificality’, the wealth of detail differentiating visible things, is the painter’s most
4 essential task.
5 Van Hoogstraten’s version of the proposition ars imitatur naturam lacks the Neoplaton-
6 ist underpinning that was still the basis of Van Mander’s world view. In the Inleyding we can
7 even find a view of the depiction of nature that is diametrically opposed to the earlier concep-
8 tion: whereas Van Mander despised conterfeyten, Van Hoogstraten takes the observation that
9 the subject of painting is the visible world as the basis of his argument that his profession is
10 much more than a craft. To his mind, rather than concern himself with the ‘inward’ aspects
11 of reality – what Zuccari calls disegno interno – the painter should focus on the outward forms
12 that surround things ‘like the shell around the egg’, Zuccari’s disegno esterno. Nonetheless, Van
13 Hoogstraten’s formulations are based on a time-honoured tradition: the implicit intellectual
14 connotations of his definition of painting as the ‘mirror of nature’ give it a certain authority
15 guaranteed by the tradition, even though it has meanwhile been detached from the older philo-
16 sophical context. His treatise demonstrates how the significance of the term ‘nature’ shifted
17 over the course of the seventeenth century.
18 That Van Hoogstraten’s definition is without doubt a reworking of the earlier concep-
19 tion influenced by philosophy is evident from the Neoplatonist tone that can be heard in his
20 phraseology: we may recall his definition that painting is ‘the knowledge to depict all ideas, or
21 mental images, that the entire visible world can provide’ (italics mine).93 It is clear that here his
22 term ‘idea’ (denkbeeld) should not automatically be associated with a ‘higher’ world of Ideas that
23 might cast its imperfect shadows on the world of phenomena: it refers first of all to the painter’s
24 ability to form mental images and to mirror the visible world in his mind. This is as it were a
25 reversal of the original Neoplatonist train of thought. In Van Hoogstraten’s theory of art, the
26 term ‘idea’ does not relate to universal principles that are far removed from everyday experi-
27 ence: on the contrary, he is concerned with the visible world and all its diverse elements.
28 Van Hoogstraten says no more in his Inleyding about the philosophical background to
29 this definition and the role of the depiction of the visible world. As he tells us, he was saving
30 his more philosophical reasoning for his Invisible World.94 His thinking may, however, have
31 been dictated by the shift we have already discussed, akin to that which occurred in Zuccari’s
32 work, where Ideas are, as it were, brought down from their transcendental world to coincide
33 with phenomena. In this situation there is essentially no longer any question of philosophical
34 ‘Idealism’ in the proper sense of the word. Zuccari’s and Van Hoogstraten’s theory about the
35 representation of ideas can be regarded as an intellectual mental leap, intended to provide le-
36 gitimation for an art that studies every aspect of the visible world. After all, when, of ‘all natural
37 things’, ‘each in particular’ may be perceived as an Idea, to repeat Van Hoogstraten’s words,
38 then ‘everything that is visible’ merits philosophical or artistic reflection.
39 In this connection, a passage from Goeree’s Inleyding tot de practijck der algemeene
40 Schilderkonst can shed more light on the way that the inversion of the original Neoplatonist
41 reasoning can be explained, so that attention is directed to the specific details of the visible,
42 rather than to the general principles that might be supposed to underpin them.
43
44
45
106          the v isibl e worl d
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 106 09-10-2008 17:09:31

 ‘But to add something to what we have already said, which can foster the intellectual 1
esteem for Painting, one must observe that it imitates all of perfect nature, to which 2
it is so strongly linked that the one may not be separated from the other. ... Nature is 3
unfathomably rich in bringing forth a multiplicity of every species, of which we have 4
an Example in so many thousands of People, Animals and Plants: which, although they 5
are of one stock, are not, however, exactly the same as one another; in this, art can be said to 6
possess the same perfection, inasmuch as, in imitating, it brings forth as many forms as it will’ 7
(italics mine).95 8
9
Goeree stresses the abundance of visible nature, which is expressed in the multiplicity of con- 10
crete instances of each ‘species’ (human, animal or plant) that can occur. In Goeree’s view it 11
is not universal fundamental principles that concern the artist; it is the multiplicity of objects 12
which, even if they come from the same ‘stock’, ‘are not exactly the same as one another’ 13
(malkander niet juist gelijkstaltig zijn). And the value of art stems from the fact that it can record 14
the same multiplicity of forms – not because it succeeds in reducing the randomness of nature 15
to generalities, but precisely because it records this randomness, it records the way in which 16
things differ from one another. 17
The assertion that art ‘brings forth as many forms as it will’ has echoes in the all-encom- 18
passing scope that Van Hoogstraten accords to art as ‘universal knowledge’. Goeree’s belief 19
that art concentrates on the things that are ‘not exactly the same as one another’ is in tune with 20
Van Hoogstraten’s admonition to the artist to ‘give each thing its property’. 21
Following on from the passage quoted above, Goeree emphasizes that art is not capable 22
of transcending the beauty of nature; in this connection he cites a passage from the famous 23
poem Oogentroost (Ocular Consolation, 1647) by Constantijn Huygens, in which the poet stresses 24
the beauty of nature in comparison with painting: 25
26
‘Two drops are not the same, two eggs, two pears, 27
nor two countenances either. The power and the glory 28
of the first Creator are revealed in the eternal difference 29
of all that was and is, and shall be hereafter’.96 30
31
It is in the ‘eternal difference’ (eeuwig onderscheid) of the elements of the Creation that Huygens 32
sees the power of the Creator revealed. In other words it is not solely to be found in a possible 33
cosmological structure underlying Creation. The visible world itself, with all its imperfections 34
and coincidences, is the literal manifestation of God’s power. 35
Goeree, an erudite citizen of the republic of letters, had good reason to quote these 36
lines in a book about the painting of his day. Huygens was an influential lover of the visual arts, 37
in which he had himself been trained.97 The quotation from his poem Oogentroost provides 38
the philosophical underpinning for an art of painting as propagated by Van Hoogstraten and 39
Angel: a focus on the ‘specificality’ of the many parts of the visible world, on that which distin- 40
guishes all things from one another. 41
42
43
44
45
c hap t e r i i           107
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 107 09-10-2008 17:09:31

1 The ‘entire Visible World’: ‘naturalia’ and ‘artificialia’
2 We must add a terminological note to the conceptions of ‘nature’ and the ‘visible world’ as a
3 subject of artistic study that were analysed above. Van Hoogstraten’s visible world and Zuc-
4 cari’s Mondo visibile seem to refer not solely to ‘organic nature’ or the landscape but to the
5 Creation as the whole of visible reality, that is to say including man-made objects. When Van
6 Hoogstraten stresses that the artist can depict ‘all ideas, or mental images, that the entire
7 visible world can provide’, he is insisting that the painter is capable of depicting not just the
8 whole of organic nature but also the entire visible component of reality. The ‘visible world’
9 apparently contains both naturalia and artificialia – natural things and artificial things. This is
10 the view that also resonates in Zuccari’s use of the term idea to indicate the universal scope of
11 drawing. Various references to this concept can be found in the tradition of art theory.
12 Zuccari believes that painting is a ‘science which ... by imitating and depicting focuses
13 on nature and on those artificial things that are made by human hand’,98 and elsewhere he
14 says that the ‘only real and universal aim of painting is to be the imitator of nature and of all
15 artificial things’.99 His follower Romano Alberti believes that to say ‘painting is an imitation
16 of nature’ does not go far enough, because the universal compass of the art of painting also
17 extends to include artificial things.100 Pursuing the same idea, Paleotti remarks that it is within
18 the power of painting to ‘embrace all the forms of things, such as of a human, elephant, bird,
19 fish, tree, stone, and every other thing, not only in nature but also man-made, as of a church,
20 chalice, garment, book and such things’.101 In the Netherlands, Junius cites a similar list by the
21 orator Dio Chrysostom, concluding that painters ‘study by the force of their Art to expresse all
22 manner of visible things’.102
23 The encyclopedic character of the Inleyding, which dwells at length on utensils, hair-
24 styles, weaponry and the like from classical antiquity and the more recent past, is in itself a plea
25 for the ‘universal’ scope of painting. When Van Hoogstraten describes the domain of painting
26 as ‘the whole of visible nature’, various lexical associations attach to the concept of ‘nature’:
27 it is not only the physical environment created by God but also the things made by man that
28 belong to the ‘visible world’. In early modern thinking, the distinction between nature created
29 by God and objects created by man is in many respects only gradual. A work like Pliny’s Natu-
30 ralis historia does not treat natural phenomena only, it also deals with man-made objects (like
31 paintings), and in early modern collections of curiosities, drinking vessels fashioned from shells
32 or decorated coconuts were classified under the heading of naturalia.103 Van Hoogstraten’s ex-
33 pression the ‘mirror of nature’ – Romano Alberti writes specchio dell’alma natura – refers in the
34 first instance to this ability of painting to depict all the elements of the visible world without
35 making a distinction on the grounds of origin, beauty or intellectual content.
36
37
38 th e mea n i n g of the de piction of the visibl e worl d
39 We can now go into more detail about the debate concerning the so-called ‘realism’ of seven-
40 teenth-century Dutch art, and assess further the relevance of art theory to this debate. How
41 can the views formulated by Van Hoogstraten about the depiction of the ‘visible world’, the
42 virtuous character of painting, and the imitation of nature be put into the context of the reli-
43 gious function of seventeenth-century art and of iconography? In answering this question, it is
44
45
108          the v isibl e worl d
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 108 09-10-2008 17:09:31

 interesting to examine Van Hoogstraten’s ideas in light of Boudewijn Bakker’s recent interpre- 1
tations (1993 and 2004) of seventeenth-century landscape painting, which built upon an earlier 2
study by Michiel de Klijn (1982).104 The two authors argued that Calvinism had a positive im- 3
pact on the development of Netherlandish painting in the seventeenth century. While Calvin’s 4
doctrine did banish the visual arts from the churches, there was no desire to place obstacles 5
in the way of the existing output of secular art. Bakker adduced arguments for a specifically 6
Calvinist appreciation of landscape painting, which was regarded as a form of contemplative 7
awareness of Creation. 8
If we are to establish a link between the theory of art propagated in the Inleyding and 9
possible religious connotations, we must begin by enquiring into Van Hoogstraten’s personal 10
religious views. Born to a Mennonite family, after his marriage to a woman from outside the 11
congregation Van Hoogstraten joined the Dutch Reformed Church – the official Calvinist 12
church.105 He left little evidence of religious zeal, although his literary publications do include 13
a collection of hymns.106 Van Hoogstraten’s cor­respondence with Willem van Blijenberg about 14
the philosophical controversies of his age provides the best clue as to his position on religious 15
issues – he appears to have been moderate in his views. He did not wish to express any extreme 16
ideas and was faithful to the view of the public church: ‘although I have been curious to dispute 17
something, I respect nothing so much as the bonds of the church, and although my own sagac- 18
ity sometimes assures me of something, still I never want to decide something save what I know 19
that one must believe.’107 20
There is every reason to think that Van Hoogstraten’s world view was dictated by the 21
teachings of the official Calvinist church. More difficult to fathom, however, is the relationship 22
between his religious convictions and the views on art set out in the Inleyding; regrettably the 23
Onzichtbare werelt, the more philosophical supplement to the Inleyding, did not survive. Of con- 24
siderable significance here is that in the Inleyding, Van Hoogstraten quotes at length a passage 25
from Calvin’s Institutes concerning the relevance to painting of the Second Commandment: 26
‘Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven 27
above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth’. This passage is 28
the only time in his writings that Calvin, who did not write a clear-cut discussion of the visual 29
arts, addresses the specific implications that obeying this second commandment has for paint- 30
ing. Van Hoogstraten quotes his words as follows: 31
32
‘I am not so superstitious, says Calvin, as to deem I could not suffer any kind of images. 33
But since sculpture and painting are gifts of God, what I do demand is that both shall 34
be used purely and lawfully: that gifts which the Lord has bestowed upon us, for his 35
glory and our good, shall not be defiled by abuse nor perverted to our destruction.’108 36
37
It is clear from this passage that Calvin does indeed recognize that painting has a meaningful 38
function in society, as one of God’s gifts to mankind. As long as this gift is not misused, it is 39
pursued in the service of God, as is every trade. In the case of the visual arts, however, misuse 40
in the form of idolatry is an ever-present danger. The quotation in the Inleyding continues: 41
42
43
44
45
c hap t e r i i           109
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 109 09-10-2008 17:09:31

1 ‘We think it unlawful to give a visible shape to God, because God himself has forbid-
2 den it, and because it cannot be done without, in some degree, tarnishing his glory. ...
3 And the majesty of God, which is far beyond the reach of any eye, must not be dishon-
4 oured by unbecoming representations. The only things, therefore, which ought to be
5 sculpted or painted are things that the eye may comprehend. Such may be Histories,
6 which are of some use for instruction or admonition: or physical things, which signify
7 nothing and consequently serve no purpose other than to please the eye.’109
8
9 Van Hoogstraten’s marginal note to this passage reads: ‘But everything that is seen may be
10 painted’.
11 The basic principle in the line of reasoning that can be traced here is an essential point
12 of Calvinist doctrine: that God has manifested himself to mankind in two ways: in his Word,
13 Holy Scripture, and in his Creation, the visible world. In the first place, this means that accord-
14 ing to Calvinism every believer is able to achieve an emotional relationship with God, without
15 the intermediary of the church or knowledge of theological tradition. Moreover, man does not
16 have to shun the natural world, but may enjoy it; indeed it is incumbent upon him to explore
17 this Creation, in which God reveals himself. Rather than a life lived in religious renunciation
18 of the world, Calvin advocates an active life in which man should worship God by undertaking
19 activities in all areas of life and by acquiring knowledge about every part of God’s Creation.
20 The fundamental principle of Calvinism, that nature – as the ‘Second Bible’ – should be the
21 subject of diligent study, is formulated in the opening lines of the Confession of Faith drawn up
22 during the Synod of Dordrecht (1619):
23
24 ‘We know [God] by two means. Firstly, through the Creation, preservation and gov-
25 ernment of the entire world: because to our eyes this is like a beautiful book in which
26 are all creatures, great and small, as if they were letters, showing us the invisible aspects
27 of God, namely his eternal strength and Godhead ... secondly, He reveals himself yet
28 more clearly and perfectly through his holy and Divine word.’110
29
30 With the belief that nature, as the ‘Second Bible’, is a worthy subject of studious contempla-
31 tion, the Reformation initially had a positive effect on the development of new ideas about
32 scholarship and scientific observation. It is safe to say that seventeenth-century empirical sci-
33 ence and philosophy, thanks in part to Reformation doctrines, found themselves liberated from
34 the bonds of speculative theology; as secular activities, though, they could play a real role in a
35 religious society and perform a function that accommodated the world view of Calvinism.111
36 One advocate of the new view of science was Francis Bacon, whose work was well known in
37 the Netherlands in the second half of the seventeenth century; Van Hoogstraten quotes from
38 it several times in the Inleyding.112 Bacon himself makes the analogy between the two Bibles
39 – Scripture and the Creation.113 Just as the new religion wished to accept Scripture itself as
40 the only authority, so the new philosophy wished to address itself solely to nature. Bacon
41 urges his readers to approach the Creation, God’s works, humbly and open-mindedly and ‘to
42 discard these preposterous philosophies which have ... led experience captive, and triumphed
43 over the works of God; and approach with humility and veneration to unroll the volume of
44 Creation’.114
45
110          the v isibl e worl d
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 110 09-10-2008 17:09:31

 As Bakker and De Klijn argued, this Calvinist investigative task not only set in train new 1
scientific and philosophical developments but also made a positive contribution to the devel- 2
opment of the realistic visual arts, particularly landscape painting. Topographical realism pro- 3
vided a window on reality but, more than that, a window on God’s Creation. Bakker concluded 4
that many landscapes should not be ascribed a negative, admonitory meaning, but that they 5
have the positive function of focusing the viewer’s mind on God’s goodness and omnipotence, 6
as it is revealed in the Creation, the ‘Bible of Nature’. 7
In his Inleyding, Van Hoogstraten calls painting a way of obtaining empirical knowl- 8
edge – ‘a science (wetenschap) for depicting all ideas, or mental images, that the entire visible 9
world can provide’, and even refers to the ‘universal knowledge of the imitation of all visible 10
things’.115 The kind of science with which Van Hoogstraten was familiar at close quarters was 11
the experimental study of visible and organic nature as practised by the dilettante scientists 12
with whom he sought contact – men like the opticist Caspar Calthoff, and Otto Marseus, the 13
collector of biological rarities; the Royal Society was even regarded as the realization of the sci- 14
entific ideal promulgated by Bacon.116 Van Hoogstraten’s definition of painting as knowledge 15
that reflects the whole of the visible could be combined easily with a Baconian philosophy that 16
fulfilled the Calvinist investigative task – the study of nature as the ‘Second Bible’. 17
We have already discussed various passages from the Inleyding that point towards a 18
relationship between the depiction of the visible world and a pre-eminently virtuous study of 19
nature; the artist, says Van Hoogstraten, can be compared to a philosopher. The artist’s main 20
motivation should be the satisfaction that springs from the contemplation of nature. To quote 21
further from the passage ‘What Fruits Await an Artist as the Reward for His Labours’: 22
23
‘The first desire then, which persuades someone to the Art of Painting, is a natural love 24
for this more than commonly beguiling Goddess, who makes her practitioners happy 25
simply and solely by her virtuous reflections in the most beautiful works of the glorious 26
Creator, indeed such that they feel a gnawing in their conscience if they have neglected 27
for some time to serve their loveable Mistress.’117 28
29
Not only does mirroring the ‘most beautiful works of the glorious Creator’ provide satisfaction 30
and fulfilment, Van Hoogstraten tells us, it also has a virtuous character: 31
32
‘We do not want to maintain that the sole objective of our Painting should be to prepare 33
the mind for Virtue, since we know a more direct and certain way; but that [painting] 34
keeps no one away from virtue is undeniable: indeed it is abundantly clear that, through 35
the continued mirroring of God’s wondrous works, it brings the sincere practitioner, 36
through his sublime contemplation, closer to the Creator of all things.’118 37
38
It is not impossible that Van Hoogstraten is referring here to the two ways that Calvin consid- 39
ers man is able to know God: on the one hand through God’s ‘wondrous works’: nature; on the 40
other hand by a ‘more direct and certain way’: the Holy Scripture. Van Hoogstraten was not 41
the only art theorist who adhered to the belief that painting could be a way of knowing God. 42
In his Schilderkonst der oude, Franciscus Junius evinces a similar conviction when he rebuts the 43
contention that painting is a useless occupation: 44
45
c hap t e r i i           111
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 111 09-10-2008 17:09:31

1 ‘Let [those who criticize painting] know, that they are not well advised when they goe
2 about to brand these most commendable recreations with the nick-name of barren and
3 unprofitable delights: for how can that same contemplation deserve the opinion of an
4 unfruitfull and idle exercise, by whose meanes wee doe understand the true beautie of
5 created bodies, a ready way to the consideration of our glorious Creator?’119
6
7 Similarly, in the poem quoted by Goeree, Constantijn Huygens stresses that the power of the
8 Creator is expressed in the multiplicity of the visible world. In the seventeenth-century dis-
9 course about the theory and function of art, the association between painting and the empirical
10 study of nature as the ‘Second Bible’ was probably self-evident. Certainly, expressions of a like
11 kind can be found in the international tradition of art theory.120 It may suffice to conclude with
12 a quotation from Henry Peacham’s The Compleat Gentleman (1634), which lists all the beau-
13 ties of exotic lands that painting can depict, observing: ‘since [painting] is onely the imitation
14 of the surface of Nature, by it as in a booke of golden and rarelimned Letters ... wee reade a
15 continuall Lecture of the Wisedome of the Almightie Creator’.121
16
17 The depiction of the visible world as a study of God’s wondrous works: this proposition suggests
18 an interpretation of the meaning of works of art without obvious narrative context. Paintings
19 representing visible reality in detail can be esteemed as paying homage to Creation. Van Hoog-
20 straten adduces no further arguments for this proposition in the Inleyding itself. A liminary
21 poem preceding the Inleyding suggests that this view may have gained currency in seventeenth-
22 century artistic circles. The poem, ‘On S.v.Hoogstraeten’s Visible World’, was written by the
23 author’s brother, Frans, and ends with an exhortation to the painters of the Netherlands:
24
25 ‘The brush must not falter, all the more
26 because nowadays human sensibility
27 (that stands as if confused and stupefied
28 by such an art, the choice out of a hundred)
29 has begun to sing the praises of the invisible Godhead
30 through this painting of visible things
31 and humbly honoured its Creator,
32 who taught man those wonders,
33 or who bestowed on him such rich gifts
34 that he sailed in spirit into the haven
35 of art, and succeeded in representing
36 all that is visible on canvases flat and even.’122
37
38 In the poet’s view, painting makes people see the Creation as it were afresh, because it ‘confus-
39 es’ and ‘stupefies’ the senses with such a convincing depiction of the visible world. An art that
40 examines all that is visible can be regarded as paying homage to the Creator and his works.123
41 In this line of reasoning, the depiction of insignificant objects does not have to be justi-
42 fied by ambiguous moralizing symbolism: the visible world can be studied for its own sake.
43 This conviction can be related to the changed concept of nature as the subject of painting, as
44
45
112          the v isibl e worl d
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 112 09-10-2008 17:09:31

 outlined above, a view that attached greater value to the senses as a source of knowledge than 1
to speculations about the principles of Creation. When Van Hoogstraten calls the art of paint- 2
ing a ‘sister of philosophy’ he is in no way implying a metaphysical quest for possible laws, 3
deep below the surface of things, which underlie nature. His take on ‘philosophy’, in contrast, 4
can be better compared with the pre-eminently religious concentration on the empirical world 5
advocated by Bacon. Painting which, as ‘universal knowledge’, presents a ‘mirror of nature’, a 6
reflection of nature that extends to every element of the visible world, acquires the meaning of 7
an homage to Creation. 8
In Van Hoogstraten’s Inleyding the maxim ars imitatur naturam is given a new religious 9
significance. The ‘mirror of nature’ that, according to Van Hoogstraten, painting presents, is 10
not a meaningless duplication of natura naturata. He is concerned not so much with captur- 11
ing a fleeting sensory impression as with an enquiring concentration on the singular details 12
of the visible world. More than simply providing a topographical window on God’s Creation, 13
a painting that is composed with a particular focus on the ‘specificality’ (eyghentlickheyt) of 14
objects places the emphasis on the ‘eternal difference’ between things, as Huygens puts it, the 15
principle in which God’s power is expressed. 16
The analysis of the origin of Van Hoogstraten’s conception of the ‘visible world’ has 17
demonstrated that the conclusions about the religious background of landscape painting, as 18
formulated by Bakker, are also relevant to the depiction of visual reality in its entirety. The 19
representation not only of organic nature but of all the visible elements of reality acquires 20
intellectual meaning in the light of philosophical and theological contemplation. Bakker him- 21
self suggested that his conclusions about the landscape are also important to other fields of 22
art such as the still-lifes and genre paintings.124 This is corroborated by the work of Blankert 23
who, as early as the 1990s, had started to link the supposed religious significance of painting 24
trivial objects with the genre painting of Vermeer; his suggestions are apparently vindicated by 25
remarks in Van Hoogstraten’s treatise.125 However, before drawing our ultimate conclusions 26
we will look more closely at Van Hoogstraten’s concept of philosophy (Wysgeerte) in relation to 27
painting. 28
29
30
th e o u t loo k o f s toicism 31
The idea that nature can serve as the ‘Second Bible’ is not exclusive to Calvin; it is a view that 32
was also popular in the seventeenth century among a group like the Jesuits. Indeed, the possi- 33
ble identification between nature and God gave rise to recurring debates in Christian theology. 34
It was especially Augustine’s strict division of reality into the world of man versus the ‘City of 35
God’ that inspired the dichotomy of the visible world on the one hand and the allegorical in- 36
terpretation of it on the other, and pointed to the contemplative role of the ‘Book of Nature’. 37
Various church fathers, however, rejected this view – that they regarded as heathen – in which 38
nature and God approach each other so closely that the danger of pantheism is never far away. 39
The view that identifies Creation with Creator achieved its most extreme form towards the end 40
of the seventeenth century when it drew harsh criticism from traditional religious quarters.126 41
This thinking is also made explicit in art-theoretical texts; for example, Francesco 42
Bisagni, in his Trattato della pittura (1642), asks the rhetorical question: ‘could there in truth 43
44
45
c hap t e r i i           113
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 113 09-10-2008 17:09:31

1 be a single lover of the liberal arts or a sovereign in the world, who does not take pleasure
2 in imitating God and nature (Iddio, e la natura) with the brush as much as he can?’127 Art-
3 theoretical works in which this line of reasoning is followed do not, though, refer to Augustine
4 or other theologians, but to authors of pagan antiquity: the Stoics. Junius approvingly repeats
5 the Stoic identification of God and nature in a quotation from Seneca: ‘what is Nature else ...
6 but God and a divine power infused into the whole world and every part of the world’?128 In
7 seventeenth-century Neostoic ideology, the Christological interpretation of nature is embed-
8 ded in a philosophical view that centres on ‘following nature’. The Stoic reverence for nature
9 as an independent entity, for an unaffected style uncontaminated by the imagination, and for
10 a contemplative activity that is by its very nature healthy and virtuous, forms a complex of
11 ideas that has not been without significance for the tradition of art theory. The fact that ‘secret
12 Christianity’ was ascribed to some authors had a catalytic effect in this; Seneca’s supposed
13 correspondence with St Paul made him a key figure in the endeavour to reconcile this ancient
14 philosophy with a Christian ideology.
15 Van Hoogstraten was probably acquainted with an adherent of Neostoic doctrine like
16 Du Bartas, who produced a very literal simile stating that the world is ‘a school, in which
17 God himself comes to teach’, a pattern book which ‘without speaking’ is more eloquent than
18 literature.129 This same comparison recurs in a verse translation of Joseph Hall’s Occasional
19 Meditations (1630): the Schoole der wereld (The School of the World, 1682) by Van Hoogstraten’s
20 brother, Frans.130 Hall was a Protestant Stoic who also wrote a work with the revealing title
21 Seneca christianus; de vera tranquillitate animi (1623), in which he advocates ‘Senecan’ Christian-
22 ity with great emphasis on achieving tranquillity of mind.131 A well-known Stoic like Spiegel
23 – with whose work Van Hoogstraten must have been familiar – rejected the use of allegory; he
24 wanted on the contrary to praise ‘the ineffable God’ in nature.132
25 It is above all the combination of the ‘Book of Nature’ doctrine and the Senecan idea
26 that the love of art is more important than achieving fame or material gain that reveals the
27 Neostoic tone in the Inleyding. The same applies to Van Hoogstraten’s reference to Plutarch,
28 when he says that the painter practises art only ‘for its own sake, and for its virtuous nature’,
29 as a form of philosophy that will bring the painter ‘peace of mind’. He makes it plain that the
30 artist must seek tranquillity, even in politically turbulent times.133 The view that virtue is its
31 own reward is one of the key Neostoic dogmas, and a contemplative occupation like painting
32 consequently needs no further justification. The love of art, like amor virtutis, is deemed an
33 end in itself.134 In this context De Bie repeats an observation in Plutarch’s Moralia: practising
34 a trade can be a virtuous occupation and contribute to salvation, and this would also apply to
35 painting, ‘since the body and the soul can gain profit from it’.135
36 The contemplation of nature is another theme of the Stoics.136 Their words provide
37 useful arguments for art theoreticians seeking legitimation for their views on the depiction of
38 nature. In the opening sentence of his treatise, Junius paraphrases Cicero’s maxim that man,
39 unlike the animals, is created ad maioris mundi contemplationem imitationemque, to contemplate
40 and imitate the world.137 Junius also repeats a similar observation by Quintilian: ‘what is man
41 ... but a creature approaching neerest unto God ... and ordained to the contemplation of the
42 things contained in the world’?138 This emphasis on studying nature is an important point for
43 the key Neostoic author in the Netherlands, Lipsius, who stated that all the laws of moral con-
44
45
114          the v isibl e worl d
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 114 09-10-2008 17:09:31

 duct can be found in nature; he believed physics and ethics to be closely related. According to 1
Lipsius, knowledge of nature ultimately leads to self-control and virtue.139 2
The Stoic conception of nature corresponds to classical atomism, which, in its most 3
consistent form, argues that in nature everything is either chance or wholly determined, and 4
leaves no room for free will. This conception of natural determinism leads to an ethics in 5
which man is adjured to ‘follow nature’, in other words that he must endure his fate steadfastly 6
and allow his conduct to be ruled as little as possible by the emotions. Stoic moral philosophy 7
emphasizes resignation, endurance and contemplation since, as Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy 8
stresses, ‘whatever you see and wherever you go, is God’.140 The opposition to the Stoics of 9
Church Fathers like Lactantius is directed primarily towards this rigorous fatum stoicum.141 10
Whereas the classical Stoics equated God and nature, Lipsius was more circumspect and stated 11
that this was no more than a simile; in his view, God manifests himself in all things, without 12
being them.142 We shall examine the consequences of this world view for the theory of art. 13
14
15
th e bo o k o f n at u re and the eloque nce of p ainting 16
Virtually no research has yet been done into the influence of Neostoicism on conceptions of art 17
in the seventeenth century, although it is generally assumed that Lipsius’s ideas, in Jan Papy’s 18
words, ‘acquired a leading position in European thought and became common cultural prop- 19
erty in the Baroque period, obviously influencing scholarship, poetry and art right up to the 20
Enlightenment’.143 Courtiers’ manuals formulating the ideal of ‘practical reason’ also borrow 21
from Stoic moral philosophy.144 The concrete significance to art literature of the views outlined 22
is difficult to trace, however; one factor here is that there is no question of a clear-cut ‘Neo­ 23
stoic school’. The relationship between ancient and modern Stoic ideas and the accompanying 24
terminology is hard to pin down; most fruitful is William Bouwsma’s approach of not referring 25
to a continuing philosophical thread running from antiquity to the early modern period, but 26
rather viewing Neostoicism as one of the forms in which the thinking of antiquity was brought 27
up to date in the early modern period.145 28
Hessel Miedema pointed to the role of Stoicism in the development of so-called ‘real- 29
istic’ aspects of painting in the Netherlands, without working these remarks out in concrete 30
terms.146 In the general sense there are obvious parallels – for instance, with the exception of 31
the idea of the close relationship between the Creator and his works, Stoicism is not explicitly 32
religious and Stoic literature does not contain a mythic or poetic explanation of the Creation, 33
focusing on nature instead.147 The movement thus links up with the scientific views of Bacon 34
outlined above, and with the moral philosophical ideas in Frans van Hoogstraten’s Schoole der 35
wereld in which a code of conduct was sought in elements of everyday life.148 The moralizing 36
iconography of early seventeenth-century genre painting, in particular, can be traced back in 37
a surprising number of cases to pronouncements by Stoics like Coornhert and Spiegel.149 The 38
metaphors in such works as Otto Vaenius’s emblem books, which refer emphatically to Lipsi- 39
us’s philosophy, proved ideal for use in allegorical compositions, as did general Stoic ideas of 40
transience and mortality that found expression in vanitas symbolism.150 This raises the question 41
as to the extent to which matters of artistic invention and style were determined by Stoic views, 42
which will be dealt with in chapter III. 43
44
45
c hap t e r i i           115
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 115 09-10-2008 17:09:32

1 The Stoic courtier’s ethic that true virtue consists not in seeking truth, but in seeking
2 wisdom – the attainment of a virtuous lifestyle – also resonates in treatises that offer a code
3 of conduct for artists.151 The guidelines for ‘leading the good life’ or eudaimonia are thought
4 to be rooted in nature; in the final analysis the laws of nature are identical to the laws of good
5 conduct. In the Eerlyken jongeling, Van Hoogstraten asserts ‘that more benefit can be gained
6 from the great Book of this world than from Aristotle or Descartes’ and concludes that ‘Poli-
7 tics and Morality, which treat of good morals’, are learned ‘more from custom and experience
8 than from books’.152 Elsewhere he remarks that only unbelievers refuse to recognize the om-
9 niscience of the Creator in his Creation, and ‘their godlessness brings them so far as to ... call
10 into doubt that which is preached by the birds of the air, the simple animals and the insensate
11 things’. And this while the awareness of the divinity manifest in nature is the foundation of all
12 codes of conduct: ‘[t]he fear of God is the beginning of true wisdom, which contains within it
13 all the teachings of Philosophy, of how one should live’.153
14
15
16 An example: Philippe de Mornay’s ‘Bybel der nature’
17 Philippe de Mornay was one of the most eloquent authors to restate the Stoic’s view of nature
18 in the seventeenth century. He is of particular importance in the context of the world view
19 of the Inleyding because he used Stoic doctrine to add force to his Calvinist convictions. Van
20 Hoogstraten was certainly familiar with his Bybel der nature (Bible of Nature, 1602), which he
21 quotes in his treatise.154 De Mornay’s argument aims to demonstrate ‘that there is a God whose
22 countenance you see shine even in the lowliest of things’.155 The Dutch translation of the book
23 was reprinted several times in the seventeenth century, and may therefore well have underlain
24 ideas like Van Hoogstraten’s exclamation that, from the contemplation of the visible world, his
25 ‘spirit rose up to glorify the Creator of these wonders’.156
26 De Mornay makes a distinction between ‘visible’ and ‘invisible’ worlds and explains how
27 the invisible Creator is visible in his Creation: ‘Because through the visible, the eye manifests
28 and shows the invisible things without which the visible could not exist.’157 We shall touch on a
29 number of his views, in which a recurring theme is the Stoic emphasis on sensory knowledge,
30 in theological issues, too. To start with a longer quotation:
31
32 ‘In accordance with his immeasurable goodness in every respect, [God] has revealed
33 and depicted himself in all things ... in such a manner that anything man could con-
34 ceive, say [or] write of him is much darker than everything we behold in the World ...
35 For this reason one of the earliest philosophers said ... “That man could not fathom
36 God with human understanding, but could touch him with his hands ... [and that we]
37 understand God somewhat before any use of our intellect, not through any knowledge,
38 but through a certain touch, which is much surer than any knowledge” ... so that the
39 senses themselves, from which man’s first knowledge springs, testify to a God.’158
40
41 What stands out is De Mornay’s conviction that the knowledge of God only exists ‘before any
42 use of the intellect’, or, to paraphrase in modern words, on a pre-predicative level. De Mornay
43 reiterates the Stoic emphasis on the senses as the source of knowledge; the mind is a tabula rasa
44
45
116          the visible world
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 116 09-10-2008 17:09:32

 which the senses fill with images of the visible world. The implications this metaphor has for 1
painting are expressed in Diego de Saavedra’s well-known emblem ‘Ad omnia’ of 1649, which 2
compares the mind with a blank canvas (fig. 42).159 Stoic doctrine assumed that Platonic Ideas 3
are not real entities; everything that exists is physical and can be perceived by the senses. It 4
consequently rejects the imagination as a source of knowledge.160 De Mornay bases his cer- 5
tainty about the existence of God precisely on his trust in sense perception, opposing those 6
sceptics who ‘doubt what they see with their own eyes and touch with their hands’.161 7
Proceeding from this emphasis on the senses as the primary source of knowledge, 8
De Mornay sees the visible world as the most direct expression of God’s greatness, so that 9
it is more eloquent than oratory. Reason itself falls seriously short in understanding God: he 10
stresses ‘[t]hat all we know of the ways of God is that we know nothing ... and as we cannot 11
understand God with the intellect, so we also cannot fittingly name nor utter him’. This gives 12
rise to the realization that God can only be named by remaining silent: ‘the best way to sing 13
[God’s] praise is a still silence’.162 Thus, De Mornay says, nature itself provides the means of 14
penetrating to the essence of God: ‘the very smallest things that one finds in nature ... prove 15
that there is but one God ... we cannot understand the essence of God: but we behold him in 16
his works’.163 Indeed, rather than on theological doctrine, a pious person should concentrate 17
on ‘the very smallest things’ (de aldergeringhste dinghen) in nature: ‘[w]hat, then, do we think: 18
that a man could ever fathom nature and the Majesty of God [when] he is stone-blind in the 19
consideration of the least of his works?’164 It goes without saying that the paradox contained in 20
the words muta eloquentia, ‘silent speech’, is a recurring theme in the art-theoretical tradition 21
in which the term muta poesis (or libro mutolo) plays a key part:165 to repeat a phrase quoted ear- 22
lier, all peoples are expected to understand the ‘silent voices’ of created things, and ‘there is no 23
people or language or grouping of people which cannot understand these voci tacite that come 24
from the things created by God, that represent his greatness and majesty’.166 25
The use Van Hoogstraten could make of De Mornay’s writings is plain. Painting that 26
focuses on ‘the very smallest things that one finds in nature’ would obviously be ‘more elo- 27
quent’ than speech to express God’s greatness. Hence it is not surprising to find the Bybel der 28
nature in the artist’y library. The various ideas charted in this chapter, from Van Hoogstraten’s 29
focus on the love of art as the painter’s greatest reward, and on the painter’s attention to in- 30
significant things − obedient to the ‘virtuous following of simple nature’ − to his equation of 31
painting with philosophy and his outlook on Platonic Idealism, inspired by that of Zuccari, can 32
ultimately all be fitted into an ideological framework of Stoic Calvinism like the one developed 33
by De Mornay. 34
35
◆ 36
37
Van Hoogstraten’s concept of the ‘Visible World’ is legitimated by various earlier bodies of 38
thought in which artistic, philosophical and religious traditions all play a part. In the Inleyding 39
itself this concept is prominent in the subtitle and illustrations and it is central to various in- 40
dications as to the painter’s choice of subject and style. Van Hoogstraten’s ideas on variegated 41
brushwork, on the depiction of inconsequential and even ugly things, and on attention to 42
visual reality as a form of contemplation, show that he adapts traditional notions about the 43
44
45
c hap t e r i i           117
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 117 09-10-2008 17:09:32

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26 fig. 42 – ‘Ad omnia’, emblem from Diego de Saavedra Fajardo, Idea principis christiano-politici,
27 Amsterdam 1659.
28
29 imitation of nature in an idiosyncratic way. His emphasis on painting as ‘universal knowledge’
30 and his equating of painting with philosophy are based first and foremost on notions about the
31 universal applicability of rhetoric. His remarks hark back to those formulated by Federico Zuc-
32 cari, who deploys the universal human capacity to form mental images as an argument for the
33 theoretical emancipation of drawing, upon which, in his view, all other arts depend. His line of
34 reasoning is able to provide legitimation for an art that occupies itself not with ideal beauty and
35 the canonical proportions of antiquity, but with everything that meets the artist’s eye. Zuccari’s
36 modified idealism resonates in Van Hoogstraten’s definition which holds that painting is able
37 to depict ‘all ideas, or mental images, that the entire visible world can provide’.
38 Because of its enquiring character, Van Hoogstraten calls painting that imitates the
39 visible world a ‘sister of reflective philosophy’. As has become clearer, in this definition he is
40 using a concept of nature that differs from Van Mander’s; his ‘mirror of nature’ is a mirror of
41 the visible world, not a gateway to a ‘true nature’, a higher reality. In Van Hoogstraten’s view,
42 the artist’s primary concern should not be idealized beauty; aesthetic attention should focus on
43 an ‘eternal difference’, on the details that make things different from one another, rather than
44 on universalia.
45
118          the visible world
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 118 09-10-2008 17:09:41

 We have seen that the supposed enquiring character of painting may be related to Van 1
Hoogstraten’s Calvinist world view and to the view expressed in the Confession of Dordrecht 2
that God has manifested himself not only through Holy Scripture but through nature too. Not 3
only did Calvin not condemn the acquisition of knowledge, in his view the study of nature was 4
actually a pre-eminent means of knowing and worshipping the Creator. This Calvinist view 5
influenced the development of a new philosophical approach: moving away from the mediaeval 6
concept of nature, in which the visible chiefly had meaning in so far as it embodied references 7
to the invisible, Calvin propounded in its stead another way of looking at Creation. An exami- 8
nation of organic and living nature was not simply permitted, it was praiseworthy; the work 9
of the artist, in which the manifold phenomena of the visible world were studied, could be re- 10
garded as a very literal interpretation of man’s investigative task as conceived of by Calvinism. 11
Painting, as a ‘sister of philosophy’, is a sure means of coming closer to the Creator of all 12
things ‘in sublime contemplation’. Van Hoogstraten sees ‘mirroring’ nature not as speculation 13
about cosmological laws, but as devoting studious attention to the different properties of the 14
elements of the visible world. A work of art that is made with attention to the singularities of 15
the different elements of the Creation can assume the meaning of a homage to the Creator; the 16
depiction of the visible world can in itself be seen as a form of philosophical contemplation. 17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
c hap t e r i i           119
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 119 09-10-2008 17:09:41

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 120 09-10-2008 17:09:48

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
C h a p t er I I I 18
19
20
21

Pictor ial Imitation

22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 121 10-10-2008 16:24:37

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39 fig. 43 – Imitation, engraving from Cesare Ripa, Iconologia, Amsterdam 1642.
40
41
42
43
44
45
122          
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 122 09-10-2008 17:10:03

 1
2
3
Chapter I I I 4
5
6
Pictorial Imitation 7
8
9
10
11
‘What does not Dürer depict in one colour, that is, in black lines? Shadows, light, 12
reflections, differences in height ... Indeed, he paints even what cannot be painted: 13
fire, rays of light, thunderstorms, sheet lightning, thunderbolts ... sensations, all 14
feelings, in a word, the entire human spirit ... even, almost, the voice itself. These 15
things he places before our eyes with the most felicitous lines – black ones at that – 16
in such a manner that, were you to fill them with colour, 17
you would injure the work.’ 18
Erasmus, Dialogus de recta latini graecique sermonis pronunciatione 19
20
21
22
Van Hoogstraten describes the art of painting as ‘a mirror of nature’ and an ‘ape of nature’. 23
Imitation is evidently a key element in his art theory. Early modern views of this theme are 24
fairly complex, and a variety of associations cling to the ideas set forth in the Inleyding. In the 25
Renaissance, the imitation of nature was frequently regarded as inextricably bound up with 26
the imitation of examples and models.1 Julius Caesar Scaliger’s Poetics goes so far as to discuss 27
these two forms of imitation as variants of the same mode of expression: ‘We have a method of 28
expressing the nature of things, for we imitate what our predecessors have said in exactly the 29
same way as they imitated nature.’2 According to Scaliger, the laws of nature discovered by the 30
great masters are expressed in their works in an exemplary manner. 31
The richly nuanced theory of imitation in the Renaissance was shaped in a debate that 32
endured until the seventeenth century; treatises of poetics were devoted to this specific subject. 33
Vossius lists the most important authors on this theme in his influential De imitatione.3 Key 34
questions in the debate were: the need for imitation; whether it was better to imitate several 35
models or to focus on one; and whether ideal beauty and optimus stilus were to be found in the 36
artist’s inventive powers, in the idea, or in a selection from tradition.4 The educated population 37
can be assumed to have been familiar with the general views on imitation: the curriculum at the 38
Latin school was based almost exclusively on rhetorical theory, which revolved around transla- 39
tion, the collection of quotations, and the paraphrasing and explanation of commonplaces. 40
Recent studies have shown that among the main driving forces behind iconographic, 41
stylistic and technical developments in seventeenth-century painting were mutual rivalries – ri- 42
valries related to the debate on imitation. It has become clearer, for instance, how Rembrandt 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i i           123
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 123 09-10-2008 17:10:03

1 deliberately positioned himself relative to his predecessors.5 The reputation of painters could
2 serve as a pars pro toto for the status of a city, a country or region, or even a historical period;
3 heated debates might arise about the merits of a particular painter relative to those of his coun-
4 trymen, of his Italian or French rivals, or of artists from antiquity.6 Rivalry also played a role in
5 the behaviour of art lovers: one collector’s possession of certain paintings might prompt a rival
6 to make similar purchases.7 Little research has been done, however, on the theory underlying
7 imitation in seventeenth-century painting. While the concept of imitatio has been discussed in
8 relation to Italian art theory,8 this is not the case for the Netherlandish tradition.9
9 Imitation plays a key role in Van Hoogstraten’s treatise, both in the sense of repre-
10 senting the visible world and in the sense of artistic imitation and emulation.10 His views are
11 rooted in what may be called an ‘ideology of imitation’, an ideology that is laced with didactic
12 guidelines on the following of examples. Van Hoogstraten’s ideas on the related concept of
13 emulation – rivalry – clarifies his views on artistic progress and hence on the merits of the art
14 of his own age. His views on ideal education, in which the imitation of examples plays a central
15 role, deploy terms like ‘force’, ‘spirit’ and ‘grace’, imaginatio and inventio: these terms derive
16 largely from rhetorical theory, and are part of his project to place the art of painting on a firm
17 intellectual footing.
18
19
20 an ideology of imitation
21 Seventeenth-century art theory written in Dutch does not mention the term mimesis, a word
22 of Greek origin which is central to views of art and literature in antiquity. Only in the Latin
23 text ‘De graphice’ does Vossius describe the ‘mimetic’ abilities of human beings.11 The play-
24 wright Rodenburg uses the Greek term in the early seventeenth century, in a comparison
25 between drama and painting: ‘Poetry is an art of imitation, what Aristotle calls “mimesis”,
26 that is a representation or depiction through metaphor. It is a speaking painting, intended to
27 instruct and to delight.’12 Mimesis was apparently an argument in comparisons between poetry
28 and painting. Vondel applied Plato and Aristotle’s views on mimesis to drama, summarizing his
29 own poetics in a few words: ‘He who follows nature closely is a true Apelles’.13
30 In early modern poetical theory, the metaphor of the mirror is used to denote the imita-
31 tion of someone else’s work – in this case, the mirror of an example.14 Where Van Hoogstraten
32 focuses on the imitative capacity of painting by calling it an ‘ape’ and ‘mirror’ of nature, he is
33 implicitly presenting one of his arguments for equating it with poetry.15 Junius writes explicitly
34 that ‘Both [poets and painters] busie themselves about the imitation of all sorts of things and
35 actions ... seeing also that Painters doe expresse with colours what Writers doe describe with
36 words; so is it that they doe but differ in the matter and manner of Imitation, having both the
37 same end’.16
38 The early modern view of imitation as the basis of all education, arts and sciences,
39 derives from the Aristotelian view that mimesis is an innate capacity, rooted in nature. Vossius
40 puts it as follows:
41
42 ‘Painting has its origins in nature. For we have an inborn capacity for imitation, from
43 which we derive great pleasure; it is to this fact that art owes its beginnings. ... Philos-
44
45
124          p ictorial imitation
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 124 09-10-2008 17:10:03

 tratus says [in his Icones] that “someone might wish to say that art was invented by the 1
Gods ... but he who investigates the origins of art further will find that imitation is in 2
any case the oldest invention, having been born simultaneously with nature.”’17 3
4
In accordance with these views, Junius opens his book with a discussion of the human capacity 5
for imitation, most notably citing Cicero’s view of ‘the imitative faculty that is wholly intrinsic 6
to the human mind’.18 According to Junius, imitating the universe is one of mankind’s essen- 7
tial tasks.19 From this fundamental given, he says, all arts are based on imitation – of our fellow 8
human beings as well as of nature: it is ‘an usuall thing in the whole course of our life, that we 9
our selves study alwayes to do what we like in others’.20 He believes that ‘[o]ut of this most 10
absolute sort of imitation there doth bud forth the Art of designing, the Art of painting, the 11
Art of casting, and all other Arts of that kind’ and he quotes a maxim of Quintilian, that ‘all 12
such things as are accomplished by Art, doe ever draw their first beginnings out of Nature’.21 13
The assumption that the mimetic arts are embedded in nature itself prompts both Ju- 14
nius and Van Hoogstraten to make various observations. It is mainly the artists from antiquity 15
who followed nature in exemplary fashion – nature to which they were still so close, in their 16
‘golden age’. Van Hoogstraten recalls the anecdote about artists in Thebes who had to pay a 17
fine if their work was deemed deficient in illusionism.22 Junius notes that painters may not give 18
free rein to their imagination; it is a misplaced desire for emulation that has impelled painters 19
to depart from nature, which led to the corruption of art.23 A significant example of this view is 20
Vitruvius’s criticism of the ‘grotesque’ wall decorations of the IVth Pompeian style, which Van 21
Hoogstraten repeats: 22
23
‘Vitruvius says that degenerate custom caused men to prefer to depict abominations 24
and monsters in the grotesques instead of showing truthful things, against the custom 25
of the ancients, who embellished their rooms, corridors and dining halls with artful 26
imitations of what was natural. In his view, a ship should look like a ship, an image like 27
a human being, or ... a known or ... natural creature’.24 28
29
The passage invoked by Van Hoogstraten can be found in Junius: 30
31
‘Let the Picture bee an image, saith [Vitruvius],25 of a thing that is, or at least 32
can bee ... so must also a right lover of Art preferre a plaine and honest worke 33
agreeing with Nature before any other phantastically capricious devices.’26 34
35
‘Agreeing with Nature’, or with de eenvoudigheydt der nature (the simplicity of nature), as the 36
Dutch edition puts it, is a goal that should be pursued by painters and art lovers alike. 37
Vitruvius’s views are only understood in full when they are seen in the context of the 38
beliefs of the ancient Stoics. They took the maxim of vivere secundum naturam, living a life that 39
‘follows nature’, as the basis for a code of conduct geared towards virtue, a view expressed by 40
authors such as Seneca and Plutarch, whose ideas are repeatedly quoted by Van Hoogstraten 41
and Junius.27 Cicero too believed that naturam ducem sequi (‘follow nature’s lead’) should be the 42
basic guideline, both in rhetoric and in human actions.28 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i i           125
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 125 09-10-2008 17:10:03

1 The exhortations of Van Hoogstraten and Junius to avoid artificiality and to focus on
2 depicting simple objects, from which one may perhaps infer an implicit criticism of contrived
3 symbolism and allegory, may be re-examined in the light of this Neostoic ideology. Van Hoog-
4 straten’s criticism of Haarlem mannerism – the exaggerated physical contortions painted by
5 Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem, for instance – may be clarified by this preference for follow-
6 ing nature. His criticism targets artists who depart from ‘the true measure of art and Nature
7 itself’ and the works of Hieronymus Bosch, which, ‘in all their unseemly monstrousness, ap-
8 pear to do violence to nature’.29 This conviction eventually leads Van Hoogstraten to posit that
9 in some cases it is better to follow nature than the classics.30 He warns young painters of the
10 dangers of a journey to Italy: ‘I even fear that once you are there [i.e. in Rome], you will err
11 from our teaching which is directed at following nature, and be led astray from the true path
12 by following others.’31 On the other hand, he believes that the ancients themselves deemed
13 faithfulness to nature more important than beauty: the painter Amphiaraos is said to have de-
14 picted horses that were covered in dust and sweating profusely: ‘which, for all that it may have
15 deprived them of some of their beauty, nonetheless infused a greater suggestion of truth’.32
16 Key to the line of argument pursued here is the Stoics’ appreciation of the imitation of
17 nature, in contrast to serious Platonic criticism that describes mimesis as a meaningless copy
18 of a world of mere appearances. In their view, ‘following nature’ is a code of conduct in which
19 the artist can control his own passions, aspires to the golden mean, follows his own nature, and
20 furthermore paints in a way that is accessible to, and recognizable for, a wide-ranging public.
21 These ancient views persist in notions such as the following, by Goeree:
22
23 ‘a wise practitioner of Art should also know ... that he should concern himself most as-
24 siduously with the contemplation of the natural world, more so than with the study of
25 all the things mentioned earlier [in Goeree’s treatise], and that he must use it at every
26 possible opportunity ... for the natural world is in everything so rich and plentiful, so
27 artistic and ingenious, that our memories cannot possibly comprehend it all, let alone
28 retain it.’33
29
30 It will be clear that the above emphasis on following ‘the natural world’ is far from an idiosyn-
31 cratic artistic preference; it is rooted entirely in views that are supported by ancient authority.
32 Vondel states that ‘the Oldest and best Poets are ... the most natural and the simplest. Their
33 descendants, in seeking to surpass them, were led by their ambition either to boast and bluff
34 or to glaze and gloss.’34 Junius asserts, on the same grounds, that it testifies to misplaced over-
35 confidence to ‘disdaine to meddle with any meane matters, seeing [that] a man may very well
36 shew his wit in small matters also’.35
37 This view was also elaborated in the art theory of the Counter-Reformation, to ward off
38 accusations that painting was inauthentic or deceptive. Thus, Giovanni Andrea Gilio asserts
39 in his Dialogo ... degli errori e degli abusi de’pittori (1564) that a painter ‘must take care above
40 all else to make [the history that he depicts] simple and pure, because the combination of the
41 poetic and fictitious is nothing but a disfigurement of the true and beautiful, which makes it
42 disingenuous and hideous’.36 Here we can call to mind the view quoted in the previous chap-
43 ter, that imitation may be valued according to its successfulness – the choice of subject may
44
45
126          p ictorial imitation
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 126 09-10-2008 17:10:04

 even be seen as irrelevant. In 1584, Francesco Bocchi concludes: ‘it does not matter if a figure 1
is strange or deformed and has little grace in and of itself; what matters is the skill involved: 2
if [the subject] has been handled beautifully and tastefully, it will command much praise and 3
appreciation’.37 In a similar vein, De Lairesse considers ‘that no less art is involved in depict- 4
ing a coarse subject than a serious one, a peasant than a courtier, a donkey than a horse; since 5
sound knowledge is just as necessary to depict one as the other.’38 To cite one last example, the 6
‘ideology of imitation’ put forward here corresponds to the substance of a famous observation 7
ascribed to Caravaggio (c. 1620): the painter supposedly said ‘that he needed just as much skill 8
to make a fine painting of flowers as to make one depicting human figures.’39 9
The theoretical emphasis on the success of imitation is relevant to Van Hoogstraten’s 10
observation, quoted earlier, that ‘the ugly can be made beautiful’ by virtue of the ‘naturalness’ 11
practised by the painter. In this respect he echoes one of Junius’s conclusions: ‘not onely the 12
Imitation of faire but of foule things also doth recreate our mindes ... the Imitation [is] al- 13
wayes commended, whether shee doth expresse the similitude of things foule or faire’.40 14
15
16
‘Imitatio auctoris’ 17
In seventeenth-century art literature, imitating examples is a more complex subject than fol- 18
lowing nature: contrary to what one might expect, it involves a greater risk of failure. Ripa’s 19
personification of Imitatione or Naevolginge, whose attributes of brushes and mask identify her 20
with painting and drama, is depicted with one foot on a monkey, symbolizing imitatio insipiens, 21
unthinking imitation (fig. 43).41 Van Hoogstraten too takes a negative view of ‘aping’ other 22
masters, and Junius rejects the slavish imitation of other artists’ styles as ‘an apish imitation of 23
the outward ornaments’.42 Angel calls such ‘apish’ imitation eerdieverij, theft of honour.43 24
This mindless form of imitation is primarily associated with the procedure of rapen, 25
borrowing from the work of others, a subject studied at length by Emmens (1964). The danger 26
of borrowing too arbitrarily is that the result may be a chaotic mess; De Lairesse describes 27
a working method in which borrowings are combined carelessly, which he compares to the 28
pointless chemistry of an alchemist: ‘Indeed, a painter of this kind is not unlike the common 29
Alchemists, who, wanting to make gold, toss everything into the crucible that they know to 30
be capable of melting, brewing it all day and night, squandering everything they have in the 31
world, [and] eventually finding nothing in the all-consuming crucible except for a little foam 32
from I know not what kind of non-metal, with neither colour nor weight.’44 33
The Dutch theorists agree that there are also praiseworthy kinds of imitatio auctoris. Van 34
Hoogstraten’s doctrine in this regard derives from Roman pedagogics based on the imitation 35
of models, which formed the nucleus of education at the Latin school. Copying was deemed 36
to be a useful, if not essential, part of the painter’s education as well: ‘Copying all manner of 37
paintings [is] a common and very useful exercise for young pupils, especially if the example is 38
a fine work of art.’45 These exhortations were put into practice not only by painters, but by 39
amateurs too. Christiaan Huygens wrote, at sixteen years of age, that he had copied a portrait 40
of an old man by Rembrandt and that his copy was indistinguishable from the original.46 When 41
Heyman Dullaert took lessons in Rembrandt’s studio as a young man, he was said to have pro- 42
duced works within a short space of time that were indistinguishable from the master’s own 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i i           127
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 127 09-10-2008 17:10:04

1 painting.47 Vondel compares the copying of a master’s work to translating the classical poets:
2 ‘translating work by the celebrated Poets helps an aspiring Poet, just as the copying of skilfully
3 executed masterpieces helps a painting apprentice’.48 He comments that an aspiring artist must
4 copy a master’s ‘handling and lines’ until ‘a connoisseur when facing works by both / cannot
5 tell the pupil from his master’.49
6 For studying draughtsmanship, artists probably used sketchbooks with paper specially
7 prepared for erasable drawings in silverpoint.50 The material from these books could be in-
8 serted into a composition as if ‘quoting’ from a stock of visual tropes, a procedure described by
9 Leonardo, comparable to the use of quotation collections by pupils at Latin school.51 As Dutch
10 art theory makes clear, this form of borrowing is a matter of careful selection. Van Hoogstraten
11 advises: ‘If you find a good print, it will not always be necessary to copy every part of it, but
12 learn early on to differentiate [and select] the [various] virtues of art’.52 He therefore concludes,
13 following Van Mander: ‘It is said that properly cooked rapen [turnips; also means borrowings–
14 transl.] make good soup, but those who are always following will never progress’.53
15 What is the ‘proper’ way to cook these turnips? Early modern art theory frequently
16 emphasizes that the ideal form of imitatio auctoris is to emulate a number of different painters.54
17 In the Inleyding, Goltzius is praised as an artist who imitated the ‘handling’ of different mas-
18 ters.55 However, this should be no more than a means towards an end: as Goeree emphasizes,
19 emulating more than one master ultimately enhances the painter’s ability to imitate nature. He
20 maintains that ‘a wise man should borrow the best from each other artist’, criticizing painters
21 who emulate only a single master; ‘indeed, they abandon nature, the very best guide, while
22 devoting themselves to I don’t know what kind of teacher.’56
23 To clarify the praiseworthy form of imitatio auctoris, Van Hoogstraten uses the analogy
24 of a bee gathering nectar from different flowers and combining it into one kind of honey.57 A
25 similar analogy, expressed by Junius, is that of the human digestive system, in which different
26 kinds of food are consumed, blending into a single nourishing substance.58 Intrinsic to the
27 metaphor of digesting food and making soup from rapen is the concept of taste, or good judge-
28 ment, necessary to arrive at the right decision. Van Hoogstraten uses Cartari’s term giudicio,
29 and quotes: ‘A learned man must possess good judgement in choosing the good and rejecting
30 the bad’.59 Angel too writes that for the procedure of derivation or borrowing, the artist’s ‘good
31 judgement’ is essential, and Houbraken considers that De Lairesse possessed this faculty, ‘for
32 to avail oneself of someone else’s ingenuity, such that what has been derived does not stand out
33 like a new patch on an old beggar’s cloak, requires good judgement.’60
34 Judgement (oordeel) or discernment (opmerken), the capacity to make the eclectic process
35 of imitation result in one single artwork, is closely related to the painter’s capacity to present
36 a virtual reality to the viewer’s eyes. Thus, Van Hoogstraten states that ‘the habit of discern-
37 ment’ enables the painter to arrive at a strongly illusionist use of colours.61 A painter’s giudizio
38 dell’occhio, or ‘eye and judgement’ (oog en oordeel) in Van Hoogstraten’s terminology, is bound
39 up with his observation of nature.62 Thus, Titian, whom Van Hoogstraten describes as ‘such
40 a man, who dedicated himself entirely to following nature precisely with his brush and paint’,
41 trusted more to his ‘judgement’ than to his ‘handling’.63
42
43
44
45
128          p ictorial imitation
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 128 09-10-2008 17:10:04

 i mi t at i o n a n d s elf- knowledge 1
The purpose of selective imitation in the artist’s training is to teach the pupil to distinguish the 2
various ‘parts of painting’ to which Van Hoogstraten has devoted the different chapters of his 3
treatise. The aim is not to adopt someone else’s working method; although a pupil may master 4
another artist’s ‘handling’ as an exercise, this must not be seen as an end in itself.64 Junius writes 5
that in the process of emulation a painter must never lose sight of his own temperamental 6
inclinations. The benefit to be derived from emulating another artist’s virtues is ultimately 7
self-knowledge: 8
9
‘we shall ... perceive how necessary it is that we should duly examine our owne abilitie 10
and strength, before we undertake the Imitation of such workes as doe excell in all 11
kinde of rare and curious perfections ... for every one hath within his own brest a 12
certaine law of nature, the which he may not neglect; so are also the most ill-favoured 13
and gracelesse Pictures most commonly wrought by them that venture upon any thing 14
without considering to what their naturall inclination doth lead them most of all’.65 15
16
Adherence to ‘a certaine law of nature’, in the sense of remaining true to one’s own character, 17
links up with Stoic doctrine (it is a key point, for instance, in Coornhert’s philosophy, where 18
it relates chiefly to moral conduct).66 Goeree quotes Cicero in this connection: ‘It is most 19
advisable, says Cicero, that we should be led by our own nature, and that we pursue the Arts 20
wholly in accordance with the rule of nature’ (italics mine).67 Imitation would be pointless if the 21
painter were to try to adopt something from another that was at odds with his own natural 22
abilities.68 The importance of understanding one’s own qualities inspires Van Hoogstraten to 23
explain how painters choose their particular specializations.69 One should seek to establish a 24
potential apprentice painter’s temperament while he is still young: ‘minds must be led towards 25
their natural urges’.70 An artist’s capacities are apparently closely related to the ‘motions of 26
the mind’ to which he is most inclined; traditional art theory links them more specifically to 27
the temperamental and astrological make-up that influences the kind of work the painter will 28
produce.71 Lomazzo’s Tempio, for instance, contains an outline of a systematic classification of a 29
total of seven artists’ temperaments and the respective virtues in which these seven types excel; 30
the author emphasizes that imitation must be adapted to the artist’s natural disposition.72 31
By following one’s own nature one will be able to excel in a particular specialism, which 32
will benefit art as a whole. Van Hoogstraten writes: ‘There is only one art of casting, says Cic- 33
ero, in which Myron, Polykleitos and Lysippos each excelled in his own way ... although these 34
Artists were considered very different in the work they produced, there was no reason to wish 35
that each one had not remained true to his own handling’. He concludes: ‘What appears unat- 36
tainable in art as the product of one man’s ingenuity may yet be achieved by a host of Noble 37
minds, each one following a different path as chosen according to his innate inclination and 38
taste’.73 39
40
41
42
43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i i           129
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 129 09-10-2008 17:10:04

1 the imitation of examples and the imitation of nature
2 As we have seen, in Van Hoogstraten’s view the painter must attune his ‘handling’ to the
3 visible world rather than imitating someone else’s style. In accordance with this conviction,
4 Junius echoes the ancients in stating that the painter must ultimately find a style of his own,
5 which cannot be imitated.74 Van Hoogstraten, who also stresses the importance of an inimita-
6 ble ‘handling’, says explicitly that following examples must ultimately be subordinated to the
7 imitation of nature; if this is done, ‘the manner of handling will be inimitable, and your work
8 will be indistinguishable from nature in the parts of painting’.75 This point of view is tradition-
9 ally represented by Caravaggio, who purportedly regarded nature as his master so literally that
10 he did not feel the need to compete with any other artist. Van Hoogstraten is expressing this
11 view when he notes that ‘Caravaggio said that all works of art that were not painted from life
12 were trifles (Bagatelli) .... Since there can be nothing better, nothing good, except for following
13 nature alone.’76 Echoing this sentiment, his biographer Gian Pietro Bellori writes that ‘Carav-
14 aggio valued no one besides himself; he called himself the only faithful imitator of nature.’77
15 Van Hoogstraten discusses the making of sketches after examples in his chapter on
16 drawing, in which he paraphrases a sentence from Van Mander: ‘’tis life that holds the books
17 all painters need; / to seek the truth ’tis life that they must read’.78 And to keep to this maxim,
18 it is not necessary to restrict oneself to the beauty of the human figure: ‘For almost every part
19 of nature can adequately feed this discernment and whet one’s sharpness of eye’.79 Although
20 the imitation of great masters is an essential part of the learning process, according to Van
21 Hoogstraten, an accomplished master should place this experience in the service of following
22 nature:
23
24 ‘I would not discourage painters from sometimes imitating good things done by some-
25 one else, be it the ancients or foreigners ... One should follow the works of other
26 masters in order to learn how to make masterpieces. And Lysippos, who was initially
27 only a mediocre coppersmith, had learned this [most important lesson] from [his mas-
28 ter] Eupompos, who, when asked which master’s handling one should try to emulate,
29 pointed at the market, which was full of people, and said that nature itself was the great
30 master one should follow.’ 80
31
32 Van Hoogstraten summarizes here the paradox inherent in his ideology of imitation: the fol-
33 lowing of other masters is an essential part of the learning process, but it is aimed at nothing
34 else but the realization that the true ‘mistress’ of all art is ultimately nature itself.
35
36
37 i mi t at i n g th e i n im itable
38 Van Hoogstraten discusses the ideal of an ‘inimitable handling’. How, in practice, should one
39 construe the paradox of imitation: that the painter must focus on what is ultimately inimitable
40 in his example? The perfect form of imitation – imitatio sapiens – is reflected in the personifica-
41 tion in Bellori’s life of Van Dyck: in this case, the female personification of Imitazione tramples
42 a monkey, symbol of thoughtless ‘aping’ (fig. 44). Her attribute, a mirror, alludes on the one
43
44
45
130          p ictorial imitation
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 130 09-10-2008 17:10:04

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
fig. 44 – Attributed to Charles Errard, allegorical title print for the life of Van Dyck, 17
from Giovanni Paolo Bellori, Le vite de’pittori, scultori e architetti moderni, Rome 1672. 18
19
hand to the function of painting – that of offering the viewer a ‘mirror of Nature’, and on the 20
other hand to the process of imitation as a form of self-analysis. 21
As their texts make abundantly clear, according to Van Hoogstraten and Junius, the 22
ideal form of imitation is not about copying specific lines, colours or brushwork. Instead, these 23
authors discuss how one should follow the ‘force’ or ‘spirit’ of an example. Junius maintains: 24
25
‘As many then as desire to expresse the principall vertues of the best and most ap- 26
prooved Artificers, must not content themselves with a slender and superficiall viewing 27
of the workes they meane to imitate, but they are to take them in their hands againe 28
and againe, never leaving till they have perfectly apprehended the force of Art that is 29
in them, and also thoroughly acquainted themselves with that spirit the Artificers felt 30
whilest they were busie about these workes’ (italics mine).81 31
32
What is meant here by the terms ‘force’ and ‘spirit’? They denote aspects that Van Hoog- 33
straten says cannot be found in a copy, but only in an original: 34
35
‘let no one imagine that he will find in copies that perfect force of Art, that is contained 36
in the original works ... of eminent Masters. For this is impossible, unless some god 37
were to have blessed the imitator with the same spirit as the master.’82 38
39
The ‘perfect force of Art’ is only to be found in the originals; likewise, the ‘spirit’ that stirred 40
the example’s maker cannot be captured by imitation. Junius too asserts that the essence of the 41
work cannot be reproduced just by copying lines and colours: 42
43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i i           131
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 131 09-10-2008 17:10:05

1 ‘rash and inconsiderate beginners fall to worke upon the first sight, before ever they
2 have sounded the deep and hidden mysteries of Art, pleasing themselves wonderfully
3 with the good successe of their Imitation, when they seeme onely for the outward lines
4 and colours to come somewhat neere their paterne: and therefore doe they never attaine
5 to that force of Art the originalls have’ (italics mine).83
6
7 Elsewhere, Junius says that imitators should be concerned not with the ‘superficiall’ features of
8 a painting in terms of craftsmanship, but with its spiritual essence: ‘the true following of a rare
9 Masters Art, doth not consist in an apish Imitation of the outward ornaments, but rather in the
10 expressing of the inward force.’84 The Inleyding explains why a copy cannot be entirely success-
11 ful: it will always betray that it has not been made ‘after nature’. ‘Nature’ may be construed in
12 two senses here: the original is closer to nature both in the sense of visible reality and in the
13 sense of the artist’s innate talent: ‘There is always a charming vitality in originals that is lack-
14 ing in copies: for however well a copy may have been executed, it will nevertheless reveal, in
15 details here and there, elements that appear to originate not in nature but in painstaking labour’
16 (italics mine).85
17 To illustrate the paradoxical nature of imitation, Van Hoogstraten uses the concept of
18 ‘grace’, which he defines as an ‘inimitable force of suggestion’ that is needed ‘to surpass those
19 things that are generally deemed unsurpassable’.86 Grace is the quality possessed by the origi-
20 nal and lost in the copy; a quality that cannot be obtained by practice or training, but solely by
21 ‘divine gifts that are to be obtained only … from Heaven’, states Van Hoogstraten.87 Even if
22 every ‘part of painting’ is wholly accomplished, only the Graces can ultimately bring a work to
23 completion: ‘grace consists of the meeting of all the parts of painting’.88 Junius uses the term
24 ‘grace’ to clarify the inimitable qualities of works that can only be described as ‘ineffable, in-
25 imitable, supernatural, divine Artifice’.89
26 ‘Grace’, the concept to which the eighth chapter of the Inleyding is devoted, can be
27 regarded as the most systematic element of Van Hoogstraten’s art theory, in which the other
28 elements that he distinguishes are brought together (see above, pages 49, 54, 69). At first sight,
29 however, it is also the most elusive element. Grace is defined in terms of negatives ­– ‘inimita-
30 bility’, ‘I know not what’, a quality that is purportedly impossible to inculcate with training or
31 rules. The elements ‘force’ and ‘spirit’, which the imitator is urged to identify in his example,
32 appear to be related to it.
33 How can a painter focus in practice on the inimitable ‘spirit’, ‘force’ and ‘grace’, which
34 he evidently cannot capture by ‘copying lines and smearing colours’ (Junius: ’t nae-trecken van
35 Linien en ’t opsmeeren van Coleuren)? How can the imitator reach the ‘deep and hidden myster-
36 ies of art’, without focusing on the ‘outward ornaments’? To answer this question, we need
37 to review a notion of the work of art and the role of the viewer that is rooted in antiquity and
38 that was crucial to shaping seventeenth-century Dutch art theory.
39
40
41 pa i n t i n g a s vi rt ual re ality
42 The notion of the paradoxical nature of imitatio auctoris – which is ideally geared towards inim-
43 itable aspects such as ‘force’, ‘virtue’ and ‘grace’ – is based on a theory from antiquity focusing
44
45
132          p ictorial imitation
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 132 09-10-2008 17:10:05

 on the emotional response of the beholder, who is deemed to sympathize completely with the 1
depicted figures. In accordance with this view, the imitator should not focus on imitating the 2
work of art, but on reconstructing the original reality that inspired his example. And this focus 3
on another reality is not confined to the sense of sight: the imitator should become affectively 4
and physically involved in the reality that is conjured up. 5
This theory of affective involvement is a fairly literal elaboration of views that were 6
developed in the Second Sophistic from around AD 200. The writers of this ancient philo- 7
sophical school include Philostratus, his grandson Philostratus the Younger, Callistratus and 8
Lucian. ‘Ekphraseis’ or descriptions of images play an important role in their writings. For this 9
reason, these authors are frequently quoted by Junius and Vossius as well as in the Inleyding.90 10
The Second Sophistic implicitly developed a consistent theory of visual representation that 11
relies heavily on the theory of rhetoric. 12
The Sophists’ theory assumes that a work of art is fundamentally incomplete. The artist 13
has supposedly recorded a mental image in the work of art, and it requires an effort of the view- 14
er’s imagination if he in turn is to summon up this image. The artwork thus acts as a stimulus 15
for the imagination. When the original mental image is evoked again, the art object itself, as 16
no more than a medium, fades away. 17
This theory is not made explicit in Philostratus’ Icones (image descriptions), but in his 18
Life of Appolonius of Tyana (II, 22). In a key example, he explains that it is possible to make a 19
drawing of a black man without actually making the skin colour dark; the painter can draw on 20
his evocative powers to suggest the hue. Van Hoogstraten paraphrases the passage from Phi- 21
lostratus as follows: 22
23
‘A Drawing, although made without colour, consisting solely of outlines, light and 24
shade, says Philostratus, deserves the name of Painting all the same, if we see in it not 25
only the likeness of the persons depicted in it, but also their movement, fear and shame, 26
boldness and diligence: and although it may sometimes consist only of simple lines, it 27
can nonetheless indicate sufficiently the form of a black or white human figure. Such 28
that a Moor, even if drawn in white, will appear black.’91 29
30
The passage makes it clear that details of craftsmanship such as colour are of minor impor- 31
tance in an ideal imitation. Van Hoogstraten uses it to conclude his chapter ‘On the Purpose of 32
Painting’; by giving it this central position, he acknowledges the importance of Philostratus’s 33
views for seventeenth-century theories of the beholder’s response. 34
This response theory is central to Van Hoogstraten’s ideas on imitation. For a better 35
understanding, we will consider the importance of imagination to the seventeenth-century 36
notion of the viewer’s affective involvement, and to the related mental faculties of inventio and 37
memoria of artist and beholder alike. Ultimately, the viewer’s experience of a painting becomes 38
an immersion in a virtual reality. What is more, not only sight but the other senses too are 39
deemed to be affected by the virtual reality of the painting. As we shall see, these beliefs suggest 40
that the viewer’s reaction fulfils the role of necessary complement, making it possible for the 41
consummate artistic moment to take effect.92 42
In analyzing Van Hoogstraten’s ideas we must bear in mind that the ancient theory of 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i i           133
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 133 09-10-2008 17:10:05

1 the presentation of an event ‘to the mind’s eye’ pervaded more areas of seventeenth-century
2 life than the visual arts alone. In courtiers’ manuals, it is seen as a requisite for conversation.
3 The ability to tell a story so graphically that the listener feels as if he is actually experiencing
4 the event himself and could ‘touch the objects with his own hand’ is an important quality for a
5 courtier, and attests to worldly wisdom or urbanitas.93
6
7
8 Imaginatio, memoria, inventio
9 On the basis of the Aristotelian theory that ‘the mind never thinks without images’, early
10 modern psychology sees the capacity to form mental images (in Dutch: denkbeelden, literally
11 ‘thought images’) as the basis for all higher intellectual processes.94 That is why Van Hoog-
12 straten and Zuccari compare draughtsmanship, Teykeninge or disegno, to a general intellectual
13 activity, as a foundation for all branches of learning. Their assumption rests on the central no-
14 tion that the artist first imprints what he wants to depict on his mind in the form of a mental
15 image; Van Hoogstraten states that ‘the entire Art of Painting stems from the Artist’s inner
16 power of imagination, as another Pallas [Athena, who was] born from the brains of Jupiter ...
17 since a wise master will produce not just a sketch but a complete image of what he intends to
18 make in his mind before he begins.’95
19 These mental images were regarded as more than representations of the objects ob-
20 served: it was believed that the objects themselves, with all their details, were actually present
21 in the artist’s trained imagination. According to Aristotelian theory, objects emit specific ‘spir-
22 its’ that affect the power of imagination when they enter the eyes and thus exert an affective
23 ‘action at a distance’. The images observed leave behind an impression in the imagination,
24 even when the object of observation is no longer there. Quintilian says that through these
25 mental images, or fantasiae, ‘the images of absent things are presented to the mind in such a
26 way that we believe we are seeing these things with our own eyes and that we are present with
27 them’.96 This affective view is the basis for the topos that a painting ‘makes the absent present’.
28 Van Hoogstraten refers to ‘the power of our innate imagination ... which acts as to paint ab-
29 sent things in the mind’.97
30 The pervasiveness of these views concerning the imagination in the seventeenth centu-
31 ry is demonstrated by Descartes’s opinion that the power of imagination, unlike the faculty of
32 reason, is linked directly to the body’s sensory and physical functions. According to Descartes
33 (and to Goeree, who repeats him), reason is capable of reflecting on certain things without
34 necessarily visualizing them – he gives the example of a chiliagon (a thousand-sided polygon),
35 which is too complex to be visualized, although we may conceive of it clearly as an unequivo-
36 cal mathematical object.98 By contrast, every form of visualization supposedly appeals to the
37 ‘mind’s eye’ and relates the object of thought to the physicality of one’s own body. In his Prin-
38 cipia philosophiae (1644), Descartes opposes the ‘power of imagination’ – or kracht van inbeelden,
39 a term that is also used by Van Hoogstraten – to ‘the power of understanding’.99 He states: ‘I
40 consider that this power of imagining which is in me [differs] from the power of understanding
41 ... when the mind understands, it in some way turns towards itself and inspects one of the ideas
42 which are within it; but when it imagines, it turns towards the body and looks at something in
43 the body which conforms to an idea understood by the mind or perceived by the senses’.100
44
45
134          p ictorial imitation
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 134 09-10-2008 17:10:05

 Descartes’s distinction between reason and imagination gives rise to the assumption 1
that there are two forms of communication. The first is intellectual in nature, and focuses on 2
conveying impersonal philosophical views. The second works primarily through images, ma- 3
nipulating the audience affectively and arousing physical reactions. This is the level on which 4
rhetoric – speech designed to elicit affective response – and the visual arts operate. 5
The Cartesian emphasis on the physical component of communicating through im- 6
ages shows that the image theory of the Second Sophistic, with its emphasis on the imagina- 7
tion, remained topical in seventeenth-century philosophy that criticized classical thought in 8
other respects.101 Treatises on painting emphasize that, given the physical element involved 9
in shaping mental images, a disproportionate use of the imagination will disrupt a painter’s 10
temperamental constitution. Ripa, for instance, writes that a painter ‘constantly has images of 11
the visible objects in his mind ... in consequence, he becomes anxious and melancholic, and 12
all his spirits are burned and consumed, as Physicians relate, which leads naturally to this par- 13
ticular sickness ... in Man.’102 The main danger of melancholy, according to Van Hoogstraten, 14
is posed by the activity of ordineren or composition ­– in other words the contemplation of the 15
virtual three-dimensional space, which places disproportionate demands on the imagination: 16
‘it is above all in composition that one must beware of melancholy’.103 He suggests a number of 17
ways in which the artist may ward off melancholy, such as going on journeys, dining in a large 18
company, and drinking alcohol.104 19
Early modern mnemotechnics, the art of memorizing ­– a vital skill of any orator and 20
an indispensable part of intellectual life – was an elaboration of this concept of thinking in im- 21
ages and the possibility of educating through pictures. It consisted largely of visualizing topoi, 22
commonplaces with an obtrusive visual quality which could help to conjure up elements of a 23
speech vividly before the listeners’ eyes.105 The method was inspired not only by the presumed 24
visual basis of thought but also by the relatively few possibilities that existed in ancient times 25
for converting verbal utterances into text and for disseminating texts. The classical passage 26
from Cicero states: 27
28
‘the most complete pictures are formed in our minds of the things that have been 29
conveyed to them and imprinted on them by the senses, but ... the keenest of all our 30
senses is the sense of sight, and ... consequently perceptions received by the ears or 31
by reflexion can be most easily trained if they are also conveyed to our minds by the 32
mediation of the eyes.’106 33
34
Van Hoogstraten describes memory as an important asset for an artist; indeed, he calls the god- 35
dess of memory, Mnemosyne, the mother of the Muses.107 He praises painters like Elsheimer 36
and Rubens who commit the artworks they see to memory, so as later to be able to imitate 37
them: Elsheimer ‘does little by way of drawing, but sits in Churches and elsewhere, gazing 38
steadily at the work produced by great masters, imprinting it all on his mind.’108 39
A third concept related to the process of making mental images, after imagination and 40
memory, is the rhetorical notion of inventio, the painter’s choice of subject matter (translated 41
by Van Hoogstraten into Dutch as vinding, the ‘finding’ of topoi and arguments).109 Junius, for 42
instance, links inventio to the faculty of the imagination.110 In line with the Aristotelian view on 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i i           135
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 135 09-10-2008 17:10:05

1 thinking in images, Van Hoogstraten posits that inventio consists of the processing of images
2 stored in the memory. He urges young painters to study prints: ‘In this way you can learn how
3 to enrich your mind from time to time with new materials, thus yielding in turn inventions of
4 your own.’111 Apparently, inventio never takes place in a vacuum: in practice, it often involves
5 ‘finding’ material where one has stored it: in a notebook or drawing pad.112 In the original rhe-
6 torical context, this means selecting specific commonplaces to impart greater persuasiveness to
7 one’s speech. The analogy with painting was taken to be very direct, as is exemplified in Vossi-
8 us’s emphasis that in both painting and rhetoric, ‘one must start by finding the arguments; then
9 the arguments that have been found must be placed in a specific relationship to one another’.113
10 The choice of a particular topos, of a variation on a particular topos or the invention of a new
11 example, with a view to the emotional manipulation of the public and hence the persuasiveness
12 of one’s argument, was highly valued as an intellectual skill in theories of the rhetorical and
13 literary process. The theory of combining and arranging commonplaces became, as ‘dialectic’,
14 a separate discipline, ars dialectica (Van Hoogstraten calls it redenkonst, the art of reasoning).114
15 The importance of inventio and of mental images (denkbeelden) as the starting point of
16 the working process is manifestly not a licence for the unfettered imagination; on the contrary,
17 it has to do with the intense contemplation of one’s predecessors’ work. The key premise here
18 is that an ideal imitation does not focus on the example’s formal qualities, but on a mental
19 evocation of the reality as seen or envisioned by the original artist. Van Hoogstraten praises
20 painters who, ‘accustoming their thoughts in such a manner’, first convey the scenes they
21 want to depict fully to the mind’s eye and see them ‘painted in thought-images’.115 Artists who
22 allow themselves, on the other hand, ‘to be carried away shamefully by a strange ferocity of
23 their capricious minds’, in the words of Junius, are flouting the injunction to follow ‘the plain
24 simplicity of unalloyed nature’ that is essential if one is to retain credibility and hence persua-
25 siveness.116 Junius contrasts poetry with painting in this respect. While a poet may allow his
26 imagination to roam free, a painter has no such licence. There is nothing wrong with a poet’s
27 verses possessing ‘a more fabulous excellencie ... altogether surpassing the truth’; but ‘in the
28 phantasies (verbeeldinghen) of Painters, nothing is so commendable as that there is both pos-
29 sibilitie and truth in them’, to achieve the effect of evidentia, the rhetorical ability to present
30 a narrative vividly.117 Goeree explains how this mental image should be the object of the ideal
31 imitation:
32
33 ‘One must look at Drawings, Sketches and Prints with one’s mind, not use one’s hand
34 and eye to steal fragments from them, far less to slavishly imitate them, and ... to
35 keep constantly looking through the spectacles of another. But ... one must attempt
36 to impress only the [drawing’s] virtues upon one’s mind, by looking and looking again,
37 contemplating, reflecting and ruminating, and to store them, by frequently thinking
38 about them; so that your Mind may transform them from the inventions of another
39 into your own’.118
40
41 Clearly, imitation is a ‘re-creation’ of the inventio, the reality that met the eyes of the older art-
42 ist or that was envisioned in his imagination. Not only artists but art lovers too are encouraged
43 to look at paintings in this way in seventeenth-century treatises. Junius, for instance, presents a
44
45
136          p ictorial imitation
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 136 09-10-2008 17:10:05

 practised power of imagination as a quality needed by the art lover, quoting from Philostratus’ 1
Life of Apollonius Tyaneus: ‘such as doe contemplate the workes of the Art of painting ... have 2
great need of the imaginative facultie’.119 It may be clear by now that he requires no ‘great 3
imagination’, but the capacity to summon up a virtual reality. The central position of this con- 4
cept in Junius’s theory is clear from the personification of ‘Imagination’ on the title page of De 5
pictura veterum, which follows the precepts given in Ripa’s Iconologia: a woman with a cluster of 6
tiny figures springing from her head, who takes the young painter by the hand (fig. 45). 7
8
9
‘a s i f h e were a n ot he r bystande r’: the re sponse theo- 10
ry o f ekph ra s i s 11
The process of ekphrasis clarifies the above-mentioned theory of response to works of art. In 12
ancient literature, ekphrasis – a central concept in Philostratus’s Imagines and Lucian’s De Ca- 13
lumnia for instance – is never a description of a painting, but always a description of the scene 14
depicted, a reconstruction of the reality that confronted the artist. Ekphrasis can be called an 15
‘exercise in suggestive description’: the author was expected to describe a scene as if he were 16
present during the event concerned or perhaps had even taken part in it.120 17
In this theory of sympathetic involvement, the viewer is allotted a central role. The 18
viewer must take the painting as a point of departure for a contemplation of the subject de- 19
picted, as if this were reality itself. Junius, for instance, thinks that an art lover must appraise 20
paintings as if he were confronted with the things themselves rather than with painted objects; 21
he states ‘that wee should not onely goe with our eyes over the severall figures represented in 22
the worke, but [that] we should likewise suffer our mind to enter into a lively consideration of 23
what wee see expressed; not otherwise than if wee were present, and saw not the counterfeited image 24
but the reall performance of the thing’ (italics mine).121 25
Junius’s term ‘reall performance’ exemplifies how looking at works of art was deemed 26
similar to the experience of a play. Van Hoogstraten is echoing his words when he writes that 27
the work must appeal to the viewer such that the latter believes himself to be present in the 28
scene depicted, and thus be involved affectively: ‘So that the work will thrill the viewer, as if he 29
were another bystander, with one voice, terrify him with a violent action, and gladden him by 30
showing something cheerful’.122 The painting is expected to immerse both painter and viewer 31
of his work in a virtual reality; the beholder’s power of imagination is essential if the illusion is 32
to work. Junius writes: 33
34
‘Here it is furthermore required, that all those who meane to enter into a judicious 35
consideration of matters of art, must by the means of these Images accustome their 36
mind to such a lively representation of what they see expressed in the picture, as if they 37
saw the things themselves and not their resemblance onely’ (italics mine).123 38
39
Junius emphasizes that not only the artist, but the art lover too must train his capacity of form- 40
ing mental images; indeed, a beholder can only appreciate a painting if he can compare it to 41
the images of reality he has stored in his memory.124 There must be some common ground 42
in the experiences of artist and viewer, if the painting is to have the desired effect. Only then 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i i           137
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 137 09-10-2008 17:10:05

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42 fig. 45 – Joseph Mulder after Adriaan van der Werf, title page to Franciscus Junius,
43 De pictura veterum, Rotterdam 1694.
44
45
138          p ictorial imitation
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 138 10-10-2008 17:44:32

 can some degree of virtual interaction occur between painter and viewer. On the basis of early 1
modern psychology, this interaction is construed quite literally, given the assumed physical 2
component of the power of imagination. The painter is expected to impose his own inner 3
world and experiences, including his temperament and character traits, on his work, in a fairly 4
unconscious, almost automatic way. The viewer is subsequently moved, in an affective and 5
physical sense, by the figures, colours and forms that are displayed to him. Referring to this 6
assumption, Goeree states that if the work of art conveys a mental image to the mind’s eye, 7
viewers are ‘moved no differently than were they to have witnessed these things in their en- 8
tirety with their own eyes’.125 Junius concludes that this form of immersion in another reality 9
is made easier by the physical involvement of imagination and the ‘presence’ of images in the 10
mind: artists and art lovers alike should train their imagination in order ‘to have a true feel- 11
ing of [works of art], rightly to conceive the true images (verbeeldinghen) of things, and to be 12
mooved with them, as if they were rather true than imagined.’126 He illustrates the role of the 13
viewer’s imagination by describing in detail an ancient battle scene: ‘at the mere sight of this 14
scene, his thoughts are stimulated so vigorously that with a little use of his imagination he will 15
see the entire state of the battle before him.’127 16
The theory of ekphrasis clarifies how it happens that, in an ideal imitation, the medium 17
fades away. The supposed ‘disappearance’ of the artwork is exemplified by Goeree’s statement 18
that those who look at paintings, ‘the subjects of which are confined to visible Things’, must 19
be prompted to move from gazing at what is visible to contemplating the ‘invisible’ human 20
motives. The viewer must eventually completely forget that he is gazing at paintings or works 21
of sculpture, but should believe that it is a virtual reality that confronts him: the painter must 22
devote himself to means: 23
24
‘by which Figures can be created in Paintings such that the Viewer can set aside all 25
thoughts of Canvas and Panel, Paint and Oil, or Wood and Stone and Copper (if the 26
work has been cast or modelled), and be possessed of the Idea that he has before his 27
Eyes not Painted or Cast, but Natural Living Human figures.’128 28
29
Van Hoogstraten, in discussing this view of ideal imitation, gives the specific example of artists 30
who try to copy sculptures from antiquity, but fail to attain this mental ‘re-creation’ of reality. 31
He observes, ‘instead of the spirit of their predecessors coming to their aid with a graceful 32
lifelikeness, their statues changed to stone’.129 Evidently they did not succeed in imitating that 33
quality that enables the viewer to forget that he is gazing at a work of art, so that their statues 34
‘changed back’, as it were, into stone objects. Instead of providing a virtual reality, they drew 35
attention to the effort of craftsmanship that the work had demanded. 36
This theory of sympathetic involvement, involving both mind and body, also helps to 37
clarify the ideas on the paradoxical nature of imitation that have been quoted above: the imita- 38
tor, like the spectator, must not essentially focus on the work of art , but on the spirit and ‘living 39
grace’ of the original mental image. When imitating a work of art, one must not simply copy 40
lines and colours, but always remain mindful, while doing so, of the illusion of space, atmos- 41
phere and movement that was envisaged by the painter of the original. 42
43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i i           139
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 139 09-10-2008 17:10:11

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29 fig. 46 – Titian, Diana Discovers Callisto’s Pregnancy, 1559, canvas.
30 187 x 205 cm. National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh.
31
32
33 Performativity
34 The viewer’s supposed involvement with a work ‘as if he were another bystander’, and the role
35 of the painter as a narrator who was present at the event depicted, are part of a more general
36 theory about the performative nature of the art of painting. Performativity will be understood
37 here to mean that in experiencing art, the event takes place that the work describes or depicts.
38 We shall interpret the term in the sense of Junius’s formulation that the spectators do not see
39 ‘the counterfeited image but the reall performance of the thing’. The image theory of the
40 Second Sophistic is based to a large extent on the assumption of this performative effect. In
41 the ideal situation, the painting is the event depicted; the viewer is ‘present’ at the scene, just
42 as the painter was present while painting it. In the seventeenth century, this effect is frequently
43 interpreted literally: the viewer is deemed to be transposed to a virtual reality by what may be
44
45
140          p ictorial imitation
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 140 09-10-2008 17:10:17

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
fig. 47 – Rubens, Diana Discovers Callisto’s Pregnancy, 1630-35, canvas. 29
Coll. Knowsley, Earl of Derby, Knowsley Hall, Prescot. 30
31
called an act of magic. Goeree, for instance, refers to the ‘almost Supernatural Magic whereby 32
one makes from Dead and Lifeless material Human images that are certainly motionless, but 33
nonetheless appear in numerous ways to move. In which one imagines one hears the Dumb 34
Speaking ... and in which even while they remain within our Sight, they nonetheless appear at 35
the same moment to swiftly flee from it.’130 36
The metaphor used for the virtual reality that the painter summons up before his eyes is 37
that of the theatre. This comparison, which Van Hoogstraten uses on several occasions, should 38
be construed literally rather than figuratively. This is exemplified by his discussion of imitation 39
in the chapter on painterly composition, which is dedicated to the Muse Thalia, ‘Mistress of 40
comedies and farces’.131 He relates that the ideal imitation should focus not on another mas- 41
ter’s ‘handling’ but on composition or ordinnantie, the choreography of the figures depicted 42
in a virtual, three-dimensional setting. To create an ordinnantie, the painter must conjure up 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i i           141
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 141 09-10-2008 17:10:20

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19 fig. 48 – Caravaggio, The Deposition, ca. 1602, canvas, 300 x 203 cm. Pinacoteca, Vatican City.
20
21 a stage to the mind’s eye: ‘Let us now open the princely Theatre ... draw the curtain within
22 ourselves, and first depict the historical action in our minds’.132 This is more than a metaphor;
23 indeed, aspiring painters are encouraged to engage in play-acting as a useful exercise; Thalia
24 demands of a painter that his mind be completely open to this kind of dramatic praemeditatio.133
25 As becomes clear from Van Hoogstraten’s chapter on composition, painterly invention relates
26 in large measure to the choreography of the figures, the spatial composition that the painter
27 forms in his mind before he starts painting.134 Thus, this chapter encourages pupils to train
28 their faculties of imagination.135
29 To analyse what this theatrical analogy means in practice, we may look at the most
30 striking example that Van Hoogstraten gives of a painter who uses older works to fine effect.
31 This is Rubens, who produced many drawings after sculptures from antiquity as well as fairly
32 literal copies of Italian masters such as Titian.136 These include his imitation of Titian’s Diana
33 and Callisto and his free adaptation of Caravaggio’s Entombment (figs. 46 and 47, 48 and 49).
34 Even a superficial comparison of originals and copies reveals that what Rubens adopts from his
35 examples is not their ‘handling’; indeed, Rubens retains his own specific brushwork. What is of
36 more interest to him is ordinnantie, the spatial choreography of the figures.137 Besides Rubens,
37 Van Hoogstraten also praises his own master, Rembrandt, for his skilful ordinnantie.138 The lat-
38 ter’s imitations after Lastman, and his drawing of the Last Supper based on a print after Leon-
39 ardo, demonstrate that the painter was not interested in the tonal qualities of his example, but
40 in the placing of the figures, whereby the scene’s surroundings could be altered more or less at
41 will (figs. 50 and 51).139 Van Hoogstraten relates the following anecdote to illuminate Rubens’s
42 method:
43
44
45
142          p ictorial imitation
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 142 09-10-2008 17:10:33

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
fig. 49 – Rubens, The Deposition, c. 1612-1614, wood, 88 x 67 cm. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. 27
28
‘When Rubens was ... in Rome, one of his industrious companions rebuked him for 29
copying and drawing so few Italian Paintings, and for spending all his precious time 30
walking, looking and sitting still, saying that to be a great master in art, one must la- 31
bour night and day. But Rubens retorted laughingly with the well-known saying, “I am 32
busiest when you see me idle”.’140 33
34
The paradoxical expression, ‘I am busiest when you see me idle’ helps to clarify the notion 35
that in an ideal imitation the medium fades away: the imitator does not copy lines and colours 36
but tries to evoke the original reality that met his predecessor’s eyes. Hence we see that Van 37
Hoogstraten praises Rubens for the power of his imagination.141 38
To give another example: Rubens’s version of Raphael’s portrait of Castiglione also 39
shows that the Flemish master did not set out to copy the painting, but to paint Castiglione 40
himself again (figs. 52 and 53). In so doing, he followed both the ‘nature’ that was originally 41
before Raphael’s eyes and his own nature, and did not attempt to adopt Raphael’s ‘handling’. 42
It is in this context too that we should understand another comment that Van Hoogstraten 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i i           143
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 143 09-10-2008 17:10:43

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17 fig. 50 – Anonymous after Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper, 16th century, engraving.
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42 fig. 51 – Rembrandt, The Last Supper, ca. 1635, red chalk on paper. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
43 Robert Lehmann Collection, New York.
44
45
144          p ictorial imitation
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 144 09-10-2008 17:11:02

 ascribes to Rubens: namely, that only a few will benefit from borrowing from old masters.142 1
Another consequence of the supposed performative nature of the art of painting is the 2
suggestion of interaction. The figures depicted not only appear to move in three dimensions, 3
they are also expected to address their public, an assumption that is expressed in the com- 4
monplace in art theory that the work appears to ‘speak to the viewers’. This topos may be 5
linked to specific painterly virtues. For instance, De Piles links the effect of ‘speaking likeness’ 6
in particular to chiaroscuro: ‘A painting in which the lines and local colours are mediocre but 7
are supported by skilful chiaroscuro will not allow a viewer to calmly pass it by, it will call out 8
to him, arrest him for at least a moment.’143 In this context, De Piles relates that visitors took 9
Rembrandt’s portrait of his maidservant for the girl herself, an anecdote that may be linked to 10
paintings like Rembrandt’s Maidservant (1651), now in Stockholm, which bears similarities to 11
works attributed to Van Hoogstraten (figs. 54 and 55).144 Rembrandt’s work is described in simi- 12
lar terms by Houbraken, who mentions a portrait that was ‘so artfully and forcefully elaborated 13
that even the most forceful brushwork of Van Dyck and Rubens could not match it, aye the head 14
appeared to protrude from it and speak to the beholders.’145 According to a comparable com- 15
monplace, the work appears to follow the viewer with its eyes: De Lairesse mentions a portrait 16
of a woman painted such that ‘her eyes appeared to gaze at every viewer’ and continues: ‘The 17
reason for this is that ... such images were so profoundly congruent with human forms that they 18
appeared to be not painted but to be made of flesh and blood, aye as moving figures.’146 19
In the context of his notion that a work of art is an immersion in a ‘reall performance’, 20
Junius gives several descriptions of the way in which the painter or writer becomes wholly ab- 21
sorbed in the image he conjures up in his mind’s eye. He dwells on Ovid’s account of Phaeton’s 22
fall from his father’s chariot, and states that it is so lifelike only because the poet has ‘made 23
himself present’ in the events he describes: 24
25
‘would you not thinke then that the Poet stepping with Phaeton upon the waggon hath 26
noted from the beginning to the end every particular accident ... neither could he ever 27
have conceived the least shadow of this dangerous enterprise, if he had not been as if it 28
were present with the unfortunate youth’.147 29
30
It is Junius’s art-theoretical ideal that painters and writers alike become ‘present’ in the scenes 31
they portray. The Dutch edition of his book is more specific still, stating that the artist should 32
‘reconstruct the matter with his imagination’ (door ’t verbeelden t’achter haelen) in order to ‘make 33
himself present at the scene, in a manner of speaking’ (dat hy sich selven aldaer in maniere van 34
spreken, ver-teghenwoordighet hadde). That is, of course, the most direct form of performativity: 35
the painter ‘is’ what he ‘makes’. 36
A common metaphor that thematizes the assumed identification of the artist with his 37
work, in terms of body and mind, is the comparison of the creative process to pregnancy. Van 38
Hoogstraten describes the painter’s mind as ‘pregnant with rich thoughts’148 and calls paint- 39
ings the maker’s ‘offspring’, in which certain of his characteristics are visible.149 This metaphor 40
is rooted in the early modern explanation of the similarity between parents and children as a 41
product of the mother’s imagination. If she received certain strong stimuli from her imagina- 42
tion during conception or pregnancy, it was believed, the child’s physical constitution would 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i i           145
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 145 09-10-2008 17:11:02

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27 fig. 52 – Raphael, Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione,
28 ca. 1514-15, canvas, 82 x 66 cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris.
29
30 bear traces of it. Van Hoogstraten gives the example of an adulterous woman who, fearful of
31 her husband’s wrath, embedded his image so firmly in her imagination that her illegitimate
32 child looked even more like her husband than did his own children.150 The anecdote illumi-
33 nates the early modern belief that the painter could make himself literally, physically, present
34 in his work by the sheer force of his imagination.
35 The seventeenth-century notion that body and mind are closely linked also supposes a
36 direct relationship between character and environment. This means that painters who want to
37 produce lifelike representations of specific human beings must first spend some time in their
38 company. De Lairesse writes that ‘those who spend their days among vulgar and immoral peo-
39 ple are generally vulgar and immoral; conversely, those who consort with the upright and vir-
40 tuous will themselves become virtuous’.151 He also urges painters to identify wholly with their
41 subject: ‘imagine that you are yourself each person in turn whom you are to depict’.152 The
42 view that the painter’s relationship to the figures he depicts possesses a sympathetic, physical
43 quality is reflected in the exhortation that in the ideal imitation, the artist should ‘follow his
44 own nature’ – ideally, the artist is ‘present’ in his work.
45
146          p ictorial imitation
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 146 09-10-2008 17:11:26

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
fig. 53 – Rubens, Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione, 27
ca. 1620, panel, 90 x 68 cm. Courtauld Institute, London. 28
29
It is in this context that we should understand the view that not only the painter but the 30
viewer too must share some common ground with the painting, if the most complete form of 31
persuasion is to be achieved. Junius writes not only that ‘no body can with any good reason 32
praise a painted horse or bull, unlesse hee doe conceive that same creature in his mind, whose 33
similitude the Picture doth expresse.’153 He also explains that artists and viewers should be able 34
to recognize themselves in the figures depicted. He draws a comparison with a comedy in the 35
theatre: ‘It is altogether needfull ... that a man whom these [comic] lines should take, be well 36
acquainted with the things [themselves]’ – that is to say, the actor must be acquainted with the 37
night life, he must have associated with ‘young roarers’ and have been caught up in brawls.154 38
Apparently, the painter must be a man of the world in order to paint in a manner that will be 39
intelligible to a large proportion of the public; his persuasiveness is based on the assumption of 40
a shared ethos. The vir bonus pingendi peritus or ‘good man skilled in painting’ can only persuade 41
his viewers and change their character by appearing natural and straightforward, in short, by 42
‘being himself’. 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i i           147
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 147 09-10-2008 17:11:32

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38 fig. 54 – Rembrandt, Young Girl at a Window,
39 1651, canvas, 78 x 63 cm, 1651. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.
40
41
42
43
44
45
148          p ictorial imitation
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 148 09-10-2008 17:11:34

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
fig. 55 – Attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten, Young Woman at an Open Half-door, 1645, 21
canvas, 102 x 85 cm. Art Institute, Chicago. 22
23
24
Synaesthesia 25
The belief that the medium fades away in an ideal imitation should not lead one to conclude 26
that seventeenth-century theorists see a painting as something imperfect, which will necessar- 27
ily fall short of what the artist initially conceived in his mind. On the contrary, a good work 28
of art is believed to stimulate the imagination through all sorts of illusionistic, persuasive and 29
affective means, such that the image becomes more than a mere painting: it comes to life such 30
as to bring the other senses too into play. Ultimately, the viewer hears the painting speak, sees 31
it move, and his other senses too are mobilized; in short, he is immersed in a performative 32
illusion. 33
In this context, the most obvious figure of speech from the literature of art is the ob- 34
servation that motionless painted images appear to move; Van Hoogstraten praises Leonardo’s 35
Mona Lisa for this quality: ‘in the hollow of the throat ... one seemed to see the pulse throb’.155 36
A well-known anecdote from antiquity, about the artist Theon who had a clarion sounded at 37
the unveiling of his painting of a soldier, shows that image and sound could ideally be combined 38
to evoke an even more persuasive virtual reality. Philostratus himself waxes particularly lyri- 39
cal on the synaesthetic facets of artistic illusion; describing a painted garden, he asks: ‘do you 40
notice something of the fragrance of the garden, or are your senses numbed?’ When he evokes 41
an image of horses, he states that ‘they whinny fast, nostrils raised, or do you not hear the 42
painting?’156 The Inleyding repeats Philostratus’s astonishment ‘that art brings forth so much, 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i i           149
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 149 09-10-2008 17:11:43

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24 fig. 56 – Emblem from Otto Vaenius, Amorum emblemata, Antwerp 1608, p. 151.
25
26 that from the flared nostrils [of these horses], from their pressed-down ears and taut limbs, one
27 perceives their keen desire to flee, even though one knows that they are motionless’.157 Else-
28 where, Van Hoogstraten takes a synaesthetic description of Venus, including sound, scent and
29 movement, as his point of departure for a painting: ‘Who will not imagine the most enchanting
30 elegance if he reads Virgil’s words on Venus? “Thus speaking, she departed, looking back over
31 her rosy neck, a divine fragrance like ambrosia wafting from her hair, her robe trailing behind
32 her, and her tread that of a true goddess”.’158
33 A commonplace frequently cited in this context suggests that the person depicted is
34 sleeping, or is not moving or speaking at this precise moment for some other reason. In the
35 Inleyding, Van Hoogstraten quotes a poem by Giovanni Strozzi about Michelangelo’s personi-
36 fication of sleep in the Medici Chapel in Florence: ‘The night, who sleeps here now ... who
37 does not think she lives, / And softly rests? Or is there something missing? / Ah wake her then,
38 and you shall hear her speak’.159 A similar trope recurs when Jan de Brune refers to Philos-
39 tratus’s description of a painting of a sleeping satyr: here, the spectators are urged to speak in
40 hushed tones so that they may continue to enjoy the spectacle.160 Similarly, Goeree tells of a
41 painting of a sleeping Venus with an inscription stating that the goddess must not be woken,
42 ‘lest, opening her Eyes, he would be unable to close his own [because of the seductiveness of
43 her gaze]’.161 It is above all the subject’s eyes that are described as so powerful as to magnify
44
45
150          p ictorial imitation
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 150 09-10-2008 17:12:03

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
fig. 57 – Frans Francken II, An Art Collection, ca. 1636, wood 92 x 123 cm. Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. 24
25
the painting’s affective influence to the fullest extent.162 These remarks relate to a debate in 26
art theory as to whether sight and its affective influence derive from beams of light emanating 27
from or entering the eyes.163 For example, the 1644 Dutch translation of Ripa includes a passage 28
from Ficino alluding to the affective influence of the ‘spirits’ that are ‘emitted’ by the eyes.164 29
This view may be illustrated by one of Otto van Veen’s emblems, which shows a woman’s gaze 30
boring into her lover’s heart in the form of arrows (fig. 56). It is clear from Goeree’s comment 31
that this heart-piercing effect is ascribed not only to the lover’s eyes, but also to those of the 32
painted eyes in a work of art. 33
The image may exert such appeal as to stimulate the viewer’s sense of touch: Van Hoog- 34
straten describes an image of the ancient warrior Hector that was ‘filled with such a lively spirit 35
(levendigen geest) that the beholder had the desire to touch it’.165 Michelangelo too, who ‘doted’ 36
on the sculpture of a river god in the Vatican museums, came to touch it out of desire for its 37
beauty, as the Inleyding describes.166 On the other hand, De Brune reports that he shrank from 38
laying hands on the painting of a lady, lest he harm her body: ‘I scarcely dare to touch / That 39
comely flesh for fear to bruise or scratch: / For she is not a painted figure, she lives, and true to 40
tell, / She can utter sounds that will o’erpower each viewer’s soul’.167 Samuel Pepys, who men- 41
tions Van Hoogstraten in his diaries as a skilled painter of trompe-l’oeil, writes of being barely 42
able to suppress his desire to touch the painted drops of water on the fruit in one of the artist’s 43
still-lifes.168 44
45
c h ap t e r i i i           151
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 151 09-10-2008 17:12:13

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20 fig. 58 – Willem van Haecht, The Studio of Apelles, panel, 105 x 150 cm.
21 Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, The Hague.
22
23 The supposition that the viewer is transposed to a virtual reality by the strong affective
24 power of the painting means that by depicting just a single moment from a story, the skilled
25 artist is expected to summon up the entire history to the mind’s eye. In fact, the very focus on
26 one affectively charged, suggestive moment is deemed to have greater power to transpose the
27 viewer instantly to a complex narrative situation.169 This evocation before one’s eyes of a nar-
28 rative sequence underlies many ekphrastic descriptions in ancient literature, such as that of the
29 images on Achilles’s shield in Homer’s Iliad, which is repeated in the Inleyding.170 On the basis
30 of these ancient ideas, Junius analyses the way in which the viewer is swept into a narrative
31 sequence by the sight of a single image, concluding: ‘Our outer senses need present only the
32 beginning of a story to our mind, and our active wit will soon readily comprehend the entire
33 story, as a sequence of events’.171 Here again, the author refers to the characteristic distinc-
34 tion between ‘outer senses’ and the inner realm of thought, which early modern psychology
35 regarded as intimately connected.
36 In the seventeenth century, the supposed performative and synaesthetic effect of art was
37 reinforced by hanging curtains in front of paintings, a practice that is demonstrated in various
38 images depicting domestic interiors or art collections (figs. 57-61).172 If the viewer was taken to
39 a covered painting and the curtain was drawn at the right moment, this strengthened the illu-
40 sion that the action depicted had been in progress for some time and the viewer was confronted
41 with a split second in a narrative sequence. Ancient theory was used to legitimize this practice,
42 drawing on anecdotes such as the contest between Zeuxis and Parrhasios, in which Zeuxis went
43 to draw the curtain to see his rival’s painting, only to discover that the curtain itself was the
44
45
152          p ictorial imitation
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 152 09-10-2008 17:12:28

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
fig. 59 – Gabriel Metsu, Woman Reading a Letter, 1665, canvas, 52 x 40 cm. National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin. 27
28
painting. A clarion might be sounded at this moment of revelation, as already noted. Junius 29
dwells at length on the painter Theon, who, ‘having made the picture of an armed man who 30
seemed to runne most furiously on his enemies that depopulated the country round about, he 31
did thinke it good not to propound the picture before he had provided a trumpetter to sound 32
an alarme somewhere hard by’, at the same time as ‘starting to draw the curtain that kept the 33
work concealed’.173 34
Van Hoogstraten relates that painters contemplating a historical scene ‘draw a curtain’ 35
in their mind’s eye in a similar fashion, in order to start by first ‘painting the events in their 36
minds’.174 That the effect of sudden revelation on the persuasiveness of the image was well un- 37
derstood in the seventeenth century, is clear from a letter in which the famous French painter 38
Nicolas Poussin advises an art lover that to achieve the most satisfying effect on the viewer, it 39
is best to draw aside the paintings’ covers one at a time.175 Accordingly, Huygens writes that 40
if a viewer is shown a painting of Medusa that is normally kept behind a curtain, ‘he will be 41
shocked by the sudden terror’ of the confrontation, but at the same time undergo the moving 42
experience of its vivid lifelikeness.176 This practice indicates just how literally the comparison 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i i           153
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 153 09-10-2008 17:12:41

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32 fig. 60 – Johannes Vermeer, Woman Reading a Letter at an Open Window, 1657/58, 83 x 64 cm.
33 Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden.
34
35 between painting and the stage could be understood in the seventeenth century. How the
36 theory of classical tragedy influenced Van Hoogstraten’s ideas will be explored more fully in
37 chapter IV (see below, pages 188-197).
38
39
40 The viewer’s reaction
41 In the ancient theories that have been outlined here, the viewer’s own power of imagination
42 is seen as a necessary complement to the painting. Accordingly, seventeenth-century treatises
43 on painting contain abundant descriptions of the public’s reactions to works of art. These
44 reactions have little to do with assessments of stylistic qualities or choice of subject; they are
45
154          p ictorial imitation
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 154 10-10-2008 16:24:39

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
fig. 61 – Rembrandt, The Holy Family with the Curtain, 1646, panel, 49 x 69 cm. 23
Kassel, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister. 24
25
generally described in terms of the viewer’s ‘astonishment’ that ‘strikes him dumb’. With the 26
physical transportation to another reality, the spectator is believed to lose control of his senses, 27
and to be unable to express his reaction in words.177 28
Here the theory of painting builds on a belief from antiquity, as expressed most no- 29
tably in the treatise On the Sublime, attributed to the third-century scholar Longinus.178 Van 30
Hoogstraten cites Longinus’ central principle of the ‘sublime’ in a passage from the Inleyding 31
with suggestions for painters on ways of conjuring up mental images.179 He translates the 32
Latin term ‘sublime’ as ‘truly great’ (waarlijk groots), a quality which he defines as ‘that which 33
appears before our eyes each time anew as if fresh; which is difficult, or rather impossible, to 34
banish from our thoughts; the memory of which seems to be constantly, and as if indelibly, 35
engraved on our hearts.180 This concept thematizes the notion that a good work of art should 36
conjure up a mental image before our eyes that stays on the retina, in a manner of speaking, an 37
image that becomes permanently ‘present’ in the imagination and brings about an emotional 38
transformation. 39
According to Van Hoogstraten’s theory, the ‘truly great’ cannot be described in the same 40
reasoned way as the ‘parts of painting’; it can only be made more explicit by describing the 41
viewer’s reaction. In seventeenth-century reactions to paintings, the concept of ‘astonishment’ 42
(verwondering; Junius’s English edition speaks of ‘astonishment of wonder’) is frequently em- 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i i           155
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 155 10-10-2008 16:24:40

1 phasized. One example is Jan Orlers’s allusions to the work of Rembrandt and Lievens, in his
2 description of the city of Leiden (1641).181 Van Hoogstraten describes reactions to paintings in
3 terms of an ineffable experience: the viewer perspires profusely, and finds himself embroiled in
4 a ‘terrifyingly confused inner struggle’. Imbued with ‘a vivid sense of inexpressible joy’, he is so
5 moved that he is almost incapable of averting his eyes from the work, and on his way home, his
6 eyes are ‘drawn back to the memory of that rare sight’.182 The viewer’s confrontation with this
7 virtual reality may be so physical as to strike fear into him, as Junius adds.183 Accordingly, Vos-
8 sius writes that the works of Protogenes summoned up a virtual reality so powerful that they
9 could not be seen without inspiring some kind of terror (quodam horrore).184 Van Hoogstraten
10 describes paintings the sight of which made viewers turn pale, and others that people did not
11 dare to touch.185 The popularity of these remarks suggests that the spectator’s involvement in
12 a work of art was deemed total and completely direct, at a physical level that precedes verbal
13 articulation.186
14 The ‘confusion’ or ‘inner struggle’ aroused by the experience of a work of art is assumed
15 to be closely related to the experience of deceptive verisimilitude and physical immersion in
16 a virtual reality. So it is understandable that the words ‘astonishment’ and ‘lifelikeness’ often
17 occur in the same breath. Van Hoogstraten’s term ‘inexpressible joy’ is apparently a fitting
18 response to this transportation to a virtual reality, in which the medium, and therefore the pos-
19 sibility of speaking in the customary vocabulary of art criticism, fades away.
20 The examples of these extreme physical reactions show that the viewer’s response is
21 described in terms of the affective ‘action at a distance’ that the painting is thought to exert
22 with its purportedly magical powers. Dutch art theory tends to stress the connection between
23 pictorial lifelikeness and the work of art’s power of ‘enchantment’; a physical attraction that can
24 even be described in terms borrowed from love lyrics. The work of art is believed to ‘utterly
25 consume a viewer at first sight’; paintings ‘have the force ... to attract art-loving spirits from
26 the remotest regions’.187 It is sometimes supposed that this emotional attraction of the image
27 can only be achieved if the artist himself has a comparable affective relationship with his sitter;
28 the image is most persuasive when the artist was in love with his model. The Inleyding adduces
29 the example of the frescoes in Palazzo Chigi in Rome, where ‘[Raphael] of Urbino worked
30 when he was in love; Venus inspired him to depict Venus in the most beautiful fashion ... what
31 appears impossible can be achieved by love, since minds are most alert when the senses are
32 enamoured’.188 Van Hoogstraten recalls that Apelles is said to have based his image of Venus
33 Anadyomene on his lover, Campaspe.189 Likewise, Lucas de Heere relates that Hugo van der
34 Goes fell in love with his model and therefore produced a masterpiece; De Heere compares
35 this situation to Praxiteles’s love of the courtesan Phryne.190 A similar commonplace compares
36 Pictura to the painter’s lover or wife, while his works of art are called his children.191
37 Van Hoogstraten repeatedly describes the compelling qualities of the art of painting in
38 terms of sensory temptation. Paintings make ‘one’s sight fall in love with their charms’,192 the
39 eyes become ‘saturated’ at the sight of a work of art,193 since ‘gracefulness rouses one to love’.194
40 These seductive qualities also present certain dangers. In the tradition of art theory, painting’s
41 presumed enticing nature is linked to the bias of certain painters towards superficial orna-
42 mentation and indiscriminate naturalism.195 The Venetian painter Giorgione, for example, is
43 described as an artist who was so much ‘in love’ with the beauties of nature that he abandoned
44
45
156          p ictorial imitation
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 156 09-10-2008 17:12:50

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
fig. 62 – Annibale Carracci, Sleeping Venus with Putti. Musée Condé, Chantilly. 19
20
himself to sensual and ultimately sinful naturalism.196 In contrast to these views formulated in 21
Italy, Van Hoogstraten emphasizes the commonplace ‘in love with nature’ approvingly: recall- 22
ing his discussions in Rembrandt’s studio, he mentions saying to Fabritius that a painter must 23
needs be ‘enamoured of the beauties of graceful nature he is to depict ... [and] that he is, as it 24
were, in love with the soul of art: that is to say, examining nature’s properties’.197 25
Akin to the tropes of the ‘astonishment’, ‘confusion’ and ‘charm’ caused by painting is 26
the idea that the viewer can become so involved in a scene that his reaction is not only unre- 27
lated to the vocabulary of art criticism but transcends language altogether, and is definable only 28
as a je ne sais quoi (Van Hoogstraten uses the Dutch phrase ik en weet niet wat).198 In art theory, 29
this reaction on the viewer’s part is equivalent to the concept of grace, which Van Hoogstraten 30
describes as an overarching quality, subsuming the painter’s various virtues, which defies fur- 31
ther specification. A good account of the elusive quality of grace is provided by the theorist 32
Giovanni Maria Morandi in a 1681 lecture to the St Luke’s Academy in Rome: ‘since the heart 33
has no fixed standards like those of the intellect, grace is something that one does not learn, but 34
feels, and takes from nature: grace is a je-ne-sais-quoi that pleases, enchants and seduces, and 35
disposes the spirit to heavenly joy’.199 It seems that grace affects the human emotions rather 36
than the faculty of reason, and is therefore not subject to the rules of art; it is ultimately found 37
only in ‘nature’.200 ‘Nature’ is ambivalent in this context: it probably refers to the artist’s natural 38
inclinations as well as to the natural world on which he bases his depictions. 39
Similarly, Junius refers to the viewer’s reaction to a work of art as an ‘incomprehensible 40
pleasure’; the viewer is supposedly ‘speechless’, or cast into a dream world. He describes how 41
‘great rings of amazed spectators together’ are led ‘into an astonished extasie, their sense of 42
seeing bereaving them of all other senses; which by a secret veneration maketh them stand 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i i           157
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 157 09-10-2008 17:13:03

1 tongue-tyed’.201 This effect of astonishment is aroused primarily by the work of art’s lifelike
2 quality: viewers are struck by an ‘unspeakable admiration’, ‘beleeving that in these silent line-
3 aments of members they doe see living and breathing bodies.’202 Apparently, the moment of
4 painterly evidentia transcends rhetoric, and the reaction to it is therefore ineffable: ‘surpassing
5 the power of speaking ... uneasie also to them that are very eloquent ... for every one of these
6 things is apprehended by sense, and not by talke.’203
7 Silence may thus be construed as the most eloquent – or at least the most appropriate
8 – reaction to a masterpiece. The significance of the visual arts lies precisely in their ability to
9 appeal to this prepredicative level of response. Seventeenth-century philosophy located this
10 response not in the seat of the faculty of reason, but in the ‘sensible’ region where the imagi-
11 nation and the passions are located, which mediates between the physical and mental pow-
12 ers. Thus, Simonides’ allusion to the art of painting as muta poesis can be construed in a very
13 positive sense. Paintings embody the rhetorical virtue of brevity in exemplary fashion: their
14 ‘mute poetry’ is so concise that they require no words at all.204 Junius writes of the effect of
15 great works of art as transcending speech: ‘Incredible things finde no voice; ... some things are
16 greater, then that any mans discourse should be able to compasse them’.205
17 Some art theorists maintain that it is precisely the fact that the visual arts operate on
18 the physical, prepredicative level that may give them an edge over literature. The little poem
19 quoted by Van Hoogstraten on Michelangelo’s ‘sleeping’ statue has a parallel in the writings of
20 Giovanni Battista Agucchi of 1610. Agucchi’s text on a Venus painted by Annibale Carracci de-
21 scribes explicitly a viewer’s reaction to painting’s ability to transport him to a virtual reality, in
22 the context of a discussion of the adequacy of language to describe visual impressions (fig. 62).
23 Agucchi believes that ekphrasis is fundamentally inadequate: some works of art are ‘so perfect
24 that the pen is powerless to describe them’ (troppo più perfette elle sono, che la penna a dichiarare
25 non arriva).206
26 The description begins with set commonplaces: exclamations of desire to touch the
27 painting on the one hand, and a professed reluctance to rouse the sleeping goddess on the oth-
28 er. The conflict this produces is characteristic of the state of confusion induced in the viewer,
29 in which his sight and other senses are dazed (ingannatone il senso e la vista). It is the complete
30 immersion in a virtual reality that makes it so hard to capture the impression evoked by the
31 painting in words: ‘we can scarcely conjure up outstanding works of art in our mind, and we
32 can certainly not express them with our weak faculty of intellect’. Agucchi concludes that his
33 description is ‘as if ... the paintings were covered by a coarse-grained veil, so that viewers can
34 see them only with difficulty: these descriptions may be appreciated in a similar manner by the
35 reader’.207 Just as a veil in front of a painting shields it from being seen completely, language
36 intervenes between image and viewer; descriptions of paintings provide only indirect access to
37 them.
38 The belief, expressed by Agucchi, that works of art operate on a prepredicative level
39 explains the foundations of the seventeenth-century view that art has a physically salubrious
40 effect and that it can also be harmful to the body if such an effect is deliberately sought.208 The
41 various ideas regarding ‘astonishment of wonder’, ‘confusion’, ‘attraction’, ‘inexpressible joy’
42 and je-ne-sais-quoi should ultimately be understood in the context of something very different
43 from the modern conception of ‘aesthetic appreciation’. Seventeenth-century texts referring to
44
45
158          p ictorial imitation
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 158 09-10-2008 17:13:03

 the salubrious function of art describe it in terms of a form of life fulfilment that follows from 1
the Stoics’ ideas about human emotions and their appreciation of ‘living according to nature’. 2
In a world view governed largely by natural determinism, true happiness can be found only 3
by ‘adapting to nature’ – that is, by resigning yourself to the influences of the passions, so that 4
they do not control your behaviour. Goeree, whose adherence to Stoic ideas has already been 5
touched on, states in his book on painting, for instance, that ‘this is a gift that Human Beings 6
alone have received from God, that they are able, through Virtue and Reason, to restrain all 7
untamed passions, and moreover, with a well-ordered mind, seek the eternal good’.209 Starting 8
from the basic principle that man should suppress all excessive emotion and recognize that 9
he is a part of the natural world and that his passions are functions of physical operations, it 10
is a Stoic proposition that the summum bonum can be found only in nature.210 This viewpoint 11
helps to clarify the assumption mentioned in the previous chapter, that when a painter follows 12
nature, he finds complete fulfilment in the activity of painting itself. In an orthodox Stoic 13
view, this is the maximum in terms of an ‘aesthetic experience’ that an artist can attain. This 14
profound concentration on nature yielded by the art of painting operates on a different level 15
than aesthetic experience in a modern sense: it is healthy for body and mind, as it helps one 16
to see that while human passions are unavoidable, they need not be allowed to govern one’s 17
behaviour.211 18
A similar proposition applies to the beholder of a work of art, if he recognizes and ap- 19
preciates the painter’s capacity for studying nature. Then he may realize he himself is similarly 20
ruled by the principle governing Creation and human conduct, according to Seneca’s proposi- 21
tion in De vita beata, which Junius repeats: ‘what is Nature else ... but God and a divine power 22
infused into the whole world and every part of the world’?212 This view of the virtues of the vita 23
contemplativa explains Van Hoogstraten’s belief that ‘any man of honourable intentions’ would 24
choose the career of an artist rather than that of a soldier or politician, whose lives are gov- 25
erned by the affects. Indeed, their deeds are influenced by ‘wrath, injustice, and sinful desires’, 26
while the arts, ‘in quiet, observant contemplation of the mysteries of nature, are consonant 27
with the exercise of the virtues.’213 28
In the seventeenth century, discussions of the concept of grace bring together the vari- 29
ous elements of artistic experience, artist, artwork and beholder. In Van Hoogstraten’s theory, 30
the different ‘parts of painting’ are all subordinate to this elusive concept that transcends the 31
rules of art. ‘Grace’ is applicable not only to the painter’s ultimate ability to make his work look 32
natural and convincing, but also to the liveliness of the figures he depicts and to the intensity 33
of the beholder’s reaction. This is exemplified by Roger de Piles’s description of the reaction 34
of speechlessness as an effect of the work of art on the viewer that appears to defy rules (and 35
to have nothing whatsoever to do with concepts like ‘beauty’ or ‘aesthetic experience’): grace 36
‘startles the observer, who sees the effect but does not grasp its true cause.’ He adds to this 37
explanation that grace is a specific passion of the viewer, a necessary complement to the work 38
of art: ‘grace can only move the heart when the latter is suitably predisposed.’214 As scholars of 39
early modern artistic terminology have noted in the past, grace is essentially not a quality of 40
the artist himself; it is ultimately the public that bestow grace on him and his work.215 In Dutch 41
art theory, we encounter this notion when Houbraken quotes the caption that Anna Maria van 42
Schuurman wrote to her self-portrait: ‘what [the image] may lack in art will be offset by your 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i i           159
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 159 09-10-2008 17:13:03

1 goodwill (gratia in Van Schuurman’s Latin; gunst in Dutch)’.216 For the rest, grace, as the ‘un-
2 speakable way of Art, delicatly, divinely, unfeisably’ referred to by Junius, can be fathomed only
3 by the indirect route of the viewer’s response.217 When De Piles adds that ‘a painter can take
4 grace only from nature’, it is clear that in the experience of grace the three ‘moments’ – artist,
5 the figures depicted, and viewer – all overlap, in the sense that they ‘follow nature’ and hence
6 meet in a virtual reality.
7
8 The central importance of the issue of ‘lifelikeness’ in seventeenth-century texts about paint-
9 ing, as well as the deliberate play with illusion and the puncturing of illusion that characterizes
10 many paintings of the period, are difficult to evaluate properly for modern viewers, who are
11 used to interpreting paintings as art objects with an inherently problematic relationship to
12 reality. Today’s viewer takes it for granted that a work of art has a reality of its own. Seven-
13 teenth-century spectators, in contrast, were more than willing to forget that they were look-
14 ing at a fictional work, or rather to engage in ‘a willing suspension of disbelief’: Junius speaks
15 about ‘the sweet allurements of Picture, and how we suffer our hearts wittingly and willingly
16 to be seduced and beguiled ... to be so possessed with things that are not, as if they were’.218
17 Indeed, Coleridge’s phrase, which Arthur Wheelock related to seventeenth-century painting,
18 is less explicit than the theory of the seventeenth century that refers to a complete mental and
19 physical shift to a virtual reality.219 It is precisely the currency of the topical praise of the ‘liv-
20 ing image’ that demonstrates its relevance to seventeenth-century views about art; not that
21 painted figures were believed to be literally equivalent to living human beings, but the initial
22 conditioned response to a painting was always to play the game: ‘It is as if I were there!’ or
23 ‘The image is speaking to me!’ ‘I wanted to touch this fruit, and it was not until I stretched out
24 my hand that I realized the deception!’ ‘Even my dog thought that this painted dog was real!’
25 In 1635, the theorist Pierre le Brun described this attitude as the most important ‘manner of
26 speaking’ about art: ‘To discuss splendid paintings, one must speak of them as if the things
27 [depicted] were real, not painted’.220
28 That these expressions are rooted in time-honoured ways of thinking can be clarified
29 with the aid of the term ‘similitude’, which can be seen as an early modern equivalent of ‘per-
30 formativity’. The notion that the painter or viewer was physically present in the work of art
31 derives from analogical thinking that posits close relationships between the different levels of
32 reality, ranging from the material objects of everyday life, through spiritual forces working
33 ‘at a distance’, to the most abstract principles – the ideas in the mind of God. Not only could
34 physical objects be interpreted as spiritualia sub similitudine corporalium, so that they could in-
35 corporate abstract intellectual concepts in a completely literal fashion (as the flame of a candle
36 could be a similitude of the light of the Divine intellect), but physical qualities too were seen as
37 direct expressions of affective states, and works of art were deemed directly analogous to their
38 makers.221 And not only were certain things believed to be connected in an analogical relation-
39 ship, things were in some cases thought to take on the qualities of other things, such as to be
40 transformed into them by means of ‘action at a distance’. Just as environment was deemed to
41 influence character, so too were images held to possess a strong affective power to achieve a
42 change of character, by remaining behind, imprinted on the imagination: indeed, the viewer
43 was expected to become the image (and again, the metaphor of love of art to love for another
44
45
160          p ictorial imitation
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 160 09-10-2008 17:13:03

 person is relevant: as in the case of lovers ‘each takes on the other’s qualities’, so the viewer was 1
expected to take on the artwork’s qualities).222 Thus, the power of imagination plays a constitu- 2
tive role in the artistic moment; not only is the viewer’s disposition indispensable to the con- 3
summate experience of lifelikeness, but the work itself also influences the viewer’s imagination. 4
De Piles writes that the painting must attract the viewer and induce a mode of conversation: 5
‘A true painting must draw in the viewer by the force and great truth of its imitation, and ... 6
the surprised viewer must respond, as if entering into a conversation with the figures that it 7
depicts.’223 8
The terminology of painterly actio or ‘handling’ also points to a moment at which the 9
viewer’s imagination is actively involved in the painterly illusion. Allowing a brushstroke to 10
remain visible, or leaving parts of the painting unfinished, makes a direct appeal to the behold- 11
er’s imagination, involving him more directly in the constitution of a virtual reality.224 ‘What is 12
achieved with difficulty will be seen with difficulty’ (Moeilijk gedaen, moeilijk om te zien) writes 13
Van Hoogstraten – the effort an artist invests in his work becomes an aspect of the viewer’s ap- 14
praisal of it.225 This appeal to the beholder’s imagination for the completion of the work of art 15
may also explain why a viewer may be overcome by a powerful desire to paint for himself; the 16
Inleyding gives the example of Polidoro da Caravaggio, an apprentice mason who decided to be 17
a painter instead after seeing an artist at work.226 We have already discussed the view expressed 18
by Junius and Borghini that art lovers should also be regarded as artists. Elizabeth Honig re- 19
cently wrote that certain paintings in which specific types of ‘handling’ can be distinguished 20
make an explicit appeal to the art lover’s powers, so that the locus of the artistic moment shifts 21
from the work itself to the beholder.227 A similar effect is described by Junius, who notes that 22
the sight of preparatory sketches may induce in viewers the belief that ‘their minds will col- 23
laborate with that of the active Artist, if their minds are impelled by an implicit inclination to 24
explore the ceaseless stirrings of his deeply learned thoughts.’228 25
From this perspective of quite literally construed ‘similitudes’, analogies between ‘levels’ 26
of reality that the modern art critic would regard as fundamentally different, the seventeenth- 27
century beholder was prepared to immerse himself wholly in the painting as a performative 28
object: the painting was what it depicted, looking at it was to experience it, in the same way 29
that the process of painting coincided with experiencing the event.229 The viewer would feel 30
attracted by the beauty of Venus, whom Raphael had been able to depict so convincingly only 31
because of his passion for her. For art theorists, this way of describing a painting’s genesis also 32
provided a way of indicating its effect on those who saw it: ultimately, the beholder himself 33
became the besotted Raphael. 34
This discussion cannot be concluded without recalling once again the fundamental im- 35
portance to art theory of the theory of rhetoric. According to the ancient rhetoricians, persua- 36
siveness is achieved only along the lines of similitudo: only by oneself epitomizing virtue can 37
an orator rouse his listeners to be virtuous themselves; only by painting ‘naturally’ and ‘true 38
to one’s self’ can the painter change the viewer into his own likeness. In seventeenth-century 39
art theory, this confrontation with a new reality is described as a total immersion in the artistic 40
moment, as evoked by the physical movements and colours depicted, an immersion sometimes 41
described as ‘natural Magic’. In this performative process, the beholder is allotted an affective 42
and even physical role, sometimes quite involuntarily. As modern aesthetics too maintains, the 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i i           161
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 161 09-10-2008 17:13:03

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33 fig. 63 – Circle of Rembrandt, Abraham’s Sacrifice, canvas, 195 x 132 cm.
34 Alte Pinakothek, München.
35
36 strongest form of persuasiveness is not illusion, but the reality of the emotion that is felt. The
37 passions thus play an essential role; we shall discuss their importance in detail in chapter IV.
38
39
40 ‘a g rat i fyi n g i n dul gence in disparate parities’
41 Returning to the tension between imitatio auctoris and imitatio naturae, we still need to answer
42 the question: what is the importance of studying other masters’ works in this doctrine that
43 revolves around conjuring up a virtual reality? The theory concerning the importance of the
44
45
162          p ictorial imitation
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 162 09-10-2008 17:13:12

 imagination, the role of the viewer, and the fading away of the work of art as medium in an 1
ideal imitation, underlies the paradoxical nature of seventeenth-century views of imitation. 2
Van Hoogstraten even emphasizes that the imitator must try to attain an ‘inimitable’ style.230 3
The paradox of ‘imitating the inimitable’ is expressed most notably by Junius, who states that 4
‘such things as doe deserve to be most highly esteemed in an Artificer, are almost inimitable’; 5
he concludes that ‘we comprehend the immense power of their merits primarily from the fact 6
that it is impossible for us to imitate them.’231 7
The painter can show in his work that he understands the paradoxical nature of imita- 8
tion, and that he is doing more than ‘copying lines and smearing colours’, when he makes 9
certain changes in relation to the original. By doing so, he shows that he, like the art lover, does 10
not focus merely on the craftsmanship that has gone into the painting, and that he is capable of 11
conjuring up his predecessor’s original mental world to his mind’s eye. Van Hoogstraten urges 12
the painter to vary a chosen theme: ‘stage the events and every person in it in your mind first’ 13
(speel de historyen, en yder personaedie eerst in uw gedachten). This procedure is called for in using 14
other painters’ compositions: ‘it is well for an Artist to revere the prints and drawings of former 15
Masters: for besides reinforcing the esteem for art as a whole, he will constantly come upon 16
objects that rouse his mind and prompt him to think of new inventions’.232 Similarly, Junius 17
notes that 18
19
‘Those who indulge with unfeigned delight in the contemplation of others’ work will 20
sometimes take to imagining certain scenes, turning them and altering them [in their 21
minds] in numerous ways, much as a piece of wax may assume many hundreds of dif- 22
ferent shapes as it is endlessly kneaded.’233 23
24
By making changes to the original in his version, the painter demonstrates that he has been 25
able to evoke the mental world of his example. He may then achieve true emulation as it existed 26
among the authors of antiquity; Van Hoogstraten compares imitation in painting to Virgil’s 27
emulation of Homer: ‘Although one may say that he sometimes imitates him, one cannot say 28
that he ever steals from him. Roused by the same spirit, he appears to run the same race of 29
honour’.234 In this context, the imitator must ensure that his work provides a recognizable vari- 30
ation on his example, as Junius writes: 31
32
‘A good Artist must try above all to ensure that his work does not appear to correspond 33
in all ways with the Paintings of other celebrated Masters; should it come about that 34
the entire appearance of his work displays a certain similarity to earlier pieces by other 35
Artists, he must then contrive to ensure that this likeness appears to have been achieved 36
not by accident but by design. ... I believe that such Artists are superior to others, who 37
diligently practise the old Art in new subject-matter, adroitly filling their paintings by 38
these means with a gratifying indulgence in disparate parities’ (italics mine).235 39
40
By using these ‘disparate parities’, the painter can refer to the paradox of imitation. Countless 41
examples of imitation related to this belief can be identified in seventeenth-century painting 42
practice. Rembrandt probably had his pupils practise ordinnantie by constructing small-scale 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i i           163
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 163 09-10-2008 17:13:12

1 models of the scenes they were to depict, using tiny dolls, after which the scene could be drawn
2 from different vantage-points. This helped pupils become skilled in taking their scenes and
3 ‘turning them and altering them in numerous ways’ in their minds, a practice that Van Hoog-
4 straten describes in his treatise.236 It can be argued from the theoretical views outlined above
5 that any change in the spatial position of a figure, for example in Rembrandt’s pupil painting
6 another version of Abraham’s Sacrifice, would be prompted not by views regarding tonal com-
7 position or the way the painted surface should be divided up, but by the pupil’s desire to show
8 that he had succeeded in conjuring up to his mind’s eye his master’s original mental image (fig.
9 63 and below, fig. 71).
10 In this context it is striking that there is a similarity between Junius’s exhortations to
11 the imitator and his views of art lovers’ activities. The different readerships addressed in the
12 Inleyding, too, are expected to benefit from the same advice. Van Hoogstraten does not state
13 explicitly, like Borghini, that art lovers are also artists, but some of his recommendations can
14 be understood in that light.237
15 For artists, and more notably still for art lovers and collectors, identifying a borrowing
16 from another work may be, in Junius’s words, a source of ‘gratifying enjoyment’. The game of
17 ‘disparate parities’ or ongelijcke gelijckheyt – the painting strikes a familiar chord with the viewer,
18 but is at the same time a model of varietas within the limits of a familiar motif – becomes an
19 intellectual activity that tests the art lover’s memory and his knowledge of art history.
20 In the same way that the artist who takes to imitating models must seek to acquire
21 ‘experienced and practised eyes’ (ervaerene ende wel gheoeffende ooghen), the art lover too must
22 become skilled in recognizing this form of imitation:
23
24 ‘There are certain eyes that one may call, following Aelianus, ... “artful eyes.” For in-
25 deed it does not suffice for us to have eyes in our heads like other people; we must also
26 seek to acquire those that deserve to be called, in the words of Cicero, “eruditi oculi,”
27 that is, “learned eyes.”’238
28
29 ‘Learned eyes’ (Konst-gheleerden ooghen) are a prerequisite for an art lover and collector, if he is
30 to be able to recognize significant allusions to the history of art, forms of rivalry between con-
31 temporaries, and probably also painterly variations on certain literary themes; as such they are
32 essential to the productive ‘symbiosis’ that characterizes the relationship between painter and
33 art lover in the seventeenth century. Consequently, Junius believes that the art lover’s verdict
34 is a decisive factor in artistic progress.239
35
36
37 emulati o n a n d t he history of art
38 Just as Virgil supposedly based himself on Homer in order to arrive at a vision of his own ‘in the
39 race of honour’, the painter must use the work of old masters and contemporaries to arrive at
40 ‘new inventions’. Like Junius, Van Hoogstraten calls attention in this regard to the limitations
41 of following others; anyone who confines himself to copying the example of his predecessors
42 will foster stagnation in art.240 In this context, inventio, the choice of subject matter, is a concept
43 that enhances the artist’s reputation, fuelling rivalry.241 Indeed, Junius urges the painter not to
44
45
164          p ictorial imitation
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 164 09-10-2008 17:13:13

 confine himself to imitating examples but also to make inventions of his own, even if they do 1
not correspond to the ideals of antiquity; he disparages pusillanimous artists whose slavish ad- 2
herence to antiquity deters them from innovation, and asks himself ‘what Antiquitie it is they 3
appeale to’.242 One must never invoke the copying of ancient examples as a justification for 4
conservatism, writes Junius; in studying the ancients, painters should also emulate their powers 5
of innovation. Van Hoogstraten too makes this point: ‘He who seeks to deceive the ignorant 6
by slavishly imitating antiquity is deceiving himself; since those who are always following will 7
never progress.’243 He ends by asserting that painters should draw inspiration from the classics 8
precisely to make inventions of their own.244 9
This concept of productive emulation leads Van Hoogstraten to identify ‘zest for rival- 10
ry’ as the driving force behind great peaks in the history of art.245 His frequent repetition of the 11
names of painters from antiquity and of their accomplishments is intended partly to encour- 12
age painters of his own day to compete with these illustrious examples; but he also compares 13
the virtues of Italian, German and Dutch painters, and appraises the painting of the Dutch 14
Republic in the light of that produced in France and Italy. He gives examples of envy (nijd) 15
between painters and its results: (productive) ambition or (destructive) slander. It is particularly 16
good for art in general, he states, if masters cherish each other’s work and buy it for substantial 17
sums, as Rembrandt did with the prints of Lucas van Leyden.246 Making and ordering copies 18
of other artists’ work is a way of paying tribute to them and can do much to boost an artist’s 19
reputation.247 20
Hence, in the context of teaching pupils, Van Hoogstraten admonishes young painters 21
to be ‘roused by the honour and glory of the great Masters’: ‘allow your emulation to be freely 22
kindled’.248 This advice should be taken in its most general sense: artists must compete not only 23
with their competitors but also with celebrated predecessors, as Junius states.249 He describes 24
emulation as an extrapolation of the human propensity for mimesis, as an innate capacity that 25
is utterly ‘consonant with [human] nature’: ‘Virtue doth naturally affect glory, and studieth 26
ever to out-goe his fore-runners.’250 In this context, Van Hoogstraten repeats approvingly a 27
similar assertion by Dio Chrysostom: ‘It is impossible for us to excel in anything ... unless we 28
vie with the most outstanding of all’. He concludes: ‘to be sure, it cannot harm two runners 29
that they should run against one another in competition. This noble envy will drive worthy 30
spirits to the heights.’251 31
Emulation evidently encourages greater illusionism in painting: ‘It was emulation that 32
stirred Zeuxis to excel in Painting such that the birds were deceived by his grapes ... the same 33
ardour roused Raphael Urbino to surpass the great Buonarotti: and spurred Michelangelo 34
to ascend to incomparable heights’.252 In this context, the Inleyding alludes to several differ- 35
ent rivalries between painters: Van Hoogstraten repeats the story about the drawing contest 36
(Trekstrijt) between Apelles and Protogenes as well as a different battle between Parrhasios 37
and Euphranor in the depiction of flesh colour, a modern equivalent being a ‘painting contest’ 38
between three landscape painters, Jan van Goyen, Jan Porcellis and François Knipbergen.253 In 39
a passage on ‘the Beginnings, Rise and Fall’ of the art of painting, Van Hoogstraten discusses 40
the way in which Dutch painters have developed in relation to their Italian counterparts, not- 41
ing that the Van Eyck brothers were already producing ‘mature’ paintings when art in Italy was 42
still ‘green’. He is generous in his view of early sixteenth-century Dutch masters: in compari- 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i i           165
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 165 09-10-2008 17:13:13

1 son to Italy and Germany, he states, ‘our Land too was not infertile’.254 But Van Hoogstraten
2 reserves his greatest praise for his own contemporaries: ‘The Netherlands, amid the ravages of
3 war, have nourished an abundance of superb spirits in these recent times.’
4 Besides contributing to national pride, productive rivalry makes it possible to create
5 work that can match the authority of the classics.255 Van Hoogstraten’s attitude to his own time
6 may be summarized by his claim that ‘the art of Painting in our state is flowering at its height,
7 like in a new Greece.’256 He deems this flowering capable of producing an age to rival, or even
8 surpass, the ‘true age of painters’, that of Alexander the Great, the greatest patron that ever
9 lived.257 Pursuing this comparison, the Inleyding describes Dutch painting as a great treasure,
10 ‘the property of our Fatherland’, capable of challenging ‘both France and Sikyon’; Sikyon is
11 here used as a pars pro toto for the world of classical Greek culture.258 With these phrases, Van
12 Hoogstraten emphasizes that the art of his own day is linked as a living tradition to that of
13 antiquity, and that the ideas from antiquity that he quotes are also relevant to the work of his
14 contemporaries.259 The juxtaposition of anecdotes about trompe-l’oeil feats from the Hellen-
15 istic period with similar tales from Van Hoogstraten’s own surroundings serves to emphasize
16 the parallel: just as a partridge in antiquity responded to a partridge painted by Protogenes
17 as if it were real, Dirk van Hoogstraten’s goat was similarly deceived by a painting.260 Not
18 only Raphael’s art was ‘a mirror of the true antiquity’; the illusionist painting for which Van
19 Hoogstraten praises himself in more or less oblique terms is firmly rooted in antiquity, as is the
20 depiction of ‘the entire visible world’ in general.261
21 Notwithstanding Van Hoogstraten’s efforts to write within the wider European tradi-
22 tion of art theory, he demonstrates his full awareness of the idiosyncrasies and merits of the
23 conceptions of art cherished in his own country. These merits, however, are described in the
24 Inleyding in terms derived from antiquity. When Van Hoogstraten writes that Dutch painters
25 are content ‘to follow common nature’ (de gemeene natuur te volgen), he is not so much adopting
26 a position opposed to views of art from antiquity as elaborating the ideal of the naturam sequi
27 as developed in rhetorical theory and Stoic ideology.262
28
29 ◆
30
31 ‘Following nature’ is a cohesive factor in Van Hoogstraten’s views of pictorial imitation, a
32 thread binding together diverse aspects of depicting the visible world and aspects of the use of
33 examples. Our analysis of his concept of imitation has illuminated the way in which his didactic
34 views are related to what are essentially ethical ideals, embedded in the ancient Stoic doctrine
35 that ascribes central importance to ‘living by following nature’. We have seen that, in the sev-
36 enteenth century, living according to the natural order is a guideline not only in the scholarly
37 or artistic quest for recta ratio, but in human conduct in general.
38 Van Hoogstraten shows that as an activity geared towards imitating nature, painting
39 fully merits its place among – perhaps even foremost among – the other liberal arts, such as
40 poetry, which are originally mimetic in nature. More than any other art, painting is capable of
41 realizing a key aspect of rhetorical theory – the evoking of a virtual reality. Artists are urged to
42 follow both their own nature and ‘nature’ in the sense of visible or virtual reality, while making
43 stylistic devices and skills invisible. This ethos of ‘naturalness’ is what ultimately makes the
44 painter’s work persuasive.
45
166          p ictorial imitation
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 166 09-10-2008 17:13:13

 Imitators are urged to focus on the ‘force’ of their example and the ‘spirit’ of the artist 1
underlying it – paradoxically, these are precisely the elements that ultimately resist imitation. 2
The fundamentally inimitable quality of ‘grace’ is closely related to the artist’s nature: it is his 3
judgement or iudicium that enables the artist to unify the different ‘parts of painting’ as distin- 4
guished by Van Hoogstraten, in a stylistic quality that is in turn wholly consonant with nature 5
and can therefore be classified as altera natura. This inimitable quality, which is not specified 6
any further, strikes spectators dumb and arouses in them the specific emotion of astonishment 7
(verwondering), an emotion resulting from the persuasiveness and verisimilitude of the image. 8
According to the originally Stoic theory of ‘following nature’, this idea of the viewer’s reaction 9
leads ultimately to a concept of aesthetic experience that is determined by adherence to the 10
natural order, which is deemed to be not only the summum bonum of experiencing art but also 11
the most complete fulfilment of life. 12
Van Hoogstraten is in general very positive about the work of his fellow-countrymen; 13
the art of painting, he says, has arrived in ‘a new Greece’. It will by now have become clear that 14
this comparison is not intended in a purely figurative sense: he believes that only the uncor- 15
rupted and unembellished representation of nature can lead to an art of painting approaching 16
that of the ancients. This kind of ‘realism’ is hence the perfect imitation, both of nature and of 17
the most admirable examples. 18
We have seen that the image theory from the Second Sophistic, which is central to Van 19
Hoogstraten’s ideas, allots a crucial role to the imaginative power of both painter and viewer. 20
The next chapter will address the issue of how the viewer can be physically changed, quite lit- 21
erally, through the power of imagination – bearing in mind that a work of art impinges not only 22
on his senses but on his inner being as well. This explains how the art of painting is thought to 23
bring about a complete change in one’s world view, an important ethical goal in seventeenth- 24
century art theory. Through the imagination, the activity of imitating an example becomes a 25
meeting with that example; this makes it possible for the depiction of a historical event to be 26
invested with moral significance. 27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
c h ap t e r i i i           167
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 167 09-10-2008 17:13:13

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 168 10-10-2008 17:27:27

 Ch a p t er I V

T h e De piction
of t he Pa ssions

Visible world HR beeld.indd 169 10-10-2008 16:24:42

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 170 09-10-2008 17:13:21

 1
2
3
Chapter I V 4
5
6
The Depiction of the Passions 7
8
9
10
11
What benefit is it, after all, in finite beings, to search continuously with intellectual 12
research for complete understanding of the eternal Creator? While it is the case 13
that acquiring such useless, indeed unattainable knowledge never makes the knower 14
wiser than he was before, indeed, that in the search for the useless, one inevitably 15
neglects that useful knowledge, the knowledge of oneself, 16
that one might have acquired. 17
Coornhert, Zedekunst 18
19
20
21
In the introduction to his Schoone Roselijn, Van Hoogstraten equates his painting with his writ- 22
ing on the grounds that they have a common aim – to depict the human passions: ‘Poetry is a 23
sister, indeed a part, of my Goddess Pictura, and consequently I changed my hand, but not my 24
mind [when I exchanged the brush for the pen], contemplating, reflecting on, and considering 25
the emotions and passions of men.’1 26
The quotation illustrates how in Van Hoogstraten’s theory of art, the passions play a 27
role in the comparison between painting and poetry or drama, and in his project to raise the 28
intellectual status of painting. The painter-poet consequently describes the representation of 29
the passions as the ‘noblest part of painting’. Here he is following in the footsteps of his pred- 30
ecessors: Van Mander calls the depiction of the passions the ‘heart and soul of art’, and Junius 31
believes that the ‘Ancients’ who were educated in various sciences took the greatest pains 32
with the study of human passions.2 Vossius goes so far as to apply to the painter the epithet 33
pathopoios, maker or designer of the passions.3 In the context of artists as pre-eminent experts 34
on human character, Van Hoogstraten sees Rembrandt as a man whose skill in portraying the 35
passions set him apart from others: his esteem for his teacher is bound up with his views about 36
the rhetorical function of painting, which we shall now examine more closely.4 37
As the previous chapter emphasized, the seventeenth-century theory of pictorial imita- 38
tion is based to a significant extent on Aristotelian psychology, which holds that images have a 39
physical effect that acts ‘at a distance’ upon viewers in such a way that they are transported into 40
a virtual reality. The passions play a key role here: they are deemed to reside on the same men- 41
tal level as the imagination – a level between the mental and the physical. Emotions are fun- 42
damental to rhetorical theorizing about persuasion: in contrast to the fiction of the narrative 43
44
45
          171
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 171 09-10-2008 17:13:21

1 account, emotions are real experience, irrespective of whether they are evoked by something
2 actual or something imaginary, and therefore they involve the viewer more deeply in the story.5
3 Hence, it is not surprising that the passions are discussed in detail in writings that are indebted
4 to the theory of rhetoric: not just art literature, but courtiers’ manuals and moral philosophy
5 too. Art-theoretical instructions for portraying man’s inner life often go hand in hand with
6 more general admonitions to the painter to keep his own passions under control. ‘Knowledge
7 of the passions’ or, in Van Hoogstraten’s words, an insight into ‘which inner motions cause
8 outward ones’ is not only a requirement for the artist if he is to make his work persuasive, but
9 also for his judgement of human nature in general and, above all, for an understanding of his
10 own actions.6
11
12
13 Thinking about the passions in the age of the ‘Inleyding’
14 In the light of the general significance of the passions and their adaptation in scientific, schol-
15 arly and artistic contexts in the seventeenth century, a correct assessment of Van Hoogstraten’s
16 ideas requires a short introduction to this subject.
17 For his adaptation of the Latin and Italian theories about the affects, Van Hoogstraten
18 tends to stick to the word hartstocht, although he sometimes uses lijding (passion) and now and
19 then beweging (movement) as synonyms.7 The term hartstocht was widely used in the seven-
20 teenth century: it is literally the tocht – the movement or urge – of the heart, the seat of human
21 feelings. With his preference for translating foreign ‘artistic terms’ (konstwoorden) into Dutch,
22 Van Hoogstraten does not as a rule use the term passie or Van Mander’s term affect.8 Occasion-
23 ally we come across the word motus in the Inleyding, in relation to physical movement.9 Van
24 Hoogstraten’s terminology derives from the Italian affetto and moto and the Latin terms pas-
25 sio, affectus and motus, which are also used by Junius in his Latin version, and by Vossius. In
26 the Dutch version of Junius’s treatise we find the word beroerte used to mean the same as Van
27 Hoogstraten’s hartstocht.
28 The term hartstocht was used for the first time by Coornhert in a handbook of moral
29 philosophy: his Zedekunst, dat is wellevens kunste (Ethics or the Art of Living Well) (1630), mod-
30 elled on the examples of Cicero and Seneca. Later the term also appeared in medical text-
31 books like Johan van Beverwijck’s Schat der ongesontheyt (Treasury of Ill-Health) (1642). Van
32 Hoogstraten’s terminology may be borrowed in part from Van Beverwijk’s Schat, for which he
33 provided illustrations.10
34 In the seventeenth century the passions were a focus of intellectual interest, playing a
35 central role in Neostoicism and the philosophy of Descartes and Spinoza alike; the passions
36 were seen as the connecting element between the domains of the physical and the intellectual,
37 of physics and ethics. Among the best-known titles were Lipsius’s De constantia (1584) and
38 Descartes’ Traité des passions (1649), which influenced psychology in Western Europe from the
39 second half of the century onwards. The passions were also important in Spinoza’s philosophy;
40 his Ethics (1677) devoted a lengthy chapter to them.
41 Van Hoogstraten’s Inleyding is a rewarding source for a reconstruction of the signifi-
42 cance of the passions to the art of painting in the seventeenth century. On the one hand the
43 work incorporates ideas that can already be found in Van Mander, while on the other more
44
45
172          the de p iction of th e p as s i o n s
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 172 10-10-2008 16:24:42

 modern thinking plays a role, influenced by Cartesianism and by the theory of tragedy. Van 1
Hoogstraten is not so explicit here as Goeree, who uses Descartes’s work for his own Mensch­ 2
kunde, refers to that of Spinoza, and is evidently well aware of modern views about the pas- 3
sions.11 It was only towards the end of the seventeenth century that ideas about classical drama, 4
largely originating from France, and the associated convictions about the passions reached 5
a wider readership in the Dutch Republic by way of the publications of Nil Volentibus Ar- 6
duum.12 De Lairesse, for example, based his passion theory on that of Nil, and on the work of 7
LeBrun, who provided a codification of Descartes’ ideas applied to painting.13 Finally, 1713 8
saw the publication of Houbraken’s Philaletes brieven, a number of orations on the passions 9
in which LeBrun’s views were repeated; the author refered to the ideas about art held by his 10
teacher, Van Hoogstraten.14 11
Codifications like LeBrun’s come at the end of a progression in which the passions are 12
studied and represented in the arts in ever more systematic ways. In the sixteenth century al- 13
legorical parerga or ‘painterly accessories’ were often used to symbolize the defining emotions 14
and character traits of the various actors in the painting or on the stage. Van Hoogstraten still 15
says that the painter has the option of making his characters’ emotions visible with the aid of 16
allegorical by-work, or for example by means of their clothes, and recommends Ripa’s emblem 17
book.15 The passions are closely associated with the temperaments and can accordingly be 18
portrayed by means of the traditional astrological iconography.16 Lomazzo, for instance, takes 19
astrology as the basis for his endeavour to develop a passion theory geared to painting.17 The 20
passions are subdivided into a small number and conceived in a direct relationship to age, ori- 21
gin and social position; in this context, Vossius refers to the four Ciceronian passions, ‘in each 22
of which one must take especial note of how this passion is moved and how it is stilled’.18 Van 23
Mander adds to this number.19 24
It was not until the advent of seventeenth-century mechanistic philosophy that thinking 25
about the passions was conceived as a theory that encompassed the whole of human emotional 26
life. Descartes saw the body as a machine whose movements are analogous to the corpuscular 27
movements of the surrounding physical world (a view repeated in detail by Goeree).20 The 28
philosopher Thomas Hobbes was consistently pursuing the mechanistic world view when he 29
stated that the soul is not in principle separate from man’s physical and emotional powers: 30
‘[n]either in us are there anything else but diverse motions; (for motion produceth nothing 31
but motion).’21 Proceeding from the profound relationship between body and soul, the pas- 32
sions themselves had to be seen as physical phenomena.22 In the strict separation of body and 33
soul postulated by Cartesianism, the passions performed the essential function of intermediary 34
between the two domains.23 35
Van Hoogstraten describes how the ability to depict the passions was initially the result 36
of pictorial inventions: the thirteenth-century painter Cimabue, for instance, would not have 37
known how to represent the passions, and so had to clarify them with the aid of captions.24 38
Through subsequent careful study of such aspects as glance, features and posture, painters 39
learned to capture their different nuances. Finally, artists who took these developments further 40
endeavoured to express as many different, preferably conflicting, emotions as possible in a 41
single figure.25 42
43
44
45
c h ap t e r i v           173
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 173 09-10-2008 17:13:21

1 th e s o u l’s th ree p arts
2 Throughout the seventeenth century, thinking about the passions was largely governed by Ar-
3 istotle’s division of the human inner self into three parts or ‘degrees’. Van Hoogstraten records
4 the division in his treatise:
5
6 ‘The Philosophers, treating of the soul, say that it is of a threefold nature, or that one
7 can descry three degrees of effects: the first they call growing, and this is said to be the
8 cause of development in all herbs, plants, trees, minerals, and other such increasing yet
9 insensate things. The second they call the sensitive and motive, and this they ascribe
10 to every species of living animals, fishes, birds and humans. The third they call the
11 thinking, the Reasoning, or the Rational, and all humans are said to be endowed with
12 this.’26
13
14 Van Hoogstraten tells us that he intended to elaborate on this distinction in his Invisible World,
15 the book that did not survive. The Aristotelian trinity was common in the seventeenth cen-
16 tury: nature itself was divided up according to this classification, and the human soul was
17 likewise considered to be made up of three parts. The ‘vegetative’ (groeijende) element of the
18 soul, which Van Hoogstraten calls the ‘growing’ function, was deemed to control the bodily
19 functions of nutrition, growth and reproduction; the intellectual component (redewikkende or
20 redelijke in Van Hoogstraten’s terminology) housed the capacity for rational thought. The sen-
21 sitive (gevoelijke or beroerende) part was thought to include, among other things, the imagina-
22 tion and the passions.27
23 In considering the role of the passions in Van Hoogstraten’s ideas about art, it is impor-
24 tant to begin by observing that the sensitive soul houses both the passions and the imagination,
25 which is supported by the memory. The passions not only lodge in the sensitive part of the
26 human soul, they also have their origin there. The sensitive soul was thought to have an ‘ex-
27 ternal’ and an ‘internal’ component: sensory perception was apparently not confined to actual
28 ‘external’ observation; it was expected to have a moment of ‘registration’ in the internal senses,
29 followed by an analysis of the implications of what is being seen. This ‘internal storage’ is often
30 indicated in art literature by the term idea or sometimes disegno, in the sense of ‘design’.28 Fed-
31 erico Zuccari’s theory of drawing (discussed above, pages 100-101) states that ‘internal design’
32 (disegno interno) in the broadest sense of the term can be conceived as the intention of an ac-
33 tion.29 What is of primary interest to our discussion is the concomitant notion that the internal
34 senses automatically entail an inclination to approve or reject what is perceived, and that this
35 basic inclination is the incentive for a passion.30 Aristotelian theory posits, by way of the close
36 relationship between imagination and passion, that every image formed in the imagination
37 assumes the form of an appetitus, a ‘movement’ of the passions and an intention of the human
38 will; every image consequently automatically acquires an ethical component.31 Images, there-
39 fore, can fulfil a direct function in moral philosophy much better than concepts; it can even
40 be said that adages in ethics only acquire a practical meaning when they are conceived of, for
41 instance, in the form of an image (or, more literally, in an image of the adverse consequences
42 of not observing an ethical guideline).32 We may recall the early modern view that philosophy
43 does not acquire meaning until it is used in a practical application in life (reason is practical
44
45
174          the de p iction of th e p as s i o n s
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 174 09-10-2008 17:13:21

 reason); given this idea, visual art can play an essential role as, in Van Hoogstraten’s words, a 1
‘sister of philosophy’; in Vossius’s words, the painter becomes an ethopoios, a maker of human 2
character. 3
It should be noted here that seventeenth-century moral philosophy is dominated by 4
the belief that the passions should be controlled by reason. As inferior impulses emanating 5
from a lower region of the soul, the passions have to be kept in check: this is one of the central 6
tenets of Neostoicism. The ancient Stoics regarded the virtue of ataraxia (imperturbability) 7
as key. This view plays a part in the seventeenth-century rhetorical tradition in the sense that 8
only someone who is able to regulate his own passions is deemed able to move the passions of 9
another, and hence to persuade him. Van Hoogstraten writes: 10
11
‘The first and most important general rule is that one should moderate the passions 12
and motions of the mind ... let us be Lords of ourselves, and master our appetites and 13
desires, if we want to gain the good will of others. For it would be unjust for us to en- 14
deavour to overcome the emotions of others and yet not learn beforehand to conquer 15
our own will ... an alert man ... guards against becoming such a slave to his passions 16
that he cannot also attune them to anyone whose good favour he wants to obtain.’33 17
18
As Hessel Miedema pointed out, an understanding of the passions and an admonishment to 19
regulate their effects are ethical guidelines in Van Mander’s ‘Grondt’.34 At various points in the 20
Inleyding, Van Hoogstraten, referring to Seneca and Cicero, advocates resolve, patience and 21
moderation.35 He is evidently familiar with Stoic thinking about imperturbability, and regards 22
it as essential for an artist to be fully aware of human emotions so as to be able to represent 23
them in his work: the passions are, in fact, a means of moving the viewer in a positive sense.36 24
Goeree also reveals that he is aware of the idea that God has made man such ‘that he can 25
suppress all untamed passions by Virtue and Reason, and can control and order ... his mind, 26
which is a basis for all the liberal arts’.37 According to Neostoic ideas, untamed passions, like an 27
unbridled imagination, should be restrained; however, as we shall see at the end of this chapter, 28
Van Hoogstraten’s treatise allots a specific positive role to one element of the ‘sensitive’ part of 29
the soul: the artist’s temperament. 30
31
32
body a n d mi n d , a ctions and p assions 33
Early modern ideas about psychology are based, as we have seen, on the belief in a close 34
relationship between body and soul. As Goeree observes, this relationship is determined by 35
God: ‘Thus the Creator has willed that ... through the mediation of [bodily] Actions, the 36
state of Mind and the Passions will not remain concealed in men’s faces’.38 Accordingly the 37
painter must not tell his sitter any sad stories, for they will leave their mark on his or her face, 38
comments De Lairesse.39 And it is not only fleeting emotions – innate tendencies are also 39
thought to be reflected in a person’s appearance: this explains the importance of physiognomy 40
for knowledge of the human psyche. 41
In classical rhetoric, physiognomy was regarded as a standard means of sketching or 42
defining someone’s character; in treatises from the late Middle Ages onwards the relationship 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i v           175
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 175 09-10-2008 17:13:21

1 between body and soul was illustrated with specific examples.40 Cardanus, an author quoted in
2 Vossius’s ‘De graphice’, wrote a Metoposcopia, or the art of the ‘reading of faces’ (1550, published
3 for the first time in Paris in 1658). In the seventeenth century Constantijn Huygens published
4 a Characteres, a collection of character descriptions that included physiognomic observations.
5 This genre of character definition in which physiognomy played a major part continued until
6 well into the eighteenth century.41
7 Physiognomy provided the artist with a broad field in which to work. To start with there
8 was the genre of the ‘grotesque heads’ like those by Leonardo and Pieter Brueghel; in the
9 seventeenth century, depictions of faces of this kind were often referred to as tronies.42 Physi-
10 ognomy and the associated depiction of the passions also played an important role in history
11 painting and in portraiture; although in the latter case, of course, only a minimum of facial
12 expression could be shown. Van Mander put physiognomy into his chapter on the ‘affects’;
13 Vossius similarly treated physiognomy and emotion together.43 Some authors devoted entire
14 chapters to the subject: the whole third part of Gaurico’s treatise on sculpture was on physiog-
15 nomy. Van Hoogstraten may have been borrowing from Dürer’s books on human proportions
16 when he similarly chose to devote a separate section to kroostkunde or ‘the art of [recognizing]
17 family resemblance’, the term he uses for physiognomy, as part of the second chapter on the
18 human body. He cites and paraphrases, among others, Aristotle, Scaliger and Paracelsus, and
19 refers to the obscure physiognomist Zopyrus.44
20 Van Hoogstraten defines kroostkunde as a science which enables the practitioner to
21 ‘read’ from someone’s features not only his origins but also his ‘mind’ and disposition, and
22 even his past and present, in a formulation that has an affinity with Gaurico: ‘physiognomy is a
23 science of identifying people’s nationality, descent, mind and disposition’ from the particulars
24 that are discerned in their faces or heads.45 He begins by citing some contradictory examples,
25 specifically Aesop and Quevedo – literary giants who despite their physical deformities were
26 nonetheless possessed of noble minds.46 Socrates, too, was said to have coupled his satyr-like
27 appearance with a fine intellect; in the Stoic interpretation he would have had the bad charac-
28 ter traits revealed by his misshapen body, but had risen above them through resolve.47 These
29 counter-examples provide the painter with an ethical guideline, as an ‘incentive ... similarly to
30 refuse to give in to our innate faults.’48
31 Innate defects are deemed to have their effect on the level of the sensitive soul; reason
32 alone is capable of curbing them. The animal kingdom is consequently an important aid in
33 physiognomy; when control of the body is wrested from the rational soul by the passions,
34 man reveals himself in his animal form: ‘One becomes most aware of the difference [in the
35 appearance of different people] in the stirring of the emotions: for then the faces become so
36 much more like the animals they resemble.’49 In his Menschkunde Goeree provides a specific
37 interpretation of this notion in a series of illustrations in which animals’ heads are compared
38 with faces.50
39 The notion that physiognomy could at the same time reveal the past and predict the
40 future is also an earlier concept, rooted in the esoteric traditions in which chiromancy and ‘chi-
41 rology’ also feature, a tradition that Van Hoogstraten does not mention although he does refer
42 to the natural philosophy of Paracelsus that was influenced by esoteric ideas.51 Van Hoogstraten
43 adds to his definition of kroostkunde that ‘indeed it goes even further, and it is believed by many’
44
45
176          the de p iction of th e p as s i o n s
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 176 09-10-2008 17:13:21

 that ‘the fortune or misfortune that hangs over someone’s head’ is predicted by physiognomy. 1
He reports the idea that in antiquity ‘past and future histories, their life and death’ could be 2
read from Apelles’s portraits, a practice supposedly confirmed in the seventeenth century by 3
kroostkundigen – physiognomers – who were said to have foretold the manner and time of 4
Charles I’s death from Van Dyck’s portrait of the king.52 Van Mander rejects physiognomy as a 5
serious area of attention for the painter because of this connection with esoteric theories.53 Van 6
Hoogstraten, though, does not immediately consign it to the realm of fable, evidently because 7
of his epideictic approach in which, to a large extent, ‘the end justifies the means’. Apparently, 8
he agrees with Junius who also believes that it is possible to ‘foretell the houre of death’ from 9
a portrait.54 10
In view of the popularity throughout the seventeenth century of physiognomic litera- 11
ture and of tronies or ‘character heads’, physiognomy’s predictive features and its power to 12
conjure up the past were a far from negligible factor in the considerable attraction it held for 13
the general public. The predictive aspects of physiognomy may well have had significant con- 14
notations in the seventeenth-century predilection for character heads and self-portraits. The 15
self-portrait, in which the artist not only recorded his own likeness but also did it using the 16
the ‘handling’, the brushwork typical of him, was regarded as a particularly meaningful and 17
estimable example of the expression of character.55 Van Hoogstraten’s comment that according 18
to some physignomers ‘past and future histories’ could be read in a sitter’s features might mean 19
that we should look at his own self-portraits and those of his teacher, Rembrandt, in a new 20
light. The anachronistic view that portraits may be expressive of the sitters’ psychology makes 21
way for the perhaps much more radical, ‘magic’ notion that past and future events alike leave 22
their traces in the human countenance. 23
According to seventeenth-century art theory, it is not only a person’s origins and future 24
that can be read in his face: the face is also the part of the body in which the emotions are 25
most strongly expressed. Van Hoogstraten calls the face the ‘mirror of the mind’ or ‘mirror 26
of the heart’; Van Mander refers more specifically to the eyes as the ‘mirror of the soul’.56 27
Van Hoogstraten identifies the ten different elements of the face, with reference to Pliny; 28
Van Mander likewise speaks of ‘ten or rather more’ different components.57 These features 29
may clearly reflect the passions: ‘These motions of the mind are detected most plainly in the 30
countenance’.58 31
Facial expression is an essential element of persuasion; Van Hoogstraten describes the 32
‘mien’, the demeanour, as ‘the soul of words’. Apparently, speech lacks conviction without 33
the right facial expression; the expression makes the argument ‘live, such that all who hear 34
it delight in it ... because one then captures two senses at once through the eyes and ears’.59 35
Here rhetorical theory supports the theory of art: the visual is deemed to be more persuasive 36
than the verbal, since it speaks more directly to the audience’s imagination and thus transposes 37
what is present in rhetoric in the form of words and concepts into the domain of emotion and 38
action. In his autobiography Huygens is loud in his praise of portrait painters, not just because 39
they make deceased family members ‘present’ to such an extent that we feel as if we can talk to 40
them, but also because they enable him to see characters of whom he has only heard tell. He 41
concludes: ‘physiognomy is a unique revelation of a man’s soul’.60 42
Physiognomy alone, however, is not enough to determine character in all cases. While 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i v           177
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 177 09-10-2008 17:13:21

1 courtiers’ manuals like Van Hoogstraten’s Eerlyken jongeling certainly stress getting to know
2 someone’s inner self on the basis of his outward appearance, they also emphasize the possibil-
3 ity of concealing one’s state of mind. Here the courtier is going against what is considered the
4 natural order of things, in which every emotion is given immediate expression. As the Eerlyken
5 jongeling describes, this form of dissimulatio is an indispensable skill in social life in general.61 In
6 this connection, Goeree explains that society is founded on the fact that man’s intentions are
7 visible in his outward appearance, and hypocrisy (Geveynstheyd) is consequently to be greatly
8 disapproved of: it is ‘utterly abhorred ... by him who has entirely united the Human Body ...
9 with his Mind’.62 The seventeenth-century fascination with hypocrisy is exemplified by the
10 work of Jan de Brune, which contains ‘thoughts’ (Gedachten) on a variety of subjects for civil
11 conversation and is shot through with anecdotal examples of feigned emotions. In a section
12 titled ‘Appearances are Deceptive’, he advises his readers not to go by appearances only: ‘A fine
13 body promises a fine mind; but the countenance may also belie the heart.’63 At this moment in
14 our discussion, we can only point out that the ability to simulate emotion, so that appearance
15 and reality seem not to be in accord, leads to an ambivalent attitude towards artists – they are
16 seen as skilful deceivers who may emotionally manipulate their public (this will be elaborated
17 on in more detail in chapter VI).
18
19
20 Inner self and outward appearance
21 One connecting thread in early modern art theory is the supposed sympathetic relationship
22 between man’s inner self or ‘character’ and the things on which this character could exert an
23 influence – a concept that is not self-evident to modern readers. This was not just about some-
24 one’s deeds in the present, past and future. An artist’s paintings, for instance, were treated as
25 his ‘children’ and deemed to display the qualities that could also be discerned in the painter’s
26 character; Michelangelo could thus explain his childlessness by declaring that his works of art
27 were his offspring.64 Van Hoogstraten tells us that, as an artist’s children, paintings would have
28 particular traits by which they could be identified as his; these ‘typical qualities’ could conse-
29 quently serve as a guide for art lovers. The passions specific to a given painter were deemed
30 visible and recognizable in his work: ‘the very earliest painters also chose different paths, and
31 the particular inclinations of their minds were always revealed in their works.’ This essentially
32 means that each of these artists concentrated on a different ‘part of painting’; indeed, Van
33 Hoogstraten is not referring here to the expression of individual psychology:
34
35 ‘thus it is that all Artists are driven, each to something particular to him, so that one
36 recognizes their works as if by a special mark, just as one generally observes the char-
37 acteristic features and the physiognomic traits of the parents in the children. And even
38 though these qualities can rather be called anomalies than absolute certainties of art,
39 they are ... a pleasant diversion for art lovers.’65
40
41 Inner self and outward appearance are seen as intimately related. Van Hoogstraten reports: ‘It
42 is generally said that Painters often display in their work the faults that they have in their per-
43 son. ... The reason is supposedly that our internal feelings readily correspond to our outward
44
45
178          the de p iction of th e p as s i o n s
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 178 09-10-2008 17:13:22

 appearance.’66 Therefore, the skilled painter of fish still-lifes at the same time ‘enjoys eating 1
fish’; Michelangelo purportedly called a painter of cattle a bull, and he explained this with the 2
conviction ‘that all Painters can best make their own likenesses’.67 Here Van Hoogstraten is 3
elaborating on a topos of art literature where the artist is identified with his works. As Savon- 4
arola observed: 5
6
‘they say that every painter paints himself [ogni depintore depinge se medesimo] [...] he 7
paints himself in as many [things] as he, being a painter, [concerns himself with]: in 8
other words [that he paints everything] in accordance with his own mental concept 9
[concepto]; and although the images and the figures that painters depict are different, 10
still they all correspond with his concept [secondo il concetto suo].’68 11
12
In this passage concetto clearly means more than just ‘concept’; it is that part of the painter’s 13
character that recurs in all his works. The idea that the ‘painter always paints himself’ can be 14
more readily understood in terms of the theory of rhetoric; Van Hoogstraten notes that the 15
rhetorician must ‘be what he says’ in all his communications: ‘one must first consider who one 16
is oneself’ before speaking.69 In line with this conviction, the highest praise that Huygens can 17
give to rhetoricians is that they never dissimulate – praise he also accords to artists; he states 18
that the portraitist Michiel van Mierevelt demonstrates simplicity and naturalness both in his 19
manner of painting and in his style of speaking: ‘No one has been able to state that [Van Mier- 20
evelt] was not himself (dissimilem sui) ... with him art is fully attuned to nature and the whole 21
of nature is captured in his art (Mireveldii omnis in natura ars est, omnis in arte natura) ... When 22
one looks at his actions, one sees that they echo his manner of painting. In the treatment of 23
difficult subjects his behaviour, attitude and language are plain’.70 All these ideas derive from 24
the rhetorical conviction that naturalness has the greatest power to persuade: qualis vir, talis 25
oratio.71 The performative nature of a painter’s style or actio leads Jacob Campo Weyerman a 26
few decades later to observe in an analysis of different manners of brushwork that ‘handling’ 27
springs directly from the painter’s mind.72 28
This identification of artist and work explains why in many cases artists’ biographies are 29
called on to substantiate the description of characteristics of their work: Sandrart and Hou- 30
braken describe how Brouwer’s nature is in accord with his choice of low-life subjects, and 31
Baldinucci links Rembrandt’s ‘slovenly’ lifestyle with his ‘rough’ manner of painting.73 Artists 32
may also have contributed to the creation of their own personae by emphasizing this conso- 33
nance.74 In effect, his is a literary topos; Euripides, it was said, dressed in rags in order to write 34
convincingly about his ragged heroes.75 35
In the context of the topos that ‘every painter paints himself’ , the notion that the 36
ideal artist ‘is’ what he ‘makes’ thematizes seventeenth-century ideas about the performative 37
character of the activity of painting (see above, pp. 140-146). In a 1991 study, Celeste Brusati 38
showed that this idea of the artist’s ‘presence’ in his work is an important factor in still-lifes by 39
Van Hoogstraten and other seventeenth-century painters who want to stress the performative 40
nature of their work to draw attention to their skill. One of the ways they do this is to incor- 41
porate a self-portrait or an image of themselves in a mirror in the still-life; Van Hoogstraten 42
places objects that refer to his identity – such as his literary work or a medal that the Habsburg 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i v           179
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 179 09-10-2008 17:13:22

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25 fig. 64 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, Feigned Letter Rack Painting, canvas, 63 x 79 cm.
26 Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe.
27
28 Emperor gave him – in his still-lifes that are at the same time a display of his craftsmanship and
29 skill; this is a process in which artist, subject and mode of representation ultimately coincide
30 (compare fig. 64). Brusati suggested that this performative concurrence of the artist’s character
31 and work is an important artistic ideal.76
32 The alleged close relationship between the painter and his work is based on the per-
33 formative theory expressed in the concept of similitudo, which we examined in the previous
34 chapter. This theory assumes not only the artist’s ‘presence’ in his work but also an interaction
35 between the artist and his work. We have discussed in chapter III (see above, pages 156-157)
36 how painters are described as having an affective relationship of seduction and love with their
37 models – and no less with the art of painting itself. While the artist allegedly records his own
38 ‘internal’ emotions in his ‘external’ work, the work itself is expected to sweep him along emo-
39 tionally to such an extent that it can actually have a physically beneficial effect: Junius writes
40 about artists who sing while they work, ‘seeing the workman is still refreshed and encouraged
41 by the spirit infused into him by an unexpected successe, bestirring himselfe as if the things
42 themselves and not the images were a-doing’.77 According to Van Hoogstraten, when he was
43 very old Titian painted ‘as if he became young again in art’;78 Frans Floris reportedly said
44
45
180          the de p iction of th e p as s i o n s
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 180 09-10-2008 17:13:40

 ‘when I paint, I live, and in idleness I die’, and the ancient painter Protogenes found that his 1
art was an effective substitute for food.79 2
3
4
Passion and action 5
Van Hoogstraten says that the movements of the body reflect the movements in the face: ‘these 6
motions of the mind are most clearly discerned in the countenance, whose contortions are imi- 7
tated by those of the body: so that when one has mastered the ability to imagine the motions of 8
the countenance, one will be able the more easily to represent those of the body’.80 The chapter 9
on the passions or lijdingen in his treatise is consequently followed by a chapter on doeningen, 10
literally human ‘actions’, conceived as particular facial expressions and bodily attitudes that are 11
closely related to the passions. 12
As the seat of the human psyche, the heart is expected to be directly influenced by the 13
passions, which can cause it to beat faster or slower. Affected by heat or cold, for instance, the 14
body can literally swell or shrink, and it can also change colour. We frequently find descrip- 15
tions of this phenomenon in classical writings, as well as in the works of authors like Coorn- 16
hert.81 Van Hoogstraten paraphrases Seneca’s De ira, on the characteristics of rage: 17
18
‘an enraged man ... with a grim and menacing countenance ... changed colour ...; an- 19
gry men, their eyes burn and glisten ... their countenance is red with blood that wells 20
up from their deepest viscera; their lips quiver, and their teeth chatter, and their hair 21
bristles ... their whole body shudders and is terrifyingly threatening, their face is ugly 22
and swollen and a perversion of itself.’82 23
24
This close interrelation between inner and outer ‘motions’ provided artists with the possibil- 25
ity of depicting the effects of human passions very directly. Junius writes: ‘every commotion 26
of the minde ... hath a certaine countenance of his owne by nature’.83 Examples of changes in 27
complexion caused by the passions accordingly abound in the work of Van Hoogstraten, Junius 28
and Van Mander.84 The physician Eristratus, for instance, was said to have observed the sick 29
youth Antiochus to see whether his face changed colour as a result of ‘the affects or the inter- 30
nal forces’.85 It is similarly in this context that we must understand the ancients’ discussions of 31
sculptors who were able to depict specific passions in their statues by adding certain metals to 32
their alloys, thereby changing the colour.86 But it is not just a question of the emotions chang- 33
ing the colour of the complexion: this sympathetic relationship also works in reverse, and the 34
look of a particular colour can have an emotional effect on a person’s mind. The painter con- 35
sequently has to be cautious in his use of colour which, as the ‘soul’ of the painting, gives ‘life’ 36
to otherwise inanimate drawings. 37
Early modern psychology places great emphasis on the role of spiritus or ‘spirits’ in the 38
communication between body and mind. Spirits are thought to be ethereal fluids formed in 39
the heart from blood. They are thus prone to be influenced by the passions: allegedly, the heart 40
swells with joy and this drives the spirits from their place; when grief causes the heart to con- 41
tract, they are trapped. In turn, the spirits exert pressure on the limbs in the same way as they 42
themselves are moved in the heart: thus the body automatically goes into action.87 This is the 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i v           181
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 181 09-10-2008 17:13:40

1 physiological explanation for the idea that the ‘passions’ have a direct effect on ‘actions’. Van
2 Mander explains that sorrow causes the limbs to dangle lifelessly; he urges painters to pay heed
3 ‘to the motus of the Body from outside’, the ‘changing and the stirring of the limbs’ in order to
4 convey the human passions.88
5 One complication is that the terminology used to describe passions and actions is not
6 always systematically defined in painting treatises. De term motus—motion or movement—is
7 used arbitrarily for emotion and physical movement alike.89 In view of this state of affairs, we
8 have only to consider that the ‘movement’ of the mind and the movement of the body were
9 regarded as essentially two functions with the same cause. One exemplary consequence of
10 this is the association, formulated by De Lairesse, of different gestures and movements of the
11 body with a particular social class and code of conduct.90 Ultimately, the significance of bodily
12 movements is not confined to the level of the passions. Van Hoogstraten gives it a specific in-
13 terpretation: hand gestures can be such a direct expression of someone’s inner being that they
14 are more expressive than speech and can be seen as a ‘universal language’.91 The metaphor of
15 ‘body language’ or sermo corporis is a popular one in the art-theoretical tradition:92 Achille Boc-
16 chi, for instance, believes that the face reveals human emotions by ‘speaking silently’ (favellare
17 tacitamente).93 This statement is apparently part of the general theory about painting as the
18 ‘book of the illiterate’ – which allows the elements of the Creation to ‘speak’ for themselves to
19 a wide audience.
20
21
22 pa s s i on ate pers uasion: ‘be weeglij khe id’ and ‘enargeia’
23 The direct relationship that is deemed to exist between states of mind and postures of the body
24 has a parallel in the idea that a depiction of an emotion arouses the same emotion in the viewer.
25 The affective power of painting stemming from this idea means that art is often credited with
26 greater rhetorical force than literature. Dolce, for instance, believes that ideally ‘[painted] fig-
27 ures should move the minds of the spectators, agitate some of them, hearten others, move
28 them to piety or disdain ... exactly as the poet, historian and orator do’.94 The significance of ut
29 rhetorica pictura, in regard to the affective power of the painting, was recognized by the ancient
30 rhetoricians themselves: the passions played a part in the development of theories about a life-
31 like and graphic style in literature as well as in painting. Quintilian talks of orators who lent
32 force to their arguments by showing their audiences paintings.95 While Junius compares the
33 effect of art with the ‘soul-stirring power of oratory’, Goeree believes that the power of painted
34 ‘Actions and natural events far surpasses the rhetoric of the Orators’.96 We will examine some
35 rhetorical aspects of the depiction of the passions, focusing in particular on the early modern
36 notion that paintings, orations and stage performances are all essentially performative events.
37 The comparison of painting to the theatre is an illustrative one in regard of the alleged
38 ‘performativity’ of painting. The Inleyding contains frequent comparisons of ancient painters
39 and actors, particularly in the chapters ‘Clio’, which treats the depiction of the passions, and
40 ‘Thalia’, which deals with composition (Thalia is presented as the Muse of comic acting). In
41 the context of the depiction of the passions, Van Hoogstraten speaks of the ‘kinship’ between
42 the artist and the writer of tragedies: ‘[the painter] should be kin to the great mind of the tragic
43 poets, not only to know all the motions of the human mind, but also, when it is fitting, to be
44
45
182          the de p iction of th e p as s i o n s
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 182 09-10-2008 17:13:40

 able to express them; while one should never undertake a picture without showing in it a cer- 1
tain movement or inner inclination’.97 2
Van Hoogstraten underpins ideas about emotion in the Inleyding with citations from 3
literature: this is another argument for the validity of applying the conceptual apparatus of 4
rhetoric to painting in this context. Van Hoogstraten admits that he occasionally turns to lit- 5
erature for help and acknowledges, for instance, that poets need resort to far fewer tricks than 6
artists to record the passions: ‘Colouring [of the face of a young woman overcome by emotion] 7
is certainly easier for Poets than for us Painters’.98 8
The supposed performative nature of the painterly illusion and the sympathetic rela- 9
tionship between the artist and his work make it crucial that an artist who wants to depict a 10
particular passion should actually have experienced it himself. Quintilian asserts that the orator 11
has to be moved himself if he wants to move his audience.99 Similarly, before a painter can ex- 12
press emotions on canvas, he must have been through them first, both physically and mentally: 13
one way of achieving this, says Van Hoogstraten, is to act them out on stage. He encourages 14
aspiring young artists, when depicting the passions, to ‘play this most artful role’, and to trans- 15
form themselves into actors to do it: 16
17
‘If one wants to gain honour in this noblest area of art, one must transform oneself 18
wholly into an actor. It is not enough to show things indistinctly in a History; Dem- 19
osthenes was no less learned than others when the people turned their backs on him 20
in disgust: but after Satyrus had recited verses by Euripides and Sophocles to him with 21
better diction and more graceful movements, and he had learnt ... to mimic the actor 22
precisely, after that, I say, people listened to him as an oracle of rhetoric. You will derive 23
the same benefit from acting out the passions you have in mind, chiefly in front of a 24
mirror, so as to be actor and spectator at the same time.’100 25
26
Artists who want to portray emotions must, like orators, learn to be actors and use their own 27
faces as their first objects of study. Van Hoogstraten gives the example of the actor Polus, who 28
reputedly dug up the bones of his own son as part of his preparation for playing Electra on 29
stage.101 Just how literally painters had to take these admonitions emerges from a passage in 30
which he advises pupils to study their own feelings of joy and sorrow so that they can get to 31
know the ‘outward’ effects of ‘inner’ emotions: ‘Thus you should take comfort in art if you 32
are afflicted by grief, and if something agreeable happens to you; this is the time to observe 33
the inner feelings and outward movements these events cause’.102 This advice may have been 34
inspired by Rembrandt’s experiments in representing his own facial expressions in front of a 35
mirror (figs. 65 -68). 36
This experiential knowledge of the passions culminates in a persuasive movere so that the 37
viewer experiences the same emotion that is being presented to him on stage, or in a painting, 38
in accordance with Horace’s dictum: si vis me flere, dolendum est primum ipsi tibi.103 Alberti refers 39
in this regard to the idea that ‘in nature nothing attracts more strongly than similar things’.104 40
Van Hoogstraten cites Horace’s pronouncement on poetry, and applies it to painting: 41
42
43
44
45
c h ap t e r i v           183
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 183 09-10-2008 17:13:40

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17 fig. 65 – Rembrandt, fig. 66 – Rembrandt,
18 Self-portrait with Eyes Wide Open, etching. Self-portrait with an Angry Expression,
19 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. 1630, etching. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39 fig. 67 – Rembrandt, fig. 68 – Rembrandt,
40 Self-portrait Laughing, etching. Self-portrait with Open Mouth, etching.
41 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
42
43
44
45
184          the de p iction of th e p as s i o n s
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 184 09-10-2008 17:15:35

 ‘It is not enough for a picture to be beautiful, it must have in it a certain moving quality 1
(beweeglijkheid) that has power over those who see it; as Horace sings about poetry: 2
“A beautiful poem will not easily move me 3
but kindness can transport heart and soul. 4
One smiles, or weeps, the viewer follows the trail: 5
so if you want me to cry, you must cry first.” 6
7
Van Hoogstraten concludes: ‘and so it is with Artists, they do not stir the mind if they omit this 8
beweeglijkheid.105 Beweeglijkheid is apparently a concept that relates equally to the artist’s meth- 9
ods and to the effect of the painting on the viewer. We shall examine this term in more detail. 10
It appears relevant to the principal area of common ground between the artist and the orator: 11
their endeavour to achieve a graphic, persuasive style. Quintilian associates this style with the 12
theory of the different styles of speaking, the genera dicendi: these genera may also be applied 13
to painting, as they relate to various ways of representing the passions. 14
15
16
The concept of ‘beweeglijkheid’ 17
With movere always in mind, the theory of rhetoric emphasizes the importance of graphic, 18
evocative speech. The technical terms for this are the Latin demonstratio and evidentia; Quin- 19
tilian also uses the Greek enargeia.106 The terms are linked to the virtue of perspicuitas – clar- 20
ity – one of the four ‘virtues of speech’ (virtutes dicendi).107 We shall examine how this regard 21
for a graphic manner of speaking is adopted in art literature and applied to the style of the 22
painting: when the beholder is caught unawares by a clear, single event, he is expected to be 23
involved in the scene emotionally, with little further effort. Perspicuitas consequently often as- 24
sumes the meaning of a requirement of ‘unity of time, place and action’ in a work of art. This 25
requirement derives from Aristotle’s rules for tragedy, which became more popular in Dutch 26
poetics during the seventeenth century; this was also reflected in the literature of art.108 The 27
most explicit comparison between stage and painting in this regard was drawn by Jan Vos, who 28
wrote in the preface to his play Medea: ‘A judicious painter will not paint more on a panel than 29
happened in one place and at the same time. A Play that paints a telling picture must have the 30
same quality.’109 The demand for unity of action is not, though, the only aspect associated with 31
the requirement for clarity. 32
Characteristically, Van Hoogstraten uses the neologism oogenbliklijk or oogenblikkig – 33
momentary or instantaneous – to describe the qualities of perspicuity, and he refers to an oogen­ 34
bliklijke daedt or oogenblikkige beweeging – a momentary action or instantaneous movement (it is 35
hard to give a literal translation of oogenblikkig, a term that does not occur in modern Dutch; it 36
relates to the ‘wink of an eye’). To create an effect that takes viewers by surprise and involves 37
them in what is depicted, a painter must focus on presenting what happens in a single moment, 38
in obedience to Horace’s maxim: ‘demonstratio means that the subject is portrayed in such a way 39
that the event and the thing itself appear before our eyes’.110 Van Hoogstraten notes that ‘a play 40
differs from a Painting in that it comprehends a particular time, place or action in every act: 41
whereas a Painting shows just one momentary action or scene’.111 Elsewhere Van Hoogstraten 42
cites this distinction to explain why artists have more freedom than the writers of histories: 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i v           185
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 185 09-10-2008 17:15:35

1 ‘Once the matter you have before you is fixed in your mind, take, as you choose, an
2 instantaneous action, for a Painter’s choice is freer than a History writer’s, because the
3 latter is bound to treat things from the ground up, whereas an artist comes in suddenly
4 either at the beginning or in the middle or at the end of the Story, as he wishes and sees
5 fit. He depicts either the past, the present or the future, and is only obliged to show, out
6 of the eternal parade of events, that which can be seen at a glance.’112
7
8 This unity of action serves evidentia, in which the passions play a fundamental role. Van Hoog-
9 straten observes, for instance, that an ‘instantaneous movement’ has the greatest emotional
10 effect on the viewer:
11
12 ‘Whether one wants to paint just one figure, or many together, one must take care only
13 to show an instantaneous movement which in particular expresses the action of the
14 History; as Horace says: “Create every work, as is fitting, singly and unequivocally”. So
15 that the work will thrill the viewer, as if he were another bystander, with one voice, ter-
16 rify him with a violent action, and gladden him by showing something cheerful: or else
17 he is moved to compassion by an injustice done; and takes satisfaction in a just act.’113
18
19 The ‘unequivocal’ image satisfies the requirement of perspicuity – the term Van Hoogstraten
20 uses is eenweezich, literally ‘of one nature’; and he adds eenstemmich – ‘with one voice’.114
21 The passage quoted is glossed with a note in the margin: ‘Depict a single and momentary
22 action’.115
23 Van Hoogstraten concludes: ‘It is not enough to show things indistinctly in a History’:
24 it must be possible to grasp the narrative context at a single glance.116 To achieve this effect
25 the artist has to devote considerable attention to the passions, and this applies even to refined,
26 subtle emotions: ‘Here it is essential, above all, that the actions or movements of the body
27 correspond to the stirrings of the mind, even in representations of almost static figures.’117
28 These ‘static figures’ could perhaps be a reference to the genre painting of the second half of
29 the seventeenth century, as practised by Van Hoogstraten himself and painters like Terborch
30 and Vermeer, in which the emotions of the figures are a key factor, even though they can only
31 be detected in the most discreet expressions and gestures: the tendres passions rather than the
32 grandes passions (figs. 69, 59, 60).118
33 In the analysis of the highly emotive single moment, classical rhetorical theory makes
34 a distinction between the terms energeia and enargeia, which are not etymologically related.119
35 Energeia refers to the ‘movement’ of the image in all the senses of the word we have already
36 identified: both physical movement and the ‘motions of the mind’. Enargeia refers to the cap-
37 ture of a single moment that shows the viewer events as if he himself is present.120 The only use
38 of the Greek term enargeia in early modern art theory is found in Gaurico, who also uses the
39 related term energitikoteron for the impression that the work of art makes on the viewer.121 In
40 seventeenth-century painting treatises, the distinction between the two terms is subordinated
41 to the fact that they both relate to a process intended to bring about a virtual reality. In this
42 context, it is telling that Junius uses energia to conflate the meaning of the two Greek concepts:
43 it describes the combined effect of a stilled moment and strong affective power.
44
45
186          the de p iction of th e p as s i o n s
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 186 09-10-2008 17:15:35

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
fig. 69 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, Two Women Admiring a Baby in a Cradle, 1670, 24
canvas, 66 x 55 cm. Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield. 25
26
‘Whosoever therefore conceiveth these images aright, propounding unto himselfe the 27
truth of things and actions, the same is likely to be most powerfull in all manner of af- 28
fections: seeing his endeavors shall bee waited upon by a vertue knowne by the Greeke 29
name “Energia”. Tully [Cicero] calleth it “Evidence” and “Perspicuitie”. This vertue 30
seemeth to shew the whole matter; and it bringeth to passe, that the affections fol- 31
low us with such a lively representation, as if we were by at the doing of the things 32
imagined.’ 33
34
In the Dutch edition of his treatise he translates energia as uytdruckelickheyd or duydelickheyd.122 35
Energia is all about playing on the viewer’s emotions: ‘It is then in vaine an Artificer should 36
hope to be both powerfull and perspicuous, unlesse he doe alwayes propound unto himselfe 37
the worke in hand as if all were present, and that principally when he is to expresse any thing 38
wherein he meeteth with some notable Affections and Passions of the minde’.123 The fusion of 39
the concepts of energeia and enargeia that occurs in Junius’s theory is typical of the transforma- 40
tion that the classical rhetorical terms undergo when they are applied in seventeenth-century 41
art theory. This theory adopts primarily the rhetorical ideas about the effect of a painting on 42
the viewer (the level of actio and elocutio), while the aspects of the orator’s creative process are 43
assigned a less central role. 44
45
c h ap t e r i v           187
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 187 10-10-2008 16:24:44

1 Consistent with Junius’s use of energia as a function of the image that leads to greater
2 affective involvement, Bellori uses the term to praise a Mercury painted by Raphael who ‘de-
3 taches himself with so much energìa from the surface [of the painting] that he breathes words
4 and talks to everyone who approaches and stops to look at him’.124 In Van Hoogstraten’s art
5 theory the most obvious terminological equivalent to this concept is beweeglijkheid, a quality
6 that, by addressing the spectator’s emotions, persuades him that the depicted figures are alive,
7 they move and speak. As we have seen, he writes: ‘It is not enough for a picture to be beautiful,
8 it must have in it a certain beweeglijkheid that has power over those who see it .... And so it is
9 with Artists, they do not stir the mind if they omit this beweeglijkheid.’125
10 Junius mentions an exemplary scene that is able to move the viewer to tears: Abraham
11 sacrificing his son. He writes that ‘Saint Gregory Nyssen after an ample and most patheticall
12 [beweghelick] relation of Isaac his sacrifice, hath added these words; “I saw often in a picture,”
13 sayth he, “the image of this fact, neither could I looke upon it without teares, so lively did
14 Art put the historie before my eyes”’.126 This anecdote occurs repeatedly in the tradition of
15 art theory.127 Rembrandt and his pupils’ exercises in rendering Abraham’s sacrifice in an ‘in-
16 stantaneous’ manner – Rembrandt himself seems to have used such a fast ‘shutter speed’ for
17 his ‘snapshot’ that the knife falling from Abraham’s hand has been captured in mid-air – were
18 probably conceived with a view to achieving beweeglijkheid, specifically choosing the moment
19 when Abraham realizes the true outcome of his ordeal (fig. 70). Van Hoogstraten was prob-
20 ably among those who made sketches of the subject.128 The dramatic moment when, with the
21 sword poised to strike, the protagonist pauses briefly to consider the coming act of violence
22 is presented in the theatre as an example of a suggestive, graphic effect.129 Rembrandt used a
23 similarly fast shutter speed in another work in which the protagonist sees that he has made a
24 tragic mistake: in Belshazzar’s Feast we are shown the moment when Belshazzar realizes that he
25 should not have used the precious vessels looted from the Temple in Jerusalem. The woman
26 on his right tips her goblet, and the wine it contains is frozen in time as it spills (fig. 71).
27 When the beholder is moved emotionally and transported physically into another real-
28 ity, the artist, like the orator or actor, is in a position to bring about a change in character. In
29 this context, Aristotle identified two effects that are the aims of tragedy, horror and misericordia:
30 seeing a dreadful event causes emotions of terror in the audience, while a staged affliction may
31 fill the audience with compassion for the protagonists. His theory underwent a revival in the
32 Netherlands in the seventeenth century, chiefly in the writings of Daniel Heinsius. We find the
33 two terms in art theory when Van Mander explains that the artist can use a minor character to
34 ‘compassionately’ (medelydich) draw the viewer’s attention to ‘some disgrace’, or to ‘something
35 terrible’ (schrickelijck) that is taking place.130 The Inleyding talks about the painter’s aims of ‘ter-
36 rifying’ (doen schrikken) and ‘moving to pity’ (met medelijden bewegen): he believes, as we have
37 seen, that the work should move the beholder such that he is ‘terrified by a violent action [...]
38 or moved to compassion by an injustice done’.131
39 In the Inleyding there is an express reference to emotional scenes with a sad ending:
40 ‘Seneca also says that a tremendous Painting of a tragic outcome touches our mind’.132 Indeed,
41 picturing a tragic event can be very functional; ‘Painters and Tragic Poets best adorn their
42 Pictures and Plays by depicting divers sorrows and lamentations.’133 And the viewer can also be
43 moved by feelings of justice, when he ‘takes satisfaction in a just act’, or by a desire for venge-
44
45
188          the de p iction of th e p as s i o n s
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 188 09-10-2008 17:15:42

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
fig. 70 – Rembrandt, Abraham’s Sacrifice, 1635, canvas, 193 x 132 cm. 42
The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i v           189
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 189 09-10-2008 17:15:43

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25 fig. 71 – Rembrandt, Beshazzar’s Feast, ca. 1635, canvas, 167 x 210 cm. National Gallery, London.
26
27 ance when he empathizes with the characters he sees portrayed.134 In the Latin edition of his
28 treatise Junius writes that the artist can achieve the highest rhetorical objective: ‘the crowd are
29 entertained when they behold [his work], they are diverted by Painting, they are cheered or
30 saddened, laugh and admire, and, when Painting inspires them with emotion, they are moved
31 to compassion or hate (ad misericordiam aut odium inducitur)’.135
32 A key moment in tragedy, when the effect of horror or misericordia is most powerfully
33 felt, is the moment when a protagonist recognizes a tragic mistake – as when Oedipus realizes
34 that the man he has killed is his father. The technical term for this is peripeteia.136 At this mo-
35 ment the protagonist is thought to undergo a complete reversal of his feelings. Vondel uses this
36 in his plays, describing it as a ‘change of state’ (Staetveranderinge); art historians have associated
37 this term with the work of Rembrandt and his pupils.137 Van Hoogstraten is clearly familiar
38 with this dramatic principle – he applies it in his own work for the stage.138 In the Inleyding
39 he expresses this principle as ‘shock and change’ (schrik en verandering). Strikingly, he believes
40 that the portrayal of an emotional change can bring about a comparable change in the viewer.
41 He tells us that seeing a painting of someone who had changed in character ‘reformed’ a li-
42 centious girl, visiting her lover, and led her into more virtuous ways: ‘the Girl, beholding this
43 noble scene, suffered such shock and change that she turned around and went straight home
44 again’.139
45
190          the de p iction of th e p as s i o n s
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 190 09-10-2008 17:15:48

 In the literature of art, the portrayal of a sudden revulsion of feeling wins the greatest 1
praise: the essential task here is to picture different emotions at the same time in a single fig- 2
ure. The tradition of art theory contains countless examples of this, supported by references 3
to antiquity.140 Van Hoogstraten repeats the topical description of a dying mother who wants 4
to stop her child from feeding at her breast, in whom both ‘maternal precaution’ and ‘distress 5
and sorrow’ have to be portrayed.141 The ancient sculptor Demon was said to have captured 6
‘conflicting emotions’ (strijdige driften) in a personification of the city of Athens. Here, Van 7
Hoogstraten explicitly refers to poetry, which has an easier job of it when it comes to express- 8
ing ambivalent passions.142 9
The moment of ‘shock and change’ is also related to the term anagnorisis, sudden recog- 10
nition or insight, which derives from the theory of tragedy. In the context of this notion, Lo- 11
mazzo cites as an example the scene in which Joseph’s father is confronted with his son’s bloody 12
clothes.143 When the work of Rembrandt’s circle is analysed in terms of subjects like this, we 13
find that the drawings attributed to Van Hoogstraten alone include numerous examples of mo- 14
ments of revelation, shock, sudden apparitions and miracles, among them Supper at Emmaus, 15
Noli me tangere and Abraham’s Sacrifice (figs. 72-74).144 ‘An unexpected thing has extraordinary 16
force’, concludes Jan Vos in reference to Jan Lievens’s Raising of Lazarus, a subject that Lo- 17
mazzo also presents as an example of sudden emotional impact.145 Vos is probably referring 18
specifically to the way Lievens concentrates the action on Lazarus’s ghostly hands (fig. 75). 19
After thus establishing the importance of the passions in Van Hoogstraten’s ideas, we 20
have to answer the question: what was the overarching function ascribed to the emotional 21
aspects of art? We will examine comparisons of painting with the theatre and with history 22
writing. 23
24
25
et h os a n d pat h os 26
In rhetorical theory, perspicuitas, evidentia and playing on the emotions of the viewer fit into 27
the framework of the three distinct styles of speech. For an impassioned plea Quintilian rec- 28
ommends the ‘grand’ style (genus grande); he also identifies the ‘mediocre’ (genus mediocris) 29
and ‘humble’ styles (genus humile). This classification is derived from the three functions of 30
drama identified by Aristotle, which are used in the theory of rhetoric to provide a systematic 31
clarification to functions of oratory.146 In the seventeenth century, Vossius writes of three ar- 32
gumentative ‘Elements of Proof’, namely ‘“Reasons, Morals and Passions”, which the Greeks 33
call Logoi, Aethae and Pathae’.147 This tripartite division, which was deliberately kept vague, 34
served to classify the various styles. The ideal artist was expected to have mastered all three 35
levels; Junius says that ‘he is the best Artist, who is best provided of all these things’.148 As we 36
shall see, however, it is only ‘passions’ and ‘morals’ that are discussed in concrete terms in Van 37
Hoogstraten’s treatise. 38
The division into the three ‘styles’ or genera has a parallel in the distinction between 39
the three tasks of the orator, in which arousing emotions is accorded a central place. Alongside 40
instructing (docere) and delighting (delectare), classical rhetoric has a third function – moving 41
the observer (movere). Roman theory, in particular, which places by far the greatest emphasis 42
on epideictic rhetoric, presents movere as the most important aim and function of oratory, and 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i v           191
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 191 09-10-2008 17:15:48

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18 fig. 72 – Attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten, Supper at Emmaus, pen and brush in brown ink,
19 15 x 17 cm. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41 fig. 73 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, Noli me tangere, 1650, pen and brown ink,
42 20 x 20 cm. Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo.
43
44
45
192          the de p iction of th e p as s i o n s
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 192 09-10-2008 17:16:13

 it is this theory that resonates loudest in the early modern period. Paleotti equates the tasks of 1
the artist and the orator because the most important function of both is changing a person’s 2
convictions (what he calls flectere).149 Junius cites from Cicero’s De optimo genere oratorum: ‘It is 3
[the artists’] duty ... that they should teach; it is for their owne credit that they should delight; 4
it is altogether requisite that they should moove and stirre our minde.’150 5
Van Hoogstraten was the first author to specifically link the tripartite classification of 6
the genera dicendi to the different subjects of Dutch painting. Félibien had previously associ- 7
ated the taxonomy with an artist’s choice of subjects in general.151 It is not clear whether Van 8
Hoogstraten was familiar with Félibien’s work; it is more likely that his source was a textbook 9
of rhetoric he might have read at school. Vossius, for instance, defines ‘three ways or Styles 10
of Oratory’. To his mind, the ‘High-Flown Style’ is appropriate for ‘Heroic and tragic things’ 11
and is ‘capable of stirring the Passions’; the ‘Humble Style’ is suitable for simple matters and 12
aims, among other things, for ‘wittiness’, while the ‘middle Style’ has an intermediate function 13
between these two extremes.152 Van Hoogstraten adapts this division to the art of painting in 14
his passage devoted to ‘the three degrees of art’, when he writes that the third degree differs 15
from the second chiefly in that its subject is human emotions: ‘the Paintings, then, that belong 16
to the third and highest degree are those that show man the noblest passions and decisions 17
of Rational beings’.153 He expressly bases his classification on ‘the philosophers’, although he 18
turns not to Aristotle’s theory of tragedy, but to the philosopher’s division of nature into a veg- 19
etative, a sensitive and a rational component.154 20
The classification in Félibien and Van Hoogstraten clearly focuses in the first instance 21
on the artist’s choice of subject and not directly on his style. The depiction of the passions is, 22
though, capable of breaking through the hierarchy of the classification. It is not necessarily the 23
choice of subject that determines whether or not a painting belongs to the highest ‘third grade’; 24
what matters is the successful portrayal of human thoughts and feelings, says Van Hoogstraten: 25
‘one may find History Painters enough ... they do not all belong to the third degree of art, un- 26
less one can discern in their works the aforementioned Rational or human souls’.155 It is conse- 27
quently the artist’s innate capacity for representing ‘vegetative’, ‘sensitive’ or ‘rational’ aspects 28
of nature that largely determines which of the three degrees he specializes in.156 29
Various art historians have tried to relate the modern classification of art genres (still- 30
life, landscape and scenes of history and everyday life) to the theory of the genera dicendi, and 31
thence, if possible, to come to some conclusion about the contested issue of the development 32
of ‘realism’ in Dutch painting.157 For our analysis, it is not necessary to examine the different 33
attempts to establish a strict system based on this classification – a system that by its very na- 34
ture is foreign to the epideictic, undogmatic character of Van Hoogstraten’s treatise. It does, 35
however, throw light on Van Hoogstraten’s views about the aims of art to consider his associa- 36
tion of the passions with the ‘third degree’, which corresponds to the rhetorical esteem for an 37
argument aimed at stirring up emotion – movere – in the genus grande. He appears to agree with 38
Vossius, who, when discussing the artist as pathopoios in ‘De graphice’, seems to be pointing to 39
pathos as the most important function of classical tragedy. 40
41
42
43
44
45
c h ap t e r i v           193
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 193 09-10-2008 17:16:13

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19 fig. 74 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, Abraham’s Sacrifice, 1641, pen and brown ink.
20 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42 fig. 75 – Jan Lievens, The Raising of Lazarus, 1631, canvas, 103 cm x 112 cm.
43 Art Gallery and Museum, Brighton.
44
45
194          the de p iction of th e p as s i o n s
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 194 09-10-2008 17:16:22

 Pathos: painting and theatre 1
How does tragic pathos relate to the function of the painting of the affects? In rhetorical theory 2
movere or flectere, arousing feelings in the viewer, serves the persuasive force of the argument 3
and ultimately brings about a change in character. Echoes of this view live on in the early 4
modern theory of poetry and art. Van Hoogstraten himself explains his activities in drama 5
and painting with the observation that ‘contemplating, reflecting on and considering people’s 6
affects and passions’, he had ‘distinguished between good and evil, raised honour and virtue 7
to heaven, and shown the Reader shameful acts in a horrifying way for his instruction’. Ap- 8
parently, the dramatization of human passions presents a virtuous moral example or one that 9
inspires revulsion. 10
How does this form of emotionizing drama create its effect? The Aristotelian concept of 11
tragedy postulates the cathartic or purifying function of depicting emotive events. In the seven- 12
teenth century the working of the cathartic experience is expressed most elaborately in Lipsius’s 13
Stoic theory:158 the beholder is expected to empathize with the characters being portrayed, 14
and this physical sensation can have a curative effect. Purportedly, painting works in a similar 15
way: Van Hoogstraten remarks in regard to a work by Filippo Lippi that art has the power ‘to 16
make the most barbaric hearts meek, and to arouse goodwill and love, well nigh contrary to 17
nature’.159 His ideas about ‘terror’ and ‘compassion’ accord with a remark in Vondel’s Lucifer, 18
a play that Van Hoogstraten was certainly familiar with because he refers to it in the Inleyding: 19
‘the aim and object of the true Tragedy is to move people through terror and pity’.160 20
Of all the Dutch playwrights, Vondel is the most explicit about the visual preconditions 21
for this physically beneficial effect of the depiction of the passions, stressing that too graphic 22
a staging can have an adverse effect on the audience’s imagination, and that it is particularly 23
dangerous for pregnant women and the unborn foetus: 24
25
‘since seeing stirs the heart more than hearing an account of the event, the staging 26
of the tragic act should be such that ... without showing grotesque and gruesome 27
cruelties, and causing miscarriages and deformities by alarming pregnant women, it 28
provokes compassion and terror, so that the tragedy may achieve its end and object, 29
which is to moderate these two passions in people’s minds ... cleanse the spectators 30
of faults, and teach them to endure the calamities of the world more calmly and more 31
equably.’161 32
33
Vondel repeats the topical idea that the mother’s imagination is most prone to visual stimuli that 34
may lead to physical deformations. By contrast, the cathartic effect on the mind brought about 35
by ‘compassion and terror’ (medogen en schrick), and not by excessive stimulation of the imagina- 36
tion is deemed to bring about a change in character that leads to equanimity. The alleged salu- 37
brious qualities of painting thus spring from its affective impact; as Giovan Battista Armenini 38
states, the eye is sometimes ‘the cause of [the viewers’] being moved towards true piety [...] and 39
God-fearing, and all these things are medicaments and excellent remedies for their health’.162 In 40
the Netherlands De Bie writes that ‘this Art [...] [has] such force that it not only charms curious 41
and Art-loving Minds but can move the greatest Sinners, and Barbaric hearts, even immovable 42
and implacable Tyrants, curb thoughtless tongues, put to shame those who follow their own 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i v           195
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 195 09-10-2008 17:16:22

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24 fig. 76 – Dirck van Baburen, Cimon and Pero, ca. 1623. York City Art Gallery, York.
25
26 Opinions and reconcile bloodthirsty or vengeful people’.163 In art theory, here is one exemplary
27 scene which is supposed to bring about this change in character, and to inspire girls with filial
28 piety: the image of Pero, who breastfeeds her father in prison. Junius, for instance, recommends
29 it as a pre-eminent choice of subject matter.164 This state of affairs may have prompted Van
30 Hoogstraten to draw this subject himself; it was painted, for instance, by Dirk van Baburen, a
31 painter Van Hoogstraten commended for his choice of subject (figs. 76 and 77).165
32 Van Hoogstraten believes that certain artists have a natural aptitude for seeking out ‘the
33 tragic and pitiful’ and moving ‘the mind to compassion’.166 He praises painters who move the
34 viewer to tears and give their work ‘the greatest lustre’ by portraying sorrow.167 At the same
35 time he acknowledges that one cannot depict anything and everything, and that decorum must
36 be observed. In this context, Junius quotes the example of Medea, who murdered her own
37 childeren when her husband married another woman, which was one of the subjects staged in
38 full graphic detail by Jan Vos in the Amsterdam city theatre: ‘Discretion is here also a great
39 point, but very often neglected by them that observe Truth and occasion too much: for as in
40 Tragedies, so likewise in Pictures, all things are not to be laid open before the eyes of the spec-
41 tator.’168 Van Hoogstraten, paraphrasing Horace, condemns the depiction of ‘violent actions’
42 (felle daden) that shock viewers excessively.169 In a similar vein, Huygens uses the term horror in
43 his autobiography to describe a painted head of Medusa; while this horrific image may well be
44
45
196          the de p iction of th e p as s i o n s
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 196 09-10-2008 17:16:26

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
fig. 77 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, Cimon and Pero, pen and brown ink. Kunsthalle, Hamburg. 19
20
pleasing to the eye in its lifelikeness (vividitas) and beauty, Huygens would prefer to see it in 21
someone else’s house.170 The arousal of the viewer’s emotions is evidently intended not to appal 22
him but to transport him into a virtual reality and thus achieve the greatest possible persua- 23
siveness, to paraphrase a statement by Vasari.171 Van Hoogstraten repeats a topos to illustrate 24
this – an anecdote about a depiction of the ancient king Agamemnon, who covers his face with 25
his cloak during the sacrifice of Iphigeneia, his daughter: apparently, the chief protagonist 26
himself cannot bear to watch the grisly event. The anecdote implies that the viewer identifies 27
to a degree with the principal character; the spectator, after all, is also a witness to this ghastly 28
episode.172 29
30
31
Ethos: painting and history writing 32
Bringing about the strong ‘pathetic’ emotions of terror and compassion is just one of the aims 33
of depicting the passions; Van Hoogstraten identifies another: to present a moral example. 34
In the passage from Schoone Roselijn quoted above he combines showing ‘shameful acts’ in a 35
‘horrifying’ manner with the object of raising ‘honour and virtue to heaven’. He maintains 36
that by presenting visible examples of virtue, painting is more able than literature to have an 37
instructive effect. Apparently, this view is shared by Vossius, who asserts in ‘De graphice’: ‘all 38
the works of nature and of the arts are better presented to the eye (ob oculos ponantur) by the 39
painter’s brush than by the pen of the author of natural or political history’.173 For the same 40
reason Van Hoogstraten prefers painting, in Quintilian’s words: ‘The Painting, a silent work, 41
always retaining the same appearance, penetrates and moves the mind such that it oft-times 42
seems to surpass the power of rhetoric’.174 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i v           197
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 197 09-10-2008 17:16:35

1 The title page of Van Hoogstraten’s chapter dedicated to Clio stresses the competition
2 between painting and the writing of history. Clio holds a book by Thucydides (fig. 78); in Plu-
3 tarch there is a comparison between Thucydides’s writings and Euphranor’s paintings founded
4 on the argument that history writing and painting both have the same objective – to conjure
5 up events in a graphic, lifelike manner.175 The elevation of painting above historiography be-
6 cause of its greater rhetorical power is found for the first time in Basil, whom Van Hoogstraten
7 approvingly cites: ‘But hear how St Basil raises the force of Painting above his own oratory:
8 “Stand up now, oh illustrious Painters, who depict the outstanding deeds of the Warriors, glo-
9 rify now through your art the image of the wounded General: ... I go my way, defeated by you
10 all in the Painting of the courageous acts of the Martyrs”’.176
11 At various points in his work Vossius describes painting as silent historiography (and
12 history writing as painting that speaks).177 This comparison is based on the notion that the aim
13 of history writing is to inspire in the reader a desire to emulate; Van Hoogstraten also com-
14 mends painting for its ability to preserve the ‘memory of illustrious persons’.178 Vossius writes:
15 ‘This must expressly pertain to the praise of painting: ... it does the same as the writing of
16 history. For painting also passes on great deeds to posterity. Because of this, even those who
17 cannot read the histories learn these things from paintings. Furthermore, like written histories,
18 painted representations spur the viewer to strive for virtue and honour.’179 In the same spirit he
19 argues:
20
21 ‘History serves, after all, not only to contemplate examples; it also arouses the desire to
22 emulate and kindles the spirit to attain virtue. It gives not only knowledge but also will-
23 power, and makes us not only spectators but also actors. This is why [Cicero] rightly
24 described it as a mirror of human deeds, although not an ordinary mirror that only
25 reflects our own image, but a mirror like the one, so we read, that Archimedes made
26 long ago. For just as that mirror set fire to far distant objects with astounding power, so
27 our minds are also set aflame to emulate the examples that have lived a very long time
28 before us. ... The same power is also clearly manifest in cold stone or in wax, in silent
29 statues and masks.’180
30
31 In the context of the comparison between historiography and painting, Van Hoogstraten em-
32 phasizes the importance of illustrating history books: ‘for the pleasure of seeing [people from
33 the past] seems to double our attention, and [we] look upon their deeds as if they happened in
34 our own time’.181 His view, quoted earlier, that the artist must be ‘at the same time actor and
35 spectator’ is expressed differently by Vossius: to his mind, the reader of history becomes ‘not
36 only a spectator, but also an actor’. Apparently, spectator and artist perform a similar function
37 in the process that leads to the consummate artistic experience. The supposed affective rela-
38 tionship between the artist and his public makes possible a performative illusion in which both
39 painter and viewer share.
40
41 In sum, the function of beweeglijkheid discussed above is repeated here. Showing an ‘instanta-
42 neous act’ with a highly emotive charge is expected to bring about a change of character, or
43 a mental purification in the Aristotelian sense; the example of historical events is supposed
44
45
198          the de p iction of th e p as s i o n s
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 198 09-10-2008 17:16:35

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
fig. 78 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, Clio, title page of Chapter 3 of the Inleyding tot de Hooge schoole der schilderkonst. 27
28
to move the mind to emulation. The alleged therapeutic effects of pity or horror and the 29
importance of virtuous examples give painting, as, in this sense, an equal to drama and histori- 30
ography, an important ethical function. Its visual nature actually makes painting ideally suited 31
to this purpose so that it surpasses its sister arts in effectiveness. Bearing this observation in 32
mind, we can reiterate Van Hoogstraten’s descriptions of painting as the ‘mirror of nature’ 33
and ‘sister of reflective philosophy’ and his conviction that ‘it would truly be unjust to scorn a 34
sincere practitioner of the Art of Painting, who pursues it for its own sake and for its virtuous 35
nature’.182 Although this remark relates to the painter’s contemplative focus on the entire vis- 36
ible world, the ability to hold up a mirror to human passions in the same way as historiography 37
does is an important element of the philosophical aspects of art, and one that explains the art- 38
ist’s assumed role as ethopoios. 39
Of course, painting’s supposed ethical function creates obligations for artists. The ‘pow- 40
er over the beholders’ (macht over d’aenschouwers) that a painting exerts is a dangerous weapon, 41
as we learn from the reactions of Protestant critics of painting like Camphuysen.183 The Muses 42
are portrayed as treacherous seducers; Boethius emphasizes that the ‘thorns of the emotions’ 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i v           199
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 199 09-10-2008 17:16:39

1 drive their public mad.184 But at the same time the depiction of the passions can have the posi-
2 tive effect of fully engaging the viewer in the mental image presented to him by the artist: ‘the
3 beweeglijkheid of the vivid Affect’ delights the heart, according to Junius, ‘changing the whole
4 nature of our inner motions, through gentle violence (een soet gheweld), thus that they accord to
5 what is on show in the Painting that is present’.185
6
7
8 th e d epi cti o n of the passions and pictorial re alism
9 As we saw in the previous chapter, Van Hoogstraten’s description of painting as the ‘mirror
10 of nature’ was closely bound up with his ideas about poetry, which was also regarded as a fun-
11 damental mimetic activity. We will now examine some facets of naturam sequi in the light of
12 the comparison of painter and rhetorician. We shall see that various aspects are involved in a
13 supposedly ‘realistic’ kind of painting: it must be recognizable so as to facilitate a strong affec-
14 tive impact, it must speak to a wide audience, and it must use the ‘Book of Nature’ as the most
15 important source of knowledge and inspiration. Cicero had already associated the definition
16 ‘mirror of nature’ with the theatre,186 but the version most familiar to the modern reader is
17 Hamlet’s speech: ‘the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is to
18 hold, as ’twere, the mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image,
19 and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure’.187 The comparison can be traced
20 back to Terence, who wrote in one of his plays: ‘look, as if in a mirror, at people’s lives’,188 and
21 was also made by Vossius, among others, in the seventeenth century.189
22 In the Inleyding the depiction of the passions is one element of the wider framework of
23 the importance accorded to the depiction of the visible world. Here Van Hoogstraten echoes
24 the words of Van Mander and Junius. In the conception of the sixteenth-century Rederijkers,
25 the ‘Chambers of Rhetoric’ that united amateurs who wrote poetry and drama, the passions
26 could be shown on stage and in paintings by means of allegorizing parerga or by-work. They
27 advised poets and artists to consult iconographic manuals. However, seventeenth-century au-
28 thors stress that an artist can only base the passions on a thorough study of nature. Apparently,
29 literature, the works of the ‘philosophers’ and even a master’s training are not enough.190 The
30 same holds for physiognomy; Van Hoogstraten mentions several authors who have written on
31 the subject, but refers artists ‘chiefly to their own ideas’.191 Good painters consequently excel
32 unconsciously in depicting the passions; Van Mander says: ‘The depiction of Affects is used
33 more by great Masters than they know’.192
34 Van Hoogstraten endorses Van Mander’s assertion that it is only possible to learn about
35 the passions by working from nature. Van Mander tells us that even his own didactic poem
36 can be of little help here: ‘For Nature shows more of what acts on the Affects than one can
37 describe’.193 The natural course of events after all is that the emotions immediately mani-
38 fest themselves in one form of physical expression or another; indeed, ‘Nature cannot lie’.194
39 Van Hoogstraten warns against a ‘spiritless’ (geestelooze) rendition devoid of grace and against
40 forced or exaggerated bodily movements, which disrupt the effect of the ‘living image’: ‘in or-
41 der to get on to the right path, and to continue on it with certainty, an artist must turn to living
42 nature and see how far he is permitted to go in [depicting] movements.’195 Similarly, Goeree
43 observes that for the depiction of the passions ‘no exercise is of more use to the Painter than
44
45
200          the de p iction of th e p as s i o n s
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 200 09-10-2008 17:16:39

 to sketch, attending closely, many things from Life, and chiefly those things that appear to him 1
by chance and in silence here and there’, that is to say at moments when he can observe his 2
models without their noticing, in order to select carefully the ‘best moment’ (beste ogenblick), in 3
which the emotions are shown most characteristically.196 That knowledge of the passions was 4
traditionally seen as a function of the observation of nature is exemplified by the curriculum 5
of the Accademia del Disegno in Florence, which included the passions as a form of ‘natural 6
philosophy’ (what Junius calls a natuyr-kondighe ervaerenheyd).197 7
Encouraging artists to get out and mix with people is a second element of the relation 8
between emotions and pictorial lifelikeness. Van Mander ends his chapter on the affects by 9
emphasizing that aspiring young artists should not rely solely on training – they must follow 10
nature.198 He tells the story of the legendary Eupompos: this sculptor, when asked by Lysippos 11
who his teacher had been, replied that he had had no master and, gesturing towards a crowd 12
of people, stated that nature herself is the best teacher. This anecdote, which comes from 13
Pliny, occurs repeatedly in Dutch art literature, but Van Mander specifically associated it with 14
the passions.199 Junius echoes this notion when he says that the world around us is the best 15
textbook: 16
17
‘A wise and prudent observer of the things that one should emulate always keeps his 18
eyes on the people among whom he lives; aware that the lesson he has to learn is most 19
clearly spelled out in each particular person as if in a clear and legible Book.’200 20
21
In these observations we can hear echoes of Leonardo’s encouragement to artists to make char- 22
acter sketches as a collection from which to ‘quote’ when painting. In this context, Lomazzo 23
recounts that Leonardo went so far as to visit prisoners to draw their features.201 There are 24
several surviving drawings of everyday scenes by Van Hoogstraten himself, showing figures 25
and spectators gesticulating and quarrelling, which may well be illustrative of this practice (fig. 26
79).202 27
Art theory often links depicting individual emotions to the concept of varietas, the va- 28
riety and multiplicity of the visible world.203 Van Hoogstraten cites Timanthes’s famous im- 29
age of Iphigeneia’s sacrifice, which reportedly pictured the different types of grief felt by the 30
onlookers, and praises Rembrandt in this regard: ‘I recall that, in a certain finely composed 31
work by Rembrandt depicting St John Preaching, I saw wonderful attention of many differ- 32
ent kinds in the spectators: this was extremely commendable’. This comment probably refers 33
to Rembrandt’s grisaille, now in Berlin (fig. 80);204 Van Hoogstraten himself may also have 34
practised portraying the preaching of John the Baptist.205 Junius observes that an artist is easily 35
recognized in a company of people: 36
37
‘He converseth with all sorts of men, and when he observeth in any of them some 38
notable commotions of the minde, he seemeth then to have watched such an oppor- 39
tunitie for his studie, that he might reade in their eyes and countenance the severall 40
faces of anger, love, feare, hope, scorne, joy, confidence, and other perturbations of our 41
minde.’206 42
43
44
45
c h ap t e r i v           201
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 201 09-10-2008 17:16:39

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21 fig. 79 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, Street Scene with Two Women Quarrelling,
22 1650, pen and brown ink, 19 x 14 cm. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
23
24 Spending time out in the world and moving among all kinds of people enables the artist to
25 build insight into the nature and range of the human passions, as Van Mander observes about
26 Michelangelo.207
27 In Van Mander’s didactic poem this observation is accompanied by an admonition to
28 listen well to common people. They, after all, as Vossius wrote, become ‘not only spectators
29 but also actors’, and it is only when they recognize themselves in the passions that are depicted
30 that the artist’s persuasive efforts succeed. Van Mander writes of the depiction of the emotions:
31 ‘The advice of the common folk in this regard can be very beneficial’.208 In the literature of art,
32 there are many anecdotes about the judgement of painting by laymen, among them the stories
33 of Apelles, who was corrected by a cobbler in his rendition of a sandal, and Phidias, who lis-
34 tened unobserved to what people passing by were saying about his work; Van Mander says that
35 artists must pay heed ‘to the judgement of the common people.209 A similar view of the opin-
36 ion of the unlearned as a measure of the effect of painting can be found in the Inleyding: ‘The
37 judgement of strangers, wise men and louts, of the jealous, the well-willing, and the impartial
38 stimulates the mind. Indeed peasants will sometimes point out a fault in your work, as Dürer
39 says, although they will not be able to teach you how to correct it.’210 This is a topical obser-
40 vation; Agrippa of Nettesheim, whose work Van Hoogstraten consulted for the Inleyding,211
41 generally prefers the opinion of the ignorant to that of the ‘scholar corrupted by the sciences’;
42 he describes how hard it is not to be convinced by ‘ignorant people who speak not from schol-
43 arship but from their spirit (idiotae, qui non ex humana sapientia, sed ex spiritu loquebatur)’.212
44
45
202          the de p iction of th e p as s i o n s
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 202 09-10-2008 17:16:54

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
fig. 80 – Rembrandt, The Preaching of Saint John, ca. 1634-35, 25
canvas, mounted on panel, 62 x 80 cm. Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. 26
27
Involved in these pronouncements is, again, the ethos that is supposed to lead to the 28
greatest power of persuasion. This is created by responding to the public’s expectations with 29
appropriate decorum.213 When addressing a general audience, the orator has to speak under- 30
standably and simply. Goeree says that an ‘honest Artist’ is happy to expose his work to ‘the 31
judgement of the whole World’, and asserts that it is important ‘that one ... behaves wisely 32
in listening to every man’s opinion, even that of the ignorant’, giving the example of the art- 33
ist who, when he was asked who his master was, ‘named no one, but pointed with his finger 34
at the People standing around; indicting that the judgement of the common Man had made 35
him careful to contrive his art well’. Painters should appreciate it ‘when the mass of the people 36
examine their works closely’.214 In the context of this conviction, we may recall the view that 37
painting is superior to rhetoric because, as the ‘book of the illiterate’, it can influence a wide and 38
uneducated public, drawing directly from the ‘Book of Nature’: when it comes to depicting the 39
passions too, every individual is, in Junius’s words, like ‘a clear and legible Book’ to the artist. 40
This notion of the artist as a good judge of human nature is rooted in the rhetorical idea of 41
the orator as vir bonus dicendi peritus, the speaker who succeeds in persuading his audience by be- 42
ing a pattern of good morals himself. The possibility that painting conveys a moral message can 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i v           203
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 203 09-10-2008 17:17:00

1 similarly be explained in light of this ideal. The painter’s success in influencing his public’s world
2 view is directly related to his skill in portraying ‘characters’ and temperaments in accordance
3 with the categories determined by decorum, which also encompass age and social status. The
4 recognition of the known and familiar in the depiction of characters, and the associated sense of
5 sharing knowledge of nature and human morals with the orator, evoke in the audience a feeling
6 of benevolence that gives the artist a greater chance of rhetorical success.215
7 This suggestion of a shared ethos also has to do with aspects of style, indicated in rhe-
8 torical theory by, among other things, the concept of brevitas. The appreciation of a plain,
9 unpretentious style is associated, for instance, with the preference for writing in the vernacular.
10 In his literary work Van Hoogstraten expresses his preference for writing in Dutch, a factor
11 that linked the scholarly circle of friends to which he belonged.216 A simple style, stripped of
12 empty rhetoric, is the most effective way, in Van Hoogstraten’s paraphrase of Gregory, ‘to
13 teach people in an understandable manner’.217 In this sense De Lairesse compares the painter’s
14 method with that of writers who appeal to the general public by using their mother tongue –
15 authors like Hooft, Huygens and Vondel, who are renowned ‘for the power and purity of their
16 language’: ‘Is it not a grave error to want to use foreign words in a language that is rich enough
17 in itself?’218 The virtue of vivere secundum naturam is, of course, linked to the liking for plain,
18 unvarnished language; in the context of this Stoic ideology, Lipsius associates brevitas with the
19 virtues of modestia and magnanimitas.219
20 When this ethos of recognizability is seen as a key factor, it becomes clear that the
21 genera pingendi can also be conceived of as opportunities for the artist to tailor his style and his
22 public to one another; for succesful persuasion, the artist’s own nature and that of his public
23 must be attuned to each other. In the Eerlyken jongeling Van Hoogstraten elaborates this idea in
24 regard to persuasive speech: if someone wants to convince, he must first get the measure of his
25 listeners, he will not succeed ‘unless he first considers and assesses the latter’s nature, inclina-
26 tion, and how broad his understanding is: so that he directs his oratory neither too low nor too
27 high, but in accordance with the extent of his [listener’s] wit’.220 The genera pingendi, says De
28 Lairesse, are inextricably bound up with the artist’s social environment.221
29 In Van Hoogstraten’s theory, the artist has not only to paint an event ‘as if one saw it
30 happening’, but also to present to the public ‘the motions of the mind and the body ... and the
31 people as if one knew them’.222 A similar conviction is expressed by Angel, when he commends
32 Rembrandt’s painting of Samson’s Wedding both because it accurately presents the historical
33 reality and because ‘the emotions were such as are found in our present-day parties’ (fig. 81).223
34 When the viewers recognize themselves in the figures portrayed by means of appropriate de-
35 corum, artist and public share the same ethos and the performativity of painting is complete.
36 This results in a moment at which the artist’s natural preferences, the style and subject matter
37 of the picture, and the viewer’s disposition come together and, ideally, coincide entirely, in a
38 consummate illusion in which maker and viewer ‘meet’ in a virtual reality.
39 Only according to the paradox of the libro degli idioti can painting have a universal ethi-
40 cal function and exercise a purifying or otherwise psychologically salubrious effect on the be-
41 holder.224 The artist must come across as unaffected, unschooled and natural. In his definition
42 of painting Van Hoogstraten says that it is ‘justly called the book of the Illiterate’, ‘working
43 with penetrating effect on the sight of people of all kinds’, in other words that it is capable of
44
45
204          the de p iction of th e p as s i o n s
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 204 09-10-2008 17:17:00

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
fig. 81 – Rembrandt, Samson’s Wedding, ca. 1638, wood, 127 x 176 cm. 22
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden. 23
24
affecting the emotions of a large and disparate public.225 This rhetorical capacity possessed 25
by painting is thoroughly explained by Francisco de Holanda. Painting, in his view, achieves 26
enargeia better than poetry and reaches a larger public: 27
28
‘Painting satisfies not only the cultured man but equally the simple-minded, the vil- 29
lager, the old woman. And foreigners, such as Sarmatians, Indians and Persians, who 30
could never understand the verses of Virgil or Homer because they remain mute for 31
them, experience immense pleasure in seeing such a work and comprehend it immedi- 32
ately. Indeed, these barbarians cease to be barbarians and understand, thanks to paint- 33
ing’s power of expression, what no poem or metric verse could ever teach them.’226 34
35
‘Barbarians cease to be barbarians’: painting can apparently bring about a permanent change in 36
the unlettered. De Holanda goes on to conclude ‘that painting actually has more power than 37
poetry in causing greater effects, and has greater strength and force to move the mind and the 38
soul to joy and laughter as well as to sorrow and tears, with more effective rhetoric’.227 It is 39
interesting to note that elsewhere in this work De Holanda stresses that it is specifically the art 40
of the Netherlands that appeals to an illiterate public. He attributes to Michelangelo the view 41
that Netherlandish painting is suitable for ‘women, particularly very old or very young women, 42
monks and nuns and certain nobles who are devoid of any feeling for true harmony’ and that 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i v           205
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 205 09-10-2008 17:17:12

1 it moves them to greater piety.228 We will return in more detail to the Southern European at-
2 titude towards Dutch art in chapter V.
3
4
5 the ideal painter of passions: rembrandt as
6 ‘pat h opoi o s ’
7 In Van Hoogstraten’s theory, the depiction of the passions occurs at the ‘sensitive’ level of the
8 human soul that supposedly mediates between bodily and purely mental functions. Neverthe-
9 less, various elements involved in the process of depicting the passions give him cause to de-
10 scribe this aspect of his profession as ‘the noblest part of art’. The innate qualities or ingenium
11 of the artist are fundamental to this evaluation: purportedly, if the aptitude is not there, no
12 amount of practice and theory can make up for the lack. At one and the same time, the pas-
13 sions have their origin in the sensitive soul and an effect on the sensitive soul. This notion
14 works through into the thesis that the painter has to have a particular affective sensibility which
15 can assume the extreme form of furor poeticus or poetic frenzy. On the one hand, the artistic
16 temperament and poetic inspiration are explicitly linked to the depiction of the passions, on
17 the other, poetic frenzy and an overwrought imagination can themselves assume the form of a
18 specific passion.
19
20
21 The painter’s passions
22 Given the assumption that anyone who wants to move his audience must himself participate
23 in the performative illusion, it follows that the orator must have a certain affective sensitivity.
24 The artist, too, must to some extent allow himself to be carried along by the sensitive part of
25 the soul. Whereas according to the Stoic notions inspiring Van Hoogstraten’s book complete
26 surrender to powerful emotions or unbridled fantasy is to be deplored, in a diluted form this
27 is nonetheless a valuable, even a necessary precondition for effective persuasion. Van Hoog-
28 straten does comment that there are few who can engage in this with impunity: artists who
29 have ‘a true talent’ for ‘subjects ... that have more than animal movement in [them]’ are ‘very
30 thin on the ground’.229 Junius regards painters who concentrate on the passions as ‘true Artists’,
31 that is to say ‘learned spirits’, who are very different from ‘common journeymen’, the painters
32 who churn out works by the dozen (dozijnwerkers).230
33 Van Hoogstraten and Junius describe how, in the mental process of artistic invention,
34 the praemeditatio in which the reality that will be depicted is summoned up in the mind’s eye,
35 the painter experiences all sorts of perturbations on the ‘sensitive’ level of his soul. Physi-
36 ologically speaking, an ‘untamed mind’ causes the spirits to want to move in excess from
37 the heart, in which they originate, to the outside. The specific ‘artist’s affectation’ that is
38 generated has a physical expression which corresponds with the manifestation of rage as it is
39 described in treatises on moral philosophy: the blood rises to the head, and the mind seems
40 to seek a way out of the body. The mind becomes ‘pregnant’ and ‘heated’, it is ‘stretched’ and
41 moves ‘upwards’.231 It is therefore important to give the artistic temperament space: one of
42 the resources Van Hoogstraten recommends is the physical space of the Dutch countryside:
43 ‘one must let the soul walk in the open air, so that it becomes greater, and looks at the Sky
44 with an unfettered mind’.232
45
206          the de p iction of th e p as s i o n s
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 206 09-10-2008 17:17:12

 The ‘love of art’ that is aroused in the process of invention can assume such exaggerated 1
proportions that physical measures actually have to be taken if the bodily health of the artist is 2
not to be jeopardized. The ‘heat’ generated by the sensitive soul has to find an escape route in a 3
‘magnificent’ invention. Junius writes of ‘the rapid movements of [the] heated mind’ of ‘the an- 4
cient Masters’, ‘movements’ of the artistic temperament that can be associated with the virtue 5
of energeia.233 He also believes that an experienced artist may allow himself to be swept along 6
by his emotions: ‘we are sometimes also to follow our stirred passions, in which heat doth for 7
the most part more than diligence’.234 This state of heated inspiration is related particularly to 8
the depiction of the passions (beroerten): 9
10
‘so are then these commotions of our mind by all means to be drawne out of the truth 11
of nature: and it standeth an Artificer upon it, rather to trie all what may be tried, than 12
to marre the vigorous force of a fresh and warme Imagination by a slow and coole 13
manner of Imitation.’235 14
15
This physiological theory of ‘heated spirits’ assumes that it is a precondition for a vivid inven- 16
tion that this warmth is diverted to the painting quickly: Van Hoogstraten warns artists that 17
their minds will ‘cool’ if they leave their work untouched for too long.236 It is in this light that 18
we can also explain his view that most Dutch painters have a ‘cold’ temperament, which pur- 19
portedly makes them better suited to the careful rendition of details than the Italians.237 The 20
terminology Van Hoogstraten uses to write about the ‘movements’ of the artist’s mind and the 21
‘stirrings’ of his spirit is the same as that with which he describes the passions to be depicted 22
in the painting. 23
The state of untamed invention linked to the depiction of the passions can be equated 24
with the ideal of the furor poeticus – poetic frenzy – that underwent a revival in the seventeenth 25
century in Vossius’s treatise De artis poetica (1647) and elsewhere.238 Van Hoogstraten refers 26
explicitly to what he calls Poëtische geest in the passage in which he discusses observing the 27
passions in front of a mirror: ‘But here a Poetic spirit is required in order to imagine another 28
man’s role. Anyone who does not feel this must certainly step back, for he will never master 29
the thing unless some God or Poet lends him a helping hand.’239 The very fact that diligence 30
and practice are not enough when it comes to depicting the passions, says Van Hoogstraten, 31
defines the exceptional quality of artists who nonetheless achieve it.240 He paraphrases Seneca’s 32
idea that only the ‘affected’ mind moves ‘upwards’ and is capable of the extraordinary,241 and 33
cites Plato’s conviction that it takes ‘Divine inspiration’ (Godlijke aenaedeming) or a ‘Poetic 34
frenzy’ (Poëtische geestrijzing).242 There is much in the same vein in Junius, who gives the artistic 35
imagination a connotation of insanity (the Dutch edition speaks about the artists’ Tuymelgheest, 36
their ‘freely raging spirit’). He talks about artists ‘impelled by the sudden heate of a thoroughly 37
stirred Phantasie, or rather transported as by a propheticall traunce (Prophetische raesernye)’: 38
‘their minds being once in agitation cannot containe themselves any longer, but out it must 39
whatsoever they have conceived; it is not possible for them to rest, untill they have eased their 40
free spirit of such a burden’.243 Van Hoogstraten is somewhat more circumspect than Junius in 41
the sense that he urges artists to aim for a degree of moderation and not to wholly lose sight of 42
the Senecan virtues of temperance and constancy. He also points to the dangers of wine, which 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i v           207
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 207 09-10-2008 17:17:13

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41 fig. 82 – Rembrandt, The Resurrection, ca. 1639, canvas, 92 x 67 cm.
42 Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, Munich.
43
44
45
208          the de p iction of th e p as s i o n s
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 208 09-10-2008 17:17:21

 is to some extent useful – it ‘moves the mind upwards from below’ – but is more likely, in his 1
view, to cause either wanton recklessness or fuddled lethargy.244 2
Seventeenth-century art theory also assumes that a certain temperamental sensitivity 3
is required of the viewer: the ultimate function of the depiction of the passions is to move the 4
viewer’s ‘sensitive soul’.245 Here we may recall the idea of the Second Sophistic that the be- 5
holder is a participant in a virtual performance in which the work of art plays only a mediating 6
role. The theory of the passions presupposes that the viewer has no choice but to take part 7
in the illusion, when he is carried away body and soul by the reality of the emotions that are 8
evoked; Van Hoogstraten describes the power of the painterly illusion as an effect ‘that leaves 9
one powerless to believe other than that one saw the living Image of the minds and souls them- 10
selves’.246 Taken to the extreme, this means that the beholder is expected to ‘become’ the work, 11
as ultimately he takes on the work’s qualities: Lomazzo says in so many words that a painting of 12
a figure eating makes the viewer feel hungry and a sleeping figure makes him sleepy; similarly 13
the Antwerp author Carolus Scribanius writes in 1610 that the spectators of a painting of St 14
Sebastian feel the martyr’s pain in their own body.247. 15
The ability to portray and evoke emotions is described as a function of the artist’s in- 16
nate aptitude and imagination. Depicting the passions is therefore one of the most important 17
qualities that makes an artist more than an artisan. Consonant with the role of the passions in 18
painting described above, the artist as pathopoios is not only a moral philosopher and expert on 19
human emotions and an observer of nature, he is also driven by an inspired mind that is not 20
granted to every ‘journeyman’. 21
22
23
Rembrandt as ‘pathopoios’ 24
One complication in identifying Van Hoogstraten’s artistic preferences is that he rarely takes a 25
stand for or against a particular artist or style, and consequently mentions his contemporaries 26
far less frequently than he refers to the artists of antiquity; in this he is following the example of 27
Quintilian, who did not wish to contaminate his theory by discussing living orators.248 We have 28
seen that the art literature of the seventeenth century develops an image of an ‘ideal painter of 29
the passions’ who combines well-developed powers of observation with an unfettered imagi- 30
nation. Now, strikingly, when he identifies the different rhetorical qualities of artists, linked 31
to their exemplary practitioners, Van Hoogstraten describes Rembrandt as the painter who 32
stands out above all others in the depiction of the passions: whereas Rubens supposedly excels 33
in ‘splendid compositions’ and Van Dyck in ‘grace’, Rembrandt focuses on the ‘passions of the 34
soul’.249 We have already seen how highly Van Hoogstraten esteemed Rembrandt’s painting 35
St John Preaching, now in Berlin, because of the variety in its depiction of different states of 36
mind. It is therefore possible that Van Hoogstraten adopted his terminology to do with bewe­ 37
ging and beweeglijkheid from his time as a pupil in Rembrandt’s studio. In a letter to Constantijn 38
Huygens of 1639, Rembrandt wrote that he had sought to attain ‘the greatest and most natu- 39
ral beweeglijkheid’ in his Passion series.250 When we interpret this term in the context of Van 40
Hoogstraten’s usage in the Inleyding, it is obvious that it relates to the dramatic action in the 41
scene: an ‘instantaneous movement’, where Rembrandt has shown – as he did in Abraham’s Sac- 42
rifice – the moment when one of the soldiers drops his sword, a device that produces a ‘certain 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i v           209
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 209 09-10-2008 17:17:21

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40 fig. 83 – Rembrandt, The Raising of the Cross, ca. 1636, canvas, 96 x 72 cm.
41 Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, Munich.
42
43
44
45
210          the de p iction of th e p as s i o n s
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 210 09-10-2008 17:17:30

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
fig. 84 – Rembrandt, Deposition, 1633, etching, 53 x 41 cm. Teylers Museum, Haarlem. 27
28
beweeglijkheid which has power over the beholders’ (fig. 82). In this letter Rembrandt moreover 29
presents himself as pathopoios: an artist who plays on human emotions and is at the same time 30
filled with a divine inspiration for his work and elevates himself above the simple ‘journeyman’. 31
Clearly, a Passion series is the ideal locus for an artist to show exactly what he is capable of 32
in this respect; Van Hoogstraten says that artists depict ‘in the bitter suffering of Christ, his 33
mother Mary, as the one who was closest to our Saviour, with the greatest emotion (beweeging) 34
that is possible’,251 and in the same vein De Bie describes ‘a Passion of Christ that was painted 35
so wonderfully and remarkably expressively that no hardened heart in a sinful person could be 36
found but that it must needs be moved when the work was shown to him’.252 37
The term beweeglijkheid, literally ‘moving quality’ or perhaps ‘movability’, must be un- 38
derstood in the light of the theory of the motions of the mind – not only those of the figures 39
portrayed, but the viewer’s and those of the artist himself as well. By giving his figures affective 40
‘movement’, the artist can conjure up a virtual reality in which the emotions of the artist and 41
those of the viewer interact, and work of art, artist and viewer are united in a performative 42
43
44
45
c h ap t e r i v           211
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 211 09-10-2008 17:17:40

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22 fig. 85 – Rembrandt, Judas Repentant, 1629, wood, 76 x 101 cm. Private collection, England.
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42 fig. 86 – Rembrandt, Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilea, 1633, canvas, 160 x 127 cm.
43 Property of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (stolen in 1990).
44
45
212          the de p iction of th e p as s i o n s
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 212 09-10-2008 17:17:50

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
fig. 87 – Rembrandt, Christ at Emmaus, engraving from Arnold Houbraken, 19
Groote schouburg der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, Amsterdam 1718-1721. 20
21
illusion. Rembrandt emphasized this ‘affective identity’ of image, artist and viewer by incorpo- 22
rating his self-portrait in the painted Raising of the Cross and the etched Descent from the Cross: 23
just as the artist is assumed to be present in his work as another ‘bystander’ or even ‘actor’, so 24
the viewer is involved bodily in the scene (figs. 83 and 84). To repeat Junius’s description of the 25
effects of ‘Energia’: ‘This vertue [...] bringeth to passe, that the affections follow us with such 26
a lively representation, as if we were by at the doing of the things imagined.’253 27
Van Hoogstraten is not alone in his opinion of Rembrandt: Huygens similarly praises 28
the artist precisely because of his skill in rendering emotion. Huygens regards Rembrandt as 29
superior to Lievens in ‘liveliness of the affects’ (affectuum vivacitas),254 particularly commend- 30
ing Rembrandt’s Judas for the ‘different passions contained in a single figure and expressed as 31
a unity’ (fig. 85).255 Rembrandt has, he says, succeeded in surpassing both antiquity and Italy, 32
entirely in accordance with the ‘specialism’ identified by Van Hoogstraten that sets his teacher 33
apart from Italian and other Netherlandish masters. 34
Dutch art literature contains various references to Rembrandt’s ability to play on the 35
emotions of his viewers and place them in a virtual reality. Houbraken praises Rembrandt’s 36
Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee because ‘the features and the emotions of the people ... 37
[are] depicted as true to life as is conceivable’, quoting Vos’s description of the emotions in the 38
painting Haman and Ahasverus at Esther’s Banquet (fig. 86).256 Houbraken also refers in some- 39
what oblique terms to Rembrandt’s ability to paint a telling ‘snapshot’ (an oogenblik or a view 40
‘in the blink of an eye’) in an emotional narrative: Rembrandt managed through his ‘attentive 41
contemplation of the variety of Affects’ to show how the disciples at Emmaus, when Christ 42
suddenly disappeared, were ‘transported by astonishment and wonder’, staring at the empty 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i v           213
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 213 09-10-2008 17:18:01

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19 fig. 88 – Rembrandt, Self-portrait as Zeuxis, ca. 1662, canvas, 83 x 65 cm. Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne.
20
21
22 chair in which Christ had sat ‘only a moment before’ (fig. 87).257 In light of Houbraken’s rec-
23 ognition of Rembrandt’s reputation as pathopoios, it is telling that he also mentions Rembrandt’s
24 liking for mingling with ‘common people’, seeing this as a deliberate choice inspired by the
25 ideal of honneteté set forth in courtiers’ manuals.258
26 Indeed, Van Hoogstraten’s view of his master as a specialist in the ‘passions of the soul’
27 is echoed widely. Writing at the same time as Houbraken, De Piles observes that Rembrandt
28 ‘knew full well that in Painting one could, without much trouble, deceive the eye by showing
29 motionless and inanimate bodies, but not satisfied with this fairly common device, he sought
30 instead with the utmost diligence to impress the eye with living figures’.259 In 1720 Lam-
31 bert ten Kate placed Rembrandt’s work in the genus medium because of the ‘low’ subjects he
32 chose, but commended him, too, because ‘by means of an artful arrangement of light, to make
33 these things stand out better’, he customarily gave ‘his simple figures speaking liveliness and
34 passions’.260
35 Rembrandt may have fashioned his own self-image on the notion of the ideal painter
36 of passions, as when he depicted himself in his Self-portrait as Zeuxis (fig. 88).261 By identifying
37 with this legendary portrayer of emotions, Rembrandt might have been making the same art-
38 theoretical statement contained in the message he sent the stadholder by way of Huygens: that
39 he endeavoured to achieve ‘the greatest and most natural beweeglijkheid’ in his works.
40 Huygens’s remark about the picture of Medusa is interesting in this context. While
41 admiring it for the emotion of subitus terror it evoked, he admitted that he would not want a
42 painting like that in his own house.262 A similar sentiment could explain his refusal of the Blind-
43 ing of Samson, a painting which Rembrandt probably offered him (fig. 89).263 In Scaliger’s Poetics
44
45
214          the de p iction of th e p as s i o n s
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 214 09-10-2008 17:18:12

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
fig. 89 – Rembrandt, The Blinding of Samson, 1636, canvas, 236 x 302 cm. 24
Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie, Frankfurt. 25
26
‘the putting out of eyes’ was actually cited as an ideal scene for tragedy, highly appropriate for 27
the emotional demonstratio expressed by Rembrandt in this painting.264 28
Given Van Hoogstraten’s emphasis on the depiction of the passions, Rembrandt un- 29
arguably features as an exemplary artist in the Inleyding. In the next chapter we will see how 30
Van Hoogstraten’s esteem for colouring and chiaroscuro, which also affect the emotions of the 31
viewer, can be related to the work of his teacher. 32
33
◆ 34
35
The portrayal of the passions is evidently of great significance to Van Hoogstraten’s views 36
about depicting the visible world. Knowledge of the human psyche is more than just another 37
argument to stress the intellectual status of painting; the passions are crucial in the rhetorical 38
idea that a painting is a virtual reality which should influence the viewer’s ethos. In this case, 39
too, there are no grounds for supposing that the theory pits the painting of the passions against 40
respected concepts from antiquity: it is precisely on the authority of the views of authors like 41
Quintilian and Cicero about the ethical duties of the orator that Van Hoogstraten bases his 42
theory. 43
44
45
c h ap t e r i v           215
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 215 09-10-2008 17:18:17

1 According to seventeenth-century courtiers’ treatises like Van Hoogstraten’s Eerlyken
2 jongeling, the same rhetorical ideas determine the courtier’s ability to control his passions,
3 to such an extent that he can even go against the natural order and hide his true intentions.
4 We have seen that the artist, too, must be a master in simulating passions, and specifically in
5 deceiving his public: a deceit that enables painting, like tragedy, to contribute to the viewer’s
6 mental health.
7 The dichotomy between inner self and outward appearance, inherent in early modern
8 psychology, plays a key role in art theory. The Aristotelian idea stresses first and foremost the
9 closeness of the relation between the ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ domains. According to the supposed
10 ‘action at a distance’ taking place between different mental and physical levels, the most literal
11 interpretation can be given to the notion that the artist ‘is what he makes’. It follows from
12 this idea that important elements of the artist’s self-image are associated with the depiction
13 of the passions. His knowledge of human nature, his unfettered imagination and his ability to
14 empathize with powerful emotions without compromising his own peace of mind govern the
15 qualities of the artist as pathopoios. These qualities ultimately serve his task as ethopoios, someone
16 able to bring about a change in character.
17 We have seen how, in the context of effecting this emotional change in the public, the
18 theories of classical tragedy and rhetoric place the emphasis on a graphic presentation, which is
19 denoted with the concept of enargeia. In Van Hoogstraten’s theory of art this term is deemed to
20 be directly applicable to painting. The momentary affective impression that leads to a displace-
21 ment into a virtual reality is achieved primarily by means of an illusionistic snapshot of the
22 visible world. With his notion of ‘instantaneous movement’, Van Hoogstraten successfully uses
23 rhetorical theory to describe aspects deriving from Rembrandt’s studio and provide a legitima-
24 tion for them. This is not simply a justification after the event, as the concept of beweeglijkheid
25 that Rembrandt himself used in the 1630s tells us.
26 As an authority on human passions, the artist is also an authority on the general public,
27 on the people he must manage to persuade of his own ethos. Recognition of the known and
28 familiar and the associated sense of sharing a knowledge of nature and the human soul with the
29 artist combine to generate the greatest power of persuasion. Thus, the Stoic emphasis on an
30 unaffected and ‘realistic’ ethos is transposed to Van Hoogstraten’s passion theory.
31 In the next chapter we shall see that the affective power of art is important not just
32 to the portrayal of human figures who, in Vossius’s words, fire the viewers to emulation like
33 Archimedes’ mirror, but also to the depiction of transient elements of the visible world. When
34 the artist responds to the ‘mute eloquence’ of the natural environment, even his depictions of
35 landscape may be beneficial to the viewer’s body and mind.
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 216 10-10-2008 17:27:30

 Ch a p t er V

T h e E loquence of
Colo ur

Visible world HR beeld.indd 217 10-10-2008 16:24:45

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40 fig. 90 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, Terpsichore,
41 title page of Chapter 6 of the Inleyding tot de Hooge Schoole der Schilderkonst.
42
43
44
45
218          
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 218 09-10-2008 17:18:38

 1
2
3
Chapter V 4
5
6
The Eloquence of Colour 7
8
9
10
11
Rhetoric [is] nothing but ... an art of persuasion, and of stirring the inclinations; 12
charming the souls of the unthinking with ... well-wrought gaudery, and deceptive 13
semblance ... [by] those strumpet’s cosmetics of exposition ... yet all those who fill 14
people’s ears with empty rhetoric, instead of with the simple words of the truth, will 15
have to give account on judgement day of those things that they, 16
lying to God, have vainly spewed out. 17
Agrippa of Nettesheim, Van de onzekerheid en ydelheid 18
der wetenschappen en konsten 19
20
21
22
An artist’s powers of persuasion do not depend solely on the representation of human figures 23
in a dramatic context. He can also, says Van Hoogstraten, add to the persuasiveness of his work 24
by means of his painting manner, his style. Indeed, the early modern theory of art postulates 25
that colours and tonal values have a direct emotional effect. While passions are deemed to af- 26
fect the complexion, so, conversely, the sight of colour is believed to have an immediate effect 27
on the inner being. 28
The title page of the sixth chapter of the Inleyding, which is devoted to colour, shows 29
a painter in the act of depicting a female nude, flesh colour being one of the most difficult 30
tasks for a painter, and two pupils grinding pigments (fig. 90). This illustrates the fact that Van 31
Hoogstraten’s term verw refers to both the optical hue and the raw physical material of paint; 32
unlike modern Dutch, which differentiates between verf and kleur. We shall elaborate on the 33
wide lexical scope of this term by studying a key concept like ornatus (ornament), with which 34
rhetorical theory classifies the figures of speech the orator uses to ‘enliven’ his discourse; these 35
do not arise out of inventio but occur on the level of style (stilus). In contrast to the abstract con- 36
notations that cling to ornatus, we will discuss the merits of two different kinds of brushwork, 37
the ‘smooth’ or ‘fine’ manner as against the ‘loose’ or ‘rough’ manner in the context of painting 38
technique. As we shall see, however, this technical debate also touches on more general ideas 39
regarding the essence of painterly illusionism and the way the sense of sight functions. 40
It will become clearer that the assumed rhetorical and technical aspects of colour are 41
specifically relevant to discussions about the qualities and shortcomings of Netherlandish art: 42
the international theoretical tradition explicitly associates of the art of the Netherlands with 43
44
45
          219
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 219 09-10-2008 17:18:38

1 the colouristic powers expressed in landscape painting. The vocabulary Van Hoogstraten uses
2 to discuss landscape is dictated to a significant degree by his views on the persuasive powers
3 of colour. His designations for describing colouristic effects reflect the ambivalent attitude
4 towards Northern painters in traditional art theory: praise of their virtuosity in handling and
5 spatial effects alongside a condemnation of their empty seduction of the senses; their art as
6 exemplary of rhetorical and poetic licence as well as of vanity and transience. In this context,
7 we will analyse how specific concepts, like ornatus, brevitas and schilderachtig – or picturesque,
8 an idiosyncratic term in Dutch art literature – are employed to underpin the legitimacy of a
9 relatively new genre like landscape painting. As we shall see, a certain focus on the deceptive
10 nature of the visible world is inherent in the vocabulary used in talking about colour. Where
11 the landscape functions as a pars pro toto for the whole of nature, we encounter expressions that
12 are relevant to Van Hoogstraten’s ideas on the status of the depiction of the visible world. Here
13 painting relates to theology: ultimately, the ‘silent rhetoric’ of the visible world is deemed to
14 be a means of focusing the viewer on the eternal ‘invisible’ world.
15
16
17 pa i n t a s fles h
18 Van Hoogstraten’s ideas about colour derive in large measure from the paragone, the tradi-
19 tional comparison between drawing and colour that is a recurrent theme in the tradition of
20 art theory. This comparison is based on the notion that disegno speaks to the intellect, whereas
21 colore works on the emotions and hence on the body.1 Indeed, in light of the dual meaning of
22 Van Hoogstraten’s term verw, it is clear that in early modern thinking colour almost automati-
23 cally has a material component and relates closely to the painter’s craftsmanship rather than
24 to his intellectual qualities. A topical remark associates the affective impact of colour with the
25 supposedly alchemical invention of oil paints: Lomazzo, for instance, writes of the use of pig-
26 ment by North Italian painters, who were the first artists in Italy to adopt the new technique
27 on a large scale, as ‘the alchemy of the Venetian painters’.2
28 The comparison between painting and alchemy thematizes the view that just as al-
29 chemical transubstantiation transmutes one material into another, so painting transforms dead
30 pigment into living beings in a virtual reality. This comparison is grounded in the conception
31 of alchemy and painting as two occupations that fall between the ‘liberal’ and the ‘mechanical’
32 arts since they have an intellectual as well as a material component. The metaphor of colour
33 is a key concept in comparisons between painting and alchemy, such as those that provided
34 Protestant opponents of idolatry with arguments to demonstrate the treachery of painting and
35 the dangers it posed. At the same time, though, the creative labour that pervades the great ‘art-
36 work of Creation’ can also be portrayed positively in these terms. In Sonnet 33, Shakespeare
37 describes how the morning sun gives the different elements of the landscape their colour by
38 an ‘alchemical’ process: ‘Full many a glorious morning have I seen / Flatter the mountain-tops
39 with sovereign eye, / Kissing with golden face the meadows green, / Gilding pale streams with
40 heavenly alchemy’.
41 The term colores rhetorici, or ‘colours of Rhetorike’ as Junius states, referring to the
42 figures of speech with which the orator brings his argument ‘to life’, is understood by some
43 authors in the light of alchemical transubstantiation: with its aid, after all, the rhetorician can
44
45
220          the e l oque nce of col o u r
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 220 09-10-2008 17:18:38

 bring about a change in the character of his audience.3 The metaphor of colour is used in a 1
very literal sense here: when a poet writes about colours, he may at the same time refer to the 2
physical and hence the affective characteristics of the person he is describing, in accordance 3
with the supposed relationship between outward complexion and inner motions of the mind. 4
In poetry, too, colour is more than a metaphor: it is regarded as a means of describing states of 5
mind very directly.4 6
Van Hoogstraten consequently believes that colour has more affective and illusionistic 7
‘force’ (kracht) than drawing. ‘The bare Drawing ... has nothing like such a motive force as the 8
colours: because only they, through the deceit of a vivid likeness, are able to stir our souls.’5 He 9
speaks of ‘colour that most ravishes the eyes’ and describes the power of colour to ‘beguile the 10
ignorant’.6 Colour does not so much affect the intellect, but works on the emotions (ontroert 11
het gemoed) and it even has a physically healing function: Van Hoogstraten compares colour 12
harmony and harmony in music, and because the sight of colour ‘strengthens and delights’ us, 13
we ‘experience a curious kind of pleasure in seeing the most glittering colours’.7 Van Mander 14
says: ‘Colour heartens and startles people [...] Colour makes them sad and cheers them up’ and 15
helps to cure melancholy.8 16
At the basis of these traditional views lies the association of specific colours with specific 17
humours, an idea to which Van Hoogstraten may have been inspired by the writings of Agrip- 18
pa of Nettesheim.9 He repeats, for instance, Seneca’s view that ‘the colour green refreshes 19
unhealthy eyes’, and associates colours with the ‘temperaments of our bodies’: ‘Red means 20
sanguine, blue choleric, white phlegmatic and black melancholic.’10 He also ascribes specific 21
colours to the four elements.11 Lomazzo draws a very literal conclusion from this notion when 22
he states that certain changes in the constitution of the humours bring about certain colours 23
in the face and in the body.12 Purportedly, these forces act with particular vehemence on preg- 24
nant women, who if they look at one colour too much will give birth to a child that colour.13 25
Junius believes that ‘a convenient colour doth pleasingly beguile our phansie’,14 and in effect, 26
we should conclude that Van Hoogstraten’s observation that colour ‘charms, indeed bewitches’ 27
can be taken fairly literally.15 28
Van Hoogstraten says that while drawing is the basis of painting, colour is its ‘soul’, in 29
other words, it is what gives the image the suggestion of life. Contrary to the accepted position 30
in the Italian tradition, he thus does not say that the intellectual principle of disegno is superior 31
to sensual colorito. In this paragone he favours colour and brushwork, which he deems able to 32
create a lifelike impression: ‘If Drawing is prized as the body, then Painting must be the mind 33
and soul, like the divine fire that first kindled life in Prometheus’s image’.16 His emphasis on 34
the persuasive effect of painting leads Van Hoogstraten to regard colour as more essential than 35
drawing: this flies in the face of the Italian tradition, which by and large associates drawing 36
with intellectual ‘form’ and colour with physical ‘matter’.17 37
In line with this view, Van Hoogstraten associates his chapter on colour with the planet 38
Jupiter, the most important deity in the ancient pantheon. Citing Van Mander’s words, he con- 39
cludes: ‘Drawing is highly placed ... but painting or colouring, which extends to everything, is 40
to be esteemed above it. It is colour that gives true perfection.’18 Only colour, after all, is able 41
with its affective powers to summon up another reality before one’s eyes: ‘if the colouring is 42
wrong, even though the strokes and lines might be correct, they do not do what they otherwise 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v           221
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 221 09-10-2008 17:18:39

1 could, that is, show nature accurately and faultlessly, which true Painting in its perfect form
2 boldly promises.’19 In the Inleyding colour is associated with persuasiveness, which is described
3 in the rhetorical sense as ‘naturalness’: it is linked with ‘pure natuerlijkheit’, to being ‘faithful to
4 nature’, and to working ‘from life’.20
5 Where ‘natural’ colouring is concerned, Italian art theory reserves a special position for
6 incarnazione – incarnadine, or flesh-colour – which is deemed to give the human figure ‘life’.
7 Van Hoogstraten follows this tradition when he states that ‘all the great masters by whom the
8 art of colouring was held in regard, used all their powers to follow nature in this aspect above
9 all: in [painting] nudes and faces.’21 To his mind, the flesh-colour must first and foremost be
10 ‘natural’: the association with the ‘thousand variables’ of nature dictates the degree of difficulty
11 of depicting the skin.22 The etymology of the word incarnazione has been studied in the context
12 of Cennini’s theory of art: without drawing conclusions about the theological meaning of the
13 Word’s ‘becoming flesh’, it is not going too far to say that in Cennini’s Libro dell’arte (c. 1390)
14 incarnadine does involve a sort of incarnation of the paint.23 Van Hoogstraten’s comparison of
15 colour to the ‘divine fire’ that gave life to the first man is certainly in line with this idea. Here
16 again, we encounter an ancient commonplace: the terminology relating to the rendition of the
17 skin plays a similar role in literary theory; only ‘blood, colour and flesh’ can make a style of
18 writing or speaking natural and lifelike, as Lipsius puts it.24 A striking variant on this metaphor
19 of transubstantiation is expressed by Jean Puget de la Serre, a prolific French author whose
20 work is quoted in the Inleyding. In his view, not only may paint be transformed into flesh, but
21 also flesh into paint. He has little good to say about pictures at all and considers only the Imi-
22 tatio Christi as a laudable form of imitation, concluding that in this form of imitation the nails
23 in the Cross are his brushes, and Christ’s blood serves as his paint.25 These examples may illus-
24 trate the theologically controversial connotations of the terminology surrounding incarnadine;
25 they are probably of significance in the historical development of the use of the oil medium:
26 when this technique was first introduced it was used exclusively on areas other than the skin.
27 Human flesh was doubtless regarded as the hardest and most essential part of the painting and
28 one that could not, in the first instance, be contaminated by the dangerous allure of the new
29 and powerful medium. Technology remained subordinate to theology until the properties of
30 the new material were more generally understood; eventually, in a remarkable reversal of val-
31 ues, oil became the pre-eminent means of depicting the human form.26
32 Van Hoogstraten associates the use of incarnadine with his teacher, Rembrandt, ‘who
33 holds this part of art in admirably high esteem’.27 In the tradition of art theory it is above all
34 Titian to whom this same praise goes; De Piles compares Rembrandt to Titian because of
35 their comparable skills in rendering convincing carnations.28 Indeed, Dolce writes that Titian
36 achieved greater perfection in flesh tones than the painters of antiquity; allegedly, this was
37 the result of his faithful adherence to nature: ‘he moves in parallel with Nature, so that all
38 his figures are alive, move, and the flesh appears to pulsate (le carni tremano)’.29 Accordingly,
39 Dolce describes ‘a flesh-colour so true to life that it appears living, not painted’ by Titian, and
40 he repeats Pordenone’s remark that ‘Titian used flesh instead of paint in that nude’: in other
41 words, Titian’s powers of persuasion were such that paint had been ‘transubstantiated’ into
42 flesh.30 Van Hoogstraten concurs with these ideas when he praises Titian as ‘such a man, who
43 had given himself over wholly to nature, so as to imitate nature punctiliously with brush and
44
45
222          the e l oque nce of col o u r
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 222 09-10-2008 17:18:39

 colours’,31 and observes in similar terms to Dolce that the skilled artist ‘mixes the colours such 1
that they appear flesh’.32 The identification of paint (pittura or colori) and flesh (carne) that is 2
said to occur in Titian’s art is particularly relevant to his painting The Flaying of Marsyas, now in 3
Kroměříž, in which the satyr’s flayed skin is rendered in a characteristic ‘rough’ manner so that 4
brushstrokes and paint layer are still recognizable as such (fig. 91).33 A similar identification of 5
the ‘skin’ of the paint surface with human skin is also part of Rembrandt’s workshop practice 6
and probably an important motivation for the brushwork in his late self-portraits, where the 7
pores of the skin are ‘repeated’ in the porous texture of the paint layer, as Ernst van de Weter- 8
ing pointed out.34 9
To the painter, of course, living, naked flesh was deemed to represent a source of senso- 10
ry allure and deception, and it was presented as one of the greatest hazards from which aspiring 11
young artists had to be protected during their studies. Van Mander links ‘the power of Colours’ 12
directly to the fatal charm of women’s ‘mouths, cheeks and lovely eyes’.35 The deception in- 13
herent in these enticements is revealed in the realization that the human body is ultimately no 14
more than the vain and transient ‘outward appearance’ of things, in contrast to the enduring 15
‘inner being’, the immortal soul. Camphuysen warns painters: ‘You paint the body, but not the 16
body’s eternity, / Nor distinguish the strident sound of the last trump [at the Resurrection], nor 17
the spirit.’36 We will return to the idea that painting is a pre-eminently vain art, which exposes 18
the superficiality of the visible world, in chapter VI. 19
20
21
th e co s met i cs o f col our 22
Van Hoogstraten stresses not just the affective but also the deceptive properties of colour. He 23
associates colour with ‘ravishing the eyes’ and recounts several anecdotes about viewers who 24
were ‘deceived’ by colour.37 This equivocal view of colour, as the ‘soul’ of painting on the one 25
hand and as a medium for deceit on the other, is reflected in the term verzierlijk. This is Van 26
Hoogstraten’s adaptation of the Latin ornatus which means ‘ornate’ (when used as an adjective) 27
or ‘ornamentation, embellishment’ (when used as a noun). He deploys the term as an epithet 28
for his teacher: ‘the verzierlijken Rembrandt, my second Master after the death of my Father 29
Dirk’.38 The verb versieren – embellish, decorate, adorn – and derivatives of it also occur re- 30
peatedly in Van Mander’s Schilder-boeck.39 In the past Van Hoogstraten’s phrase has been con- 31
strued as a reference to Rembrandt’s skill in inventing narrative scenes; in what follows I shall 32
propose another interpretation, one that ties in with Van Hoogstraten’s approbatory remarks 33
about Rembrandt’s abilities as a colourist. 34
When the term ornatus is used in art theory, it appears as the opposite of beauty. Beauty 35
is seen as a property of the object, be it in the visible world or as a product of the imagination, 36
which the painter depicts. Ornatus, in contrast, is an added value that the painter only achieves 37
in the ‘handling’ stage, or the rhetorical actio.40 Indeed, art theory appears to borrow from rhe- 38
torical theory where it regards ornatus as one of the most important ‘virtues of speech’ (or vir- 39
tutes dicendi).41 The ancient rhetoricians use ornatus to refer to the colores rhetorici or ‘rhetorical 40
colours’, the figures of speech with which the speaker makes his argument more persuasive.42 41
They stress that figures of speech must be used with moderation, in such a way that the artifice 42
remains concealed: rhetorical theory makes a literal comparison with the pigments and colours 43
used in make-up.43 44
45
c h ap t e r v           223
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 223 09-10-2008 17:18:39

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18 fig. 91 – Titian, The Flaying of Marsyas, 1575-76, canvas, 212 x 207 cm. State Museum, Kroměříž.
19
20 Cicero states that oratory is able to imitate the ‘brightness’ (lumen) of life itself by means
21 of ‘colours’ or figures of speech,44 which ‘makes it possible in the highest degree to mark out
22 and illuminate what we are saying with stars of light’.45 This question of ‘throwing light on’ an
23 argument is, he argues, closely bound up with the orator’s ability to ‘summon things up before
24 the eyes’ and to speak so evocatively that the audience believes they are actually present at the
25 event. In this context ornatus is one of the orator’s most important virtues, which he uses to
26 bring his argument to life.
27 A similar creative or magical significance surrounds the etymology of the Greek word
28 cosmos, which literally means ornament: it refers to the notion that the Creator ‘embellished’
29 his Creation with colour, light and other ornaments. Junius begins his treatise with a refer-
30 ence to this cosmological ornament: ‘The good and great maker of this Universe created the
31 world after so glorious and beautifull a manner that the Greekes together with the Romanes, a
32 consent also of the Nations perswading them thereunto, have called it by the name of an Orna-
33 ment.’46 In the Latin original Junius links the Greek term kosmos with the Latin ornamentum.47
34 The commonplace given such a prominent place by Junius is echoed in Van Hoogstraten’s
35 assertion that ‘nature paints and ornaments birds and sea creatures’ with colour (italics mine).48
36 Similarly, Lomazzo associates ‘cosmic’ ornament and colour when he writes about ‘the paint-
37 ing with which God Almighty ... decorated and embellished the universe ... by giving the
38 heavens and the stars colour.’49 Ornatus is apparently interpreted as a cosmological quality of
39 the visible world.
40 In art theory, ornatus and its Dutch equivalents like verziering and opsmuk are associated
41 with colour, as the added embellishment of the foundation laid down by drawing.50 Junius
42 refers to veruw-cieraeten, ‘colouristic ornaments’, with which the painter can portray human
43 emotions: ‘coloured pictures for all that, as they shew a more lively force in the severall ef-
44
45
224          the e l oque nce of col o u r
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 224 09-10-2008 17:18:47

 fects and properties of life and spirit, so doe they most commonly ravish our sight with the 1
bewitching pleasure of delightsome and stately ornaments.’51 Van Hoogstraten makes a clear 2
distinction between the successful rendition of flesh-tones that derives its success from its 3
‘naturalness’, and the recognizably artificial ‘cosmetic’: ‘The nature of soft-fleshed paint is so 4
appealing that no make-up can come near.’52 Van Mander, who also uses the term versieren in 5
connection with colour,53 conceives the metaphor so literally that in his chapter on colour he 6
treats the depiction of jewellery (sieraden, a word that has the same root as versieren).54 7
The most literal equation of painterly colouring and the colours used in cosmetics is 8
given by Dolce, who urges artists to make their colour natural with a reference to Propertius’s 9
criticism of his sweetheart’s only too obvious make-up.55 He consequently observes, continu- 10
ing the passage cited above about Titian’s perfect use of colour, that this painter never allowed 11
his colour to descend into ‘artificial’ ornament (ornamenti affettati), but focused with ‘masterly 12
consistency’ on ‘the warm softness and delicacy of Nature’: Dolce concludes that in Titian’s 13
work ‘light and shade always perform harmoniously and become softer and diminish in the 14
same way as this happens in Nature herself’.56 Lomazzo likewise warns that male figures must 15
be portrayed without too much ornament, although he uses the term ornatus in a positive sense 16
for Titian’s female figures.57 It is interesting to note that the Dutch artist Lucas van Leyden 17
appears in the index to the Trattato as Luca d’Olanda ornato pittore; he is the only artist Lomazzo 18
commends with the adjective ‘ornate’ in the index.58 Lucas was Rembrandt’s chief role model 19
during his years in Leiden; we can only speculate about a connection between Lomazzo’s char- 20
acterization of this master’s work and Van Hoogstraten’s usage of verzierlijk for Rembrandt. 21
In art theory, the term ornament is connected with a gender-related vocabulary that 22
contrasts ‘subjective’ grace with the supposedly ‘objective’ quality of beauty. Traditionally, the 23
stylistic virtue of gratia is associated with the assumed seductive character of painting. Grace 24
is described as a ‘feminine’ kind of attractiveness which has a treacherous character that shows 25
only on the outside, whereas ‘masculine’ beauty is said to arise out of physical health and good 26
proportions and is consequently seen as more essential. Aversion to cosmetic, superficial, femi- 27
nine charm is, indeed, a Stoic theme; Seneca illustrates this with the down-to-earth maxim that 28
‘golden reins do not make a better horse’.59 In this context, Junius contrasts masculine ornatus 29
with effeminate fucus: ‘The dignitie belonging to a man must be stout and uncorrupted; it 30
cannot abide an effeminate smoothnesse, nor such a colour as is procured by choice painting; 31
seeing bloud and strength must make it goodly and faire’.60 Likewise, Van Hoogstraten de- 32
scribes a portrait of Helen of Troy, the most beautiful of women, by a pupil of Apelles who did 33
not have his master’s sense of moderation, robbing her of her natural beauty by a superfluity 34
of outward ornament.61 Goeree directly associates verciersel with deception:62 beauty, he says, 35
must be simple, and so much true to itself ‘that it is not easily achieved by a cosmetic embel- 36
lishment’; ornament can only be an effective ‘bewitchment of the eyes’ where it acts as ‘a wise 37
and well used Adornment’.63 He refers for confirmation of this view to Cicero’s opinion that 38
‘feminine beauty’ consists in women’s ability to suggest that ‘they are pleasing in the eyes of 39
Men because of it; and spur them to caresses’. This view of the affective power of a woman’s 40
physical grace was supposedly why, in antiquity, it was regarded as ‘less of an offence to have 41
abused a Beautiful woman than an Ugly one’.64 42
In conclusion, we can observe that ornatus is a key term for authors who emphasize the 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v           225
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 225 09-10-2008 17:18:47

1 deceptive nature of painting itself, whose allure they equate with that of feminine charm. De
2 Brune, for instance, compares the deceit of women who adorn themselves with cosmetics to
3 that of a painting: these ladies ‘are nothing but paintings, made to deceive the eyes’.65 Shake-
4 speare similarly compares the ‘mystery’ of painting with the concealing make-up of prosti-
5 tutes.66 Ornatus, closely associated with grace, presents a subjective illusion: it is what has to
6 persuade the beholder of an impression of the attractiveness of things: ‘to persuade our souls
7 in regarding them, such that one truly greets them as beautiful’, as Goeree puts it. He explains
8 how grace affects the passions: ‘the efforts of our heart [are] as it were drawn to it’. According
9 to this idea, grace is a rhetorical effect that derives not from innate physical proportions but
10 ‘from a sweet and charming gesture or motion of the Eyes, Mouth and Hands that expressly
11 accompanies the caressing tones of the tongue’.67
12
13
14 Ornatus and chiaroscuro
15 This broad lexical analysis of colouristic ornament clarifies Van Hoogstraten’s use of the epi-
16 thet verzierlijk to describe his master, Rembrandt. It embraces an associative, but lexically very
17 rich combination of a well-considered use of strong colour (the colores rhetorici) and chiaroscuro
18 (lumen), which do not exceed the norms of nature. Although colouring relates to outward
19 appearance and a beautiful semblance, Rembrandt’s work does not create an impression of
20 artifice, but entices viewers to enter a virtual reality. Van Hoogstraten speaks with particular
21 approbation of Rembrandt’s use of colour, particularly as far as flesh tones are concerned, and
22 his skill in capturing reflected light – his ‘true element’ – and in the ‘arrangement of shadows
23 and lights’.68 Vondel, too, probably makes the connection between ornatus and Rembrandt’s
24 chiaroscuro in his poetry. In a passage that Seymour Slive believed applies to Rembrandt,
25 Vondel describes painters who, as ‘sons of darkness’, prefer ‘ornamented shadow’ (versierde
26 schaduw).69
27 Van Hoogstraten’s well-known observations about Rembrandt’s skill in tonal compo-
28 sition require some elaboration. Chiaroscuro cannot automatically be isolated as a separate
29 quality within his theory. In early modern art theory there is usually no systematic distinction
30 between contrasts in tone and colour, and chiaroscuro is seldom regarded as a virtus pingendi in
31 its own right, but rather as part of the concept of colorito. What does get a separate chapter to
32 itself in Van Hoogstraten is the use of light. This seventh chapter is dedicated to Melpomene,
33 whom he calls the tragic Muse; this would seem to accord proficiency in rendering light and
34 shade a substantial role in a painter’s power to bring about a change – as the tragic poets do – in
35 the public’s character. The position of this chapter in the Inleyding, treating light as the most
36 important ‘part of painting’ before the umbrella concept of ‘grace’ is discussed, is revealing in
37 this respect. More explicitly than Van Hoogstraten, Angel defines chiaroscuro as a means of
38 touching the viewer emotionally and by means of this supposedly magic ‘power’ transport-
39 ing him into a virtual reality: ‘for shadows being brought together in their proper place have
40 such enchanting power ... that [they] make many things, which can scarcely be imitated with
41 Brushes and paints, appear to be very real’.70 In this respect chiaroscuro may even have greater
42 affective powers than colour, as De Piles’s words reveal: ‘A picture whose composition and lo-
43 cal colours are mediocre, but enhanced by the device of chiaroscuro, will not let the viewer pass
44 by quietly; it will call to him and make him stop for a moment at least.’71
45
226          the e l oque nce of col o u r
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 226 09-10-2008 17:18:47

 Lomazzo is very eloquent on the subject of the particular affective function of light and 1
shade. He may have based what he writes on Agrippa’s theories as to the way occult forces ‘act 2
at a distance’.72 Lomazzo refers in this respect to Titian’s ‘awesome and acute’ light and tells 3
us that light has a ‘healthy’ effect.73 The influences on the mind that light is deemed to effect 4
stem from its alleged divine origin: visible light is interpreted as the most direct earthly mani- 5
festation of God’s presence. On a more metaphorical level, it is related to the ideas in the mind 6
of God that ‘enlighten’ man’s understanding of the world. The divine light, says Lomazzo, 7
reveals itself to mankind ‘through the light of the active intellect’. In an Aristotelian formula- 8
tion, he posits that light lends actuality to the potential: for instance, light gives things their 9
colour and the associated properties that can have a beneficial effect on people (una certa virtú 10
benefica e generante). If, on the other hand, the light cannot reach objects, the resulting darkness 11
will be a mental torment because things are not seen in their full essence. All things, he says, 12
are positively ‘activated’ by light, which gives them ‘life’ with its warmth (col vivifico calor suo).74 13
In this context, the doctrine of similitudo that links aspects from the material world to aspects 14
from the immaterial world in a ‘chain of being’ would mean that the beneficial properties of 15
the divine light are directly comparable to the heat of a fire, which is the earthly ‘likeness’ of 16
the divine light; indeed, Lomazzo compares the tonal values that the painter uses to make his 17
figures lifelike to ‘the heat of a fire that does not burn, but illuminates and enlivens everything 18
with its warmth’.75 19
Interestingly, Lomazzo prizes Netherlandish painters in particular for their skill in rep- 20
resenting light, especially in their rendition of flesh colour: the ‘ornate’ Lucas van Leiden, Jan 21
van Scorel, Geerten Gossaert and Joachim Patinir, ‘painters who have always followed nature 22
with order in this regard (accostandosi sempre con ordine al naturale delle cose)’. Lomazzo describes 23
the practice of painting a reflection of a collar on the jaw in portraits, which is very common 24
in Dutch art; his attention to such details raises the question as to how great an influence his 25
Trattato might have had on the Dutch theorists from Van Mander onwards who were inter- 26
ested in lighting and reflection, an influence that may have been exerted indirectly or by word 27
of mouth.76 28
Van Hoogstraten uses the term kracht – force – for the overall effect of colour and 29
tone. This is an equivalent of the Italian word forza, which Zuccari reserves for ‘colouring and 30
working with light and shade … that lends figures such spirit and vitality that it makes them 31
appear living and true (il colorire, ombreggiare e lumeggiare ... che dà talora alle figure tale spirito e 32
tal vivezza, che le fa apparer vive e vere)’.77 Van Hoogstraten describes Rembrandt’s Night Watch 33
in an exemplary way, as ‘so forceful that, so some believe, all the other works appear as play- 34
ing cards beside it’; in other words, the rest of the paintings in the Stadsdoelen are just of so 35
many schematic puppets, whereas Rembrandt is able to give his figures life (fig. 92).78 This 36
term runs parallel to the praise bestowed on Rembrandt by other authors; De Lairesse points 37
to the popularity of Rembrandt, an artist he commends ‘in regard to both his naturalness and 38
his force of projection [that is, the ability to bring things forward out of the picture plane]’. 39
Some people might therefore wonder: ‘was there ever a Painter who came so close to nature 40
in the force of colour (kracht van coloriet), by his fine light … And is this not enough to entice 41
the whole world?’79 Like the orator’s vis verborum, the magical power to convince his auditors, 42
Rembrandt’s ‘force of colour’ succeeds in transporting viewers into a virtual reality, which is 43
the first task for an artist who wishes to fulfil an ethical function. 44
45
c h ap t e r v           227
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 227 09-10-2008 17:18:47

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39 fig. 92 – Rembrandt, The Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburgh
40 (‘The Night Watch’), 1642, canvas, 363 x 437 cm. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
41
42
43
44
45
228          the e l oque nce of col o u r
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 228 09-10-2008 17:19:10

 ‘rough’ versus ‘fine’ brushwork 1
The lexical scope of the term colore, used to refer to colour as an optical quality as well as to 2
pigment and its binding medium, means that the discussion about the merits of disegno and 3
colorito has an impact on the debate as to whether or not the brushstroke should be left visible.80 4
This is a recurrent theme in Dutch art theory. Contemporary authors use the terms net or fijn 5
– ‘smooth’ or ‘fine’ versus ruw or los – ‘rough’ or ‘loose’. ‘Loose’ painting relates primarily to 6
the swift, visible brushstroke, and ‘rough’ painting to the use of variations in the thickness of 7
the paint layer as an illusionistic device, as practised first and foremost by Rembrandt.81 The 8
distinction between ‘rough’ and ‘fine’ derives in essence from a line of verse by Horace, which 9
Van Hoogstraten quotes: ‘You may look at this Painting from close by: / And the other has a 10
more pleasing appearance from further away’.82 De Lairesse also discusses the two manners, 11
actually beginning his treatise with the observation: ‘The Handling of the Brush is of two 12
kinds, very different from each other, for the one is fluid, and tender or smooth; the second is 13
robust and quick, or bold.’83 14
The preference for one kind of brushwork or the other is one of the principal points 15
in Dutch artistic theory on which there can be said to be a clear debate. Rembrandt’s manner, 16
where the brushstroke is often visible and the very surface structure of the paint is used to 17
illusory effect, raised the most questions for his contemporaries – and for modern art histori- 18
ans too. Another discussion in the same context revolved around the virtues of the ‘smooth’ 19
painting style of the so-called Leiden ‘fine painters’ (fijnschilders), the followers of Gerard Dou, 20
whom Van Hoogstraten fiercely criticizes at several points in his treatise.84 He regards the 21
art of his country that produces this ‘unnecessarily finicking work’ as highly objectionable 22
(although the work of Dou himself appears to be an exception).85 He criticizes painters who 23
finish their works with ‘a smooth stiffness, or precise finickiness’ that only pleases ‘mindless’ 24
art lovers.86 Van Hoogstraten even reckons a successful artist like Gerard van Honthorst to be 25
one of those painters who are ‘lulled to sleep’ by the money they make working with a ‘stiff 26
smoothness’. As the contrasting example of a ‘loose brush’, Van Hoogstraten here commends 27
not his teacher, Rembrandt, but Peter Lely. In this context, we may recall the observation that 28
Van Hoogstraten’s theoretical preferences are not reflected in his own practice: from the mo- 29
ment he left Rembrandt’s studio we know of no surviving works in which he manifestly chose 30
to paint in the ‘rough’ manner.87 His treatise should therefore be read more as a reworking of 31
literary topoi than as an account of his own studio practices. As we shall see, Titian’s reputation 32
was important in this regard and probably lured authors like De Lairesse and De Piles into 33
making their definite pronouncements about Rembrandt. 34
Emmens pointed out that the roots of the opinions of the two ‘manners’ can be traced 35
back to rhetorical theory, which makes a distinction between an ‘Attic’ and an ‘Asiatic’ style.88 36
As we shall see, the appreciation of ‘rough brushwork’ in art theory can be understood more 37
clearly in the light of the theory of rhetorical persuasion, in which a preference for an absence 38
of artifice and an ethos of naturalness are important factors. Responding to similar rhetori- 39
cal notions, early modern art theory posits the existence of a close relationship between the 40
artist’s inner character traits and the way they manifest themselves on the surface of his work. 41
In Van Hoogstraten’s view of ‘rough brushwork’ we can identify four elements, all of them 42
bearing on rhetorical persuasion: they are virtuality, rhetorical brevitas, performativity and 43
complementarity. 44
45
c h ap t e r v           229
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 229 09-10-2008 17:19:10

1 Virtuality
2 Most of the early modern treatises of painting describe leaving the brushstroke visible as an
3 artistic device that serves to bring about greater persuasiveness. This supposition may be ex-
4 plained in the light of the effect described in the previous chapter, whereby the viewer conjures
5 up a scene in his mind’s eye and experiences the image as a sort of snapshot, without paying
6 heed to the craftsmanship that underlies the work of art. As Huygens remarks about Rem-
7 brandt’s working methods, what matters is to produce an overall effect in which everything
8 is reduced to a single key moment (compendio effectum dare).89 The importance of the ‘rough’
9 manner can be argued on the basis of the theory concerning the evocation of an effect of sud-
10 den lifelikeness; when the painting is looked at in more detail, after all, the brushstroke will
11 appear to be recognizable as such.
12 Van Hoogstraten describes the ‘loose manner’ in terms of a broad, visible brushstroke,
13 where the artist mixes the paint on the canvas, not the palette, and in many cases even leaves it
14 unmixed so that optical mixing can occur: ‘Then take with liberty brushes, so many as can be
15 held in one hand, and let each stroke be single, leaving the colours almost unmixed in many
16 places; for the distance and the thickness of the air will cause many things, that are in reality
17 not assimilated, to seem to blend’.90 He also asserts that, using this rapid technique, a couple of
18 small but judiciously placed brushstrokes will suggest an outline and do away with the need to
19 draw contours completely: ‘it is also not always necessary to indicate the outside by means of a
20 contour; for sometimes a few strokes apart from one another can depict this much more sub-
21 stantially’.91 He urges artists not to concern themselves too much with small details of shadows
22 that will only be evident ‘from nearby’, for they will run the risk of lapsing into ‘the fiddling of
23 smooth gradual diminution’ in which urgency and lifelikeness are lost.92 In his view, the rough
24 manner gives a ‘playful movement of the brush, without ever causing colours to melt into each
25 other or to gradually diminish’. Making areas of colour merge into one another, in contrast,
26 leads to ‘a dreamy stiffness’ that suggests not life but a sort of half-sleep. The effect of subtle
27 transitions of shade and colour can also be achieved with a ‘full brush’; in other words a swift
28 manner with broad strokes, trusting to the eventual optical mixing, as Jordaens and Titian were
29 said to have done: ‘It is better to seek smoothness with a full brush and, as Jordaens used to say,
30 to slather away lustily, paying little heed to blending things smoothly.’93
31 Here rhetorical theory, which holds that greater simplicity has greater powers of per-
32 suasion, is in accord with artistic practice. The rough manner may leave some areas of the
33 painting less finished than others: this is a response to the fact that human vision does not see
34 everything with the same sharpness: it focuses on points that attract the attention. Van Hoog-
35 straten describes this effect: ‘in the same way that a man, catching sight of his friend from a dis-
36 tance or meeting him in twilight, straight away sees his appearance in his mind and recognizes
37 him, so a rough sketch can often create such a great impression on beholders that they can see
38 more in it than is actually there.’94 The result of leaving the work partially unfinished is that
39 the viewer experiences a psychological reaction, filling in the missing pieces in his mind. This
40 phenomenon, known nowadays as the ‘reparative impulse’, may add to the painting’s ‘recrea-
41 tive’ effect of diverting the mind and also provokes a form of interaction between the viewer
42 and the painting so that the viewer’s belief that he is being confronted with a virtual reality is
43 reinforced – he is now, after all, taking an active part in this reality. In view of this appreciation
44
45
230          the e l oque nce of col o u r
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 230 09-10-2008 17:19:10

 of the beholder’s share, Junius mentions the high regard in which unfinished work was held in 1
antiquity, and we find this same regard in Van Hoogstraten.95 Junius describes a similar method 2
of not drawing complete outlines, but only suggesting them; when the viewer can ‘understand 3
them with the mind, rather than distinguish them with the eyes’ he becomes more closely in- 4
volved with the artistic illusion.96 5
6
7
Brevitas 8
Rhetorical theory provides both a clarification of the effect of the rough manner and a legitima- 9
tion, grounded in tradition, for painting in this way. The rough manner was thought to satisfy 10
a preference for the minimum of stylistic and illusional devices that would, in a ‘golden age’ or 11
aetas aurea, have been enough to guarantee maximum success. Junius stresses that over the cen- 12
turies a misplaced quest for emulation led to increasingly more useless ‘ornament’, an excess 13
of gilding and artificial, cosmetic additions.97 Rhetorical theory uses the concept of brevitas, 14
brevity, in this context.98 This denotes something different from mere stylistic purity, puritas, 15
one of the ‘virtues of speech’ along with perspicuity, decorum and ornament; purity is reserved 16
for an unequivocal style of speaking. Brevity, in contrast, is something of a problematic qual- 17
ity that runs the risk of lapsing into obscuritas, a text’s lack of clarity when it provides too little 18
information. Brevity serves emphasis: saying a great deal in a few words.99 The concept marks a 19
text as being intended for a limited readership.100 In art theory we encounter the term brevità, 20
for instance to describe a swift sketch, something which would be appreciated by initiated art 21
lovers; it is a term that reflects the great theoretical esteem for a rapid working method.101 22
Where brevitas is concerned, the classical theory of rhetoric holds that the orator should 23
not use too many figures of speech, particularly those that are too far-fetched and too obvi- 24
ously recognizable as such. The particular danger of important elements like copiousness and 25
ornamentation is that, if they are overused, they can destroy the impression of lifelikeness. 26
Borrowing from this rhetorical theory, Van Mander says that good artists ‘Avoid abundance or 27
Copia, / and give pleasure in doing just a few things, but doing them well’,102 and he observes 28
that kings generally need fewer words than lawyers: a single word is sufficient to settle an argu- 29
ment if it is spoken with the necessary authority. 30
In rhetorical theory this warning is grounded in the ideology of ‘following nature’ and 31
the aversion to artifice: it is only when he manages to convince his audience that he is wholly 32
himself, that the vir bonus dicendi peritus can deliver an effective argument. This suggestion 33
of naturalness alone enables the orator to win his audience over on the assumption that they 34
share the same set of ethical ideas with him.103 Van Hoogstraten’s ideas on brushwork can be 35
explained in the light of this impression of sincerity; he states, for instance, that ‘an artist’s 36
brush must always be honest, and never false, in order to properly express virtue and truth’.104 37
At stake here is the performative premise that the artist ‘is what he makes’. This may be 38
explained by pointing out how, in his autobiography, Huygens commends a number of paint- 39
ers and a number of preachers in surprisingly similar terms. The autobiography propagates a 40
general preference for natura as against ars. Huygens praises Rembrandt and Lievens, and a 41
scholar like Cornelis Drebbel, for their humble origins; he even goes so far as to say that the 42
two artists did not need any training, and that only the most common people knew the names 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v           231
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 231 09-10-2008 17:19:10

1 of their teachers. Elaborating on this notion, he attacks school rhetoric and handbooks with
2 rules for speaking.105 To his mind, the best examples of orators are the preachers John Donne
3 and Johannes Uytenbogaert: they ‘seem to have been born with rhetoric’ (cum eloquentia nati
4 videbantur); they are ‘true to themselves’ (sui similes) and the further they are removed from
5 artifice, the more strongly they are able to persuade (quo ab affectatione remotiores essent, efficacius
6 persuadebant). Huygens illustrates the paradoxical rhetorical preference for unpractised oratory
7 with Tacitus’s observation that Drusus Tiberius ‘although inexperienced in speaking, had a
8 noble character’.106 As we can see from Huygens’s opinion of Van Mierevelt, whom he praises
9 for his naturalness in both painting and speaking, this is of course professed artlessness: Van
10 Mierevelt ‘deliberately hides behind a mask of ignorance and in so doing makes it very difficult
11 for experts’.107
12 This emphasis on ingenium above ars is the central object of discussion in Juan Huarte’s
13 Examen des ingenios para las sciencias, a text translated into Dutch in 1659 and quoted in the
14 Inleyding.108 This author asserts that rhetoric – that is to say, rhetoric that is recognizable as
15 such – is distasteful to right-minded people: ‘the putting together of pure and smooth words
16 is not to be found in men of great understanding’.109 In this context, Huarte compares Soc-
17 rates’ awkward, unrhetorical manner of speaking to a ‘roughly’ (rou) painted picture that in
18 fact conceals true wisdom and ‘excellent work and painting’.110 ‘Rough’ painting, he asserts, is
19 a sort of captatio benevolentiae: the seeming absence of a sophisticated style wins the audience
20 over to the painter or orator. Aristotle, for instance, was said to have deliberately written in
21 ‘an obscure, rough style (rouwen stijl) [...] to ensure that his works would be held in greater re-
22 spect’. He wrote ‘thus ponderously and carelessly, without including any embellishment of his
23 words, or any fine manner of speaking’. Plato, too, supposedly used a ‘hard and rough style’,
24 a model of brevitas that even descends into obscuritas: Huarte refers to ‘the brevity into which
25 he compresses his works, the obscurity of his reasoning’.111 As a prime example of the paradox
26 of ‘unrhetorical rhetoric’ Huarte cites St Paul, whose lack of education enabled him to speak
27 with great persuasive force, despite the fact that ‘his innate ability was not trained sufficiently
28 to learn foreign languages, and to express them with perfect and refined polish (netticheyt), and
29 add all the necessary ornaments’.112 For a direct analogy in the context of the art of painting
30 itself, we may point to the ‘handling’ in Rembrandt’s Self-portrait as St Paul (1661, Rijksmuse-
31 um): here, the artist consciously sought a ‘rough style’ (the paint has been applied very thickly
32 indeed in the Apostle’s hat) in contrast to ‘refined netticheydt’, perhaps to harmonize form and
33 content and ally them to the reputed oratorical style of the subject (fig. 93).
34 Agrippa, whom we discussed in the previous chapter, writes as Huarte does about the
35 deceptiveness of both painting and rhetoric.113 He warns against the affective powers of ‘decep-
36 tive probability’, the ‘finery’ and ‘strumpet’s cosmetics’ of ornatus, which, he says, acts on ‘the
37 minds of the unthinking’, who are ‘deceived’.114 He declares that the ‘unpolished’ argument is
38 more persuasive: ‘lies are couched in embellished words, so that they can command people’s
39 minds, but the speech of Truth ... is simple, bearing no traces of adornment or semblance’. He
40 repeats the words of Theophrastus who supposedly said ‘the rough may speak with all the most
41 eminent and eloquent men, provided they speak with authority and reason’.115
42 More general aspects of pictorial style are also associated with the idea that the rhetorical
43 artifice has to be concealed behind the appearance of roughness. In this context, for instance,
44
45
232          the e l oque nce of col o u r
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 232 09-10-2008 17:19:10

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
fig. 93 – Rembrandt, Self-portrait as the Apostle Paul, 1661, canvas, 91 x 77 cm. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. 35
36
Paleotti recommends artists not to idealize their models, ‘obeying the maxim of the historian, 37
who recounts the fact as it was, and not that of the orator, who often makes things appear more 38
beautiful or exaggerates’.116 He thinks that the painter should not yield to cosmetics in the way 39
they are used by women ‘who wish to be portrayed with a painted face ... and alas believe that 40
by this means they become more beautiful, which is ridiculous’.117 Even ‘if there are defects, 41
inborn or caused by accident, that have seriously deformed the face’, the painter must depict 42
them for the sake of persuasiveness.118 Like his Italian predecessor, Van Hoogstraten expresses 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v           233
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 233 09-10-2008 17:19:24

1 his dislike of an excess of ornament in a comparison with the cosmetics used by ‘damsels’: ar-
2 tificial ornament actually causes them ‘to lose that which they seek with such fervent desire’.
3 He states that there can actually be a ‘forced looseness (lossicheyt)’ in outward appearance, ‘this
4 all too forced casualness’ that provokes disgust ‘because we see that everything is artificial’.
5 Contrast this with pure ornatus, which wins over the beholder: ‘the simple adornment, which
6 gives joy to the heart’.
7 Van Hoogstraten asks: ‘What adorns pale Amaril? ... the gleaming forehead varnished? /
8 Or red paint on her cheeks?’ Make-up is obviously a waste of effort – the natural affective
9 power of the eyes has a greater effect: ‘her demure eyes set the heart afire’.119 Junius, too,
10 speaks of the problematic character of artistic ornatus, warning the artist that it is ‘for the most
11 part better to decke his worke in a rug [rough] gowne, than to adorne it with strumpet-like
12 ornaments.’ From this rhetorical position, Junius likewise criticizes a ‘neat’ or ‘fine’ manner;
13 the artist must take care that when ‘he hitteth the maine and weightiest points of art aright, in
14 making of an entire body, the same needs not trouble himselfe much about the neatnesse of
15 some little haires, and of the uttermost ends of the nailes.’120 This ‘neatnesse’ loses its persua-
16 sive power because of an excess of artifice.
17
18
19 Performativity
20 The terminology with which brushwork is described as ‘handling’ needs some explanation.
21 Dutch handeling has a wider meaning than English ‘handling’: it also signifies ‘act’ or ‘action’,
22 as in the various acts (handelingen) of a play. The lexical field covered by handeling clarifies the
23 early modern conception of painting itself as an ‘act’ in which paint is transformed into a vir-
24 tual reality. In this regard painting is a performative art, like the theatre and rhetoric: in these
25 arts ‘words are transformed into deeds’ in the sense that linguistic concepts are converted into
26 an emotional argument that ought to change the audience affectively. Dutch rhetorical theory,
27 as developed most authoritatively by Vossius, uses the term handeling or actio to describe the
28 orator’s ability to involve his audience in his argument, appealing to mind and body and all five
29 senses.121 In the moment of actio his words become virtual reality, just as the actor becomes his
30 character. This assumption is a recurring topos in the poetic tradition: Lipsius, for instance,
31 remarked in a letter, ‘fundo, non scribo’ (‘I pour my heart out, I do not write’).122
32 According to the parallel between painterly handeling and rhetorical actio, the ‘rough’
33 manner enables the painter to demonstrate performatively that he ‘is’ what he ‘makes’.123 These
34 ideas about the artist’s relationship to his work are influenced by the notion as expressed by
35 Van Hoogstraten that, as his ‘children’, an artist’s works reflect his personality traits and physi-
36 cal characteristics, and that a painter’s biography and work are inextricably linked (see above,
37 pages 145, 146, 179).124 ‘Handling’ is an altera natura that is rooted not just in the artist’s mind,
38 but in his body.125
39 In Van Hoogstraten’s words one ‘should not seek to obtain a specific handling, just nat-
40 uralness’. This is why Cornelis Ketel can paint with his fingers and feet, ‘to demonstrate that
41 the master, not the brush, is the Painter’, an anecdote that Van Hoogstraten evidently regarded
42 as important since he depicted Ketel on the title page of the chapter devoted to colour (fig.
43 94).126 Junius’s remark that the artist must follow nature such ‘that in the true and just simplic-
44
45
234          the e l oque nce of col o u r
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 234 10-10-2008 16:24:45

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
fig. 94 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, Erato, 26
title page of Chapter 4 of the Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst, Rotterdam 1678. 27
28
ity of his works one believes one sees not Art but nature itself’ must presumably be conceived 29
in the same way.127 Here Van Hoogstraten disagrees wholly with the historian Pieter Cornelisz 30
Hooft’s statement that an artist can use three stylistic modi, a ‘gold, a silver and a copper brush’: 31
he believes that painters must always focus on nature.128 32
In his theory, the choice of the rough or the fine manner is essentially a function of the 33
artist’s character: the rough manner signifies an ‘alert’ nature, whereas working in a style char- 34
acterized by ‘stiff smoothness’ is a side-effect of the sleepiness that comes with a lack of creative 35
urge.129 The artist, like the orator, is adjured to maintain the pace and ‘heat’ of the imaginatio 36
that has been set in motion, and not to spend too long on one work.130 Van Hoogstraten re- 37
peats the traditional assessment of Homer’s style, which is described in rhetorical theory as 38
‘rough’:131 he praises it because ‘one could see that [his works] were made lightly and without 39
great toil’, and contrasts it with the works of Antimachus, which show evidence of having been 40
created ‘in a dejected way and with much racking of brains’.132 While the speed and alertness 41
that come with inspired frenzy may lead to highly successful art, the melancholy into which 42
the artistic temperament can all too rapidly descend after a burst of furor poeticus is capable of 43
ruining a work.133 44
45
c h ap t e r v           235
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 235 09-10-2008 17:19:31

1 This theoretical emphasis on performativity calls to mind an expression in the courtiers’
2 literature, in which handeling is essentially identified with the painter’s trademark (in Dutch:
3 handelsmerk). It occurs in a work by the Spanish Jesuit Balthasar Gracián, whose Arte de pru-
4 dencia (The Art of Worldly Wisdom) of 1647 was translated into Dutch and widely read in the
5 Netherlands; it is quoted, for instance, by Houbraken.134 His work is an amalgam of a Stoic
6 courtier’s ethic and a high regard for deception and semblance; a manual of prudentia, practical
7 reason or political acumen.135 Developing his views about outward appearance, Gracián con-
8 cludes among other things that what matters is not what one does but how much fame one can
9 achieve by doing it. It therefore makes sense to look for a ‘gap in the market’, for example by
10 finding an idiosyncratic ‘handling’. This is how the classical authors set about things: Horace
11 left the epic to Virgil, Martial left the lyric to Horace, and so on:
12
13 ‘They were all out to be the first in their genre. Talent is able to disregard not art, but
14 the mediocre, and to find in old art a new way to greatness ... An ingenious painter
15 saw that Titian and Raphael had gone before him. Their fame was all the more alive
16 because they were dead. ... He started to paint with rough brushstrokes (pintar a lo
17 valentón). People asked him why he did not paint in a smooth and polished manner (a
18 lo suave y pulido) so that he could emulate Titian, and he wittily replied that he would
19 rather be first in roughness than second in delicacy (que quería más ser primero en aquella
20 grosería que segundo en la delicadeza).’136
21
22 In contemporary painting treatises this identification of handling and trademark is particularly
23 evident in the reception of Rembrandt, as we have seen in De Piles’s view that ‘each Brush-
24 stroke … makes one admire the truth of his Genius’.137 Houbraken tells us that Frans Hals laid
25 in his portraits ‘thickly and impasted’, and then added the final touches with the words ‘now
26 we must put in the master’s touch’.138 He also stresses that Rembrandt’s idiosyncratic manner,
27 which, indeed, he does not fully endorse, was a deliberate choice inspired by the artist’s wish to
28 be different from the great Italian masters.139
29 Stylistic roughness – Gracián’s grosería – was an appropriate means not only of giving a
30 painter an identifiable trademark but also of enabling him to present himself as a ‘rhetorical’
31 artist, aware of the performative aspect of art. It also let a painter compare himself with clas-
32 sical artists who purportedly suffered so severely from artistic furor that they never finished a
33 work, leaving all they did in a ‘rough’ state. Lomazzo, for instance, describes artists ‘who derive
34 such extreme delight from invention that they do not have the patience to finish any work they
35 begin’.140 Van Hoogstraten argues that some paintings by Protogenes ‘were marred by their
36 neatness’, and concludes: ‘I believe that one drives the grace out of one’s work if one paints over
37 it too often’.141
38 The notion of performativity also determines the theory about a related aspect of han-
39 dling: the work itself may reveal the way it was made. The rough manner, after all, leaves the
40 movements of the hand visible – at least to some extent. That seventeenth-century viewers
41 appreciated the recognition of these movements is illustrated by Junius’s conclusion that art
42 lovers often take greater pleasure in seeing the sketching process than in the end result; he
43 explains this by citing the Senecan view ‘that it is a greater pleasure for Artists to work than to
44 have wrought’.142
45
236          the e l oque nce of col o u r
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 236 09-10-2008 17:19:31

 Complementarity 1
The most explicit appreciation of the ‘rough’ manner in Dutch art literature is found in Van 2
Mander’s admiration – based on Vasari’s opinion – for Titian’s ‘handling’, which was simply 3
chaos when viewed from close up, but highly suggestive (levendich) from the right distance: 4
‘lastly [Titian] made his things with bold brushstrokes and patches, so that they were not per- 5
fect from nearby, but were highly effective (goeden welstandt hadde) seen from afar’.143 In the 6
Grondt Van Mander says that Titian’s method ‘with patches and rough strokes’ only evokes the 7
right effect of ‘naturalness’ when one ‘was at some distance ... away ... from it’. Van Mander 8
expresses a degree of regard for this approach in which chance seems to have free rein but 9
which in fact hides consummate skill: ‘concealing the labour with great Art’.144 Painters who 10
thought that Titian’s work was made ‘without labour’ were deceiving themselves: ‘There is 11
much more difficulty in it than one would think ... the labour is concealed by Great Art ... 12
things appear effortless, which were yet done painstakingly.’145 13
Van Hoogstraten discusses Titian’s method in similar terms; as he puts it in the Inley- 14
ding, the painter ‘leaves unassimilated the broad brushstrokes on the panel, which from a dis- 15
tance have all the greater [suggestive] force’.146 He associates this approach with Titian’s age 16
and deteriorating sight. Here he is essentially echoing rhetorical theory when it holds that a 17
change in style can be explained in terms of the age of the artist.147 18
Van Mander’s statements make clear that a proper appraisal of Titian’s work requires 19
two viewpoints: the view from a distance that makes the illusion work, and the close-up in- 20
spection that reveals the artist’s mastery. This ‘double perspective’ is also analysed by other art 21
theorists; Félibien, for instance, discusses it in relation to Rembrandt’s manner. He points first 22
to the exceptional aspects of Rembrandt’s ‘rough’ handling, and then to the effect of space and 23
‘force’ that it creates when the work is viewed from the right position: 24
25
‘often he simply used broad strokes of the brush, layering thick colours one on top of 26
another, without blurring and blending them together … Although not all are graceful 27
brushstrokes, they are very forceful; and when one views them from an appropriate 28
distance, they give a very good effect and suggest a lot of roundness [i.e. spatiality].’148 29
30
For some theorists the admiration for Rembrandt’s style is an extension of their appreciation 31
of Titian: De Piles, De Geest and Félibien all compare the two masters and their styles.149 De 32
Piles writes that the ‘two perspectives’ are particularly remarkable in Rembrandt’s case: ‘in 33
Rembrandt’s work, [the brushstrokes] are clearly distinguishable when looked at close at hand, 34
but seen from the right distance they seem to blend very well because of the precision of his 35
touches’.150 36
Van Mander’s adaptation of Vasari’s view underlines that both perspectives are possible, 37
and at the same time recognizes the paradox inherent in the rough manner, that a seemingly 38
effortless surface is in effect the result of an intricate, hidden artifice. It is this paradoxical 39
character of the rough manner, which aims for greater illusionism and at the same time focuses 40
the attention on technique, that plays a role in seventeenth-century art theory which we shall 41
discuss under the heading ‘complementarity’. The rough manner gives scope for two different 42
but complementary ‘perspectives’ on the painting: on the one hand from a position at which 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v           237
46

Visible world HR kopy.indd 237 09-10-2008 17:19:32

1 the illusion takes effect, and on the other with a view to the recognition of the brushstroke. The
2 rough manner thus questions the possibilities of artistic persuasiveness itself, and is a factor
3 in what Klaus Krüger called Illusionsbrechung, literally the ‘puncturing’ of the illusion: delib-
4 erately focusing attention on the illusory character of the work by means of specific painterly
5 artifice.151 Leaving the brushstroke visible may thus play a part in the context of the paradoxi-
6 cal idea, expressed in art theory, that artists should not evoke a virtual reality too convincingly,
7 otherwise their work might be mistaken for nature itself and they might miss their chance of
8 glory.152 The Dutch art theorists also call attention to the material nature of the painting, its
9 essence as panel and pigment, and to the craftsman’s handiwork which is far removed from the
10 intellectual aim of painting: to evoke a virtual reality. At one point, for instance, Van Hoog-
11 straten describes the painting as ‘a shape that is spotted with various paints’,153 Goeree refers
12 to it as a ‘coloured shadow’154 and Camphuysen as a ‘canvas or board / daubed with paint’ and
13 ‘a work that is in itself just strokes and shadows’.155
14 In his treatise for art lovers of 1635, Pierre LeBrun presents the paradox inherent to
15 rough brushwork thus: ‘How is it possible for a brush to produce so much sweetness with such
16 rough strokes, and with such crude colours?’156 The most eloquent description of the possibility
17 of taking both complementary points of view, however, comes from Boschini: ‘What a miracle,
18 this sorcery that is painting! ... this is what I [think that I ] see: lines, hairs, scars, pockmarks,
19 small imperfections, wrinkles and hair: ... But from here I [actually] see everything and see that
20 there is nothing [left of the illusion]. I see thick paint, a rapid movement of the brush.’157 He
21 describes in detail a method whereby the artist deliberately leaves this material character of the
22 painting visible. The painter Jacopo Bassano, who ‘hated diligence and smoothness’, was said
23 to have applied a ‘chaos’ of colours (un Caos ... de colori indistinti e miscugli di confusione), which
24 were just a jumble when seen from close by (da vicino e sotto l’occhio). The harmony of the whole,
25 when viewed from the right distance (scostandosi in debita distanza), derives from the ‘dissolving’
26 of this confusion into the order envisioned by the painter. According to Boschini, the percep-
27 tion of chaos that organizes itself into an image brings with it a specific intellectual pleasure: a
28 literal ‘recreation’, a reordering of the mind.158
29 The high esteem for the painter’s manipulation of the ‘two perspectives’, says Van Man-
30 der, arises out of the artist’s ability to hide his artifice, as in the case of Titian. The ‘rough’
31 manner appears to take less time and effort than the ‘smooth’ approach, but, as Van Mander’s
32 judgement of Titian makes clear, behind this seeming artlessness there is a lot of skill. The
33 classical passage on which art theorists fall back for this ‘feigned carelessness’ is found in Cas-
34 tiglione’s courtiers’ manual, which explains how not only in painting, but in ‘every human ac-
35 tion’ the artifice must remain concealed to create the suggestion of greater mastery. He gives
36 an example from the history of art: Apelles allegedly accused Protogenes of too much affecta-
37 tion. Castiglione contrasts affectation with his concept of sprezzatura, which he explains as ‘a
38 single uninterrupted line, a single brushstroke drawn with ease, in such a manner that it seems
39 as though the hand, without being guided by practice or any rule of art, moves towards its goal
40 of its own accord, obedient to the painter’s intention’.159 In the same way Ripa compares paint-
41 ers and orators because of their skill in concealing their artifice:
42
43
44
45
238          the e l oque nce of col o u r
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 238 09-10-2008 16:53:52

 ‘Just as it is a great art among Orators or Rhetoricians to do their work so that it seems 1
there is no art in it, so it is with Painters who are able to paint so that their art does not 2
show, except to those who know’.160 3
4
Junius makes a connection between celare artem and the concept of grace, which he describes 5
as ‘a certain sort of carelessness’.161 He defines grace as ‘the effect of a carefully disguised and 6
cleverly concealed Art’,162 and says that ‘the greatest power of Art [is] ... that the Art is carefully 7
concealed’.163 Van Hoogstraten describes various instances of dissimulatio like this, and con- 8
cludes that ‘the highest art [lies] in the semblance of negligence’.164 He contrasts ‘the unhappy 9
artificiality, and dullness, in which everything is forced and melancholy’ with 10
11
‘a kind of free casualness that yet conceals the art ... and makes all things naturally, as if 12
without thinking about it ... this is also why it is said that an orator can have no greater 13
accomplishment than to present his argument unaffectedly, as if it had just come to 14
him, otherwise he neglects a great advantage with his audience.’ 15
16
The author does warn his readers that this is a risky approach: too casual is much worse than 17
too careful.165 In simulating carelessness in painting, worldly prudence is, again, an important 18
virtue, with which the situation in the ‘great Court of this world’, the public’s mood, and the 19
style adapted to it, are adequately judged. 20
This issue of the complementarity of viewpoints makes clear how the ‘rough manner’ 21
reveals an area of tension that is inherent to the art of painting. An artist who knowingly works 22
‘with patches and rough strokes’ is calling attention to the distinction between on the one 23
hand the formless matter of the painter’s craft, which is revealed on close inspection, and on 24
the other the mind of the artist, which organizes everything in order to evoke a mental im- 25
age, a virtual reality. The rough manner operates on a fault line between ‘nature’ and ‘art’ and 26
deliberately leaves scope for chance to play a part. This, says Van Hoogstraten, explains both 27
nonfinito and leaving the ground and underpainting visible: 28
29
‘This is why great masters also sometimes left unfinished things that were fortuitously 30
apt when first laid in, for fear that they would spoil them. It may be, for instance, that 31
the ground on your canvas or panel may be opportune in the colouring and, with the 32
aid of a few dabs, may make your task easier.’166 33
34
In his chapter on ‘handling’ Van Hoogstraten also discusses Protogenes’ method of throwing 35
a sponge at the panel he was working on so as to create the successful illusion of foam on a 36
horse’s mouth.167 He relates the painter’s manipulation of chance elements to the stylistic virtue 37
of facility, ghemackelikcheydt:168 ‘it is as if [...] the eye makes out certain forms in rough sketches 38
of random objects, as we are accustomed to do in a fire in a hearth’.169 In this context, he dis- 39
cusses the landscape painter Jan van Goyen’s method of looking for recognizable forms in a 40
panel covered with arbitrary colours – a ‘Chaos of paint’ – a method that likewise involves de- 41
liberately playing with the ‘two perspectives’.170 Art and nature work together here: the method 42
makes it clear that art and nature, appearance and reality are not involved with one another in 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v           239
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 239 09-10-2008 16:53:52

1 a one-to-one relationship. It is the painter’s imagination that creates a bridge between the two
2 extremes, and the viewer’s imagination is an additional prerequisite if the illusion is to work.
3 The two perspectives of a virtual reality on one hand, and technique on the other,
4 complement each other in the diverting deception of painting. The rough manner evokes the
5 desired astonishment (‘astonishment of wonder’, in Junius’s words) in the viewer when he real-
6 izes just how thoroughly his senses have been deceived; the less the work of art corresponds on
7 closer examination to the reality it conjures up, the greater the effect of surprise and delight.
8 This view is expressed most clearly by Galileo in his exposition on the paragone: ‘the further
9 the means by which one imitates are removed from the things that one is imitating, the greater
10 the astonishment caused by the imitation’. Galileo compares this with the pleasure we feel
11 ‘when actors use diverse means and a manner of portrayal that is different in all ways from the
12 actions that are being portrayed’.171 These statements illustrate that in painting, the performa-
13 tive character of the artwork makes the ‘rough’ manner effective. Precise agreement with the
14 subject is not necessary; what matters is to create an illusion.
15 The effect of ‘astonishment’ that is generated by the complementarity of two opposites,
16 such as tangible paint versus an imagined three-dimensional space, can have a pleasurable,
17 recreative function. A painting made in this way is like a game in which semblance is unmasked
18 as such; Junius stresses the playful character of celare artem or the ‘hiding of the artifice’.172 The
19 admiration for the rough manner can therefore also be regarded in the light of Van Hoog-
20 straten’s contention that painting is able to deceive the public ‘in a diverting way’. The differ-
21 ent concepts we have identified in regard to the painterly virtue of loose brushwork – grace,
22 sprezzatura, facility and brevity – are valued in a related way as part of the courtly treatment
23 of dissimulatio, wilful dissembling. As we have seen, the ability to feign, to disguise one’s true
24 intentions, is an important quality for a courtier, and one that is associated in literary theory
25 with, for instance, irony.173
26
27 Ernst van de Wetering explicitly linked the courtly concept of sprezzatura with Rembrandt’s
28 studio. It applies particularly to Rembrandt’s portrait of Jan Six, in which the artist suggested
29 the subject’s hand and cuff with a few brushstrokes that are manifestly visible for what they
30 are.174 Six’s portrait is made to appeal to the taste of a highly sophisticated connoisseur, some-
31 one able to recognize and appreciate the rhetorical virtue of brevity.175 According to the theory
32 of performative ‘handling’, by painting with seeming carelessness Rembrandt is not just adver-
33 tising himself as being skilled in dissimulatio, he is also identifying his model as a man familiar
34 with this courtly virtue. Van Hoogstraten does not explicitly associate the ‘rough manner’ with
35 his teacher. But one of his pronouncements on a different subject, that of literature, may be
36 of some relevance: his opinion of Tacitus’s style, which sums up the aspects of brevity, facility
37 and obscurity:
38
39 ‘Among the Latin [authors] (so the worldly wise say) Tacitus occupies first place, and
40 who can encompass so many things in so few words better than he ... He is truly ad-
41 mirable, appearing as if it does not really concern him, he so excellently and without
42 any confusion gives his true account, and never deviates from his strict composition, in
43 order to teach, just as silk-embroiderers arrange the gold and silver in their work ... It
44
45
240          the e l oque nce of col o u r
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 240 09-10-2008 16:53:52

 is true that, because he is profoundly succinct and somewhat obscure, a quick mind is 1
needed to understand him, which is why he is also criticized by some.’176 2
3
Brevitas, we thus learn, aims at encompassing many things in a few words (the rhetorical con- 4
cept of emphasis), and at achieving a seeming artlessness, a stylistic virtue that leads to a greater 5
impression of truth in a story (waragtige vertelling), providing that the material is ordered in a 6
good composition (schikken); at the same time, extreme brevity can sometimes result in obscu- 7
ritas, so that it is primarily the select group of devotees with a quick mind (gauw verstant) who 8
can appreciate the value of this method. 9
The debate about the connotations of the ‘rough’ versus the ‘fine’ manner of painting 10
is important for a better understanding of Van Hoogstraten’s dislike of painting with ‘smooth 11
stiffness’ and ‘precise finicking’, which cannot always be reconciled with his own practice as 12
an artist. His serious condemnation of ‘finicking work’ correlates directly with his remarks 13
about the rhetorical qualities of the ‘rough’ manner. Paintings without visible brushstrokes 14
lack one of the central aspects that make painting interesting as ‘commendable deception’: the 15
deliberate playing with appearance and reality and with the puncturing of the illusion. Van 16
Hoogstraten’s high regard for sketches and for a swift, ‘alert’ approach are linked to this.177 17
We may conclude our discussion of rough and fine brushwork by observing that Van 18
Hoogstraten’s theoretical appreciation of a particular ‘handling’ cannot be seen in isolation 19
from his admiration for a particular choice of subject. His positive view of a rapid, broadly 20
conceived method and of simulated nonchalance explains not only his attacks on the ‘smooth’ 21
manner of the ‘fine painters’, who ‘paint themselves blind ... with unnecessarily finicking 22
work’,178 but also his aversion to the rendition of a great many details in the subject chosen. 23
Van Hoogstraten accuses the proponents of the ‘precise’ style of focusing on almost invisible 24
minutiae: ‘some have now taken the desire for precision so far that, even in pictures two spans 25
wide ... they pointlessly depict almost invisible things’.179 In this he agrees with Boschini, who 26
in championing the rapid brushstroke mocks painters who focus on insignificant things and 27
describes them as pygmies.180 Not only does Van Hoogstraten’s condemnation of ‘finicking 28
work’ in style and choice of subject prove to be a commonplace of art theory, it also appears 29
that his aversion to an excess of inconsequential detail does not derive directly from a prefer- 30
ence for proportionate beauty based on classical antiquity, but rather and predominantly from 31
an artistic ideal that regards rhetorical persuasiveness as key. 32
33
34
th e co lou rs o f th e dutch countryside 35
In early modern art theory, and likewise in the Inleyding, the specific properties of colour are 36
associated with one subject in particular: landscape painting. It is here that the qualities and 37
shortcomings of Netherlandish artists are deemed to be revealed. We will try to work out a 38
‘theory of landscape’ on the basis of Van Hoogstraten’s views of the rhetorical and emotional 39
effect of colour. In this process, we will identify the specific artistic terminology that does not 40
relate directly to history painting, the ‘degree of painting’ where the depiction of the passions 41
is accorded a clear effect and function. This leads on to an explanation of the way ideas about 42
the persuasiveness of the image may have been important in legitimating a relatively new genre 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v           241
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 241 09-10-2008 16:53:52

1 like landscape, which is described in art literature from Vasari onwards as the subject in which
2 Netherlandish artists excel.
3 Van Hoogstraten’s passage ‘On Landscape’, which is devoted exclusively to this subject,
4 is part of his chapter on colour and is followed by the passage on ‘Handling or Manner of
5 Painting’. The conceptual interweaving of skills in colour and in the rendition of landscape
6 is evident from, for instance, the author’s judgement of Titian. He praises the master for his
7 incomparable ‘handling’ but also reports that when Titian took some Dutch painters into his
8 house and tried to emulate their works, he succeeded in surpassing them in landscape painting:
9 ‘which alongside his great judgement in imitating life made him the best Landscape Painter
10 in the World.’181 Indeed, his is a topical construct: Paolo Pino, in his Dialogo di pittura (1548),
11 reports emphatically that he had seen landscapes by Titian that surpassed those of the Nether-
12 landish painters.182 The traditional praise of Titian often mentions both his abilities in painting
13 flesh and his skill at landscapes. Lomazzo writes, for instance, that ‘Titian coloured mountains
14 and plains in particular with a magnificent manner ... in flesh tones he achieved just as much
15 beauty and grace, with his blending of colours and his shades that are true to life and seem to
16 live, and one sees in his [method] principally softness and tenderness’.183 Lomazzo uses similar
17 terms praising the painter in his Rime: ‘He has been unique among the world’s painters in giv-
18 ing living spirit and colour to paintings, and he surpassed everyone in painting landscapes’.184
19 As we shall see, colour is a connecting thread in the theoretical esteem for both landscape and
20 flesh in which a painter like Titian was deemed to have excelled.185
21 In her dissertation Towards an Italian Renaissance Theory of Landscape written in 1998,
22 Karen Goodchild explored the way that the regard for the landscape in Italian art literature
23 is intimately related to the reputation of Netherlandish artists and their use of colour.186 Van
24 Hoogstraten refers to this tradition when he says that ‘even the Italians have long had to con-
25 cede that the Netherlanders outdo them in landscapes’.187 The commonplaces that accreted
26 around Netherlandish painting are summed up in Pino’s opinion of the landscape art of the
27 oltramontani, the Northerners, who excel in the landscape because they concentrate chiefly on
28 ‘depicting the countryside in which they live’: ‘this part of a painter’s activities is very fitting
29 and delightful for himself and for others; and the method of depicting landscapes in a mirror,
30 as the Northerners do, is very appropriate’.188 Lomazzo provides a list of exemplary landscape
31 painters, and most of them are Netherlandish – artists like Joachim Patinir, Herri met de Bles,
32 Jan van Scorel, Gillis Mostaert, Pieter Breugel and Lucas van Leyden, who all feature in the
33 Inleyding.189
34 As Goodchild convincingly demonstrated with the aid of references to the work of
35 Vasari and others, the opinion of Northern landscapes formulated in Southern Europe also
36 has a negative component rooted in the paragone debate between the ‘poles’ of drawing and
37 colour. Vasari describes the painted landscape in the prejudiced vocabulary of the paragone,
38 making it clear that this area of painting belongs first and foremost to the domain of colorito.
39 With their abundance of details and their emphasis on atmospheric perspective, Dutch land-
40 scapes, he asserts, lack disegno, focus solely on the natural environment and conjure up no more
41 than a cosmetic illusion.190 This complex of views is related to the technological debate about
42 the invention of oil paint. It was said that this Netherlandish technique pitted a deceptive art
43 with seductive, magic powers against the pure conception of art based on the disegno of antiq-
44
45
242          the e l oque nce of col o u r
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 242 09-10-2008 16:53:52

 uity. Van Hoogstraten, for instance, says that Van Eyck only discovered oil paint ‘after long, 1
alchemistic research’, a view he shares with Vasari, who for this reason also describes Van Eyck 2
as a ‘sophist’, seeking intellectual misdirection.191 3
Michelangelo’s view of this new medium, as recorded by Francisco de Holanda, is de- 4
cidedly negative; Van Hoogstraten refers to the opinion attributed to this master with the 5
remark that Michelangelo regarded painting in oil as only fit for women.192 In De Holanda’s 6
account, Michelangelo asserts that the art of the Northerners is only suitable for women and 7
the feeble-minded, and has a strong emotional effect on them: ‘Netherlandish art appeals to 8
women, particularly very old or very young women, monks and nuns and certain nobles who 9
are devoid of any feeling for true harmony’. Northern landscape art, he argues, concentrates 10
only on the ‘outside’ of things and on deceiving the eye: ‘in the Netherlands they paint to de- 11
ceive the gaze directed at the external [...] their panels are nothing but materials, ruins, green 12
fields, shadows of trees, rivers and bridges, which they call landscapes’.193 13
De Holanda believes that their interest in details means that Netherlandish painters 14
focus on too many different subjects and achieve perfection in none of them. Van Hoogstraten 15
refutes this traditional opinion – ‘the saying of the Italians that who tries too much, achieves 16
little’ – and calls on the theory of the humours to explain the difference between Netherlandish 17
and Italian art: their cold, phlegmatic nature means that the Dutch have great patience so that 18
they can concentrate on these details, whereas the hot, sanguine Italians are more accom- 19
plished in visualizing intellectual inventions.194 In Van Hoogstraten’s view, it is precisely the 20
universality of painting that is its greatest quality. It can be argued that with this remark he is 21
implicitly choosing the ‘universal knowledge’ of Netherlandish painting over the more focused 22
art of the Italians. 23
Van Hoogstraten’s regard for landscape painting is closely bound up with the esteem in 24
which he held the ‘universal master’ skilled in all ‘degrees of art’, and his description of paint- 25
ing as ‘knowledge’ directed towards imitating ‘the entire Visible World’. In Van Hoogstraten’s 26
fourth chapter, in which he discusses landscape, he also deals with a multitude of naturalia and 27
artificialia; separate sections are devoted to specific areas such as different hairstyles, buildings, 28
clothes, household goods and animals, with the aim, typical of the Inleyding, of providing a 29
complete summary of all elements of the visible world. He notes that an artist may call on the 30
help of a specialist when it comes to landscape parerga, but that the ‘universal’ master must 31
also become adept at this ‘by-work’ himself; aspiring young painters must, after all, strive ‘to 32
become masters in all the elements of our art’.195 33
The landscape was thus conceived as a valuable part of a virtuoso painter’s work, and 34
was probably a factor in the endeavours of an artist like Rembrandt to develop into a pictor 35
absolutus who could measure up to Rubens and Titian. At precisely the time when Rembrandt 36
was producing his small but substantial ‘oeuvre’ of landscapes, he was engaged in developing 37
an international artistic persona, and by means of self-portraits and in other ways was carving 38
out a place for himself alongside an artist like Titian.196 Van Hoogstraten himself was faith- 39
ful in practice to his theoretical dogma: Houbraken writes of his universal skill and mentions 40
landscapes by his hand. These have probably not survived.197 41
In examining this appreciation of the landscape as part of a painter’s ‘universal’ exper- 42
tise it has to be borne in mind that the painted landscape is seen as a locus for poetic licence. 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v           243
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 243 09-10-2008 16:53:52

1 Indeed, the poetic freedom to experiment with figures of speech and other stylistic ‘ornaments’
2 is interpreted in art theory as a theoretical motivation for colouristic experiment. The identi-
3 fication of landscape painting with Northern European colorito means, on the one hand, that
4 the landscape – in which, after all, the emphasis is on sensory pleasure rather than on any intel-
5 lectual component – is accorded a low theoretical status. It can, though, be demonstrated that
6 on the other hand the landscape does have a certain advantage: it provides scope for artistic
7 freedom, for colouristic virtuosity and for chance: for a ‘dialogue’ between ‘Mother Nature’
8 and the artist’s own innate ability.198 As we shall see, the comparison ut pictura poesis, which
9 legitimizes painterly experiment, also means that landscape is judged with the aid of a number
10 of terms from rhetorical theory.
11
12
13 The rhetorical landscape
14 The chapter in which Van Hoogstraten treats the landscape is dedicated to Erato, ‘the Goddess
15 of Love Poetry’, whom he praises for having inspired Sappho’s amorous poems. This Muse,
16 associated in the Inleyding with the planet Venus, holds sway over the places where the ‘ladies
17 of the court ... sigh for love’, and she leads the reader ‘among the shady trees, or into the airy
18 meadow; because the Meadow Nymphs ... make the Woods and Mountains echo with love
19 songs.’199 This placing of the landscape elements of a painting in an amorous context is not
20 without significance, as we shall see; it is related to the identification of colouristic ‘ornament’
21 with feminine seduction. A comparison between poetry and painting is essential here; Van
22 Hoogstraten’s section entitled ‘On Landscapes’ contains a great many poetic passages: adapta-
23 tions of Virgil, Tasso, Hooft and Van Mander, and some ten passages that are not attributed
24 to an author and may be based on Van Hoogstraten’s own experiences during his travels. He
25 explains these poetic aids thus: ‘Whose artistic spirit would not burst forth with something
26 extraordinary when he hears the Poets sing of the landscape in such Painterly words?’200
27 In a passage on ‘Poetic landscapes’, Van Hoogstraten makes a comparison between
28 painter and poet, citing the creative licence they both enjoy when treating the landscape:
29 ‘where the Poet plays, the Painter likewise has free rein’.201 He continues, perhaps surprisingly,
30 not with an exposition of painting the Arcadian landscape but with an exhortation to young
31 artists to ‘head for the woods’ to study the various facets of the visible world ‘each according to
32 its own properties’.202 He also believes that artists have ‘more freedom’ in the landscape than
33 they do, for instance, in paintings of architecture, ‘which are governed by stricter rules’.203
34 Here he is echoing the Italian tradition, in which the painted landscape is regarded as a place
35 where poetic and artistic aims meet. Giorgione’s landscapes, for instance, with their figures
36 who appear to do little more than enjoy their colourful surroundings could thus be described
37 as ‘poetic experiments’.204 The landscape, specifically, provides scope for practice in the ‘col-
38 ours of Rhetorike’, prompting the comparison between the painted landscape and poetry; thus
39 Lomazzo compares Ariosto and Titian: ‘here Ariosto colours, and demonstrates in this use of
40 colour that he is a Titian’.205
41 Studies into landscape descriptions in Dutch seventeenth-century poetry reveal a ten-
42 dency to sing the praises of the countryside through a comparison with paintings and the
43 painter’s contemplative observation of nature.206 The description of the landscape, which had
44
45
244          the e l oque nce of col o u r
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 244 09-10-2008 16:53:53

 a place in pastoral and georgic literature, is thus the locus of the audendi potestas, the ‘freedom 1
to experiment’ in which artists and poets are alike, according to the comparison in Horace’s 2
Ars poetica.207 In this context, Leonardo goes so far as to turn the accepted paragone on its head 3
when he says that in the landscape ‘the poet, too, wants to be called a painter’.208 Similarly, 4
Gilio remarks that ‘poetic licence is expressed in many things’, following this with a long list of 5
pastoral elements: ‘different sorts of trees ... mountains, hills, valleys, meadows, fields, rivers, 6
pools, springs, streams, fish, animals, birds of diverse species’ and so forth.209 What is striking 7
in the context of Van Hoogstraten’s notion of painting as ‘universal knowledge’, is the con- 8
nection Gilio makes between poetic licence on the one hand and the painter’s ability to depict 9
different elements of the visible world on the other.210 10
Landscape descriptions in poetry treat not only the ‘ordered’ nature of the cultivated 11
parkland of the seventeenth-century aristocratic outdoor life that Van Hoogstraten illustrates 12
on the title page of the chapter dedicated to Erato but may equally extol wild nature (fig. 94). 13
We see this, for instance, in Sannazaro’s influential Arcadia of 1504, a work familiar to Van 14
Hoogstraten who reports it was the basis for his novel Haegaenveld; Van Mander also refers to 15
it:211 16
17
‘In general tall trees with spreading branches, produced by nature in awe-inspiring 18
mountains, give greater pleasure to those who behold them than plants cultivated and 19
pruned with a skilled hand in luxuriant gardens (le coltivate piante, da dotte mani espur- 20
gate, negli adorni giardini) … Who can doubt that a spring, surrounded by green plants, 21
rising naturally from a rock, is more pleasing to us than any fountains, works of art of 22
the whitest marble and glittering with much gold?’212 23
24
In its cultivated and uncultivated forms, the landscape serves Van Hoogstraten as scope for 25
experimentation and thus for emulation, with the emphasis on making colouristic discoveries: 26
27
‘If the orchard, white with blossom, promises an abundance of fruit, then, Young Paint- 28
er! do not let lazy sleepiness rob you of this invaluable time, but begin things that have 29
never been seen before. Paint for me then the green grass as the dew drops from it, 30
and the fresh flowers from life; you will find colours that no Painter ever captured in 31
a work. ... Having done common things for long enough, he who feels the spur of a 32
desire for honour, turns his hand to something higher, and quickly discovers a rare and 33
new find.’213 34
35
The poet and painter’s creative ‘play’ with the subject of the landscape can, it seems, be con- 36
ceived as a source of relaxation and diversion, not only for the viewer, but for the painter him- 37
self. This view is expressed by De Piles: 38
39
‘Of all the pleasures afforded to those who practise the various skills involved in Paint- 40
ing, executing a Landscape seems to me both the most tangible and the easiest: for in 41
its wide range of subject matter the Painter has more opportunities than in any other 42
form of this Art to derive satisfaction from the choice available to him.’214 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v           245
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 245 09-10-2008 16:53:53

1 These poetic ideas about landscape are related to the fact that the seventeenth-century viewer
2 could evaluate this new subject in rhetorical terms. Landscape painting was credited with cer-
3 tain affective qualities and with an affective impact, as an extension of the affective power of
4 colour.215 This is linked to the supposed performative effect of a painting: the person looking
5 at the painting behaves as if he is actually present in the countryside he sees. The ekphrastic
6 descriptions of landscapes found in many writings on art theory are typical of this thinking. Ju-
7 nius, for instance, tells us that an art lover looking at a landscape made by a painter is contem-
8 plating nature itself.216 Van Hoogstraten describes in an uncompromisingly ekphrastic manner
9 a painting of a desert in Armenia that provokes sensations of heat and thirst in the viewer.217 In
10 his poem On a Storm, his friend Joachim Oudaen describes how the sight of a painted storm
11 struck fear into his heart and how the ‘motions of his mind’ were whipped up by the ‘commo-
12 tion’ in the painting:
13
14 ‘The very sight
15 Seems, in the storm (so vivid is the art)
16 To enmesh us too;
17 The misty light,
18 The cloud-shrouded sun, sown at its thinnest,
19 Seems to agitate us,
20 With inward fear, and heartache.’218
21
22 The most famous description of nature in the literature of art is probably Aretino’s letter to
23 Titian of 1544, in which he reverses the usual order: Aretino describes a landscape by compar-
24 ing it with a painting made by Titian. He writes that the sky looked exactly as one would want
25 it to in a Titian painting, and the houses, although they were real houses made of real stone,
26 looked as though they were painted (benché sien pietre vere, parevano di materia artificiata):219 in
27 Aretino’s words reality at that moment is so ‘lifelike’ that it appears to be virtual. The quota-
28 tions from Oudaen and Aretino indicate how the painted landscape was alotted rhetorical
29 properties that were without question important for its emancipation as a genre with its own
30 intellectual status. These connotations must have been among the factors that persuaded art-
31 ists such as Rembrandt to take it up.
32 According to early modern natural philosophy, the affective power of landscape paint-
33 ing can be explained on the basis of the conviction that nature is itself animated. The affective
34 powers of natura naturans are supposed to impact the beholder, in line with the belief that the
35 beholder of particular affects is in turn touched by the same feelings. Leonardo therefore sees
36 nature as itself affectively moved, and exhorts artists to take note of ‘cheerful places’ and the
37 ‘jokes of the winding rivers’.220 In a characteristic summing-up he describes ‘ruins in moun-
38 tains, terrifying and frightful places that strike fear into the hearts of the beholders, and then
39 pleasant, sweet and delightful spots with flower-filled meadows of different colours that are
40 stirred by gentle ripples and by the soft movements of the winds’.221 But it is above all to flow-
41 ing water that Leonardo attributes an animated, and thus affective, quality: ‘the raging water
42 expresses its anger, and sometimes, beaten by the winds, flies from out of the sea ... and hunts
43 down everything that stands in the path of its destruction’.222
44
45
246          the e l oque nce of col o u r
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 246 09-10-2008 16:53:53

 In the Italian tradition of art theory, Lomazzo coins the term motus, motion or move- 1
ment, for the affective qualities of the landscape, making a distinction between a vegetative 2
motus expressed in the movements of plants, and an ‘elemental’ motus revealed in the move- 3
ments of, for instance, water and fire.223 These forms of beweeglijkheid – that ‘moving quality’ 4
– are deemed to act on the viewer in the same way as the sight of human passions.224 Van Hoog- 5
straten himself describes a painting by Palma il Vecchio – ‘a magnificent Shipwreck in a terri- 6
ble storm at Sea’: ‘Here we see the skill of the Captain, the oars bending with the power of the 7
rowers, the violence of the winds, the heaving and breaking of the waves, the lightning from 8
the Heavens, and the Painter’s elevated mind, so wonderfully intertwined that the whole piece 9
appears to move when one looks at it.’225 In this case Lomazzo’s moto elementale is assumed to 10
fill the painting: the different affectively ‘moving’ components work together – the elements of 11
water and air with their literal ‘elemental motion’, the physical movements of the rowers, the 12
active mind of the helmsman, and lastly the ‘motions of the mind’ of the artist himself, who 13
conjured all this up in his mind’s eye and experienced it, with the result that the painting itself 14
has a ‘moving’ effect on the viewer. 15
The conception of nature as animated principle makes clear that it is not just the tonal 16
and colour qualities that give the painted landscape its supposed affective powers, the painter’s 17
imitative skills are also crucial: after all, it is nature itself that has an affective impact on human 18
beings. For instance, painted water is ascribed a soporific effect: Junius describes ‘sweet brooks 19
running with a soft murmuring noise, holding our eyes open with their azure streames, and yet 20
seeking to close our eyes with the purling noise made among the pebble-stones’.226 Ultimately, 21
the bright colours of visible nature are thought to imbue the landscape with healing qualities. 22
Tellingly, Van Hoogstraten begins his section on the landscape with Plutarch’s observation: 23
‘The most pleasing colour of all ... restores and delights the sight in its liveliness and joy’; the 24
only way to describe this therapeutic colour is to compare it with ‘a landscape of a thousand 25
broken colours ... when sweet spring renews the meadows and fields, and the woods lift up 26
their new-leafed crowns’.227 The notion that the painted landscape has a restorative function is 27
set down authoritatively in Robert Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy (1621), which describes how 28
a sick man is refreshed both by looking at nature and by the virtuous reflection of the ‘Second 29
Bible’: ‘A sicke man sits upon a greene banke [...] and feeds his eyes with a variety of objects, 30
hearbes, trees, to comfort his misery, he receaves many delightful smells, and fills his ears with 31
that sweet and various harmony of Birds: good God what a company of pleasures hast thou 32
made for man?’ The author continues by observing that, like the landscape itself, paintings of 33
it can have the same beneficial effect, particularly works by ‘many of those Italian and Dutch 34
painters, which were most excellent in their ages’.228 35
Burton describes in this context the decoration on Achilles’s shield, referring to a fa- 36
mous ekphrasis that is also cited by Van Hoogstraten.229 Achilles was said to have been cured 37
of his melancholy by gazing on: 38
39
‘Sunne, Moone, Starre, Planets, Sea, Land, men fighting, running, riding, women scold- 40
ing, hils, dales, townes, castles, brookes, rivers, trees &c. with many pretty landskips, 41
and perspective peaces; with sight of which he was infinitely delighted; and much eased 42
of his grief ... Who will not be affected so in like case, ... to see those excellent land- 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v           247
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 247 09-10-2008 16:53:53

1 skips, Dutch-workes, and curious cuts of [Egidius] Sad[e]lier, of Sprange[r], Alburtus
2 Dürer, Goltzius, [Vredeman de] Vrintes &c. such pleasant peeces of perspective[?]230
3
4 A telling aspect of Burton’s theory is that the all-encompassing scope of the depiction of the
5 visible world, which is described by Van Hoogstraten in much the same way, is associated with
6 the healing effect of contemplating the Creation. Van Hoogstraten reflects this idea when he
7 puts forward his prescription for melancholy – go out into the countryside.231 This exhortation
8 recurs in his chapter on landscape painting; in the poem ‘To Lovers of Landscape’ he describes
9 the countryside as a remedy for melancholy brought on by too much study.232
10
11
12 Universality and ‘veranderlijkheid’ in landscape
13 The rhetorical pattern from which the theoretical appraisal of the landscape derives is gov-
14 erned not by the paragone between colorito and disegno alone, but also by that between painting
15 and sculpture. While the strongest argument in the paragone against painting is its mendacious
16 nature – it is described as a ‘semblance without being’ that is far less durable than sculpture
17 – the strongest argument in favour of painting is that it can also portray all sorts of ephemeral
18 phenomena. It is, above all, oil paint’s ability to render reflections and textures that is decisive.
19 De Brune, for instance, stresses in his version of the paragone that painting is ‘much more
20 universal’ than sculpture and is able ‘to imitate everything one can see, which is impossible for
21 Sculptors’.233 In this context we may repeat Angel’s most elaborate argument that the painter,
22 in contrast to the sculptor, can concentrate on a multitude of details in colour and light, such
23 as multicoloured animals and materials that reflect light in different ways:
24
25 ‘Painting [is] much more universal [than sculpture] because it is able to imitate Nature
26 much more abundantly: for as well as depicting all sorts of Animals, such as Birds, Fish,
27 Worms, Flies, Spiders, Caterpillars, it can also show all kinds of Metals: distinguishing
28 between them, such as Gold, Silver, Metal, Copper, Pewter, Lead, and the rest of them.
29 One can depict by it the Rainbow, Rain, Thunder, Lightning, Clouds, Mist, Light,
30 Reflection, and other such things.’
31
32 Angel follows his remark with a list of different forms of lighting and reflection.234 It is striking
33 that in his summing-up he mentions the surface of reflective metals in the same breath as a
34 notoriously ephemeral phenomenon like ‘horses foaming at the mouth’. Elsewhere in his trea-
35 tise Angel uses the term veranderlijkheid – literally ‘changeability’ – to index the singularities of
36 the expression of surface textures, reflections and other ephemeral phenomena associated with
37 colour. Although this term is related to the rhetorical virtue of varietas, Angel does not mean
38 the same as the verscheidenheid – variety – that has to please the eye, the term usually used by
39 Van Hoogstraten and Van Mander.235 The term veranderlijkheid refers more specifically than
40 verscheidenheid to the constant flux to which the visible world is subject. It is related, for in-
41 stance, to Ripa’s assertion that links the ‘veranderinge [that] is diverting for all things’ with the
42 impossibility of relying on routine in depicting shot (or changeant) fabrics, which constantly
43 reflect the light in different ways.236 The representation of satin and other reflecting fabrics
44
45
248          the e l oque nce of col o u r
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 248 09-10-2008 16:53:53

 was a specific concern for Dutch painters, among whom Gerard ter Borch deserves special 1
mention: apparently, fabrics like these could only be painted from life, and their successful 2
rendition demonstrated a highly specialized artistic skill. 3
In early modern art theory, the ability to render variables that affect the sense of sight, 4
such as reflected light, smoke and mist, is often put forward as an argument in praise of paint- 5
ing. Van Hoogstraten also describes how painters are able to represent different weather con- 6
ditions, mentioning Rubens among others.237 He may well have known Oudaen’s numerous 7
poems about weather phenomena; these introduce a painter referred to as ‘Neun’, who, when 8
he painted ‘torrential rain and a rainbow’, was so carried away by the virtual reality he had cre- 9
ated that he was actually drenched.238 In the context of capturing fleeting atmospheric effects, 10
Varchi bases painting’s claim to superiority on its focus on ‘light, sky, smoke, breath, clouds, 11
reflections and other infinite phenomena, like the sunrise, dawn, night, the colours of water, 12
the feathers of birds, the hair and the flesh of humans and of all animals, sweat, foam, and other 13
things that the sculptors cannot do’.239 14
In the paragone, it is specifically the concept of colour that can prove painting’s claim 15
to universality by making snapshots of ephemeral phenomena. Bisagni argues: ‘the miracle 16
of colour ... shows the difference between each animal ... and it distinguishes the people of 17
every region; ... as for the elements, it shows flames, water, springs, clouds, lightning, thunder 18
and hail, and almost all the virtues of colour are contained in these things’. He concludes that 19
painting can portray the whole of Creation, indeed, ‘that there is nothing created by God that 20
one cannot represent with colour’ and regards this as the greatest praise that can be bestowed 21
on one of the arts.240 22
That colouristic variety is seen as an inherent element of the beauty of landscape prob- 23
ably needs no explanation. Castiglione, for instance, explicitly associates the power of colour 24
with the painted landscape. In his view, the sculptor 25
26
‘can in no way express that golden-yellow hair, nor the gleam of arms, nor a dark night, 27
nor a thunderstorm, nor lightning and fiery flashes, nor the burning of a town, nor the 28
break of day, with its rosy glow: and in short he cannot really show us the sky, nor the 29
sea, nor the earth, nor the mountains, nor the meadows, nor the forests, nor the rivers, 30
nor towns and houses, all of which the Painter can do.’241 31
32
The ideas about landscape can be worked out in such a way that the countryside functions as 33
pars pro toto for the multiplicity of the visible world that can be reproduced with colour. As 34
Van Mander observes about colour, ‘in sum, colour visibly captures here / everything in the 35
World created by God’, and he expands at length on the countless different (diferentich) col- 36
ours of the landscape.242 It is striking that Van Hoogstraten explicitly does not wish to go into 37
the paragone between painting and sculpture because – as he tells us – the two arts developed 38
from drawing like ‘twins from a single conception’.243 Perhaps his exhaustive descriptions of 39
everyday objects, hairstyles, dress and different sorts of lighting in the various chapters of the 40
Inleyding render a summary like those provided by Angel and Castiglione redundant. 41
Junius gives a summing-up of the landscape painter’s subject; this can be seen as an ek- 42
phrasis of a non-existent series of generic landscape paintings. It includes a compilation of the 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v           249
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 249 09-10-2008 16:53:53

1 various characteristics of colouring: the rendition of ephemeral details, such as light, sunrise
2 and sunset; the universal ability of the painter; and special colour effects like the rainbow:
3
4 ‘[Art lovers] doe marke the wide heaven beset with an endlesse number of bright and
5 glorious starres; the watery clouds of severall colours, together with the miraculously
6 painted raine-bow; how the great Lampe of light up-rearing his flaming head above the
7 earth, causeth the dawning day to spread a faint and trembling light upon the flichering
8 gilded waves; how the fiery glimmering of that same glorious eye of the world, being
9 lessened about noon-tide, lesneth the shadowes of all things; how darksome night be-
10 ginneth to display her coal-black curtain over the brightest skie, dimming the spacious
11 reach of heaven with a shady dampe ... pleasant arbors and long rowes of lofty trees,
12 clad with summers pride ... thick woods, graced between the stumpes with a pure and
13 grasse-greene soile, the beames of the Sunne here and there breaking thorough the
14 thickest boughes, and diversly enlightning the shadie ground.’244
15
16 Apparently, as one of the skills of the ‘universal master’, specific landscape effects are certainly
17 not an unimportant area of interest for seventeenth-century Dutch artists wishing to rival their
18 predecessors in Southern Europe.
19 Art theory even emphasizes that a certain temperament and emotional sensibility are as
20 indispensable in depicting the landscape as they are to the portrayal of human passions. Since
21 landscape is not subject to the strict decorum of history painting, the painter’s ‘motions of the
22 mind’ can be expressed fairly directly indeed. Van Hoogstraten associates sensitivity to a spe-
23 cific area of art with a division derived from the theory of rhetoric: the three ‘modes’ or modi.
24 Like the genera dicendi, this division supposes a ‘high’, ‘low’ and ‘intermediate’ manner. This
25 classification is closely related to the term decorum: the painter, like the orator, has to adapt his
26 style to the subject he chooses and take account of his natural talent.
27 Writing about this classification, Van Hoogstraten notes that ‘the most eminent Paint-
28 ers also always have one thing that they do best’. One might concentrate on details, another
29 will place the same sort of image in a composition with strong chiaroscuro, and ‘intensify it
30 wonderfully with well-placed shadows (schikschaduwe) and rhythmically ordered figures (beel-
31 d­esprong)’. A third ‘follows the Roman refinement of Raphael and Angelo’ and believes that
32 ‘the control of light and shade is a brittle crutch: and erroneously that to beautify one thing,
33 one must darken the other’.245 Art historians have often called upon the division of the modi in
34 order to explain the rise of new genres; the division was studied by Gombrich, for example, as
35 one of the most important legitimizing principles for the theory of landscape painting.246 The
36 fact that an artist like Rembrandt chose to paint landscapes with bold chiaroscuro and classical
37 staffage might perhaps be explained as a decision to pursue a landscape modus that was in keep-
38 ing with his temperament, in which ‘the control of light and shade’ acquires a value in its own
39 right as a style element (compare fig. 95).
40 In his description of a ‘painting contest’ Van Hoogstraten explicitly applies to the land-
41 scape a tripartite classification strongly allied to his theory of the three modi. Here we have
42 three landscape painters, each obeying his own nature, developing totally different painting
43 styles. In the contest between Knipbergen, Van Goyen and Porcellis (mentioned above, page
44
45
250          the e l oque nce of col o u r
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 250 09-10-2008 16:53:53

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
fig. 95 – Rembrandt, Landscape with a City on a Hill, ca. 1638, panel, 52 x 72 cm. 22
Herzog Anton-Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig. 23
24
165), Van Hoogstraten again identifies three manners among the landscape painters, arriving at 25
a different classification. Whereas the first manner is apparently based on routine, and the last 26
on contemplation of an ideal mental image, chance plays a major part in Van Goyen’s work: 27
28
‘having roughly splashed all over his panel, here light, there dark, more or less like a 29
multicoloured Agate, or marbled paper, [Van Goyen] looked for all sorts of fortuitous 30
drolleries in it, which he rendered recognizable with little effort and many small brush- 31
strokes ... and in short his eye, trained to see forms that were concealed in a Chaos of 32
paint, directed his hand and understanding so skilfully that one saw a complete Paint- 33
ing before one could rightly perceive what he had in mind.’247 34
35
In this case landscape appears to offer scope for playing with the effects of chance: the painter 36
is able to turn ‘a Chaos of paint’ to his own ends so that a convincing illusion is created. Here 37
Van Hoogstraten uses the metaphor of the gemstone: Van Goyen apparently lays in his paint- 38
ing like ‘a multicoloured Agate’. This is a key commonplace in the theory that deals with the 39
image made by chance. In a very literal way, this commonplace had a practical application in 40
the images of landscapes in certain cabinets of curiosities, where stones were treated with a 41
solution of chemicals to create a fanciful silhouette that can be recognized as a landscape.248 42
Gemstones were also used as grounds for paintings, part of the pattern on the stone being left 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v           251
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 251 09-10-2008 16:54:02

1 unpainted.249 The example of gemstones illustrates how natural and artificial objects can be
2 combined to create works of art; Junius writes of ‘instances of Paintings that nature, in imita-
3 tion of Art, seems to pour forth from her generous breast by chance’, and uses the example of
4 precious stones to demonstrate that nature itself inspires man to paint.250
5 Van Hoogstraten too describes ‘agate paintings’, stones that ‘nature’ has given the form
6 of a recognizable object, and various gemstones which, with their distinct ‘properties’ are be-
7 lieved to express certain ‘essences’.251 This remark exemplifies that the magic effect ascribed to
8 gemstones in the early modern period is closely linked to their colour. As the Inleyding tells us,
9 certain elemental qualities are inherent to particular coloured stones.252 In his painting treatise,
10 Lomazzo explicitly sets out the affective power of the colours of gems, comparing their effect
11 with that of alchemy; in 1565 the art theorist Dolce even wrote a complete lapidarium, a trea-
12 tise on precious stones.253 Van Hoogstraten does not question in any way the belief, still widely
13 held in the seventeenth century, in precious stones’ ‘action at a distance’. On the one hand the
14 strong affective force of gems is directly related to their splendour and colour, and linked to the
15 awareness of the deceptive allure of these stones. On the other, the stones are associated with
16 chance, nature, and the painted landscape. These various topoi recur in a passage in the Inley-
17 ding where the author speaks of ‘blushing dawn, so graceful in her splendid, many-coloured
18 attire’ while ‘the golden Sun and Moon and Stars garland the gold-embellished Sapphires in
19 the blue Azure’. As the colours of gems are ‘nature’s painting’, so sunset itself is the Creator’s
20 work of art, giving rise to a colouristic harmony that has a salutary effect and ‘seems to refresh
21 our eyes’.254 There is also a more obvious technical connotation attached to the association of
22 colour and gemstones: lapis lazuli was used to make the costly pigment ultramarine. For our
23 analysis it may suffice to point out that the topoi of ‘nature who herself paints’, the supposed
24 affective impact of inanimate objects and the tension between ‘nature and art’ are all brought
25 into the debate about the power of colour.
26 The concepts of changeability and chance, and the painter’s virtuoso handling of them,
27 lend the landscape a status of its own as an area for experimenting with colour. The art historian
28 Mark Roskill suggested that in his landscapes Rembrandt also used the method Van Hoogstraten
29 ascribes to Jan van Goyen.255 There was in any event a clear justification for this approach in the
30 theory of art, associated with ideas about the modi and about the artist’s natural aptitude.
31
32
33 a pa i n terly a rt
34 A central concept in the complex of ideas that surround the evaluation of landscape
35 painting is schilderachtig – painterly or picturesque. This difficult term relates, among other
36 things, to the multiplicity of effects that can be rendered with colour, which are essential to
37 the seventeenth-century evaluation of the painted landscape. It also relates to the painter’s
38 universal skill at depicting precisely those ‘changeable’, ephemeral properties of the visible
39 world. In the Netherlands, the term schilderachtig is found for the first time in Van Mander’s
40 treatise of 1604, later it was used by De Bisschop, Van Hoogstraten and De Lairesse.256
41 In a 1995 article Boudewijn Bakker showed how the painter and poet Gerbrant Bredero
42 uses the term schilderachtig as a synonym for ‘following nature’. The poet states that the way he
43 works derives in its entirety from his training as a painter. It obeys a ‘painterly maxim’ to the
44
45
252          the e l oque nce of col o u r
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 252 09-10-2008 16:54:02

 effect that the best painters are those who come closest to life – painters who do not ‘record 1
poses unknown to nature, or twist and bend the joints and limbs’.257 The naturam sequi that 2
can also be a guiding principle in literature is, according to Bredero, a specific painterly virtue. 3
Von Sandrart uses the term schilderachtig in a similar way to indicate that Rembrandt’s choice of 4
subjects was not based on scholarship and that he preferred ‘simple matters, matters not run- 5
ning into curious pondering, matters that were agreeable to him, matters that are schilderachtig 6
(as the Dutch call them)’ – matters, in short, that Von Sandrart regards as ‘pleasantnesses se- 7
lected purely from Nature’.258 8
In the Inleyding, schilderachtig acquires particular significance in the light of the para- 9
gone: the term emphasizes the specific characteristics of painting as against other forms of 10
art such as literature.259 Van Hoogstraten refers to ‘a painterly eye, more skilled at depicting 11
than describing’, deriving from this the suggestion that painters can learn from poets when 12
they hear them ‘sing of the landscape in such a painterly manner’; Van Mander concludes, on 13
the same grounds, that Sannazaro had described a landscape in a ‘painterly’ way.260 The use of 14
schilderachtig in the context of descriptions of nature indicates that the landscape genre is the 15
ideal field in which the painter can exercise his colourist virtuosity. 16
17
18
The painterly and the beautiful 19
As a term of artistic judgement that puts the following of nature above the depiction of ideal- 20
ized beauty, schilderachtig provides an alternative to a canon based on antiquity and, in Van 21
Hoogstraten’s words, to the ‘noble selection’ exemplified in the history piece. The term can be 22
used to refer to elements of lower-ranked subjects like the landscape. This is exemplified in Jan 23
de Bisschop’s description of how artists lose themselves to such an extent in their schilderachtig 24
subjects that they start to prefer ugly models: they believe ‘a misshapen, old, wrinkled person 25
is more painterly and preferable in art than a shapely, fresh and youthful one; a tumbledown or 26
unfit building than a new, well-crafted one; a beggar and a peasant than a nobleman or King’.261 27
Although Van Hoogstraten uses schilderachtig in an entirely positive sense, his theory certainly 28
does not betray a preference for ugly subjects. He does, though, believe that every part of 29
the visible world is worth depicting. In ‘painterly composition’, he says, it is important to do 30
justice even to inconsequential objects: ‘the least thing that one turns one’s hand to should be 31
rendered with its proper significance’.262 32
The specific ‘painterly’ ability that characterizes the true artist is that he can do jus- 33
tice to the multiplicity of the visible world and make it the subject of his work. As a concept, 34
schilderachtig expresses the idea that art may be judged not solely in terms of the supposed 35
beauty or ugliness of the subject, but also in terms of specific pictorial qualities such as colour- 36
ist skill. 37
Although De Bisschop points out the dangers of deliberately choosing a picturesque 38
subject, he does express the view that every part of the visible world possesses a certain beauty: 39
‘for because Art is a depiction of all that is visible, so beauty, too, has a place in that whole, 40
and has bounds as wide as art itself. And it should therefore be sought not just in people, but 41
also in beasts of every kind, in buildings, in landscape, in sky, in water and everything that 42
one depicts’.263 Like Van Hoogstraten, he believes that painting extends to the whole visible 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v           253
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 253 09-10-2008 16:54:02

1 world, including naturalia and artificialia. However, there is a marked difference between De
2 Bisschop’s ideas and those of his younger colleague Van Hoogstraten. De Bisschop predicates
3 the existence of an ‘ontological hierarchy’; he believes that the artist should seek the best pos-
4 sible version of even the most insignificant things. This notion is no longer present in the
5 Inleyding; Van Hoogstraten, after all, stresses that the worth of imitation for its own sake lends
6 the depiction of inconsequential and even ugly things a certain validity (see above, pages 89,
7 127). This idea is taken to its most radical conclusions by Goeree, who, in his discussion of the
8 role of beauty in an artist’s choice of subject, even goes so far as to explain the view that beauty
9 is a relative phenomenon. In his opinion, the beauty of an object depends on a comparison
10 with other objects and also on the judgement of the viewer, a conclusion that is reached ‘when
11 one takes Beauty only in certain respects or relations that things have to one another, and
12 considers that many things depend on people’s different perceptions’.264 The art-theoretical
13 term schilderachtig seems intended to circumvent the discussion as to whether or not beauty
14 ‘anchored in nature’ exists. Apparently, the artist’s preference for framing specific moments in
15 the multiplicity of contingencies in the visible world, creating a selection that cannot be evalu-
16 ated with the words beautiful or ugly, is captured with the term schilderachtig.
17 In his section ‘On Defects and Ugliness’ Van Hoogstraten explores the depiction of
18 ugly things, which has a part to play in, among other things, the context of comic scenes in
19 painting and literature. Citing examples from Van Heemskerck’s Bataafsche Arcadia (Dutch Ar-
20 cadia, 1657) and the work of Sidney and Cervantes, he refers to ‘fair ugliness, that would give
21 enough work for [Adriaan] Brouwer [an artist famous for his depictions of low-life scenes, in-
22 tended to evoke laughter] to try to surpass their improper properties’.265 Goeree also discusses
23 this paradox of ‘fair ugliness’. Under the heading ‘Some ugliness is also fair in Art’, he argues
24 that ‘one may call many things beautiful in Pictures that are ugly and repulsive, even deformed,
25 in real Life’, because the delight in the imitation for imitation’s sake makes them so.266
26 This paradoxical praise of ugliness must not be seen solely in a humorous context. This
27 becomes clear from the beginning of the section on ugliness in the Inleyding, which quotes
28 from De la Serre’s book Het onderhoud der goede geesten, op d’ydelheden vande werelt (Discussion
29 of Bright Minds about the Vanities of the World, 1658). Devoted entirely to the unmasking of all
30 forms of human vanity, this text acquired some popularity in the Netherlands. Van Hoog-
31 straten was particularly interested in the chapter ‘On the Vanity of Beauty’. He endorses the
32 view developed there that ideal beauty in women (with the exception of the Mother of God)
33 does not exist: ‘There is still always a small flaw that clouds the clear glass of their mirror’.267
34 When Van Hoogstraten calls De la Serre ‘a shrewd assay-master’,268 this is a double-edged
35 remark: the Ydelheden describes feminine beauty only to conclude with a summing-up of the
36 blemishes concealed beneath that outward appearance. On closer inspection, believes De la
37 Serre, the forehead of the admired woman is ‘no more nor less than a mirror of the Church-
38 yard: For the wrinkles are so many tracked paths leading to the grave’. In reality, the eyes are
39 ‘full of pus and matter that seeps from their red corners’, and the seemingly charming mouth is
40 nothing but ‘a fountain-head of saliva and a thousand other impurities’, while the white teeth
41 are ‘small bones’.269
42 De la Serre concludes that physical beauty is only a transient outer shell. Van Hoog-
43 straten describes in similar terms how great ugliness lurks in the seemingly idyllic ‘Dutch
44
45
254          the e l oque nce of col o u r
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 254 09-10-2008 16:54:02

 Arcady’.270 The function of the ‘fair ugliness’ he refers to in this regard is patently to point up 1
the vanity of the visible world and of supposed physical beauty. The purpose of the ‘praise of 2
ugliness’ might be to make a vanitas comment on physical and pictorial beauty. As will become 3
clearer in chapter VI, this ambiguity in the thinking about the ‘lower’ genres, and the paradox 4
of ‘praising the unpraiseworthy’, are relevant to various aspects of Van Hoogstraten’s theory. 5
6
7
The painterly and the transitory 8
We have already encountered the concept of diversitas in regard to quotations from Goeree and 9
Huygens: the ‘eternal difference’ between things in the visible world from which the omnipo- 10
tence of the Creator can be seen (see pages 106-107). Goeree positions these comments in a 11
discussion of the picturesque (‘The Word “Painterly” Wrongly Used’) and it is interesting in 12
the context of this concept to return to the notion of diversitas. As we have seen, the terms ver­ 13
anderlijkheid and verscheidenheid are used in art theory, where veranderlijkheid, ‘changeability’, 14
comes close to the philosophical term diversitas and has connotations that are bound up with 15
the atomistic complexity and transience of the visible world, while verscheidenheid is equivalent 16
to the rhetorical varietas, the variety that contributes to the pleasing appearance of a work of 17
art (see above, page 105). 18
The topical emphasis on ‘diversity’ is related in art theory both to the great variation 19
in human appearance and to the landscape. Goeree emphasizes that the magnitude of the 20
diversity of human faces is evidence of God’s greatness. He links this reasoning to a view of 21
mathematical infinity: the ‘variety [of human faces] [is] as great ... as the number of fractions 22
between two Numbers could be or be conceived; that is, according to our Thinking, infinitely 23
large’.271 In his passage on the landscape Van Hoogstraten urges painters to look particularly 24
at the ‘dissimilarities’ between the different trees and plants and to depict all things ‘each with 25
its own properties’.272 Varietas recurs in the Inleyding in the context of composition, but relates 26
primarily to the use of colour and the handling of paint. Van Hoogstraten speaks of the ‘land- 27
scape of a thousand broken colours’.273 28
Goeree takes his link between diversitas and the picturesque from Huygens’s Oogen­ 29
troost. In this text, Huygens analyses how the concept of schilderachtig is being used, taking as 30
his point of departure his observation that no two drops of water, two eggs, pears or faces are 31
the same and that ‘The power and the glory / of the first Creator are revealed in the eternal 32
difference / of all that was and is …’.274 The term schilderachtig is apparently so general that it 33
has often fallen victim to misuse, when people use it to describe not a painting, but the land- 34
scape itself so that the divine power of Creation is confused with mankind’s infinitely inferior 35
artistic powers. People should not wrongfully seize upon the commonplace Deus pictor to judge 36
nature according to the standards of the paintings made by man, as Goeree stresses yet again: 37
‘otherwise the Painting would be the original, and perfect nature a mere Copy’.275 The passage 38
makes it plain that it is precisely the contingencies of the visible world – water drops, fruit, 39
faces and the like – that are assessed with the concept of schilderachtig by seventeenth-century 40
artists. 41
The way that Goeree and Huygens associate the term schilderachtig with the philosophi- 42
cal awareness of the multiplicity of the visible world calls to mind a well-known passage from 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v           255
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 255 09-10-2008 16:54:02

1 the tradition of art theory: Bellori’s description of the followers of Caravaggio as ‘naturalists’,276
2 a coinage we find echoed in Scanelli that requires some explanation.277 In his condemnation
3 of artists who ‘glory in the name of Naturalists’ (si gloriano del nome di Naturalisti), Bellori
4 reaches for his most extreme weapon: he compares them to the philosophers of antiquity who
5 were adherents of atomism. According to him, these artists are ‘like Leucippus and Democ-
6 ritus, who [state that] bodies [are] solely put together by chance, with very vain atoms (che con
7 vanissimi atomi a caso compongono li corpi)’. He accuses the atomist philosophers of focusing on
8 contingencies, not universalities, while denying the importance of Platonic Ideas. With their
9 emphasis on chance and fundamental diversity, he asserts, these philosophers are like the artists
10 who focus on naturalezza. They even regard the senses as more important than the mind, thus
11 initiating the decline of painting ‘by depriving the mind of its job and ascribing everything to
12 the senses ... they condemned painting to [individual] opinion and to talent [rather than rules
13 of art]’.278
14 Goeree and Huygens’s use of the term ‘painterly’ in connection with the ‘eternal dif-
15 ference’ makes it clear that it could serve to put a positive spin on a denunciation like Bellori’s
16 of artists whose work was based on chance and contingencies. Bellori’s criticism of classical
17 scepticism seems to refer implicitly to the revival of atomism in seventeenth-century mecha-
18 nistic philosophy. The way modern ‘naturalistic’ painters were connected to the concept of
19 the picturesque and to seventeenth-century philosophical atomism is exemplified by Vondel’s
20 Bespiegelingen van Godt en Godtsdienst (Contemplations on God and Religion, 1662), a work in
21 which artists who concentrate on ‘painterly’ subjects are compared with the modern philoso-
22 phers who reinstated classical atomism, by which Vondel means Spinoza, for one.279
23 Vondel, with whose literary work Van Hoogstraten was certainly familiar, comes out
24 strongly against atomism in his Bespiegelingen. Like Bellori, he mentions Leucippus and De-
25 mocritus: they are the exemplary atomists of antiquity.280 Critics of the ‘new philosophy’ in
26 the seventeenth century often use their names in a pejorative sense, comparing them with the
27 modern philosophers they also call ‘Epicurists’: thinkers who are said to couple an immoral
28 ethos to their assumption of the transient and chance foundations of reality.281
29 As a metaphor for the atomism of modern philosophy, Vondel uses the subjects cho-
30 sen by the painters of his day, who do not trouble themselves about the ‘rules of art’, about
31 ideal beauty or about other principles of composition, but appear to give chance free rein.
32 In the chapter titled ‘That the World Did Not Come about by Chance, and out of Whirling
33 Particles’, he attacks philosophers who argue that the world is made up of ‘brute chance /
34 the coalescing of indivisible particles / and dust’. He believes that structure is brought to this
35 chaos by an ordaining mind. He will not accept that ‘dame Nature or any savage chance’ is a
36 fundamental principle, pointing instead to the omnipresence of God; ‘Without hand and paint
37 Nature cannot paint a landscape / What can this brute chance do? Only brutalize.’282 Vondel
38 compares atomist philosophers with artists who choose ‘painterly’ subjects. Leucippus himself,
39 he says, gave painters the idea of going in search of an old, dilapidated and plundered house.
40 They were to look at the house through a telescope (the exemplary attribute of modern physi-
41 cists) and focus on ‘chance’ details. According to Vondel, they were supposed to evoke:
42
43
44
45
256          the e l oque nce of col o u r
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 256 09-10-2008 16:54:02

 ‘In cobweb and in dust … 1
What diversities of round and straight lines manifest themselves 2
flourish after flourish! ... 3
What skilful draughtsman 4
observes so many heads, so many figures! 5
...It seems that Raphael’s spirit or Titian’s arose, 6
or the ingenuity of [Michel]angelo, Bassano or Veronese.’ 7
8
In this ironic passage the great artists admit that they are outdone by the beauty of chance: 9
‘they stand shamefaced, and cry that the materials / of pure chance surpass nature and life 10
itself’. In his attack on this predilection for ‘diversities’ and coincidences, Vondel cites the 11
classical anecdote about the role of chance in painting: Protogenes throwing his sponge at his 12
painting. Vondel finds nothing to commend this method.283 13
Vondel associates the ‘diversities’ that the artist aims for with the world of minute par- 14
ticles seen through a microscope.284 This identification of a world view based on contingencies 15
with specific schilderachtig elements can be traced back to the tradition of art theory. Painting’s 16
supposed concentration on the purely ‘outward’ aspects of reality is a recurrent topos in the 17
paragone between painting and the other arts. Varchi observed that painting, unlike science, 18
focuses on ‘inessential’ – in other words contingent – things: ‘art is a productive occupation ... 19
that focuses on those things that are not necessary (quelle cose che non sono necessarie) ... One says 20
“those things that are not necessary”, because all art revolves around contingent things, that 21
is to say things that can equally be or not be (che possono essere e non essere egualmente)’.285 In his 22
discourse on the paragone, Galileo commented that the power of painting, which concentrates 23
by its very nature on outward appearance, consists in the fact that it can depict the ‘infinite’ 24
number of changing manifestations of things.286 25
It is clear from Vondel’s remarks that, in the seventeenth-century debate about art, the 26
‘modern’ subjects chosen by artists were associated with simultaneous developments in phi- 27
losophy. (His outright criticism of the so-called ‘new philosophy’ and of modern painting alike 28
finds no echo in Van Hoogstraten; when Van Hoogstraten compares artists and philosophers, 29
it is always in a positive light, as we will discuss in more detail at the end of this book.) Philo- 30
sophical atomism remained a contentious issue at the end of the seventeenth century. Criticism 31
of it was largely silenced by the emergence of physico-theology, which held that the ordering 32
hand of God could be recognized everywhere, even (or perhaps pre-eminently) in the world 33
of the smallest particles. At the same time, the principle of diversitas was an important factor in 34
the philosophy of Leibniz, who visited Spinoza in The Hague in 1676. There is an illustration 35
showing Leibniz using two leaves from a tree to demonstrate that no two elements of Creation 36
are absolutely identical (fig. 96). It illustrates how the principle described by Huygens as the 37
‘eternal difference’ became a key aspect of his philosophy. 38
Before we move on from these connections between transience and the schilderachtig, we 39
should note that the atomistic view of reality that gives rise to a concept of the contingency and 40
vanity of the visible world is not just accepted thinking in mechanistic philosophy – it also ties 41
in with the Neostoic world view that left its mark in Van Hoogstraten’s writings. The classical 42
Stoics based their ideas on the atomism of Epicurus and Democritus; their doctrine is founded 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v           257
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 257 09-10-2008 16:54:02

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31 fig. 96 – Christian Schule, Leibniz Demonstrates at the Court of Electress Sophie of Hannover that Two Leaves Cannot
32 Be Identical. Archiv für Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin.
33
34 on a far-reaching belief in fate: the fatum stoicum. The theme of free will is a problematic point
35 here: if everything is the result of colliding particles, there can be no room for free will and so
36 in essence there is no possible redemption other than divine mercy. This is why Stoic dogmata
37 focus on the vanity of earthly existence, like non omnis moriar (I will not die entirely), in morte
38 vita (only in death is [true] life), virtus immortalis (virtue is immortal) or finis coronat opus (the
39 end is the crown on the work).287 Pascal’s famous remark, ‘How great is the vanity of painting,
40 which attracts admiration for its resemblance to things that are not even admired in the origi-
41 nal!’, reveals how the awareness of the fundamental impossibility of the pictorial likeness, the
42 vanity of this art in general, and its focus on ‘atoms’, on contingencies, can be combined in a
43 single train of thought.288
44
45
258          the e l oque nce of col o u r
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 258 09-10-2008 16:54:03

 We may infer from Pascal’s well-known aphorism that it is above all the particular sort 1
of painting that concentrates on simple, marginal and ‘lower’ subjects that should be regarded 2
as fundamentally vain. It was precisely those paintings with ‘painterly’ subjects, landscapes 3
and still-lifes, that had such an inherent connotation of vanity and transience. The concepts 4
of ‘painterly’ and ‘eternal difference’ can be interpreted to refer automatically to the vanity 5
of the visible world. Philips Angel, for instance, associates veranderlijkheid with vanitas. He 6
urges painters to choose the subject ‘where the greatest Glory is to be got, seeking it in Nature 7
which is so abundant in its changeability’, preceding this with the observation that ‘there are 8
no things here below on which the Sun shines that are ensured of enduring for ever: for they 9
are subject to changeability, nothing maintains an immovable self-sustaining position, except 10
only unchanging everlasting God’.289 Frans van Hoogstraten elaborated upon this idea in his 11
Schoole der wereld, in a passage ‘On Contemplating a “Painterly” Landscape’; it has the motto: 12
‘That worldly beauty and pleasures are as nothing to the beauty of Heaven and the joy of the 13
Blessed’.290 Jan de Brune also considered the concept of veranderlijkheid in a landscape context, 14
remarking: ‘Everything in the world is uncertain and changeable. Mountains change into val- 15
leys, and valleys back into mountains.’291 16
17
18
Painterly subjects and the rough manner 19
The analysis of the term ‘painterly’ would not be complete without an observation about the 20
relationship between the Italian word pittoresco and the Dutch schilderachtig. The posited rela- 21
tionship between colour and landscape prompts the hypothesis that there is a degree of lexical 22
overlap of the two terms. The Italian term pittoresco refers to the ‘loose’ or ‘rough manner’, 23
leaving the brushstroke visible, and to the function of chance in the creation of pictorial illu- 24
sion.292 In the subjects described as schilderachtig in the Dutch tradition, chance and the veran­ 25
derlijkheid of the colours of the objects depicted, particularly in the landscape, are central. The 26
selection of a painterly subject can probably not be seen in isolation from a particular style that 27
is carried through into aspects of the brushwork, the handling; Philip Sohm studied this with 28
regard to the English usage of the term ‘picturesque’.293 29
We have already seen how the choice of subject and style were related in the debate 30
about the ‘rough’ versus the ‘fine’ manner. It has become clear that in the landscape genre a 31
painter can allow himself considerable licence in both the ‘painterly’ choice of subject and in 32
colouristic virtuosity. Van Hoogstraten consequently examines ‘the Handling or Manner of 33
Painting’ immediately after his passage on the landscape in the chapter on colour.294 Among 34
other things, he associates the representation of the landscape with making rapid sketches and 35
laying in the composition roughly in contrasting tones, with leaving the underpainting visible 36
and with the use of chance elements. He encourages young artists to: ‘Make your pen strokes 37
loose, and without restraint depict only the grace and shadows of things. This manner is also 38
the most suitable for drawing the Landscape from life.’295 39
In the light of these various connotations, we may conclude that the Dutch vocabulary 40
surrounding the concept of schilderachtig is closely interwoven with, and a further differentia- 41
tion of, the painter’s alleged universality – his ability to depict the variety, changeability, and 42
‘eternal difference’ of the visible world. 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v           259
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 259 09-10-2008 16:54:03

1 th e mut e rh eto ric of the visibl e worl d
2 The supposed persuasive powers of colour and tone are essential elements in the judgement of
3 the painted landscape in rhetorical terms. Hence the discourse about colour, with its affective
4 as well as deceptive properties, is closely related to more general ideas about the rhetorical
5 qualities of the ‘Book of Nature’, the visible world in general.
6 Titian’s reputation in art theory as both a colourist and a landscape painter was prob-
7 ably a crucial factor in Rembrandt’s exercises in the painted landscape, which may have been
8 part of a specific modus in which great persuasiveness was ascribed to the ‘control of light and
9 shade’. In his letter to Titian, Aretino compares the beauty of the landscape with the painter’s
10 skill in chiaroscuro: ‘I turn my eyes to the sky, which has never since it was created by God
11 been adorned with such a magnificent painting of shadows and lights’.296 Ornatus and varietas
12 appear as terms to describe the colourist powers of God as ‘painter of Creation’. In his Schoole
13 der wereld Frans van Hoogstraten writes that ‘all the manifold objects of Creation around us
14 … are each in a particular way engaged in adorning themselves, and they endeavour together,
15 graced with so many ornaments, to be pleasing in men’s sight’. The landscape described in this
16 poem is compared to a painting.297 The same thinking is found in Van den Bos’s translation of
17 Castiglione, who believes that painting is a valuable pursuit for a courtier because it concen-
18 trates on the work of the Creator, by whom the ‘structure of the Heavens ... is adorned with
19 so many glittering stars’. Van den Bos sums up cosmic ornatus:
20
21 ‘The earth amidst so many seas, studded with mountains, valleys, trees of every kind,
22 flowing with rivers, sown with countless plants and beautiful flowers, can rightly be
23 called a beautiful painting painted by God and nature: imitating which, it seems to me,
24 is no small glory, and one which one cannot easily achieve without having knowledge
25 of many things.’298
26
27 The link between the supposed rhetorical effect of painting and the pleasing atmosphere of the
28 rural environment is summed up by Junius. In his view, all human rhetoric is feeble in compari-
29 son to the powerful persuasion of God as painter, as Creator of the cosmos, the ornamentum
30 of the visible world. Junius concludes that the painterly variety of bountiful organic nature is
31 not equalled by the orator: he argues that ‘no man is so well able to speake, but Nature is still
32 a great deal better able to paint, especially when shee meaneth to make her selfe some sport in
33 the midst of her jolly fertilitie’.299
34 We can add to Junius’s remark the paradoxical notion in art theory that the ‘Book of
35 Nature’ has greater rhetorical power than Scripture itself. We have already discussed Paleotti’s
36 idea that all peoples can understand the ‘silent voices’ of created things: ‘there is no people or
37 language or condition of men that cannot understand these silent voices which come from the
38 things created by God and embody his greatness and majesty’ (see above, page 117).300 This
39 author argues that ‘books are read only by the few who understand them, whereas paintings
40 reach all classes of people in a universal way’.301 Painting is thus more eloquent than rhetoric in
41 expressing the beauty of Creation: ‘and in this view we do not confine ourselves to the books
42 of the historians, rhetoricians, poets or others, because painting ... disseminates its greatness
43 in every subject, and imparts its message ... in all places and to all people, and thus well nigh
44 imitates divine nature and excellence’.302
45
260          the e l oque nce of col o u r
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 260 09-10-2008 16:54:03

 Here painting joins in a paragone debate between rhetoric on the one hand and phi- 1
losophy on the other, in which the arguments in support of rhetoric are also deemed applicable 2
to art. With its ‘open palm’, so the argument goes, rhetoric reaches a wider audience than the 3
‘closed fist’ of philosophy. In this respect painting actually surpasses rhetoric; the ‘mute poetry’ 4
of painting is more rhetorical than rhetoric itself. This is why in the final analysis the Book of 5
Nature is perhaps more easily read than Scripture. Paleotti believes that ‘with a single glance at 6
a painting we understand far more things than we do from the prolonged reading of all manner 7
of books’.303 As we have already seen, Van Hoogstraten took the view that only unbelievers re- 8
fused to recognize the omnipotence of the Creator in his Creation, ‘for they call into question 9
what is preached by the birds of the air, the unreasoning animals and the insensate things’.304 10
According to this thinking, the affective and rhetorical powers of the painted landscape 11
fit into Van Hoogstraten’s more general theory about painting as ‘universal knowledge’ of the 12
visible world and painting as contemplative attention to the ‘Book of Nature’. But we must add 13
the observation that the deceptive qualities of the colours in the painted landscape also refer as 14
pars pro toto to the deceptive nature of the visible world in general. According to this reasoning, 15
colour has a mentally salubrious, restorative effect in more than a superficial sense: the ‘silent 16
rhetoric’ of the visible world can also foster the ultimate salvation of the soul by persuading the 17
viewer of the transience of earthly things. 18
On the one hand, the magnificent colours of the visible world are described in Dutch 19
art theory as something that effectively seduces the senses; on the other, they are deemed to 20
generate nothing more than an illusion, based on chance and deceit. These views are bound up 21
with the prevailing early modern ideas about the confrontation between man and nature. The 22
natural environment may lead to an awareness of the impermanence of human existence; thus 23
Bredero says that nature teaches the lesson of mortality, for example because flowers wither 24
and die.305 In Hooft’s Arcadian prose, which is quoted in the Inleyding, the beauty of nature is 25
contrasted to that of architecture because nature is constantly changing, whereas architecture 26
does not (and will eventually become wearisome).306 A very explicit definition of the ephemeral 27
nature of the beauty of landscape can be found in De la Serre’s book, from which Van Hoog- 28
straten quotes when he writes about depicting ugliness. In De la Serre’s view, the beauty of 29
nature is essentially blighted by its deceptive and transitory character. 30
31
‘Nothing pleases me [in the landscape], everything dissatisfies me. ... The sky has no 32
beauty that does not make itself dreadful in an instant: for in the blink of an eye it cov- 33
ers its face with lightning, and thunderstorms. ... The Flowers flatter the sight: but do 34
not please the spirit, because they bloom but for one morning. ... The Trees have some 35
semblance of beauty but it is as brittle as the leaves from which they are composed.’ 36
37
De la Serre ends this passage by remarking that art will never succeed in depicting nature sat- 38
isfactorily.307 Using the same tropes, the poet Josua Stegmann associates the different aspects 39
of the landscape, such as rainbows, snow, flowers, mist and so forth, with the vanity of earthly 40
things: 41
42
43
44
45
c h ap t e r v           261
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 261 09-10-2008 16:54:03

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14 fig. 97 – Tintoretto, Narcissus in a Countryside. Galeria Colonna, Rome.
15
16 ‘What, then, is our life
17 but only trouble and vanity: ...
18 Snow that vanishes in Spring ...
19 a rainbow that is gone so soon
20 a mist driven away by the sun
21 a red sky that lasts as long as dawn ...
22 a leaf, turned over by the wind.’308
23
24 While the contemplation of landscape would probably automatically evoke these vanitas con-
25 notations in the seventeenth-century viewer without the necessity of iconographic cues, the
26 landscape could also act as an iconographic reinforcement of narrative compositions with van-
27 ity as their subject. This is apparently the case in pictures of Narcissus or Mary Magdalen that
28 allude to the transience of both physical beauty and the elaborate rural setting. This can be put
29 across even more forcefully by adding a skull or a mirror (fig. 97).309
30 The transient and deceptive qualities of landscape lead us to a consideration of the am-
31 biguity contained in the phrase ‘mirror of nature’ in the seventeenth century. Creation itself is
32 the ‘mirror of nature’ if the genitive in the term is understood as a subjective genitive: nature
33 mirrors the Creator. The Creator as Deus pictor can hence be recognized in the visible world.
34 This is a theme that appears explicitly in the art theories of authors as different as De Holanda,
35 Junius and Von Sandrart, and is quite common in the Dutch literature of the seventeenth
36 century.310 Castiglione uses the commonplace to point up the worth of painting,311 and Reyer
37 Anslo writes in his Schilderkroon (Crown of Painting, first printed in 1713) that a painter’s efforts
38 can be compared to God’s creative powers:
39
40 ‘[Art] creates with paint, on canvas and panels,
41 all visible things ...
42 as did God, when he first created
43 this great universe from nothing ...
44
45
262          the e l oque nce of col o u r
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 262 10-10-2008 16:24:47

 How he acquitted himself in the landscape, ... 1
thus we have the supreme power, 2
as if in a painting, before our eyes.’312 3
4
As we have seen, in de Schoole der wereld Frans van Hoogstraten ranks worldly beauty as inferior 5
to that of life after death. The author comes to the conclusion that the sole function of the 6
beauty we see around us is to point toward the beauty of heaven, in other words the ‘invisible 7
world’: 8
9
‘But yet there is, although one here 10
sees nature’s forms in all their glory, 11
a prospect that pleases us more ... 12
I mean Heaven, that one sees, 13
above the pleasing vista here. 14
No prospect on which our eye may dwell, 15
but it is defined in this.’ 16
17
According to the poet, the beauty of the whole of the visible world is as nothing compared with 18
the contemplation of a fraction of life after death: 19
20
‘The whole aspect of the earthly globe 21
– how many wonders it ever contained – 22
has, if one judges it on its worth, 23
less beauty than a palm’s breadth 24
of Heaven’s glittering canopy ... 25
Oh say, my soul, how little is 26
the worth of the world’s most beauteous land 27
when you have once reflected on 28
the beauty of the Heavenly Throne!’ 29
30
The notion that nature reflects God can obviously lead directly to thoughts of vanitas – what 31
is important, it seems, is the invisible, not the visible world. Frans van Hoogstraten similarly 32
wants to appreciate ‘the manifold essence around us’ only inasmuch as it focuses his attention 33
on the Creator: contemplation of the visible only has a function when it moves the beholder 34
‘with his mind on high’ to ‘praise God ... with a thankful soul’.313 The next chapter will discuss 35
how these ideas on religious contemplation are not necessarily confined to the landscape, but 36
can extend to include the whole visible world; suffice it here to refer again to Paleotti’s words 37
on the mute rhetoric of painting as the ‘book of the illiterate’. He argues that: 38
39
‘with regard to profane paintings ... we are well aware that one can derive something 40
useful from many things that appear trivial ... for anyone gifted with intellect and 41
judgement can distil great wisdom even from birds, fish, flowers … and stones; it is 42
actually for precisely this reason that all the created things in this world are shown to 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v           263
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 263 09-10-2008 16:54:12

1 us, so that by way of visible things we acquire knowledge of and a desire for the eternal,
2 invisible things.’314
3
4 Paleotti concludes that ‘villas, fountains and palaces’ are not painted solely to please the eye:
5 ‘the eye of a good Christian must penetrate through them’ (l’occhio del cristiano deve penetrare
6 più oltre) so that pleasure may be combined with benefit’.315
7
8 ◆
9
10 Colour, which enables the painter to depict a multitude of contingencies, has proved to consti-
11 tute an important topic in Van Hoogstraten’s ideas on the representation of the visible world.
12 The theory of the persuasiveness of the image is of key significance here. Unlike drawing,
13 colour is deemed to have a direct impact on the ‘sensitive’ part of the soul and hence on the
14 emotions that are in direct relation to the body. It can thus contribute significantly to the
15 suggestion of being transported into a virtual reality. This chapter has explored how several
16 notions derived from rhetoric can legitimize not only pictorial exercises in the ‘rough manner’
17 but also a genre such as the painted landscape. In terms of rhetorical theory it is specifically
18 the handeling, the brushwork, with which the painter is deemed able to transform paint into a
19 virtual reality, and which is therefore of fundamental importance in procuring an affective re-
20 sponse. Various formal and thematic elements have been examined in the light of the concepts
21 of ornatus and color, varietas and veranderlijkheid. We have seen that the fundamentally deceptive
22 and vain character of painting is a factor in all these concepts.
23 More general notions like persuasion, brevity and performativity recur in the debate
24 about rough and fine painting. We have seen how the ‘rough’ manner makes it possible to
25 look at a painting in two ways: first with a view to being immersed in the illusion and second
26 by getting close to the surface of the paint so that traces of the artist’s hand are revealed. The
27 two perspectives work together in the delightful deception of painting. The ‘dual perspective’
28 combined in this technique is explored more fully in the next chapter, which argues that there
29 is more at stake than a showing-off of pictorial artifice; the play with two perspectives reflects
30 a popular intellectual theme in the seventeenth century that was used to bring to light various
31 inherent contradictions in the prevailing world view.
32 Van Hoogstraten includes a passage about landscape painting in his chapter on colour
33 as the obvious place for the painter’s ‘license to experiment’. His views on landscape are an
34 elaboration of the traditional view that condemns Netherlanders for their excessive attention
35 to detail; it is precisely the universal scope of painting, which focuses on all the contingencies
36 of the ‘entire visible world’, that is at the heart of his theory. A talent for the landscape is con-
37 sequently an essential attribute of a painter who wants to develop as ‘universal master’; in this
38 field an artist like Rembrandt could measure himself against greats like Titian and Rubens.
39 Colour’s power to depict the diversity and ‘changeability’ of the visible world has been
40 related to the artist’s choice of picturesque subjects. The concept of schilderachtig thematizes
41 the idea that painting which concentrates on the ‘entire visible world’ also depicts ugly things.
42 The depiction of ugliness is not an explicit goal in Van Hoogstraten’s treatise; ugly subjects
43 are, however, of necessity among the contingencies that painting portrays. Unlike Bellori and
44
45
264          the e l oque nce of col o u r
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 264 09-10-2008 16:54:12

 Vondel, he does not appear to condemn modern painters who are compared with philosophers 1
who hold this ‘atomistic’ view of the value of chance. 2
Although the painter focuses merely on the ‘outside’ of reality, his art is not condemned 3
to remain superficial: the mute rhetoric of painting, which observes the ever-changing particu- 4
lars of the visible world, can act to involve the viewer all the more closely in the everlasting, 5
invisible world. Thus, landscape painting is deemed to have not just a physically healing effect; 6
it can also contribute to the salvation of the beholder. The next chapter will proceed to probe 7
further into the dichotomy of inside and outside, or semblance and reality: the fundamental 8
division of reality into ‘visible’ and ‘invisible’ worlds. 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
c h ap t e r v           265
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 265 09-10-2008 16:54:13

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 266 10-10-2008 17:27:33

 Ch a p t er V I

Pa i n t i n g a s a M irr or
of Nature

Visible world HR beeld.indd 267 10-10-2008 16:24:49

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23 fig. 98 – Sebastiaan Vranckx, Harbour with the Children of Mercury. Musée Massey, Tarbes.
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 268 09-10-2008 16:54:28

 1
2
3
Chapter VI 4
5
6
Painting as a Mirror of Nature 7
8
9
10
11
12
Angelo: Nay, women are frail too. 13
Isabella: Ay, as the glasses where they view themselves, 14
Which are as easy broke as they make forms. 15
... Nay, call us ten times frail, 16
For we are soft as our complexions are, 17
And credulous to false prints. 18
Shakespeare, Measure for Measure 19
20
Mercury is the master of eloquence and the inventor of the lie. 21
Marsilio Ficino, De vita libri tres 22
23
24
25
Van Hoogstraten’s comparison of a painting to ‘a mirror of Nature, which makes things seem 26
to be that are not’, is probably the best-known quotation from the Inleyding. He holds that art 27
‘reflects the whole of nature’, calls it a ‘sister of reflexive Philosophy’ and describes the general 28
tasks of painters in terms of ‘infinite reflections’.1 This mirror metaphor is not as simple as 29
it may appear: it relates to the deceptive quality of the image produced by the painter. The 30
positive appreciation of deception that sounds in the metaphor was developed primarily in the 31
classical theory of rhetoric. Indeed, rhetoric derives its success ultimately not from a conclusive 32
demonstration of proof but from its persuasiveness. In pursuit of persuasion, orators are even 33
permitted to tell lies; Ficino clarifies this duplicity by noting that Mercury is the inventor of 34
eloquence and of the lie.2 In the seventeenth century, artists and orators alike were presented 35
as deceivers, for instance in a painting by Sebastiaan Vrancx of the Children of Mercury: a group 36
including merchants, a quack, actors, a painter and a sculptor. Goltzius’s print of the same 37
subject depicts, besides the painter, sculptor and quack, a preaching cleric and a theatre in the 38
background, while the foreground shows two orators debating (figs. 98 and 99).3 39
In the context of the mirror metaphor, we shall discuss the problematic relationship be- 40
tween the pictorial image and reality. Just as Van Mander writes that mirrors display ‘only the 41
appearance of true essence, but not truth itself’, seventeenth-century art theory posits the vani- 42
ty of all knowledge provided by ‘the mirror of nature’.4 The fundamental duplicity of ‘seeming’ 43
44
45
          269
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 269 09-10-2008 16:54:28

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30 fig. 99 – Jan Saenredam after Hendrick Goltzius, Mercury and his Children, ca. 1596, engraving.
31
32 as opposed to ‘being’, which follows from Van Hoogstraten’s view that painting ‘makes things
33 appear to be that are not’, besides being a topic in art theory, also turns up as a theme in works
34 of art. This kind of playing with painterly illusion may be a pleasing diversion for the honnête
35 homme, but it is not lacking in a serious undertone. Artistic illusion is ultimately unmasked in
36 an ethical framework predicated on the vanity of sensory knowledge and of earthly existence as
37 such. We shall explore the way in which the art-theoretical debate on the dualism of seeming
38 as opposed to being springs from the dualism of a philosophical stance contrasting visible and
39 invisible worlds.
40 After tracing the origins of the comparison of painting to a mirror, the discussion will
41 move to Van Hoogstraten’s comments on the deceptiveness of art in the context of rhetorical
42 theory and courtiers’ treatises, and elaborate his views on the vanity of painting on the basis of
43 several texts invoked in the Inleyding, by authors such as Agrippa, Michelangelo and De Mor-
44
45
270          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 270 10-10-2008 17:16:36

 nay. Their assumptions about the fundamental ambivalence of art, and of visual reality itself, 1
will then be looked at in relation to the philosophical significance of the art of painting as a 2
contemplative focus on the visible. Finally, the relationship between art theory and painting 3
practice will be discussed on the basis of two case studies. 4
5
6
paintings as mirrors 7
The comparison of a painting to a mirror of nature is a recurrent theme in the tradition of art 8
theory.5 From the beginning of this tradition in the fifteenth century onwards, however, there 9
was another metaphor that possessed more conceptual weight: the Albertian label of a painting 10
as a window on nature.6 When paintings were first compared to mirrors in the Italian tradition, 11
the overtones were pejorative: the emphasis was on the ephemeral and intangible qualities of 12
painting, as compared to sculpture. Thus, Benvenuto Cellini writes, in 1564: ‘the art of paint- 13
ing is no different from a tree or person or something else being reflected in a stream. The 14
difference between sculpture and painting is as great as that between a shadow and whatever 15
is casting the shadow’.7 Similarly, Paolo Pino states that a painting merely presents us with a 16
reflection, and is wholly inferior to nature itself.8 17
In the course of the sixteenth century, the mirror metaphor came to be used in a positive 18
sense. This is first evident in the writings of Lucas de Heere, whose eulogy to the Adoration of 19
the Lamb (1432) by the brothers Van Eyck praises the triptych’s panels in these words: ‘They 20
are mirrors, mirrors are they; no, they are not Pictures.’9 In the seventeenth century, this posi- 21
tive connotation is echoed in Italy, with Marco Boschini observing that the art of painting is 22
‘most certainly a mirror of nature’.10 In the Netherlands, Van Hoogstraten was not the only 23
theorist to emphasize the comparison: De Lairesse writes that the merits of painting may be 24
represented by a personification of Nature to whom a mirror is held up.11 25
It will be argued here that the changing appreciation in art theory of the phrase ‘mirror 26
of nature’ relates to an evolution of the view that the art of painting is concerned with noth- 27
ing more or less than the aspects of things capable of being mirrored – that is, their outward 28
appearance – and does not penetrate to their inner ‘essence’.12 In the tradition of art theory, 29
Benedetto Varchi, for instance, discusses this distinction in terms of dentro and fuori (inside and 30
outside): ‘poets chiefly imitate what is inside (il di dentro), that is, thoughts and the passions of 31
the mind ... while painters chiefly imitate what is outside (il di fuori), that is, bodies and the 32
rendering of the texture of all things’.13 In his comparison of sculpture and painting, Varchi dis- 33
tinguishes sostanza and accidenti: while sculpture supposedly focuses on ‘substance’, the subject 34
of the art of painting is what he calls ‘accidental qualities’.14 Van Hoogstraten too, elaborating 35
on Zuccari’s views on disegno interno and disegno esterno, notes that painting focuses on external 36
appearances; we may recall his comment that ‘In [the] exploration of nature, painters ‘need 37
consider only her visible aspect’. Their ‘reflections’ thus focus on the outward qualities of 38
things: ‘just as wine, enclosed in a flask, takes on the appearance of a goblet, the shape of the 39
bottle becomes the object that a Painter reflects.’15 40
Goeree elaborates the inside-outside discussion systematically in relation to the mirror 41
metaphor, basing himself on Descartes’s distinction between ‘internal’ and ‘external’ mental 42
images. He distinguishes categorically between mental images and sensory impressions, and 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v i           271
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 271 09-10-2008 16:54:29

1 emphasizes that while the former can easily lead to misconceptions, sensory impressions leave
2 little room for doubt. ‘Internal’ mental images ‘display to the Soul certain innate Ideas ... and
3 Thoughts of eternal Truths’. External images, on the other hand, ‘come from the objects of the
4 visible World, through or by the Mediation of the external Senses ... just as these Mental im-
5 ages are displayed in the Mind like the things in a Mirror, but are by no means actually made by
6 it’ (italics mine).16 Goeree apparently compares the intellect to a mirror that displays the ideas
7 produced by the senses, a rendering of only the outside of things, exactly as these are presented
8 by the visible world.
9 It is this focus on the outside that supposedly underlies the deceptive nature of both
10 mirrors and paintings. This is emphasized by authors such as Agrippa and De Brune, both of
11 whom Van Hoogstraten invokes. De Brune compares pictures to mirrors on account of their
12 supposedly deceptive character.17 Analyzing the phenomenon of hypocrisy (Gheveynstheyd), he
13 posits: ‘The mirror lies, appearances are deceptive’.18 This focus on the deceptive quality of
14 mirrors increased from the sixteenth century onwards, as an essential part of the intellectual
15 culture of curiosity.19
16 The negative connotations of superficiality and deceptiveness accompanying the mirror
17 metaphor may be offset by the alleged capacity of mirrors to produce images of all the objects
18 in the visible world. Art theory therefore compares the mirror to the human power of imagi-
19 nation, echoing a comparison expressed most concisely by Bacon who writes that God ‘[has]
20 framed the mind of man as a mirror or glass capable of the image of the universal world’.20
21 This same universal capability is the basis for Leonardo’s comparison of the painter’s spirit to
22 a mirror ‘that constantly changes into the colour of whatever is before it, and fills itself with
23 as many likenesses as there are things confronting it’.21 Leonardo’s train of thought leads Zuc-
24 cari to define art as ‘a mirror of rich nature’ that extends as far and wide as the human power
25 of imagination. In his view, art is ‘a faithful rendering of all mental images (concetti) that one
26 may imagine, through the power of light and dark on a surface covered with paint, which
27 displays all manner of shapes and depth without bodily substance (senza sostanza di corpo)’.22
28 Van Hoogstraten’s definition of art as capable of rendering all the ‘mental images’ that ‘the
29 entire visible world can provide’ and which thus makes things ‘appear to be’, is close to Zuc-
30 cari’s.23 His mirror comparison resembles metaphors used in Dutch writings in reference to the
31 painter’s supposed ‘reflection’ and ‘mirroring’ (speculeren and bespiegelen) of nature.24 Goeree,
32 for instance, compares the activity of a painter to that of ‘reflecting on natural things’, while
33 Van Hoogstraten refers to painting as a sister of ‘reflective philosophy’.25 Thus, within seven-
34 teenth-century art theory, the mirror metaphor is linked initially not to self-reflection, but to
35 the universal range of art to comprehend everything that is visible or even conceivable.26
36 The tendency to identify mirrors with the art of painting and with the imagination
37 is ultimately based on the visual character, as posited in Aristotelian psychology, of both the
38 power of imagination and the memory, as we have discussed above (see pages 134-136). In this
39 context, Van Mander compares Goltzius’s memory to a mirror.27 De Lairesse uses the mirror
40 comparison to indicate that a person’s nature is determined in large measure by his surround-
41 ings, which are ‘imprinted’ on his mind: ‘while our brains are as a glass ball suspended in the
42 middle of a room, which is touched by, and retains an impression of, all the objects that appear
43 there’. From this he infers that the most convincing painter is he who confines himself to ‘de-
44
45
272          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 272 09-10-2008 16:54:29

 picting what he sees every day’.28 Junius too uses the mirror metaphor to clarify that a painter 1
must base his inventions solely on images presented to him by the visible world.29 2
This short historical overview suggests that when Van Hoogstraten compares a paint- 3
ing to a mirror, he is emphasizing the deceptiveness of art and the fact that it is geared solely 4
towards the ‘accidental’ aspects of things and not towards their substance. This conclusion is 5
at odds with the Albertian comparison of painting as a ‘window on the world’ and with the 6
classical theory that a painting, like an orator’s speech, conjures up a virtual reality. On the one 7
hand, the mirror metaphor suggests that a painting cannot represent ‘the things themselves’ 8
and shows only the outside. On the other hand, the ‘reflective’ aspects of art as geared towards 9
contingencies of the visible world determine an important positive quality of painting: its uni- 10
versal scope, capable of depicting ‘all ideas, or mental images, that the entire visible world can 11
provide’. The focus below will be on the connotations of superficiality and deceptiveness that 12
are linked to the mirror metaphor. How should Van Hoogstraten’s views regarding the decep- 13
tive nature of art be construed in relation to his positive observations about the art of painting, 14
as ‘universal knowledge’ and as a ‘sister of philosophy’? 15
16
17
d ecei vi n g th e eye 18
Immediately following the mirror metaphor in the Inleyding comes Van Hoogstraten’s famous 19
definition of the art of painting as a form of deception: ‘a mirror of Nature, making things 20
appear to be that are not, and deceiving in a permissible, delightful and commendable way’. 21
Like the mirror metaphor, Van Hoogstraten’s central conviction that a painting serves ‘to 22
deceive the eye’ can be construed in more than one way. It may be traced back all the way to 23
Plato’s banishment of painters, along with poets and orators, from his ideal state, because they 24
focus their efforts not on truth but on deceptive appearances and have the effect of confusing 25
that section of the population that is ‘too susceptible to agitations of the mind’, to quote Van 26
Mander.30 27
It is striking that Van Hoogstraten and many of his contemporaries emphasize this de- 28
ceptive nature of painting without echoing Plato’s censure. In his description of the different 29
parts of painting, Van Hoogstraten repeatedly uses the words ‘appearance’, ‘seeming’, ‘decep- 30
tion’ and ‘deceptive’.31 In this respect he follows in his predecessors’ footsteps: Angel speaks of 31
the ‘seeming without being’ that the painter presents to our eyes, the ‘real-seeming guise’ or 32
‘sham-real power’ of painting.32 Van Mander compares painting to ‘a shadow of the true thing, 33
and a sham of being’,33 and Huygens notes in relation to the art of painting that similitude and 34
truth are incompatible variables. He repeats Tacitus’s words that art is close to deception (pa- 35
tere breve confinum artis et falsi).34 The seventeenth-century literature of art abounds with this 36
emphasis on deception,35 one example of which will suffice: the engraver Richard Haydocke’s 37
observation (1598) that ‘[t]he skill of the workeman consisteth in shewing False and deceitfull 38
sights insteede of the true’.36 39
Especially in the sixteenth century, this emphasis on the deceptive quality of paintings 40
became the subject of debate. Several versions of the paragone-comparisons between paint- 41
ing and sculpture and between drawing and colour emphasize that precisely because painting 42
focuses on contingencies and ephemeral elements of the visible world, it risks becoming mere 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v i           273
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 273 09-10-2008 16:54:29

1 illusion, a surface, and empty allure. Vasari believes, for instance, that ‘sculpture is as superior
2 to painting as truth is to lies’,37 while Cellini points out that the empty allure of paintings
3 beguiles viewers into taking them for the truth.38 The traditional debate is summarized in
4 Goeree’s comment that paintings are regarded as ‘misleading in appearance or as in a dream’
5 (toonschijnig or waanschijnig) because ‘the things in a painted Picture only seem to be, but in
6 truth they are not’: by contrast, the things represented in a sculpture are ‘true to life, in three
7 dimensions, capable of being grasped and touched’.39 It is striking that comparisons between
8 poetry and painting also berate the latter for its mendacity. ‘How far is truth from a Lie? / As
9 far as Ears are from Eyes’ writes Huygens.40
10 In these comparisons, the main feature of paintings to be cited in their favour is the
11 delight that springs from successful imitation. Speroni writes that the delight of imitation is
12 common to all the visual arts: imitation ‘makes things seem real and that leads us to the syl-
13 logism hoc est hoc’. Art evidently consists of a procedure in which the viewer is led to conclude
14 from a number of ‘arguments’ that are presented to him that one thing (the work of art) is the
15 same as the other (the visible world). Now it might be said that sculpture provides an additional
16 argument in this respect compared to painting, namely that of its three-dimensionality. But
17 Speroni writes that mere ‘identity’ is less challenging than similarity: while the latter exists by
18 virtue of a difference in ‘substance’, simple identity asks for no artistic skill.41 In this respect,
19 he compares the art of painting to that of rhetoric: both activities are geared solely towards
20 the surface of things (la estrema superficie) and deceive the people.42 Following this topical ap-
21 proach, Galileo, inspired by his belief that the less the mode of imitation corresponds to what
22 is imitated, the greater will be the effect of delight (see above, page 240), prefers painting to
23 sculpture with the argument that sculptors ‘imitate things as they are, and painters as they ap-
24 pear’;43 similar views are expressed by Angel and De Brune in the Netherlands.44
25 Another paragone-debate is inclined to favour the art of painting: traditional compari-
26 sons of painting and rhetoric emphasize the great persuasive power of the image. Since it
27 partakes directly of the physical world, the visual image is expected to ‘affect’ the viewer’s
28 imagination far more directly than rhetoric or poetry.45 The ‘deceit’ of painting is therefore
29 deemed greater than that of oratory. Junius writes in this context of ‘the sweet allurements of
30 Picture, and how we suffer our hearts wittingly and willingly to be seduced and beguiled ... to
31 be so possessed with things that are not, as if they were’. He describes this deceptive effect not
32 as the result of a skilful application of perspective or other trompe-l’oeil techniques, but of the
33 painter’s ability to manipulate his public’s passions. He compares poetry and painting because
34 ‘both doe wind themselves by an unsensible delight of admiration so closely into our hearts
35 ... in such an astonishment of wonder’ that viewers are involved in what is depicted and be-
36 lieve that they have been transported to another reality: ‘to stare upon the Imitation of things
37 naturall, as if we saw the true things themselves’. He emphasizes that this affective impact does
38 not have any damaging side-effects; paintings are ‘nothing else in it selfe but a delusion of our
39 eyes’, and consequently we can view them, in the words of Philostratus, ‘without suffering any
40 hurt by them’, ‘as it is pleasant, so doth [painting] not deserve the least reproach’. 46
41 Seventeenth-century Dutch literature frequently discusses the deception of the senses
42 in conjunction with the affective impact of paintings. De Brune’s Wetsteen contains countless
43 descriptions of false temptations of the senses, with the moral that ‘because of this deceptive-
44
45
274          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 274 09-10-2008 16:54:30

 ness, it is wise prudently to restrain one’s eyes’. He points out that ‘the heart follows the eye’, 1
and that it is ‘the eyes, which belong to the same body as the heart, [that] so grievously deceive 2
that most important organ’.47 The eyes are pre-eminently the sense through which human be- 3
ings are deceived and seduced: ‘The eyes move the inner senses with far greater strength and 4
emphasis than the ears ... the ears move the membranes of the brain, but the eyes touch the 5
brain itself, and pierce the membrane of the heart’.48 On the basis of this assumption, artistic 6
illusion is presented in the context of sexual temptation: it is the lover’s eyes that are deemed 7
to exert the greatest attraction. When they respond to the viewer’s gaze, a powerful emotional 8
‘chemistry’ is born. De Brune notes that Spenser’s poetry describes the effect of the gaze of the 9
lover’s eyes as ‘sweete illusion of her lookes delight’.49 Goeree discusses the idea that ‘a Magical 10
Power is radiated by the eyes’ and the power of the eyes to arouse love ‘which is at once soaked 11
up by the Eyes; And stealing through those open Windows, pierces the innermost realm of 12
our Hearts’.50 In line with this view, Shakespeare ascribes a rhetorical power of persuasion to 13
the lover’s eyes; one of his sonnets asks: ‘Did not the heavenly rhetoric of thine eye, / ’Gainst 14
whom the world cannot hold argument, / Persuade my heart to this false perjury?’51 15
The supposed affective influence of art clearly has amorous connotations. The Inleyding 16
discusses this aspect in relation to the Muses, each of whom personifies different aspects of 17
painting. One of the introductory poems compares them to seductive sirens and ‘Sorceresses’; 18
Van Hoogstraten himself raises the subject of the ‘seductive power’ of the Muse Euterpe, who 19
encourages young men to train as painters; he calls her a ‘flattering Siren’ and ‘temptress to 20
art’.52 The resemblance between love of art and amorous love is discussed in the context of the 21
very origins of art: painting is said to have been invented when a girl drew the shadow of her 22
lover’s profile, so that she would possess an image of him while he was away.53 A more prosaic 23
variant of this is found in Junius, who writes that pornography, that is, ‘the provocations of 24
vices ... to engrave wanton lusts’, contributed significantly to the development of the visual 25
arts in antiquity.54 26
In this context, De Brune analyses at length the way in which Michelangelo’s poetry 27
forges relationships between sculpture and ‘the art of love’,55 while De Bie urges painters not 28
to marry young since this will invoke the jealousy of Pictura, whom he calls ‘a lover with many 29
lovers’.56 Popular associations between a woman’s charms, the temptation of the senses, reflec- 30
tion and painterly illusion have been studied at length by Eric Jan Sluijter. He pointed out 31
that in the iconography of work by artists such as Goltzius, the seductive nature of painting in 32
general is highlighted in scenes with an erotic undertone, in which form and content are thus 33
attuned to one another.57 34
The powerful temptations of painting are linked not only to feminine charms, but also to 35
magic. Junius speaks about painting’s power ‘to enchant (beguychelen) the spectators’; artworks 36
‘doe hold the raines of our hearts, leading and guiding our Passions by that beguiling power 37
they have, whithersoever they list’.58 He calls painterly illusion ‘an invocation of seemingly 38
breathing spectres’.59 While Angel speaks in similar terms of painting’s ‘magical power’,60 Van 39
Hoogstraten states that art instills in ‘the ignorant ... the intimation of a supernatural power’.61 40
Certain painters, too, are praised for their magical powers – Dou, for instance, wielded his 41
brush like a magic wand, according to Traudenius.62 The height of praise for a painting is the 42
exclamation that a work is ‘not a painting but magic’, in the words of Boschini, who compares 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v i           275
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 275 09-10-2008 16:54:30

1 the illusionist power of the ‘rough manner’, in particular, to witchcraft (strigarie).63
2 These phrases about the supposedly magical properties of painting are of more than
3 anecdotal significance. They are related to rhetorical theory from antiquity, which ascribes to
4 the orator’s vis verborum a literally magical influence. Quintilian, for instance, emphasizes that
5 visual impressions can exercise an even stronger seductive force than rhetoric, and he contrasts
6 the eloquence of the orator Hyperides with the beauty of Phryne, Praxiteles’ model and lover:
7
8 ‘Many other things have the power of persuasion ... even some sight unsupported by
9 language ... according to general opinion Phryne was saved not by the eloquence of
10 Hyperides, admirable as it was, but by the sight of her exquisite body, which she further
11 revealed by drawing aside her tunic.’64
12
13 The early modern assumption that the mind thinks in images or phantasmata, and the premise
14 of a direct relationship between sight, the power of imagination, and the emotions, endowed
15 the visual arts with a supposed ‘action at a distance’ which could bring about a permanent
16 physical and mental transformation. Young painters needed to be protected from precisely
17 these seductions of sight, for instance by reading and observing the Stoic rules of conduct as
18 laid down in the Inleyding.
19
20
21 Painter and sophist
22 In parallel to Plato’s condemnation of paintings as deceptions, a positive interpretation of the
23 illusory nature of art also developed in antiquity. Its origins lay in the Sophists’ mistrust of
24 reason, as expressed by Gorgias (in other words, in the first generation of Sophists, in which
25 the key figures are Gorgias and Protagoras, in contrast to the later, second generation – the
26 Second Sophistic). Plato defines the Sophist, in his dialogue of the same name, on the basis of
27 a comparison with the painter, and we shall therefore analyse how the Sophists’ appreciation of
28 semblance and deception is cited in the seventeenth-century theory of art.65 De Lairesse gives
29 a concise summary of the Sophists’ doctrine, saying that they deemed wisdom to be ‘foolish,
30 shameful, and dishonourable’.66
31 Junius discusses Gorgias’s appreciation of the deceptive qualities of the performative
32 arts. It becomes clear that these include the art of painting. Junius repeats Gorgias’s views
33 concerning Greek tragedy, that only the person who is deceived is ethically purified: ‘a kinde
34 of deceit, by which ... the deceived ... is wiser than he that is not deceived’.67 His analysis is
35 elaborated by De Brune, who states that painting’s deception is innocuous and enjoyable, be-
36 cause we ‘hear the artificial weeping with singular delight’; what is more, dramatic catharsis
37 can have a wholesome effect.68 Hence, De Brune repeats approvingly the notion that ‘Painting
38 is Sophistic, that is, illusory and not true to life: for the things that appear in a Painting do not
39 exist in reality’.69
40 De Lairesse’s comment on sophistry is made in relation to a vanitas scene, in which he
41 invokes the argument of the ‘foolishness of wisdom’ to demonstrate the vanity of scholarly
42 research. The scene shows, besides a woman admiring herself in the mirror and children amus-
43 ing themselves with soap-bubbles, a bearded scholar contemplating a large celestial globe (fig.
44
45
276          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 276 09-10-2008 16:54:30

 100). This leads to the conclusion that ‘all is vanity’, which De Lairesse deems to be the essence 1
of the scene.70 Similar views on the futility of the arts are expressed by authors as different as 2
Cardinal Paleotti, who compares painters to sophists when they focus on deception rather than 3
truth,71 and the academician Noel Coypel, who writes, in an address to the French Académie 4
Royale of 1697: 5
6
‘A painter who does not seek to convey the truth of nature is like a philosopher who 7
devotes all his studies to devising modes of reasoning to prove that being is nothing and 8
that the body is but a shadow, and to formulating arguments to dazzle the minds of the 9
ignorant with false appearances.’72 10
11
The positive appreciation of outward appearances, deception and lies, as expressed by art theo- 12
rists like Zuccari and Van Hoogstraten, should be placed first and foremost in the context of 13
rhetorical theory, in which the sophists’ views live on in the early modern period. For instance, 14
in his treatise on rhetoric, David van Hoogstraten discusses Plato’s observation that soph- 15
ists and orators alike practise only the arts of ‘cosmetics, flattery and magic’ (Blanket- vlei- en 16
toverkunst). He contrasts this with his assumption of the civilizing function of rhetoric, which 17
is believed capable of winning over even ‘rough and untutored listeners, of which entire states 18
are composed’. Apparently, this explains the time-honoured description of rhetoric as ‘Mover 19
of souls’ or Zielroerster.73 Given these beneficial powers of deceptive speech, the mendacious 20
nature of rhetoric is a positive, indeed essential quality: Quintilian goes so far as to say that an 21
orator may tell lies if it enhances the persuasive thrust of his argument.74 Seventeenth-century 22
art theorists who wish to stress the positive side of painting’s deceptive qualities borrow from 23
these rhetorical notions. In The Elements of Architecture (1672), for instance, Henry Wotton 24
writes as follows about the use of colour to suggest depth: ‘as in the art of perswasion, one of 25
the most Fundamental Precepts is the Concealment of Art; So here likewise, the Sight must be 26
sweetly deceived by an insensible passage, from brighter colours to dimmer’.75 27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
fig. 100 – Vanitas, image from Gerard De Lairesse, Groot Schilderboek, Haarlem 1740, facing page 108. 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v i           277
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 277 09-10-2008 16:54:42

1 Seventeenth-century art theorists sometimes explicitly call in to question the con-
2 cept of truth, contrasting it to probability.76 At one moment, Van Hoogstraten appears not
3 to mind whether the painter depicts ‘truth, or probability’ (waarheyt, of waerschijnelijkheyt; the
4 Dutch word for probability could be translated hyper-literally as ‘true-seemingness’).77 The
5 distinction between ‘truth’ and ‘probability’ (il verisimile) is discussed more systematically by
6 a number of earlier Italian authors, whose comments help to clarify Van Hoogstraten’s posi-
7 tion. Paleotti writes that painting which contradicts the truth is ‘false’ or ‘untrue’, but not
8 necessarily improbable. Improbable paintings clash with what is generally accepted as being
9 true. To his mind, probability, unlike truth, revolves around the persuasiveness of artworks (le
10 rende persuabili) and ‘reassures in particular the common man’.78 In this context, probability
11 in painting can also be clarified by comparison with rhetoric. The Milanese Cardinal and art
12 lover Carlo Borromeo, for instance, considers persuasiveness to be more important than truth
13 in his treatise Instructiones fabricae et supellectilis esslesiasticae (1577): a painter can make use of
14 subjects that only have the appearance of truth, just like the orator, who does not flinch from
15 probability arguments – that is to say, arguments whose validity has not been fully established.
16 It follows that ‘seemingly true’ subjects make demands on one’s powers of persuasion.79
17 We may conclude with an observation by Boschini that a painter must not show how
18 things are, but how they seem (Non s’ha da dessegnar come in efeto / el mostra el natural, ma come
19 el par). While sculpture must present everything in consistent proportions, for painting all that
20 matters is appearance (solo se val de l’aparenza).80 De Piles’s Cours de peinture par principes (1708)
21 summarizes the matter by saying that ‘beautiful probability ... often seems more true than
22 truth itself’.81
23
24
25 Dissimulation and the ‘honnête homme’
26 Van Hoogstraten’s treatise has some ingenious adaptations of evergreen anecdotes about pain-
27 terly deception, many of which originate from Pliny’s Naturalis historia and were repeated
28 throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Italian tradition is rich in such anecdotes;
29 they often appear in the work of Vasari and Zuccari for instance, and in Lomazzo’s Libro dei
30 sogni (1564).82 As the success of the deception is measured by the social rank of the person
31 deceived, those mentioned are often courtiers or dignitaries;83 in this context, Houbraken at-
32 taches much importance to the tale that Emperor Ferdinand III was once deceived by a trompe-
33 l’oeil made by Van Hoogstraten.84
34 There is nothing coincidental about the fact that these anecdotes of deception are fre-
35 quently given a courtly setting. The theory of deceptive appearances was discussed more ex-
36 plicitly in courtiers’ manuals than in art theory. Deceptive behaviour was accorded a significant
37 role at court, where new social structures were developed and where appearances and self-pres-
38 entation were paramount. Indeed, deception and ambiguity were the subject of many forms
39 of entertainment intended to expose and curb hypocrisy.85 Gracián’s Arte de prudencía (The Art
40 of Prudence), for instance, focuses in this context on the theme of dissimulation, in which ap-
41 pearance (Spanish parecer) is a key factor.86 Gracián holds that ‘things do not pass for what they
42 are, but for what they seem to be ... what cannot be seen is as if it did not exist. ... Those who
43 are deceived are far more numerous than those with insight; deception has the upper hand,
44
45
278          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 278 09-10-2008 16:54:42

 and things are judged from the outside ... A beautiful exterior is the best recommendation of 1
inner perfection’.87 Van Hoogstraten applies this courtly emphasis on appearances to the life of 2
Dutch burghers in his Eerlyken jongeling: ‘It is not enough to be worthy; one must present one’s 3
worthiness such that it is appreciated.’88 4
Van Hoogstraten’s description of painting as a form of ‘delightful deception’ is related 5
to courtly views on the merits of simulation and dissimulation. In this context, it is worth men- 6
tioning the study of courtiers’ handbooks by Manfred Hinz, which developed the concept of 7
the ‘artistic lie’ or Kunstlüge: the concealment of one’s true nature and the simulation of quali- 8
ties one lacks are seen in courtly literature as a function of wit (ingenium), which, through intel- 9
lectual acuteness (argutezza), elicits admiration from the public.89 Deception, the metaphorical 10
use of language, irony and humour are all key themes elaborated in this literature. 11
A central text on such courtly forms of entertainment is Emmanuele Tesauro’s Cannoc- 12
chiale aristotelico, printed in Venice in 1655, before Van Hoogstraten returned from his ‘Grand 13
Tour’.90 Tesauro’s discussion ranges from art and architecture, literature and drama, to danc- 14
ing, chess and card games, festive gatherings and meals. In the Netherlands, the main equiva- 15
lent to this multi-faceted artistic approach is to be found in De Brune’s Wetsteen der vernuften, 16
although the Inleyding, too, describes festivities, for instance, within the framework of an ar- 17
tistic theory.91 Tesauro takes a special interest in optical phenomena such as anamorphosis, 18
deliberately deformed images that are seen in their right proportions only from one specific 19
viewpoint. This particularly invites comparison of his theory with Van Hoogstraten’s, who also 20
experimented with this kind of visual artifice.92 21
Tesauro discusses at length the anecdote of how the ancient artist Parrhasios deceived 22
Zeuxis with his painting of a curtain (also cited by Van Hoogstraten; see above, pages 152- 23
153), stressing the enjoyable nature of this deception as ‘a secret, innate delight of the human 24
intellect in discovering that it has been pleasantly deceived’.93 Basing himself on Aristotle’s 25
didactics, he calls the ‘transition from being deceived to no-longer-being-deceived’ as an un- 26
expected, pleasing and educational moment of insight.94 De Brune’s Wetsteen (‘whetstone’) also 27
presents a series of anecdotes about illusions, the seduction of feminine charms, the deceptive 28
quality of make-up colours and so forth which are intended, as the title indicates, to sharpen 29
the wit.95 The reader is expected to gradually learn how to see through false appearances and 30
deception, developing the political acumen (Gracián’s prudencia, or what Hinz called politische 31
Klugheit) needed to appraise people’s conduct and social situations. As De Brune makes clear, 32
this faculty of prudence, of judging appearances, can only be acquired through experience and 33
is not subject to the rules of art.96 34
In this context, artistic deception is valued as a game aimed at education as well as rec- 35
reation; Ripa writes that art functions ‘through deception that, though strange, is also delight- 36
ful and sweet’.97 Van Hoogstraten’s comments on painting as an art that pleases by deceiving 37
the eye can be studied further in the context of this courtly emphasis on deception, with which 38
he may have become familiar during his stay at the Viennese court in particular. Houbraken 39
notes that when Ferdinand III was deceived by a trompe-l’oeil made by Van Hoogstraten, he ex- 40
claimed that this was ‘the first painter ever’ to have thus ‘deceived him’.98 With this enthusiasm 41
the emperor demonstrated his sophisticated appreciation of dissimulatio. Van Hoogstraten’s 42
trompe-l’oeils may conceivably have functioned in the context of the popular games in which 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v i           279
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 279 09-10-2008 16:54:42

1 courtiers practised their ability to see through lies and deception. The proposition that ‘paint-
2 ing is a game of imitation’ can be found in the writings of Gregorio Comanini, the theorist
3 who is frequently associated with the playful experiments of painters at the Habsburg court
4 (such as Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s portraits that look like collections of fruit and vegetables).99
5 But Tesauro too places great emphasis on art as a game and observes that it is the success of the
6 imitation that determines the worth of a painting, rather than the choice of subject matter.100
7 In his view, ugly, vulgar subjects may be perfect objects for the recreation of the mind: ‘After
8 all, one will look on any repugnant and hideous subject without abhorrence if it is depicted
9 remarkably. For though what is depicted may give umbrage, the means by which it is depicted
10 imparts delight’.101
11
12
13 Caravaggio’s reputation
14 The complex of rhetorical conviction, sophistic tradition, probabilism and prudentia is essen-
15 tial in arriving at a complete appreciation of Van Hoogstraten’s views on the deceptive function
16 of art. When all these views are taken into consideration, it becomes clear that statements like
17 Van Mander’s well-known description of the painter Pieter Aertsen as a ‘deceiver’ and a ‘liar’
18 may be construed in a positive light.102 But it is Caravaggio’s reputation that is most enlighten-
19 ing in this context of a positive evaluation of the art of appearances. For instance, the terms in
20 which one of Zuccari’s pupils, Vicente Carducho, discusses his work reflect an appreciation of
21 certain qualities in his work as well as criticism. Carducho calls Caravaggio’s work deceptive,
22 false and ephemeral (si engañosas, falsas, y sin verdad, ni permanencia), and he refers to the affecta-
23 tion and superficial character of his imitation (su afectada y exterior imitación). He goes on to say,
24 however, that these qualities enabled the painter to persuade a wide and diverse public.103
25 These judgements about Caravaggio’s art are echoed in Van Hoogstraten’s book. He
26 derives from Van Mander the following account:
27
28 ‘Michelangelo Caravaggio said that all works of art that were not painted from life
29 were childsplay and trifles [Bagatelli], whoever the artist might be, since there can be
30 nothing better, nothing good, except for following nature alone. For this reason he
31 never painted a stroke other than from life’.
32
33 Strikingly, Van Hoogstraten then departs from his predecessor’s view. He omits Van Mander’s
34 next statement that painters should not be misled by Caravaggio’s example: Van Mander dis-
35 courages them from depicting nature without possessing the skill to ‘discern and select the
36 most beautiful from the beautiful elements of life’.104 By contrast, Van Hoogstraten adds the
37 following remarks to the quotation: ‘The subject of Painting is, as already discussed, to depict
38 everything: its object is thus the whole of visible nature, none of which reveals itself to our eyes
39 without its specific form and shape.’105
40 In the Inleyding, Caravaggio thus becomes the epitome of a painter who preferred visual
41 reality to idealized beauty. Van Hoogstraten was not the only writer who expressed this ap-
42 preciation. His positive words are similar to the views of Scanelli, who discusses this Italian
43 master as the ‘foremost among naturalists (naturalisti)’ and ‘a unique example of naturalness
44
45
280          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 280 09-10-2008 16:54:42

 (naturalezza), who is driven by his own natural instinct to imitate what is true’. Like Van Hoog- 1
straten, Scanelli links art to seduction and deception. Caravaggio’s gift for ‘naturalism’ relates 2
to his ability to deceive: this painter ‘confused his viewers with astonishing deception, by which 3
means he gladdened and ravished the human sense of sight’.106 4
Directly echoing this sentiment, when Van Hoogstraten enumerates the painters who 5
excel in a particular ‘virtue’ (listing Rembrandt as a specialist in depicting the passions), he calls 6
Caravaggio the paragon of ‘naturalness’ (natuerlijkheyt).107 His appreciation of Caravaggio’s focus 7
on all elements of the visible world, without regard for the beauty of his subjects, is akin to Bel- 8
lori’s comment that was discussed in chapter V: this author compares the ‘naturalists’ (the fol- 9
lowers of Caravaggio) with the atomist philosophers who pay no heed to ideal forms (see above, 10
page 256). What merits our attention, moreover, is that Van Hoogstraten’s view of Caravaggio’s 11
focus on natuerlijkheyt is repeated by Houbraken, who concludes that the Italian master and 12
Rembrandt have an identical vision of art.108 Van Hoogstraten’s views of Caravaggio as a ‘natural- 13
ist’ illuminate his ideas about the importance of the depiction of the visible world. 14
This analysis of artists as courtly deceivers may be concluded with an observation by 15
Roger de Piles, whose opinion that Rembrandt deceived the sense of sight by his rendering 16
of human passions has already been mentioned.109 He also writes that the work of Rubens is 17
based on deceptive cosmetic colouring and pretence: ‘it is true that it is only cosmetics; but one 18
would wish that all these paintings that are made nowadays had been similarly fake’, which he 19
clarifies by noting that painting is essentially based on deception.110 De Piles’s comments, that 20
should be construed in the context of French courtly culture, are supplemented by a charac- 21
teristic quotation from La Rochefoucauld, writing in 1659: ‘Some counterfeits reproduce the 22
truth so well that it would be a flaw of judgment not to be deceived by them.’111 To this we 23
might add a quip by Algarotti: ‘Lies are even more beautiful than truth’.112 24
25
26
‘ma ki n g t h i n g s a ppear to be that are not’: p ainting as 27
meta ph or 28
In asserting that paintings ‘make things appear to be that are not’, Van Hoogstraten identifies 29
a dualism inherent to painting. Pictorial illusion originates from the contrast between inner 30
essence and façade, ‘being’ and ‘not being’. Deception exists by virtue of duplicity: the viewer 31
is confronted with something presenting itself as something else. Many art theorists have made 32
much the same point: Cennini, for instance, states that art makes ‘that exist which is not’ (quello 33
che non è, sia), which may perhaps be a reference to older views imputing magical powers to the 34
artist.113 The wording adopted by Van Hoogstraten deviates somewhat from this older formula 35
in that, to his mind, the artist does not make things exist that were not there, but makes things 36
seem to be that are not there in reality. Pino too bends Cennini’s view in the direction of mere 37
semblance: ‘paintings ... make things appear that are not there’.114 Paleotti emphasizes the 38
unreal nature of a work of art by noting that ‘every painting ... is false, since it shows what is 39
not, while in truth it is a panel with markings on it’.115 Similarly, Goeree concludes that draw- 40
ings ‘show us the truth of the things that are, through untruth and a disguised appearance’ and 41
‘make us believe that we see what we do not see’.116 42
Van Hoogstraten calls attention to the ambivalent nature of the work of art, which is on 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v i           281
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 281 09-10-2008 16:54:42

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38 fig. 101 – Rembrandt, Portrait of Agatha Bas, 1641, canvas, 105 x 85 cm.
39 The Royal Collection, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
40
41
42
43
44
45
282          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 282 09-10-2008 16:54:55

 the one hand a virtual reality, and on the other hand no more than paint on a panel or a piece 1
of canvas. In a discussion of the potential abuse of art by worshippers of images, he repeats 2
a question posed by Calvin, in Institutes 14-15: ‘For what is a Painting? A wise man says, a 3
shape stained with diverse paints.’117 This unmasking of the painting as no more than a panel 4
with smudges is popular with seventeenth-century authors who seek to emphasize the vanity 5
of painting. Typical comments include Camphuysen’s definition of painting as ‘a work that in 6
itself is but lines and shadows’ or a ‘piece of canvas or panel smeared with paint’, and his analo- 7
gous remark that painted figures consist ‘not of flesh and blood, but of resin and clay’.118 This 8
devout Church minister notes that painted portraits are essentially nothing but stripes and 9
patches. He calls paintings ‘sham beauties’ and notes the consummate vanity of the wish to rec- 10
ognize a relative in a portrait, ‘this paint, this lifeless thing, that is nothing but a shadow’.119 11
For similar views, Van Hoogstraten could consult De la Serre’s Op d’ydelheden van de 12
werelt. De la Serre emphasizes that statues are nothing more than pieces of stone and cast
120
13
metal (and indeed that those who worship them are themselves only dust), and dwells on the 14
vanity of ‘canvas with paint on it’.121 He observes that an image of a king fashioned by a sculp- 15
tor is ‘nothing but pieces of wood glued together’.122 Camphuysen and De la Serre apparently 16
reject this most popular of commonplaces in seventeenth-century art literature, the statement 17
that an image appears to be alive. Yet their criticism is inspired precisely by the assumption that 18
pictures are capable of transporting their viewers to a virtual reality: Camphuysen regrets the 19
fact that images can function as ‘dumb rhetoricians’, referring to the orator’s alleged power to 20
influence his listeners’ ethos and, indeed, inspire false religious views.123 21
In relation to the ‘rough manner’, it was noted in chapter V that artists from the Renais- 22
sance onwards drew attention to the fundamentally dualistic nature of a painting, as on the one 23
hand a two-dimensional tangible object and on the other hand a living and three-dimensional 24
illusion (see above, pages 237-240).124 In the context of what he called Illusionsbrechung, the 25
puncturing of illusion, Klaus Krüger cited several seventeenth-century examples, some from 26
Rembrandt’s circle: a typical one being the portrait of Agatha Bas. In this painting, a fan ex- 27
tends over a suggested frame, and the sitter herself grasps the frame (fig. 101). This painting 28
seems to be a direct application of Junius’s statement, quoted verbatim by De Lairesse, that 29
‘we notice that Artists … apply their shadows thus … that the figures come forward with more 30
power, and seem to meet the spectator’s eyes outside the picture plane’.125 31
A trompe-l’oeil of a painted drawing and a genre painting recently attributed to Van 32
Hoogstraten is a carefully thought-out exercise in this realm of illusion and its deliberate 33
‘puncturing’ (fig. 102). The painting displays three interwoven ‘layers of fiction’: the painted 34
tavern scene is exposed as illusory in two ways. It is suggested that the upper left corner of the 35
painted canvas has come loose from the panel to which it was attached, and at the same time, a 36
drawing of the same figures that are depicted in the tavern scene is tacked to this panel.126 37
A detailed discussion of the problematic nature of pictorial resemblance can be found in 38
Tesauro, who accords crucial importance to the term ‘metaphor’: he writes that ‘metaphor is a 39
miraculous way of seeing one thing by means of another’.127 This author discusses painting and 40
sculpture as metaphors (he is supported by Aretino and De Brune, who use the same trope).128 41
Tesauro notes that one of the most fundamental elements of metaphor is its falseness.129 He 42
speaks, for instance, of the ‘metaphor of deception’ (metafora di decettione),130 a comparison in 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v i           283
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 283 09-10-2008 16:54:55

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23 fig. 102 – Attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten,
24 Trompe-l’oeil Still Life with a Drawing and a Genre Painting, 65 x 50 cm.
25 Presently with art dealer Kunsthaus Lempertz, Cologne.
26
27 which two objects, preferably as different as possible in terms of the materials used, are linked
28 such that one is taken for the other.131
29 Tesauro continues that the ‘metaphor of similarity’ (metafora di simiglianza) underlies
30 the view that the painting is not a work of art but a virtual reality. This metaphor inspires topi-
31 cal observations such as: ‘this is not a painting of Alexander, but Alexander himself’ or ‘this is
32 not fiction but truth’.132 Painting, in this regard, is based on the tertium comparationis of colour:
33 through colour, dead matter is interpreted as a living figure. This metaphor is so important
34 that even literary theory uses the terminology of light and colour to denote figures of speech.133
35 Tesauro refers to Quintilian’s view of rhetorical ornament in relation to lumina orationis, by
36 which means the orator succeeds in approaching the clarity of life itself.134 Here, the ‘colours
37 of Rhetorike’ are the vehicle of performativity: only by embellishing his language – in other
38 words by speaking figuratively instead of literally – can the orator succeed in transforming his
39 speech into an experience of an alternative reality. The paradox of the metaphor thematizes the
40 view, discussed in relation to ‘rough’ brushwork, that it is only by abandoning a literal mode of
41 speech that one may evoke a greater suggestion of reality; the more the audience forgets it is
42 listening to an address, the more successful is the orator in his purpose. Similarly, the more the
43 viewer’s mind is activated in summoning up a virtual reality, the more successfully the painter
44 will achieve his goal.
45
284          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 284 09-10-2008 16:55:17

 Tesauro concludes that the metaphorical nature of painting enables it to refer not only 1
to things from three-dimensional reality, but also to ‘invisible’ things. On the one hand, he de- 2
votes ample attention to medium-specific components of similarity, and describes how meta- 3
phors can bridge the gap between two artistic media, such as word and image. On the other 4
hand, he also notes that similarity can exist on a different level of reality, when instead of two 5
objects from the visible world being compared, invisible things are expressed by reference 6
to visible ones. Tesauro describes this by repeating a well-known anecdote about Apelles (a 7
trope that was applied in the Netherlands to Pieter Bruegel, for instance).135 While Zeuxis 8
and Parrhasios were still engaged in painting things ‘that can be painted’, Apelles supposedly 9
proved himself the more ingenious of the two when he painted things ‘that cannot be painted’, 10
that is to say, invisible things: ‘he was the first to display invisible things by means of visible 11
images’.136 These ‘invisible things’ are abstract concepts, for instance, which can be denoted 12
by iconographic details. The dichotomy between the visible and the invisible, and the power 13
of the metaphor of painting to reveal the invisible through the visible, are recurrent themes in 14
the Cannocchiale.137 15
The theory of the fundamentally ambivalent nature of painting is a way of explaining 16
how painterly resemblance and optical illusion operate at the interface of ‘being’ and ‘seem- 17
ing’. At the same time, it clarifies the way in which painting can express the ‘invisible’ by means 18
of the ‘visible’: to speak in the language of mediaeval philosophy, painting depicts spiritualia 19
sub metaphoris corporalium – concepts in the guise of material things.138 We shall now examine 20
in more detail how Van Hoogstraten’s art theory elaborates on this same distinction between 21
inside and outside, between the visible world and the invisible. 22
23
24
i llus i o n a n d va n i ty 25
In the seventeenth-century discourse on art, the statement that painting is a lie or a mere 26
semblance, as presented above, is often interpreted in a more general sense, culminating in the 27
view that the pre-eminently deceptive qualities of the art of painting are a metaphor for the 28
vanity of the visible world itself. In this case, the opposition between seeming and being was 29
extrapolated to the duality of visibility and invisibility. Following this line of thought, paintings 30
might be invested with two connotations: 1) art is a vain pastime; 2) our sense of sight deceives 31
us, and any knowledge based on it is vanity. 32
The supposed vanity and deceptiveness of painting are frequent theme in seventeenth- 33
century art itself and in the literature of art in the widest sense of the term.139 By virtue of its 34
epideictic line of argument, the Inleyding naturally adopts a positive and affirmative attitude to 35
not only painting but also to the visible world itself, with little of the emphasis on the vanity of 36
human affairs that was so popular in seventeenth-century Dutch Protestant and Stoic culture. 37
Still, Van Hoogstraten does emphasize the deceptive and ‘mirror-like’ qualities of paintings, 38
and in this connection it is worth briefly considering the view that paintings produce nothing 39
but illusory images. At first sight, this view seems hard to reconcile with Van Hoogstraten’s be- 40
lief that art is a ‘sister of philosophy’ leading to a better understanding of God, and that it can 41
ultimately be construed as a form of devotion (see above, pages 93, 111-113). We will examine 42
the way in which these opposing ideas, about the deceptiveness of paintings on the one hand, 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v i           285
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 285 09-10-2008 16:55:17

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15 fig. 103 – Attributed to Gerard van Kuijl, Narcissus,
16 canvas, 142 x 191 cm. John and Mabel Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota.
17
18 and about the philosophical significance of art on the other, can and do in fact coexist in certain
19 seventeenth-century views of art.
20 Although the Inleyding does not explicitly discuss the supposedly paradoxical nature of
21 painting, as an activity that is both misleading and admirable, it is nonetheless interesting to
22 study Van Hoogstraten’s mirror metaphor in this context. Van Hoogstraten’s line of argument
23 seeks to link painting to numerous, possibly contradictory commonplaces: according to this
24 observation, it would be best not to speak of a paradox in his views about reality and illusion, or
25 of an opposition that needs to be ‘resolved’, but rather of a structural ambiguity that is inherent
26 to seventeenth-century views of art. While Van Hoogstraten’s theory of art expresses a posi-
27 tive view of painting as a profound absorption in the ‘miraculous works’ of the Creator, in the
28 background we also hear a negative train of thought from the seventeenth-century discourse
29 on vanitas, which propagates the vanity not just of art, but of the visible world itself.
30 Before elaborating further on this structural ambiguity, we should note that the doc-
31 trine of the transience of all earthly things was one of the central themes among the philosoph-
32 ically minded circle that gathered around the Van Hoogstraten brothers from 1656 onwards.
33 The members read and circulated plenty of ‘vanitas literature’ by authors like Agrippa, De la
34 Serre and Jan Luyken. Oudaen single-handedly translated into Dutch Agrippa’s De vanitate
35 scientiarum (c. 1530), and Dullaert did the same for De la Serre’s L’Entretien des bons esprits sur
36 les vanités du monde (1631).140 In Frans van Hoogstraten’s translation of Diego de Estella’s De
37 contemnendis mundi vanitatibus (1585), he poses the following question to his readers, whom he
38 addresses as ‘those with contempt for the world’: ‘Of what else could we say that it can never
39 be learned enough than contempt for the vanities of the world?’141 We shall see that the vanitas
40 doctrine may mean that the essential transience of the visible world, where the art of painting is
41 concerned, focuses the viewer’s attention even more strongly on the Creator’s omnipotence.
42
43
44
45
286          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 286 09-10-2008 16:55:30

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
fig. 104 – Adriaen van de Venne, title print to ‘Zeevsche mey-clacht. ofte schyn-kycker’, 19
in: De Zeevsche nachtegael, Middelburg 1623, p. 91. 20
21
22
Narcissus and the vanity of painting 23
In his definition of the art of painting, Van Hoogstraten writes that it was invented by Narcis- 24
sus, whose love of his own reflection sealed his fate: 25
26
‘[Painting] was of old, and still is, the flower of all Arts: For this reason, our Poets deem 27
it to have originated with Narcissus, who was changed into a flower. For what corre- 28
sponds more nearly to the beautiful figure of this youth, reflected in the crystal-clear 29
source, than a splendidly, artfully painted image resembling nature? That is why others 30
also refer to it as the beautiful daughter of shadow’.142 31
32
Van Hoogstraten’s mention in this passage of ‘our Poets’ is primarily a reference to Ovid’s 33
Metamorphoses.143 Indirectly, he alludes to a number of theorists who attribute the invention 34
of painting to Narcissus, including Alberti, Leonardo, and most notably Van Mander, from 35
whom the above passage is largely derived.144 Images of Narcissus, such as were probably also 36
made by Van Hoogstraten, may contain self-reflexive references to the impermanence of paint- 37
ing, which was indeed emphasized by the metaphor ‘flower of the arts’ (compare fig. 103).145 38
Narcissus admiring his own reflection is depicted in the frontispiece to a text by the artist 39
Adriaen van de Venne, Zeevsche mey-clacht, ofte schyn-kycker (May-Lamentation of Zeeland, or the 40
Looker at Semblance, 1623), a poem in which a walk in the countryside prompts a discussion 41
of the temptations of the sense of sight and the art of painting (fig. 104).146 The mythological 42
youth occurs in Van Mander in an admonition on the transience of youthful beauty; as daf- 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v i           287
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 287 09-10-2008 16:55:49

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30 fig. 105 – Otto Vaenius, Self-portrait, drawing in his own album amicorum. Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Brussels.
31
32 fodils fade, so too will ‘those who only love themselves, when they die ... no longer enjoy the
33 sensual pleasures that they filled their lives with’.147 To seventeenth-century readers, the myth
34 would have been seen as clearly related to the unreality of painting, an unreality which may
35 be associated in turn with the emptiness of earthly existence. Thus, De Bie, for instance, calls
36 painting an ‘ephemeral shadow’, vain as the reflection of which Narcissus became so fatefully
37 enamoured, and compares it to a flower, in the conviction that ‘our lives are no more than frail
38 wildflowers or fading shadows’.148
39 In this context, the Narcissus figure personifies the extraordinary vanity of painting, an
40 art that entices viewers to imagine themselves in a counterfeit reality. De la Serre writes that
41 these viewers, like ‘present-day Narcissuses ... see things that are not there’, discerning ‘attrac-
42 tions, sweetnesses, enticements and graces that are invisible, and that do not exist other than in
43 their own delusions.’149 Invoking the Narcissus myth, De Estella counsels his readers to avert
44
45
288          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 288 09-10-2008 16:56:05

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
fig. 106 – Laux Furtenagel, The Painter Hans Burgkmair and his Wife Anna, 21
1527, wood, 52 x 60 cm. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. 22
23
their gaze from the visible: ‘That the bewtie of thy soule is more to be set by, then the bewtie 24
of thy bodie’.150 25
As Eric Jan Sluijter noted, the iconography of the mirror is closely linked to the vanitas 26
theme in seventeenth-century painting. It is most notably relevant to self-portraits, which, by 27
focusing attention on the mirror that the painter used for the image, underscore the vanity of 28
the painter’s profession and the fact that it concerns itself with ephemeral, worldly outward 29
appearances.151 The same theme recurs in still lifes in which the painter incorporates his own 30
image into reflecting surfaces: this device calls attention to the transient, superficial nature of 31
the objects in the painting, objects that may frequently be interpreted as earthly pleasures and 32
possessions.152 One highly explicit example is Vaenius’s drawing of a self-portrait in a mirror 33
that is about to crash to the ground, with the caption ‘Live each day entrusted to you as if it 34
were your last’ (fig. 105).153 35
Mirrors and skulls are frequently combined in vanitas scenes. In Laux Furtenagel’s por- 36
trait of Hans Burgkmair and his wife (1527), the couple appear in a convex mirror, and skulls 37
have replaced their faces (fig. 106).154 A vanitas still life by Jacob de Gheyn II from 1603 con- 38
tains a skull and a glass ball reflecting the interior of the painter’s studio, with the inscription 39
‘Humana Vana’, all human affairs are vanity (fig. 107). In Antonie van Steenwinkel’s self-por- 40
trait, too, the painter depicts himself in a mirror beside a skull (fig. 108). 41
The literature of art also discusses the fundamental vanity of painting. Paleotti indeed 42
asserts that to speak of a ‘vain painting’ is a tautology; after all, ‘every painting can be called 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v i           289
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 289 09-10-2008 16:56:21

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19 fig. 107 – Jacob de Gheyn II, Vanitus Still-life, 1603 wood, 83 x 54 cm. Metropolitan Museum, New York.
20
21
22 vain in a sense, since it is as a shadow and image of the truth’.155 Similarly, Comanini’s treatise
23 on painting Il Figino (1591) recalls the Platonic view of the inveracity of the entire visible
24 world: ‘we see so many things in this wide theatre of the world that are all ... images and shad-
25 ows ... that do not endure’.156 The vanity or impermanence of paintings is a common theme
26 in poems on portraits. Thus, the playwright Gerard Brandt emphasizes that all that one can
27 find in paintings is ‘the semblance of being’. He regards the portrait of his late wife as ‘merely
28 canvas and paint’: ‘One who lacks the true substance will divert himself with its appearance’.157
29 Camphuysen too avails himself of these theoretical commonplaces, not only to emphasize
30 the vanity of painting, but also to draw attention to the fact that the sense of sight focuses on
31 ephemera. ‘The eye seeks to be deceived by painting’, he writes, calling the art of painting a
32 flattering deception of the eye and ‘the art of appearance’ (schijn-konst).158 Camphuysen uses
33 the same topoi that occur in Van Hoogstraten’s theory of the power of a painting in relation to
34 the visible surface: magic, deception, and rhetorical persuasiveness. However, he links them to
35 exclusively negative connotations; holding that painting obscures ‘the true essence’ of things,
36 he concludes that it is the epitome of vanity: ‘Painting is the Mad Mother of all Vanities’.159
37 Agrippa discusses the same matter in his De vanitate (a book that was discussed on pages
38 202, 221, 232 above), in a chapter on sculpture, an art which he rejects entirely, concluding that
39 ‘human vanity ... is what damns our lives’.160 The frontispiece to the Dutch translation of this
40 text, which contains an engraving by Herman Saftleven, shows the ‘mask of vanity’ being torn
41 off and displays attributes of the diverse arts. Occupying a prominent, central position is a pal-
42 ette with paintbrushes that refers to a passage about painting in the text (fig. 109). Agrippa says
43 that the vanity of painting arises from its mendacity: ‘Painting is a vile art, but highly accurate
44
45
290          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 290 09-10-2008 16:56:33

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
fig. 108 – Antonie van Steenwinkel, Self-portrait with his Wife, Skull and Mirror, canvas, 85 x 64 cm. 19
Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp. 20
21
in the imitation of natural things, consisting of the sketching of outlines and the appropriate 22
mixture of colours’.161 He quotes a number of arguments from the paragone-tradition to de- 23
scribe painting as a wholly vain, useless occupation. One example is its power to depict ephem- 24
eral things like reflections, smoke and fog; unlike poetry and sculpture, painting deceives our 25
eyes, making ‘things that do not exist as if they did, and things that are not such in kind, to 26
seem so’.162 Agrippa’s wording places the commonplace view that painting ‘makes things ap- 27
pear to be that are not’ in a negative light. By introducing shifts of meaning into his adaptation 28
of traditional commonplaces, he evaluates them in a way directly contradictory to the views in 29
Van Hoogstraten’s treatise. For example, according to Agrippa, Parrhasios painted his curtain 30
(see above, pages 152-153) so convincingly that it ‘belies the truth’ (veritatem mentiens) such as 31
to get the better of his opponent; indeed, painting is a paradox: the most convincing painting 32
is also the greatest lie.163 33
In paintings, poems inspired by paintings, and the literature of art, an emphasis on the 34
transience of painting can be traced that may lead to the view that in paintings, diverse ‘levels’ 35
of vanity are entwined. For it is not just that the work of art provides a semblance of the visible 36
world; the visible world itself is unmasked as mere appearance. This is asserted, for instance, 37
in a poem written in praise of Dullaart’s translation of De la Serre’s Ydelheid, in which the vis- 38
ible world in general is branded an empty exterior and for this reason compared to a painting: 39
‘What are all the World’s doings? Vanity, a nought, / other than they appear ... ’tis but a Paint- 40
ing, / a superficial layer of paint, no more’.164 The poet Jodocus van Lodenstein describes a 41
painting as ‘no more than paint and but a copy / of the vain principal’.165 The term principaal is 42
used in art theory to denote an original painting, by the master’s own hand, which is the exam- 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v i           291
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 291 09-10-2008 16:56:37

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24 fig. 109 – Herman Saftleven, title page to H.C. Agrippa,
25 Van de onzekerheid en ydelheid der wetenschappen en konsten, Rotterdam 1661.
26
27 ple for pupils to copy. Here it is argued that the ultimate original, the visible world, is itself a
28 vain thing: art evidently stands in the same relationship to the visible world as the visible world
29 to the immutable, true reality.
30 These examples show that the Dutch literature of art exhibits a paradoxical dilemma:
31 the reality on which the painter bases his ‘mirroring’ image is itself no more than semblance.
32 As one art historian noted, the mirror metaphor ‘suggests a ... profoundly philosophical di-
33 lemma: painting can exist both as a form of truth and as a form of deception’.166 In the context
34 of the Inleyding, there is no need to emphasize the philosophical complications of this contrast,
35 given the rhetorical aim of Van Hoogstraten’s treatise in which there is no problem in com-
36 bining logically inconsistent notions. Views on the vanity of art, such as those expressed by
37 Agrippa and Camphuysen, may be seen as the inevitable complement of the mirror metaphor,
38 and of the positive commonplaces about painting’s power to deceive that have been discussed
39 above. The same arguments that Van Hoogstraten applies ‘in praise of painting’ can evidently
40 also be used to criticize the visual arts.
41 Indeed, Van Hoogstraten himself discusses this inherent ambivalence in the last chap-
42 ter of the Inleyding. Already in the frontispiece, the vanity of painting and of the visible world
43 in general is addressed (fig. 30). This complex print depicts the completion of the appren-
44
45
292          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 292 09-10-2008 16:56:45

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
fig. 110 – Detail of Samuel van Hoogstraten, 15
Urania, title page of Chapter 9 of the Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst. 16
17
tice painter’s training.167 The Muse Urania is presented in the adjacent poem as the one who 18
apportions the painter’s rewards. These rewards are described within a structure resembling 19
that of Petrarch’s Triumphs, in which death is conquered by fame, fame by time, and time by 20
eternity.168 21
The title page alludes to life after death through the ‘picture-within-a-picture’ device 22
(albeit that we are dealing with a print here), which invests the image as a whole with added 23
significance (fig. 110).169 It depicts Urania holding a painted scene that represents a smoking 24
lamp, a skull and bones, and a mirror: three objects that epitomize vanitas symbolism. The 25
three-part division of smoke (the lamp), mortality (the skull) and illusion (the mirror) recur, 26
for instance, in the inscription that Lipsius wrote for his own grave, which emphasizes that 27
‘all human affairs are smoke, shadow, vanity and scenes on a stage’.170 The three objects place 28
the painter’s earthly ambitions, which are depicted in the frontispiece in the form of an artist 29
who is being knighted, in the context of the Stoic doctrine of the ultimate vanity of the exist- 30
ence of the vir proficiens, the man who seeks wisdom. Closer scrutiny reveals that the picture- 31
within-the-picture rests on a gravestone from beneath which a serpent is emerging, possibly 32
the Biblical serpent from the Garden of Eden, and thus an allusion to the state of sin in earthly 33
existence, which only death can end.171 34
Van Hoogstraten discusses the iconography of this print only at the end of the chap- 35
ter, when he quotes a sonnet by Michelangelo that revolves around the fundamental division 36
between fleeting and enduring aspects of reality.172 In effect, many of Michelangelo’s poems 37
relate his sculpture to his religious views, which are heavily infused with notions of mortality; 38
Jan de Brune accordingly quotes from them at length when broaching the vanitas doctrine.173 39
A number of Michelangelo’s poems broach the theme of mortality in the form of oppositions, 40
such as earthly versus heavenly love, or God providing redemption from the earthly vale of 41
tears.174 The well-known sonnet of which Van Hoogstraten provides a Dutch translation, the 42
opening line of which is ‘Giunto è già il corso di mia vita’ (‘My Life’s Travels Have Now Come 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v i           293
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 293 10-10-2008 17:16:40

1 to an End’), is characteristic of Michelangelo’s preoccupation with sin and mortality.
2 The translation (or, more accurately, adaptation), probably made by Van Hoogstraten
3 himself, begins with the statement that the author’s ramshackle ‘Ship of Life’ is approaching
4 its final destination, where he will be judged for his deeds. The author expresses the realization
5 that the visual arts, his profession, are based wholly on vanity, and that the secular rewards he
6 enjoys as an artist are trivial in comparison with what awaits him in the life to come. He asks
7 himself:
8
9 ‘What is it all, what I achieved on earth,
10 if yet I undergo a double death?
11 One is certain, the other looms ahead.’175
12
13 The author fears extinction in the life to come, a double death, not only of the body, but also of
14 the soul. He expresses his wish, having ‘painted and toiled’ so much, to be redeemed by Christ.
15 Van Hoogstraten’s translation here follows Michelangelo’s original in speaking of ‘two deaths’
16 (duo morte), a phrase repeated in several of the sculptor’s poems.176 This dualism largely echoes
17 the seventeenth-century notion of vanitas that emphasizes the essential ambiguity of the visible
18 world: as images do no more than provoke the question as to what true reality is, just so does
19 life ultimately refer only to death.177
20 The division of reality into realms of mortality and immortality is elaborated in detail
21 by Jan de Brune, who states that it is analogous to the fundamental duplicity of painting as
22 discussed in seventeenth-century art theory. He contrasts the ephemeral ‘exterior’ of things,
23 the realm of the painter’s work, with the ‘inner’ immortal soul:
24
25 ‘Man is composed of two parts, soul and body: but these differ as greatly as do eternity
26 and mortality. The one, being immortal, rises to heaven, while the other is covered
27 with earth and consumed by worms. The one is not represented, other than in moral
28 conduct; the other is depicted on a panel by painters.’
29
30 The beauty of the invisible world is evidently beyond all comparison to that of the visible
31 world, which offers no more than the exterior of the mortal flesh: ‘The one conceals all its
32 beauty within; the other possesses it on the outer surface, which, if stripped off, reveals slimy
33 and bloody flesh, which is indeed the sheath of unclean matter [i.e. of the bodily fluids]’.178
34 As the frontispiece to Van Hoogstraten’s eighth chapter makes clear, there is a posi-
35 tive facet to the vanitas doctrine which follows from the phrase non omnis moriar, ‘I will not
36 die entirely’: the immortal soul will endure in the life hereafter.179 It is this conviction that
37 enables Van Hoogstraten to resign himself to his own approaching end, in the realization of
38 the mortality of the flesh; he expresses the hope ‘that God will use his soul for something bet-
39 ter after this time’ and expects that ‘the best part of him, not fearful of death, will soar to the
40 Heavens’.180 Van Hoogstraten contrasts his physical body and the fame of his works of art on
41 earth with the ‘best’ part, which liberates itself from the visible world. The same distinction is
42 made in one of his plays, which identifies the invisible world directly with life after death.181
43 The emphasis on the vanity of human affairs in the title illustration to the Inleyding’s
44
45
294          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 294 09-10-2008 16:56:49

 last chapter and in Michelangelo’s poem can be interpreted first and foremost as a rhetorical 1
device with which Van Hoogstraten takes the sting out of any condemnation of the deceptive, 2
superficial and futile aspects of his profession, precisely by incorporating the criticism into his 3
theory. Motivated by this same argument, Van Mander’s biographies of painters end with a 4
pointed comment on the vanity and transience of earthly fame, and Angel’s Lof too concludes 5
with a reference to human mortality.182 But there is more at stake than just a rhetorical ploy, as 6
is apparent most explicitly in certain comments in De Bie’s Cabinet. De Bie exhorts painters to 7
render account for their sensory bias towards the visible world: ‘since at the end of their brief 8
lives they must account for themselves, they should not fix their desires so firmly on the beauti- 9
ful and vain pleasures of this deceptive world’.183 He argues that not only is painting a ‘seeming 10
without being’,184 but the visible world itself is just as misleading: ‘The world is a trickster and 11
a fraud, for she deceives everyone, she enchants: ... All the world ... is but vanity, and must 12
fade like smoke’.185 Here he invokes Quintilian’s words on the correlation between the vanity 13
of painting and the vanity of earthly existence, concluding that we should set our eyes on the 14
life hereafter: 15
16
‘No one should be amazed that such great Art has sprung from a shadow (which in 17
itself is Nothing), since we all spring from the slime of the earth ... that is why we have 18
good reason to love the things of Heaven rather than to strain after the vanity of the 19
world.’186 20
21
De Bie’s remarks show that the emphasis on the evanescence of the visible world is not just a 22
persuasive device in an argument in which ‘the end justifies the means’. The concept of the 23
vanity of all things visible may be an automatic, complementary connotation in a theory that 24
revolves around the deceptiveness of painting. Thus, the literature of art repeats the same 25
complementary ideas concerning painting and the visible world as the many vanitas still lifes 26
and self-portraits that allude to the mirror-like nature of painting. The vanity of painting is 27
expected to remind the viewer of the vanity of the senses and of the visible in general, and it is 28
seen as an aid to focus his mind, through this via negativa, on the afterlife. As we shall see, this 29
vanitas concept is essential to the positive religious function that Van Hoogstraten ascribes to 30
painting. 31
32
33
‘through a glass, darkly’: visible and invisible worlds 34
It is time to explore the significance for the interpretation of seventeenth-century painting of 35
the connotations attached to the definition of a painting as ‘a mirror of nature’ that have been 36
traced in this chapter. It has become clearer that the Dutch discourse on visual reality world is 37
based on an ideology that includes a moment of embracing the things of this world, as well as 38
a moment of renouncing them. What can be added to the conclusion reached earlier that the 39
visible world is worthy of contemplation as the ‘Book of Nature’ (see above, pages 108-113)? 40
Again, we may wish to address the seventeenth-century division of reality into spheres of vis- 41
ibility and invisibility: we shall look at religious views regarding the relationship between the 42
visible and invisible worlds, as these determined Van Hoogstraten’s division of reality into a 43
visible and an invisible domain.187 44
45
c h ap t e r v i           295
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 295 09-10-2008 16:56:49

1 The distinction made in Plato’s Timaeus between mundus intelligibilis and mundus sensibi-
2 lis is repeated by Christian authors like De Mornay, who refers to the theory of the ‘Platonists’
3 that ‘there are two worlds, one that we understand with the senses, the one in which we live;
4 and the other, that is only understood with the mind’.188 This dualism possessed a biblical basis
5 in St Paul’s assertion that ‘by [God] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in
6 earth, visible and invisible’.189 The fundamentally dual nature of reality as consisting of both
7 visible and invisible components was eventually codified in the Confession of Nicea, which
8 glorified God as the maker of visibilium omnium et invisibilium, or, as this formula was repeated
9 by Calvinist orthodoxy at the Synod of Dordrecht: ‘Creator of heaven and earth and of all
10 things, visible and invisible’.190
11 Calvinist authors in general stressed the impossibility of rational thinking to under-
12 stand the truths of the invisible world. To proceed per visibilia ad invisibilia, something else
13 was needed, related more to sensual experience and emotional response than to speculation
14 on doctrine (hence, they stressed the importance of sacred rhetoric above scholastic studies).
15 Here, they followed the systematic elaboration of the twofold division in Augustine’s view
16 concerning a struggle between the civitas Dei and the earthly city, in which everything in the
17 latter is susceptible to mortality while living with the constant awareness of the ‘life to come’
18 after the end of time. Augustine emphasizes that it is essentially only God’s grace that can bring
19 redemption.191
20 Norman Bryson studied the visibility/invisibility division in relation to still-life painting
21 in his Looking at the Overlooked (1990). He analysed the strong tendency in Calvinist doctrine
22 to question the power of the sense of sight to penetrate to the transcendental: ‘Where Catholic
23 painting opens effortlessly on to sacred scenes and celestial spaces, the Northern vanitas has
24 exactly no route [sic] towards the transcendental that vision may directly take.’ It is precisely
25 the impossibility of discovering the essence of things through the eye, wrote Bryson, that leads
26 artists to concentrate on outward appearances: ‘The transcendental can be sensed only in the
27 inability to reach it.’192
28 This paradoxical position can be clarified with the aid of texts from Van Hoogstraten’s
29 library. De Mornay, for instance, asserts that God’s greatness is hidden from human insight,
30 such that the only way in which he reveals himself is precisely through his concealment:
31
32 ‘Since our eyes cannot bear the brightness of such intense [Divine] light, let it suffice
33 for us to behold this light in its shadows. The world, which we comprehend with our
34 senses, and in which we live, is the shadow of that world, which can only be beheld
35 through the mind, which world of the mind the followers of Plato’s doctrine under-
36 stand as God.’193
37
38 De Mornay’s central proposition that God can be known through his Creation has been dis-
39 cussed above (see pages 116-117).194 In his view, our relationship to God can be construed as a
40 paradox: we know only that we know nothing, and can describe God only by saying nothing.
41 This echoes an essential point of Calvinist doctrine, namely that the most universal and imme-
42 diate approach to God takes place at an affective, non-rational level.195 Calvin emphasizes that
43 this capacity for affective comprehension is the most quintessentially human quality.196 In this
44
45
296          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 296 09-10-2008 16:56:49

 view, contemplating the Creation is a path leading to God, even though the ensuing insight 1
stems from a paradox: the ever-changing multiplicity of visible things focuses the human mind 2
on the perfection of the immutable God from whom they spring. 3
De Mornay explains in detail that only the ephemeral qualities of the visible world can 4
unlock our human understanding of the eternity of God. He contrasts the multiplicity of the 5
natural world with God, who is one, and yet has his hand in all the diverse things of the world: 6
‘Just as appearances, colours, and visible things are all distinct from one another, and the light 7
of the Sun brings forth diverse effects, so too does God’s presence manifest itself differently 8
in different things, while remaining immutable’.197 This paradox results from the fact that we 9
only comprehend the unity and immutability of God through the ephemeral and manifold 10
nature of the visible world: ‘We [shall] behold God ... in the imperfections to be seen in all 11
things, such as [the fact that they are] changeable, impotent, weighed down by matter etc., and 12
must realize that these things differ from God far more greatly than one can grasp with one’s 13
intellect.’198 14
From this paradoxical insight we may understand how it is precisely the painter’s ability 15
to depict contingencies such as reflections, surface textures and the play of light – De Mornay 16
refers explicitly to the ‘diverse effects’ of the play of light – that is furnished with religious con- 17
notations. The realization that visual reality is a world of fleeting appearances may give rise to 18
a moment of profound contemplation on the foundations of reality. It is this moment, when 19
sensory experience prompts contemplation, that determines the philosophical value of an art 20
which is by its very nature deceptive. When the work of art itself actually alludes to its own 21
medium, and to its illusory properties, it is drawing attention to a far more essential distinc- 22
tion, namely that between appearance and reality. Painting that makes the viewer realize that 23
the visible world is illusion without true essence may ultimately focus his mind on the Creator’s 24
intentions. 25
The answer to the question of how it is possible that the ‘deceptive’ senses can lead to 26
‘true’ knowledge lies in the notion that painting stands in the same relationship to nature as 27
nature to its Creator. As we have seen, the phrase ‘mirror of nature’, construed as a genitivus 28
subjectivus, is used to indicate that nature itself is a mirror of its Creator. A perfect example of 29
this is an assertion by the twelfth-century poet Alan de Lille that the world is ‘like a book, a 30
painting, a mirror’, an indirect way of coming to know the Creator.199 Willem van Blijenberg, 31
the philosopher in Van Hoogstraten’s circle of friends, similarly infers the existence of God 32
from the abundance of nature: 33
34
‘abundant material from his radiant glory is provided to us on all sides ... wherever you 35
turn your eyes, everywhere you see bright mirrors showing God’s power and majesty, 36
bright paintings expressing God’s essence and power as if they had been painted.’200 37
38
What is of particular interest to Van Hoogstraten’s ideas on the visible and the invisible in 39
relation to painting, is the view that God does not reveal himself directly but ‘as in a mirror’, 40
in reflections.201 Calvin himself stresses the fundamental incomprehensibility of God, stating 41
that the created world ‘stands before us as if it were a mirror, in which we can behold God, 42
who himself is invisible.’202 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v i           297
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 297 09-10-2008 16:56:49

1 Frans van Hoogstraten uses the example of a pair of spectacles in an emblem in his
2 Schoole der wereld, to indicate that we look at the invisible world ‘through the spectacles’ of the
3 visible world. He compares spectacles to mirrors; both objects, it seems, are suitable for this
4 ‘optical’ metaphor:
5
6 ‘Many mirrors can our soul survey,
7 in nature they help it find its way:
8 Its eye absorbs what Creation’s glass records,
9 God’s wisdom and His might, who from nought made all;
10 in the Book of our Salvation it beholds the wondrous sight
11 of our redemption; and when the Sky’s beauties are at their height
12 it beholds His glory, pledged as our inheritance,
13 through the glass of God’s beneficence.’203
14
15 Frans calls nature the ‘Book of our salvation’ and distinguishes between the mirror of Creation
16 and that of the Bible.204 He often uses the phrase ‘visible world’ in this text, which suggests that
17 his writings and those of his brother were not unrelated. On the one hand he sees this world as
18 an expression of God’s might, and on the other hand he calls it ephemeral and contrasts it with
19 the greater truth of the afterlife.205
20 These observations about the vanity of the visible world are linked directly to the art of
21 painting by another author of pietistic writings, Jan Luyken. Many of this poet-engraver’s ideas
22 did not mature until after Van Hoogstraten’s death. Even so, they probably illustrate the pre-
23 vailing views in the circle surrounding Samuel and Frans in Rotterdam, where they may have
24 been introduced in the 1670s by Johannes Antonides van der Goes, a friend and kindred spirit
25 of Luyken’s.206 An interesting book in this context is Leerzaam huisraad (Instructive Household
26 Objects, 1711), a late text that illustrates Luyken’s habit of investing everyday objects from the
27 ephemeral visible world with moral significance – a device that in this respect is comparable to
28 Frans van Hoogstraten’s Schoole der wereld. Both these texts bear witness to the notion that not
29 only organic nature, but also man-made objects are judged as part of the visible world that re-
30 flects divine omnipotence. Luyken defines the human condition as abandoned to ‘the presence
31 of visible life ... and surrounded by the ephemeral’; but human beings are expected to find their
32 bearings by consulting ‘the great book of things’. One example is the mirror, which Luyken
33 furnishes with the caption ‘Know Thyself’; musing on this object, he condemns human vanity
34 and urges the need for intellectual reflection.207
35 Luyken produced an emblem that links the art of painting directly to a cogent concept
36 of vanitas, which contrasts the visible and invisible worlds. The emblem bears the laconic title:
37 ‘Het lykt wat’ (‘It Seems [to be] Something’). The image of two figures debating in front of
38 two paintings (a still life with fruit and a double portrait) contains a caption from Paul’s Second
39 Epistle to the Corinthians (fig. 111): ‘While we look not at the things which are seen, but at
40 the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which
41 are not seen are eternal’ (II Corinthians 4:18).208 Luyken’s own caption reads:
42
43
44
45
298          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 298 09-10-2008 16:56:50

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
fig. 111 – Jan Luyken, The Painting, emblem from Het leerzaam huisraad, Amsterdam 1711. 22
23
‘A Painting is mere appearance 24
of things that are in essence: 25
from its Fruit you cannot Eat, 26
with its Mouth it cannot teach. 27
Thus is the entire visible world, 28
with all pleasures of this age, 29
and all its affairs and riches: 30
just shadows of dead images.’209 31
32
Luyken observes that just as paintings are only a semblance of the visible world, the visible 33
world itself is only a semblance of true reality. He follows the same line of argument in an 34
emblem representing ‘The Painter’, which reads: ‘Everything the eye sees is not the original’ 35
(the word ‘original’ is rendered in Dutch principaal, the term that artists used for a work that 36
was being copied). The author explains: ‘Art shows us a mere semblance / of what is in essence; / 37
just so is the great Painting / of the All of visible things’ (fig. 112).210 The identification of ‘all 38
the visible world’ with the realm of the transient follows from the method, adopted in Luyken’s 39
book, of using the most inconsequential of objects as a starting-point for a contemplative dis- 40
course expressing disdain for worldly matters. This idea returns in his poem ‘Een ding is nodig’ 41
(‘One Thing is Needful’), a title that refers to Christ’s meeting with Mary and Martha that, 42
as early as in the sixteenth century, had come to symbolize man’s choice of the contemplative 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v i           299
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 299 09-10-2008 16:57:02

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22 fig. 112 – Jan and Caspar Luyken, The Painter, emblem from Het menselyk bedryf, Amsterdam 1694.
23
24 rather than the active life (Luke 10:41-42). The poem begins and ends with the lines alles wat
25 men ziet / is mijn beminde niet (‘all that can be seen / is not beloved by me’).
26 The poet heaves ‘many a sigh / in God, that expanse of sky’ and wonders when he
27 will be shuffling off his mortal coil for life in heaven, replacing ‘all-that-can-be-seen’ with its
28 converse:
29
30 ‘The eternal Nought,
31 existing above all senses,
32 an All, whence everything came,
33 what as a principle once began,
34 ’tis that, so good and sweet, that has our love.’211
35
36 Although Luyken, like Camphuysen for instance, defines painting as mere appearance, he does
37 not reach a wholly negative conclusion about its pre-eminently ephemeral qualities. He sees
38 the visible world, including ‘instructive household objects’, as an important instrument that
39 focuses the viewer’s attention on the ‘invisible world’. This double perspective on the visible
40 world can be summarized by another exhortation from Paul’s Epistles to the Corinthians, a
41 text to which Van Hoogstraten refers elsewhere:212 ‘For now we see through a glass, darkly;
42 but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known’(I
43 Corinthians 13:12).213
44
45
300          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 300 09-10-2008 16:57:11

 Van Hoogstraten was probably not an enthusiastic devotee of the pietistic religious at- 1
titude propagated by Luyken; this attitude has no place in the epideictic argument of the Inley- 2
ding, which is aimed at affirming the importance of visual reality. However, it is evident that 3
Luyken’s view of the vanity of ‘all-that-can-be-seen’ is immediately complementary to, and the 4
converse of, Van Hoogstraten’s focus on the visible world. It is an inference that, although not 5
expressed overtly in the Inleyding’s text ‘in praise of painting’, must have been an obvious truism 6
in seventeenth-century views of the visible world. 7
The currency of this ambivalent attitude towards ‘all-that-can-be-seen’ can be illus- 8
trated by referring to the work of various older art historians, who studied the possible symbol- 9
ism contained in still-life painting; they concluded, notably in relation to vanitas scenes, that 10
while some seventeenth-century viewers will have interpreted all images moralistically, many 11
symbolic elements are open to different interpretations.214 In this connection and in relation 12
to works of art dating from the late sixteenth century onwards, these scholars highlighted the 13
structural ambiguity underlying the decision to depict specific insignificant and ephemeral ob- 14
jects. On the one hand, the minute attention to detail in otherwise inconspicuous objects may 15
be interpreted as proof of the artist’s power to give permanence to items that are in themselves 16
ephemeral. On the other hand, these still lifes impress on viewers that the visible world is de- 17
ceptive and transient through iconographic references. In paintings that combine meticulous 18
attention to the details of fleeting visual reality, in rendering reflections and surface textures, 19
with an explicit vanitas symbolism, form and content are thus attuned to one another. This 20
same ambivalence recurs, for instance, in self-portraits of painters that contain iconographical 21
allusions to the vanity of the painter’s profession, while at the same time flaunting the painter’s 22
skill in rendering a wealth of transitory components of the visible world. 23
Van Hoogstraten’s observations on the deceptiveness of art clearly emphasize the praise- 24
worthy aspects of this deception. He uses commonplaces on this subject as positive threads of 25
his epideictic line of argument. His definition of painting as deceit, for instance, while very 26
similar to Agrippa’s bitter criticism, is cast in a wholly positive light. Even so, seventeenth- 27
century viewers were able, armed with the topoi of a treatise such as the Inleyding, to adopt a pi- 28
etistic view of works of art, valuing them solely as instruments that reveal the human tendency 29
to succumb to illusion and sin. The plethora of anecdotes from the literature of art describing 30
viewers who try to touch painted food, who cannot avert their eyes from a painted goddess 31
or suppress their desire to speak to a portrait, according to this pietistic view, are so many 32
examples of human folly. The art historian Reindert Falkenburg thus linked Pieter Aertsen’s 33
still lifes, which display the artist’s skill in representing a variety of objects and textures to the 34
rhetorical device of the ‘paradoxical encomium’, the elaborate praise of inconsequential things 35
that is intended to lead to greater insight into the human condition: 36
37
‘The glowing terms used to praise something that is generally deemed worthless ... 38
serve to lure the reader, who is swept away by the skill of the speaker/writer, into invol- 39
untarily endorsing the praise – only to subsequently expose the suspect nature of this 40
endorsement and his own tendency to err into folly and sin.’215 41
42
43
44
45
c h ap t e r v i           301
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 301 09-10-2008 16:57:11

1 Although Aertsen’s paintings are specific in their explicit juxtaposition of the display of profane
2 objects with a religious narrative, the same train of thought concerning a fundamental ambi-
3 guity in the appreciation of visible things lives on later in the seventeenth century. This is not
4 surprising, since, as Ernst Gombrich remarked, ‘every painted still life has the vanitas motif
5 “built in” as it were …. The more cunning the illusion the more impressive, in a way, is this
6 sermon on semblance and reality’.216 More specifically in relation to Netherlandish painting,
7 Celeste Brusati wrote ‘there seems little question that both ... impulses [of moral education
8 and preservation of the ephemeral] feed into Dutch still-life painting and register the audi-
9 ence’s ambivalence towards possessions and worldly attachments that are both desired and
10 feared’.217 That the same ambiguity also holds good for other genres was suggested by Eric
11 Jan Sluijter, who remarked that self-portraits often ‘reflected the painter’s professional pride
12 as well as his awareness of the singular relationship between the art of painting, transience and
13 vanity’.218 Our present analysis of the connotations of the metaphor ‘mirror of nature’ in sev-
14 enteenth-century texts suggests that this fundamental ambivalence in thinking about certain
15 works of art may be extrapolated to every representation of the visible world. In the context
16 of this combination of an affirmative attitude towards the visible with a total renunciation of
17 it, it is noteworthy that Frans van Hoogstraten’s pietistic views regarding the visible world are
18 almost diametrically opposed to those of his brother, although both use the same terminology
19 to discuss this concept.
20 The structural ambivalence inherent in seventeenth-century ideas about painting is
21 rooted in the thinking in terms of similitudo, which, as we have seen, pervades Van Hoogstraten’s
22 treatise. In this mode of thinking, not only is each element of the visible world supposed to be
23 correlated to a specific concept in the higher, celestial sphere, but the entire visible world or
24 civitas Mundi can be construed as an imperfect reflection of the invisible world or civitas Dei.
25 Thus, paintings representing ‘all-that-can-be-seen’ do not need to take a specific allegory as a
26 point of departure in order to construe visibilia as references to invisibilia. One might even argue
27 that to some seventeenth-century viewers, the ‘Book of Nature’ doctrine itself encompasses a
28 vanitas concept, namely one in which the visible world is valuable only as a Second Bible, as a
29 path to the Kingdom of God that should be the final destination of all earthly endeavours.
30 These observations about painting’s religious significance as a ‘mirror of nature’ may
31 supplement older art-historical ideas about the iconographic framework of paintings in which
32 the artist draws attention to ephemeral visual details. One example is Albert Blankert’s belief
33 that Vermeer’s work may be interpreted in the light of a ‘transcendental’ appreciation of the
34 visible world. In a 1995 exhibition essay Blankert first posited that Vermeer ‘saw the beauty
35 and richness of earthly reality as transcendental and wanted even the tiniest details of his paint-
36 ings to bear witness to it’, a view that he contrasts to the traditional belief that the painting
37 Woman Holding a Balance (c. 1664), for instance, is a vanitas scene (fig. 113).219 The arguments
38 set forth in this chapter have shown that it is precisely the ‘colours and visible things’ studied
39 attentively by the painter, such as ‘the light of the Sun [that] brings forth diverse works’, in the
40 words of Du Mornay – the ‘changeable’ details of the visible world – that ultimately expose
41 the vanity of the visible world. (To vary on Blankert’s theme: these details encouraged viewers
42 to focus on the transcendental aspects of reality, which meant most notably, in seventeenth-
43
44
45
302          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 302 09-10-2008 16:57:11

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
fig. 113 – Johannes Vermeer, Woman Holding a Balance, 1662-1665, canvas, 43 x 38 cm. 24
The National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. 25
26
century reasoning, to contemplate death). According to the seventeenth-century pietistic view, 27
this very experience of transience, as recorded by the painter, can ultimately lead to religious 28
understanding.220 29
The observations on the deceptive nature of art presented in this chapter show that the 30
‘Book of Nature’ doctrine is compatible with Van Hoogstraten’s views of art as ‘commendable 31
deception’ and with an art that is geared precisely to elements that are ‘not exactly the same 32
as one another’ and ‘painterly’ or schilderachtig. There is a structural ambivalence in ideas on 33
the visible world within the seventeenth-century discourse of art: the mirroring property of 34
paintings, which is seen as their most essential and praiseworthy quality, may have led Van 35
Hoogstraten’s contemporaries to underscore the fundamental deceptiveness not just of paint- 36
ings, but of the very visible world they depict. We have seen that the fundamental vanity of a 37
painting that emphasizes ‘changeable’, ephemeral elements corresponds to the doctrine that 38
regards the study of the ‘Book of Nature’ as a form of philosophical contemplation. 39
40
The views about sensory perception and speculations about the foundations of the visible world 41
outlined here are thematized in various ways in paintings themselves. This will be illustrated 42
by two works of art that reflect an ambivalent attitude towards the visible world in two care- 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v i           303
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 303 09-10-2008 16:57:19

1 fully elaborated but very different ways. The first is Van Hoogstraten’s ‘peepshow’ or perspec-
2 tive box now at the National Gallery, London, which depicts allegorically the main rewards to
3 be reaped by the painter. The second is Rembrandt’s self-portrait at Kenwood House, London,
4 in which he presents himself with brushes and palette, and which has frequently been linked to
5 art theory and the artist’s self-image. Comparison with Van Hoogstraten’s self-portrait in the
6 Inleyding invites a fresh interpretation.
7
8
9 va n h o o g s t rat en ’s p ersp ective box: the bif ocal gaze as
10 ‘memen t o mori ’
11 A number of paintings by (or attributed to) Van Hoogstraten take as their theme the mirror-like
12 quality of painterly likeness and the notion that a painting conjures up a deceiving semblance.
13 In this context, we may refer back to the process, analysed by Klaus Krüger, by which elements
14 aimed at the deliberate puncturing of illusion are added to paintings, a process that was popular
15 in the seventeenth-century Netherlands. Examples include painted frames or other elements
16 through which a painting focuses attention on its own medium: paintings-within-paintings,
17 painted mirrors, and views through doorways or window panes that frame selected elements
18 of the visible world, just like paintings.221 While most of the paintings in which such devices
19 are used cannot be explicitly linked to a theoretical statement, Van Hoogstraten’s perspective
20 boxes and his emphasis on anamorphosis – deliberately deformed imagery – can be regarded as
21 practical experiments that problematize painterly likeness as such.
22 Only six seventeenth-century perspective boxes have been preserved.222 Besides the
23 famous one in London’s National Gallery, a peepshow in Detroit is also attributed to Van
24 Hoogstraten (fig. 114).223 The London one contains a number of scenes on the sides and top,
25 representing the rewards reaped by the artist. Three putti and a painter, on the sides, depict
26 the three-part division that is articulated in the Inleyding: financial gain, fame and love of art.
27 The top of the box contains an anamorphic view: an image of Venus and Cupid, figures that
28 may refer, in the light of the amorous connotations of painting discussed above, to the sensual
29 nature of painting and its seductive power. The figures do not lose their distorted appearance
30 until the viewer adopts a specific vantage point in the lower left-hand corner, roughly at the
31 height of the picture plane itself, ‘at Venus’s feet’ (fig. 115). What is more, depicted on one of
32 the box’s sides is a painter studying an object that Celeste Brusati identified as an anamorphi-
33 cally distorted eye.224
34 Anamorphosis is an express reminder of painting’s essence as an optical deception.225
35 It reverses the normal order of events: the viewer is initially confronted with ‘a shape stained
36 with diverse paints’, in Van Hoogstraten’s words, and only when looked at from one specific
37 viewpoint does the illusion take effect. The process of anamorphic representation is repeated
38 in the perspective box. This device is effectively composed of a number of anamorphic images,
39 placed at different angles and at different distances from the viewer, and painted such that
40 when viewed from one precisely determined vantage point, together they produce a single
41 perspectival illusion.226 But the effect of the perspective box is not complete unless one is also
42 able to adopt some other vantage point, and thus to discover the degree to which the actual
43 work of art is distinct from the image that is conjured up. In the case of the perspective box,
44
45
304          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 304 09-10-2008 16:57:19

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
fig. 114 – Attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten, Perspective Box with Views of a Vaulted Vestibule, 1663, 41
wood, glass, mirror, 42 x 35 x 29 cm. Detroit Institute of Arts. 42
43
44
45
c h ap t e r v i           305
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 305 09-10-2008 16:57:26

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29 fig. 115 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, Anamorphosis with Venus and Cupid, wood,
30 top of the perspective box in the National Gallery, London.
31
32 one side is open, or can be opened, to make this possible. Tesauro’s description of the delight
33 afforded by metaphor alludes to the insight bred by this pictorial experiment: the greater the
34 distinction between the image and the thing to which it is compared, the more admiration it
35 will command (see above, page 240).
36 While Van Hoogstraten does not broach the subject of anamorphosis in the Inleyding,227
37 Tesauro’s Cannocchiale contains a noteworthy discussion of this subject. The frontispiece dis-
38 plays an anamorphosis being painted by a personification of Pictura, holding her palette and
39 brush. Most unusually, a conical mirror is needed to undo the distortion and make the figures
40 recognizable (figs. 116 and 116a).228 The mirroring surface reveals that the distorted inscrip-
41 tion on the anamorphosis reads ‘omnis in unum’. The print’s maker is clearly referring here to
42 the theory of metaphor, which is central to Tesauro’s text. It describes metaphor as a vehicle for
43 ‘bringing together different concepts within a single term, showing these things in a miracu-
44
45
306          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 306 09-10-2008 16:57:28

 lous way, such that one appears by means of the other’. Tesauro concludes: ‘This magnifies the 1
delight, such that it is more astonishing and enjoyable to view objects through a perspectival 2
distortion than when you see the original things with your own eyes’.229 3
Anamorphosis reveals the crucial significance of the beholder’s viewpoint to the assess- 4
ment of a work of art. Its problematization of pictorial likeness is seized on in seventeenth-cen- 5
tury philosophy as an illustration of the subjectivity of representations in general. Leibniz, for in- 6
stance, describes ‘the inventions of perspective, in which certain beautiful drawings appear utter 7
confusion until viewed from the right vantage point’. He compares the chaos presented by the 8
painted surface to the chaos of everyday life, and equates the organization of this chaos, which is 9
dependent on the view from the right distance, with the harmony of the macrocosm.230 10
11
12
Appearance and reality 13
Anamorphosis is an explicit way of drawing attention to the dualism between appearance and 14
reality that is inherent in pictorial representation. In chapter V, discussing the problematic 15
nature of ‘rough’ brushwork, the term ‘complementarity’ was used to describe the relationship 16
between the two vantage points needed to adequately judge painting’s ‘delightful deceit’: one 17
from which the image appears distorted, and another from which it creates an illusion of reality 18
(see above, pages 237-240). Anamorphoses and perspective boxes also derive their effect from 19
this ‘bifocal’ structure. 20
The discussion of the rough manner in the previous chapter dwelt on the paradoxical 21
seventeenth-century belief that greater dissimilarity sometimes leads to greater likeness; fur- 22
thermore, when the representation is most dissimilar to the thing represented, the admiration 23
evoked by the painter’s power to deceive is greatest (see above, page 240). Félibien writes, for 24
instance, that the recognizability of portraits is often based not on precise painterly likeness 25
but on a single detail that stimulates the imagination.231 There is a most illuminating passage 26
about this ‘similarity through dissimilarity’ in Descartes’s treatise on optics. Van Hoogstraten 27
apparently owned this work in a Dutch translation, Verregezichtkunde (1659), as part of the 28
collected works of Descartes in his library; he refers to Descartes’s optical theories in the Inley- 29
ding.232 Descartes explains the principle of similarity through dissimilarity referring to engrav- 30
ings that show perspectival foreshortening: 31
32
‘One sees that the prints, cut in either copper or wood, and transferred to paper with 33
a little ink here and there, show us woods, towns, people – indeed, even battles and 34
storms, although the multiplicity of diverse properties that they conjure up for us in 35
these objects, consists [in reality] of nothing more than [linear] shape alone , from 36
which the likeness derives. And this is a most imperfect likeness, since they seem to 37
present us, on a completely flat surface, objects that are convex and concave in various 38
degrees; since indeed, according to the principles of Perspective, they should often 39
depict circles by showing ellipses rather than circles, and squares by showing oblique 40
lozenges rather than squares, and similarly with all other shapes: since in order to be 41
more successful images, and to better represent an object, they should frequently not 42
bear a likeness to it.’233 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v i           307
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 307 09-10-2008 16:57:29

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22 fig. 116 – Title page to Annibale Tesauro, Cannocchiale aristotelico, Venice 1670.
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40 fig. 116a – Detail of fig. 116.
41
42
43
44
45
308          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 308 09-10-2008 16:57:37

 Van Hoogstraten may well have been inspired by a similar observation on the theme of ‘simi- 1
larity through dissimilarity’ when he noted that rulers and compasses, and geometry in general, 2
are of little use to painters in suggesting the precise shapes of things. He believes that someone 3
who has obtained that ‘certainty’ that comes with ‘a sure hand’, ‘will not be asked about ‘a 4
body’s proportions: For the eyes, being prepared by art, themselves become a Measure, and 5
the hand follows the art with unwavering confidence’.234 (He adds, however, that this method 6
is to be commended to none but the accomplished painter; in the hands of the untutored, a 7
disregard for geometry is doomed to fail.) Strikingly, Van Hoogstraten’s fundamental apprecia- 8
tion of ‘practical reason’, of practice above theory, leads him to describe the eyes positively as 9
a reliable source of knowledge, in contrast to the traditional distrust of these pre-eminently 10
deceptive sensory organs. The ‘truth’ about the dimensions of things obtained with a ruler and 11
a pair of compasses is deemed to be subordinate to the phenomenal appearance of things to our 12
sight. This insight is thematized in perspective boxes and anamorphoses: successful likeness is 13
achieved by virtue of a fundamental dissimilarity. 14
15
16
The perspective box and the ‘two vantage points’ 17
By placing an anamorphically distorted image of Venus on the London perspective box, Van 18
Hoogstraten links anamorphosis with the enticements of physical beauty, of sensory tempta- 19
tion, and of painting in general. The perspective box in Detroit explores this same theme, 20
as noted by Arthur Wheelock in a cogent iconographical analysis. The interior painted here 21
provides an important clue to our understanding of the artist’s wish to emphasize the dualism 22
inherent in pictorial likeness: the inscription ‘memento mori’ (fig. 117). In Wheelock’s words, 23
the box shows that ‘just as the perceived reality created by the artist is but an illusion, so is 24
the world of the senses transient and without lasting significance.’235 Wheelock observed that 25
the interpretation of painting on this general level is not confined to the perspective box, but 26
is one of the possible connotations in paintings in which striking optical effects are combined 27
with a vanitas symbolism. In this context, he referred to Gerard Houckgeest’s trompe-l’oeil of a 28
painted church interior behind a curtain, noting that the graves depicted in the church in this 29
painting link the evanescence of painted images to the transience of earthly existence.236 Whee- 30
lock also mentioned a painting by Cornelis Norbertus Gijsbrechts, dated 1668, which contains 31
interwoven ‘layers of fiction’ similar to those in Van Hoogstraten’s own trompe-l’oeil of a genre 32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
fig. 117 – Detail of fig. 114. 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v i           309
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 309 10-10-2008 17:27:33

1 painting which playfully thematizes the issue of painterly likeness (fig. 118). Gijsbrechts’s work
2 is a trompe-l’oeil of a still-life painting attached to the wall, surrounded by portrait miniatures
3 and painters’ attributes.237 The still-life refers, by means of a skull and soap bubbles, to the fact
4 that not just the painting but the rest of the world perceptible to the senses too is nothing but
5 fleeting outward appearance and vanity.
6 In Wheelock’s view, the interplay between being and seeming addressed in these paint-
7 ings alludes to the fundamental dualism of reality. The visible world is a passing semblance,
8 whereas true reality does not appear until after death. This statement may be illustrated by
9 citing a seventeenth-century source text: a passage from one of John Donne’s sermons; as
10 noted above, this author’s sacred rhetoric was well known to Dutchmen like Huygens (see page
11 232).238 Donne distinguishes explicitly between the two worlds of appearance and reality, of
12 ‘now’, the present day, and ‘then’, in the hereafter:
13
14 ‘These two terms in our Text, Nunc and Tunc, Now and Then ... one designes the
15 whole Age of this world from the Creation, to the dissolution thereof (for, all that
16 is comprehended in this world, Now). And the other designes the everlastingness of
17 the next world, (for that incomprehensibleness is comprehended in the other world,
18 Then). ... For our sight of God here, our Theatre, the place where we sit and see him,
19 is the whole world, the whole house and frame of nature, and our medium, our glasse,
20 is the Booke of Creatures.’
21
22 What is particularly interesting about this wording for the theme of the perspective box is
23 the fact that Donne refers literally to two possible perspectives in relation to a single subject.
24 From the vantage point of the visible, we see God only through the indirect, mediated gaze of
25 the Book of Nature. Only from the perspective of the invisible world can we gain an intima-
26 tion of God in his true form: ‘But for our sight of God in heaven, our place, our Spheare is
27 heaven it selfe’.239 During our lives on earth, we see God ‘through the mirror of nature’; only
28 in the hereafter will we behold God directly. Donne continues: ‘all the world is but Speculum,
29 a glasse, in which we see God; ... faith itself, is but aenigma, a dark representation of God to
30 us, till we come to that state, to see God face to face, and to know as also we are knowen.’240 In
31 relation to our analysis of the Dutch Calvinists’ ideas about the visible world, it is interesting
32 that Donne links his remarks on the two ‘worlds’ to the idea that the Creator can be known
33 from his Creation. He even uses the metaphor of the mirror. Donne’s text forges an explicit
34 link between the alleged dualism of all human knowledge on the one hand and the notion that
35 the Creation functions as a ‘Second Bible’ on the other.
36 The inscription memento mori that accompanies Van Hoogstraten’s experiments rela-
37 tive to the status of pictorial likeness draws attention to the fundamental religious principle
38 that subordinates ‘Now’ to ‘Then’. Other members of Van Hoogstraten’s circle also relate
39 the awareness of the possibility of viewing reality from two different perspectives to the art of
40 painting: for instance, in the poem praising Dullaart cited above. The author defines the visible
41 world as ‘other than it seems, to those who look at it in the right way’. In this sense, the visible
42 world may be compared to a painting: ‘Mere outward paint the World-Child delights to see /
43 Only in practising virtue is eternity’.241
44
45
310          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 310 09-10-2008 16:57:39

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
fig. 118 – Cornelis Norbertus Gijsbrechts, Vanitas, 1668. Statens Museum for Kunst, Kopenhagen. 27
28
The two viewpoints needed for a proper appreciation of anamorphosis and the perspec- 29
tive box can thus refer to the duality evoked by every successful painterly likeness. Painting 30
achieves its full effect only when the viewer becomes aware of the fact that he has been de- 31
ceived and identifies the work as ‘a shape stained with diverse paints’.242 The more profound 32
the effect of a virtual reality created by a work of art, the more strongly it reveals its own vanity 33
when viewed from the ‘two perspectives’. According to seventeenth-century pietistic beliefs, 34
this revelation automatically exposes the vanity of sensory knowledge while at the same time 35
focusing the beholder’s thoughts on the afterlife. Thus, the Detroit perspective box is an effec- 36
tive aid for ars moriendi or the pious ‘art of dying well’, the preparation for the hereafter that 37
is the aim of texts such as Frans van Hoogstraten’s Schoole der wereld and Luyken’s Leerzaam 38
huisraad. 39
40
41
42
43
44
45
c h ap t e r v i           311
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 311 09-10-2008 16:57:45

1 the painter and the visible world:
2 s elf-port ra i ts by van hoogstraten and rem brandt
3 Van Hoogstraten produced an image expressing one of the themes central to his theory of
4 art – the distinction between the visible and the invisible worlds – in the portrait etching in
5 the Inleyding (figs. 32 and 119). In the left background, two circles can be seen, one hoisted by
6 a sculpted Atlas, the other shrouded in mist. Inscriptions identify the circles as the visible and
7 invisible worlds, though these inscriptions are not legible in all versions of the print.243 The
8 following paragraphs will trace an iconographic motif: the two circles or spheres, possibly in
9 combination with a portrait, depicting the division of reality into a mundus visibilis and a mun-
10 dus intelligibilis, as expressed by Erasmus’s statement that ‘there are two worlds, one accessible
11 to insight, the other to sight.’244
12 Mediaeval cosmology often presupposes a spherical universe, in which the earth is the
13 centre and the outer ‘shell’ is formed by the coelum stellatum, the fixed stars. Between this
14 outer layer and the sublunary world are the spheres of the heavenly bodies. Many mediaeval
15 manuscripts visualize this structure in terms of two-dimensional concentric circles rather than
16 three-dimensional spheres.245 A well-known representation of the firmament and the planetary
17 spheres in the form of flat circles appears in a set of prints known as the Tarocchi, which some
18 have attributed to Mantegna. Among the figures depicted in these prints are the nine Muses,
19 each of which is linked to a planet: each Muse is endowed with a large, empty circle. The
20 foundation of the cosmos, the primo mobile, is also depicted as a figure standing on a sphere
21 (the macrocosm), who sets in motion the earth’s sphere (the microcosm) (figs. 120 and 121).
22 Van Hoogstraten may have been thinking of these images when he chose his frontispieces fea-
23 turing the Muses, associated with planets and in the case of Urania with a globe (fig. 30); this
24 division is similar to Kircher’s identification of the Muses with the different heavenly spheres
25 mentioned earlier (see above, page 63; fig. 24). Other allegorical figures also occur in the Taroc-
26 chi prints, furnished with circles, some of them studded with stars representing the canopy of
27 heaven.
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42 fig. 119 – Detail of fig. 32, Samuel van Hoogstraten,
43 engraved self-portrait in the Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst, Rotterdam 1678.
44
45
312          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 312 09-10-2008 16:58:00

 In the sixteenth century we find the first images that represent the cosmos as a three- 1
dimensional sphere. A striking illustration of the transition from a two-dimensional to a three- 2
dimensional rendering of the cosmos is an image of Atlas by Francesco di Giorgio Martini, 3
in which the world held up by the Titan is shaped like a flat disc, rendered with perspectival 4
foreshortening (fig. 122).246 5
The later history of art contains numerous examples of the cosmos depicted as a globe, 6
sometimes containing inside it a smaller globe, representing the earth.247 The globe may sym- 7
bolize either the visible or the invisible world, or both simultaneously. Atlas’s spherical burden, 8
for instance, represents not just the earth but the heavens as well, in other words the entire 9
cosmos. For this reason he is ranked among the oldest philosophers, the first to provide hu- 10
man beings with knowledge of the heavenly spheres: he features alongside Moses and Hermes 11
Trismegistus in a series of paintings by Dosso Dossi, now in Ferrara (fig. 123).248 A figure with 12
a globe alluded in general to a claim to universality;249 thus, Siena Cathedral has a floor mosaic 13
depicting a personification of Justice with a large globe.250 The Atlas in Van Hoogstraten’s 14
self-portrait in the Inleyding probably alludes to the universal power of an art that embraces 15
‘the entire visible world’ and possibly to the intellectual pretensions in which Van Hoogstraten 16
dresses his profession as ‘the sister of philosophy’. 17
Although, in the course of the seventeenth century, the neo-Platonic cosmology of the 18
heavenly spheres gradually lost ground to a growing awareness of an infinite universe, this 19
infinity was still visualized in the shape of a globe. Pascal wrote, for instance, that ‘nature is 20
an infinite sphere of which the centre is everywhere and the circumference nowhere’.251 Van 21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
fig. 120 – Attributed to Mantegna, ‘Primo Mobile’, fig. 121 – Attributed to Mantegna, ‘Urania’, card 41
card from the so-called Tarocchi. from the so-called Tarocchi. 42
43
44
45
c h ap t e r v i           313
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 313 09-10-2008 16:58:03

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27 fig. 122 – Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Atlas Carrying the Cosmos, 15th century.
28 Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Kunstmuseum des Landes Niedersachsen, Braunschweig.
29
30 Hoogstraten shows his familiarity with this equation of a sphere with infinity when he states
31 that ‘a globe or ball exhibits a bounded circle and a single horizon to our eye, although with
32 our hands and minds we comprehend its infinity’.252
33 Coexisting with the iconographic tradition of a single sphere representing the universe,
34 there is another tradition within which two spheres are distinguished, representing the earth
35 and the heavens. When Goltzius designed a frontispiece for the text The Creation of Heaven
36 and Earth, he took two spheres that were being pulled apart by two male figures, to show how
37 the initial unity of the Creation had been ruptured into the duality of the visible and invisible
38 worlds (fig. 124). On one of the spheres, the continents are suggested with sketchy lines. The
39 other one has double lines, apparently referring to the zodiac or to planetary orbits. A similar
40 representation of two spheres appears in William Marshall’s title print to a 1640 edition of
41 Bacon’s Of the Advancement and Proficience of Learning (fig. 125). On the sphere to the left are
42 depicted the continents that were known at that time, as well as the equator. The right-hand
43 sphere bears a number of vague, sketchy lines. The inscription mundus visibilis appears above
44
45
314          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 314 09-10-2008 16:58:18

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
fig. 123 – Dosso Dossi, Atlas as a Philosopher, canvas, 140 x 175 cm. Pinacoteca Nazionale di Ferrara. 25
26
27
the left-hand sphere and mundus intellectualis above the one on the right. Beside each sphere is 28
a mass of clouds from which a hand protrudes; the two hands reach out to one another. The 29
same engraver made a frontispiece for Owen Feltham’s Resolves, a Duple Century (1636), show- 30
ing a globe with the inscription per visibilia invisibilem, ‘through the visible to the invisible’ (fig. 31
126). The two spheres refer to the universal claims of Bacon’s philosophical project to lay the 32
foundations for scientific research. Similarly, an all-encompassing reach is depicted by two 33
spheres in Ripa’s personification of cosmography (fig. 127). Furnished with the same earthly 34
and celestial spheres, the universal application of rhetoric is depicted in the frontispiece of a 35
treatise by Balthasar Kindermann, Teutscher Wolredner (1680, fig. 128). 36
These claims to universality seem inherent to Van Hoogstraten’s concept of painting as 37
a ‘universal knowledge’ that reflects the ‘entire visible world’. Seventeenth-century art theory 38
presents its most direct equivalent to the iconographical tradition in an illustration in Cardu- 39
cho’s Diálogos de la pintura (1633) depicting Pictura amid the liberal arts. She is flanked by the 40
earthly and celestial spheres (fig. 129). Comparable to this is a drawing by Carducho’s teacher, 41
Federico Zuccari: it shows Pictura standing beside the Muses and the other arts, flanked by 42
Geometria ‘who is handling the earth’s globe’ and Astrologia, who is leaning on a celestial 43
sphere (fig. 130). 44
45
c h ap t e r v i           315
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 315 09-10-2008 16:58:28

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19 fig. 124 – Hendrik Goltzius, design for the title page of The Creation of the World, ca. 1589.
20 Prentenkabinet Universiteit Leiden.
21
22 In seventeenth-century emblem books, the two complementary spheres are used in
23 illustrations recalling the vanity of earthly things and the importance of the afterlife. Several
24 emblems show the two spheres being weighed on a balance, which obviously tips towards the
25 side of the invisible world (fig. 131). An engraving by Luyken actually renders it as ‘invisible’:
26 the scale that is being pulled downward appears empty, since the sphere on that side is not part
27 of the reality that is perceptible to the senses (fig. 132).
28 Finally, the combination of the two spheres with the universal scope of cosmography,
29 rhetoric or painting can be linked to the way in which the earthly and celestial spheres are
30 incorporated into portraits of scholars. A print produced in the latter half of the sixteenth cen-
31 tury, after a painting by Vasari, shows six Florentine poets and philosophers with two globes,
32 clearly identifiable as the earthly and celestial spheres, on a table in front of them (fig. 133).
33 The two spheres were found in cabinets of curiosities, evidently conveying the same connota-
34 tions of universality, as in a painting by Jan van der Heijden in Budapest. This work depicts
35 naturalia and artificialia alongside the earthly and celestial spheres, which on the one hand were
36 apparently standard items in collections of curiosities, and on the other hand referred to the
37 universal range of humanist scholarship (fig. 134). The inventory of Rembrandt’s kunstkamer
38 likewise lists ‘two globes’.253
39 We may conclude that the two spheres in Van Hoogstraten’s self-portrait in the Inley-
40 ding fit seamlessly into the iconographic tradition in which a set of two similar globes alludes
41 to universal knowledge; these globes may stand for the earth and the heavens, or for the vis-
42 ible and the invisible world – in other words, the vanity of earthly existence juxtaposed with
43 the eternal afterlife. But a second pictorial tradition is also relevant to an interpretation of this
44
45
316          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 316 09-10-2008 16:58:42

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
fig. 125 – William Marshall, title page to fig. 126 – William Marshall, title page to Owen 22
Francis Bacon, The Advancement and Proficience Feltham, Resolves, a Duple Century, Londen 1636. 23
of Learning, Oxford 1640. 24
25
self-portrait: that of images depicting a painter together with a globe or a map. The globe may 26
be combined with objects denoting a vanitas symbolism, as in a picture of an artist’s studio 27
by Gerard Dou.254 Jan Miense Molenaer painted a studio with a large map hanging on the 28
wall containing two large circles, possibly representing the eastern and western hemispheres; 29
Vermeer’s famous Allegory of Painting, now in Vienna, also shows an artist’s studio with a large 30
map.255 Rembrandt, too, probably depicted himself standing in front of a map in his unfinished 31
Self-portrait at Kenwood House (fig. 135). 32
Rembrandt’s self-portrait has been interpreted in a variety of ways, differences generally 33
revolving around the interpretation of the circles in the background (explanations of which 34
ranged from ‘Aristotle’s Wheel’ to the Cabbala). In contrast to a number of interpretations 35
based on the literature of antiquity, the art historians Van de Waal, Bauch, Chapman and 36
Brown all argued, more plausibly, that the circles represent a topographical map.256 Still, it is 37
striking that they are not identified as such in the painting. The frontispiece to Bacon’s Ad- 38
vancement, for instance, does include such identification, since the meridians and the contours 39
of the continents are clearly visible within the globe’s outlines. Van Hoogstraten’s self-portrait 40
in the Inleyding could be seen in this regard as similar to Rembrandt’s portrait at Kenwood 41
House: Atlas is represented shouldering a sphere that is not specified by any markings on its 42
surface. 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v i           317
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 317 09-10-2008 16:59:00

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13 fig. 127 – Cosmography, fig. 128 – Title page from fig. 129 – Francisco López,
14 engraving from Cesare Ripa, Balthasar Kindermann Painting Among the Arts,
15 Iconologia, Amsterdam 1644. (alias Caspar Stieler), from Vincenzo Carducho,
16 Teutscher Wolredner, Diálogos de la Pintura,
17 Wittenberg 1680. Madrid 1633.
18
19 Opinions also vary as to the possible iconographical significance that might be attached
20 to a map painted by Rembrandt.257 Let us start by noting three non-contentious points: 1) The
21 circle is the most common symbol of perfection and universality; 2) Rembrandt’s self-portrait
22 contains two circles; and 3) Rembrandt has depicted himself while engaged in painting.
23 If Rembrandt had sought merely to invoke the symbol of mathematical or theoretical
24 perfection, a single circle would have sufficed. The fact that his painting depicts two circles may
25 be linked to the fact that Rembrandt has depicted himself holding the tools of a painter. If that
26 is correct, the two circles, like the spheres in Van Hoogstraten’s self-portrait or those in the
27 print in Carducho’s Diálogos, may be interpreted as the painter’s supposed universal powers, as
28 references to the conviction that there is ‘scarcely a single art or science of which it is fitting
29 for a Painter to remain ignorant’, in Van Hoogstraten’s words.
30 As we have seen, Van Hoogstraten’s treatise draws a distinction in relation to these
31 universal powers. He emphasizes that the subject of painting is the ‘visible world’, the exterior
32 of things, that is, the domain of visible disegno esterno in contrast to invisible disegno interno,
33 the duality we have discussed in this chapter. As we have seen, he also notes that the painting
34 of the visible world may have the effect of concentrating the viewer’s mind on the ‘invisible’
35 foundations of that world. If we are in fact to believe that Van Hoogstraten’s self-image in his
36 treatise is in any way an elaboration of ideas to which he was introduced in his formative period
37 with Rembrandt, it is a fair suggestion that Rembrandt has depicted himself here standing in
38 front of the visible and invisible worlds, as Van Hoogstraten did in his own self-portrait. It is
39 possible that in relation to the division of reality into visible and invisible aspects, Rembrandt
40 subscribed to the older view that by painting the outside of things, the painter actually pen-
41 etrates to their inner essence, and hence proceeds per visibilia ad invisibilia. Perhaps Rembrandt
42 was even alluding to his capacity to represent ‘inner’ emotional states, which would correspond
43 to the self-image of pathopoios or ‘painter of the passions’.
44
45
318          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 318 09-10-2008 16:59:05

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
fig. 130 – Federico Zuccari, The temples of virtue with Apollo, the Muses, and the Arts. 20
The Morgan Library and Museum, New York. 21
22
Alternatively, Rembrandt may have been closer to Van Hoogstraten’s views, believing 23
that the painter remains confined to the visible aspect (alleen haer zichtbaer deel) of things and is 24
incapable of acquiring knowledge of the invisible world, of the ‘true nature’ of things. In this 25
case, his symbolic reference to the invisible world would introduce a vanitas concept, recalling 26
that the representation of the visible world is nothing but vanity, serving no other function 27
than to direct the viewer’s thoughts at the invisible world. If this is the underlying conviction, 28
the message conveyed by the portrait at Kenwood House would be identical to that of the per- 29
spective box in Detroit. Like the perspective box and the deliberate puncturing of illusion in 30
trompe-l’oeils, a painting focusing on the surface of the visible world may almost automatically 31
refer to the vanity of sensory knowledge in general. 32
That Rembrandt’s self-portrait does in fact express a vanitas idea can be argued from 33
the fact that it is painted in a demonstrably ‘rough’ manner and was possibly left unfinished.258 34
The painting might thus deliberately have focused attention on the possibility of ‘two view- 35
points’, on the notion of complementarity that also proved important to the interpretation of 36
the rough brushstroke (see above, pages 237-240). Like the perspective box, the two differing 37
but complementary viewpoints may be intended to expose the contrast between ‘Now’ and 38
‘Then’, everyday life and the hereafter. In calling attention to its own medium, effectively ‘a 39
shape covered with paint’, the painting would thus expose the deceptiveness of the sense of 40
sight. The two circles in Rembrandt’s self-portrait may be a further elaboration of this vanitas 41
idea. The connotations of all-inclusiveness or infinity suggest that the circle symbolism may 42
well allude to the afterlife. 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v i           319
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 319 09-10-2008 16:59:17

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22 fig. 131 – ‘Niemant en heeft twee hemels’, fig. 132 – ‘Noch haalt het over’, emblem from Jan
23 from Adrianus Poirters, Het masker vande wereldt Luyken, Voncken der liefde Jesu, Amsterdam 1687.
24 afgetrocken, Antwerp 1646.
25
26 In this connection too, an iconographic tradition can be identified. In a drawing by
27 Federico Zuccari of Time with Allegorical Figures, an earthly sphere and an openwork celestial
28 sphere are depicted in the background (fig. 136). A skeleton is leaning on the earthly sphere.
29 The figures may represent the successive ages of man: child, young man, old man and death.
30 In this interpretation, the celestial globe refers to eternity, which awaits human beings only in
31 the afterlife.
32 Additional literary sources exist for the use of the globe as part of a vanitas symbolism.
33 De la Serre concludes from the fact that the world is an unbounded sphere that wherever you
34 go, you can never arrive anywhere that is essentially different from where you started: thus,
35 man is always moving towards his end.259 A poem by Heinrich Mühlpforth, published in 1698,
36 expresses a vanitas idea based on the same line of argument:
37
38 ‘What is it it, that we call Life?
39 A circle suffused with suffering borne
40 a Dream and a deceptive gleam;
41 an uncertain dawn.’260
42
43
44
45
320          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 320 09-10-2008 16:59:41

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
fig. 133 – After Giorgio Vasari, Florentine Scholars, 16
Antwerp, sixteenth century. 17
18
fig. 134 – Jan van der Heyden, A Scholar’s Room, 19
canvas, 74 x 64 cm. 20
Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Budapest. 21
22
The visible world – in Luyken’s words, ‘all-that-can-be-seen’ – is of value, in the view of the 23
seventeenth-century pietistic authors studied in this chapter, only to the extent that it refers to 24
the invisible world. The universalist aspirations of painters to depict the ‘entire Visible World’ 25
are ideally suited, precisely because of their ambition to comprehend ‘everything under the 26
sun’, to reminding viewers of the ephemeral nature of essentially all things earthly. 27
The possible vanitas connotations of the geographical or cosmographical circles in 28
Rembrandt’s self-portrait may be linked to the iconographical tradition in which painters fur- 29
nish their self-portraits with a vanitas symbolism; Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait as Zeuxis (c. 1662), 30
for instance, may also allude to human vanity in general: it represents the legendary artist 31
laughing at his model, an old and ugly woman (fig. 88).261 In Michelangelo’s poetry, the artist’s 32
gaze in the mirror is linked to the notion of mortality; he sighs that he is ‘betrayed’ by the gaze 33
in the mirror, which confronts him with his own advancing years.262 This train of thought can 34
be connected to artists’ portraits. A lost fresco by Daniele da Volterra depicted Michelangelo 35
looking at himself in the mirror, with the inscription ‘Know Thyself’ (fig. 137).263 Goeree 36
links this phrase, gnoti seauton in Greek, to the painter’s knowledge of the human passions 37
and to his ethical conduct.264 That this connotation was more than an isolated notion is sug- 38
gested by a seventeenth-century mirror which is inscribed with precisely these words (fig. 138). 39
Van Hoogstraten’s exhortation to painters to use a mirror to study their own passions can be 40
construed as a literal interpretation of this precept. Indeed, his remark is based on an ancient 41
commonplace: Socrates is said to have advised his students to look in the mirror frequently to 42
learn more about themselves.265 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v i           321
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 321 09-10-2008 16:59:52

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37 fig. 135 – Rembrandt, Self-portrait, ca. 1660, canvas, 114 x 94 cm.
38 The Iveagh Bequest, Kenwood House, London.
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
322          p ainting as a mirror o f nat u r e
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 322 09-10-2008 17:00:05

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
fig. 136 – Federico Zuccari, The Ages of Man, drawing. Uffizi, Florence. 18
19
Gazing in the mirror can evidently be invested with connotations of self-scrutiny and 20
insight into human vanity; thus, Calvin writes that in Mosaic law, ‘we behold, first, our impo- 21
tence; then, in consequence of it, our iniquity’ in the manner of ‘a mirror [in which] we dis- 22
cover any stains upon our face’.266 According to Van Hoogstraten’s theory of physiognomy, the 23
painter’s gaze in the mirror can reveal not only his past but also his future, and most notably the 24
moment of his death, as discussed above (see page 177). Michelangelo remarks in a sonnet that, 25
looking in the mirror, he becomes ‘the enemy of himself, uselessly shedding tears and heaving 26
sighs that no loss is as great as the loss of time’.267 A similar lament appears in one of Vaenius’s 27
emblems: ‘To look in the mirror / and see your once smooth cheeks / all wrinkled and your skin 28
quite aged, / Is to learn that ... Nothing ... can resist its fate.’268 29
In this interpretation, Rembrandt’s self-portrait, like that of Van Hoogstraten in the 30
Inleyding, is a conscious and intricate representation of the artist’s self-image. The painting 31
thus emphasizes that painting is not a ‘cobbler’s trade’ but an art with cosmographical aspira- 32
tions, encompassing the ‘entire visible world’. At the same time, the admonition ‘Know thyself’ 33
means that the painter should realize that his works are no more than streaks of paint on a 34
canvas, and that his activity – like the other arts and sciences – is a vain occupation. 35
36
◆ 37
38
When Van Hoogstraten’s definition of painting as a ‘mirror of nature’ is studied in the light 39
of its historical connotations, it becomes clear that the metaphor draws attention to the fact 40
that painting depicts only the surface, the outward appearances, of things. The deceptive and 41
mendacious nature of art is nonetheless charged with positive appreciation arising from the 42
rhetorical value attached to persuasiveness and courtly dissimulation. 43
44
45
c h ap t e r v i           323
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 323 09-10-2008 17:00:19

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27 fig. 137 – Copy after Alonso Chacón, The Capella Orsini with Michelangelo,
28 Dressed as Socrates and Accompanied by Sebastiano del Piombo, Looking at His Reflection (after Daniele da Volterra),
29 end 16th century, pencil and brown wash on paper, 28 x 21 cm. Biblioteca Angelica, Rome, mas. 1564, f. 287v.
30
31 The theory of the metaphorical nature of art, elaborated most explicitly by Tesauro,
32 focuses on the dichotomy underlying the phenomenon of painterly illusion which links two
33 incompatible domains. Seventeenth-century Dutch literature describes this contrast not only
34 in terms of the distinction between the lifeless panel or canvas versus the living virtuality of
35 the image, but also in terms of inside versus outside, or appearance versus reality. This funda-
36 mental artistic contrast is also expressed in art itself, as is demonstrated by examples such as
37 Van Hoogstraten’s experiments with interwoven layers of fiction and optical devices such as
38 the perspective box. Such sophisticated modes of courtly entertainment prove to have a seri-
39 ous undertone. As the dichotomy between the ‘Now’ of earthly existence and the ‘Then’ of
40 the afterlife, this serious message recurs at the end of the programme set forth in Van Hoog-
41 straten’s Inleyding, the last chapter of which confronts the ambitious young painter with his
42 own mortality. Rembrandt, too, may have been familiar with the pictorial tradition depicting
43 the ‘two worlds’ theme in the form of two circles. If he did indeed paint himself flanked by
44
45
324          painting as a mirror of nature
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 324 09-10-2008 17:00:27

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
fig. 138 – A. Courtin, ‘Kent u zelven’ (Know Thyself), seventeenth-century, 17
framed mirror, 72 x 58 cm. Museum Amstelkring, Amsterdam. 18
19
these two worlds, he was expressing the intricate train of thought associated with the formula 20
that painting is a ‘mirror of nature’, a train of thought in which corporalia and spiritualia stand 21
in a complex relationship of similitude to one another that calls attention to the vanity of the 22
visible world. 23
Opinions regarding the ‘Book of Nature’ in the latter half of the seventeenth century 24
are distinct from the older views on this topic in the sense that they regard nature as a highly 25
flawed and indirect path to the divine: a sceptical attitude towards the sense of sight as a source 26
of knowledge suggests that in the visible world, including everyday objects, we see ‘through 27
a glass, darkly’. Painting, which, as a ‘mirror of nature’ doubles the ephemeral quality of the 28
visible world, can thus be construed in moral terms: through his skill in representing fleeting 29
details, the painter emphasizes the very vanity, not only of art itself, but also of the visible 30
world in general. In cases in which a work of art itself refers to its own medium, it questions 31
the aims and limitations of an art focused on illusion while at the same time challenging the 32
epistemological status of the visible world itself. Besides defusing Reformational criticism of 33
images, this art of painting also plays a positive role in the pre-eminently religious ars moriendi 34
in focusing the viewer’s mind on the falseness of the visible world. 35
The comparison of a painting to a mirror can be linked to an ambivalent attitude to the 36
intellectual and religious value of art. The epideictic argument of the Inleyding is essentially 37
positive in tone; the emphasis on the deceptiveness of art is combined unproblematically with 38
an appreciation of its powers as the ‘sister of philosophy’. In the work of authors such as Frans 39
van Hoogstraten or Jan Luyken, on the other hand, the ambivalence in seventeenth-century 40
thinking about the visible world leads to a shift in emphasis, focusing on the deceptiveness of 41
the visible world itself. This does not deprive art of its religious or moralistic function; on the 42
contrary, by revealing the vanity and ephemeral nature of the visible world, a painting can lead 43
the viewer to focus on the everlasting, invisible world. 44
45
c h ap t e r v i           325
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 325 09-10-2008 17:00:28

1 The words pronounced by the Synod of Dordrecht, that God has revealed himself
2 in two ways, may be furnished with a significant qualification: namely that the second way,
3 through the Book of Nature, ultimately provides no more than an imperfect reflection. The
4 various connotations of the mirror metaphor, of the deceptiveness of the sense of sight, and
5 of the deceptiveness of painting, thus modify the view that the assiduous study of nature can
6 ultimately lead to a true understanding of God – on the one hand, nuancing its powers to
7 contribute to any empirical knowledge of reality, on the other shielding it from the criticism of
8 sceptics who doubt the validity of sensory knowledge. As the last part of this book will argue,
9 in this sense the metaphor links up with the ‘new philosophy’ that was gaining ground in the
10 seventeenth century.269
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
326          painting as a mirror of nature
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 326 10-10-2008 17:27:37

 E xc ursu s

Pa i n t i ng a s a ‘Siste r
of Ph ilo sophy ’

Visible world HR beeld.indd 327 10-10-2008 16:24:50

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 328 09-10-2008 17:00:42

 1
2
3
E xc ursus 4
5
6
Painting as a ‘Sister of Philosophy’ 7
8
9
10
11
He who denies God, to give finer colour 12
To his denial, driven most unreasonably, 13
Knows no Godhead but the heavens, earth and sea, 14
And what he sees on low and high, and from near to far. 15
Joost van den Vondel, Bespiegelingen van Godt en godtsdienst 16
17
18
19
Thus far we have looked at Van Hoogstraten’s ideological underpinning of an art that reflects 20
and contemplates the visible world primarily from the perspective of ancient philosophy, in 21
particular Stoicism and Aristotelianism. This chapter will examine the ideological context of 22
his ideas from another perspective: instead of looking at the classical tradition, it endeavours 23
to determine the influence of a contemporary philosophical debate that Van Hoogstraten was 24
introduced to by his friend Willem van Blijenberg. 25
Although his theory is manifestly determined by concepts from antiquity, it nonethe- 26
less contains a clearly discernable shift away from the ideas of predecessors like Van Mander. 27
While Van Hoogstraten occasionally refers to the Neoplatonic cosmology that is the main 28
ideological basis of Van Mander’s didactic poem, this cosmology is in no way a connecting 29
thread in the theory set out in the Inleyding.1 To clarify this shift, we can examine it in the light 30
of the ‘new philosophy’ which, aside from a few passing references to Descartes, we have not 31
yet discussed. Van Hoogstraten became directly embroiled in the debates sparked by the onset 32
of Cartesianism in the Dutch Republic in the second half of the seventeenth century. Our 33
discussion will have the nature of an excursus because of its speculative conclusions, which 34
are at odds with the wish for factual completeness proper to the practice of art history. Van 35
Hoogstraten’s own intellectual leanings and his learned milieu, however, allow for an explora- 36
tion of the key role of the concept of the visible world in the Inleyding by placing it against the 37
background of the author’s interest in the ‘new philosophy’. The distinction between ‘visible’ 38
and ‘invisible’ aspects of reality was radicalized in this philosophy. We will see how the visible 39
world loses significance on one front, but gains it in a remarkable manner on another.2 40
In many respects the ideas of the ‘new philosophy’ of the seventeenth century meant a 41
break with the older world view, determined primarily by Aristotelian and Platonic hypotheses. 42
The response theory of ekphrasis developed in the Second Sophistic, for instance, was weak- 43
44
45
e x c u r s u s           329
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 329 09-10-2008 17:00:42

1 ened by Descartes’s optical insights. We shall see that Van Hoogstraten’s epideictic argument
2 effortlessly combines an unmistakable interest in modern optics with the ancient theory that
3 images transport the viewer into a virtual reality. This is in no way to suggest that the para-
4 digms of the new science have replaced the older ones in his treatise; it may be said, though,
5 that the argument in the Inleyding can be analysed with a view to both traditional and modern-
6 izing forms of intellectual authority.
7
8
9 the visible and the invisible
10 The visible-invisible dichotomy, discussed in particular in the previous chapter, is a common-
11 place of art literature (see above, pages 285, 295-298, 302). It is seized upon by Camphuysen,
12 for instance, to reprimand painters: ‘You seek the outer husk, your judgement is pitiful: / The
13 opposite of our God: who cares only for the inward.’3 Zuccari had asserted that painting only
14 imitates the ‘external superficial accidents’ of things (it concentrates on nature ‘almeno quanto
15 all’esterno nella superficie accidentale’),4 and Houbraken proclaimed the view that ‘the world re-
16 veals the exterior of things, but conceals the interior’.5 This dichotomy is made a central point
17 of contention in the ‘new philosophy’, in particular in Cartesianism and its critics.
18 The philosophical division of reality into two ‘worlds’, an invisible and a visible one,
19 is obviously related to the internal-external dichotomy. An important question for art theory
20 is just how these two worlds are related to one another. We have seen that Calvinist authors
21 share the Stoic conviction that it is reprehensible to try to depict ‘invisible’ things (see above,
22 pages 110, 116, 117). A treatise on drawing by Cornelis Biens believes that it is ‘naturally
23 (but pervertedly)’ the case ‘that man always depicts something visible in order to express the
24 invisible’, which the author regards as conflicting with the commandment not to ‘depict in-
25 finite, almighty and unfathomable God by means of any visible things’, thus setting his face
26 against devotional works.6 We have also discussed the alternative put forward in the Inleyding,
27 expressed most clearly by Frans van Hoogstraten, that precisely by painting the visible world,
28 artists could praise ‘invisible’ God.
29 One of the characteristics of the ‘new philosophy’, particularly Cartesianism with its
30 strong synthesizing tendency, is that a multiplicity of related conceptual antitheses such as
31 those between mind and body, between invisible and visible aspects of reality, or in many cases
32 simply between an inside and an outside are subsumed into a fundamental dichotomy. Des-
33 cartes divides reality into cogito, ‘I think’, the only domain about which certain information can
34 be obtained, and the world ‘outside myself’, which I am compelled to doubt. The separation
35 he introduced between res cogitans and res extensa – thought and ‘extension’, or the physical
36 world – largely deprived visible nature of the spiritual value it was allotted in earlier natural
37 philosophy. Cartesian mechanistic philosophy saw nature not as an animated principle, but as
38 no more than a mechanism that satisfies the laws of particle physics.
39 It is primarily as a consequence of this central Cartesian dualism that the division be-
40 tween mind and matter is so often formalized in the second half of the seventeenth centu-
41 ry. Hans-Jörg Czech suggested that Van Hoogstraten’s division of his writings into areas of
42 ‘visibility’ and ‘invisibility’ was inspired by these conceptions in the ‘new philosophy’.7 The
43 painter’s reading of the work of the philosopher and scientist Kenelm Digby may have moved
44
45
330          p ainting as a ‘siste r o f p hi l o s o p h y ’
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 330 09-10-2008 17:00:42

 him to devote a two-volume publication to the fundamental subject of ‘the visible versus the 1
invisible world’. Digby’s book likewise comprises two volumes: it is titled Two Treatises; in the 2
One of Which, the Nature of Bodies; in the Other, the Nature of Mans Soul, Is Looked Into: In Way 3
of Discovery, of the Immortality of Reasonable Soules (1644). The division into ‘bodies’ and ‘souls’ 4
corresponds to the Cartesian division res extensa, matter extended in space, and res cogitans, 5
thought. In effect, the title of the third volume of the Dutch edition of Descartes’s Principles of 6
Philosophy is literally ‘de Zichtbare Werrelt’, ‘The Visible World’ (in Latin it is Mundus aspecta- 7
bilis).8 Van Hoogstraten owned this book, and its title is the most directly comparable source 8
for the Inleyding’s subtitle in Dutch literature of the second half of the seventeenth century. 9
In the last decades of the seventeenth century, art theory was undoubtedly influenced 10
by the terminology involved in the division of reality into two spheres. We see how Goeree, 11
whose art-theoretical work draws more explicitly than Van Hoogstraten’s on Cartesianism and 12
Spinozism, also makes extensive use of the ‘visible’ and ‘invisible’ dichotomy and expressly 13
associates it with res extensa and res cogitans. The author makes a distinction between the ‘in- 14
ternal’ and ‘external’ impressions that the human mind can experience: ‘which impressions on 15
the Mind can also be of two kinds; for they are either internal or they come from outside’; the 16
‘internal’ impressions are the ideas that the mind itself generates. The ‘external’ impressions 17
come from visual reality: ‘The externals come from the objects of the visible World’.9 18
Descartes’s rigorous dualism of visible and invisible worlds represents a break with the 19
philosophical tradition that assumes that the natural world consists of animated objects that 20
affect each other ‘at a distance’ and express some hidden or explicit meaning, symbolic refer- 21
ences to ideological issues. His idea that visible nature is a mechanism of colliding particles 22
denies the possibility that elements of the visible world are seen as spiritualia sub metaphoris cor- 23
poralium (concepts in the guise of material things), thus putting paid to the option of ascending 24
from visibilia in God’s Creation to invisibilia. We now have to ask what implications this vision 25
has for the idea voiced by older authors like Bacon and De Mornay – an idea that also occurs 26
in the Inleyding: the belief that the visible world, as the ‘Second Bible’, has transcendental sig- 27
nificance (see above, pages 108-117). 28
Our analysis of how Van Hoogstraten’s views on the visible and the invisible world relate 29
to contemporary philosophy starts with an examination of some aspects of the seventeenth- 30
century theory of optics. We will then deal in a more general sense with discussions about 31
Cartesianism and the role of Spinozist metaphysics, as they were known to Van Hoogstraten 32
and his correspondents. Spinozism presents a philosophical system in which the relationship 33
between res extensa and res cogitans is interpreted such that the visible world regains something 34
of the transcendency it lost in Cartesianism. It may even acquire a philosophical significance in 35
a more complete sense than before. We shall see that an ‘optical paradigm’ plays a central part 36
in this thinking. 37
38
39
from qualities to particles: theories about optics 40
Celeste Brusati has pointed to the connection between Van Hoogstraten’s views of art and the 41
experimental natural sciences that were flourishing in the seventeenth century. The painter’s 42
trip to London, for instance, may have been prompted by the establishment of the Royal So- 43
44
45
e x c u r s u s           331
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 331 09-10-2008 17:00:42

1 ciety in 1660; he visited this society, which was the institutional home for the ideas of the ‘new
2 philosophy’, and had contact with its members. Brusati explained Van Hoogstraten’s preoccu-
3 pation with trompe l’oeils and his interest in perspective boxes and the camera obscura in part as
4 a response to the current scientific climate, which attracted him as ‘an experimental investiga-
5 tor of nature’.10 The painter may have been inspired to seek out this scientific environment by
6 Cartesianism’s popularity in the intellectual climate of Dordrecht, as personified by a number
7 of prominent figures associated with the city, such as Isaak Beekman. This philosopher was
8 principal of the Latin school from 1627 and a friend of the physician Johan van Beverwijck,
9 for whose work Van Hoogstraten provided illustrations. Beekman corresponded at length with
10 Descartes and with members of the Royal Society too.11
11 In the Inleyding Van Hoogstraten discusses the optical theories of contemporary think-
12 ers like Descartes, Bacon and Digby, and adds his own comments. The scientists with whom he
13 was in touch had a particular interest in optics: most notable was the Dordrecht mechanic and
14 opticist Caspar Calthoff, whose portrait Van Hoogstraten probably painted in 1650 (fig. 139).12
15 Calthoff worked with important physicists like Christiaan Huygens; when he and his brother
16 Constantijn decided to make their own lenses for their microscopes, it was Calthoff who sup-
17 plied the grinding discs. In 1655 Huygens observed that no one could rival this mechanic’s
18 work when it came to optical instruments.13 When Calthoff departed for England, where Van
19 Hoogstraten went to see him again, the Huygens brothers called on Spinoza’s skill in grinding
20 lenses and discussed optical problems with the philosopher.14
21 In his painting treatise, Van Hoogstraten discusses modern experimental science and
22 describes his experiences with the camera obscura. He had seen the device when he visited the
23 Jesuits in Vienna and again in London, as we learn from a remark in the Inleyding.15 Through
24 his contacts with Van Beverwijck, whose Schat der ongesontheyt (Treasury of Ill-Health, 1664)
25 contains an illustration of a camera obscura, the painter may already have become familiar
26 with the workings of the apparatus in Dordrecht (fig. 140). Interestingly, Van Hoogstraten
27 believes that the image produced by a camera obscura shows what colour qualities ‘a truly
28 natural Painting’ should possess, and compares it with a mirror.16 In effect, the camera obscura
29 provided an attractive experiment that was repeatedly referred to by seventeenth-century phi-
30 losophers (like Locke and Leibniz) concerned with the sense of sight and the cognitive faculty
31 in general, exploring the comparison of the eye with the camera obscura.17 In the context of
32 art theory, it is Goeree who gives an analysis of sight based on similar philosophical ideas. He
33 describes ‘Bodies in a dark Room [that] were painted on Canvas or Paper by the opening of a
34 tiny hole’.18 His Menschkunde contains an illustration showing how perspective works, how the
35 image is projected ‘into the eye’ by way of moving particles, and how eventually, when these
36 particles collide with ‘nerves’, the image reaches the brain. Goeree’s ideas show a close affinity
37 with the Verregezichtkunde, the 1659 Dutch translation of Descartes’s Optics.19
38 Goeree refers to the epistemological insight that an analysis of the workings of the
39 camera obscura brings with it. It means that we understand that we always observe things from
40 a specific viewpoint, which severely limits our apprehension. The camera obscura produces an
41 image that reveals ‘to which side or Point an object that is formed in our Eyes, and is seen by
42 us, is turned, or which position it is in’. In Goeree’s view, when we see things there is no ques-
43 tion of an ‘action at a distance’: he explicitly rejects Aristotelian theory, which holds that sight
44
45
332          p ainting as a ‘siste r o f p hi l o s o p h y ’
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 332 09-10-2008 17:00:42

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
fig. 139 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, Portrait of a Man, Possibly Caspar Calthoff, 19
1650, canvas, 103 x 85 cm. Private collection, United States. 20
21
involves a ‘phantasm’ that ‘impresses itself on the mind’. Seeing, he asserts, is a function of par- 22
ticles colliding with the optic nerves: ‘To be sure, one must not think that [perception] occurs 23
as a result of an Action or Image that comes from the Seen object, but only as a result of the 24
position of the particles of the Brain from which the Nerves derive their origin.’20 Goeree may 25
have borrowed this idea, too, from Descartes, who warns the readers of his Verregezichtkunde: 26
27
‘One must not suppose that the soul, in sense experience, has to contemplate images 28
that are sent from objects into the brain, as our [Aristotelian] Philosophers commonly 29
do ... [who], seeing that our mind can easily be stimulated by a painting to receive 30
the object that is painted on it, believed that our mind is in the same way stimulated 31
to comprehend the objects of sense experience by means of minute images which are 32
formed in our head.’21 33
34
Descartes rejects the Aristotelian idea that observation occurs when minuscule images ‘become 35
present’ in the imagination. He posits that when reflecting particles of light collide with tiny 36
globes in the brain, the position of these globes dictates which part of the object is actually 37
seen. Goeree consequently compares seeing with the way a blind man observes, using a stick 38
to feel the shape of objects: in the same way, the eye ‘feels’ the outside of objects in the visible 39
world by means of a connected string of minute colliding particles in the air.22 Later in the 40
book Goeree clarifies his views by citing the example of the mirror, ‘whose Nature is to present 41
a thing to the Viewer’s Eye, as it has received it’.23 42
The workings of the camera obscura contributed to the undermining of the earlier 43
44
45
e x c u r s u s           333
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 333 09-10-2008 17:00:45

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15 fig. 140 – Illustration demonstrating the camera obscura, from Johan van Beverwyck,
16 Schat der ongesontheyt, Amsterdam 1664.
17
18 scientific notion that, according to their specific ‘qualities’, things emit ‘spirits’ (as the eyes
19 themselves can shoot spiritual qualities like ‘arrows’, cf. fig. 56), which set in motion various
20 events in the affects and in the imagination (the ‘sensible’ level of the soul) that ultimately lead
21 to perception and knowledge. The device demonstrated the realization that sight is no more
22 than the projection of particles, and that the image we see is the result of the angle of incidence
23 and refraction: in other words, of the position of the light source and the position of the viewer.
24 In opposition to the ancient commonplace that painting makes ‘the absent present’, the com-
25 parison of the eye with the camera obscura posits a different conception: the image produced
26 by the sense of sight is a reflection, in other words it does not have an independent presence
27 in the imagination. Huygens contrasts these conflicting ideas in his Oogentroost: ‘Here our eyes
28 are [seen as] bows, / And shoot out rays: there it’s [deemed] a gross lie, / There it’s naught but
29 mirror-glass that takes things in.’24
30 The insight bred by Cartesian optics robs the popular notion of the ‘living image’ of the
31 epistemological basis it was accorded in antiquity. Like the mirror, the camera obscura only
32 shows the surface of things. In this it is like the art of painting which, in Van Hoogstraten’s
33 words, in the ‘exploration of nature ... [has] only to consider her visible aspect’, and studies
34 things ‘not as they are described by the [Aristotelian] natural philosophers, but only as they de-
35 termine the outward shape, like the shell around the egg’.25 Early experiments with the camera
36 obscura led to the awareness of a paradox. On the one hand it was possible, using this device,
37 to provide an example for a ‘perfect painting’ that seemed to overlap almost entirely with life
38 itself. On the other, the camera obscura demonstrated the contingent character of both the
39 visible world and the gaze of the painter who captures it. Painting with the aid of a camera
40 obscura did not, after all, require the ability to distil an inner essence from things or discover
41 their ‘true nature’: the camera obscura presents no more than a moment in time and illustrates
42 the view that the projected image’s relation to reality is based on no more than chance.
43 Van Hoogstraten’s interest in the camera obscura reveals how new and old scientific
44
45
334          p ainting as a ‘siste r o f p hi l o s o p h y ’
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 334 10-10-2008 16:24:51

 ideas are interwoven in the epideictic argument of the Inleyding, and how the response theory 1
of the Second Sophistic is given a place alongside more modern optical experiments. It is 2
consequently impossible to attribute an unequivocal scientific preference to his treatise; for an 3
outline of the context of his theory, an analysis of the classical roots of his arguments may be 4
supplemented by an examination of the contemporary scientific developments in which he was 5
interested. 6
7
8
Colour theory 9
Van Hoogstraten’s interest in the camera obscura is not the only aspect of his work to show an 10
affinity with the modern scientific ideas of the seventeenth century; his colour theory, too, was 11
influenced by them. Aristotelian theory holds that things have colour by virtue of their formal 12
cause: colours are inherent ‘qualities’ of things; this is a view that we still find in Bacon.26 In this 13
line of reasoning, colours are supposed to procure specific affective responses that correspond 14
directly to the formal cause of things: each thing is allocated a specific colour and sympathetic 15
quality. Van Mander presents this view when he asserts that all things were given their specific 16
colours at the Creation ‘by this most Ingenious Sculptor and Painter’.27 Light, in this thinking, 17
was also seen as a quality in the Aristotelian sense, a spiritual element that acts on the mind ‘at 18
a distance’. 19
There is a great deal of theorizing about colour in the ‘new philosophy’. Van Hoog- 20
straten’s view of the optical theories of his contemporaries is not clear. By and large, he criti- 21
cizes the philosophers he mentions; he does not, for instance, agree with Descartes’s descrip- 22
tion of the spectrum, and reports that he has made different observations ‘from life’.28 Whereas 23
Bacon’s colour theory clings to old-fashioned views revolving around alchemy and elementary 24
‘qualities’, Descartes and Robert Boyle worked out a mechanistic theory in which colour, too, 25
is seen as a function of colliding particles. Boyle was a prominent member of the Royal Society, 26
and Van Hoogstraten may well have been acquainted with his Experiments and Considerations 27
Touching Colours (1664) since it was published shortly after the painter’s arrival in London. 28
Boyle describes the view – dated in his opinion – that ‘Colours are Inherent and Real Qualities, 29
which the Light doth but Disclose, and not concurr to Produce’; in other words, older authors 30
did not recognize that colours are a function of light.29 Boyle says that the ‘chymists’ regarded 31
colours as alchemical ‘qualities’ and attributed their origin and effect to substances such as 32
sulphur or salt. The Cartesians, on the other hand, were the first to argue that this concept of 33
‘qualities’ has no validity, and that in the judgement of colours, too, only the ‘extension’ – the 34
form and position of things in space and time – is essential. Boyle describes the views of light 35
as a function of particles: 36
37
‘As for the Cartesians I need not tell you, that they, supposing the Sensation of Light 38
to bee produc’d by the Impulse made upon the Organs of Sight, by certain extreme- 39
ly Minute and Solid Globules ... endeavour to derive the Varieties of Colours from 40
the Various Proportion of the Direct Progress or Motion of these Globules ... by 41
which Varying Proportion they are by this Hypothesis suppos’d qualify’d to strike the 42
Optick Nerve after several Distinct manners, so to produce the perception of Differing 43
Colours.’30 44
45
e x c u r s u s           335
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 335 09-10-2008 17:00:46

1 In his Optics, Descartes describes how colours are the result of reflections on bodies with a
2 distinct surface texture: he thinks that they come about because particles bounce against the
3 optic nerves in a particular way.31
4 In the Inleyding we can detect both the old and the modern conceptions of colour. On
5 the one hand Van Hoogstraten urges artists to discover the ‘local colour’ of things: the colour
6 that things were given ‘at the Creation’, which is, he postulates, permanently bound to the
7 ‘ideal forms’ of which things on earth are the shadows. He states ‘that the colour of each thing
8 must be diligently found out’ and encourages his fellow artists to imitate the ‘colours that
9 things have in themselves’ – to give ‘each thing its own natural colour’.32 There is no detailed
10 analysis of light as a function of particles in the Inleyding; Van Hoogstraten says: ‘We shall
11 pass over what the philosophers say about lux (light) and lumen (shine), and treat only light
12 and lighting, in so far as they concern our art.’33 At the same time, however, he is well aware
13 that colour is a function of light: ‘The colours can be changed by different lighting.’34 He also
14 observes in regard to reflected light that things are coloured ‘according to the colour of that by
15 which they are lit’ and that things give off their colour by reflection to surrounding objects.35
16 Furthermore, he describes the use of lenses and mirrors to determine the extent to which our
17 judgement of colours is governed by the distance between us and an object.36 These are by no
18 means entirely new observations: Van Mander talks about reflected light in similar terms.37
19 Van Hoogstraten differs from his predecessor inasmuch as he uses a specific term to ex-
20 plain that local colours can be contaminated by various factors. He states in this regard that the
21 colours a painter depicts do not follow from the immanent formal cause of the things he paints.
22 On the contrary, they are governed by the colours the painter has on his palette and by his own
23 ‘judgement’, which searches within the constraints of the range on the palette for colours that
24 correspond with what he sees – colours as they are affected by the position of things relative
25 to the viewer. In other words colour becomes, in the modern art-historical term, ‘relative’: it is
26 dependent on the position of objects in space. Van Hoogstraten uses the word houding (similar
27 to the modern Dutch verhouding, which means ‘relation’) to explain this: an artist determines
28 his colours and tonal values not by attributing specific local colours to the objects he paints, but
29 relative to the colours he already has on his canvas and to the spatial effects he wants to convey.
30 He writes in the Inleyding: ‘it is chiefly for the Houding that one compares different shades and
31 illuminated things with one another’.38
32 Digby, mentioned earlier in connection with the titles of the two volumes of Van Hoog-
33 straten’s book, uses the observation that painters ‘will make objects appeare neerer and further
34 of, merely by their mixtion of their colours’ as his point of departure in explaining that colours
35 are a function of the reflection of light, and not Aristotelian qualities.39 He explicitly rejects the
36 notion that light partakes of a spiritual nature: in his view, light belongs to the domain of ‘bodies’
37 (and not to that of ‘souls’, which he treats in the second part of his discourse).40 Like Descartes,
38 Digby compares the movement of light particles with those of a bouncing ball, and he thinks
39 that the way they rebound determines the appearance of things on the viewer’s retina.41 Colour
40 is clearly a function of these collisions, ‘for those who are cunning in Optikes; will, by refractions
41 and reflexions make all sortes of colours out of pure light’. The different colours consequently
42 exist only on our retina, and are not properties of things: ‘the very same object must appeare of
43 different colours, whensoever it happeneth that it reflecteth light differently to us’.42
44
45
336          p ainting as a ‘siste r o f p hi l o s o p h y ’
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 336 09-10-2008 17:00:46

 Van Hoogstraten, who apparently had an inkling of the ideas formulated by Digby, con- 1
cludes: ‘thus a finished Painting already lies on your palette’.43 The colours to be painted, first 2
mulled over in the painter’s mind, are constrained by the limits of the range of pigments at his 3
disposal; what appears on the canvas is obviously a function of the artist’s ‘eye and judgement’ 4
relative to the possibilities of his palette and the spatial effects he has in mind.44 In Van Hoog- 5
straten’s theory there is certainly no question of a complete shift in the perception of colour 6
as something that is solely a function of the reflection of light. Again, the Inleyding contains a 7
combination of older and new conceptions: although Van Hoogstraten recognizes the relativ- 8
ity of colour in respect of the incidence of the light and the position of the viewer, he does not 9
describe it explicitly in terms of moving particles. 10
He might have been attracted to another example from painting practice presented by 11
Digby – depicting changeant or shot fabrics. The philosopher describes how artists go so far as 12
to use complementary colours to paint one and the same fabric, which illustrates the impor- 13
tance of the incidence of the light.45 In this connection, he observes on the effect of a prism: 14
‘the considering of which, will confirme our doctrine, that even the colours of bodies, are but 15
various mixtures of light and shadowes, diversly reflected to our eyes’.46 It is not inconceivable 16
that Van Hoogstraten debated these questions with opticists like Calthoff or others when he 17
visited the Royal Society. Painters who specialized in depicting reflecting fabrics could make 18
precisely this optical problem the pièce de résistance of their work, appealing to the public’s intel- 19
lectual awareness that colour is a function of light. 20
Another consequence of the optical concepts of light and colour outlined here is the 21
realization that representations of visible reality (such as figurative art) do not have any real 22
correspondence with their subject. Mechanistic optics no longer assumes that the artist makes 23
things ‘present’ in the mind or to a degree ‘recreates’ them, as the Aristotelian concept of sight 24
postulated. The image on the retina is no more than a snapshot of a mixture of particles; we 25
do not know whether this image really corresponds with the things themselves. As Descartes 26
put it, ‘there are no images that are the same in every respect as the objects they represent ... 27
indeed, their perfection often consists in this, that they do not resemble them as closely as they 28
might’. In the previous chapter we saw the comparison he made with works by artists who use 29
foreshortening, often depicting circles by means of ellipses, and employing similar devices for 30
other shapes, since for ‘more successful images’ the representations should ‘frequently not bear 31
a likeness’ to the objects depicted (see above, page 307).47 It can thus be argued that any like- 32
ness to the actual object is based on chance (or, in the prevailing seventeenth-century thinking, 33
on God’s will). Descartes’s remarks about foreshortening are reminiscent of the art-theoretical 34
commonplace that a painter must hold ‘a compass in his eye, not his hand’, an aphorism that 35
Van Hoogstraten repeats: after all, a painter works not with elementary geometrical figures, 36
but with the way these figures appear to the eye.48 Boschini refers in similar terms to foreshort- 37
ening when he argues that it is this very deformation that guarantees the successful optical 38
illusion: ‘it is precisely by means of deformation that the eye must be deceived, and perfection 39
must appear by means of imperfection’.49 He gives the example of a foreshortened arm, and 40
concludes rather cryptically: ‘without form – indeed even with deformed form – the painter 41
gives form to the seemingly real formality’.50 Boschini’s paradox of ‘giving form without form’ 42
illustrates the fundamental impossibility of objective visual representation: the painter always 43
produces an image from his own point of view. 44
45
e x c u r s u s           337
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 337 09-10-2008 17:00:46

1 These optical insights emphasize the art-theoretical concept that likeness in a painting
2 is no more than a deceptive feat of artifice. Digby, for instance, who believes that it is a miscon-
3 ception to confuse the ‘pictures we make of them in our owne thoughts’ with the things them-
4 selves, concludes that likeness in a painting always encompasses an element of imperfection
5 and unlikeness: ‘What is likenesse, but an imperfect unity betweene a thing, and that which
6 it is said to be like unto?’, and he repeats the topical comparison of a drawing done in black
7 lines on white paper: the suggestion of a likeness exists in it even without colour. 51 In other
8 words, in Descartes’s and Digby’s conceptions a painting loses its performative nature. It is not
9 automatically an alternative ‘window on reality’: the painting can be regarded as a fundamental
10 unreality, a ‘mirror’ of nature, a reflective surface.
11 So what significance do these scientific views about the nature of seeing have for Van
12 Hoogstraten’s ideological motivation in regard to the depiction of the visible world? To answer
13 this question we must examine a debate about the ‘new philosophy’ that he encountered in
14 the 1660s and 1670s, in which old philosophical traditions are combined with new knowledge
15 – and in which, as we will see, an ‘optical paradigm’ plays a central role.
16
17
18 van hoogstraten and van blijenberg discuss body and
19 s ou l
20 At at least one moment in his career Van Hoogstraten was caught up in a philosophical debate.
21 This emerges from his correspondence with Willem van Blijenberg in the 1660s, when the
22 philosopher became embroiled in a controversy with Spinoza that acquired a degree of noto-
23 riety in the seventeenth century. On the evidence of Van Hoogstraten’s friendship with Van
24 Blijenberg, art historians have argued that the painter made a portrait of Spinoza, which is now
25 catalogued as such in the Jewish Museum in New York (fig. 141). Notwithstanding the fact that
26 the identification of the sitter is disputed, it is by no means impossible that Van Hoogstraten
27 painted Spinoza’s portrait.52 As we shall see, the painter and the philosopher certainly did not
28 inhabit separate worlds. Around 1670, when this portrait is dated, both men lived in The
29 Hague. In the circle of scholars surrounding the Van Hoogstratens in Rotterdam, Spinoza’s
30 ideas met with both positive and negative reactions.53 Although Van Hoogstraten expressed
31 his contacts with the ‘new philosophy’ only fragmentarily, we shall explore how the discus-
32 sions that led to Spinoza’s thinking might be relevant to a contextualization of the theory in
33 the Inleyding. After all, Spinozism was the most debated philosophical movement in the twenty
34 years prior to its publication.
35 There are two key questions here that may have reached Van Hoogstraten in the
36 form of topical discussions. The first is how his comparison of painting with philosophy
37 can be related to the Cartesian dualism of visible and invisible worlds, and to his conviction
38 that painting’s subject is ‘only the visible aspect’ of reality. A second point that arises is the
39 ‘hierarchy of the Creation’: the ‘new philosophy’ attacks the division of the Creation into
40 more material and more spiritual components, and hence calls into question the assumptions
41 about the existence of order in nature and of visible beauty itself. What implications does
42 this have for painting?
43
44
45
338          p ainting as a ‘siste r o f p hi l o s o p h y ’
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 338 09-10-2008 17:00:46

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
fig. 141 – Samuel van Hoogstraten, Portrait of a Man, Possibly Spinoza, 25
1670, canvas, 100 x 76 cm. The Jewish Museum, New York. 26
27
A key figure in answering these questions was Van Blijenberg, who wrote several philosophical 28
works but was known in his age – and still is today – primarily because of his correspondence 29
with Spinoza. Van Blijenberg is an interesting figure in a discussion of the appearance of the 30
‘radical’ ideas in the second half of the seventeenth century because he was initially taken with 31
the ‘new philosophy’; however, when he realized its implications more clearly, he retreated 32
to an orthodox religious position and eventually published a number of treatises attacking 33
Spinoza.54 Van Blijenberg’s surviving correspondence with Van Hoogstraten demonstrates that 34
he discussed similar issues with the painter on many occasions. Their main subject appears 35
in essence to be the relation between body and soul, a topical point of philosophical specula- 36
tion set in train by Descartes’s division of reality into the two spheres of res extensa and res 37
cogitans. In the second half of the seventeenth century the strictness of this dualism started to 38
provoke resistance. Henricus Regius, who can be called the first Dutch Cartesian, arrived at 39
a strong materialistic interpretation; he also allotted a material character to thought, much to 40
Descartes’ annoyance. The ‘radical’ philosophy making the rounds in the vernacular from the 41
mid-1660s onwards came up with a solution for the distinction between extension and thought 42
that is as simple as it is effective, stating that body and soul occur separately only in the human 43
imagination and are in essence two aspects of the same reality.55 44
45
e x c u r s u s           339
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 339 09-10-2008 17:00:56

1 This radical idea, propagated by Spinoza in particular, inevitably caused a considerable
2 stir because it could lead to far-reaching conclusions about metaphysics and religion. It acted
3 as a catalyst in the more general move towards denouncing belief in supernatural phenomena
4 and taking the Bible literally, and in a more general sense condemning the various superstitions
5 that the analogical world view entailed. As Jonathan Israel pointed out, these ideas rapidly took
6 hold across a broad spectrum of the population of the Republic.56 The 1660s and 1670s were
7 clearly an experimental phase. By the 1690s, however, Spinoza’s thinking had whipped up such
8 a storm of criticism that few people were prepared to champion it in public, even though it
9 had been more widely disseminated and was more generally known than the work of any other
10 modern philosopher.
11 In his earliest surviving letter to Van Hoogstraten, dated 10 January 1661, Van Blijen-
12 berg is evidently much exercised about the idea that soul and body might not be separate. He
13 alludes to the possibility that the loss of this fundamental distinction would lead to the reduc-
14 tion of the whole of reality to matter, and lists a great many arguments and personal observa-
15 tions to demonstrate that a separate domain of the soul exists. In his letter, in which he writes
16 that he has often spoken of this problem with Van Hoogstraten in the past, he wants ‘to show
17 clearly and simply ... that there is something else in us besides body, which is not only not
18 body, but is an individual and separate substance, and this is evident because when I examine
19 a body closely I find nothing there but matter and extension’. Arguing that the body is a sub-
20 stance separate from the soul, he states that whereas all matter contains extension, thoughts
21 have no spatial dimension: ‘allow your thoughts to dwell on everything that is in created na-
22 ture, you will find a body and an extension in all of it, but then allow your thoughts to dwell on
23 your thoughts, you will find neither body nor extension in them’; Van Blijenberg determines
24 that ‘thought is [as distinct] from body as light is from darkness’. Here he is rejecting the views
25 of the ‘radicals’ that thought or substantia cogitans can also relate to the domain of matter.57
26 Spinoza’s ideas were developed around 1661-62, and in 1661 he finished his response
27 to Descartes and Bacon, the Tractatus de intellectus emendatione, a text that may, like other parts
28 of his work, have circulated in manuscript form. In 1663 the Principia philosophiae cartesianae
29 appeared,58 and Van Blijenberg published a work in which he may have incorporated his initial
30 opinions of Spinozism. In a letter dated September 1663, Van Hoogstraten refers to a philo-
31 sophical work Van Blijenberg had sent him. This was probably his De kennisse Godts en godts-
32 dienst, beweert tegen d’uytvluchten der atheisten (The Knowledge of God and Religion, Argued Against
33 the Atheists’ Excuses); Van Hoogstraten reports that he has ‘reread [it] not once but often’.59
34 The first edition of this work, and hence Van Blijenberg’s earliest reaction to Spinozism, has
35 not survived.60 The fundamental ideas in this work are, however, known from a later edition
36 published in 1677.
37 In one sense the Kennisse is a not very original specimen of the adversus hereticos genre, in
38 which God’s omnipotence is adduced from God’s Creation. At the same time, however, one of
39 its central themes is the subject on which the author had corresponded with Van Hoogstraten
40 – ‘that our soul is different from the body’, as the beginning of the book states: ‘We set our-
41 selves the end or goal of proving that there is a God, and that he rules the world, that our soul is
42 distinct from the body and that it is immortal’.61 Van Blijenberg tries, in reply to the ‘atheists’,
43 to prove the existence of a Creator by using the Creation:
44
45
340          p ainting as a ‘siste r o f p hi l o s o p h y ’
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 340 09-10-2008 17:00:56

 ‘Come here, oh Atheists, and be taught that God is not far from any among us, that 1
he can be felt with our minds and touched with our hands, and that we have as many 2
arguments and as many things to persuade us that there is a God as there are things in 3
the world.’62 4
5
The relationships between body and soul and between nature and God are central to the Ken- 6
nisse. In this work Van Blijenberg raises an important question: if the Creation is seen as an 7
expression of God, how can the perfection and infinitude of God be reconciled with the imper- 8
fections and finiteness of nature? 63 The prevailing medieval cosmology assumed a hierarchical 9
chain of links between microcosm and macrocosm through which the ‘imperfect’ visible world 10
and the ‘perfect’ world of ideas were related. The fact that Van Blijenberg is now wrestling 11
with this problem can be seen as symptomatic of the mechanistic world view, a view in which 12
thinking in terms of colliding particles calls into question assumed analogical relationships 13
between things. 14
Spinozism’s original attraction for Van Blijenberg can largely be explained by the posi- 15
tion Spinoza adopted in the debate about the relationship between mind and matter, and his 16
comparable position on the relationship between nature and God. By seeing matter and mind 17
as two sides of the same coin, and conceiving the visible world as one of the attributes of God, 18
Spinoza resolves the paradox between God’s perfection and infinitude on the one hand and the 19
innumerable insignificant elements of the Creation on the other. 20
Van Blijenberg did not go along with a Spinozist solution in the Kennisse, although he 21
was evidently intrigued by it, for in 1664 he enthusiastically entered into correspondence with 22
Spinoza. In 1665 he visited the philosopher in Voorburg because specific problems could not 23
be adequately addressed in letters. He reported that he was initially greatly impressed by ‘the 24
very great solidity’ of Spinoza’s arguments and describes ‘the satisfaction it gave [him]’.64 The 25
discussion between the two philosophers was detailed and technical. Summing up a debate that 26
touched on such topics as original sin, the cause of evil and the salvation of heathens, we can 27
say that Van Blijenberg was particularly concerned about the notion, which he distilled from 28
Spinoza’s ideas, that body and soul were not separate entities.65 It is clear from his letters that 29
Van Hoogstraten’s friend was having difficulty accepting this. In 1674 he consequently wrote 30
a response to Spinoza’s Tractatus theologico-politicus, which was published that year: De waerheyt 31
van de christelijcke godtsdienst (The Truth of Christian Religion). He was thus one of the earliest 32
and most fervent of Spinoza’s critics; time and again in his detailed critique he stresses Spino- 33
za’s ingenuity – his way of pointing to the dangers concealed in this doctrine.66 In 1682 Van 34
Blijenberg published another rebuttal, the Wederlegging van de Ethica of zedekunst van Benedictus 35
de Spinosa (Refutation of Spinoza’s Ethics), in which he does, admittedly, accept that nothing in 36
nature occurs accidentally, in rerum natura nullum datur contingens, but is not prepared to link 37
total determinism in respect of the soul to this.67 38
In 1644, when Van Blijenberg debated with Spinoza, Van Hoogstraten read his friend’s 39
treatise. In so far as the painter’s reactions to the controversy in which Van Blijenberg wanted 40
to involve him have survived, it appears that he remained very noncommittal and tried to find 41
a ‘happy medium’ between entrenched beliefs and the radical new ideas. We do not have Van 42
Hoogstraten’s reply to the letter of 1661. His earliest surviving letter to the philosopher is 43
44
45
e x c u r s u s           341
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 341 09-10-2008 17:00:56

1 dated 2 August 1662, when the artist was in London. The philosophical discussions had been
2 going on for some time, as Van Hoogstraten writes that ‘the good grounds of our friendship’
3 have been ‘thoroughly dug over by all kinds of speculations [that have] passed between [us]’.
4 In this letter he refuses to adopt an unequivocal position and expresses his wish to abide by
5 the views accepted by the church: ‘I once tried ... to argue high secrets with you, but I have as
6 great a fear of straying from the common path in establishing something new through my own
7 audacity as I have a revulsion against those who ... renounce to imitate anything.’68 Like Van
8 Blijenberg himself, Van Hoogstraten was apparently initially interested in the ‘high secrets’ of
9 the ‘new philosophy’, but he refused to take a position on it.
10 Van Hoogstraten and Van Blijenberg were in frequent contact until the former’s death;
11 Houbraken tells us that Van Hoogstraten loved the philosopher ‘for his knowledge’.69 Another
12 obvious way in which he may have encountered early Spinozism is through his literary network
13 in Rotterdam, where the ‘new philosophy’ was being discussed even before the publication of
14 the Opera posthuma in 1677. One of the key figures in the circle was Joachim Oudaen; he was
15 deeply involved in the debates about Spinozism, which initially he did not reject. According
16 to Zijlmans’s study of the circle, Oudaen found much with which he could agree in Spinoza’s
17 earliest writings, which in the 1660-1663 period circulated in his environment (the Rijnsburg
18 Collegiants) even before they were published.70 Oudaen may therefore have acted as a conduit
19 for the philosophical writings, channelling them to the group that met in Frans’s bookshop;
20 one of its principal activities, after all, was to popularize philosophical ideas. It seems that Jacob
21 Ostens, a member of the group, became personally acquainted with Spinoza in 1664-1665.71
22 In 1668, however, when the first ‘radical’ thinkers were sentenced and even imprisoned, the
23 group’s original enthusiasm cooled. In the 1680s Oudaen published a satirical poem aimed
24 at Spinoza and his Ethics;72 but another member of the group, Antoni van Dale, eventually
25 followed the path of the ‘new philosophy’.73 Oudaen was one of Van Hoogstraten’s faithful
26 correspondents, and the artist discussed with him the Inleyding and the Onzichbare Werelt.74 In
27 a poem on his portrait in the Inleyding, Oudaen says that Van Hoogstraten’s art is based ‘on
28 grounds of pure reason’75 – a clear reference to his friend’s intellectual calibre, with which he
29 had become familiar during these discussions.
30 The intricate cultural network to which such diverse figures as Spinoza, Van Blijenberg,
31 Calthoff and Van Hoogstraten belonged had a geographical focus: the shared interest in new
32 optical phenomena and experiments was an important element of the intellectual climate in
33 and around Delft, Rotterdam and Dordrecht. Isaak Beekman, whose name has cropped up
34 before, was the pivotal figure in this network of like-minded thinkers. This is not the place
35 to examine the assertion that the work of artists like Fabritius, Vermeer and Van Hoogstraten
36 himself was intimately connected with this more general interest in optics; suffice it to say that
37 Van Hoogstraten’s acquaintance with the ‘new philosophy’ should not be seen as an isolated
38 phenomenon.76
39 These observations in regard to the relevance of Spinozism arouse curiosity as to Spino-
40 za’s solution to the philosophical problem flagged by Van Blijenberg: how can the multiplicity
41 of the visible world be combined with divine perfection? It is unlikely that Van Hoogstraten’s
42 philosophical Onzichtbare Wereld would not have explored this highly topical theme in the phi-
43 losophy of the 1660s and 1670s. Since no pronouncements by Van Hoogstraten on Spinozism
44
45
342          p ainting as a ‘siste r o f p hi l o s o p h y ’
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 342 09-10-2008 17:00:56

 have survived, however, we cannot look to specific borrowings from Spinoza to identify the 1
relationship between Van Hoogstraten’s ideas about art and the radical thinking of the time; it 2
is, again, a matter of outlining an intellectual context for his ideas. 3
4
5
th e ph i los o ph i ca l status of the visibl e worl d 6
What is at stake in radical philosophy that makes it interesting to relate it to contemporary art 7
theory? Spinoza’s ideas can be explained on the basis of his magnum opus, the Ethics published 8
posthumously in 1677, to which Van Blijenberg responded at length in 1682. In a letter written 9
as early as 1665, Spinoza reported that part of the work was finished.77 The Ethics contains the 10
key points of his philosophical system and a number of propositions that are relevant to the 11
theory of painting. That these soon filtered through to a wider public outside the universities is 12
demonstrated by Willem Goeree’s reference to Spinoza’s ideas in his treatises on painting, and 13
concise enumeration of them in a book on church history that appeared in 1705.78 14
The ideas propounded in the Ethics were as influential as they were, not so much be- 15
cause of their novelty as because Spinoza had, for the first time, combined various older bodies 16
of ideas in a very systematic form – particularly ancient atomism and Stoicism. He reclaimed 17
the Stoic identification of God and nature; in Junius’s words: ‘what is Nature else ... but God 18
and a divine power infused into the whole world and every part of the world’?79 Spinoza’s re- 19
lationship to Stoicism is the subject of considerable debate of a quite technical nature, which 20
we will not go into here. (We must not, though, assume too direct a relationship, which the 21
philosopher himself certainly did not emphasize.80) Contemporaries placed him in the tradi- 22
tion of classical Stoicism; Goeree, for instance, expressed the opinion that ‘Spinoza agrees in 23
many things with Aristotle, Epicurus and other Ancient Philosophers from among the Sto- 24
ics’.81 In constructing his philosophy, Spinoza reinterpreted a number of older ideas that we 25
have already discussed in the previous chapters. 26
Spinoza’s thinking bears in a crucial respect on the world view we examined in chapter II 27
in regard to the depiction of the visible world, which is expressed in De Mornay’s observation 28
that in the Creation God has ‘manifested and depicted [himself] in all things’.82 At first sight, 29
the world view in which nature is conceived as the ‘Second Bible’ appears to conflict with one 30
concrete consequence of Spinoza’s ideas, namely that elements of the visible world are stripped 31
of their supernatural meanings. He rejects a Creation in which, via a chain of ‘similitudes’, 32
intellectual analogies are anchored, to such an extent that he even questions the authority of 33
the Bible. In his view, nature does not answer to any teleology; all final causes are just human 34
fictions.83 Followers of Spinoza were consequently referred to by contemporaries as ‘material- 35
ists’ or ‘naturalists’, a description comparable to Bellori’s term naturalisti for philosophers who 36
espouse atomism (as well as for painters who depict everyday reality, as discussed above, see 37
page 256).84 It is striking, though, that Spinozism does not regard the visible world as wholly 38
devoid of meaning or content for philosophical reflection. The philosopher attributes an im- 39
portant philosophical significance to the visible world as a whole and to its observation by the 40
human faculty of sight. 41
Goeree provides a concise overview of Spinoza’s ideas, explaining how he divides reality 42
(or substance) into its various ‘attributes’ or perspectives from which it can be seen: the only 43
44
45
e x c u r s u s           343
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 343 09-10-2008 17:00:56

1 attributes known to the human understanding are extension and thought. Individual things
2 are described as ‘modes’, ways of being, of the single substance: from the perspective of exten-
3 sion, they appear as visible things; from the perspective of thought, they appear as thoughts.
4 Our analysis will paraphrase two of the characteristics in Goeree’s list: the conclusion that the
5 concepts of beauty and ugliness are useless, and the supposed overlap of visible and invisible
85
6 worlds.
7
8
9 The uselessness of the concepts of beauty and ugliness
10 Spinoza arrives at a fusion of classical atomism and ideas about the mechanistic foundations of
11 nature which leads him to assume that everything is predetermined. Every part of reality must
12 be understood as an expression of God. Everything that is sensory is necessarily willed to be so
13 by God; there is consequently no room for free will. Proposition 29 of the Ethics reads: ‘Noth-
14 ing in the world of things is contingent, but all things are determined to exist and operate in a
15 particular manner by the necessity of the divine nature.’86
16 Spinoza posits that it is solely human imagination that regards things either as contin-
17 gent or as wholly predetermined. Reason, however, which assumes that reality can be deduced
18 from God, will conclude that everything is necessary: ‘Every individual thing … cannot exist
19 or be caused to act, unless it is caused to exist and act by another thing’.87 From this it follows
20 that all the elements of the Creation are perfect in equal measure:
21
22 ‘that things have been brought into being by God in the highest perfection, because
23 they have necessarily followed from a certain most perfect nature, and this does not in
24 any way charge God with any imperfection, for his perfection compels us to affirm this
25 … that things could not have been created by him other than they are, or in a different
26 order ... that it depends solely on God’s decree and will that each thing is what it is.’88
27
28 It would be pointless to apply the concepts of beauty and ugliness to objects in nature; after
29 all, they are all dependent on God in the same way. Spinoza bases his argument on modern
30 optical insights, asserting that it is a common misconception to take a subjective ideal of beauty
31 as normative: ‘For instance, when the motion the nerves receive from objects, pictured by our
32 eyes, is pleasing, the objects by which this is brought about [are called] beautiful, but those
33 which create the opposite motion [are called] ugly (misshapen)’. He then deals with the prob-
34 lem raised by Van Blijenberg: ‘If everything follows from the necessity of the supreme nature
35 of God, from where, then, do so many imperfections in Nature come? From where comes this
36 decay, to the point of rot, this misshapenness that causes revulsion ...?’ The answer, says the
37 philosopher, is obvious: ugliness, like beauty, is not a given anchored in the Creation that fol-
38 lows from a hierarchy of being, but a projection of human needs.
39 Goeree repeats Spinoza’s views in his Menschkunde and specifically applies them to
40 painting. He refers to ‘some new Philosophers’ who express the opinion ‘that Beauty is not
41 so much a function or perfection of the Object one sees as a product or action caused by it in
42 the one who sees it’. He notes that the old hierarchy of being has been stripped of its value by
43 modern optical discoveries: ‘The most Beautiful hand seen through a magnifying glass will ap-
44
45
344          p ainting as a ‘siste r o f p hi l o s o p h y ’
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 344 09-10-2008 17:00:57

 pear hideous. Consequently things considered as themselves, or in regard to God, are neither 1
Beautiful nor Ugly.’89 2
Ultimately, Spinoza concludes that all things, as so many ‘modes’ of a single substance, 3
express God’s power: ‘Everything that exists expresses God’s nature or essence in a fixed and 4
determined manner: everything that exists reveals God’s power, which is the cause of all things, 5
in a fixed and determined manner’.90 In his conception of nature, there is a very direct relation- 6
ship between nature and God; everything stands in a direct – that is to say equal – relationship 7
to God. He thus arrives at a very ‘horizontal’ metaphysics. It is not the case that the Divine 8
attributes (like extension and thought), from which the modes then emanate (like concrete vis- 9
ible things and individual thoughts), derive from substance (‘from high to low’): substance is 10
nothing other than its attributes, which are expressed in the multiplicity of modes.91 11
Spinoza asserts that extrapolating subjective ideas to universal truths has produced not 12
only illusory ideas about beauty, but also misconceptions like the existence of a ‘harmony of the 13
spheres’.92 The idea of an ‘order in nature’, in which every part is judged according to the place 14
it is alotted in a cosmological hierarchy, is replaced by Spinoza’s assumption that everything 15
is perfect. He states: ‘By reality and perfection I mean the same thing. For we are accustomed 16
to place all the individual things in Nature in one category, which we regard as the most uni- 17
versal, namely in the category of Being, which applies without exception to all individuals in 18
Nature.’93 The philosopher broaches the same issue in a letter to Henry Oldenburg: ‘[I should] 19
like to point out that I attribute neither beauty nor ugliness, order nor confusion to nature. 20
For things cannot be called beautiful or ugly, ordered or confused, except in regard to our 21
imagination.’94 22
These quotations exemplify how Spinoza’s views about beauty are in stark contrast to 23
the ideas of early art theory, where beauty is conceived of as a quality anchored in the Creation, 24
as one of the higher elements in the ‘great chain of being’ linking material objects to spiritual 25
truths.95 Broadly speaking, the philosophical devaluation of concepts like beauty and natural 26
order can be related to Van Hoogstraten’s urgings to take note of even insignificant elements of 27
nature, as we saw in previous chapters, and in his insistence that in his training an artist should 28
focus on the ‘least of objects’ and maintain an ethos of ‘naturalness’, as may be summed up by 29
his statement ‘that the ugly can yet be beautiful if it is true to nature’.96 30
31
32
Overlap of visible and invisible worlds 33
These general remarks bring us to the question: what are the implications of Spinoza’s ideas for 34
the philosophical meaning of the ‘visible world’ that is Van Hoogstraten’s central concept? 35
It is clear that the notion that Creation functions as a ‘Second Bible’ takes on a new 36
meaning in Spinoza. He observes: ‘The eternal and infinite Being … that we call God or Na- 37
ture acts by the same necessity as that whereby it exists ... The reason or cause why God or 38
Nature exists, and the reason why he acts, are one and the same.’97 In Spinoza’s view nature has, 39
as it were, a performative character. Just as in early modern art theory a painter was deemed to 40
a certain extent to ‘be’ his work, so God ‘is’ his Creation. 41
We have seen how the division of reality into a visible and an invisible domain recurs 42
in the tradition of art theory. Spinoza produces an exceptional variation on the theme, in the 43
44
45
e x c u r s u s           345
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 345 09-10-2008 17:00:57

1 sense that he sees a highly systematic, completely parallel relationship between the mental and
2 material aspects of reality. To summarize his views, mental components of all visible things ex-
3 ist as ‘thoughts’ in God; thus the human mind is nothing other than the body that is conscious
4 of itself and ‘thinks’ itself, while this thinking is nothing other than a ‘mode’ of divine thinking.
5 Spinoza observes:
6
7 ‘that whatever can be perceived by the infinite intellect as constituting the essence of
8 a substance belongs only to one substance, and that consequently the thinking sub-
9 stance and the extended substance are one and the same substance, comprehended
10 now through one attribute, now through the other. Likewise, a mode of Extension [i.e.
11 matter] and the mental representation of that mode [i.e. mind] are one and the same
12 thing, only expressed in two ways.’
13
14 He gives the concrete example of an existing (visible) circle and the (invisible) mental image of
15 a circle, which in his view are two sides of one and the same object, regarded from two perspec-
16 tives: ‘For instance, a circle existing in nature and the idea of that existing circle, which is also
17 in God, are one and the same thing displayed through two different attributes.’98
18 In Spinoza’s philosophy there is as it were an overlap of material and mental domains,
19 of visible and invisible worlds. The one substance – God or Nature – of which mind and mat-
20 ter are the attributes can in turn be viewed from two points of view – on the one hand that of
21 natura naturata or the product of God, and on the other that of the corresponding natura natu-
22 rans that underlies it, or God himself. Spinoza consequently believes that ‘individual things
23 [are] nothing but modifications of God’s attributes, or modes by which God’s attributes are
24 expressed in a fixed and definite manner’. He defines the distinction between ‘creating nature’
25 and ‘created nature’ as follows:
26
27 ‘by natura naturans [we] should understand that which exists in itself and is conceived
28 through itself, or those attributes of substance which express an eternal and infinite
29 essence, in other words God, in so far as he is considered as a free cause. By natura
30 naturata, on the other hand, I understand everything that follows from the necessity
31 of God’s nature, or of any of God’s attributes, that is to say all the modes of God’s at-
32 tributes, in so far as they are considered as things which are in God, and which without
33 God cannot exist or be conceived.’99
34
35 The distinction between natura naturata and natura naturans loses much of its earlier signifi-
36 cance in Spinoza’s hands (see above, pages 102-104). Rather than a division into two ‘spheres’
37 of Creation or into a microcosm and macrocosm, he posits that there is a single nature that is
38 identical to God, which can be viewed from two perspectives. ‘Creating’ and ‘created’ nature
39 are thus not separate worlds, but essentially overlapping concepts that are only regarded as sep-
40 arate in our limited human imagination. Spinoza concludes: ‘Extension is an attribute of God,
41 or God is an extended thing.’100 In other words, God is the visible world. It should be concluded
42 from this not that all things have a ‘divine’ character, but that the visible world as a whole is one
43 of the divine attributes, and that all individual things, which are its modes, are ‘in God’.
44
45
346          p ainting as a ‘siste r o f p hi l o s o p h y ’
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 346 09-10-2008 17:00:57

 This overlap of natura naturata and natura naturans can, of course, have profound im- 1
plications for a theory of art centred on the imitation of nature. In this thinking it is not 2
necessary to interpret the central proposition ars imitatur naturam – art imitates nature – as 3
an encouragement to work from an idealized nature or to discover the ‘true’ nature of things. 4
Natura naturata is not just the only visible manifestation of nature but also its most direct 5
manifestation, caused directly by God, and the infinite number of ways in which the modes 6
differ from one another is the correlate of God’s infinity. We may repeat how Goeree gives his 7
explicit inversion of Platonic thinking, basing the significance of the depiction of nature not in 8
the study of ideal beauty, but precisely in the fact that nature is ‘unfathomably rich in bringing 9
forth multitudes of every species ... which, although they are of one stock, are not, however, 10
exactly the same form as one another’.101 11
Goeree demonstrates his knowledge of Spinoza’s equation of the visible with the invis- 12
ible. In his Menschkunde he writes: ‘Benedictus de Spinosa, who in all probability states that 13
the Universe is God, states ... that the body and the Soul are one and the same thing, which is 14
conceived now under the attribute of movement and then under the attribute of thinking.’102 It 15
is not just substance that can be regarded from these two perspectives: man, too, viewed from 16
the perspective of visibility (erroneously, Goeree refers not to the attribute of extension but to 17
‘movement’), is a body; from the perspective of the invisible, a soul. 18
We may resume that, viewed from the perspective of everyday experience, visible reality 19
should merit religious contemplation and study as the most direct manifestation of the Divine; 20
from the perspective of eternity – sub specie aeternitatis – the visible world shows its other face: it 21
is nothing but sham and vanity. A modern term applied to this sort of distinction between two 22
points of view that augment each other is ‘complementarity’; we have already discussed this 23
concept in relation to seventeenth-century thinking about bifocal perspective in art (see above, 24
pages 237-240, 304-311). Goeree describes the existence of these complementary viewpoints 25
as follows: ‘We have two different views of ourselves, namely one [in which we comprehend 26
ourselves as] a thinking Mind, and the other [when we comprehend] an extended Body’.103 27
However, the author’s Menschkunde makes it clear that he has no desire to link this to Spinoza’s 28
idea that mind and body are two sides of the same coin: ‘we are concerned about flying so high 29
with that reckless Icarus that in this Life we should see the incomprehensible Majesty of God 30
from so close by, and beyond what has been revealed of him’.104 31
To explain the importance attached to the visible world in Spinoza’s thoughts we may 32
refer to Wim Klever’s recent observation that optics and the practical activity of grinding 33
lenses were very important to Spinoza and that they had a real bearing on his philosophy.105 34
Spinoza wrote a treatise about optics in response to Descartes’s theory on this subject.106 In 35
many respects seventeenth-century philosophy in the Netherlands assumed an ‘optical para- 36
digm’; optical instruments like the microscope and telescope were crucial in the development 37
of the new sciences. By positing that ‘extension’ is the most fundamental category for speaking 38
about sense experience, Descartes automatically placed considerable emphasis on the sense of 39
sight. Form and location of things are the most essential, followed immediately by movement 40
and the position in time.107 Spinoza pushes this ‘optical paradigm’ to an extreme position. Here 41
he parts company with Descartes, who leaves room for a sphere of reality that withdraws from 42
the optical armentarium in the form of the immortal soul. Spinoza links the spheres of mind 43
44
45
e x c u r s u s           347
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 347 09-10-2008 17:00:57

1 and matter so intimately that in his view an imagined image of a circle is essentially indistin-
2 guishable from a drawn, visible circle. In an exemplary way, this optical paradigm is expressed
3 in the metaphor comparing the mind to a mirror. Spinoza, in a reaction to the older theories
4 about knowledge formulated by Bacon, compares human nature ‘with a regular or flat mirror
5 that reflects all the rays in the universe without distorting them’.108 Spinoza’s conception of the
6 visible world holds that man forms an illusory and arbitrary image of the universe, in other
7 words his impressions are determined solely by a subjective viewpoint; but this, so optics teach-
8 es us, is also the only adequate image of reality that we have, an image that is directly caused by
9 the reality around us. Here again, we can only point out in general terms that, according to the
10 metaphor that compares paintings to mirrors, the optical paradigm so essential to the Dutch
11 ‘new philosophy’ can also be called a ‘painterly paradigm’ (thus we see that Spinoza himself
12 sometimes uses painterly metaphors, for instance when he compares mental images to ‘mute
13 paintings on a panel’).109
14 We should end by endeavouring to answer the question as to how Spinoza’s views fit
15 into the philosophical tradition we have studied in chapter II in relation to the ‘significance
16 of the depiction of the visible world’. The most far-reaching implication of his doctrine for
17 the views of an art theorist like Van Hoogstraten is that it casts substantial doubt on the Neo-
18 platonic cosmology in which ‘everything relates to everything else’ and in which, according
19 to the hierarchical ordering of the cosmos, ‘lower’ elements of Creation automatically refer
20 to more spiritual ones. In other words, the work of radical thinkers from the second half of
21 the seventeenth century undermines the ontological foundations of the endeavour to base a
22 multi-layered iconography on an everyday reality that, although it appears self-evident and
23 ‘realistic’, contains ‘hidden’ meaning. An iconography based on thinking in terms of analogy,
24 where intellectual concepts appear sub metaphoris corporalium, can no longer derive legitimacy
25 from the notion that Creation itself is put together in the same way. It is no longer possible
26 to ascend from the material to the more spiritualized aspects of Creation and in this way of
27 moving per visibilia ad invisibilia – through the visible to the invisible. In Spinoza’s thought, the
28 visible world as a whole is dependent in a very direct way on God: the visible world as a whole,
29 including the elements of it that man is inclined to regard as more or less perfect, is one of
30 God’s attributes.
31 It is evident that various concepts in the early modern world view come to grief in
32 this seventeenth-century philosophy, whereas the fundamental principle, seeing nature as the
33 expression of God, remains intact and is even promoted to a key position. And ‘nature’ here
34 should not be conceived as the landscape or the ‘created’ reality as opposed to the reality made
35 by man. As res extensa, nature contains all the elements of the visible world, and the concept
36 of ‘extension’ places the emphasis on the spatial and strongly visual character of this aspect of
37 reality. Spinoza’s thinking underpins the idea that an art of painting that focuses on the ‘visible
38 world’ in the most literal sense is a ‘sister of reflective philosophy’.
39 To conclude this train of thought, we may return to Plutarch’s conviction that the con-
40 templation of Creation by philosophers and artists is an inherently virtuous activity. Spinoza’s
41 Ethics reaches a comparable conclusion: he points out that freedom does not consist in a pos-
42 sibility of withdrawing oneself from the necessity of the natural world in which everything is
43 predetermined, but in the acceptance of reality in all its aspects, as as many modes of God.
44
45
348          p ainting as a ‘siste r o f p hi l o s o p h y ’
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 348 09-10-2008 17:00:57

 Freedom is the realization that every form of human behaviour is determined by the passions, 1
and that the power of reason is limited. Spinoza provides a modification of the old Stoic view in 2
which ‘following nature’ is taken to extremes when he says: ‘It is inconceivable that man should 3
not be a part of Nature and should not follow her general order.’110 The idea that the sum- 4
mum bonum can only be found in nature, comes closest to what can be described as ‘Spinoza’s 5
aesthetics’: looking at a work of art that that has been made ‘according to nature’ makes man 6
contemplate his determined position, leading to the insight that: 7
8
‘we [shall] bear with equanimity all that happens to us in conflict with the claims of 9
our own advantage, so long as we are only conscious that ... the power which we pos- 10
sess does not extend so far as to enable us to avoid this blow; and that we are a part of 11
universal Nature, whose order we must follow.’111 12
13
This contemplative determination by nature is healthy for body and soul. When man recog- 14
nizes that his passions are wholly determined, he will no longer allow his peace of mind to be 15
disturbed by them.112 This closely follows the Neostoic elements of Van Hoogstraten’s theo- 16
ry; we may repeat his statement that ‘Politics and Morality, which treat of good morals’, are 17
learned more from ‘the great Book of this world than from Aristotle or Descartes’.113 Insight 18
into the natural order of things and the corresponding code of conduct arise, to his mind, from 19
‘that which is preached by the birds of the air, the simple animals and the insensate things’. 20
The visible world thus puts the beholder on the trail of a moral doctrine comprising ‘all the 21
teachings of Philosophy, of how one should live’.114 This ethical conviction explains how Van 22
Hoogstraten arrives at the conclusion that painting, as a form of philosophy, gives peace of 23
mind to artist and beholder alike, summed up in the Inleyding in the admonishment to ‘virtu- 24
ously (zeedichlijk) imitate the properties of simple nature’.115 25
26
◆ 27
28
How can we answer the question raised by the disputed portrait in the Jewish Museum – the 29
question of the relationship between Van Hoogstraten and Spinoza? 30
Spinoza’s phrase natura sive Deus means in the first place a radicalization of the idea that 31
painting which concentrates purely on the ‘outside’ of phenomena and on schilderachtig con- 32
tingencies nonetheless acquires religious significance; in his view the visible world is a direct 33
means of expression of the invisible. His doctrine is thus a contemporary philosophy that ties 34
in with the theory surrounding the central concept of the ‘visible world’ set out in the Inleyding, 35
and the ethical and philosophical value of ‘mirroring’ it. 36
Let us return for a moment to the discussion with which this book opened: the debate 37
between the adherents of ‘seeming realism’ and ‘hidden symbolism’ on the one hand and those 38
who supported an ‘art of describing’ on the other. It can be argued on the basis of a concep- 39
tion of art determined by Spinozism that it is not necessary to assume an antithesis between 40
a supposedly old-fashioned world view, based on cosmological analogies, and a secular art 41
focused on inventorying the visible world. In Spinoza’s world view the possibilities of using 42
a multilayered iconography are stripped of their ‘ontological foundations’: the argument that 43
44
45
e x c u r s u s           349
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 349 09-10-2008 17:00:57

1 the Creation works in the same way as art, that is to say as a complex of cross-references in
2 which ‘everything is related to everything else’, loses its validity. This brings about more than
3 a loss of significance for old-fashioned iconography. ‘Hidden symbolism’ is rendered no longer
4 necessary at all: whereas Cartesianism robbed the domain of the visible world of all spiritual
5 significance, Spinoza restores it in its entirety.
6 A sketch of the philosophical context of Van Hoogstraten’s ideas thus produces a contri-
7 bution to the discussion about ‘realism’: even insignificant or ugly objects merit contemplative
8 attention. According to the phrase natura sive Deus, visible and invisible world are overlapping
9 concepts. The fact that he believes that it is legitimate to give the concept of the visible world
10 such a central role in his treatise can be clarified by studying not just the art-theoretical tradi-
11 tion, but also the contents of his bookcase. Given Van Hoogstraten’s interest in the discus-
12 sion surrounding his philosophy, Descartes’s title ‘Van de Zichtbare Werrelt’ (‘Of the Visible
13 World’) may have caught his eye and could well have been a textual source for the subtitle of
14 his own treatise.
15 We cannot conclude that Van Hoogstraten read the passages quoted from Spinoza’s
16 Ethics himself, and still less that he consciously tailored his theory of art to it, although there
17 is no doubt that the artist came into contact with Spinozism through his scholarly network.
18 Since we do not have the Onzichtbare Werelt, we are left with Goeree’s remarks on the subject
19 to reconstruct how Spinozism can be incorporated in a theory of painting. Nor can we say that
20 Van Hoogstraten shared Spinoza’s idea of regarding nature as identical to God; it is clear from
21 the correspondence with Van Blijenberg that he baulked at such radical views. We should also
22 note that Van Hoogstraten did not need Spinoza to arrive at his eventual formulation.
23 The epideictic thinking underlying the Inleyding, however, combining contradictory
24 forms of ancient and modern intellectual authority, means that it is not impossible that the
25 Spinozist solution to the problems that Cartesianism had raised was one of the elements in
26 Van Hoogstraten’s frame of reference that determined his eventual wording. After all, in the
27 last decades of the seventeenth century, Spinoza’s views were widely known in the Republic:116
28 in 1686 the philosopher Balthasar Bekker remarked ‘that Spinoza’s ideas have spread and taken
29 root all too far and too much through all places and classes of people; that they have won over
30 the courts of the highest, and ruined some of the best minds; that the members of a very civil
31 walk of life, godly men, have been dragged along to ungodliness by them.’117 Towards the end
32 of the century, a minister wrote: ‘I do not think that there can be anybody who does not know
33 who Spinoza was and what heresy he pursued. His writings are to be found everywhere, and
34 are, because of their novelty, sold in almost all bookshops.’118
35 In conclusion, we may sum up by saying that the findings in this excursus have con-
36 firmed the observations made earlier in this book in which we saw that Van Hoogstraten’s con-
37 cept of nature differs from Van Mander’s. Thinking in terms of internal Aristotelian qualities
38 and ideal forms, underlying phenomena are faced with the new concept of nature, in which the
39 visible world as res extensa obeys the laws of mechanistic physics. When light and colour prove
40 to be a function of colliding particles, the Aristotelian assumption that a painting ‘makes things
41 present’ in the imagination loses significance. Spinozism assumes an ‘optical paradigm’ and can
42 thus, even without there having been any direct borrowing, have entered into the intellectual
43 and artistic discourse about the visible world.
44
45
350          p ainting as a ‘siste r o f p hi l o s o p h y ’
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 350 09-10-2008 17:00:57

 We have seen that Spinozism’s attraction lay in the solution it provided to a paradox 1
that is inherent in the doctrine of the ‘Book of Nature’ versus the ‘Book of Scripture’. When 2
confronted with the question of how to reconcile the imperfection of the multiplicity of con- 3
tingencies of the visible world with divine perfection and unity, Spinoza argues that in a per- 4
formative way God ‘is’ what he ‘does’: Creation and Creator are overlapping concepts. 5
Spinoza’s view of reality is relevant to the notion of the ‘two perspectives’ that was so 6
essential to seventeenth-century experiments of perception, as we have examined in chapters 7
V and VI. He applies the notion of the complementarity of different viewpoints to reality in its 8
entirety, which, from the vantage point of the transient, appears as the visible world; from the 9
vantage point of eternity, it appears as the invisible God. His observation that natura naturata 10
and natura naturans are two sides of the same coin may serve as the point of departure for an 11
art theorist to state that the painter should not look down on the ‘slavish’ copying of the vis- 12
ible world, and does not have to concentrate on the ideal forms that lie behind (or beyond) the 13
world of phenomena. Natura naturata as a whole merits contemplative attention, and none of 14
its elements is ‘imperfect’; or to put it another way, all contingencies are worthy of the artist’s 15
attention. The Spinozist outlook thus corroborates Van Hoogstraten’s statement that painting 16
which encompasses all aspects of the visible world is a ‘sister of philosophy’. 17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
e x c u r s u s           351
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 351 10-10-2008 16:24:51

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 352 10-10-2008 16:24:52

 1
2
3
Conc lusion 4
5
6
7
Was there such a thing as a theory of the art of the baroque? What conclusions can be drawn 8
from the multiplicity of material that has been discussed in this study, in which the issue of 9
investing seventeenth-century painting with theoretical legitimacy has served as a heuristic 10
guideline? This study of the Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst has proved, one may 11
hope, that the barrenness of Hoogewerff’s ‘arctic expanse’ was an ill-chosen metaphor for the 12
climate of art theory in the Netherlands. Contrary to Julius von Schlosser’s view of Van Hoog- 13
straten as an uninspired exponent of official theory, a study of his treatise yields an abundance 14
of viewpoints and theoretical themes. These arise from the wide scope of Van Hoogstraten’s 15
own project of elevating the status of painting, and from the way in which he selects material 16
from the tradition of art theory and applies it in a new chapter structure, at the heart of which 17
he places the concept of the ‘visible world’. Although his treatise, following established tradi- 18
tion in rhetoric, says almost nothing about living masters, Van Hoogstraten presents numerous 19
views that are relevant to the art of his century, which in his opinion had evolved into ‘a revived 20
Greece’; he takes the fijnschilders, in particular, as an extreme against which to contrast his own 21
views, while praising his master Rembrandt in terms borrowed from the theory of rhetoric. 22
How may we summarize the historiographical debates about the supposed ‘Dutchness’ 23
of Dutch painting and the related art theory, and the role of ambiguous iconography and a 24
postulated ‘realism’? For one thing, it is clear that the intractable nature of the debate reflects 25
what were indeed inherent contradictions in seventeenth-century culture, contradictions that 26
determined both the form and content of Van Hoogstraten’s treatise. 27
On the one hand, the text contains countless expressions of mediaeval cosmology. It dis- 28
cusses the supposed ‘action at a distance’ effectuated by the planets, precious stones and works 29
of art, as well as the predictive value of physiognomy. On the other hand, Van Hoogstraten, not 30
one to be deterred by religious condemnation of scholarly curiosity, immersed himself in new 31
scientific developments and the debates that ensued from the ‘new philosophy’. His interest in 32
optics, in particular, placed its stamp on the Inleyding. This study has clarified the way in which 33
seventeenth-century views on art theory were embedded in a larger whole, in which literary, 34
psychological and philosophical views were all enmeshed. 35
The Inleyding was probably based on a collection of quotations on which Van Hoog- 36
straten had been working throughout his life. The way in which authority is vested in quantity 37
of arguments displays parallels to many texts quoted by Van Hoogstraten, by authors such as 38
Huarte, De la Serre and De Mornay. To borrow a metaphor from Grotius, the Inleyding is a 39
mosaic exhibiting a wealth of individual details that blend together in the larger whole to form 40
a satisfactory theory of painting, employing a line of argument appropriate to the rhetorical 41
genre of eulogy. Van Hoogstraten deals cursorily with diverse traditions and views: ancient 42
rhetorical theory; the humanist tradition of discussing painting not as a craft but as one of the 43
44
45
          353
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 353 10-10-2008 16:24:52

1 liberal arts; the goals of the Reformation; texts by Bacon and Descartes; and contemporary
2 views on the role of drama and the passions.
3 The study has discussed the way in which Van Hoogstraten’s views are embedded in a
4 ‘rhetorical culture’. While this culture held fast to the old analogy-based world view that as-
5 sumed the existence of a ‘chain of being’ linking all the elements of Creation in a hierarchical
6 order, the development of the modern natural sciences led at the same time to a sceptical at-
7 titude to knowledge passed on by theological tradition. The simultaneous occurrence of highly
8 diverse scientific and ideological views in seventeenth-century thought led to the formulation
9 of oppositions such as ‘Ancients’ versus ‘Moderns’ or rationalism versus empiricism. And al-
10 though many of these distinctions, as antithetical categories, are primarily the products of later
11 historiography, they make it clearer why the literary historian Gerard Knuvelder said that the
12 Dutch Golden Age was unparalleled as ‘a bundle of contradictions, a wilderness full of enigmas
13 and incongruities’.1
14 This book has set out in particular to study the Inleyding in the context of the humanism
15 of the seventeenth-century republic of letters, and not to discuss it in isolation from contempo-
16 rary philosophical and intellectual trends. This approach reveals more clearly that Van Hoog-
17 straten’s theory does not suggest any explicit contrast between a religious concept of painting
18 on the one hand and a ‘modern’ concept of a secular, merely ‘descriptive’ art on the other. The
19 logical inconsistencies in his theory should not be seen as problematic; they are not discrepan-
20 cies that have to be ‘resolved’, but combinations of concepts belonging to a rhetorical theory
21 governed not by the laws of systematic aesthetics but by those of epideictic argument, in which
22 the key aim is to provide intellectual legitimacy. Most probably it is precisely the argument of
23 the Inleyding, which seeks to elevate the status of painting through an abundance of detail and
24 viewpoints, that the modern reader finds so daunting and that led Von Schlosser to condemn it
25 so harshly. The value of Van Hoogstraten’s voluminous and at times highly lucid and relevant
26 treatise becomes clear when this abundance is not viewed as an obstacle and not explained in
27 terms of the author’s lack of originality or logical consistency, but when it is placed in the con-
28 text of a rationality that attaches the greatest meaning to intellectual authority and to quantity
29 of arguments.
30 Van Hoogstraten’s emphasis on the depiction of the visible world is explored in a variety
31 of ways, drawing on commonplaces from older art-theoretical tradition as well as on the philo-
32 sophical and theological views of his age. In the Inleyding, he compares painting to theatre,
33 rhetoric and philosophy. The author’s encyclopaedic interest, which is apparent from his desire
34 to accumulate an abundance of views, is reflected in his opinion that painting itself is a form of
35 knowledge that brings together the other arts and sciences. In representing the ‘visible world’,
36 painting encompasses a multiplicity of contingencies, from subjects such as the surrounding
37 landscape to light reflected in inconsequential objects and variations in human appearance.
38 In not linking Van Hoogstraten’s treatise to any particular scholarly or philosophical
39 school of thought, but instead viewing it in the light of a ‘rhetorical culture’, this study would
40 not deny that specific philosophical ideas in his age may have influenced his views. It has set out
41 to judge his observations following an analysis combining the painting of his contemporaries,
42 texts of diverse origin, and the rhetorical tradition that provides the basis for much of tradi-
43 tional art theory. For seventeenth-century authors, rhetoric provided a conceptual framework
44
45
354          the v isibl e worl d
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 354 10-10-2008 16:24:53

 for discussing a relatively new subject such as painting, and familiarity with rhetoric proves a 1
valuable tool for modern readers wishing to study this theory. Besides facilitating a meaning- 2
ful discussion of art, rhetoric supplies a theory of communication and action that is ultimately 3
geared towards the ethos of honnêteté; in the context of rhetoric, the Inleyding is placed on 4
ethical foundations, the key concept of which is the seventeenth-century ideal of the vir bonus 5
dicendi peritus, the ‘good man who is skilled in speech’. 6
The application of rhetorical theory to art theory went beyond the classification of 7
terminology and the analysis of the various ‘parts of painting’. A number of terms can be 8
distinguished here, such as beweeglijkheid (movement), which is a translation of Junius’s term 9
energia, ornament, invention and imitation, all of which, in Van Hoogstraten’s theory, relate 10
to means of transporting the public to a virtual reality. But there are other terms too, which 11
modern readers would be less inclined to relate to rhetoric, as they may be connected to very 12
specific aspects of painting practice, such as ordinnantie (composition of figures) and houding 13
(composition of colours and tones), that also fulfil functions in the wider context of a theory of 14
persuasiveness. 15
Taking the international nature of the art-theoretical tradition as its point of departure, 16
this book has examined Van Hoogstraten’s observations in the context of his southern Euro- 17
pean predecessors. The Inleyding is presented expressly as a contribution to that tradition; it 18
is more than the idiosyncratic reflection of Van Hoogstraten’s social aspirations and his own 19
painting practice. As far as this tradition itself is concerned, the written sources probably re- 20
flect oral debates by painters and art lovers that were conducted in studios all over Europe. Art 21
theory contains exemplary commonplaces and a lexical structure for the ‘civil conversation’ in 22
the studio, which could be used to justify the activities of painters and art lovers alike. 23
It has repeatedly been noted that Van Hoogstraten’s primary aim was not to develop a 24
‘rationalist’ aesthetic system but to write a didactic treatise. The ultimate goal is not so much 25
to teach students how to paint – which can really only be learnt in the studio, as Van Hoog- 26
straten himself emphasizes – or even how to speak about it, but eudaimonia, the effort to lead 27
a virtuous life. This ethical objective is the crowning element of his various efforts to elevate 28
painting’s intellectual status, and an ideal destination to which the aspiring painter progresses 29
one step at a time under the guidance of the Muses, passing on the way the diverse sensory 30
temptations that are part and parcel of his profession. The rhetorical views concerning the 31
ability of an orator – or in this case a painter – to transport his public into his own reality, the 32
ultimate goal being to achieve an actual change of character, are crucial to this ethical function. 33
Van Hoogstraten deals more explicitly still with the inherent virtuousness of the contempla- 34
tive activity of painting itself. A painting that is made with close attention to the visible world 35
focuses the viewer’s mind on nature, God’s Creation. With the realization that the spectator’s 36
own passions, too, are part of nature, the work of art can produce a tranquillity of mind that, 37
besides being a seventeenth-century equivalent to an aesthetic experience, is also in an ethical 38
sense the summum bonum. 39
The most explicit answers to the issue of ‘Dutch realism’, the question of the signifi- 40
cance of depicting the visible world, are given at the beginning and end of this book. A chapter 41
devoted to Van Hoogstraten’s emphasis on the depiction of the visible world began by placing 42
this concept in the context of the tradition of art theory, in which the ancient doctrine of Stoi- 43
44
45
c o nc l u s i o n          355
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 355 10-10-2008 16:24:53

1 cism proved to be essential. The discussion also dwelt briefly on the writer-painter’s Calvinist
2 background. In the final excursus, the focus shifted to Van Hoogstraten’s striking interest in
3 the new philosophy of his day, which suggested that his emphasis on the visible world may also
4 be studied from the perspective of contemporary developments in philosophy.
5 These discussions involved an outline of different seventeenth-century views of nature.
6 The topos of honouring God through nature, as a ‘Second Bible’, can be found in the Italian
7 literature of art, in which it is closely bound up with the assumption that microcosm and mac-
8 rocosm are linked by a web of analogical relationships. This assumption would also explain the
9 artist’s power to penetrate, through the visible world, to the world that exists behind it. In the
10 course of the seventeenth century, this cosmology was challenged by a more fragmented view
11 of nature, which provided a clearer theoretical justification for representing the superficial,
12 ‘chance’ features of the visible world. Vondel discusses the link between the philosophical and
13 painterly views forged by this realization in a comparison with ancient atomism. Painters who
14 focus on contingent elements of Creation, he suggests, are comparable to modern philoso-
15 phers who deny the existence of a hierarchically ordered structure in the cosmos.
16 Van Hoogstraten’s emphasis on painting as providing ‘universal knowledge’ and his
17 comparison of it to philosophy are rooted in traditional views on the scope of the imagina-
18 tion. His views correspond most closely to those of Zuccari, who sought to contribute to the
19 theoretical emancipation of draughtsmanship by positing that all the other arts, including phi-
20 losophy, depend on this fundamental activity. Zuccari’s proposition appears in modified form
21 in Van Hoogstraten’s assertion that painting is capable of ‘depicting all ideas, or mental im-
22 ages, that the entire visible world can provide’. In Van Hoogstraten’s view, the painter’s prime
23 concern should not be with proportions or ideal beauty; the aesthetic focus, he holds, is not
24 on universals but on the ‘eternal difference’ between things. The primary importance of the
25 imagination, he posits, is in the painter’s comprehensive capacity to depict all contingencies of
26 the visible world, ‘as in a mirror’.
27 In discussing the problems bound up with the concept of imitation, this study linked
28 Van Hoogstraten’s didactic views to what are ultimately ethical ideals, embedded in classical
29 Stoic doctrine, which revolves around ‘living by following nature’. Living in accordance with
30 the natural order provides guidelines not only in the scientific or artistic quest for ‘right reason’
31 (recta ratio), but also in the general sphere of human endeavour. ‘Following nature’ is a thread
32 that runs through Van Hoogstraten’s views on painterly imitation. As a guideline, it makes it-
33 self felt in the diverse aspects of the depiction of the visible world and the use of examples from
34 tradition.
35 As an activity geared towards imitating nature, painting occupies a justified and pos-
36 sibly even exemplary position among the other arts, which are all mimetic in origin. What is
37 more, painting is pre-eminently capable of evoking a virtual reality, which is a key objective in
38 the theory of rhetoric. The artist must follow both his own nature and ‘nature’ in the sense of
39 visual or virtual reality, with style and artistic skill becoming invisible. It is this ethos of dual
40 ‘naturalness’ that ultimately gives the painting its quality of persuasiveness.
41 In general, Van Hoogstraten is very positive about the painting of his fellow-country-
42 men and contemporaries, which he describes as having entered into ‘a new Greece’. This
43 comparison is more than a general compliment: he believes that only the uncorrupted and
44
45
356          the v isibl e worl d
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 356 10-10-2008 16:24:53

 unembellished representation of nature can lead to an art of painting approaching that of the 1
ancients. This kind of ‘realism’ is hence the perfect imitation, both of nature and of the most 2
admirable examples. 3
This study has sought to demonstrate that within Stoic thought, a ‘knowledge of na- 4
ture’ also leads to an understanding of human behaviour and a personal code of conduct. It 5
has explored the way in which Van Hoogstraten’s views about the passions are partly anchored 6
in a cosmology in which planets, elementary qualities and works of art exert a physical ‘action 7
at a distance’. That visual art can provide insight into the inner life is another argument for 8
emphasizing its intellectual status: in the theory of painting as virtual reality, in which it has 9
the function of influencing the viewer’s ethos, the passions are of fundamental importance. 10
The artist must be a master not only of simulating emotion, but also of deceiving his public. 11
This deception makes it possible for a painting, like a tragedy on the stage, to lead its public 12
to greater spiritual health. The painter’s qualities as pathopoios, or designer of the passions, are 13
subordinated to his task as ethopoios – that is, as one who can alter a viewer’s character. 14
Both the theory of classical tragedy and that of rhetoric emphasise the effect of lifelike- 15
ness, which in this theory is related primarily to the concept of enargeia. A brief but vehement 16
affective impression is deemed to transport a viewer completely to a virtual reality. In painting, 17
this can be achieved by capturing a highly illusionist ‘snapshot’ of the visible world, which Van 18
Hoogstraten describes as oogenblikkige beweeging (instantaneous movement). His experience 19
with the passions makes the painter a good judge of human nature, of the variety in character 20
of those whom he must try to win over to his own ethos. Recognition of the familiar provides 21
the best assurance of persuasiveness, together with the viewer’s related sense of sharing the 22
painter’s knowledge of nature and the human soul. This ethical effect applies not just to images 23
of human figures, which encourage emulation in the manner of Archimedes’s mirror, but also 24
to depictions of contingencies in the visible world. The painter can seize the mute eloquence 25
of his natural surroundings to make an image that itself produces a powerful rhetorical effect, a 26
rendering of visual reality that not only has a healing power, physically as well as mentally, but 27
also confronts the viewer with the ‘greatest good’ encapsulated in following the natural order. 28
According to the theory of the persuasiveness of images, a painting’s stylistic qualities 29
as well as its subject-matter are important. Colouring, in particular, is believed to possess an 30
affective influence. Besides clarifying certain peculiarities of the ‘rough manner’, rhetorical 31
theory is also relevant to views regarding landscape painting, for instance, traditionally re- 32
garded as a Netherlandish genre par excellence. This is linked to an ambivalent attitude to the 33
ephemeral, superficial and seductive aspects of art. The colouring of landscapes can not only 34
foster physical health, the ‘mute rhetoric’ of the visible world can also lead the viewer’s thought 35
to the greater rhetoric of the Creator, who proclaims his omnipotence in his Creation. 36
Van Hoogstraten’s views regarding dissimulation, artistic semblance and deception, are 37
rooted in a rhetorical theory that is less close to Alberti’s seminal treatise of 1435 – or even 38
to that of his direct predecessor, Van Mander – than it is to the copious writings of Marco 39
Boschini, published from 1660 to 1674, which focus on subjects such as deception, false ap- 40
pearances, visible brushstrokes, affective response, the intangible quality of ‘grace’, and the 41
practical application of theory. In the debate on ‘rough’ versus ‘smooth’ painting, the Dutch 42
situation pays particular attention to the idea that the ‘rough’ manner makes it possible to 43
44
45
c o nc l u s i o n          357
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 357 10-10-2008 16:24:53

1 adopt two perspectives, of a virtual reality on the one hand and technical details on the other,
2 which complement each other in the pleasing deception wrought by painting.
3 The theory of metaphor, a stylistic device that links two incompatible variables, can
4 be applied to the art of painting as Van Hoogstraten describes it. This theory thematizes the
5 contrast underlying the essence of painterly illusion: paint versus virtual reality, two opposites
6 that coincide in the performative act of painting. In the seventeenth-century literature of art,
7 this metaphorical contrast between the lifeless panel or canvas versus the ‘living’ image is also
8 compared to the distinction between appearance and inner truth, or illusion and reality. This
9 fundamental artistic contrast is expressed in art itself when diverse ‘layers of fiction’ are inter-
10 twined, or in optical tricks such as anamorphosis. This sophisticated, courtly form of entertain-
11 ment turns out to possess a serious undertone, where a ‘bifocal’ perspective is used to highlight
12 the contrast between the ‘Now’ of earthly existence and the ‘Then’ of the afterlife. In a pietistic
13 seventeenth-century interpretation, Van Hoogstraten’s comparison of the painting to a mir-
14 ror can be linked to an ambivalent appreciation combining both the acceptance as well as the
15 renunciation of the things of this world. By emphasizing the vanity and impermanence of the
16 visible world, the work of art can lead the viewer to contemplate the eternal, invisible world.
17 Starting out from this premise regarding the religious function that can be fulfilled by
18 depictions of the visible world, the book analysed philosophical debates that were topical when
19 the Inleyding appeared, which posit an extremely close relationship between God and nature.
20 We noted the ways in which Van Hoogstraten was connected, through his immediate intel-
21 lectual circle, with the controversies raised by the new ‘radical’ school of thought. The solution
22 for the problems caused by the Cartesian distinction between ‘visible’ and ‘invisible’ aspects of
23 reality, as put forward by Spinozist thinkers in the latter half of the century, may have contrib-
24 uted to his decision to propose the visible world as a legitimate concept to place at the heart
25 of his treatise. These philosophical views regarding beauty and the order of Creation can be
26 linked to the discourse about painting.
27 An excursus looked at a series of questions: what does the proposition that God reveals
28 himself through his Creation actually mean? How can imperfection and the multiplicity of
29 contingencies in the visible world be reconciled with divine unity and perfection? Spinoza’s
30 solution to the problem that God, in a performative sense, ‘is’ what he ‘does’ places the Sto-
31 ic foundations of the doctrine of ‘following nature’ in a new light. The philosopher applies
32 seventeenth-century views on the complementarity of opposing viewpoints to the whole of
33 reality, which from the vantage point of the ephemeral and earthly life can be construed as
34 visible nature and from the vantage point of eternity as the invisible God. His observation that
35 natura naturata and natura naturans are overlapping concepts may lead to the conclusion, in
36 art theory, that painters should not look down on the ‘slavish’ copying of the visible world, and
37 should not direct their endeavours to the ideal forms that lie behind (or beyond) the world of
38 appearances. Natura naturata as a whole is worthy of contemplation, and none of its elements,
39 in Spinoza’s view, is chance or ‘imperfect’; in other words, all the contingencies of the visible
40 world are worthy of the painter’s attention.
41 It has emerged from this study that Van Hoogstraten’s Inleyding gives us no reason
42 to posit the existence of two clashing, rival views, a realism that is ‘devoid of content’ and a
43 ‘seeming realism’ based on the existence of disguised symbolism. By historicizing the question
44
45
358          the v isibl e worl d
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 358 10-10-2008 16:24:53

 of the relationship between world view and painting, and by seeing how Van Hoogstraten’s 1
views on art can be linked to a variety of contemporary ideas, it has become clear that to posit 2
an explicit contrast between a religious concept of art and a ‘modern’ view of l’art pour l’art 3
is ill-conceived. On the one hand, Van Hoogstraten makes no effort to justify the representa- 4
tion of insignificant elements of the visible world through poly-interpretable iconography; nor 5
does he believe that the painter should seek to penetrate to the ‘true nature’ that lies behind 6
the world of appearances. The aesthetic focus he describes revolves not around universals but 7
around an ‘eternal difference’, the details that make one thing dissimilar to another. On the 8
other hand, his effort to elevate the art of painting above the level of a craft is certainly geared 9
towards elevating it to the level of an intellectual and pre-eminently virtuous activity, which is 10
full of religious significance. 11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
c o nc l u s i o n          359
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 359 10-10-2008 16:24:53

1
2
3
4 Bi bl iogr aphic al abbr e viations
5
6
7
8
9 Angel, Lof Philips Angel, Lof der schilderkonst, Leiden 1642.
10 Barocchi, Scritti Paola Barocchi (ed.), Scritti d’arte del Cinquecento, Milano 1971-1977.
11 Barocchi, Trattati Paola Barocchi (ed.), Trattati d’arte del Cinquecento: fra Manierismo e
12 Controriforma, Bari 1960.
13 De Bie, Cabinet Cornelis de Bie, Het gulden cabinet van de edel vry schilderconst, Antwer-
14 pen 1661.
15 De Lairesse, GS Gerard de Lairesse, Groot schilderboek, Haarlem 1740 (ed. princ. Am-
16 sterdam 1707).
17 EJ Samuel van Hoogstraten, Den eerlyken jongeling, of de edele kunst, van
18 zich by groote en kleyne te doen eeren en beminnen, Dordrecht 1657.
19 Goeree, MK Willem Goeree , Natuurlyk en schilderkonstig ontwerp der menschkunde,
20 Amsterdam 1682.
21 Goeree, SK Willem Goeree, Inleyding tot de practijck der algemeene schilderkonst,
22 Middelburg 1697 (ed. princ. 1670).
23 Goeree, TK Willem Goeree, Inleydinge tot de algemeene teyckenkonst, Middelburg
24 1670.
25 Huygens, Fragment Constantijn Huygens, Fragment eener autobiografie, ed. A. Worp, s.l.,
26 s.a. (originally written in the years 1629-1631).
27 Inl. Samuel van Hoogstraten, Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst;
28 anders de zichtbaere werelt, Rotterdam 1678.
29 Junius, TPA The Literature of Classical Art, Vol. 1, the Painting of the Ancients; De
30 pictura veterum, According to the English Translation (1638), K. Aldrich,
31 P. Fehl & R. Fehl (eds.), Berkeley/Los Angeles/Oxford 1991.
32 Junius, SKDO Franciscus Junius, De schilderkonst der oude, begrepen in drie boecken,
33 Middelburg 1641.
34 Van Mander, Grondt Karel van Mander, ‘Grondt der edel-vry schilder-const’, in: Het
35 schilder-boeck, Haarlem 1604.
36 Van Mander, Leven Karel van Mander, ‘Het leven der doorluchtighe nederlandtsche en
37 hooghduytsche schilders […]’, in: Het schilder-boeck, Haarlem 1604.
38 Van Mander,
39 Wtlegginge Karel van Mander, ‘Wtlegginge, en sin-ghevende verclaringhe, op den
40 Metamorphosis Publij Ovidij Nasonis’, in: Het schilder-boeck, Haarlem
41 1604.
42
43
44
45
360          the v isibl e worl d
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 360 10-10-2008 16:24:53

 1
2
3
Note s 4
5
6
7
8
int ro du ct io n in Miedema’s commentary on Van Man- 9
1 Białostocki 1977. der’s Grondt, which is not comparable in 10
2 Hoogewerff 1939, p. 98. structure, however, to the thematic study
embarked on here, see Miedema 1973. The
11
3 Cf. Brenninkmeijer-De Rooy 1984, p. 63,
and Brown 2002, p. 22. same applies to Nativel’s commentary on 12
4 The following publications quote Van the first volume of Junius’s Latin version of 13
Hoogstraten in relation to the said contro- De Pictura Veterum, in which she focuses on
rhetorical aspects, see Nativel 1996.
14
versy: Raupp 1983, pp. 402-18; Białostocki
1988a, pp. 166-80; Sluijter 1997; cf. Mie- 11 Reprinted in Emmens 1979. 15
dema 1975, which draws on Van Mander. 12 On this issue, see most recently Bakker 16
5 A study of exemplary significance to the 2004.
13 Baxandall 2004, p. 1, p. 8. For the situation
17
iconographical approach is De Jongh 1967;
see also Alpers 1983. For this debate, see in the Netherlands, the main publications in 18
also Bruyn 1986, Hecht 1986, Sluijter 1997 the field of rhetoric in relation to contempo- 19
and the compilation of recent positions in rary views on art are Miedema 1998, which
endeavours to provide a concrete rhetorical
20
Franits 1997.
6 Van Mander, Grondt, see Miedema 1973; analysis of a painting, Weber 1991, which 21
Angel, Lof, see Sluijter 2000c; Goeree, TK, describes aspects of seventeenth-century 22
SK, MK, on the Teyckenkonst, see Kwakkel- painting on a more general level, and We-
ber 1998, in which rhetorical/dialectic views
23
stein 1998.
7 See Alpers 1983, pp. 77, 78, and De Jongh are applied to iconographical research. Elle- 24
1967, p. 22, p. 90. nius 1960, in particular, attempted to assess 25
8 Brusati studied the Inleyding, as part of her the rhetorical background of the theories
of painting expounded by Vossius and Jun-
26
monograph on Van Hoogstraten’s life and
work, as a ‘self-legitimizing enterprise’, a ius. For more general studies of art theory 27
project designed to boost the painter’s social and rhetoric, see inter alia Van Eck 2002, 28
status. In Czech’s work, which is structured Hundemer 1997, Goldstein 1991, Miedema
1988, LeCoat 1975, Spencer 1957 and Ar-
29
explicitly with a view to filling a gap in exist-
ing research and gathering factual material, gan 1955. 30
the compelling authority of the tradition in 14 Two studies including exemplary discus- 31
which the Inleyding is situated is neglected; sions of the way in which the biographical
material concerning contemporary artists
32
see Czech’s comments on his vantage point
in Czech 2002, vol. I, p. 385, and my discus- included in theoretical texts is determined 33
sion of this work in Weststeijn 2004. to a large extent by topoi from the literary 34
9 Michael Baxandall laid the foundations of tradition are McKim-Smith 1988, pp. 1-33,
and Kris and Kurz 1932.
35
his pioneering research in a philological
method that sets out to ascertain the paint- 15 Emmens 1979, p. 98. 36
er’s conceptual apparatus. His work covers 16 Baxandall 2004, pp. 69-82; Hundemer 1997, 37
the literature of art written in the early Ital- 117-121 Weststeijn 2005.
17 Czech 2002, p. 268.
38
ian Renaissance; Baxandall 1971, see also
the more recent Baxandall 2004. For the 39
sixteenth century, see Summers 1981; Sum- 40
mers 1987, and Sohm 2001. c h a pter i
41
10 Pauw-de Veen 1969; Van de Wetering 1991, 1 Von Schlosser 1924, p. 559.
Taylor 1992, Van de Wetering 1996, Slui- 2 ‘Het oeffenen van de Poëzie, of ten minsten 42
jter 2000c. Other indications can be found het leezen der zelve, is de Schilderkonst zoo 43
44
45
n o t e s t o c hap t e r i           361
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 361 10-10-2008 16:24:53

1 eygen, dat het byna nootzakelijk schijnt’, the Latin school in Dordrecht; see Thissen
2 Inl. p. 212. 1994, p. 132.
3 Van Mander trained under Lucas de Heere, 15 Thissen 1994, p. 171.
3 whose pursuits included literature as well as 16 Van Hoogstraten quotes Cartari in Italian in
4 the visual arts. Many seventeenth-century the Inleyding, refers to Dante’s Divina com-
5 painters belonged to Haarlem’s chamber media, of which no Dutch edition existed at
of rhetoric, including Frans and Dirk Hals, the time (Inl. p. 9 and p. 210), and may have
6 Salomon de Koninck, Esaias van de Velde, actually translated Michelangelo’s sonnets
7 Jan Wynants and Adriaen Brouwer. A key himself.
8 figure was Adriaen van de Venne, who was 17 Czech 2002, p. 109, p. 251.
active in both arts and who refers to painting 18 Such as Ficino’s De vita libri tres, Alberti’s
9 in his literary work. Other painters with lit- De pictura and Architectura and Del Monte’s
10 erary pursuits were Pieter Codde and Hen- Perspectivae libri six. He also repeats several
11 drik Bloemaert. Graphic artists who also passages in Latin in the Inleyding (on pp. 252
wrote works of literature include Coorn- and 280). In many cases, Van Hoogstraten
12 hert, Boetius Bolswert, Philips Galle and Jan adopts verbatim passages from Junius’s – of-
13 Luyken. Bredero and Dullaert both trained ten quite free – translation from the Latin
14 as painters, but later concerned themselves (cf. the paraphrase from Longinus, Junius,
exclusively with poetry. Sixteenth-century SKDO p. 233, Inl. p. 179).
15 masters who wrote poetry include Lambert 19 Zijlmans 1999, p. 161.
16 Lombard, Jan van Scorel, Pieter Balten and 20 Goeree stated that it was ‘seer voordeelig’
17 Cornelis Ketel. Since the fragmentary study for painters to be ‘in eenig vreemde Taal, als
by Brom 1957 (see esp. p. 57, p. 161), no Latijn, Frans en Italiaans ervaren te wesen
18 overview research has been done on the lit- … om beter eenige Schrijvers, die noch niet
19 erary pursuits of Dutch painters. in onse Moederspraak overgeset zijn, te
20 4 Cf. Lomazzo, Rime (Milan 1591); see Ba­ konnen verstaan’, Goeree, SK p. 42.
rasch 1985, p. 272. 21 EJ p. 28.
21 5 ‘[D]e verkeeringen met wijze en wakkere 22 Petrus Laurenberg, Vernieuwde en vermeer-
22 mannen, en het leezen van hoogstateli- derde Acerra philologica, Leiden 1656; cf. Inl.
23 jke boeken’, Inl. p. 95. ‘Idcirco sic consulo p. 344.
poetis atque rhetoribus caeterisque doctis 23 Vossius was headmaster of the Latin school
24 litterarum sese pictor studiosus familiarem until 1615; see Rademaker 1981, pp. 60-87.
25 atque benivolum dedat, nam ab eiusmodi In accordance with educational reforms im-
26 eruditis ingeniis cum ornamenta accipiet plemented from 1625 onwards, boys studied
optima, tum in his profecto inventionibus a consistent curriculum of humanist texts,
27 iuvabitur, quae in pictura non ultimam sibi the main authors being Erasmus, Scaliger
28 laudem vendicent’, Alberti 1540, III, p. 54. and Vossius. On Vossius’s rhetoric, see
29 6 Van Mander, Het leven der moderne, oft dees- Rademaker 1981, pp. 177-81.
tijtsche doorluchtighe Italiaensche schilders, 24 Vossius 1690.
30 in Van Mander 1604, f. 102v; De Lairesse 25 Vossius married Junius’s half-sister Elisa-
31 1701, p. 1 and p. 54; cf. GS I, p. 199. beth after the death of his first wife Elisa-
32 7 Thissen 1994, esp. p. 191. beth Corput, who was her cousin. Junius
8 Brusati 1995; Thissen 1994. The genesis of and Vossius belonged to the same human-
33 the Inleyding has been described at length by ist ‘dynasty’, which was partly rooted in
34 Czech 2002, chapters 2 and 3, and by Blanc Dordrecht, and to which Jan de Brune the
35 2006, p. 19-24. Younger, a cousin of Junius’s, also belonged;
9 Sellin 1976. cf. Nativel 1996, p. 30.
36 10 Emmens accorded only a minor role to the 26 Nativel 1996, p. 60. While Junius wrote an
37 text in his research on the art theory relevant introduction to Vossius’s treatise on paint-
38 to Rembrandt, Emmens 1979, p. 98. ing, Vossius in turn referred to Junius, in this
11 Jansen 2002, esp. pp. 31-32. same text, as a major author on the theory of
39 12 Thissen 1994, p. 56, with select art.
40 bibliography. 27 Van Hoogstraten refers to Vossius’s views,
41 13 Golahny 2004, p. 54; cf. also Levy 1984, pp. Inl. p. 43, p. 69, p. 280.
20-27. 28 The Inl. refers to Cicero’s Pro Archia, De
42 14 See Spies 2002 and Schull 1833. Lambert oratore, Orator, Tusculanae disputationes, De
43 van den Bos became deputy headmaster of officiis, and the Rhetorica ad Herennium that
44 is attributed to Cicero.
45
362          note s to chap te r i
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 362 10-10-2008 16:24:53

 29 Inl. p. 42, reference to Julius Caesar Scal- 43 In his autobiography, Huygens character- 1
iger, Exotericarum exercitationum (Paris 1652, izes Rembrandt’s style of painting using a 2
CCLXVII, pp. 339-40, 347-50). number of terms that derive from rhetoric;
30 Czech 2002, esp. pp. 208-9, pp. 222-25. these recur in Rembrandt’s correspond- 3
31 De Bie, Cabinet p. 65. ence with Huygens (see Weststeijn 2005). 4
32 Czech 2002, p. 9, p. 84. On the practice Van Hoogstraten was in contact with Rem- 5
of collecting quotations, in the context of brandt’s pupil, Heiman Dullaert, who soon
humanist art theory, see at length Vickers abandoned his career as a painter to devote 6
1999, pp. 43-49. himself entirely to poetry, according to Van 7
33 Barner 1970, pp. 302 ff. Hoogstraten 1983, p. 7. Dullaert probably 8
34 Brusati 1995, pp. 34, 40-41, Alpers 1988, stayed at Rembrandt’s studio from 1651 to
pp. 38-46; cf. Houbraken 1718-1721, II p. 1653. 9
163 and Inl. pp. 108-15. 44 Spies 2002. Vossius, as rector and first pro- 10
35 Inl. pp. 25, 145, 282. fessor of the new Athenaeum Illustre, also 11
36 The physician Van Beverwijck, for whose determined the intellectual climate in Am-
work Van Hoogstraten produced a number sterdam to a large extent. 12
of engravings, attended the Latin school un- 45 Cats lived in Dordrecht from 1623 to 1636. 13
der Vossius, then studied at the University For this city’s literary life, see Spies 1998. 14
of Leiden and went on a grand tour; he cor- 46 Thissen 1994, pp. 107-142.
responded with Heinsius and Vossius. 47 Slive 1953, p. 44 ff; Lambert van den Bos, 15
37 Spies 2002. Dordrechtse arcadia (1662), quoted from 16
38 Van Hoogstraten 1725. For Dirk van Hoog- Thissen 1994, p. 122. 17
straten see Brusati 1995, pp. 16-24, and 48 Federico Zuccari was a member of the Ac-
Thissen 1994, chapter II. cademia degli Insensati and the Accademia 18
39 Van Hoogstraten stayed at Rembrandt’s degli Innominati; Gian Paolo Lomazzo was 19
studio from 1642/3 to 1646/7, at the same a member of the Accademia della Val di 20
time as Carel Fabritius (probably autumn Bregna.
1641-April 1643), Bernhard Keil (1642- 49 Other women in this circle were Agneta 21
44), and Jurriaen Ovens. See the survey of Colvia, Anna van Blockland, Catharina van 22
pupils in Liedtke 2004, p. 68. This makes Muylwijk, Cornelia Blanckenburg, Maria 23
Van Hoogstraten one of the pupils who de Witt, Catharina and Wilhelmina Oem,
stayed the longest in Rembrandt’s studio; Anna van Beverwijk and Maria Margaretha 24
most remained there for one to three years: van Akerlaecken; cf. Scheltema 1823, p. 75. 25
cf. Flinck, one year (c. 1635-6), Eeckhout 50 On Van Hoogstraten’s ties with Van Blijen- 26
(1635-1638/9), Drost (1648-1650/52), De berg, see chapter VII of the present book.
Gelder (two years in the 1660s). De Gelder 51 David van Hoogstraten later acquired an ac- 27
and Drost may have been taught in Van tive role in the Rotterdam circle, and kept in 28
Hoogstraten’s own studio in ‘the style of contact with several members; he discussed 29
Rembrandt’, as Liedtke calls it, which would Dullaert’s position in the Van Hoogstratens’
explain their great affinity with Rembrandt, milieu, noting that Dullaert had a particular 30
even in their later work; see Liedtke 1995- affinity with Samuel because he had learned 31
6. the art of painting ‘with him’ from Rem- 32
40 Scriverius owned two paintings by Rem- brandt; although the two painters had not
brandt; Buchelius visited him in Leiden. worked in Rembrandt’s studio at the same 33
These suggestions are made by Wetering time; Van Hoogstraten 1983, p. 7. 34
2001a, pp. 27-32, esp. p. 29. 52 Zijlmans 1999, p. 172 observes that the 35
41 Lastman owned about 150 books; Lastman group’s activities revolved around the ex-
and Swanenburg both came from educated change of ideas, and loaning and borrowing 36
families. In Rembrandt’s adaptations of clas- topical literature. 37
sical sources, in which he did wish to go to 53 Frans himself translated texts by Erasmus, 38
the source, examining the traditional repre- Vives, Thomas More, Lipsius, Comenius,
sentation in the light of the original text, he Joseph Hall and Pascal, among others. For 39
probably relied on a well-read acquaintance, an extensive list of publications, see Thissen 40
Golahny 2004, p. 54 and chapter IV. 1994, pp. 249-268. 41
42 According to Orlers’s description of the city, 54 Golahny 1996; for Oudaen see Tadema
Rembrandt had also studied at this univer- 2004; Zijlmans 1999, p. 154. 42
sity, where he enrolled on 20 May 1620; cf. 55 Bok 2001, p. 193, n. 25, notes that he knows 43
Schnackenburg 2004. 44
45
n o t e s t o c hap t e r i           363
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 363 10-10-2008 16:24:53

1 of no uneducated painters; see also Levy 73 Schull 1833, p. 29.
2 1984. 74 Brusati 1995, p. 56-57, note 17; EJ p. 25-
56 Van Mander, Leven fol. 259r. 28.
3 57 For Merula, see Van Regteren Altena & Van 75 These novels were influenced by a variety
4 Thiel 1964, p. 165. of literary elements: English, French and
5 58 Sumowski 1979-1992, V, p. 2491. Spanish novels, which were ultimately based
59 For the grand tour and the ideal of prudentia, on novels from the Hellenistic period, see
6 see Frank-Van Westrienen 1983. Spies 2002.
7 60 Thissen 1994, p. 69; Czech 2002, p. 136. 76 Johan van Heemskerck had published a
8 61 Cf. Oudaen’s caption to Van Hoogstraten’s Batavische Arkadia (1637) inspired by San-
self-portrait, Inl., unpaginated. nazaro’s Arcadia, and Lambert van den Bos
9 62 ‘It is known that great expectations are har- had written a Dordrechtse Arcadia (1662).
10 boured of artists who have attended foreign 77 ‘The brush would succeed better than my
11 schools of art for some time, and that as a pen in depicting the specific beauty of each
result, what they have learned there is much Nymph’, Van Hoogstraten 1669, p. 183.
12 appreciated by art lovers’, Goeree, SK p. 78 ‘De groote Poëet die sijn Morge-sangen den
13 107, see also p. 106: ‘that travelling and see- gantschen dagh schaafden, bleef niet onbe­
14 ing other countries, and great empires, may rispt, hoe sou ik, die den gantschen dagh een
be of benefit to young painters and can help ander Godinne gedient hebbende, in’t ont­
15 to give them a degree of fame’. kleeden, eerst om Roselijn docht, vry zijn?’
16 63 DaCosta Kaufmann 1982. Schoone Roselijn, unpaginated, p. *4 verso.
17 64 Duindam 2003. 79 ‘Want ik begin te twijffelen of my ook al
65 ‘Now follows a thunderous rumour and dit schryven ergens toe dient, daer ik aen
18 piece of news. It is said that Germany’s een andre Konstgodinne, die hare Dienaers
19 greatest painter, Sandrart, is to come here’, beter als de Poezy beloont, verbonden ben’;
20 letter from Vienna, 9 August 1651, see Ros­ Van Hoogstraten 1669, p. 270.
cam Abbing 1993, p. 43. Sandrart praises 80 He will ‘wel haest veel vremder en onge-
21 Van Hoogstraten’s work in the Teutsche hoorder dingen vertellen’; Van Hoogstraten
22 Academie, cf. Roscam Abbing 1993, pp. 43- 1669, p. 336.
23 44. 81 This is argued by Van Mander on the
66 Brusati 1995, p. 75. grounds that painters ‘must eschew Rheto-
24 67 The travel account may be found on pages ric, the art of poetry, with its lovely ways,
25 201-204 of the Inl. desirable and charming though it may be’,
26 68 Hoogewerff 1950, p. 109. For a reconstruc- because it will not earn them any money,
tion of Van Hoogstraten’s Italian journey, Van Mander, Grondt I, 47, f. 5.
27 based on Van den Bos’s Weghwyser, see 82 ‘[T]rotse Zangheldinnen, die in moeder-
28 Czech 2002, vol. II, p. 288, fig. 43. It is un- taal gelijckerhand aanspannen’, Van Hoog-
29 clear, however, whether the painter saw eve- straten 1669, unpaginated.
rything he enumerates in this eulogy with 83 Bidloo 1720, p. 68.
30 his own eyes; his description stays quite 84 Schull 1833, p. 70. This play creates the im-
31 close to that of Van den Bos, who probably pression that it was meant to be read rather
32 did not follow exactly the same route. than performed. Schull suggests that Van
69 Brusati 1995, p. 55, 76-77. Hoogstraten may have written this play in
33 70 The reference is to De Bisschop’s Korte collaboration with Willem van Blijenberg,
34 Aantekeningen aangaande de Naamen, mani- Schull 1833, p. 68.
35 eren van Werken en levenstijd der Italiaansche 85 Tadema 2004.
Schilders, Beeldhouwers en Architecten, written 86 De Vries 1998.
36 in the late 1640s and early 1650s, two manu- 87 Cf. Konst 1995, p. 103-116.
37 scripts of which have been handed down, the 88 Van Blijenberg’s poem in praise of the
38 oldest one in the Fondation Custodia, Paris, Roomsche Paulina refers to ‘paintings that
and a more recent one in the Rijksmuseum; speak’, and J. Teerlinck calls plays ­‘levende
39 see Van Gelder 1971. tafreelen’, see Van Hoogstraten 1650,
40 71 Thissen 1994, p. 65; cf. Schillemans 1991. unpaginated.
41 72 There are references to the association with 89 ‘[W]aar door hy by-na tot den hooghsten
the Vauxhall Society on p. 207 of the Inl., trap der wel-sprekentheyt gerocht is, en le­
42 to the Royal Society on p. 188; cf. Thissen vendigh alle verstanden der menschen, drif­
43 1994, pp. 91-92; Brusati 1995, pp. 91-94. ten, gebreken, en middelen om die te beteren
44
45
364          note s to chap te r i
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 364 10-10-2008 16:24:53

 heeft kunnen aanwijsen’; Van Hoogstraten straten and Van Mander in several pan- 1
1650, unpaginated, fol. no. *4, verso. egyrics by Pieter Godewijck (from 1652) to 2
90 Quoted in Roscam Abbing 1993, p. 21. Hoogstraten’s Goude schalmei, Brusati 1995,
91 ‘[I]n ernst van onzichtbare dingen te han- p. 78. In the Inl. (p. 22), Van Hoogstraten 3
delen spaeren wy voor onze Onzichtbaere quotes from Van Mander as his great inspi- 4
Werelt’, Inl. p. 86. ration (he explains that he is quoting from 5
92 That the Onzichtbare Wereld was a philo- his work because of ‘de loflijcke gedachtenis
sophical work is suggested as a plausible van onzen Vermander, wiens voorgang ons 6
possibility by Czech 2002, pp. 74-78; Horn tot dit werk heeft aengeport’). For Vermey- 7
2000 shares this opinion, p. 412. en’s list of theorists, see Czech 2002, p. 123. 8
93 ‘[M]ijn voornemen is niet van de Schilders, 108 ‘[D]at de Schilderkonst, by de meeste men-
maer van de Schilderkonst, te handelen; schen, als een andere gemeene konst of 9
een ander, die beter tijdt heeft, mag haere handwerk is geacht geworden: en hier op is 10
leevens beschrijven, en Karel Vermander gevolgt, dat’er duizenden aen de konst geval- 11
vervolgen’, Inl. p. 257. len of gevoert zijn, zonder de zwaerigheden,
94 Inl. p. 86; Roscam Abbing 1993, p. 76, 80- die er in steeken, eens te overweegen, jae 12
1. min noch meer, dan of zy een Schoenmae­ 13
95 Zuccari 1607. kers ambacht hadden by der hand genomen: 14
96 ‘Maer wat nutticheit het staedich beyveren zonder eens te weeten dat deeze konst de
van deurgaens wel te doen, inbrengt, zal in geheele “Zichtbaere Wereld” behelsde; en 15
’t laetste hoofdeel van dit boek, en elders dat’er naulijx eenige konst of weetenschap 16
breeder, vervolgt worden’, Inl. p. 18. is, daer een Schilder onkundig in behoorde 17
97 Cf. below, chapters VI and IV. te zijn’, Inl., ‘Aen den Lezer’, unpaginated.
98 Czech 2002, p. 76. 109 On the importance of epideictic rhetoric, 18
99 A second edition appeared in Rotterdam as which was dominant in the early modern 19
early as 1675: Justus Lipsius van de stantvastig- period, see Vickers 1989, pp. 53-54, p. 61. 20
heid, by’t samenspraeke verdeelt in twee boeken, 110 Ellenius 1960, p. 72-73; Gombrich 1957.
waer in byzonderlijk over d’algemeene tijdelijke 111 Of his nine chapters he says: ‘dat is, dat wy 21
zwarigheden gehandelt word. Nieuwelijks uit de leerlingen als met der hand in de Schoole 22
het Latijn vertaelt door F.v.H. geleiden, die wy in negen Leerwinkels ver- 23
100 Zijlmans 1999, p. 151. deelt hebben, en wy wijzen hen dan aen ...
101 See Miedema 1973, p. 306, p. 351. Van in wat deelen der konst zy zig traps gewijs 24
Mander refers to Coornhert in the Grondt hebben te oeffenen’, Inl., ‘Aen den lezer’, 25
I,15, fol. 2r. unpaginated, p.** 3. Lorenzo de Medici’s 26
102 Thus, for classical Stoicism Van Hoogstraten Giardino di San Marco was the basis for
quotes from major writings by Seneca: De Vasari’s Accademia del Disegno and Fed- 27
brevitate vitae, Apocolocyntosis, De beneficiis, erico Zuccari’s Accademia di San Luca; see 28
De tranquillitate animi, Letters to Lucillus. e.g. Barzman 1989. 29
Invoking authors such as Seneca, Cicero, 112 Pevsner 1973, p. 130; on the confraternity
Marcus Aurelius and ‘the Stoics’, he urges in The Hague, see Roekel, Knolle & Van 30
aspiring painters to practise virtues such as Delft 1982, De Groot 1975. 31
patience and moderation, cf. Inl. p. 71, 90, 113 ‘[D]e Schilderkonst niet simpelijk oeffent, 32
111, 199, 200, 315, 317. Houbraken’s use of maer met ordre en toeverzicht te werk gaet’,
Stoic ideas is particularly clear in his many Inl. p. 256. The rhetorical basis for these 33
borrowings from Gracián. ‘school lessons’ has been studied most no- 34
103 See e.g. Bakker 2004, esp. pp. 214-19. tably by Czech 2002, pp. 208-209, pp. 222- 35
104 It was ‘voorwaer een verdrietigh ongeluk, na 25.
sijn meyning deughdelijk te leven, en doch 114 ‘Zoo komt dan ook onze Inleiding zeer 36
voor ondeugende van een yegelijk gehouden wel te pas voor alle liefhebbers van de 37
te worden’; ‘dat hy de wijsheydt zelfs niet Schilderkonst, schoon zy in de zelve oner- 38
begeerde, indien hy de zelve in de Kasse vaere zijn, om in’t koopen van Konststukken
sijns vernufts sonder uytstraling behouden niet bedrogen te worden, want zy zullen die 39
moste’, EJ, p. 1. Cf. Saunders 1955, pp. 81- waerdeeren nae de maete der deugden, die 40
83. in de zelve zijn waergenomen’, Inl., ‘Aen 41
105 Inl. p. 224. den Lezer’, unpaginated.
106 Thissen 1994, Brusati 1995. 115 The address is to ‘alle die deeze edele, vrye, 42
107 Comparisons are drawn between Van Hoog- en hooge Konst oeffenen, of met yver zoeken 43
44
45
n o t e s t o c hap t e r i           365
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 365 10-10-2008 16:24:53

1 te leeren, of anders eenigzins beminnen’; cf. Aretino, De Ville’s T’samen-spreekinghe and
2 Czech 2002, p. 158. De Lairesse’s Teekenkonst.
116 ‘Niet dat ik zeggen wil, dat deeze mijne 124 Goeree 1697, p. 65; Lairesse 1701, p. 21;
3 Inleiding allen Liefhebbers de oogen zoo Houbraken 1718-1721, II p. 122; Weyer-
4 zal openen, dat zy zelfs strax van de kunst man 1769, IV p. 48; cf. Broos 1990, p. 149.
5 zullen kunnen oordelen: dat zy verre; maer Czech has researched the degree to which
zy zullen uit ons werk gemakkelijk kun- the Inleyding actually reached its intended
6 nen begrijpen, waer van dat men oordelen readership by looking at the edition, price
7 moet, en dan zullen zy, met behulp van een and sales points, as well as listings in archives
8 ervaren Schilder, de deugden en feilen, die and other texts; see Czech 2002, pp. 111-22.
in eenig werk zijn, klaer en onderscheidelijk Although the Inleyding appears in six cata-
9 kunnen naspeuren’, Inl., ‘Aen den Lezer’, logues of bookshops in the Dutch Republic,
10 unpaginated. the only probate inventories in which it is
11 117 ‘Schrijvers, die de pinseelen niet gevoert listed are those of Cornelis Dusart (1660-
hebben’, Inl. pp. 2-3. 1704) and Jacob Molaert (1649-1727), see
12 118 ‘Mai è stato alcuno tra gli antichi o mod- Czech 2002, pp. 119-21. This information
13 erni, ch’abbia scritto o trattato di quest’arte tells us little or nothing about the degree to
14 lodevolmente, che non sia stato anco eccel- which painters were familiar with the book;
ente in esercitarla’, Lomazzo, Idea, cap. IV; there is not a single reference to the texts
15 ed. Barocchi, Scritti p. 34. of Angel or Goeree, for instance, Junius is
16 119 ‘[E] quelli, che non possono, che ne sia la mentioned only four times, and it is ques-
17 ragione, attualmente la pittura esercitare, tionable whether the artists’ inventories that
non lascino almeno, come cosa bellissima have been handed down accurately reflect
18 l’amarla, e con l’animo (il che ciascuno poter the dissemination of these books.
19 di fare) pittori immortali divengano’, Borghi- 125 Inl. p. 11, 12, 95, 181. For instance, Van
20 ni 1584, p. 444; cf. Junius: ‘dat Plinius en an- Hoogstraten’s discussion with Fabritius,
dere oude autheuren den naem konstenaer who believes that a painter must love his
21 niet alleen den genen toeschrijven die de craft (11), Furnerius’s comment on the im-
22 hand selver aen’t werk slaen, maer dat sy portance of a knowledge of history (p. 95),
23 onder dien naem ook sodaenighe Konst­ and Fabritius’s views on the selection of the
lievende mannen vervatten die met een noblest elements of nature (p. 181), are all
24 seldsame en wel-gheoeffende verbeeldens recurrent topoi from rhetoric and poetics.
25 kracht d’uytnemende wercken van groote 126 Cf. Schatborn 1985, p. 5.
26 Meesters beschouwen, en met een onbe­ 127 For the relationship between the Inleyding
drieghelicke gauwigheyd den gheest die in and Rembrandt’s studio, see Van de Weter-
27 dese wercken speelt uyt haere maniere van ing 1997, e.g. pp. 179-190; Van de Wetering
28 doen vaeardighlick onderscheyden’, Junius, 1991, Schatborn 1985, Golahny 1984, pp.
29 SKDO pp. 62-63. 59-65 and 234-243, Weststeijn 2005.
120 Miedema has described Van Mander’s 128 Inl. p. 2.
30 Grondt as a text that can be read on three 129 In 1649 a Latin De pictura was published in
31 levels, each appealing to a different reader- Amsterdam, in Johannes de Laet’s edition of
32 ship; cf. Miedema 1993. Vitruvius’ De Architectura, with commen-
121 Varchi wrote on both painting and poetry, as tary by Philander, Barbaro, Salmacus, Wot-
33 did Vossius; Lodovico Dolce wrote not only ton, Demontiosius and Gauricus; cf. Von
34 a dialogue on the art of painting, but also Schlosser 1924, p. 260.
35 a handbook for courtiers; Junius, Goeree, 130 ‘[G]rooten vlijt’, Inl. p. 2.
Gauricus and Alberti wrote on a wide range 131 On Vos, see Weber 1991; cf. the eulo-
36 of other social and scientific subjects. gies of Thomas Asselijn, Broederschap der
37 122 De Mambro Santos 1998 uses this term, de- Schilderkunst (1654); Adriaen van de Venne,
38 rived from Guazzo’s La civil conversazione, as Zeevsche mey-clacht. ofte schyn-kycker (1623);
the central characterization of Van Mander’s Werner van der Valckert, Lof-dicht ter eeren
39 art theory. Cf. Van de Wetering 2001a, pp. Sint Lucas (1618).
40 27-32, and Van de Wetering 1999, pp. 23- 132 For a survey of the non-theoretical or bio-
41 26. graphical literature on the art of painting,
123 This relates to texts as diverse as Gauricus’ see Porteman 1984; specifically on poems
42 De sculptura, De Holanda’s Diálogos em Roma, inspired by paintings, see Emmens 1981.
43 Carducho’s Diálogos de la Pintura, Dolce’s 133 The largest (though not exhaustive) survey
44
45
366          note s to chap te r i
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 366 09-10-2008 17:01:06

 of the Dutch literature of art is to be found in Groot schilderboeck was also translated into 1
De Pauw-De Veen 1969, pp. XVII- XXII. Latin; see De Lairesse, De Lairesse & 2
134 On Angel, see Sluijter 2000c and Miedema Schenk 1702.
1973-1975; on De Bie, see Schuckman 1984 150 Lampsonius 2001, p. 20. Lampsonius writes 3
and Buitendijk 1942, on De Lairesse, see that he has at his disposal Pliny, Vitruvius, 4
Dolders 1985 and most recently De Vries Vasari, Dürer, Vesalius, Varchi, Philander’s 5
1998 and 2002. comments on Vitruvius, Cousin, Alberti
135 Taylor 2000, p. 146. and Gauricus, idem p. 60. Furthermore, in 6
136 De Ville adopts a point of view opposing the the last sentence of his Vita, Lampsonius 7
Caravaggists; see Emmens 1979, pp. 78-79. refers to Pamphilius, Alberti, Dürer and 8
137 Junius 1638, ‘epistle dedicatory’. Gauricus.
138 See Ellenius 1960, p. 42. 151 Ridolfi is mentioned twice in the list of 9
139 The 1651 edition of Da Vinci’s Trattato con- names drawn up by De Bisschop (n.d.) and 10
tains a long list of art theorists, including the anonymous Tweederley Naem-Lyst der 11
Junius and Van Mander. Italiaensche Constenaers, Schilders, Beeldt-hou-
140 Van Mander has ‘meerder kracht om den geest wers, Bouw-meesters, Plaetsnyders en anderen, 12
op te trekken, dan te onderwijzen’, Inl. p. 2. 1671. Ridolfi devotes the first volume of the 13
141 Kwakkelstein 1998, p. 25. first edition of his Maraviglie dell’arte (1648) 14
142 Cf. Weststeijn 2008. to the Dutch collectors Johan and Gerard
143 Nativel’s commentary on the first part of Rijnst. This text alludes to a multiplicity 15
Junius’s book mentions numerous authors: of other sources, such as Lomazzo, Dolce, 16
Lomazzo, Alberti, Gauricus, Leonardo da Vasari, Borghini, Baglione and Zuccari; cf. 17
Vinci, Varchi, Dolce, Borghini, Romano Al- Ridolfi 1648, e.g. p. 348.
berti and Comanini; see Nativel 1996, pp. 152 For ten borrowings from Cartari in the 18
421-23, 434, 461, 470, 575. Inleyding, see Czech 2002, vol. II, p. 95. 19
144 Jansen 1995, p. 22. Michelangelo’s poetry is quoted in the Inl., 20
145 Rhetoric, poetics and art theory have scarce- on pp. 296-97, 361.
ly been studied in their mutual relationships; 153 The trattato is mentioned in the anonymous 21
cf. the compilation Renaissance-rhetorik, Plett Naemlyst der schilders and by Goeree and 22
1993; also Konst 1995, Spies 1993, Nativel Houbraken. Houbraken refers to Lomazzo, 23
1991 and Kibedi Varga 1987. Baglione, Félibien, De Piles, Le Conte and
146 It was Della Fonte’s De poetice (c.1492). Sandrart, cf. Horn 2000, p. 81. 24
147 Spies 1993, p. 13. A real treatise on poetics 154 See Van Son 1993. 25
is Rodenburgh’s Eglentier poetens borst-wering 155 ‘Italien in Vrankrijk verplaatst schijnt’, Inl. 26
(1619), which is based on Sidney’s Apology for p. 330; according to Goeree, France was a
Poetry (ed. 1595) and Thomas Wilson’s Arte more popular destination than Rome in his 27
of Rhetorique (1st ed 1553). Vossius wrote a day, Goeree, SK pp. 106-7. 28
number of texts on poetics, the best known 156 A single volume was published in Amster- 29
of which is De artis poeticae natura ac consti- dam in 1722 containing C.A. du Fresnoy, De
tutione liber (1647). Vondel’s Aenleidinge ter schilderkonst; idem, Konstwoorden of spreek- 30
Nederduitsche dichtkunste (1650) should also wyzen van de schilderkonst, and Roger de 31
be mentioned. Piles, Zamenspraak over ’t coloriet, all trans- 32
148 Von Sandrart lived in Rome from 1629 to lated by J. Verhoek.
approximately 1634, working for the Car- 157 Mattheus Vermeyen and Houbraken refer 33
avaggio collector Giustiniani and the art to Félibien; see Czech 2002, p. 123, Horn 34
connoisseur Michel LeBlon; he also worked 2000, p. 81. De Lairesse refers to a number 35
for the Genoan dealers who purchased work of French authors for the sculptor; De
by artists including Rubens and Van Dyck. Lairesse, GS II, p. 226. 36
From 1637 to 1645, Von Sandrart lived in 158 See Van Son 1993. De Piles was held as a 37
Amsterdam. Van Hoogstraten attended political prisoner in the Dutch Republic 38
lessons in Rembrandt’s studio in 1642 or from 1696 to 1697, and wrote his Abrégé de
1643. la vie des peintres (Paris 1699) during his time 39
149 E.g. Alberti’s De pictura, Gauricus’s De sculp- in captivity. 40
tura, Junius’s De pictura veterum, Vossius’s 159 Vasari and Guicciardini commend Dutch 41
‘De graphice’ and Du Fresnoy’s De arte painters for travelling to Italy. Guicciar-
graphica. Von Sandrart also published his dini writes: ‘I quali dipintori, architettori, e 42
Academia todesca in Latin, and De Lairesse’s scultori mentionati sono stati quasi tutti in 43
44
45
n o t e s t o c hap t e r i           367
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 367 09-10-2008 17:01:06

1 Italia... onde adempiuto il desiderio loro, omstandicheden eygen (decus) zijn? of de
2 ritornano il più delle volte alla patria con schicking (dispositio) geestig is; en eyndelijk,
esperienza, con facultà, en con honore’, De- of al deze deugden deur de gratiën (gratia)
3 scrittione di tutti i paesi bassi (Antwerp 1567, verbonden zijn?’, Inl. p. 319.
4 p. 147), quoted in Torresan 1981, p. 99. 169 The parts referred to most frequently are
5 160 Baldinucci 1974, vol. V, p. 307. inventio, dispositio, disegno and colorito, cf. El-
161 ‘Want schoon zy de konst by avontuuren in’t lenius 1960, pp. 60-70, 147-196.
6 geheel beter verstaen mochten, dan wy, zoo 170 On Cicero see Sloane 2001, p. 390. ‘De
7 zal’t henlieden juist niet gelust hebben, de deelen van eens Reedeners plight zijn vier:
8 zelve zoodanig in leeden te verdeelen, dat zy Bewijsredenen vinden, de ghevondene
ze bequaemlijk aen een ander kunnen over- schikken, de gheschikte opproncken, en de
9 leeren’; ‘Aen de Lezer’, unpaginated. ghepronkte uitspreeken. En hier uit zijn’er
10 162 This author links Euterpe to Correggio, for even zo veel deelen der Redenrijk-konst;
11 instance, and the other Muses to different Vinding, Schikking, Bewoording en Uit-
artists; see Sohm 2001, p. 139. spreeking’, Vossius 1648, pp. 2-3.
12 163 Cf. Czech 2002, pp. 306-314. 171 Vossius 1690, § 24, pp. 71-72.
13 164 Cf. Brusati 1995, p. 317 n. 40, and Hoog- 172 Czech provided a different classification,
14 straten 2006, p. 42-43 for a comparison of roughly as follows: 1 proemium/exhortatio;
the chapter divisions used by Van Mander 2-4 inventio; 5 dispositio; 6-7 elocutio; 8
15 and Van Hoogstraten, respectively. ethos; see Czech 2002, p. 224.
16 165 Inl. p. 278. 173 As Lomazzo writes, ‘ne’l’istesso modo, et
17 166 Inl. p. 345; see below, pp. 91-95. ordine, con che sono state da essa natura
167 Van Hoogstraten shares this aim of dividing prodotte’; Lomazzo 1584, p. 13. Van Hoog-
18 up his treatise according to a hierarchy of straten too describes this, in his passage on
19 material for didactic reasons with Willem the ‘Origins, rise and fall’ of painting; he
20 Goeree, who states in his Schilderkonst that suggests, for instance, that working with
he intends to present each lesson in stages, broken colours was Apollodorus’s ‘inven-
21 so that skills are built up gradually: ‘in alle tion’, Inl. p. 223.
22 onse onderwijsingen, soodanigh van trap 174 De Geest 1702.
23 tot trap voort te gaen, dat de gedachten der 175 Inl. p. 355.
Leerlingen door een vervolgh van aen een 176 Czech 2002, p. 105. For the rhetorical roots
24 hangende regulen, niet teffens overvallen, of Junius’s didactics of painting, see Nativel
25 maer allenghskens bemachtight mochten 1987.
26 worden’, Goeree, SK p. 84. Angel distin- 177 Wright 1984, p. 69.
guishes between the following virtutes: ‘een 178 Inl. p 245; Pliny, Naturalis Historia xxv,v,16.
27 ghesont Oordeel: Een seeckere en ghewisse Light and shade were discovered after this
28 Teycken-handt: Een vloeyende Gheest om (Van Hoogstraten notes that the Greeks ini-
29 eygentlick te Ordineeren. Het gheestige tially made monochrome paintings, Inl. p.
Bedencken der aenghename Rijckelijckheyt: 247) and introduced colour later, cf. Wright
30 Het wel scicken der Daghen en Schaduwen, 1984, p. 65.
31 by een goede waerneminghe der eyghen 179 Possevino writes: ‘as Aristotle says, first, the
32 natuerlicke dinghen: Een wel-gheoeffent contours of things are indicated with lines,
Verstant in de Perspectijven ... kennise der then the things acquire colour, softness and
33 Hystorien’, besides which he mentions hardness, in accordance with the painter’s
34 anatomy, colouring, rendering of textures task, which corresponds to nature’s own task
35 and brushwork, Angel, Lof p. 34. of creation and preservation’, Tractatio de
168 His wording here clearly reflects traditional Poësi et Pictura (Rome 1593), ed. Barocchi,
36 concepts: ‘let eerst wel, of’er beminnens Scritti p. 42.
37 waerdige deugden (virtutes) in zijn; of de 180 ‘Conciò sia cosa chi’io abbia sempre i pri-
38 zaek, die verbeelt wort, wel zoo waerdighen mi precetti ò cercato di inuestigare in che
inhout (inventio) begrijpt, als van Clio vereyst modo la natura procede in essa et in che io
39 wort; of de proportie (proportio) ook zuiver­ mi possa appessare a essa’, Ghiberti 1974,
40 lijk is waergenomem [sic]; of de kolorijten p. 53. Van Hoogstraten refers to Ghiberti’s
41 en schaduwen (colores) met de lessen van (unpublished) writings, Inl. p. 1.
Terpsichore en Melpomene overeenkomen: of 181 Goeree, SK p. 20; ‘de konst is in de natuer
42 de doeningen en lijdingen (actiones et pas- ingedoopt, als gy die daer uit zult getrokken
43 siones) ook haere rechte rol speelen? of de hebben, zult gy veele dwaelingen in uw werk
44
45
368          note s to chap te r i
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 368 09-10-2008 17:01:06

 vermijden’, Inl. p. 50. Cf. Goeree, MK p. halven weege langs struikelen, en verdoolt 1
295: ‘dat de Schilder-Konst in geen ding van loopen, te geraeken’, Inl. p. 2. 2
het Leven behoefd af te wijken; Gelijk ook 203 Van Mander, Grondt VII,61, f. 34r. Cf. Jun-
het Leven haar in geen ding sal verlegen la­ ius on ‘vera virtutis via’ in De pictura veterum 3
ten: Want het gaat vast en seker, dat al wie de I,1, ed. Nativel 1996, p. 125. 4
Konst-Regelen geern in de Verw-Ketel van 204 ‘[D]at den selvighen wegh [voor de begin- 5
de Natuur wil indoopen, die salse selden an- ner] slecht [d.i. eenvoudig] ende recht sy ...
ders dan merkelijk verbeterd, daar wederom datter eenen sekeren goeden ende bequa- 6
uyt trekken’. Elsewhere, Goeree writes: ‘een men wegh is, waer de Nature selver van selfs 7
schilder magh hem oit laten voorstaan dat- vele dinghen sonder leeringhe moet ver- 8
ter wetten of regels in de natuur of in ’t le­ven richten’, Junius, SKDO p. 9; TPA p. 11.
sijn, die in haar selven onvoegsaam, lastig of 205 Miedema 1973, pp. 324-325, and Czech 9
moyelijk zijn ... Maar hy moet de wetten 2002, p. 314. 10
van’t leven soo aanmerken, datse enkel en 206 Miedema 1973, p. 306, p. 351. 11
hem alleen tot voordeel van sijn konst, soo 207 The important point here being not to un-
alsse zijn, gestelt zijn’, Goeree, MK p. 15. dermine the dignity of art: ‘De Konst klimt 12
182 ‘[D]e dingen, eeven alsze zijn, nae te boot- tot hoogen prijs en achting, door de onder- 13
sen’, Inl. p. 36. linge heusheit der oeffenaers en kenders’, 14
183 Inl. p. 26. Inl. p. 318, marginal note.
184 Quintilian, Inst.orat. 1, 1, 21-22. 208 Inl. pp. 201-6. 15
185 Alberti’s classification, which ends with the 209 Cf. the following exhortations to young 16
statement that painters must cultivate good painters: ‘dat gy met gunst en eerbiedicheit 17
morals, follows Quintilian; see Wright 1984, van een anders werk oordeelt’, Inl. p. 317;
pp. 56, 57, 59. ‘de Konst klimt tot hoogen prijs en achting, 18
186 Quintilian, Inst.orat. 12, 10, 4-6. door de onderlinge heusheit der oeffenaers 19
187 Inl. p. 75. en kenders’, Inl. p. 318 (marginal note); ‘van 20
188 Barasch 1985, p. 341. zijn eygen konst vermetelijk te snorken, past
189 ‘L’arte non è nata da un solo, ma da molti, geen edel gemoed’, Inl. p. 319; ‘het oor- 21
& in lunghezza di tempo’, Agucchi (Trattato deel vanvreemden, verstandigen, en dom- 22
della pittura, 1607-1615, p. 15), quoted in mekrachten, van nijdigen, gunstelingen, en 23
Muller 1982, p. 234. onpartijdigen ontwaeckt den geest’, Inl. p.
190 Inl. p. 247, 255. 320. 24
191 Aristotle, Metaphysica 980a-981b; cf. Wright 210 Inl. p. 345. 25
1984, p. 70. 211 ‘[S]iccome avessi a studiare in teologia o 26
192 On the figure of Hermathena, see DaCosta filosofia’, Cennini 1943, p. 34.
Kaufmann 1982 and Lee 1996. 212 Cf. Czech 2002, p. 199. 27
193 De vita libri tres (Basel 1529, reprinted Paris 213 He refers to ‘de oeffening der zedige deugt’ 28
1612, book I); quoted in Von Gosen 1933, p. as ‘d’oprechte en waere uitspanning des 29
9, p. 198. Schildergeests’, Inl. p. 213, and admonishes
194 Inl. p. 5. Cf. Von Gosen 1933, p. 198. the painter to ‘voor eerst zijn goede for­ 30
195 ‘[N]egen meestressen, die zelf van outs over tuine in zijn eygen verdiensten, dat is, in de 31
al de planeten, starren hemel, en der zelven deugt en in d’aengenaemheyt van zijn werk 32
maetgangen gestelt zijn’, Inl. p. 5. zoeken’, Inl. p. 310.
196 Cf. Czech 2002, pp. 311-313. 214 ‘Gy zult ook, ô Schilderjeugt, de werken uws 33
197 King 1988. leermeesters behoorlijk in waerden houden 34
198 Inl., unpaginated. ... En zegt met Alexander: Mijn vader gaf my 35
199 ‘[N]a het kluwen van Theseus, zeeghaftig in het leven, maer van dezen heb ik het wel le­
den doolhof deser werelt, [te] mogen keren’, ven door Godts genade geleert’, Inl. p. 319. 36
EJ p. 2. 215 When Lomazzo discusses chiaroscuro in his 37
200 ‘Ars est potestas via, id est ordine, efficiens’, Trattato, for instance, he starts with an ex- 38
Quintilian, Inst. orat. 2, 17, 41. For this ob- position on the origin of visible light from
servation by Cleanthes, see Nativel 1996, p. divine light; cf. Barasch 1985, p. 285. 39
441, Borinski 1914 I, p. 30. 216 See below, chapter II, pp. 95-99. 40
201 Seneca, Epistulae 75 and 94, 50, cf. Papy 217 While Lomazzo’s temple has seven pillars, 41
2001/2002. Van Hoogstraten distinguishes nine ‘steps’
202 It shows ‘wat weg men zal inslaen, om’t or ‘rooms of learning’ in a hierarchical ar- 42
einde der loopbaene, daer zoo veele ten rangement. Lomazzo bases himself in turn 43
44
45
n o t e s t o c hap t e r i           369
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 369 09-10-2008 17:01:06

1 on Camillo’s Idea del teatro, which has seven koomen, alze in een gemeene Taal, kort
2 entrances; Ackerman 1964, p. 79, p. 193. en klaar, en zonder opgepoetste reden
218 In a letter dated 31 May 1638 from Grotius worden voorgesteld’, Goeree, TK, ed. 1697,
3 to Vossius that was first printed in the Dutch ‘Voorrede’, unpaginated.
4 edition of the Schilderkonst: ‘plane simile 228 ‘Ik hebbe mijne meyning met oude en
5 mihi videtur opus tuum illis imaginibus quae nieuwe schrijvers vermengt, en’t geen ik
ex lapillis diversicoloribus compagnatis fiunt te Hoof zelfs verstaen hebbe daer in ge-
6 ... Delectat varietas, multoque magis ex ista schikt, en soo ik een yegelijk het sijne zoude
7 varietate consurgens pulchra species’, see wederom geven, soo moet ik bekennen, dat
8 Aldrich 1991, p. lii.; Nativel 1996, p. 108. het mijne daer soo onder gewart is, dat ik
219 Cf. Summers 1981, p. 92; Vickers 1999, p. het noch uyt malkanderen zoude haspelen
9 45. of spinnen konnen. Het waer ook verlooren
10 220 Van Hoogstraten’s erudition and the fact arbeydt, en datmen gelooven zoude dat ik
11 that his knowledge of the classics was not yets uyt my selfs hadt uyt gevonden, acht ik
simply copied from Junius is clear inter alia soo weynig, dat eer ik die moeylijke vraeg
12 from his correspondence with Oudaen; see wil beantwoorden, ik veel liever bekenne,
13 Roscam Abbing 1993, pp. 78-80. dat de goede dingen die in dit stukje worden
14 221 ‘[D]aer is niets in deeze laetste eeuw dat ge- gevonden gestoolen zijn, de middelmatige
heelijk nieuw is’, Inl. p. 135. uyt goede originalen qualijk gekopieert, en
15 222 ‘[A]ls in een nieuw Grieken’, Inl. p. 330. de slechtige die meest al de blaren vullen uyt
16 223 ‘[T]rotse Sangh-heldinne! die Hollandt in mijn eygen hooft voort komen’, EJ, p. 89.
17 Latium herstelt ... span gelijker hant aan, en 229 Inl. p. 346.
laat Batoos Landt-volk haar eygen Taal-ge- 230 For the relationship between painting and
18 dichten hooren: en recht geheugh-merken dialectics, see Baxandall 2004, pp. 69-82,
19 onse Staat te eeren’, Van Hoogstraten 1650, Hundemer 1997, pp. 117-121 and Mack
20 unpaginated, no. *4. Bato is the mythical 1992; for dialectics and early modern ra-
forefather of the Batavians – the Dutch. tionalism in general, see Mack 1993.
21 224 ‘[D]at het den Nederlantsche vernuften 231 Wickenden 1993, p. 58.
22 niet ontbreekt aen sieraden ... en zy in 232 Emmens 1979, passim.
23 welsprekentheit noch voor Grieken, noch 233 ‘[C]he la pittura sia arte, si pruova de la defi-
Latynen, noch Italianen, noch Françoisen, nizione de issa arte, la quale in somma non è
24 welke laetste zich die kunst boven anderen altro ch’una ragione retta e regolata de le cose che
25 toeeigenen, behoeven te wyken’, Van Hoog- si hanno da fare. Si pruova anco perché tutte
26 straten 1725, p. 146. le cose naturali sono la regola e la misura
225 Cf. Brusati 1995, p. 221. Van Mander too de la maggior parte de le scienze et arti del
27 states that he has written his Grondt partly mondo, essendo che sono fatte da Dio con
28 because there is nothing in Dutch about the somma sapienza ... onde ne seguira chiara-
29 training of painters, Grondt II,8, f. 9r, see mente che la pittura è arte, perché piglia per
Miedema 1973, p. 429. On konstwoorden or sua regola esse cose naturali; et è imitatrice
30 ‘artistic terms’, see also Goeree, TK p. (a)15, e come a dire simia de l’istessa natura’, Lo-
31 and De Lairesse, GS I, unpaginated, p. **3. mazzo, Trattato (1584), ed. Barocchi, Scritti
32 De Bie excuses himself for using a foreign p. 957 (italics mine). Thus, Leonardo de-
vocabulary in connection with painting, De scribes the existence of ‘rules of art’, which
33 Bie, Cabinet p. 10. Angel urges readers not are based on experience, as follows: ‘Queste
34 to pay attention to the purity of his language, regole fanno che tu possiedi uno libero e
35 ‘als wel op de ghebruyckelicke woorden die bono giuditio jnperochè’ ‘l bono givditio
de Schilders onder den anderen ghebruy- nascie dal bene intêdere, e ‘le bee intêdere
36 cken’, Angel, Lof, unpaginated, *2. deriua da ragione tratta da bone regole e le
37 226 Inl. p. 2, p. 22. Elsewhere he notes that he bone regole sono figliole della bona speriê-
38 writes in ‘Duitsche woorden’, p. 176. De tia: comvne madre di tutte le sciêtie e arti’,
Lairesse too notes that he writes for his Leonardo, Trattato, ed. Richter 1949, I, par.
39 Dutch readers in Nederduits. Lairesse, GS I, 18.
40 unpaginated, **3. 234 ‘[M]en bevind somtijts twee menschen zeer
41 227 Goeree states that ‘niets in onze Moeders schoon en fraey, van de welke d’eene met
Tael geschreven is over de Schilderkunst’, d’andere niets gemeen heeft ... Want de
42 and further holds ‘Dat d’Onderwijzingen konst is in de natuer ingedoopt, als gy die
43 den Jongelingen, dan veel meer te nutte daer uit zult getrokken hebben, zult gy veele
44
45
370          note s to chap te r i
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 370 09-10-2008 17:01:06

 dwaelingen in uw werk vermijden’, Inl. p. 249 De Lairesse, GS II, 11. 1
50. 250 ‘[E]en natuerlijke gunst, welke nootwendig 2
235 ‘[R]egels … ten aenzien van de Schilderkonst’, in alle oeffeningen behoorde te helpen. Dit
Inl. p. 19. punt is soo hoog, dat de onderwijsingen en 3
236 Van Eck & Zwijnenberg 1996, p. 31; for an regelen der kunst ’t selve niet bereyken’, EJ 4
overview of classical views, see Vickers 1898, p. 12. In the Inleyding, grace is defined as 5
pp. 1-82. that which the original possesses and which
237 Seventeenth-century manuals of rhetoric is lost in a copy; a quality that cannot be ob- 6
are therefore primarily didactic; this gen- tained through practice or training, but only 7
re was very widely disseminated and Van through divine intervention, as one of the 8
Hoogstraten will undoubtedly have been ‘Divine gifts that cannot be acquired other
familiar with it. Cf., besides Vossius 1678, than from Heaven’; ‘gratie bestaet in de 9
De spreek-kunst van Artistoteles aen Alexander ontmoeting van al de deelen der Konst’, Inl. 10
de Groote, Leiden 1677, and ‘Van het lacchen’ p. 278, marginal note. On gratie (grace), see 11
en ‘van’t onthouden’ uyt Fabius Quintilianus Monk 1944; Tatarckiewicz 1979, p. 328 ff.,
van de spreekkunstelijke onderwijsing, Leiden Blunt 1980, pp. 86-102. 12
1677. 251 He urged painters to acquire ‘de soet-mon- 13
238 ‘[H]et groote Hof deser werelt’, EJ p. 9. dige wel-spreeckentheyt van Appelles [sic], 14
239 Den volmaaken hooveling (Amsterdam 1675). de welcke soo soet geweest is, dat Alexan-
Van Beverwijck published passages from der daer groot vermaeck in nam, dickmaels 15
Castiglione’s work in Van de uitnementheyt des hem komende besoecken, om met hem in 16
vrouwelicken geslachts (1639); cf. references ghesprek te zijn’, Angel, Lof, p. 56. 17
to Castiglione in Van Mander, Grondt, fol. 252 ‘[D]ewijl een Schilder by de grooten en
14v, § 37, and Junius, SKDO, ‘Voorrede’, wereltwijzen veel verkeeren moet, zoo past 18
unpaginated, p. vi. For the reception of Cas- hem een gespraekzaemheyt met kennis 19
tiglione’s book, see Burke 1995. overgooten’, Inl. p. 106, a paraphrase of Ju- 20
240 Hinz 1992. nius, SKDO p. 235.
241 ‘Een Tonge over-eynde gehouden met een 253 EJ p. 26. 21
handt, beteyckent welsprekentheyt: om dat 254 ‘Maer ach of zy, die meestresse van de wel- 22
welspreken een daet is, en dat de handt tot- sprekentheyt is, mijn stijl begunstichde, en 23
ter daet bequaem is, en oock macht bewijst’, dit boek haren naem waerdich maekte’, Inl.
Van Mander 1604, Van de uitbeeldingen der p. 38. 24
figueren, f. 132v. 255 ‘De Gheslachten der Hoofdt-zaaken zijn 25
242 ‘Onder zoo veel schad’lijke gevaren, die dan dry: Betooghend, Beraadend, en Recht- 26
niet alleen in het Hof, maer ook in gemeene spreekelijk. Betooghend is, waar door men
Burger-bestiering te lijden staen, zich te red- looft oft lastert ... oft van een Persoon, oft 27
den, moet men zich niet na het boose voor- van een daadt, oft van een zaak ... alszo men 28
beelt, maer na een gewissen regel schikken … de welspreekdheit oft het landtbouwen 29
[O]ns voornemen [is] een gewisse regel uyt looft: oft veracht de ondueghdt van een on-
te vinden [to find our way] in den doolhof dankbaar ghemoedt’, Vossius 1648, p. 2, cf. 30
deser werelt’, EJ, p. 2, p. 5. p. 31. 31
243 ‘[D]iegene, van welke wy bemint te worden 256 ‘[D]ewijl ik geen Historie, maer een vrye 32
begeeren, in haar drift en meyningen toe konst ontleede, daer de driftige aenpor-
geven’, EJ p. 9-10. ringen dikwils meerder, dan de simpele en 33
244 ‘De sprake verandert zich veelvoudig na waerachtige regels, gelden’, Inl. p. 4. 34
het onderscheydt der persoonen, maer den 257 Gombrich 1966a, pp. 1-10. 35
spreker moet altijts zich zelfs blijven’, EJ, p. 258 ‘De leeringhe diemen uyt de regulen hae-
46. len moet, valt langh ende verdrietigh; ’t 36
245 ‘[B]uygsaemheyt [om] ...veelerley gestalten onderwijs daerenteghen ’t welck men uyt 37
aen zich te kunnen nemen’, EJ pp. 62-63. d’exempelen treckt is kort en krachtigh’, 38
246 ‘[D]ie vreugdig van gemoedt zijn, willen een Junius, SKDO, p. 86. Here Junius has trans-
andere tael hebben, als die swaermoedig of lated the rhetorical belief ‘longum iter est 39
ernstig zijn’, EJ p. 76-77; cf. Jansen 2001, p. per praecepta, breve et efficax per exempla’, 40
85. and Nativel concludes that in Junius’s the- 41
247 Brusati 1995, pp. 228-232; Brusati 2003. ory, ‘precepts are subordinate to practice’,
248 Van Hoogstraten’s Dutch term for decorum Nativel 1996, p. 59, p. 442. 42
is gelegentheit, Inl. p. 123. 259 ‘De Natuerlijke gave van een bequamen 43
44
45
n o t e s t o c hap t e r i           371
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 371 09-10-2008 17:01:06

1 geest, mach wel geleken worden by een van niemant met dit onderwijs een Schilder
2 vruchtbaren akker: maer het onderwijs is maeken, ten zy hy de hand vlijtich aen’t werk
het zaet, daer de ware vruchten van te ver- sla’, Inl. p. 321.
3 wachten staen’, Inl. p. 15, cf. Seneca, Epis- 270 On the term iudicium (judgement), see
4 tola 38, 2, cf. Nativel 1996, p. 437, p. 440; Jansen 2001, pp. 309-35.
5 ‘De dorre en onvruchtbaere aerde bespot 271 ‘De gewoonte van opletten maekt het oor-
den arbeyt des besten boumans … Een vette deel zeeker, en leent aen het oog een gewisse
6 gront geeft somtijts ook weeligh vruchten, maetstok. ... Zoo zal het oog met’er tijdt
7 schoon niemant de hand daer aen slaet’, Inl een passer verstrekken. Want ik bevinde
8 pp. 16-17. dat de regels en gronden der konst, een
260 Goeree, SK p. 39; cf. ‘gelijk de weelige vernuftich liefhebber voorgeschreven, hem
9 akkers niet en verergerd, datmen ze nu met wel verstandich maken, om van dezelve te
10 het eene, en dan wederom met het andere spreeken; maer dat hy door ongewoonte van
11 zaad bezaije’, p. 41. On this theme, see doen, groote misslagen begaet, en door een
Horowitz 1998. Goeree quotes Cicero in ongeleerder, die door groote oeffening den
12 this connection: ‘Het is het geraadsaamste, passer in ’t oog verkregen heeft, overtrof-
13 zegt Cicero, dat wy de leidinge onser eigene fen word. ... Die zich vlijtich aenwent met
14 nature volgen, en dat wy de betragting der goede opletting veel na’t leven te teikenen,
Konsten t’eenemaal na den regel der nature zal michmael een grootmeester beschamen,
15 richten ... Want dan konnen de Konsten ende natuerlijke eygenschappen der dingen
16 eerst volkomen worden uytgewrocht, wan- nader komen, dan zijn verstand, noch in lan-
17 neerze met alle haren regelen een bequame gen tijd daer nae, zal kunnen begrijpen’, Inl.
natuur ontmoeten’, Goeree, SK p. 38 (italics p. 35.
18 mine). 272 ‘[E]en schilderachtig oog, vaerdiger tot uit-
19 261 ‘[D]e wetenschappen ... teelen onder een beelden, als tot uitspreeken’, Inl. p. 46.
20 ander een zaet der wijsheyt, zoo dat door 273 ‘Want bijna ieder deel der Natuer is be­
de menighte zoo veeler exempelen, in het quaem genoeg om deeze opletting te voeden,
21 voorvallen eener zaek den regel opblikt, en en de scherpte des oogs te wetten’, Inl. p.
22 her verstant machtigh wort van een zake wel 35-36.
23 te oordeelen’, EJ pp. 24-25. 274 ‘[W]elschapentheyt [kan] veelerley ... zijn,
262 ‘Gy meesters zult ook in uwe onderwijzin- en de zelve in de natuer verborgen, ontstelt
24 gen de natuuren uwer Discipelen te gemoet gemeenelijk onze oordeelen ... want men
25 komen’, Inl. p. 21, cf. p. 23, p. 73. bevind somtijts twee menschen zeer schoon
26 263 ‘De onderrichtingen dienen alleen tot leyts- en fraey, van de welke d’eene met d’andere
man, en volbrengen van zich selfs niets’, EJ niets gemeen heeft ... de konst is in de natuer
27 p. 5. ingedoopt, als gy die daer uit zult getrokken
28 264 He states that ‘niemant volkomen verstant hebben, zult gy veele dwaelingen in uw werk
29 uit dit geschrift zal trekken, ten zy hy de vermijden’, Inl. p. 50. ‘Ziet dat gy deze din-
leeringe dezer Konst tot zweetens toe ar- gen, ô Schilderjeugt! in de levende natuer
30 beyde’, Inl. p. 3. waerneemt, en op een aerdige en als onge­
31 265 ‘[D]e Schilderkonst is het vertoonen eygen- dwonge manier leert op’t papier te brengen,
32 er dan het spreeken’, Inl. p. 312; art ‘bestaet zoo zult gy het waere nut van deze kennis
in wel te doen, en niet in wel te zeggen’, Inl. genieten’, Inl. p. 57.
33 p. 22; cf. ‘Pictura ... houd meerder van doen, 275 ‘Noi altri Dipintori habbiamo da parlare con
34 dan van zeggen’, p. 230. le mani’, G.A. Mosini, Diverse figure (Roma
35 266 ‘[M]eesters in de mont’, Inl. p. 18, Inl. p. 3. 1646), ed. Mosini 1966, p 12.
267 Artistic reflections should not be disturbed 276 Miedema 1993, p. 64.
36 by meaningless babbling (‘a inutíl conver- 277 De Mambro Santos 1998.
37 sação dos ociosos’), according to De Holan- 278 ‘Die dit had willen ten argste duiden, zouw
38 da 1984, p. 27. niet veel uitgerecht hebben. En zoo meyn
268 ‘[E]en kostlijke schat ... waer van de bewe­ ik dat zy ook niet en zullen, die my zouden
39 gingen soo teer zijn, dat se niet zonder merk- willen af brengen van dat ik het schilderen
40 lijk gevaer geschieden’, EJ p. 65. van gemelde snorrepijpen en snuysteryen in
41 269 ‘Poëten mogen door denken, maer Schilders de laegste rang stel’, Inl. p. 77.
moeten door doen, Meesters worden. Wy 279 Cf. Michels 1988, p. 66.
42 zullen iemant met hulpe der negen Zuster- 280 EJ p. 2.
43 en wel van de konst leeren spreeken, maer 281 ‘[W]ant schoonze gezegt wort stom te zijn,
44
45
372          note s to chap te r i
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 372 09-10-2008 17:01:07

 zoo spreektze nochtans overvloedich, op 292 ‘Prope autem cum Graphice comparatum 1
een Hieroglyphische wijze’, Inl. p. 346. est, sicut cum Oratoria facultate’, Vossius 2
282 Inl. p. 294. Van Hoogstraten gives a quo- 1690, § 24, pp. 71-72.
tation from Basil which he says describes 293 Aristotle, De anima III, 3, 431a, 16. 3
painting as more powerful in its effect than 294 Vossius derives the title of his text, De graph- 4
eloquence, Inl. p. 349, cf. Goeree, SK pp. ice, from this term; cf. Vossius 1690, §50, 5
29-30, and Paleotti 1960, p. 144 ff., cf. p. 84: ‘Ubi scribere dixit pro pingere, more
Borinski 1965 I, p. 98. Graeco, quibus graphein utrumque notat; 6
283 E.g. his assertion, ‘Dewijl ook de Poëzy met unde pingendi ars iis graphice vocatur’. Cf. 7
de Schilderkonst in veel dingen gelijk loopt, Gauricus: ‘painting and poetry hold graphein 8
zoo zal ’t onze Schilderjeugt geoorloft zijn, in common’, Gauricus 1969, p. 43; Michels
met het stomme penseel, de spreekende 1988, p. 74. 9
penne der dichters te volgen’, Inl. p. 192, cf. 295 Zuccari states that making and speech are 10
‘Overeenkomende met Horatius, den leer- similar activities, since both are informed by 11
meester der Poëzy ... de Schilders, die de an intellectual disegno or design: ‘parlare, e
stomme Poëzy oeffenen’, p. 297. operare tutte le cose, le quali sono però al- 12
284 ‘[D]icemo che, sì ogni libro ordinariamente lumate, e guidate dal concetto del Disegno 13
ha per fine di fare capace colui che legge e Intelletivo, forma singolare dell’ anima, e 14
persuaderlo a qualche cosa, così si può dire virtù che la fà discorrere, e intendere compi-
che le pitture vadano anch’elle all’istesso tamente’, Zuccari 1607 I,XIII, p. 36. 15
fine con quelli che le mirano’, Paleotti 1960, 296 ‘[Drawing] is een Voedster aller Consten 16
p. 144 ff. On the rhetorical significance goedich,/ ... Iae oock d’edel Grammatica 17
of the formula ut pictura poesis, see Trimpi bevroedich,/ Is door haer ghehooght en
1973, esp. p. 3, note 4. ghewassen spoedich,/ Leerend’ haer letters 18
285 ‘Hy maekt zijn toehoorderen verdrietich, en caracten halen’, Van Mander, Grondt 19
die onbepaelt spreekt, en veel te zeggen II,2, fol. 8v. 20
heeft: en hy verblindt de aenschouwers, die 297 ‘[S]ì come le parole, quasi messagiere, por-
te veel teffens te vertoonen heeft’, Inl. p. tano per le orecchie i concetti nostri ad al- 21
190-91. tri, così la pittura rappresenta per gli occhi 22
286 ‘Die Mahler-Kunst, hat auch dißfalls eine le cose da noi significate alla mente altrui; 23
Verwantschaft mit der Red- und Dichtkunst: per lo che da’ Greci il medesimo nome è at-
weil ... auch ihnen, wie den Oratoren und trubuito communemente allo scrittore et al 24
Poeten obliget, zugleich zu unterweisen, zu pittore [i.e. graphice]’, Paleotti, Discorso alle 25
belüstigen und zu bewegen ... die Notturst imagini sacre e profane (Bologna 1582), ed. 26
ihres Beruffs efordert daß sie unsere Herzen Barocchi, Scritti p. 337.
bewegen sollen’, Von Sandrart 1675-1679, 298 See Sörbom 2002, p. 19-28, and Willliams 27
I,1 p. 78. 1997: ‘in the Renaissance ... the function of 28
287 Poesis is ‘Rhetorica met haer Soet-Rijm images is to reinforce the meaning of words’, 29
ghedicht’, De Bie, Cabinet, p. 5, 25. p. 19.
288 Dolce 1557, p. 17r. 299 Inl. p. 219; ‘d’Egyptenaeren, Chinezen, 30
289 Quintilian, Inst. orat. 6, 1, 32-33. Japonders en Mexikanen, hebben hare 31
290 Junius, TPA 104; ‘Want dese Konsten sijn boeken met Zinnebeelden, in plaets van let- 32
eens met malckanderen ... ’t Wordt met ver- teren, geschreven; en deeze wijze van uit-
wonderingh aenghemerckt, dat de Schilder- beelden is met de schilderkonst ook tot ons 33
konst ’t hooft heeft opgehouden, soo lange gekomen’, Inl. p. 90. 34
als het met de welsprekenheyd wel gingh; dat 300 ‘Es redet das Gemähl, und spielet im Ge- 35
dese daerenteghen onder de voet gheraeckt dicht;/ Der Redner und Poet auch Wörter-
is, soo haest als het met de welsprekenheyd Farben spricht’, Von Sandrart 1675-1679, 36
ghedaen was’, Junius, SKDO pp. 96-97; cf. I,1. p. 78. 37
Goeree, SK p. 12. 301 ‘’t Beeldt is een redenaar, (eylaas!) al 38
291 A.S. Piccolomini, Opera (Basel 1571), p. 646, t’onbespraackt’, Camphuysen 1638, p. 190,
quoted in Panofsky 1970, p.16, note 1. Van p. 115. 39
Hoogstraten’s comments on the rise and fall 302 Junius, TPA p. 50; cf. ‘hy is den alder-besten 40
of painting – he refers to the ‘renewal of the Schrijver die sijne vertellinghen met een 41
ages’ (p. 291) and retrieving architecture ziel-roerende kracht der wel sprekenheydt
from its ‘grave’ (p. 126) – belong in the same soo weetet te bekleeden, dat ons de gant- 42
rhetorical framework. sche gheleghenheydt der saecke als in een 43
44
45
n o t e s t o c hap t e r i           373
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 373 09-10-2008 17:01:07

1 Tafereel wordt voor-ghedraeghen’, Junius, servire di qualche utile alla vita, come a cose
2 SKDO p. 42 di speculazione’, Paleotti 1960, p. 385.
303 Jan Vos, Inleiding tot Medea, in Vos 1975, p. 310 ‘[L]la pittura ... depingendo le azzioni
3 354; Inl. p. 349; Horace, Ars poetica 180-82. de’buoni, ci rapresenta talora anco le opere
4 304 Paleotti states that letters correspond less dei cattivi; così ci fa cognoscere quelle che
5 closely than images to the ‘cose naturali’; sono degne di laude e di premio, come
‘che nel delineare una semplice imagine quelle di biasmo e di castigo, e così ... fa
6 molto minore diligenza si richiede, poi che l’uomo savia, prudente e virtuoso’, Zuccari,
7 a questa pare che la natura faccia la strada, L’idea (Torino 1607), quoted in Barocchi,
8 come si vede ne’ specchi e corpi lucidi’, Scritti p. 1046.
Paleotti 1960, p. 144, 366-67, 227; cf. Inl. p. 311 ‘[E]en Reedener [moet] voor al maaken,
9 219. dat Voor-zichtigheydt, Vroomheidt en
10 305 They made rhetoric ‘een koningin der men- Ghoedtwilligheidt in de zelve uitsteeken.
11 schen, wanneerze haer den naem gaven van Want wy ghelooven haar lichtlijk, die en
“Zielroerster”’, Van Hoogstraten 1725, pp. de zaak verstaan en ons wel willen’, Vossius
12 2-3. 1648, p. 5.
13 306 ‘Ché sì come il dipintore et il poeta, due 312 Such speakers are ‘zedig en beleeft ... en als
14 artefici all’oratore sembianti, per diletto di men met hen om gaet, soo blinkt in haer
noi fanno versi et imagini di diverse ma­ gemoedt soo veel aenmoedigheydt, in haer
15 niere: quali orribili, quai piacevoli, quai do- herte soo veel vroomheydt ... dat een yege­
16 lenti e quai lieti; così il buono oratore non lijk zich gelukkig acht welk sijn gansche
17 solamente con le facezie, con gli ornamenti leven in haer geselschap mag door brengen’,
e co’numeri, ad amore, ma ad ira, ad odio EJ p. 68.
18 et and invidia movendo, suol dilettar gli 313 ‘[D]e Menschkunde niet alleen tot de Teyken
19 ascoltanti’, Sperone Speroni, Dialogo della en Schilderkunde van Groot belang is, maar
20 Rhetorica (Venezia 1596), quoted in Baroc- datse sich ook uytstreckt, tot de Welvoeg-
chi, Scritti, pp. 261-62. same Samenleving en dienst der Mensche­
21 307 ‘[S]e leggiamo varii essempi di persone che, lijke behandelinge ... Ja is die Kennis ook
22 avendo letto un solo libro, ancor che a caso, niet noodig in de Dagelykse Ommegang
23 subito da quella lettura hanno mutato in tut- met ons Even-Mensch?’ Goeree, MK un-
to parere; perché non vogliamo persuaderci paginated, fol. *5 verso.
24 che tanto più efficacemente debba ciò rius- 314 On the embedding of art theory in ‘civic hu-
25 cire da una imagine sacra divotamente fatta?’ manism’, see Vickers 1999.
26 Paleotti 1960, cap XXV, p. 390 ff. 315 The words ‘vir bonus dicendi peritus’ are
308 ‘Chi vuol veder quello che puote il fine used by Huygens, Fragment p. 60, in ref-
27 della pittura, quando è pregiata, consideri erence to the introduction to Seneca’s
28 quello che opera l’ arte oratoria nel suo Controversiae; for ‘vir bonus pingendi peri-
29 fine: perché il persuadere ... altro non è che tus’ see Ellenius 1960, p. 77, and DaCosta
svegliere dell’animo tutti quei pensieri che Kaufmann 1993, p. 88.
30 nell’uditore sono contrarii all’ intenzione 316 ‘Sed cupio pictorem ... in primis esse virum
31 del dicitore, e appreso stabilirvi quelli che et bonum, et doctum bonarum artium. ...
32 gli sono a grado. Questo si conosce ad ora Doctum vero pictorem esse opto, quoad eius
ad ora ne’ sacri oratori, per le cui parole a fieri possit, omnibus in artibus liberalibus
33 chi è di vizii maculato caggiono le lagrime ... Proxime non ab re erit, si poëtis atque;
34 sovente, e pentito de’ suoi falli ... purgato e rhetoribus delectabuntur. Nam hi quidem
35 mondo molto divien dissimile da sé stesso ...e multa, cum pictore, habent ornamenta com-
sovente divien l’uomo quasi un altro’ (italics munia’, Alberti 1550, p. 100-101. Cf.: ‘als-
36 mine), Francesco Bocchi, Opera di M. Franc- dan magmen wel op sijn konst vertrouwen,
37 esco Bocchi sopra l’ immagine miracolosa della nochtans nedrig van herten, en gemeen-
38 Santissima Nunziata de Fiorenza (Florence saam van ommegang wesen ... soo moetmen
1592), pp. 61-8; quoted in Barocchi, Scritti tragten zig selven over-al in de gunste der
39 p. 1005. Menschen in te dringen’, Goeree, SK p.
40 309 ‘Delle pitture profane che rappresentano 109.
41 varie cose, come guerre, paesi, edificii, ani- 317 ‘Finalmente il vero pittore dovrebbe es-
mali, arbori, piante e simili ... non si può ne- sere tutto filosofo per poter ben penetrare
42 gare che quasi tutte le cose, naturali et arti- la natura delle cose ... E verebbe egli oltra
43 ficiali, opportunamente dipinte non possino ciò ad esser modesto, umano e circonspetto
44
45
374          note s to chap te r i
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 374 09-10-2008 17:01:07

 in tutte le sue azioni, cosa che anco dalla erature, the globe is a customary symbol 1
filosofia s’impara, sì come sono stati il sag- for the world; thus Ripa’s personification of 2
gio Leonardo, il ginnosofista Buonarotto, il cosmography has two globes, one terrestrial
matematico Mantegna, i due filosofi Rafael- and one celestial; Ripa 1644, p. 64, p. 599. 3
lo e Gaudenzio, et il gran druvido Durero. I 5 ‘De schilderkonst is een wetenschap, om 4
quali non tanto acquistarono lode e fama per alle ideen, ofte denkbeelden, die de gansche 5
l’eccellenza dell’arte, quanto per l’umanità zichtbaere natuer kan geven, te verbeelden:
e dolcezza dei costumi’, Lomazzo 1974, p. en met omtrek en verwe het oog te bedrie- 6
97. gen ... Want een volmaekte Schildery is als 7
318 ‘Die met zijn constich werck, soetelijck een spiegel van de Natuer, die de dingen, die 8
pranghen/ Can d’ooghen der Menschen, dat niet en zijn, doet schijnen te zijn, en op een
uyt de wonste/ Desherten haer ghemoedt geoorlofde vermakelijke en prijslijke wijze 9
daer aen blijft hanghen,/ Die behoorde oock bedriegt’, Inl. pp. 24-25. 10
elcx vrientschap bevanghen/ Met vroom en 6 ‘It is so that those who practise art as no more 11
eerbaer zijn, welck is een Conste/ Boven than a Cobbler’s craft understand nothing
alle Consten, om goede jonste,/ Ghenade beyond their last; but those who understand 12
en vrientschap, nae herten wenschen,/ Ver­ what they make will also become aware that 13
crijghen by Gode end’ alle Menschen./ all other things are also understood by that 14
Onder al die Schilder-const name voeren,/ same mind’, Inl. p. 70, with a marginal note
Behoorde sonderlinghe te regieren/ Die on p. 71: ‘One should become a universal or 15
edel beleeftheyt, die self der Boeren/ Herten general master’(‘Men behoort universeel of 16
dickwils can beweghen, beroeren,/ Met haer algemeen meester te zijn’). 17
redelijcke soete manieren:/ Summa, alle 7 ‘En men moet niet twijfelen, segt G. Vos-
gheschickte, goedertieren’, Van Mander, sius, of de eene wetenschap is tot onderlinge 18
Grondt I,30, f. 3v. hulp voor d’ander, jae zy zijn mank, ten zy 19
319 Van Mander, Grondt I,34, f. 4r; for Titian’s ze met malkander een Rey van kunsten uit- 20
‘noble and pleasant manner’ (‘edel soete maken. Hoe en zoude dan niet aen malkan-
manier van omgangh’), see Het Leven der deren hangen deze onze algemeene weten- 21
moderne, oft dees-tijtsche doorluchtighe Italiaen- schap, van de naebootzing aller zienlijke 22
sche schilders, in Van Mander 1604, f. 177v. dingen? Dewijlze alle op eenderley wijze in’t 23
320 ‘[D]ese Const bestaet in dry qualiteyten van verstant begrepen worden, en d’eene zoo
Edeldom, dat is politicq, naturelijck, ende wel als d’andere in vorm en verwe bestaet. 24
gheestelijck’, De Bie, Cabinet p. 270. Hier en gelt de spreuke der Italianen niet, 25
321 Cf. the lemma ‘ars’ in Sloane 2001, pp. 52- dat die te veel bestaet weynich bevat; want 26
56. de schilderkonst blijft enkel en eenweezich,
322 This problem is addressed in Baxandall schoonze de gansche natuer bespiegelt’, Inl. 27
2004, p. 1. pp. 69-70. Cf. Vossius, Van de kennisse syns 28
selfs (Amsterdam 1654), p. 33. 29
8 Decartes 1992, p. 4.
cha pt er ii 9 See Harrison 2000, p. 274, and Brusati 30
1 Alberti 1996, p. 121, § 53. Cicero, De inven- 1995, p. 219. Brusati says she is focusing on 31
tione, passim. the ‘idiosyncrasies’ of the treatise, and she 32
2 Junius proposes a similar thesis: ‘So is het sees an ‘overarching concern with the illu-
dan blijckelick dat onder’t ghetal van soo sionistic and imitative aspects of pictorial 33
vele ende verscheyden Konsten door de representation’ (p. 222), see further the quo- 34
welcke eenen grooten naem ende een on- tations on pp. 226-227, with the comment 35
sterffelicke beroemtheyt verworven wordt, that evidently ‘it is not the art of antiquity
dese Konste gheen van de geringhste en that provides the rule [of art], but the eye 36
is, dewelcke daer af-beeldet alles watmen itself, trained to observe and represent the 37
onder’t wijde uyt-spansel des Hemels be- variety of nature’s visible riches’. 38
deckt siet’, Junius, SKDO p. 5. 10 ‘Leer vooreerst de rijke natuer volgen, en
3 ‘Dat ik het [boek] ook de Zichtbare Werelt wat’er in is, naebootsen. De Hemel, d’aerde, 39
noeme, is, omdat de Schilderkonst al wat de zee, ’t gedierte, en goede en booze men- 40
zichtbaer is, vertoont’, Inl. p. 4. schen, dienen tot onze oeffening. De vlakke 41
4 The globe is also an attribute of Urania, velden, heuvelen, beeken en geboomten,
who, according to Ripa’s rules, should be verschaffen werx genoeg. De steeden, de 42
depicted with a globe. In the emblem lit- marten, de Kerken, en duizent rijkdommen 43
44
45
no t e s t o c h ap t e r i i           375
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 375 10-10-2008 16:24:53

1 in de Natuer, roepen ons, en zeggen: kom alleen als een Schoenmakers ambacht oef-
2 leergierige, beschouw ons, en volg ons nae. fenen, niets buiten hun leest verstaen: maer
Gy zult in’t vaderlant zoo veel aerdicheit, de geen die verstaen watze maken, zullen
3 zoo veel zoeticheit, en zoo veel waerdicheit ook gewaer worden, dat alle andere din-
4 vinden, dat, als gy ’t eens wel gesmaekt had, gen ook door dat zelve verstant verstaen
5 gy uw leeven te kort zoud keuren, om alles worden’, Inl. p. 70, on p. 71 the note in
uit te beelden. En in deze minste voorwer- the margin, ‘Men behoort universeel of al-
6 pen kan men al de grontregels leeren in’t gemeen meester te zijn’ (‘One should be a
7 werk te stellen, die tot de alderheerlijkste universal or general master’).
8 dingen behooren’, Inl. p. 18. 20 ‘De derde Les is, nae den aert van’t leven,/
11 ‘[I]n yder ding steekt eenige bevallijkheit’, Een yder ding zijn eygenschap te geven,/
9 Inl. p. 92. In’t handelen: men wen zich geen manier,/
10 12 ‘[Z]oo zjn [sic] daer en teegen veel andere, Als die zich strekt tot aller dingen zwier’,
11 van onzes tijts lantslieden, meerder op de Inl. p. 30.
leelijkheit, magerheit, en ongezienheit der 21 ‘Want men moet zijn handeling nae den aert
12 zelver verslingert geweest: niet dat ik zulx der dingen somtijts veranderen’, Inl. p. 30.
13 geheelijk verachte, want de stoffe, die men 22 ‘Want daer behoort een andere lossicheit
14 verkiest, nootsaekt ons dikwils tot onaer- van handeling tot het luchtige hair, het lil-
dicheden, die door haer wel te pas gebracht lende loof, of iets dergelijx: en wederom,
15 te hebben aerdich worden’, Inl. p. 168. een anderen aert van’t pinseel te roeren in’t
16 13 ‘Ontzie de schoonheyt, die de natuer heeft, schoone naekt, en het blinkende marber.
17 niet te volgen, maer geloof vry dat het geen Maer gy zult in alles wel te recht raeken, als
in’t leeven zoo vermaeklijk is, uw werk ook uwe hand maer gewoon is aen het oog en
18 zal doen beminnen’, Inl. p. 231. het oordeel te gehoorzamen’, Inl. p. 235.
19 14 Brusati 1995, pp. 237-239. 23 Van de Wetering 1991, Van de Wetering
20 15 ‘Zoo zeggen wy met Plutarchus, dat wy de 1997, pp. 173-176, 179-190.
Schilderye van een Haegdisse, van een aep 24 ‘Men moet de eygenschappen der simpele
21 … jae ‘t alderafschuwelijkste en verachtste, natuer zeedichlijk navolgen’, Inl. p. 232. Cf.
22 als’t maer natuerlijk is, met lust en verwon- De Lairesse, GS I pp. 7-8.
23 deringe aenzien, en zeggen ... dat leelijk noch­ 25 ‘[D]at hy op de ziele der konst als verslingert
tans mooy wort, door zijne natuerlijkheyt, is: dat is, de natuur in hare eigenschappen
24 en ten aenzien van de naevolginge, dezelve te onderzoeken’; ‘zeer bezigen en bespiege-
25 lof verdient die men aen’t uitgelezenste lenden geest’, Inl. p. 12.
26 schuldich is te geven’, Inl. p. 77; Plutarch, 26 ‘Hy heeft driederhande vruchten van zyn
Moralia, 18a, cf. Junius, SKDO p. 65. werk: d’een is’t vernoegen van zijn ge­
27 16 ‘It is not unamusing to see the things that weeten, ‘t welk hy door ’t volmaken van zijn
28 divert one in Painting; and particularly if werk ontfangt; d’ander van ‘t gerucht; en de
29 they are rendered wittily and in the liveliest derde van’t voordeel en de nutticheit, die
manner’; Van Hoogstraten mentions in this hem, of door de gift, verkooping, of door
30 regard Snijders, Bassano and Castiglione, eenige andere profijtelijkheyt, aengebracht
31 Inl. p. 171. zal worden’, Inl. p. 345.
32 17 ‘[Erasmus’] landtsluiden niettemin scheppen 27 ‘Jae zoodanich, dat een aendachtich Schilder,
noch ‘t meeste vermaek in geschilderde Kal­ gelijk Seneka leert, meer aengenaemheyt
33 veren, Verkens, en Ezels ... Want hoe kleyn vint in het schilderen zelfs, als in geschildert
34 men deeze verkiezingen acht, Klio heeft’er te hebben: want deze beezicheyt, die hy aen
35 in den tweeden graet der konst gestelt, en ‘t zijn werk besteet, heeft een groot vermaek
is heerlijker, in den tweeden graet, d’eerste in den arbeyt zelfs’, Inl. p. 348, cf. Seneca,
36 in rang te zijn, dan in den derden graet ver Ad Lucillum I, epist. 9,7. For the trichotomy
37 achter af verschoven te zijn’, Inl. p. 168- see Seneca, De beneficiis II, 33, 2.
38 169. 28 For this box see Brusati 1995, pp. 213-217.
18 ‘I will gladly allow that in large works a mas- 29 Junius, TPA p. 21; ‘deser Konste ... de wel-
39 ter may accept help from others who are cke haer voornaemste vergenoegen schept
40 skilled in the by-work: but he who wants the in ’t gansch lieffelicke vermaeck ’t welck sy
41 right to be called Master of Histories must in haer eyghen selven besit’, Junius, SKDO
also be able, if needs be, to do the by-work p. 13, cf. p. 200.
42 himself’, Inl. p. 72-73. 30 Van Mander, Leven f. 276r.
43 19 ‘Het mach zijn dat de geen, die de konst 31 ‘[W]aerachtige werkingen van deugt en
44
45
376          note s to chap te r ii
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 376 10-10-2008 16:24:54

 vroomicheit ... zoo en kan ik niet bespeuren, Scoltura, Platone, Metrodoro, e Pirrhone, i 1
dat zy [i.e. painting] meer van de Deugdt, quali la stimarono come arte d’ingegno mi- 2
van wat secte die ook beschreven wordt, racoloso’, Bisagni 1642, p. 5; Metrodorus,
afleyt, dan de wapenen, of het burgerbes- both artist and philosopher, is mentioned 3
tier: maer zy, zijnde een echte Zuster van de by Pliny and, among others, Castiglione and 4
bespiegelende wijsgeerte, onderzoekt, met Dolce; see Barocchi, Scritti p. 794. 5
hulpe der meet- en telkunst, de zichtbare 36 ‘Rhetorica omnium artium domina’, Taci-
natuur’, Inl. pp. 347-348. tus, Dialogus de oratoribus, 32. 6
32 ‘[D]aer de oeffeningen der Edele konsten, 37 Cicero, De oratore, II,i,5; Cicero makes the 7
in stille opmerkende betrachtingen van de comparison between rhetorician and phi- 8
geheymen der natuur, met de oeffeningen losopher in the same work.
der deugden over een stemmen en gelijk 38 See Valla 1998. Valla observed that the visu- 9
loopen ... Waer op ik dan derf vaststellen, al arts ‘which are so close to the liberal arts, 10
dat een oprecht oeffenaer der Schilderkonst, flourish simultaneously with rhetoric’, p. 11
die haer alleen om haer zelfs wil, en om 143. Lorch says that Valla ‘thought of rheto-
haeren deugtsaemen aert navolgt, waerlijk ric as the highest human art, encompassing 12
t’onrecht zoude versmaet worden. Alle wijs­ all that man produces ... Rhetoric for Valla 13
geerigen zijn tot geen staeten of burgerbes- is a science that comprehends all forms of 14
tieringen beroepen, en niettemin zijnze in the study of the human language. It com-
’t versmaeden der wereltsche hoogheden prehends all other disciplines and cultural 15
by Plutarchus ... hoog genoeg gepreezen, expressions’, Lorch 1988, p. 334, p. 338. 16
schoonze aen de werelt geen grooter sieraet, 39 ‘[S]ì come degli oratori è stato scritto che, 17
noch aen haer zelven meerder gerustheit en per riuscire grandi et eccelenti, debbono es-
vernoegen, als onze Schilders in ’t oeffenen sere versati in ogni facoltà e scienza, poi che 18
dezer bevallijke wijsgeerte, hebben toege- di tutte le cose può occorrere loro di dover 19
bracht’, Inl. p. 348, cf. Plutarch, Moralia ragionare e persuadere il popolo; così pareva 20
786.B, 1093.E. si potesse dire della pittura, la qual essen-
33 Elsewhere, too, Van Hoogstraten expresses do, come un libro popolare, capace di ogni 21
the view that painting is a virtuous occupa- materia, sia di cielo o di terra, di animali o 22
tion, in which the painter confines himself, di piante, o d’azzione umane di qualunque 23
in Stoic fashion, to a passive role; ‘schilders sorte, richiedesse insieme che il pittore, al
[dienen] haer met geen Staetzaken te be­ quale appartiene il rappresentare di queste 24
moeyen’, and he gives examples of artists cose, fosse di ciascuna, se non compitamente 25
who concern themselves solely with making erudito, almeno mediocremente instrutto e 26
a living, Inl. p. 321, marginal note. non afatto imperito’, Paleotti 1960, p. 120.
34 ‘Hy is een die hem der Weereltsche bero- 40 ‘Een schilder, die de rechte maniere van 27
erten en t’gemeen gheclap gantsch niet be- “Imiteeren”, ofte naevolgen, maer eens ge- 28
moeyt, als een die uyt overtreffende liefde vat heeft, al wat hem voorkomt, lichtelijk 29
der Const geern rust-sieligh, stil, en alleen zal afbeelden: jae wat hem in de natuere zou
is, dewijl de Const den heelen Mensch tot kunnen voorkomen’, Inl. p. 71. 30
haer vereyscht te hebben. Sonderlingh is 41 See Inl. pp. 6-7. 31
hy een beminder van zijn eygen vrijheyt, 42 Cf. EJ, ‘Van de dicht- en schilder-kunst, en 32
oock der beleeftheyt, en eerbaerheyt ... in kennis der landen en spraken’, and Castigli-
de kennis der Natuere, als natuerlijck Phi- one’s Corteggiano: ‘another thing … which, 33
losooph, niet onervaren’, Van Mander, Lev- being in my opinion of great importance, 34
en, fol. 286v. Cf. Lomazzo 1974, p. 97. Cf. I believe our Courtiers must in no way ne- 35
also Paolo Pino’s wording, ‘La pittura è una glect: and this is to be able to draw, and to
specie de natural filosofia’, Dialogo di pittura understand the art of painting …[from] this 36
(Venice 1548), ed. Barocchi, Scritti p. 1351, art, besides that it is very noble and worthy, 37
n.1; and R. Alberti, Della nobiltà della pittura one [can] derive much that is useful … and 38
(Rome 1599), ed. Barocchi, Trattati vol. III, particularly in warfare, to depict and draw
p. 206. terrrain, rivers, lakes, rocks and strongholds, 39
35 Alberti 1540, p. 50; cf. ‘sicome ingegni ele- and other such things’, Van den Bos 1662, 40
vati sovente scoprivano alcune maravigliose pp. 112-113. 41
opere fatte con le loro proprie mani, nè 43 ‘Nam pictorem omnia necesse est scire,
ricusarono questa i maggior savij del mõdo, quoniam omnia imitatur. Est philosophus, 42
come Socrate, il quale fece anco opere di pictor, architectus, et dissectiones artifex’, 43
Vossius 1690, § 21. 44
45
no t e s t o c h ap t e r i i           377
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 377 10-10-2008 16:24:54

1 44 ‘Wy noemen [de schilderkunt] algemeen om de vorm van de flesse het voorwerp van ’t
2 datze waarlijk algemeen is, en dat soo wel geene een Schilder bespiegelt, en zoodanich
ten opzigt van haar vermogen, als ten aan- begrijpt hy alle natuerlijke dingen, en yder
3 sien van haar algemeene nuttigheid ontrent in ’t byzonder’, Inl. p. 33.
4 het gantsche Menschdom ... wy bemerken 54 ‘Wat de eerste beginselen der Teykenkonst
5 dat de Letter-making van de Schilderkonst aengaet, voorwaer niemandt en behoorde
ontleend is’, Goeree, SK p. 25. hier in onkundich te zijn, dewijl’er noch
6 45 Emmens 1979, p. 38 ff., and Kemp 1974. Konst noch handwerk, ja by na geenerley
7 46 Van Mander, Grondt, II,3, fol. 8v; Goeree, beroep is, waer inze niet, als een tweede
8 TK p. 83. wijze van Schrijven, notezakelijk schijnt’,
47 Williams 1997. Inl. p. 6.
9 48 Van Hoogstraten mentions Zuccari in Inl. 55 ‘Perche si resti chiaro, che niuna altra sci-
10 pp. 9, 238, 316, 317. Van Mander’s colleague enza, intelligenza, ò prattica sia, ò possa es-
11 Bartholomeus Spranger worked under Zuc- sere quella luce generale, e quell’alimento, e
cari in Caprarola. Cf. Miedema 1973, p. vita à tutte le humane scienze, intelligenze, e
12 423, n. 4; De Mambro Santos 1998, p. 220. prattiche, che l’istesso Disegno intellettivo,
13 For the significance of Zuccari to Junius’s e prattico’, Zuccari 1607, II,63; cf.: ‘filosofia,
14 treatise, see Nativel 1996, p. 470, n. 4. e filosofare è un Disegno, e disegnare meta-
49 On Zuccari’s treatise see Pochat 1986, pp. forico, nella mente’, Zuccari 1607, II, cap.
15 302-305, and Panofsky 1927, pp. 42-53 and 12, pp. 280-1.
16 pp. 106-113; on the concept of disegno in- 56 ‘[N]oodich ... aen alle vernuft oeffenende
17 terno cf. Kieft 1983. menschen; vermits het gezicht en het oor-
50 ‘[P]er Dissegno interno intendo il concetto deel door de Teykenkonst uitermaten ver-
18 formato nella mente nostra per potere cono- licht wort’; Van Hoogstraten asserts that
19 scer qual si voglia cosa’, Zuccari 1607, I,4. ‘drawing is considered the true foundation
20 51 ‘[I]ntendo trattar del Dissegno in quanto che of the art of painting’and that ‘many arts are
si trova in tutte le cose increate, e create, in- based on the art of drawing’, Inl p. 217, cf. p.
21 visibili, e visibili; spirituali, e corporeali ... in 26. In ‘Van het oogmerk der schilderkonst’
22 questi capitoli cercarò ... di mostrare ch’egli Van Hoogstraten states ‘its principal and
23 è il lume generale non solo delle nostre cog- first fundamental principles consist in the art
nitioni, e operationi; ma d’ogni altra scienza, of drawing, which itself paints without pig-
24 e pratica’, Zuccari 1607, I,3. ment, and depicts the most important things
25 52 ‘Hora seguendo la dottrina de’Filosofi dico, in nature’, p. 25. Approvingly, he translates
26 che il Dissegno interno in generale è una Van Mander, Grondt II,4, f. 8v: ‘The Fa-
Idea, e una forma nell’intelletto rappresent- ther of many fine arts is the Art of Drawing,
27 ante espressamente, e distintamente la cosa which can skilfully and surely depict that
28 intesa da quello, che pure è termine, e og- which the senses have apprehended’, Inl. p.
29 getto di lui’, Zuccari 1607, I,5. 26.
53 ‘In deze naspeuring van de natuer, hebben 57 ‘[H]et oordeel ende de reden, over alle
30 wy alleen haer zichtbaer deel aen te merk- gevallige voorwerpselen’; concerning ‘alle
31 en, want alles wat’er in de natuer zichtbaer de weelige wercken de geschapene Natuyre’;
32 is, moet de Schilder- en Teykenkonst ten ‘het roer van een Schip, het oordeel ende de
onderwerp verstrekken. Zoo komen ons dan reden, over alle gevallige voorwerpselen’, it
33 strax de gedaentens der dingen, met haere is ‘aenleydinghe van alle kennisse; schrander
34 verwen in ’t oog, waer van wy de eerste zul- oordeel van een geheel Mensche’, Goeree,
35 len noemen vormen, of gestalten, of met TK p. 3.
ons gewoon konstwoordt, de “Teykeninge” 58 ‘[O]neindelijke velden in de Teykenkonst te
36 ... De byzondere eygenschappen aller din- doorwandelen’; ‘ontrent alles, wat de natuer
37 gen vertoonen zich dan eerst aen ons in voortbrengt’; ‘de dingen, eeven alsze zijn,
38 haere vormen en gedaentens: niet zoo alsze nae te bootsen’, Inl. p. 36.
van de natuerkundigen beschreven worden, 59 ‘Wy zullen de wakkere geesten aenmoe-
39 maer zoo alsze alleen, gelijk de schael om digen om algemeen te worden; dat is, zoo
40 het ey, de uitwendige gestaltens bepalen, en veel gedaentens der dingen nae te beelden,
41 de lichaemen, die zy begrijpen, als door een als’er zouden mogen voorkomen: dewijl alle
buytenste, van andere dingen afscheyden: te zamen, en elk in’t byzonder, door een
42 gelijk als de wijn, in een flesse besloten, de zelve beleyt nagevolgt, en in het verstant
43 gedaentens des bokaels aanneemt, zoo wort eens Konstenaers begrepen worden ... [de]
44
45
378          note s to chap te r ii
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 378 10-10-2008 16:24:54

 zienlijke dingen [worden] alle op eenderley humani, e degl’animali; ma nelle piante an- 1
wijze in’t verstant begrepen’, Inl. pp. 69-70; cora, e nelle fabbriche, e sculture, e pitture 2
cf. Junius, SKDO p. 35. The comparison is cognosce la proporzione’, Vasari 1568, I,
essentially didactic: when you are trained in 43. 3
one art, you acquire an affinity with all the 65 ‘[L]e cose, le quali conosce naturalmente, e 4
others. dirrettamente l’intelletto nostro sono le na- 5
60 The ‘universality’ of the artist had already ture delle cose materiali, ... le quali nature
been advanced as an argument in Boccac- non si trovano separate da suoi individui, 6
cio’s opinion of Giotto in Decamerone VI come vogliono alcuni, che tenesse Platone 7
5, cf. Panofsky 1970, p. 13. Cf. Dürer’s il divino in quelle sue positioni dell’Idee; mà 8
definition of painting: ‘Item Malen ist das, sono in realtà solamente in questi suppositi
dass Einer van allen sichtigen Dingen eins, singolari; perche non è l’humanità se non in 9
welches er will, wiss auf een eben Ding zu questi, e in quelli singolari, e non è la natura 10
machen, sie seien wie sie wöllen’, see Dürer, del Leone se non in questi, e quelli Leoni; e 11
‘Von der molerei’, London manuscript f. 301, così dell’alternative’, Zuccari 1607, I,30.
quoted from Tatarckiewicz 1979, p. 258. 66 For the distinction between ante rem and 12
Goeree makes a comparison between theol- post rem in art-theoretical tradition, cf. Pale- 13
ogy and painting: ‘There are no sciences nor otti 1960, p. 134. 14
practices given to man that have a greater 67 ‘[M]a dico bene, e so che dico il vero, che
relevance to everything than theology and l’arte della Pittura ... non piglia i suoi prin- 15
painting’ (‘Datter geen Wetenschappen cipi, ne ha necessità alcuna di ricorrere alle 16
noch Oeffeningen aan de Menschen ge- Mathematiche scienze, ad imparare regole, 17
geven zijn, die een grooter Uytstrekking tot e modi alcuni per l’arte sua, ne ancho per
alles hebben, dan de Godgeleerdheyd en de poterne ragionare in speculazione: pero non 18
Schilderkunst’), MK introduction, unpagi- è di lei figliuoa, ma bene si della Natura, e 19
nated, fol. **. del Disegno’, Zuccari 1607, II, 29-30. 20
61 ‘The initial origin of art seems to have been 68 ‘Dunque solamente le forme esterne delle
the strength of our innate imagination (de cose sensibili naturali ponno dalla pittura 21
kracht onzer ingeboore verbeelding), which esser imitate: e questa può solamente quelle 22
paints absent things as if in the mind, and by imitare al vivo, e vero modo. E cosi questo 23
means of some characteristics endeavours to Mondo visibile creato dal supremo facitore
display them to the sense of sight, or seeks Iddio con tant’arte distinto, e con tanto mag- 24
some designs that in some way correspond istero ornato è il primo, e principal nostro 25
in appearance to the mental images (denk- Disegno esterno, e questo principalmente 26
beelden) that we have of real things’, Inl. pp. e necessario per l’imitatione à noi Pittori’,
244-245. Zuccari 1607, II,7. 27
62 ‘Idee, imaginaty, oft ghedacht’, Van Mander, 69 Zuccari 1607, II, 80-83. 28
Grondt X,30, f. 45r, marginal note; cf. Mie- 70 Inl. p. 24. 29
dema 1973, p. 583, and Panofsky 1927, p. 71 For the expression ‘naäepster van de natuer’
98. cf. Inl. p. 326. 30
63 Van Mander, Grondt X,30, f. 45r; in his 72 The chalice Natura seems to be offering the 31
treatment of drawing, Van Mander places artist can probably be identified as opulentia 32
the emphasis on the intellectual element: or amicitia – abundance or friendship.
‘Des Teycken-consts volcomenheyt moet 73 For the interpretation of this drawing see 33
drijven/ Uit ghesont verstandt .../ Sulcx Brusati 1995, p. 213. 34
met goet oordeel doet Constenaer maken/ 74 ‘He techne mimeitai ten fusin’, Aristotle, Phys- 35
Voor-beworp in zijn ghedachte van allen/ ica, ii.2.194a.
Hem met handt te bewerpen mach beval- 75 Plato, Republica, X. 596d-e. In Ripa’s Iconolo- 36
len./ Desen Vader dan van’t Schilderen ... gia, for instance, the personification of ‘Imi- 37
Bestaet in trecken, betrecken, omtrecken/ tatione’ or ‘Naevolginge’ is accompanied by 38
Van alles wat er binnen de bestecken/ Des a monkey; Ripa 1644, p. 350.
ghesichts ter Weerelt mach zijn begrepen’, 76 Białostocki 1988a, pp. 64-68. 39
Van Mander, Grondt II,3, f. 8v. 77 Alberti 1996, p. 61; cf. Bialostocki 1988, p. 40
64 Vasari speaks of a ‘giudizio universale’ ‘sim- 64. 41
ile a una forma, o vero Idea di tutte le cose 78 Cf: ‘Est autem Deus universalis causa om-
della natura, laquale è singolarissima nelle nium quae naturaliter fiunt; unde et quidam 42
sue misure; di qui è, che non solo ne i corpi Ipsum nominant naturam naturantem’, 43
44
45
no t e s t o c h ap t e r i i           379
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 379 10-10-2008 16:24:54

1 Thomas Aquinas, De div. nom. IV, 21, quoted 89 These examples are related to the ‘obser-
2 from Weijers 1978, p. 70; cf. Tierney 1963. vation of the properties of natural things’,
79 Plotinus, Enneads, V,8,1; cf. Bialostocki Angel, Lof p. 40; cf. Sluijter 2000c, pp. 244-
3 1988a, p. 64. 246.
4 80 ‘[L]a ragione poi, perchè l’arte imiti la Nat- 90 Angel describes a perfect painter ‘die het
5 ura è, perche il Disegno interno artificiale, leven soo na-quam, dat men moste be­
e l’arte istessa si muovono ad operare nella sluyten, dat het selve soo eyghentlick en niet
6 produtione delle cose artificiali al modo, min veranderlick was’, that people ‘sulcke
7 che opera la Natura istessa. E se vogliamo naby-kominghe nae’t leven gehoort en had’,
8 anco sapere perche la Natura sia imitabile, Angel, Lof p. 54.
è perche la Natura è ordinata da un prin- 91 ‘Nu mochte vele oordeelen dese eygh-
9 cipio intelletivo al suo proprio fine’, Zuccari entlickheyt veel moeilicker te sijn om na te
10 1607, II, 31. volghen, dan anders; maer aenghesien wy
11 81 ‘Den Hemel, als wesende mildt en jonstich/ na-bootsers van ‘t leven zijn, zoo en moet-
heeft d’Edel Natuer’ oock willen by voegen/ men om wat meerder moeyten (alsmen
12 Beneffens meer gaven met haer inwonstich/ de natuerlicke dingen daer mede nader by
13 de deucht der schoonheyt/ welstandich komt) niet achter laten’, Angel, Lof p. 41.
14 en constich/ D’ooghe ghevend’ een vol- 92 Inl. p. 24.
comen benoeghen/ maer als wy oorspronck 93 Inl. p. 86.
15 en middel doorploeghen/ Soo vinden wy 94 ‘Maer op dat wy tot het geene alreede gezeid
16 omstandighe waerommen/ dat Natueren is, noch yts mogten toevoegen, dat tot een
17 schoonheyt schoon is volcommen’, Van verstandelijke grootachting van de Schilder-
Mander, Grondt IV,1, f. 11v. konst kan dienen, moetmen aanmerken
18 82 Van Mander, Grondt XIV, 5-6, f. 52v. datze een volstrekte navolgster is van de
19 83 Miedema suggested that Van Mander’s volmaakte natuur, aan welke sy soo seer is
20 key term aerdich should not be translated vast geschakeld, datze van den anderen niet
as ‘pleasant’, but rather as ‘characteristic’. mag gescheiden worden. ... De natuur is on-
21 Since Van Mander sees the ‘characteristics’ naspeurlijk rijk in menigerley van yder soort
22 of things as functions of the underlying con- voort te brengen, waar van wy een Exempel
23 cept of Nature, one may also translate it as hebben aan soo veel duisend Menschen, Di-
‘natural’: ‘Nature’ is a principle, hidden in eren, en Gewassen: die, alhoewel sy van een
24 every element of Creation, that gives eve- geslachte zijn, echter malkander niet juist
25 rything its character. By hitting upon this gelijkstaltig zijn; hier in kan de konst gezeid
26 intrinsic character, the artist ensures that worden deselve volmaaktheid te besitten,
his work can be called aerdich, according to voor so veel sy in ’t navolgen soo menigerley
27 Miedema 1973, pp. 436-437, for more ex- form als ze wil, voortbrengt’, Goeree, SK,
28 amples see also Miedema 1984. pp. 20-21.
29 84 Miedema 1973, p. 449; cf. Miedema 1975, 95 ‘Twee droppen zijn niet eens, twee eyren,
pp. 10-13, n. 55. twee peeren,/ Twee aangesichten min./ De
30 85 ‘[H]et [is] klaer, dat de natuur zelf als met trotze mogentheid/ Van d’eerste Schepper
31 vermaek in de Schilderkunst behaegen schi- blijkt in ’t eeuwig onderscheid/ Van al dat
32 jnt te nemen’, Inl. p. 342; Alberti 1996, p. was en is, en worden sal na desen’, Goeree,
95, § 28; Alberti in his turn quotes from SK p. 22.
33 Pliny, Naturalis Historia, XXXVII.I.3. 96 Broekman 2004.
34 86 ‘Eindelijk staet ons hier noch aen te mer­ 97 ‘[U]na scienza prattica o arte, che con ar-
35 ken, hoe konstich de natuur somtijts zelf tificio singolare et operazione artificiosa
schildert’, ‘Natuur en’t geval bootsen de va imitando e ritrando la natura e quanto
36 konst nae, gelijk de konst de natuur’, Inl. dall’artificio umano è fabricato’, Zuccari,
37 p. 341, p. 344; cf. ‘Nature is also sometimes Idea (1607), ed. Barocchi, Scritti p. 1036.
38 a sculptress in the mountains, and makes 98 ‘[I]l vero, il proprio et universal fine della
wonderful likenesses’, p. 343. pittura, cioè l’essere imitatrice della natura
39 87 ‘Maer ik zegge dat een Schilder, diens werk e di tutte le cose artificiali, che illude et in-
40 het is het gezigt te bedriegen, ook zoo veel ganna gli occhi’, Zuccari, Idea (1607), ed.
41 kennis van de natuur der dingen moet heb- Barocchi, Scritti p. 1041.
ben, dat hij grondig verstaet, waer door het 99 ‘[Q]uesta ancora è debolissima, perché,
42 oog bedroogen wort’, Inl. p. 274. se bene dice in parte la sua sostanza, cioè
43 88 Cf. Vermij 1999a, p. 114. imitatrice della natura, è però manchevole,
44
45
380          note s to chap te r ii
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 380 10-10-2008 16:24:54

 perché ella non solo immita la natura, ma de oogen begrijpen kunnen. Als daer zijn 1
insieme tutti li concetti e tutte l’opere ar- Historyen en geschiedenissen, die eenig 2
tifiziali’, Romano Alberti, Della nobiltà della gebruik hebben tot leeren en vermaenen: of
pittura (Roma 1599), ed. Barocchi, Scritti p. lichaemelijke dingen, die niets en beduiden, 3
1011. en derhalven niets anders en kunnen doen, 4
100 ‘[A]bbracciare tutte le forme delle cose ... dan het ooge behaegen’, Inl. p. 359. 5
come di uomo, di elefante, d’uccello, di 109 Confession of Faith drafted during the Syn-
pesce, d’arbore, di sasso e d’ogni altra cosa, od of Dordrecht (1619), quoted in Bakker 6
non solo naturale, ma ancora artifiziata, 1993, p. 108. 7
come di chiesa, di calice, di vestimento, di 110 Cf. Hooykaas 1972, esp. p. 40, and Harrison 8
libro e altro simile’, Paleotti 1960, p. 132. 1998, passim; specifically on Calvin’s view of
101 Junius, TPA 12; ‘Dese bestaet de natuyre nature, see Balke 1976. 9
uyt te drucken, nae’t vermengen van ver- 111 Inl. p. 72, p. 224, pp. 279-278, p. 357. 10
wen afmalende allerely ghelijckenissen der 112 Hooykaas 1972, p. 40. For Bacon and the 11
sienelicker lichamen; dus maecken sy men- Calvinist vew of realistic art cf. De Klijn
schen, onredeliche schepselen, boomen, 1982, p. 19. 12
velt-slagen, stroom-vlietende bloedt-stort- 113 Francis Bacon, preface to Historia Naturalis, 13
inghen, Koninghen, ghemeyne menschen; London 1622; see Hooykaas 1972, p. 40. 14
sy maecken een Princelicke staet-stoel, 114 ‘[A]lgemeene wetenschap, van de naeboot­
den Prince sittende, den Barbarischen vy- zing aller zienlijke dingen’, Inl. p. 70. 15
andt onder sijne voeten neder-ghestort, het 115 The founding of the Royal Society in 1662 16
scherp geslepen spits der spiessen, loopende may even have been one of the main reasons 17
rivieren, vermaeckelijke beemden: in’t korte for Van Hoogstraten’s trip to England; cf.
sy bereyden de beschouwers een seer aen­ Brusati 1995, p. 91. 18
ghenaeme lustbaerheyt in’t kunstigh afbeel­ 116 ‘De eerste drift dan, die iemant tot de 19
den van Alderhande sichtbare dinghen’, Ju- Schilderkonst komt aen te moedigen, is een 20
nius, SKDO p. 4. natuurlijke liefde tot deze meer als gemeen
102 See Jorink 1999, pp. 16-17; cf. Barck 2000, bekoorlijke Godin, die haere oeffenaers al- 21
IV pp. 478-85. leenlijk door haere deugtsaeme bespiege- 22
103 Bakker 2004, Bakker 1993 and De Klijn lingen in de schoonste werkstukken des 23
1982. wonderlijken scheppers gelukkich maekt,
104 Cf. Thissen 1994, pp. 70-71. ja zoodanich, dat ze als een knaging in haer 24
105 Samuel van Hoogstraten, S. v. Hoogstratens geweeten gevoelen, wanneer ze eenigen tijd 25
goude schalmey, klinkende van heilige gezangen; verzuimt hebben haere minlijke Meestresse 26
op de toonen Salomons en stemmen der heiligen te dienen’, Inl. pp. 345-346.
(Dordrecht 1652). 117 ‘Dat het enkel oogmerk van onzer 27
106 ‘Samuel van Hoogstraten to Willem van Schilderkonst zouw zijn, den geest tot de 28
Blijenberg’, 2 August 1662; published in Deugt te bereyden, willen wij niet drijven, 29
Roscam Abbing 1993, pp. 59-60, no. 71. wij kennen een naeder en zekerder weg,
107 ‘Ik en ben niet zoo superstitieus, zegt Cal­ maer dat zij niemand van de deugd afhoudt, 30
vijn, dat ik zoude achten ganschelijk geene is onwedersprekelijk: jae datze den oprech- 31
beelden lijdelijk te zijn: maer dewijl het snij­ ten oeffenaer, door het geduurich bespiege- 32
den ofte graeven, en maelen of schilderen len van Godts wondere werken, tot den
Gods gaven zijn, zoo eysche ik het oprecht Schepper aller dingen in hoogen aendacht 33
en zuiver gebruik daer van: op dat het geene optrekt, is kennelijk genoeg’, Inl. p. 346. 34
ons van de Heere tot zijn eere en ons nut ge- 118 Junius, TPA p. 73; ‘Staet voorder aen te 35
geeven is, door het misbruik niet ontreynigt mercken dat dese eerelicke en prijselicke
worde, noch tot ons verderf verkeere’, Inl. p. tijd­kortingen het onrecht met den naem van 36
359. dorre ende onnutte verlustingen ghebrand- 37
108 ‘Godt met zienlijke gedaente te maeken, merkt worden: want hoe kanmen doch niet 38
achten wy ongeoorloft, dewijl hy dat zelfs enigen schijn van reden staende houden
verbied, en het zonder mismaekinge van zijn dat dese betrachtinge, door welck ons soo 39
Heerlijkheyt niet geschieden en kan. ... En menigvuldige vruchten worden verschaft, 40
men mag de Majesteyt Godts, die onziene­ vruchteloos soude sijn? ‘t schijnt, om de 41
lijk is, door geen onbehoorlijke vertooningen waerheyd te segghen, veele eer een Land-
vervalschen: maer alleenlijk machmen die nutte oeffening te wesen; ghemerckt de re- 42
dingen snijden, graveeren of schilderen, die chte schoonheyd der naturelicke schepselen, 43
44
45
no t e s t o c h ap t e r i i           381
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 381 10-10-2008 16:24:54

1 eenen ghebaenden wegh om tot de kennisse in quanto puo?’, Bisagni 1642, p. 5-6.
2 des heerlicken Scheppers te beter te ghe­ 127 Junius, TPA p. 85; ‘wat is doch de nature
raecken, ons door dit middel te verstaen ge- anders ... als God en een Goddelicke kracht
3 geven word’, Junius, SKDO p. 67. inde gantsche wereld ende in haere gh-
4 119 Junius also voices this opinion at the begin- edeelten verspreydt?’, Junius, SKDO p 77.
5 ning of his treatise: ‘Anaxagoras ghevraecht 128 ‘De werelt is een school, waer in God selfs
sijnde tot wat eynde hy voordt-ghebracht comt leeren./ Ja sonder spreecken hoe dat
6 was, heeft gheantwoort. Tot beschouwinge wy hem sullen eeren./ Oft eenen wenteltrap,
7 van de Sonne, Maene ende den Hemel, ende die ons op climmen doet./ … / De werelt is
8 in der waerheydt, wat is doch den mensche een boeck, daer in men Godes werken/ Seer
anders als “een schepsel ’t welck”, nae’t seg- lichtelijcken can in groote lettren merken./
9 ghen van Quintilianus, “naest by Godt comt, Elck stuck wercx is een bladt, ende elcx doen
10 ghestelt in de Wereldt tot op-merckinghe ongelaeckt/ Een boeck staef is seer schoon,
11 van al ’t ghene de Wereldt in sijnen schoot in haer gestalt volmaeckt’, Du Bartas, La
ver-vat”’, Junius, SKDO p. 4. See Curtius sepmaine ou la creation du monde; eerste dagh
12 1973 for a comparable theme in Spanish art der eerster weken (1578, translated by Zach-
13 theory; Horn points to Gracián as Houbrak- arias Heyns, 1616); quoted in Brinkkemper
14 en’s source for an identical line of reasoning & Soepnel 1989, p. 98. Van Hoogstraten
(but also to a parallel with Ignatius), Horn refers to Goulart, a Dutch translator of Du
15 2000, p. 167; for Castiglione on this topos Bartas, on pp. 39-40 of the Inl.
16 cf. Van den Bos 1662, pp. 112-114 For two 129 See Kraye 1988, p. 1288, p. 1311 n. 72.
17 similar formulations cf. Borghini, Il riposo 130 Hall 1623.
(1584, pp. 1-2), quoted in Ossola 1971, p. 131 This standpoint is propounded by Mie-
18 135 and Lomazzo 1974, p. 13. dema, who writes of Spiegel’s ‘diatribes
19 120 H. Peacham, The Compleat Gentleman (1634, against allegorical poetry, in which objects
20 ed. Oxford 1906, p. 125), quoted in Ellenius are referred to obliquely rather than by their
1960, pp. 228-29. proper name’, with reference to Spiegel’s
21 121 ‘Noch minder zou’t pinseel verslenssen,/ Hertspieghel (Amsterdam 1594), p. 4, l. 133;
22 Zoo nu de zinlijkheid der menschen,/ Daer­ see Miedema 1977, p. 208.
23 ze als verzet staet en verwondert/ Op zulk 132 ‘Schilders haer met geen Staetzaken [heb-
een konst de keur uit hondert,/ Uit dit ben] te bemoeyen’; Van Hoogstraten con-
24 gemael na zichtbre dingen/ d’Onzichtbre cludes: ‘wy begeeren dat den Konstenaer
25 Godheid lof ging zingen,/ En haeren Schep- zich alleenlijk met de konst bemoeye. Pro-
26 per needrig eerde,/ Die aen den mensch die togenes bleef schilderen in’t bestormen
wondren leerde; van Rhodes; Parmens [Parmigianino] in ’t
27 Of die hem schonk zoo rijke gaven,/ Dat hy bloedich innemen van Rome; beyde, of hen
28 met zijnen geest de haven/ Der konst be­ den oorlog niet aenging’, Inl. p. 321.
29 zeilde, en wist te treffen/ Al ’t zichtbre op 133 Kraye 1988, p. 369.
doeken vlak en effen’, Inl., no pagination 134 ‘[D]aer [Plutarchus] handelt vande sonde
30 [translation Michael Hoyle]. ende deught, datmen niet verwondert en
31 122 Cf. the way Alberti expresses this idea: ‘lodo moet sijn over de wercken der Timmer-
32 ... coloro, e’ quali dicono l’uomo essere cre- lieden, Landtbouwers, Smeders en dier-
ato per riconoscere un primo e vero prin- ghelijcke die deughdelijck volmaeckt en
33 cipio alle cose, ove si vegga tanta varietà, onberis[p]baer sijn, en ... dat daer mede
34 tanta dissimilitudine, bellezza e multitudine profijt voor het lichaem en voor de siele te
35 d’animali, di loro forme, stature, vestimenti winnen is’, De Bie, Cabinet, p. 268.
e colori, per ancora lodare Iddio insieme 135 Inl. p. 348; for this see below, pp. 93, 111.
36 con tutta l’universa natura, vedendo tante 136 Cicero, De natura deorum 2, 37; cf. Junius:
37 e sì differenziate e sì consonante armonie ‘Deus optimus maximus creauit hominem,
38 di voci, versi e canti in ciascuno animante qui ueluti paruus quidam est mundus, ad
concinni e soavi’, Alberti 1960, pp. 132-33. maioris mundi contemplationem imita-
39 123 Bakker 2004, p. 20. tionemque’, Junius quotes the passage from
40 124 Blankert 1995, p. 42. Cicero at the end of the first paragraph, see
41 125 Jorink 2003. Nativel 1996, 1,1,1.
126 ‘E nel vero qual homo libero, o Prencipe 137 Junius, TPA p. 12; ‘wat is doch den mensche
42 sara nel mondo, che non prende diletto anders als een schepsel ’t welck ... naest by
43 d’imitare co’l pennello Iddio, e la natura Godt comt, ghestelt in de Wereldt tot op-
44
45
382          note s to chap te r ii
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 382 10-10-2008 16:24:54

 merckinghe van al ’t ghene de Wereldt in 149 On Stoicism and vanitas symbolism, see 1
sijnen schoot ver-vat?’, Junius, SKDO p. 4. Heeze-Stoll 1979. 2
138 ‘He who sees in God’s handiwork the world 150 Saunders 1955, p. 83.
about us, the guide to righteous living, the 151 ‘[D]at meer voordeel uyt het groote Boek 3
life according to Nature, is the only happy deser wereldt, als in Aristotele of Discartes 4
man’, Saunders 1995, p. 85. Lipsius writes [sic] te scheppen is ... de Polytica en Moralis, 5
on the importance of the contemplation of welke van goede zeden handelen [leert men]
nature: ‘The mind is oppressed, as if shut up meer uyt de gewoonte en ondervinding, als 6
in a jail, unless and until contemplation has uyt de boeken’, EJ, pp. 20-21. 7
been added, which bids the mind take fresh 152 ‘[D]e goddeloosheyt zoo uyt komt te weyen, 8
courage by contemplating the universe, dat sy ’t gene de vogelen onder den Hemel,
and turns the mind from earthly matters to de onvernuftige dieren, en de ongevoelige 9
things divine’, Lipsius, Physiologia stoïcorum, dingen verkondigen ... in twijfel trekken ... 10
referring to Seneca, letter 65; quoted in De vreeze Godts is den aenvang der waer- 11
Saunders 1955, pp. 120-22. achtige wijsheydt, welke alle onderrichtin-
139 ‘[Q]uodcumque vides Deus est, quocumque gen der Philosophie, van hoe men behoort 12
moveris’, Burton 2001, p. 385, p. 387. te leven in sich begrijpt’, EJ, ‘Van de religie’, 13
140 Saunders 1955, pp. 69 ff. chap. VIII, pp. 29-30. 14
141 Cf. Lipsius’s observations ‘Videsque et 153 Inl. p. 69. Czech 2002, II p. 121, noted that
Deum Naturam dici, et materiam’; and: Van Hoogstraten’s discussion of the tripar- 15
‘The world had no other purpose than the tite soul also derives from De Mornay, Inl. 16
indication of [God’s] power and goodness, pp. 85-86. 17
so displayed in [His] greatest and best work’, 154 ‘Datter eenen Godt sy, wiens aensichte ghy
quoted in Saunders 1955, p. 189. siet schynen oock inde minste dinghen’, De 18
142 Papy 2001/2002, p. 47. Mornay 1646, fol. 7 r. 19
143 Castiglione repeats the Stoic line that na- 155 De Mornay 1646; Inl. p. 202. 20
ture should be regarded as God’s creation, 156 ‘In’t bysonder tegens de Atheisten ende
and that this constitutes the value of paint- Epicureen, zullen zy dese getuygen voort- 21
ing; Van den Bos 1662, pp. 112-114. brengen, te weten de Werelt, de schepselen 22
144 ‘Stoicism, for the humanist, was sometimes ende haer selven. Dit zijn getugen, die zy 23
a fairly particular set of beliefs, but it was insonderheyt beminnen, waer op zy mooest
also the particular form in which the perva- vertrouwen, van de welcke zy seer ongaerne 24
sive and common assumptions of Hellenis- scheyden. Tegen de valsche natuer-kon­ 25
tic paganism presented themselves most at- steners, die haer bedrogh met den naem der 26
tractively and forcefully to the Renaissance’, natuer-konste vermommen, hebben wy de
Bouwsma 1975, p. 7. For the significance of natuer selve’, De Mornay 1646, ‘Voor-rede’, 27
Neostoicism in the Republic see Israel 1995, unpaginated. 28
pp. 566-69; for the specific situation in an 157 ‘[God] heeft, na zyne onmetelicke goet­heydt 29
environment of artists see Morford 1991, allenthalven sich soo geopenbaert, ende in
passim. alle dinghen afghemaelt ... dat al wat men 30
145 Miedema 1975, p. 9. In this connection cf. van hem soude konnen bedencken, uyt- 31
also Becker’s analysis of the simplicity and spreecken, schryven veel donckerder is, dan 32
purity of ‘Atticism’ as a style concept for al wat wy inde Worldt aenschouwen ... Daer­
Dutch painters, see Becker 1991. om seyde een van d’ouste filosofen [..:] “Dat 33
146 Saunders refers to an Augustinian classifica- men Godt met menschen vernuft niet en 34
tion into three kinds of theology – mythic/ konde doorgronden, maer wel met handen 35
poetic, natural philosophical and civil – in tasten ... [en dat wij] eenighsins God be-
which the Stoics would certainly favour the grypen [vóór] alle ghebruyck des verstandts, 36
natural philosophical approach; Saunders niet door eenighe kennisse, maer door een 37
1955, p. 122. seeckere aenrakinghe, die veel ghewisser is 38
147 For Lipsius’s influence on Bacon see e.g. dan alle kennisse” ... zo[dat] de zinnen selve,
Saunders 1955, p. 66. uyt de welke d’eerste kennisse des menschen 39
148 De Vries 1991, p. 214, p. 254. The influence onspringt, van eenen Godt betuyghen’, De 40
of Stoicism on the art history of the Neth- Mornay 1646, fol. 1 rv, fol. 2 r. 41
erlands has been studied only in a fragmen- 158 With his metaphor of the mirror, Junius
tary fashion: Morford 1991; Irmscher 1986; stresses that the painter should not paint 42
Muller Hofstede 1979; Heeze-Stoll 1979. fantastical compositions; he says that the 43
44
45
no t e s t o c h ap t e r i i           383
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 383 10-10-2008 16:24:54

1 artist’s mind ‘gelijck sy eenen onvervuylden 2 J.C. Scaliger, Poetices liber septem, V.X; quot-
2 helderen Spiegel ... [die] een onvervalscht ed in Moss 1999, p. 107. Van Hoogstraten
schijn-beelt vertoont over een komende met refers to J.C. Scaliger, Exotericarum exerci-
3 de ghedaente die daer in ontfanghen wordt. tationem (Paris 1652), pp. 339-340, 347-350,
4 Oversulcks mach men’t ghene tot noch toe Inl. p. 42.
5 gheseyt is niet verstaen van allerhande ydele 3 Vossius 1647.
inbeeldingen, hoedaenigh de selvige oock 4 The main dispute in the literary theory of
6 mochten sijn, maer alleen van fantasijen die imitation here is that between Ciceronian
7 op de nature der dingen sijn gegrondet’, Ju- theory and its critics; see Fumaroli 1980, pp.
8 nius, SKDO p. 33. 77-116.
159 Saunders 1955, p. 179. Saunders refers to 5 E.g. Sluijter 1999, esp. note 17. Rembrandt
9 the ‘epistemological rejection, by the Stoics, also emulated his teacher, Pieter Lastman;
10 of Platonic Ideas as real entities. The early see Van de Wetering 2002.
11 Stoics regarded sensation as the only source 6 See various publications by Eric Jan Sluijter,
of all representations. The soul is a blank e.g. Sluijter 1999, esp. p. 114-116, and Slui-
12 page, sensation is the hand that fills it with jter 2003, pp. 12-17.
13 writing’, Saunders 1955, p. 172, n. 14. 7 Inl. p. 356.
14 160 ‘Doch dese bestryden ende vernielen met 8 See Loh 2004; Sohm 2001, pp. 103-110; Irle
voorbedachten wille alle leeringhen, oock 1997; Reckermann 1993 and Pochat 1987.
15 die in een onwedersprekelijck vertoogh be- 9 The theory surrounding the concept of
16 staen, ende, zy twijfelen van’t gene zy met imitatio is discussed indirectly in Emmens
17 ooghen sien, ende met handen tasten’, De 1979, pp. 131-137. The phenomenon of
Mornay 1646, fol. 6v. borrowing (rapen) is subjected to further
18 161 ‘Dat wy van Gods wegen dit alleenlijk weten, analysis by Miedema in his commentary on
19 dat wy niets en weten ... gelijkerwijs wy God Van Mander’s Grondt, Miedema 1973, e.g.
20 niet en konnen begrypen met den verstande, p. 389-90; see also Brenninkmeijer-de Rooij
dat wy hem alzoo oock na behooren niet 1984, pp. 60-70, esp. p. 66-68. More spe-
21 noemen noch uytspreken en konnen ... de cific studies include Nativel 1992 on Junius;
22 beste lof, die [men hem] singhen kan, is een Sluijter 2000c on Angel; and Muller 1982
23 stille swygingh’, De Mornay 1646, fol. 24v. on Rubens.
162 ‘[D]e aldergeringhste dinghen diemen inde 10 The theme of emulation plays a far less
24 natuer ende inden mensche vint ... bewij­ prominent role in Van Mander.
25 sen, datter maer eenen Godt en zy ... wy en 11 Vossius 1690, p. 62.
26 schouwen God in zijn wezen niet aen: maer 12 ‘Poësie is een kunst van naebootzinghe,
wel in zijne wercken ... Vande natuer, om dat ghelijck Aristoteles die noemt Mimesis,
27 de natuer een schepsel ende werck Godts is’, dat’s een na-beeldingh, of naschilderingh
28 De Mornay 1646, fol. 22v. sprekende Metaphoricalijck. Een sprekende
29 163 ‘Wat vermeenen wy dan, dat eenen mensche schilderye, streckende om te leeren, en te
de natuer ende de Majesteyt Gods soude verheugen’, Theodore Rodenburg, Eglen-
30 konnen doorgronden [wanneer] hy stok- tiers poëtens borstweringh, Amsterdam 1619,
31 blind is in de overlegginghe zyner gheringh- p. 9.
32 ste wercken?’, De Mornay 1646, vol. 23r. 13 ‘[W]ie de natuur allernaest volght, die is de
164 Cf. Van Hoogstraten on ‘de Schilders, die rechte Apelles’; Vondel, Foreword (‘Voor-
33 de stomme Poëzy oefffenen’, Inl. p. 297. bericht’) to his translation of Sophocles’
34 165 ‘Non ci è gente o lingua o condizione di Oedipus Rex, Vondel 1927-1937, VIII, p.
35 persone, che non possa intendere bene 853, and V, p. 489.
quelle voci tacite ch’ escono dall’ opere create 14 Fumaroli 1980, p. 78, with a reference to
36 d’ Iddio, le quali rappresentano la grandezza Petrarch.
37 e maestà sua ... il che così non possono fare i 15 Czech 2002, p. 231.
38 libri’, Paleotti 1960, p. 148 (italics mine). 16 Junius, TPA p. 49-50; ‘[d]e poesye ende de
Schilder-Konst ... daer in malkanderen ge­
39 lijck [zijn] datse haer selven alle beyde meest
40 cha pt er iii met d’Imitatie besigh houden ... ende gheli-
41 1 For the theoretical merging, in the Renais- jck de Schilders dat met verwen afbeelden,
sance, of mimesis, as the imitation of nature, ’t gene de schrijvers met woorden uyt dru­
42 and the imitation/emulation of examples, cken, soo is’t dat sy maer alleen verschillen
43 see the entry on ‘Mimesis/Nachahmung’ in in de materie en maniere van imitatie; want
44 Barck 2000, vol. III, pp. 86-91.
45
384          note s to chap te r iii
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 384 10-10-2008 16:24:54

 sy hebben alle beyde ’t selvighe oogen-mer- beest, of een bekent, of immers natuerlijk 1
ck’, Junius, SKDO pp. 41-42. gedierte zal ge­lijken’, Inl. p. 184. 2
17 Vossius 1690, § 3: ‘Ars pingendi initia sua 25 Note in Junius: Vitruvius, Lib. VII. Cap. 5.
habet a natura. Nam insitum est nobis imi- 26 Junius, TPA p. 41; ‘Laet de Schilderye een 3
tari: ac magnam ex imitatione capimus vo- Beeldt wesen, seght [Vitruvius], van sulcken 4
luptatem; cui ars incrementa sua debet. Hic dingh, als is, of ten minsten kan sijn … soo 5
Philostratus lib. II de vita Apollonii cap. X moet oock den Lief-hebber deser Konsten
ait: … “nos natura habere imitandi facul- een recht ende slecht werck het welck met 6
tatem”. Ac postea … “Ambo consentimus, de eenvoudigheydt der nature over een 7
imitandi facultatem a natura hominibus ad- komt hoogher achten dan eenighe vreemde 8
venire: pingendi vero peritiam ab arte profi- op ghesochte beelden uyt verscheyden li-
cisci.” Alter item Philostratus in praefatione chaemen van bysondere ghedierten by een 9
bipartiti Iconum operis ... “Perscrutanti gheraept’, Junius, SKDO, p. 33. Vergelijk 10
autem ipsius artis ortum, imitatio utique Van Hoogstraten, ‘zoo moetmen zich vast 11
est vetustissimum inventum, naturaeque aen de waerheyt, of waerschijnelijkheyt
cognatum.”. houden, en niets ander uitbeelden, als dat is, 12
18 ‘[I]lla facultas imitatrix animis humanis pen- of ten minsten zijn kan’, Inl. p. 93. 13
itus insita’; Nativel 1996, p. 413. 27 For this formulation, see e.g. Nativel 1996, 14
19 ‘Optimus maximus Universi fabricator talem p. 441, Morford 1991, p. 192, Saunders
fecit hunc mundum, ut eum Graeci, con- 1955, p. 69. 15
sensu quoque Gentium suadente, óμ 28 Junius, SKDO vol. 3, par. 7, pp. 29-30, for 16
ornamenti nomine appelaverint, Latini uero the Latin phrase ‘naturam ducem sequi’, see 17
Mundum a perfecta absolutaque elegan- De pictura veterum, ed. Nativel 1996. Similar
tia dixerint’, with note: ‘Mundus Latinis, phrases are found in Quintilian, Inst. orat. 5, 18
óμ Graecis, ab ornatu denominatur’, 10, 101: ‘Naturam ducem sequi desierunt’; 19
and a reference to Pliny, Naturalis historia Cicero, De officiis 1, 110: ‘propriam naturam 20
Lib. II, cap. 4.; Junius, De pictura veterum, sequamur’. Cf. Nativel 1992, p. 164.
ed. Nativel 1996, p. 125. 29 ‘[D]e rechte konstmaet en de Natuur zelve 21
20 Junius, TPA p. 15; ‘‘t gantsche beleydt onses te buiten’, Inl. p. 293; ‘door haere al te onor- 22
levens bestaet daer in, dat wy altijdt vaer- dentelijke gedrochtlijkheyt de natuer schij­ 23
dighlijck naetrachten, ’t ghene wy in andere nen gewelt aen te doen’, Inl. p. 184 (page
hoogh achten’, Junius, SKDO pp. 7-8. number erroneously printed as 176). 24
21 Junius, TPA p. 15; ‘dese naeboetsinghe, 30 ‘[Z]elf d’Antijken te volgen heeft sommige 25
die men ghemeynelick “d’Imitatie” noemt, in kettery gebracht’, Inl. p. 18. 26
uyt welcke de Teycken-Konst, de Schilder- 31 ‘Ik vreeze zelf[s] dat gy, ter plaetse [i.e. in
Konst, de Giet-Konst en al d’andere Kon- Rome] ... van ons onderwijs, in ’t naevolgen 27
sten van desen aerd voord-spruyten ... dat van de natuer, zult afdwaelen, en andere nae- 28
alle die dinghen dewelcke wel oyt door de volgende, van den rechten wegh geraeken’, 29
Konst voltrocken worden, haer eerste be- Inl. p. 294.
ginselen altijdt uyt de Nature plaghten te 32 ‘’t [W]elk, of het hen wel iets van de schoon- 30
trecken’, Junius, SKDO p. 7. heit benam, nochtans een te grooter schijn 31
22 Inl. p. 21; cf. ‘De Thebaensche wetten verey- van waerheyt gaf’, Inl. p. 168, cf. Junius, 32
schten dat elck Konstenaer ende Schilder de SKDO p. 225, after Philostratus.
ghelijckenissen soo wel als’t immers moghe- 33 ‘Hier by sal ook eindeling een verstandig 33
lick was soude uytdrucken; die anders dede, Konst-oeffenaar moeten weten, dat hy hem 34
was gheouden een sekere boete te betaelen’, boven de studie van alle de voorgemelde 35
Junius, SKDO p. 92. dingen, seer neerstig bezig houd over het be-
23 Junius, SKDO p. 97. schouwen van het natuurlijk leven, en dat in 36
24 ‘Gelijk Vitruvius zegt, dat de verdorve ge- alle voorvallen, daar’t mogelijk is, gebruiken 37
woonte het daertoe gebracht hadde, datmen ... want het natuurlijk leven is in alles soo 38
in de grotissen veel eer gedrochten en mon- rijk, overvloedig, konstig en geleerd, dat
sters, dan eenige waerachtige dingen ver- onse geheugnis op verr’na niet magtig is die 39
toonde: tegen de gewoonte der ouden, die geheel te bevatten, veel min te behouden’, 40
haer kamers, gaenderyen en eetzaelen, met Goeree, SK p. 63. 41
konstige naebootsingen van’t geene natuer- 34 ‘d’Alleroutste en beste Poëten zijn de natuur­
lijk was, oppronkten. Hy wil dat een schip lijckste en eenvoudighste. De nakomelin- 42
een schip, een beelt een mensch, of een gen, om hen voorby te rennen, vielen uit 43
44
45
no t e s t o c h ap t e r i i i           385
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 385 10-10-2008 16:24:54

1 eerzucht of aen het snorcken en poffen, of in de grond van de al-verteerende kroes, als
2 vernissen en blancketten’; Vondel 1650, p. een weinig schuim van ik weet niet wat voor
74. een onbekende niet metaal, zonder koleur
3 35 Junius, TPA p. 279; ‘allerley mindere ma- noch gewigt’, De Lairesse, GS I, p. 91.
4 terien smaedelick [te] verwerpen ... [e]en 45 ‘Tot iet vlaks op een vlakte nae te maeken,
5 mensche magh sijn verstand ... selfs oock behoort ook het kopieeren van allerley
in d’allerminste dinghen betoonen’, Junius, Schilderyen, een gewoone en zeer nutte
6 SKDO p. 310. oeffening voor d’aenkomende jonkheyt,
7 36 ‘Molte altre cose si potrebbono dire del sog- byzonderlijk als zy een goedt stuk tot haer
8 getto de l’historia, che il prudente pittore principael hebben’, Inl. p. 218.
per sé stesso potrà considerare, avertendo 46 ‘[I]mitatus sum effigiem senis a Rembrando
9 però sopra ogni cosa di farlo semplice e puro, factum coloribus cum oleo, ut vix differen-
10 perché mescolarlo col poetico e finto altro non è tiam videas’, quoted in Hofstede-de Groot
11 che un difformare il vero et il bello, e farlo falso 1906, p. 104.
e mostruoso’, Gilio, Dialogo nel quale si ragiona 47 See Van Hoogstraten 1983. On the emula-
12 degli errori e degli abusi de’pittori circa l’istorie tion of the ‘Rembrandt style’, see Liedtke
13 (Camerino 1564), ed. Barocchi, Trattati II, 1995-1996.
14 p. 38 (italics mine) . 48 Vondel 1650, p. 73.
37 ‘[N]on monta questo, che la figura sia strana 49 ‘[T]ot dat het oogh des kenners geen’ van
15 o difforme e poco in se stessa graziosa, ma beiden,/ Den meester en schoolier van een
16 si attende l’artifizio senza più; il quale, se è kan onderscheiden’; Vondel 1927-1937, VII,
17 fatto avvenente e con senno, si commenda p. 377.
grandemente e molto si apprezza’, Frances- 50 Van de Wetering 1997, pp. 46-73.
18 co Bocchi, Ragionamento sopra l’eccelenza del 51 ‘Sempre il pittore deve cercar la prontitu-
19 San Giorgio di Donatello (Florence 1584), ed. dine ne gl’atti naturali fatti dagl’huomini
20 Barocchi, Trattati III, pp. 179-80. all’improviso ... e di quelli far brevi ricordi
38 ‘[D]at het geen minder konst is, een boertig ne’suoi libretti, e poi a suoi propositi adop-
21 als een ernstige zaak, een Landman als een erarli’, Da Vinci 1651, cap. LVII, p. 14; cf.
22 Hoveling, en een Ezel als een Paardt te ver- cap. XCV, p. 27.
23 beelden; dewyl tot het een zo wel, als tot het 52 ‘[K]omt u een goede prent voor, ’t en zal
ander, goede kennis vereischt word, om het niet altijts noodich zijn, dat gy dezelve in al
24 wel te treffen’, De Lairesse GS I, p. 182. haer deelen nateykent, maer leer al vroegh
25 39 ‘[E]d il Caravaggio disse, che tanta manifat- de deuchden der konst onderscheyden’, Inl.
26 tura gli era a fare un quadro buono di fiori, p. 26.
come di figure’, Vincenzo Giustiniani, ‘Let- 53 ‘Wel gekookte Raepen is goede pottasie,
27 tera sulla pittura al signor Teodoro Amide- zegt men: maer die altijts naeloopt, zal nim-
28 ni’, manuscript Rome c. 1620, p. 38, quoted mer voor uit komen’, Inl. p. 193, cf. Quintil-
29 in Kroschewski 2002, p. 15. ian, Inst. orat. 10, 2, 10.
40 Junius, TPA p. 71; ‘so ghebeur[t] het oock 54 Cf.: ‘de genegentheid voor deeze of geenen
30 menighmael dat de levende ghelijckenisse Meester in zyne voorwerpen, coloriet, of
31 van leelicke ende afsichtighe dinghen niet andere dingen is zoo groot, dat zy zich niet
32 min vermaeckelick bevonden wordt als de eens willen verwaardigen noch ontleedi-
gelijckenisse van d’aller schoonste lichamen. gen om hunne gedachten over het werk en
33 ... d’imitatie van schoone of leelicke dinghen de konstoeffening van een anders braven
34 word ... zonder eenigh onderscheyd gepre- Meester te laaten gaan’, De Lairesse, GS II,
35 sen’, Junius, SKDO p. 65. p. 41.
41 Ripa 1644, p. 350; see Emmens 1979, p. 55 Van Hoogstraten praises Goltzius for his
36 107. ability ‘eenige groote Meesters hand ei-
37 42 Inl. p. 206; Junius, TPA p. 38. gentlijk na te volgen’, Inl. p. 75.
38 43 Angel, Lof p. 35-37; cf. Emmens 1979, p. 56 ‘[E]en Wijs Man behoorde van yder het be-
132 ff. ste te ontleenen … [zij] verlaten de natuur
39 44 ‘Waarlyk zo één [schilder] is de gemeene selfs; den alderbesten Leidsman, dewijl sy na
40 Alchymisten niet ongelyk, welke goud wil- ik weet niet wat voor een Leer-meester om­
41 lende maken, alles in de kroes smyten ’t geen sien’, Goeree, SK p. 86-87; the same passage
zy weeten dat maar smelten kan, stokende in Junius, SKDO p. 24.
42 dag en nacht, verdoende al wat zy in de 57 ‘A painter, like the useful bee that flies to
43 waereld hebben, [zij] vinden eindelyk niets all manner of flowers but sucks only nec-
44
45
386          note s to chap te r iii
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 386 10-10-2008 16:24:54

 tar, can also draw all kinds of useful things onse eyghene krachten t’overweghen … 1
from the examples of others’, Inl. p. 195. Cf. Yeder een heeft in sijn eygen borst een 2
a passage about the way in which a painter sekere Wet der nature, die hy sonder mer-
should practise the making of compositions: ckelicke mis-slaeghen te begaen niet en kan 3
‘Om d’aendacht en geheuchenis, in’t zien/ versuymen. Daer en wordt oock noyt soo 4
Van konststuk of natuerwerk, te gebiên,/ Al gantsch onaerdighen werck ghevonden als ’t 5
d’aerdicheên als schatten te vergaeren./ Zoo ghene men aenvanght sonder een ooghe te
gaert een bie den honich uit veel blaeren,’ slaen op de bysondere toe-gheneychtheydt 6
Inl. p. 175. onser nature’, Junius, SKDO p. 29. 7
58 Cf. Junius: ‘[S]oo en is het niet ghenoegh 66 Coornhert, Zedekunst (1586), I,9,§10 en 8
haere wercken met een loopend’ooghe te III,1, §41; on this theme cf. Bonger 1987,
besichtighen, maer wy moeten de selvighe p. 181-197, p. 187-188; Knuvelder 1967, p. 9
wederom en wederom in de handt nemen ... 57. 10
even ghelijck wy de spijse van ons ghenoten 67 ‘Het is het geraadsaamste, zegt Cicero, dat 11
niet neder-swelghen voor ende al eer wy de wy de leidinge onser eigene nature vol-
selvighe wel door-kauwet ende bynae in on- gen, en dat wy de betragting der Konsten 12
sen mondt vesmolten hebbende lichtelicker t’eenemaal na den regel der nature richten’ 13
verteren ende in suyver groeysaem bloedt (italics mine), Goeree, SK p. 38. 14
veranderen’, Junius, SKDO p. 26. 68 Understanding this individual ‘law of nature’
59 ‘[L]’huomo dotto deve haver buon giudicio is a recurrent element in Van Hoogstraten’s 15
nel l’elegger le cose buone, & regittar le cat- art theory; e.g. ‘Het is ons geraetsaemst 16
tive’, Inl. p. 233. … de leydingen onzer eygene natuere te 17
60 ‘[W]ant zich te bedienen van eens anders volgen, en onze betrachtingen daer nae te
vernuft, zo dat het ontleende niet afsteekt, richten: want te vergeefs zoudemen de zelve 18
als een nieuwe lap op een ouden bedelaars tegenstreeven in het bejaegen van ’t geene 19
mantel, vereischt een goed oordeel’; Angel, wy onmachtich zijn: gelijk’er gezegt wort, 20
Lof pp. 35-37; Houbraken, biography of De dat het onmogelijk is de bevallijkheyt in de
Lairesse in De Lairesse, GS I, unpaginated. konst, ten spijt van Minerva, te treffen. Ze­ 21
61 ‘[G]ewoonte van opmerken’, Inl. p. 226. ker de Schilders staen hier wederom met de 22
62 Inl. p. 235. Poëten, gelijk die van Horatius deeze ver- 23
63 ‘[Z]ulk een man, die zich zoo geheelijk had maening hebben: “Indien gy schrijven wilt,
overgegeeven, om de natuer, met penseel zoo dient een stof gezocht,/ Die met uw 24
en verwen, bestiptelijk nae te volgen’; Inl. p. macht gelijkt, om niet te blijven steeken./ 25
242, cf. p. 235. Elsewhere in the Inleyding, Denk wat gy draegen kunt, wat gy wel over- 26
Van Hoogstraten uses the terms opletting [at- mogt,/ Zoo zal u klaere stijl noch ordening
tentiveness] or opmerking [discernment] with ontbreeken”’, Inl. p. 175. 27
a similar meaning; on pp. 234 and 242, for in- 69 ‘Hierom moet yder een zich zelven onder- 28
stance, he refers to the ‘faculty of judgement’ zoeken, om ’t geene hem eygen is voona- 29
(oordeelens kracht) that the painter requires to mentlijk in ’t werk te stellen ... De kamer-
achieve ideal beauty: ‘Alle menschen, zegt speelers verkiezen niet altijts de beste, maer 30
Plutarchus, zijn niet begaeft met de zelve oor- de bequaemste fabulen, die haere perso- 31
deelens kracht, ’t geene gezicht is meer door naedjen gelijk zijn. … Zoo hebben de voor- 32
de natuur of door de konst geholpen om het naemste Schilders ook altijt iets, dat hun
schoone te onder­kennen. Hier uit ontstaet best meevalt’, Inl. p. 175. 33
het, dat geoeffende Schilders vaerdichlijk van 70 ‘[M]en moet de geesten aenleyden tot hun 34
de gestaltens en gedaentens der dingen kunne natuurlijke drift’, Inl. pp. 5-6, marginal 35
oordeelen’, Inl. p. 280. In the course of the note.
seventeenth century, subjective judgement 71 Van Hoogstraten contrasts attentive and 36
(iudicium) became increasingly important in lethargic [wakker/slaperig] temperaments: 37
the theories of both poetics and rhetoric; ‘[W]ant der is een groot onderscheyt in de 38
see Jansen 2001, p. 304-322. On the link geesten; zoo dat des eens begrijp aen wast,
between iudicium and ‘practical reason’, see des anders, terwijl het beezich is, in slaep 39
Hinz 1992, e.g. p. 208 ff. valt’, Inl. p. 240; De Bie explicitly links tem- 40
64 Cf. Inl. pp. 234-235. peraments and styles: De Bie, Cabinet p. 65. 41
65 Junius, TPA pp. 36-37; ‘wy [zullen] ons selven While history painters like to be surround-
naeuwelicks konnen begeven tot d’imitatie ed by people and music, characters with a 42
van sulcken uytnemenheydt, sonder eerst greater predilection for the natural sciences 43
44
45
no t e s t o c h ap t e r i i i           387
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 387 10-10-2008 16:24:54

1 incline towards solitude; ‘melancoly soeckt zoeken’, Inl. p. 32; cf. Van Mander, Grondt
2 rust in stillicheyt altijdt’, p. 50. Lomazzo II, 13-14, f. 9rv. Van Mander makes this
writes that since the work of painters is re- observation after a brief practical account
3 lated to philosophy, they are easily swayed of teaching, which discusses drawing after
4 by their humours: ‘il più dei pittori sono prints and sculptures; see Miedema 1973, p.
5 fantastichi et agitati spesso dall’umore’, Lo- 435. The section of the Inleyding that deals
mazzo 1974, p. 97. with the training of painters is not struc-
6 72 ‘Imitazione ha da conformarsi alla attitudine tured systematically and hierarchically, as
7 naturale’; ‘Essendo adunque di tanto mo- in Goeree; at the beginning of his treatise
8 mento che’l pittore e qualunque altro arte- Van Hoogstraten urges apprentice painters
fice conosca il suo genio, e dove più l’inclini to spend a good deal of their time drawing
9 l’attitudine e disposizion sua d’operar più from life (Inl. e.g. p. 35).
10 facilmente e felicemente per un modo che 79 ‘Want byna ieder deel der Natuer is be­
11 per un altro, ha da porre ognuno in ciò som- quaem genoeg om deeze opletting te
ma diligenza, e, conosciutolo, deve darsi ad voeden, en de scherpte des oogs te wetten’,
12 imitar la maniera di quelli che se gli confor- Inl. p. 35-36.
13 mano, guardandosi con molta cautela di non 80 ‘En dit had Lysippus, die eerst maer
14 inciampare nelle contrarie’, Lomazzo 1974, een gering kopersmit was, van Eupom-
p. 35. pus onthouden, die, gevraegt zijnde, wat
15 73 ‘[H]oewel deze Konstenaeren in haere meesters handeling men most trachten te
16 werken elkanderen zeer ongelijk bevonden volgen? op de mart, die vol volx was, ge­
17 wierden, zoo was daer evenwel geen reden, weezen had: en met eenen gezegt, datmen
waerom men wenschen zoude, dat yder de natuer als een groot meester behoorde te
18 niet by zijn eygen handelinge gebleven was volgen’, Inl. p. 219; cf. Van Mander, Grondt
19 … het geene dat in de konst, door een ee­ VI, 73, f. 28v-29r; also in Goeree, SK p. 87-
20 nich vernuft, onmooglijk schijnt uitgevoert 88.
te kunnen worden, wort door’t inslaen van 81 Junius, TPA p. 34; ‘ten eynde dat onse imi-
21 veel verschillende wegen, die elk nae zijn tatie alsoo gerichtet wierdt, dat wy de voor-
22 ingebore lust en zinlijkheyt verkiest, door naemste deughden der ghener die wy nae
23 de menichte der Edele geesten te weege ge- volghen ... mochten uytdrucken, ... moeten
bracht’, Inl. p. 74. [wij] de selvighe wederom en wederom in
24 74 ‘[D]at naemelick die dingen de welcke in de handt nemen, om alsoo nae een veel-
25 d’uytnemendste Konstenaers voor de beste voudighe opmerckinghe de rechte kracht
26 worden ghekeurt, bynae on-nae-volghelick haerer Konste met t’samen oock den Geest
sijn … ende wy begrijpen d’over-groote waer door sy ghedreven sijn gheweest ons selven
27 kracht haerer deughden voornaemelick daer ghemeynsaem te maecken’, Junius, SKDO
28 uyt, dat het ons onmoghelick is de selvighe p. 26.
29 nae te volghen’, Junius, SKDO p. 27, with a 82 ‘Maer dat niemant zich inbeelde, dat hy die
reference to Quintilian, Inst. orat. x, 2. volkome kracht der Konst, die in de origi-
30 75 ‘[D]e manier van handeling onnavolgelijk, neelen of oorspronkelijke werken der tref­
31 en uw werk de natuer in de deelen der kunst lijke Meesters is, in de kopyen zal vinden.
32 gelijk worden’, Inl. p. 234. Want zulx is onmogelijk, ten waere eenich
76 ‘Michiel Agnolo Caravaggio zeyde, dat alle Godt den naevolger met den zelven geest
33 Schildery Bagatelli ... was... die niet na’t le­ des eersten meesters begenadigde’, Inl. p.
34 ven geschildert was. Vermits’er niets beter, 197.
35 niets goet, als alleen de natuer te volgen zijn 83 Junius, TPA p. 35; ‘[slechte navolgers, die]
kan’, Inl. p. 217. de deughden van de groote Meesters niet
36 77 He writes that ‘Caravaggio non apprezzava wel doorgrondet hebbende [gaan] op ’t
37 altri che se stesso, chiamandosi egli fido, eerste gesicht te werck, meynende dat hun
38 unico imitatore della natura’, Bellori 1976, d’ Imitatie wonderlick wel gheluckt is als
p. 230; cf. Baglione: ‘a lui pareva d’aver solo sy d’uytgelesen wercken der ouder Konste-
39 con le sue opere avanzati tutti gli altri della naeren eenigher wijse in’t nae-trecken van
40 sua professione’, Giovanni Baglione, Le vite Linien en ’t opsmeeren van Coleuren hebben
41 de’pittori, scultori e architetti (Rome 1642, p. afghebeeldet, daer sy nochtans verde van de
138), quoted from Bologna 1992, p. 36. rechte kracht der selvigher verscheyden sijn’
42 78 ‘[I]n’t leven zijn des Schilders rechte (italics mine), Junius, SKDO pp. 27-28.
43 boeken,/ Waer in de Text der waerheyt is te 84 Junius, TPA p. 38; ‘dat wy ... de kracht der
44
45
388          note s to chap te r iii
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 388 10-10-2008 16:24:55

 oprechter imitatie niet behooren te stellen 94 Aristotle, De Anima iii, 3, 429 a1 and iii, 3, 1
in ’t nae-apen van d’uytwendighe verciersels, 431a, 16. It is the ability to represent in im- 2
maer dat wy meest van allen d’inwendighe ages that makes the higher intellectual fac-
kracht des wercks moeten uyt-drucken’, Ju- ulties possible; this is why ‘the capacity for 3
nius, SKDO p. 30. thought presents its forms in terms of men- 4
85 ‘Daer is altijts een bevallike lusticheit in tal images’, De anima 427b 18-22; 432 a 17, 5
d’origineelen ... die in de kopyen ontbreekt: 431b 2; cf. Yates 1974, p. 32 ff.
want hoe wel datze zijn nagevolgt, zoo wij­ 95 ‘[D]e gansche Schilderkonst uit de innerlijke 6
zenze nochtans hier en daer iets uit, dat niet verbeelding des Konstenaers gebaert wort, 7
uit de natuer, maer uit een pijnlijken arbeyt als een andere Pallas uit de hersenen van Ju- 8
schijnt voort te komen’, Inl. p. 197. piter ... dewijl een verstandich meester niet
86 Grace is an ‘onnavolglijken … schijn’ that alleen de schets, maer zelfs een volmaekt 9
is needed ‘tot overtreffing aller dingen, die begrijp van ’t geen hij voorheeft in zijn ver- 10
onder onverbeterlijk staen’, Inl. p. 283, 281. stant voor af maelt’, Inl. p. 46. Van Hoog- 11
87 ‘Goodengaeven, die niet dan door een straten uses the term kracht van inbeelding
Hemelval te leeren zijn’, Inl. p. 278. (‘power of imagination’), Inl. p. 212, but he 12
88 ‘[G]ratie bestaet in de ontmoeting van al frequently uses the terms verstand and ver- 13
de deelen der Konst’, Inl. p. 278, marginal nuft (wit and ingenuity) in a similar mean- 14
note. ing, Inl. p. 286. Junius refers to the power
89 ‘[E]en onuytsprekelicke, onnaedoenelicke, of imagination as ‘d’inbeeldens kracht (die 15
boven naturelicke, goddelicke Konst-grepe’, ghemeynlick d’imaginatie ofte fantasye 16
Junius, TPA p. 292; Junius, SKDO p. 325. genaemt wordt)’, and ‘fantasije ofte ver- 17
90 The Inleyding contains twelve references beeldens kracht ... een stercke imaginatie’,
to Philostratus the Younger and fifteen to SKDO p. 52. 18
Lucian; see Czech 2002, II, 125, 117-118. 96 ‘[P]er quas imagines rerum absentium ita 19
One striking example is the adoption of an repraesentantur animo, ut eas cernere oculis 20
ekphrasis from Lucian describing an image ac praesentes habere videamur’, Quintilian,
of centaurs, Inl. p. 298. Vossius and Junius Inst. orat. 6.2.29-30, quoted in Von Rosen 21
corresponded about an edition they planned 2001, p. 235. 22
to publish of Philostratus’ Imagines, which 97 ‘[D]e kracht onzer ingeboore verbeelding 23
did not materialize, however. ... die d’afweezende zaeken als in’t gemoed
91 ‘Een Teykening, schoon zonder verwen, al- schildert’, Inl. p. 244. Cf. Alberti, De pictura 24
leen in omtrekken, lichten en schaduwen II, §25; Alberti 1996, p. 91. Camphuysen in 25
bestaende, zegt Philostratus, verdient no- particular emphasizes the dangers posed by 26
chtans den naem van een Schilderye, ver- painting, which can make things ‘present in
mits wy daer in niet alleen de gelijkenissen the heart’ and thus arouse desire; see Sluijter 27
van d’afgebeelde persoonen beschouwen, 2000a, p. 160. 28
maer ook zelfs hare bewegingen, vrees en 98 Goeree, MK p. 376. 29
schaem­te, stouticheyt en yver: en schoon zy 99 For the term ‘kracht van inbeelding’ see Inl.
alleen in eenvoudige linien somtijts bestaet ... p. 212. 30
nochtans gevenze de gestalte van een zwart- 100 ‘[D]e geest, terwijl hy [door middel van de 31
en of witten mensche genoeg te kennen. ratio] verstaat, zich enigzins tot zich zelf 32
Zoo dat een Moor, zelf met wit geteykent, keert, en enig denkbeelt [dat] ... in hem
zwart schijnt’, Inl. p. 25. [is], aanschout, en [daarentegen], terwyl hy 33
92 These aspects of art theory, which also zich [door middel van het voorstellingsver- 34
played a fundamental role in the Nether- mogen] inbeeld, zich naar’t lichaam keert, 35
lands, are discussed in Emmens 1981b and en daar in iets gelykvormig met het denk-
Weber 1991, cf. also Guépin 1991, p. 474 beelt, dat hy van zich zelf verstaan, of door 36
ff. de zin[tuigen] begrepen heeft, aanschout’, 37
93 ‘[S]i vede alcun’homini, che con tanta bona Descartes 1657b, p. 45-46; Méditations 7:73; 38
grazia ... narrano una cosa che sia loro in- English translation from Hatfield 2003, p.
tervenuta, ... che coi gesti e con le parole la 240. 39
mettonon inanzi agli occhi e quasi la fan toc- 101 Angel observes, on the other hand, that the 40
car con mano; e questa forse, per non ci aver added value of paintings, as compared to 41
altro vocabolo, si potria chiamar “festività” poetry, is precisely that they are not depend-
o vero “urbanità”, Castiglione, Cortegiano ent on the viewer’s imagination. See Sluijter 42
XIV, quoted in Hinz 1992, p. 199. 2000c, p. 222-23. 43
44
45
no t e s t o c h ap t e r i i i           389
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 389 10-10-2008 16:24:55

1 102 The painter has ‘gestaedigh de fantasien ster-moeder van allerley goede Inventien’,
2 van de sichtelijcke wercken in’t hoofd ... Junius, SKDO p. 224.
hier door verkrijght hij veel sorge en swaer- 111 ‘Leer zoo van tijt tot tijt uwen geest met
3 moedigheyt, ’t welck daer nae eene aen- schoone stoffen verrijken, om op uw beurte
4 brandinge [i.e. the spirit that ‘burns up’] ook uwe vindingen te baren’, Inl. p. 27. Jun-
5 veroorsaeckt, gelijck de Medicijns verhae- ius states that it is inventio that distinguishes
len, waer uyt dat natuyrlijcker wijse in den the artist from the craftsman; Junius, SKDO
6 Menschen, ... dese besondere [aandoening] p. 216-17.
7 voortkomt’, Ripa 1644, p. 452. Cf.: ‘li pit- 112 Vickers 1999, p. 47.
8 tori divengono malencolici, perché, volendo 113 ‘Prope autem cum Graphice comparatum
loro imitare, bisogna che ritenghino li fan- est, sicut cum Oratoria facultate. In hac pri-
9 tasmati fissi nell’ intelletto, acciò dipoi li mum sunt argumenta invenienda; deinde,
10 esprimeno in quel modo che prima li avean quae inveneris, collocanda’, Vossius 1690, §
11 visti in presenzia: e questo non solo una 24.
volta, ma continuamente, essendo questo il 114 Van Hoogstraten refers to ‘de Redenkonst
12 loro essercicio; per il che talmente tengono of Dialectica’, Inl. p. 346. Little research has
13 la mente astratta e separata della materia, been done to date on the significance of dia-
14 che conseguentemente ne vien la melen- lectics to the question of artistic inventio; cf.
colia’, R. Alberti, Trattato della nobiltà della Van Peursen 1993.
15 pittura, quoted in Barocchi, Trattati III, p. 115 ‘[I]n denkbeelden geschildert’, Inl. p. 178.
16 209. 116 ‘Want het mijne meyninghe niet en is ­ye­man
17 103 ‘[I]n’t ordineeren moetmen zich vooral van tot die onmaetighe ende onghebondene
zwaermoedicheit wachten’, Inl. p. 174. roeckeloosheyd aen te leyden, door welcke
18 104 See the section entitled ‘Van de Uitspan- vele overvlieghende verstanden haer selven
19 ning’, Inl. p. 199. menighmael van de slechte eenvoudigheyd
20 105 Yates 1974, p. 4. der onvervalschter nature tot een gantsch
106 Cicero, De oratore, II, lxxxvii, 357. For simi- seldsaeme vreemde woestigheydt haerer
21 lar utterances by Horace and Erasmus, see grilligher herssenen schandelick laeten ver-
22 Sluijter 2000d, p. 160. voeren’, Junius, SKDO p. 210.
23 107 Van Hoogstraten assigns both memory and 117 Junius, TPA p. 58; ‘Er is ‘onderscheydt ...
rhetoric to his muse Polymnia; Inl. p. 38, tusschen de verbeeldens kracht die de Poeten
24 Inl. p. 244; cf. ‘Memoria is de Muses Moe­ gaende maeckt, en d’andere die de Schilders
25 der’, Van Mander, Grondt II, 16, f. 9v. te werck stelt. De Poetische fantasije en
26 108 Elsheimer ‘beweegt [zich] weynich tot heeft ander gheen ooghen-merck, als een
nateykenen, maer zit, in Kerken en elders, onsinnigheydt der verwonderinghe te ver-
27 de dingen der fraeje meesters stadich en bez- wecken: de Konstenaers daer en teghen zijn
28 iet, drukkende alles vast in zijn gedachten’, maer alleen op de uytdruckelickheydt uyt.
29 Inl. p. 194-195. For Van Mander’s view of Soo soecken ’t oock de Poeten alsoo te mae-
Goltzius, see Miedema 1973, p. 414. cken ... dat haere ghedichten fabelachtigh en
30 109 Elsewhere, Van Hoogstraten also uses the de waerheydt onghelijck souden schijnen te
31 term inventie, Inl. p. 179. In the literature sijn; ’t fraeyste daer en teghen ’t welck in de
32 of art theory, the term ‘invention’ is used fantasije der Schilders aen ghemerckt moet
in two different senses, linking up with worden, bestaet daer in, dat haere verbeeld-
33 two common meanings in rhetorical tradi- inghen krachtigh sijn en met de waerheydt
34 tion: on the one hand as part of the process over-een komen’, Junius, SKDO p. 49-50.
35 of making a speech, and on the other hand 118 ‘[D]e Teikeningen, Schetsen en Printen,
as a fundamentally creative activity on the moetmen in’t sien met het verstand, en
36 part of the orator. In his theory of art, Ju- niet met hand en ooge gebruiken, om daar
37 nius ascribes fundamental significance to stukken en brokken uyt te stelen, veel min
38 ‘Inventie’ and devotes an entire chapter to om die geheel na te apen, en ... geduriglijk
it. He discusses invention, inspiration and door de bril van een ander [te blijven] kijken.
39 imagination as closely related faculties; see Maar neen, men moet alleen de deugden
40 Junius, SKDO vol. 3, chap. 1, pp. 206-43. ... door het besien, hersien, bedenken,
41 For the philosophical significance of the ars overleggen en herkauwen, trachten in sijn
inveniendi in the early modern period, see gemoed te drukken, en daar in, met dikwils
42 Van Peursen 1993, pp. 16-69. daar aan te denken, bewaren; invoegen sy
43 110 ‘[D]e Phantasie ... wesende d’eenighe Voed- door het toedoen van uwen Geest, niet meer
44
45
390          note s to chap te r iii
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 390 10-10-2008 16:24:55

 eenes anderen, maar in uw eigen vindingen de gantsche gheleghenheyd van sulcken 1
veranderd worden’, Goeree, SK p. 49. ghevecht door een ghemackelicke verbeel­ 2
119 Junius, TPA p. 60; ‘daer [wordt] een sonder- dinge nae ’t leven voor stellen’, Junius,
linghe verbeeldens kracht vereyscht ... in die SKDO p. 340. 3
ghene de welcke de wercken der Schilder- 128 ‘[W]aar door de Beelden in de Tafereelen 4
Konste recht wel meynen te besichtighen’, soodanig konnen voortgebracht werden, 5
Junius, SKDO p. 52. datse den Beschouwer alle gedagten van
120 For a study of the relationship between lit- Doek en Panneel, Verf en Olye, ofte van 6
erary ekphrasis and seventeenth-century Hout en Steen en Koper soose mogten ge- 7
Dutch painting, see Goedde 1989. goten of Geboedseerd zijn, konden doen 8
121 Junius, TPA 300; ‘dat wy de bysondere fig- afleggen, en een Denk-Beeld geven dat hy
uren, die ons in’t werck sijn voorgestelt, niet niet Geschilderde noch Gegotene, maar 9
alleen met onse ooghen haestighlick behoo- Natuurlijk Levende Mensch-beelden voor 10
ren t’overloopen; maer dat wy de selvighe sijn Oogen meend te sien’, Goeree, MK, pp. 11
insghelijcks door den gantschen aendacht 337-38.
onses Konst-lievenden ghemoeds moeten 129 ‘[I]n steede dat hen den geest der voorgan­ 12
insien, als of wy met de levendighe teghen- gers met een levende gratie te staede quam, 13
woordigheyd der dingen selver, ende niet zoo veranderden haere beelden in steen’, 14
met haere gekontrefeyte verbeeldinghe te Inl. p. 294.
doen hadden’, Junius, SKDO p. 335. 130 ‘[B]yna meer dan een Natuurlijke Toverye, 15
122 ‘[O]p dat het werk eenstemmich den datmen uyt Doode en Levenloose stof, 16
toeziender, als een anderen omstander ver- Mensch-beelden maakt, die sekerlijk stil 17
rukke, van een felle daed doe schrikken, en zijnde, maar nogtans op veelerley wijsen
door het zien van iets blygeestichs doe ver- schijnen te bewegen. Datmen de Stomme 18
heugen’, Inl. p. 116. meend te hooren Spreken ... En die, daarse 19
123 Junius, TPA p. 303; ‘Want het den ghenen, in ons Gesigt blijven, nochtans in’t selve 20
die de konstighe wercken met een rijp oor- oogenblik, daar snellijk schijnen uyt te
deel soecken t’overweghen, niet ghenoegh vlieden’, Goeree, MK, pp. 337-338. 21
en is, datse de rechte verbeeldinghe van ’t 131 ‘[M]eestresse van komedyen en kluchtspee- 22
afghebeelde argument met de Schilder- len’, Inl. p. 174. 23
beelden selver vergelijcken, ’t en sy saecke 132 ‘[L]aet ons nu het vorstelijk Toneel openen,
datse sich ’t afghebeelde met eenen oock ... in ons zelven de gordijn opschuiven, en 24
voorstellen als of het voor gheen bloote af- in ons gemoed de geschiede daet eerst af- 25
beeldinghe maer voor de saecke selver was schilderen’, Inl. 178. 26
te houden’, Junius, SKDO p. 341. 133 ‘[Thalia] wil datmen derhalven zijn eygen
124 ‘[A]enghesien het een oprecht Lief-hebber gemoet eerst zuivert, en de zaek, diemen 27
toe-staet de levendighe verbeeldinghen van voorheeft, wel overweegt’, Inl. p. 198. 28
allerley naturelicke dinghen in sijn ghe- 134 ‘[E]en bequaeme vinding in ’t ordineeren’, 29
moedt op te legghen, ten eynde dat hy de Inl. p. 180.
selvighe te sijner tijdt met de wercken der 135 ‘Ik zoude de jeugt al vroeg aen’t ordineeren 30
Konstenaeren mocht verghelijcken; soo is’t stellen ... om allerley zaken en gedaentens 31
klaer dat men sulcks niet en kan te weghe der dingen in haer begrijp op te gaeren, en 32
brenghen sonder het toe-doen van een ster- door ’t vlijtich opmerken, en ’t veel doen,
cke imaginatie’, Junius, SKDO p. 52. stoffen te bekomen’, Inl. p. 174. Cf.: ‘Het 33
125 Viewers are ‘niet anders ontroert [worden], zal een leerling zeer vorderlijk zijn, als hy 34
als of sy de gantsche gelegentheydt deser vermoeit is van ’t penseel, des avonts zich tot 35
dinghen voor haere ooghen aenschouwden’; het teykenen van Historien uyt de geest te
Goeree, MK, p. 285. begeven, daer in somtijts te passe brengende 36
126 Junius, TPA p 57; ‘dit alhier’t voornaemste, ’t geene hy nae’t leven heeft opgegaert’, Inl. 37
dat men sich recht wel bewoghen vinde om p. 191. 38
de verbeeldinghen niet anders te vatten, als 136 For Rubens’s imitations of Italian masters in
of het waerachtighe dinghen waeren daer general, see Muller 1982 and Fehl 1987. 39
mede wy ons selven besich houden’, Junius, 137 On this term, see Taylor 2002. 40
SKDO p. 50. 138 Inl. p. 176, p. 191. 41
127 ‘[H]aere gedachten worden dan al weder- 139 On Rembrandt’s rivalries with Lastman and
om op’t bloote ghesicht deses tafereels soo other masters, see Van de Wetering 2001a, 42
krachtighlick gaende ghemaeckt, datse sich pp. 41-53. 43
44
45
no t e s t o c h ap t e r i i i           391
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 391 10-10-2008 16:24:55

1 140 ‘Rubens ... wiert, tot Rome zijnde, van een moghelick gheweest de minste schaduwe van
2 zijn beezige metgezel berispt: dat hy zoo soo een vreeselick verwerde noodts-praeme
weynich Italiaensche Schilderyen kopieerde, door ’t verbeelden t’achter haelen, ’t en waer
3 of nateikende, en alleen zijn dierbaren tijt saecke dat hy sich selven aldaer in maniere
4 met wandelen, kijken, en stilzitten door- van spreken, ver-teghenwoordighet hadde
5 bracht, daermen, om een groot meester in de om elcke bysondere gheleghenheyd des
kunst te worden, wel nacht en dach behoef­ perijckels aen te mercken,’ Junius, SKDO p.
6 de te arbeyden. Maer Rubens betaelde hem 49.
7 al lacchende met de bekende spreuk: “Ik ben 148 E.g.: ‘Den Schildergeest nu ontwaekt, en
8 aldermeest beezich, als gy my leedigh ziet”, tot het begrip der Historyen bequaem, wort
Inl. pp. 194-195. zwanger van rijke gedachten’, Inl. p. 93, and:
9 141 Inl. p. 195. ‘Door veel te doen geraekt de geest aen’t
10 142 ‘Rubens wiert van eenige zijner tegenstrib- speelen,/ En zwanger, om van zelf iet uit te
11 belaers gehekelt, dat hy geheele beelden uit beelen’, Inl. p. 174.
d’Italiaenen ontleende: en dat hy, om dit te 149 Cf. Van Mander on Spranger and
12 lichter te doen, teykenaers op zijne kosten Michelangelo, Leven fol. 274r-v, Van Hoog-
13 in Italien onderhiel[d]; die hem alle fraey- straten on Michelangelo, Inl. p. 289, 316,
14 icheden naeteykenden en overzonden: maer 349; for this theme, see Emmens 1981c.
deeze groote geest dit vernemende, gaf tot 150 Inl. p. 343 with note, ‘Moeders inbeeldin-
15 antwoort: zy mochten’t hem vryelijk nae- gen schilderen de vrucht’. Goeree therefore
16 doen, indien zy’er voordeel inzagen. Hier believes that pregnant women should be en-
17 meede te kennen gevende, dat yder een niet couraged to look at beautiful works of art:
bequaem en was zich van dat voordeel te Goeree, SK p. 32.
18 die­nen’, Inl. p. 193. 151 ‘[D]at de geenen, die dagelyks by slecht
19 143 ‘Un tableau dont le dessin et les couleurs lo- en ondeugend volk verkeeren, gemeenlyk
20 cales sont médiocres mais qui sont soutenues slecht en ondeugend; en, in tegendeel, die
par l’artifice du clair-obscur, ne laissera pas met deftige en deugdzame omgaan, ook
21 passer tranquillement son spectateur, il deugdzaam worden’; De Lairesse, GS I p.
22 l’appellera, il l’arrêtera du moins quelque 199.
23 temps’, De Piles 1708, p. 301. 152 ‘[V]erbeeld u zelf die persoon te zyn, de
144 See Roscam Abbing 1999, chapter IV, and een voor en de ander na, die gy verbeelden
24 Brown & Kelch 1991, pp. 350-353 for the moet’, De Lairesse, GS I p. 48.
25 attribution to Van Hoogstraten and the sim- 153 Junius, TPA p. 60; ‘Want het onmogelyk is
26 ilarity to Rembrandt’s work. ... dat yemant een bequaem oordeel strij­
145 ‘[K]ragtig uitgewerkt […] dat het kragtigste cken sal van een geschildert Paerdt ofte
27 penceelwerk van van Dyck, en Rubbens daar Stier, tensy dat hem sijn gemoedt een waere
28 by niet kon halen, ja het hoofd scheen uit verbeeldinghe der nae-gheboetster dinghen
29 het stuk te steken, en de aanschouwers aan vaerdighlick voordraeghe’, Junius, SKDO p.
te spreken’, Houbraken 1718-1721, I p. 269 52.
30 [translation Michael Hoyle]. 154 Junius, TPA 304; ‘Het is ’t eenemael noodigh
31 146 It was painted such that ‘haare oogen ieder ... dat yeman[d] die sich in de schriften van
32 aanschouwer scheenen aan en na te zien’; desen slagh [i.e. comedies] soude verlus-
‘De reden daar van is, dat deze ... Beelte- ten, een redelick[e] ervaerenheyd hebbe
33 nissen zodanig doorwrocht en gelykvormig in die dinghen selver die het schrift voor-
34 met de menschelyke gedaantens over een stelt; so is het mede onmogelick dat yeman
35 kwaamen, dat zy niet als geschilderd, maar de minste bequaemheyd soude hebben om
vleesch en bloed, ja als beweegende beelden, behoorelicker wijse daer van te oordeelen,
36 vertoonden’, De Lairesse, GS I, p. 236; cf. het en sy saecke dat hy menighmael met de
37 Inl. p. 236. nachtloopers en ravotterende slampampers
38 147 Junius, TPA p. 56; cf. ‘Als Ovidius den op de been tijende altemets omeen moye
roeckeloosen jongelingh, die sijnes Vaders meyds wille teghen de vuyst loopt en andere
39 vierighen waeghen verlanght hadde te be- altemets vuystloock te eten geeft [i.e. deliver
40 treden, nae ’t leven beschrijft, dunckt u dan blows oneself]’, Junius, SKDO p. 342.
41 niet dat hy selfs mede met Phaeton op den 155 ‘[I]n de keelput, onder den hals, zachmen,
waeghen ghestapt sijnde het selvige ghevaer zoo ’t scheen, de pols speelen’, Inl. p. 239.
42 van’t begin tot het eynde toe uyt ghestaen 156 Philostratus, Icones 307:7, 307:30; 345:5;
43 heeft? want het en hadde hem andersins niet 298:3; 301:27; cf. Guépin 1991, p. 489.
44
45
392          note s to chap te r iii
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 392 10-10-2008 16:24:55

 157 ‘[D]at de konst zoo veel te weeg brengt, dat Ovid, Metamorphoses X: ‘Et credit tactis 1
men uit haere rond gefronste neusgaten, digitos insidere membris;/ Et metuit pressos 2
uit haere nedergedrukte ooren, en samen veniat ne livor in artus’, De Brune 1994, p.
gedrongen ledematen een gereede be- 169. 3
geerte bespeurt om ’t aen’t loopen te stellen, 168 Quoted in Sluijter 2003, p. 20. For Pepys’s 4
schoon men weet dat ze onbeweeglijk zijn’, familiarity with Van Hoogstraten’s work, see 5
Inl. p. 167. Pepys 1970, vol. 4, p. 26.
158 ‘[W]ie zal zich geen allerbehaeglijkste zwier 169 For a variety of seventeenth-century views 6
inbeelden, als hy van Venus by Virgiel deeze on the narrative power of paintings as com- 7
woorden leest? Zoo spreekende, gingze pared to literature, see Franken 1995. 8
heene, blonk over haeren roosverwigen nek, 170 Homer, Iliad XVIII, 468 ff. See here chapter
het hair gaf een goddelijke locht, als ambro- V. 9
sie, van zich, het kleet sleepte na, en haer tret 171 ‘Onse uyterlicke sinnen behoeven slechts 10
wees wel uit, datze waerachtig een godinne het beghinsel eenigher gheschiedenissen 11
was’, Inl. p. 296. The most important study aen ons ghemoed aen te dienen, en strecks
of this ‘power of images’ is Freedberg 1989, sal ons werckende hoofd de gantsche ghe­ 12
who includes a large number of illustrations schiedenis, gelijckse uyt veele en vast aen 13
with his written sources and makes it clear een gheschaeckelde omstandigheden be­ 14
that the repetition of topoi with this theme staet, ... nae den eysch der saeke vaerdigh-
does not detract from their validity. The lick beseffen’, Junius, SKDO p. 340. 15
very fact that the ‘living’ nature of the image 172 A variety of sources may be consulted on 16
is emphasized so frequently demonstrates the practice of hanging paintings behind 17
that this belief was widely held. curtains. To begin with, the practice is dis-
159 ‘De nacht, die hier nu slaept ... wie denkt played in several collections of paintings. 18
niet datze leeft,/ En zachtjes rust? Of Secondly, there are works such as Metsu’s 19
zouw’er iets ontbreeken?/ Ontwaek’er dan, Woman Reading a Letter in which someone 20
gy zultze hooren spreeken’, Inl. pp. 296; cf. in the background is drawing a curtain to
Saslow 1991, p. 247. briefly glance at a painting, and trompe- 21
160 ‘Philostratus in de schilderye van Midas ... l’oeils in which a curtain is suggested, such as 22
De Satyr slaapt, zeit hy; laat ons zachtelik Rembrandt’s Holy Family. Of a different or- 23
spreken, ten einde dat zijnen slaap niet ge- der are paintings in which the drawn curtain
broken en worde; want zoo doende zouden appears to be hanging behind the frame, as 24
wy de lieflijkheid van dit gezichte strax quijt in Vermeer”s Allegory of Painting (Vienna, 25
worden’, De Brune 1994, pp. 49-50. Kunsthistorisches Museum) and Girl Read- 26
161 ‘Dus stelde seker Konstenaer onder een sla- ing a Letter at an Open Window (Dresden,
pende Venus een Opschrift, waar in hy de Gemäldegalerie). For the Italian tradition, 27
Beschouwers vermaande haar niet wakker see Cecco del Caravaggio, Trompe-l’oeil with 28
te maken, op datse door ’t openen van Painting of Cupid at the Fountain (Viti Collec- 29
haar Oogen, de hare niet sluyten en mogt’, tion, Rome), illustrated in Nicholson 1979,
Goeree, MK p. 116. no. 454. Works by Gerard Dou are known 30
162 See Sluijter 2000c, p. 115-131. to have been kept in small cabinets or boxes, 31
163 Alberti, for instance, states that he leaves see Sluijter 2000c, pp. 217-220. For the dif- 32
both possibilities open, and does not wish to ferent methods used by Rembrandt and Dou
come down firmly on one side or the other, to depict illusionistic curtains, see Sluijter 33
De pictura I, see Alberti 1996, p. 98 ff. 2000c, pp. 209-210, 255-258. On the prac- 34
164 Ripa 1644, p. 151, with a reference to Fi- tice of hanging paintings behind curtains, 35
cino’s commentary on the Symposium. On see Kemp 1986, Heuer 1997.
this theme see also Weststeijn 2007. 173 Junius, TPA 303-304. ‘[W]anneer hy eenen 36
165 Hector’s image was ‘vervult van zoo leven- ghewaependen krijghs-man ghemaeckt heb- 37
digen geest, dat den aenschouwer lust krijgt bende, ghelijck den selvighen ghereed stond 38
om het aen te roeren’, Inl. p. 290. om eenen uytval te doen op de vyanden
166 Inl. p. 291. die ’t omringende platte land afliepen, niet 39
167 ‘Ik durfze raken naauw,/ Op dat haar poesle goed en vond datmen dese sijne Schilderye 40
vleesch, geen kneep en krijg’, of kraauw:/ te voorschijn soude brenghen, sonder eerst 41
Want zy is niet gemaalt, z’is levend’ en eenen Trompetter heymelick by der hand te
waarachtigh,/ Zy weet geluit te slaan dat hebben die zijn Trompette stekende eenen 42
yeders ziel bemachtigh’. De Brune cites loosen alarm op den selvighen ooghenblick 43
44
45
no t e s t o c h ap t e r i i i           393
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 393 10-10-2008 16:24:55

1 soude maecken alsmen de gordijne die ’t den schroomelijk verwarden zinnnestrijdt
2 stuck bedeckt hield beghost te verschuyven’, [sic], dien ik in mijn gemoed gewaer wiert.
Junius, SKDO p. 341. The curtain is not Mijne innichste gedachten wierden door ’t
3 mentioned in the English edition. Cf. Inl. p. levendig gevoelen van een onuitspreekelijke
4 178. vermakelijkheit zoo gekittelt, dat dat het
5 174 ‘[I]n ons zelve de gordijn opschuiven, en my byna onmogelijk was t’huis te gaen, en
in ons gemoed de geschiede daet eerst af- schoon ik my derwaerts spoede, zoo wierden
6 schilderen’, Inl. p. 178. mijn oogen nu en dan, door de gedachte-
7 175 That the purpose of the curtain was not to nisse van zulk een zeltzaemen gezicht, terug
8 protect the work of art from dirt and dust is getrokken’, Inl. p. 290.
clear from a letter dating from 1648 from 183 ‘[M]y quam een verbaesde bangigheyt over
9 Poussin to Paul Fréart de Chantelou, in … als ick my selven de rouwe afschetsels
10 which the painter writes that to achieve the van Protogenes voor d’ooghen stelde, ver-
11 best possible effect on the viewer, it is best mids deselvighe met de waerheyd der nature
to display paintings one at a time, in Poussin selver in eenen strijd schenen te treden’, Ju-
12 1911, p. 384. nius, SKDO p. 295.
13 176 ‘[U]t subito terrore perculsum spectatorem 184 Vossius 1650, par. 17, p. 69.
14 (velari nempe tabella solet) ipsa tamen rei 185 ‘De braeve geesten des ouden tijds ­mocht
diritate, quod vivida venustaque, delectet’, het koude zweet van angst ten hoofde
15 Huygens, Fragment p. 73. afdruipen, als zy te Rhodus den schoonen
16 177 Bialostocki 1963 has pointed out that in Jalyzus van Protogenes beschouden, daer
17 the early Italian history of art, the contem- Apelles zelf van verstomde, jae daer nae uit-
plation of architecture was said to have a barstte, dat hy een wonder in de kunst zach:
18 soothing effect. Summers 1997 describes of andere, als zy aen de bevallijke Venus te
19 terribilità as a quality that did not have the Koos geheylicht geen hand dorsten slaen,
20 customary rhetorical purposes of delighting om iets weynichs, dat’er noch aen ontbrak,
and instructing; instead, it moved the viewer te voltooyen. De Beeltsnyders ook, mochten
21 on a ‘prepredicative’ level. zich over den Jupiter Olympius ontzetten,
22 178 Published by Robortello in 1554; cf. Fu- en in’t zien van de statue van Doryphorus
23 maroli 1980, p. 165. Junius refers repeatedly bleek worden’, Inl. pp. 215-216.
to Longinus, e.g. SKDO pp. 237-238. 186 Weber 1991, 231-242; Roscam Abbing
24 179 In this passage he describes painters who are 1999, chapter III, and Lehmann 2004, pp.
25 so experienced ‘that they come to see things 57 ff., p. 69 ff.
26 painted in images as if they were present in 187 ‘[I]n het eerste opslach geheel tot zich
them’ (‘datze met der tijdt de zaken, als ofze trekken’; ‘machtig genoeg ... om de
27 tegenwoordich waren, in denkbeelden ge- ­konstliefdige geesten tot zich te trekken, uit
28 schildert zien’), Inl. p. 178-179. d’alderafgelegenste gewesten’, Inl. p. 291.
29 180 ‘[D]at is waerlijk groots ... ’t welk ons t’elkens 188 ‘Hier wrocht [Rafael] Urbijn, toen hy ver-
wederom als versch voor d’oogen verschijnt; lieft was; Venus deede hem Venus op het
30 ’t welk ons zwaer, of liever onmogelijk is uit schoonst ten toon brengen ... Het geen
31 de zin te stellen; welkers gedachtenisse ge- onmooglijk schijnt kan de liefde uitvoeren,
32 duerich, en als onuitwisselijk, in onze herten want de geesten zijn wakkerst in verliefde
schijnt ingedrukt’, Inl. p. 179; elsewhere Van zinnen’, Inl. p. 291.
33 Hoogstraten describes the effect of grace in 189 Inl. p. 354, 289; Matsys too is said to have
34 terms of the degree to which the work is been inspired to become a painter by his
35 able to stand the test of time: ‘Wat dunkt u, lover’s beauty, Inl. p. 10.
of onze Aglaje [i.e. one of the three Graces] 190 Van Mander, Leven f. 203v-204r.
36 deeze meesters niet met wat heerlijks heeft 191 ‘Michelangelo beminde de konst als een
37 vereert? om niet alleen in haer leeven be­ Huisvrouw’, Inl. p. 349, his images are ‘im-
38 roemt te zijn, maer zelf[s] de wankelingen mortal offspring’, Inl. p. 289.
der tijden te verduuren’, Inl. p. 290. 192 Paintings make ‘’t gezicht in haere behaeg­
39 181 Junius, TPA p. 50. On Orlers, see Sluijter lijkheden ... verlieven’; Inl. p. 302.
40 2000d, p. 204, n.18. On the nescio quid of 193 Inl. p. 290.
41 Italian art theory, see Sohm 2001, p. 194. 194 ‘Bevallijkheid port aen om te beminne[n]’,
182 ‘Het zweet brak my aen alle kanten uit, zegt Inl. p. 293.
42 Damascius, doen ik de Venus, die Herodes 195 Sluijter 2000b, pp. 131-144.
43 Atticus gewijt hadde, gezien had; van weegen 196 Sohm 2001, p. 199.
44
45
394          note s to chap te r iii
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 394 10-10-2008 16:24:55

 197 ‘[I]n de aerdicheden der bevallijke natuur uit 207 ‘Onde, conoscendo io di non essermi av- 1
te beelden, verlieft is …op de ziele der konst vicinato, né per molto spazio al vero; assai 2
als verslingert is: dat is, de natuur in hare crederei d’aver fatto, se nella maniera, che
eigenschappen te onderzoeken’, Inl. p. 12. le pitture da un grosso velo coperte mala- 3
198 The phrase non so che, which derives ulti- gevolmente si discernono da’ riguardanti: 4
mately from Augustine’s nescio quid, can be così potessero le presenti [descrizioni] essere 5
found in Vasari, Lampsonius and Van Man- egualmente dai lettori apprese’, Agucchi/
der; see Miedema 1973, p. 440, and Becker Malvasia, Descrizione della Venere dormiente 6
1973, p. 55-56, n. 20; Inl. p. 197. di Annibale Carracci, quoted in De Mambro 7
199 ‘E dacchè il core non ha norme fisse come Santos 2001, p. 97. 8
l’intelletto, quindi la grazia non s’impara, 208 Camphuysen points out that words are
ma si sente, e traesi dalla natura: che elle è meaningless in ‘toonsels die ’t gemoet 9
un non so che, che piace, incanta, e seduce, e uyt eygen aert beschaen’, Geestichdom der 10
l’anima a celeste giocondità dispone’, quot- schilderkonst (1638), quoted in Sluijter 1997, 11
ed in Sohm 2001, p. 274 n. 40. p. 214.
200 ‘[D]ie Gratie of bevalligheydt, de welcke 209 ‘[D]it alleen voor den Mensche een eigen 12
uyt den vrijen gheest der Konstenaeren ver- en van Godt ontfangen goed is, dat hy door 13
dighlick ende ghemackelick voordkomende, de Deugd en Reden alle ongetemde harts- 14
door ghenerley Konst-regulen kan voor­ togten bedwingen, en met een goede order
ghestelt worden’, Junius, SKDO p. 317. sijnen geest, beneffens het soeken van’t eeu- 15
201 Junius, TPA p. 290; ‘sich aen de selvighe wig goed, bestieren kan’, Goeree, SK p. 4. 16
stucken met sulcken diepen verwonderin­ 210 Lipsius expresses a certain determinism, 17
ghe vergaepen, datse als door een verruckte with a quotation from John of Damascus:
verslaegenheyd en heymelicke beduchtheyd ‘Deus omnium auctor est et omnium quae 18
stock-stille blijven staen; ende ... met een sunt Rationes in se et caussas iam ante ha- 19
domme en stomme onghevoeligheyd schij­ bet’, Lipsius, Physiologia stoicorum, I, 6; cf. 20
nen gheslagehen te sijn’, Junius, SKDO pp. Papy 2001/2002.
323-324. 211 Junius mentions a number of painters who 21
202 Junius, TPA p. 53; ‘spraeckeloose verbaest­ ‘haer werck al singhende volghden’, which 22
heydt ... achtende dat sich in dien stommen he explains from the salubrious qualities of 23
omtreck der leden levende lichaemen ver- the activity of painting: ‘dewijl het seker is
toonen’, Junius, SKDO p. 45. dat de Konstenaers ghestaedighlick ver- 24
203 Junius, TPA pp. 66-67; ‘[het valt] d’aller quickt worden door de kracht des levendi­ 25
welsprekenste swaer ghenoech de reden daer ghen roerende gheests die den onverwachten 26
van te gheven ... wy begrijpen alle dese din- voord-gangh haeres wercks in hun over­
ghen door ick en weten niet wat ghevoelen, vloedighlick uytstort’, SKDO p. 100-101. Cf. 27
en niet door’t behulp van woorden-konst’, Lipisus: ‘The mind is oppressed, as if shut 28
Junius, SKDO pp. 60-61. up in a jail, unless and until contemplation 29
204 Jansen 1995b. has been added, which bids the mind fresh
205 Junius, TPA p. 290; ‘[e]euwighe dinghen sijn courage by contemplating the universe, and 30
van grooter ghewicht, dan dat de ghemeyne turns the mind away from earthly matters’, 31
maete der menschelicker welsprekenheyd Physiologia Stoicorum, quoted in Saunders 32
de selvighe soude konnen omvanghen’, Ju- 1955, p. 120 ff.
nius, SKDO p. 324. 212 Junius, TPA p. 85; Junius, SKDO p 77. 33
206 ‘[I]ngannatone il senso e la vista, ed istupidi- 213 ‘[D]at daer noit eenich man van recht­ 34
to egli [i.e. the viewer] dello accoppiamento schapen gemoed was, of hy zou liever wen- 35
di sì differenti qualità, talora di sperimentare schen te zijn zoo konstigen beeldenaer als
ciò ch’elle sieno in toccandole, averà desi- Polykleet of Phydias, als een woedenden 36
derio; talora nell’avvicinarsene dubiterà di Hannibal, een onrustigen Pirrhus, of een 37
non turbare quel dolce sonno, e paventerà alvernielenden Alexander zelf; want hoe 38
talvolta quella maestà di Dea, che ella gli si groot haere daeden geweest zijn, zy zijn uit
raffigura ... le opere singolari a pena immag- verwoetheit, onrechtvaerdicheit, en quaede 39
inare, non che isprimer si possono da un de- begeerte voorgebracht; daer de oeffeningen 40
bole ingegno’, Agucchi, Descrizione della Ve- der Edele konsten, in stille opmerkende be- 41
nere dormiente di Annibale Carracci, recorded trachtingen van de geheymen der natuur,
by Malvasia, quoted in De Mambro Santos met de oeffeningen der deugden over een 42
2001, p. 97. stemmen en gelijk loopen’, Inl. p. 348. 43
44
45
no t e s t o c h ap t e r i i i           395
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 395 10-10-2008 16:24:55

1 214 ‘Le peintre ne tient que de la nature ... [La ghemoed door een heymelicke goed-
2 grace] surprend le spectateur qui en sent ­gunstigheyd wordt aenghedreven om’t on-
l’effet sans en pénétrer la veritable cause: vermoeyelicke gewoel sijner diep gheleerder
3 mais cette grâce ne touche son coeur que ghedachten nae te vorschen’, Junius, SKDO
4 selon la disposition qu’il rencontre’, De p. 260.
5 Piles, Idée du peintre parfait (Paris 1708, p. 229 Many examples of this thinking in terms of
10), quoted in Tatarckiewicz 1979, p. 410. similitudo may be found in the writings of Fi-
6 215 Hinz 1992, p. 113. cino, with which Van Hoogstraten was cer-
7 216 ‘Si negat ars formam, gratia vestra dabit... tainly familiar, considering that he refers to
8 Uw gunst voltoit het werk, indien’er kunst them in his first chapter: thus lovers take on
aan faalt’, Houbraken 1718-1721, III p. many of each other’s characteristics; cf. De
9 314. amore, orat. sept., VIII, ‘Quo pacto amator
10 217 Junius, TPA p. 292; Junius, SKDO p. 325. amato similis efficiatur’.
11 218 Junius, TPA pp. 50-51; ‘de Schilder-Konst ... 230 Cf.: ‘Zoo zal’t verstandt doorgaens scherper,
met een dapper vermaeckelicke beweginghe de manier van handeling onnavolgelijk, en
12 in onse herten insluypen, alwaer sy ons ver­ uw werk de natuer in de deelen der kunst
13 slaegen ghemoedt door d’aenlockelickheydt gelijk worden’, Inl. p. 234.
14 van een aenghenaeme verwonderingh soo 231 Junius, TPA p. 35; ‘dat naemelick die dingen
gheweldigh beroeren ende ontstellen, dat de welcke in d’uytnemendste Konstenaers
15 wy ’t ghene nae-gheboetst is voor’t waere voor de beste worden ghekeurt, bynae on-
16 aennemen’, Junius, SKDO p. 42; cf. De nae-volghelick sijn,’ Junius, SKDO p. 27;
17 Brune 1994, p. 435. ‘ende wy begrijpen d’over-groote kracht
219 Cf. Wheelock 2002, p. 81. haerer deughden voornaemelick daer uyt,
18 220 ‘Pour parler des riches peintures, il en faut dat het ons onmoghelick is de selvighe nae
19 parler comme si les choses etoient vrayes te volghen’; Junius, SKDO p. 27.
20 non pas peintes’; P. le Brun (1635), quoted 232 Inl. 192, ‘het past een Konstenaer wel, dat
in Merrifield 1999, pp. 825, 767. hy de printen en teykeningen der voorgaene
21 221 The best-known explanation of the princi- Meesters in eeren houd: want buiten dat hy
22 ple of similitude is probably that of Thomas de konst in’t geheel in achting stijft, zoo vind
23 Aquinas: ‘Holy Scripture fittingly delivers hy gestadich eenige voorwerpen, die hem
divine and spiritual realities under bodily den geest wakkeren, en aen eenige nieuwe
24 guises (divina et spiritualia sub similitudine vindingen doen gedenken’, Inl. p. 212.
25 corporalium tradere). For God provides for 233 ‘[D]ie ghene dewelcke haer selven met eenen
26 all things according to the kind of things ongheveynsden lust tot dese beschouwinghe
they are. Now we are of the kind to reach [van andermans werk] begeven, somtijdts
27 the world of intelligence though the world eenighe verbeeldinghen by der handt [ple-
28 of sense (per sensibilia ad intelligibilia), since gen] te nemen, om de selvighe veelderley
29 all our knowledge takes rise from sensation. wijse te keren en te wenden, even als een
Congenially, then, the Holy Scripture deliv- eenig stuck wasch door ’t endeloos hervor-
30 ers spiritual things to us beneath metaphors men honderdt en honderdt verscheyden gh-
31 taken from bodily things’, Summa Theologiae estalten aenneemt’, Junius, SKDO p. 53.
32 Ia, 1,9,3, see Aquinas 1963, pp. 32-35. 234 ‘[S]choon men zeggen kan, dat hy hem som-
222 Cf. Weststeijn 2007. tijds naebootst, zoo kan men niet zeggen,
33 223 ‘La véritable peinture doit appeller son dat hy hem ergens iet ontsteelt. Maer hy
34 spectateur par la force et la grande vérité de schijnt van den zelven geest ontsteeken in
35 son imitation, et ... le spectateur surpris doit de loopbaen der eeren om prijs te rennen’;
aller à elle, comme pour entrer en conversa- Inl. p. 193.
36 tion avec les figures qu’elle représente’, De 235 ‘Dies behoort een goet Konstenaer voor’t
37 Piles 1708, p. 4. eerste daer nae te trachten, dat sijn werck
38 224 See chapter V below, pp. 230-235. niet en schijne in alles met de Tafereelen
225 Inl. p. 237. van andere vermaerde Meesters over een
39 226 He was ‘door’t zien schilderen in een te komen; ghebeurt het onder en tusschen
40 Schilder verandert’, Inl. p. 10. dat de gantsche gheleghentheydt sijnes
41 227 Honig 1995. wercks een sekere ghelijckheydt met de
228 It seems to viewers ‘dat haeren gheest voorighe stucken van andere Konstenaers
42 t’saementlick met den gheest des arbeyd- uyt wijst, soo moet hy in de tweede plaetse
43 saemen Konstenaers spelen gaet, als haer besorghen dat hy dese gelijckheydt niet by
44
45
396          note s to chap te r iii
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 396 10-10-2008 16:24:55

 gevalle, maer met opset schijne ghetroffen noyt ghebruyckt en wiert. ’t Schijnt alhier 1
te hebben. ... die Konstenaers spannen, mij­ vry wat slots (sic) te hebben, dat sy ’t exem- 2
nes dunckens, de kroone boven d’andere, pel der oudheyt voorwen[d]en; maer wat
de welcke d’oude Konst ontrent een nieuw voor een oudtheydt is het doch daer sy op 3
argument naerstighlick oeffenen, om haere haer selven beroepen?’ Junius, SKDO p. 4
Schilderyen door dit middel met het aenge- 25. 5
naeme vermaeck van eene ongelijcke gelijckheyt 243 ‘[H]y bedriegt zich zelven, die met zulk een
behendighlick te vervullen’(italics mine), Ju- nae-aeping der outheyt onkundigen poogt 6
nius, SKDO p. 29. te bedriegen; want dus volgende zalmen al- 7
236 Inl. p. 191; on this practice, see Konstam tijts achterblijven’, Inl. p. 218. 8
1977, p. 94. 244 ‘Ik zoude ook meesters in de kunst niet ont­
237 Borghini 1584, p. 444; Junius, SKDO p. 62- raeden, iet goets van een ander, ’t was dan 9
63, see above, Chap. I, n. 119. van ouden of uitlanders, somtijts eens nae te 10
238 ‘Daer is dan eenen sekeren slag van oogen volgen: want mooglijk kon dit, door de ver- 11
diemen met Aelianus “konstighe of Konst- nieuwing, de sluimer uit onze oogen drijven;
gheleerden ooghen” mag noemen. So en is maer die zich inbeelden meester te worden 12
het oock niet genoegh dat wy ooghen in ons met altijts te kopyeeren, zonder oyt zelfs iets 13
hoofd hebben als andere menschen, maer uit eygen vinding te bestaen, acht ik bijster 14
het is voorder van noode dat wy sulcke oo­ verdoolt’, Inl. p. 219.
gen sochten te bekomen die nae de maniere 245 ‘Het is zoo enkel deeze drift van naeryver 15
van spreken by Cicero gebruyckt “eruditi geweest, die op eenen tijdt teffens zoo veel 16
oculi”, dat is, “geleerde ooghen” verdienden heerlijke meesters in de kunst heeft voortge- 17
te worden ghenaemt’, Junius, SKDO p. 60, bracht. En men ziet met verwondering, dat
cf. p. 28. niet alleen in de tijden, die met de kunst in 18
239 Junius, SKDO p. 239. den hoogsten graet gepraelt hebben, maer 19
240 Junius gives a variant of ‘wie altijd navolgt, zelfs in die eeuwen, in welke de konst als 20
gaat nooit voorbij’, in which he censures wederom opgedolven wiert, de voornaemste
the practice of imitating examples from the geesten meer hebben getracht malkander te 21
past and praises the art being produced in tarten en de kroon af te winnen, als datze 22
his own day: ‘So en is daer oock geen re- het doelwit, dat de waerachtige konst voor- 23
den ter wereld dat wy van dese onse tijden stelt, hebben gezocht te treffen’, Inl. p. 216.
soo quaelick souden ghevoelen, als of het 246 Van Hoogstraten regrets that the custom 24
’t eene-mael on-moghelick waer dat daer of purchasing old masters has gone out of 25
iet meer tot de wetenschappen die al-reede fashion: today’s art lovers are ‘Ezels ... die 26
aen den dagh ghebracht sijn soude werden in d’oude kunst niet dieper zien, dan in een
toeghevoeght, der-halven moeten die ghene wetsteen’, Inl. p. 212-213. He writes that 27
selfs, die welcke nae den hooghsten trap der Apelles bought up all the available work by 28
volmaecktheyt niet en staen, daer toe liever Protogenes, Inl. p. 213, and Pieter Lely that 29
arbeyden dat sy aen ’t voor-lopen waeren, of Rubens, ‘Konstoeffenaers ... die zelfs,
als aent [sic] ’t nae-loopen, want die d’eerste door ’t opgaederen van goede kunst, blijk 30
soeckt te sijn, sal misschien de voorste met geeven dat ze de goede werken van anderen 31
der tijdt achter-haelen, al-hoe-wel hy de ook lief hebben’, Inl. p. 198. 32
selvighe niet en kan voor-by loopen: Soo 247 ‘Dewijl ... het den leergierige geesten nut en
wie daer-en-teghen meynt dat hy maer al- profijtelijk is, somtijts de werken van andere 33
leen de voet-stappen der ghener die voor- beroemde baezen nae te volgen, zoo past’er 34
gaen moet betreden, de selvige kan nimmer- dit ook voor de liefhebbers by, dat de kon- 35
meer d’eerste wesen’, Junius, SKDO p. 24. stige stukken der groote meesters door’t
241 Making ‘inventions’ is ultimately aimed nakopieeren van goede gezellen ruchtbaer 36
at increasing the artist’s reputation and is worden’, Inl. p. 196-197. 37
therefore an important element of rivalry; 248 ‘[V]an de eer en glory der groote Meesters 38
Junius, SDKO p. 173. tot wakkerheyt wort aengeprikkelt, laet u
242 Junius, SKDO p. 33; ‘’t Waer te wenschen vry dien naeryver ontsteeken’, Inl. p. 215. 39
dat dese armhertighe Konstenaers met 249 ‘“Ick houde my daer van versekert ... dat 40
eenen oock de reden haeres weer-siens elck grootmoedigh herte sich niet alleen 41
[d.w.z. gerichtheid op het verleden] voor- met de huydendaegsche vermaerde mannen
stelden; ... jae maer, seggen sy, daer is een verghelijckt, maer oock met alle deghene 42
sekere maniere van Schilderen die by d’oude die wel oyt eenen hoogh-loffelicken naem 43
44
45
no t e s t o c h ap t e r i i i           397
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 397 10-10-2008 16:24:55

1 hebben verworven”’, Junius, SKDO p. 95. three-dimensionality (uitheffen), Inl. p. 308.
2 250 Junius, TPA p. 102; ‘De deughd is in haeren 261 This is one of the central propositions of
eyghenen aerd eersuchtigh’, Junius, SKDO Brusati 1995, cf. p. 12; for theoretical as-
3 p. 94. pects of trompe-l’oeil art in antiquity, see
4 251 ‘Een braef geest staet na dat deel, dat in Robert 1996 and Marin 1985.
5 achting is, daer hy zich bevind, en word ook 262 Inl. p. 291.
dikwils wakker door eenich tegenstrever in
6 de konst. ’t Is ons onmogelijk ergens in uit
7 te munten, zegt Chrysostomus, ten zy dat c h a pter i v
8 wy met d’alleruitmuntenste om strijt daer 1 ‘De Poësie is een suster, ja een lidt, van mijn
nae trachten. En voorwaer het en kan twee Godinne Pictura, dieshalven heb ik wel ver­
9 loopers tot geen schade gedijen, datze uit anderingh in de handelingh, maer niet in’t
10 Eeryver tegen elkander om strijd rennen. verstant begaan, overwegende, besinnende,
11 Dees Edele nijd zal braeve geesten ten top en beschouwende de affecten en passien
voeren. Zoo streed Rafaël tegen Angelo, en der menschen’, Van Hoogstraten 1650,
12 Angelo tegen Rafaël, en Pordenone met den unpaginated.
13 grooten Titiaen’, Inl. p. 73-74. 2 ‘[A]lleredelste deel der konst’, Inl. p. 109.
14 252 ‘Door naeryver quam Zeuxis tot zoo hoogen Van Mander calls the affects ‘rechte Kernen
graet in de Schilderkonst, dat de vogelen oft Siele die Const in haer heeft besloten’,
15 door zijn geschilderde druiven bedrogen a statement accompanied by the marginal
16 wierden. ... Dit zelve vier ontstak Raphaël note: ‘D’Affecten uytbeelden, Siele der
17 Urbijn, om den grooten Buonarot de loef af Consten’; Grondt VI,55, fol. 27r; Junius,
te snijden: En Michel Agnolo om een on- SKDO p. 221; Leonardo also spoke about
18 genaekbaere hoogte te beklauteren’, Inl. p. the passions in comparable terms; see We-
19 215. ber 1991, p. 196.
20 253 Inl. p. 229, 331, 237-238. 3 Vossius 1690, § 19, p. 70, uses Pathopoios as
254 ‘[O]ns Vaderland ook niet onvrugtbaer’, Inl. a synonym for ‘Affectus effingens’: ‘Hinc
21 p. 255. Graphice Callistrato ... vocatur ethopoios
22 255 Junius, SKDO p. 96. techne, ars mores effingens. Ac poterat si-
23 256 ‘[D]at de Schilderkonst in onzen staet, als in militer pathopoios (affectus effingens) dicere.’
een nieuw Grieken, in’t best van haer bloei- 4 Inl. p. 75.
24 jen is’, Inl. p. 330. 5 See Sloane 2001, p. 394.
25 257 ‘[D]e rechte Schilders eeuw’, Inl. p. 247. 6 This is the focus of both Coornhert’s Ethics
26 258 Sikyon is the exemplary city reputed to and Descartes’ Passions of the Soul. For the
have been the cradle of art. As early as in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century view of
27 Van Mander, we find the view that ‘Pictura the passions and their portrayal on stage see
28 nu wel Bataven/ Soo jonstich is, als voortijts Konst 1993. For Italian art theory see Bar­
29 Sycionen’, Van Mander, Grondt VII,45, f. asch 1967, Michels 1988. For the French see
32v. Montagu 1994 and Kirchner 1991.
30 259 Van Mander writes that ‘classical’ painting is 7 ‘[D]e driften des gemoeds, lijdingen der
31 not exclusively that of Roman antiquity; he ziele, ofte Hartstochten’, Inl. p. 109.
32 includes ‘eenighe Antijcken, die de Franci 8 Van Mander, Grondt Chap. VI deals with
oft Duytschen souden hebben ghedaen’, ‘Wtbeeldinghe der Affecten/passien/be-
33 Van Mander, Leven fol. 220r. geerlijckheden/en lijdens der Menschen’, cf.
34 260 Inl. p. 170. Van Hoogstraten repeats the Miedema 1973, pp. 493 ff., on Van Mander’s
35 well-known anecdotes (from – most notably terminology.
– Pliny’s Naturalis historia) relating to the il- 9 ‘7. Motus of beweegingen’, Inl. p. 117, mar-
36 lusionist art of painting of Hellenism, such ginal note. Van Hoogstraten mentions this
37 as the horses painted by Amphiaraos that again on p. 295, with a reference to Macro-
38 were drenched in sweat and covered in dust, bius; cf. Gauricus 1969, p. 179.
and Pausias’s foreshortened image of a cow, 10 Brusati 1995, p. 19.
39 Inl. p. 168-169. In fact Van Hoogstraten il- 11 Goeree, MK, pp. 357-376, borrows from
40 lustrates his section on foreshortening with Descartes’ Méditations, his Passions de l’âme
41 numerous anecdotes from antiquity featur- and La dioptrique.
ing painters who seem to endow their fig- 12 Steenbakkers 2000.
42 ures with ‘een levenden geest’ and most im- 13 LeBrun’s Caractères des passions (1668) was
43 portantly imbue them with a suggestion of translated into Dutch in the eighteenth cen-
44
45
398          note s to chap te r iv
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 398 10-10-2008 16:24:55

 tury. De Lairessse recommended M. Cureau 29 Cf.: ‘il Dissegno interno in generale è una 1
de la Chambre; Lairesse, GS II, p. 226. See Idea, e una forma nell’intelletto rappresen­ 2
Souchon 1980 on Le Brun and Descartes. tante espressamente, e distintamente la cosa
14 The full title is Redenvoeringen over de herts­ intesa da quello, che pure è termine, e og- 3
tochten en hunne vaste kenteekenen in ’s men- getto di lui’, Zuccari 1607, I,5. 4
schen wezen. 30 Aristotelian theory refers to inclinatio anima- 5
15 ‘[D]oor byvoegen van verstand uitbeeldende lis; Konst 1993, p. 12.
dingen [heeft de schilder] zijn voornemen 31 Cf. a quotation from Lucretius (De re- 6
uitgevoert ...: als met de gedaenten harer rum naturae 4, 780-781), cited by Junius: 7
kleederen, handtuigen, gedierten, en derge­ ‘Quaeritur imprimis, quare, quod cuique 8
lijke’, Inl. p. 111. lubido/ Venerit, extemplo mens cogitat eius
16 Veldman 1980; Konst 1993, p. 21; cf. Weber id ipsum? (One then wonders why, when 9
1991, p. 207. the desire for an object seizes us, the mind 10
17 Barasch 1985, pp. 288 ff. immediately imagines this object?)’, Nativel 11
18 ‘Lydingen oft Harts-toghten’, ‘in ieder van 1996, p. 189.
welke men inzonderheidt letten moet, en 32 Francis Bacon stresses that verbal abstracts 12
hoe die Hartstoght bewooghen, en hoe zy acquire their first concrete interpretation 13
ghestilt werde’, Vossius 1690, p. 5. when they are used in a picture: ‘Emblema 14
19 Van Mander, Grondt VI,2, f. 22v. Le Brun vero deducit intellectuale ad sensibile’. He
based his codification on Descartes’ classi- continues: ‘Sensibile autem semper fortius 15
fication into six primary passions, see Mon- percutit memoriam, atque in ea facilius im- 16
tagu 1994, p. 158. primitur, quam intellectuale’, Bacon, De dig- 17
20 Cf. James 1998, pp. 923. The atomistic view nitate et augmentis scientiarum libri X (1645,
of the workings of the human body is ex- col. 142), quoted in Nativel 1996, p. 474; cf. 18
pressed by Goeree when he compares the Michels 1988, p. 185. 19
movements of ‘the finest particles of the 33 ‘De eerste en wichtigste hooft-regel is 20
Blood’ to the cogs of a timepiece, Goeree, dat men sijne tochten en bewegingen des
MK p. 339. gemoets matige ... laet ons Heeren over ons 21
21 Cf. James 1998, p. 928. Hobbes’s views are zelfs zijn, en over onse lusten en begeerten 22
set down in his Elementorum philosophiae, heerschen, soo wy de goede wil van andere 23
sectio secunda (London 1658); for their influ- gewinnen willen. Want het onrecht waer,
ence on art theory cf. Emmens 1981b, p. 68, dat wy na de verovering van ander lieden 24
Held 2001, pp. 164-166. gemoedt zouden streven, en doch te vooren 25
22 Cf. Konst 1993, p. 20. niet leerden ons eygen wille te overwinnen 26
23 For this subject, which plays a particular ... een wakker mensche ... hoed [zich] van
role in Descartes’ correspondence with sijne tochten soo lijfeygen te worden, dat hy 27
Elizabeth of Bohemia, see Verbeek 1996. se niet die gene, welkers goede gunst hy hem 28
24 Inl. p. 255. onderwerpen wil, ook onderwerpen kan’, EJ 29
25 Weber 1991, p. 196. pp. 61-62.
26 ‘De Philosophen, van de zielen handelende, 34 In Miedema’s view, the Grondt contains in a 30
zeggen datze of van driederley natueren very general sense an admonition to be more 31
zijn, of datmen ’er driederley graeden van careful of the passions (‘beter op d’Affecten 32
werkingen af bespeurt: d’eerste noemen zy te passen’), Van Mander, Grondt VI,70, f.
de groeijende, en deeze zoude de oorzae­ 28v, see also VI,34, fol. 25v; cf. Miedema 33
ke van wasdom in alle kruiden, planten, 1973, p. 493. 34
boomen, mijnstoffen, en dergelijke toenee- 35 Van Mander urges young painters to exhibit 35
mende, doch ongevoelijke dingen zijn. De the Stoic virtues of temperantia in times of
tweede noemen zy de gevoelijke en beroe­ prosperity and patientia in times of hard- 36
rende, en deeze eygenen zy allerley slach ship, cf. a remark like ‘do not allow your 37
van levendige dieren, visschen, voogelen en mind to get so broad’ that you make figures 38
de menschen toe. De derde noemen zy de that are too large, Grondt V,6, f. 15v. In the
denkende, de Reedewikkende, of de Reede­ Inleyding, these admonitions can be found 39
lijke, en met deeze zouden alle menschen in the chapter on ‘Uitspanning’ or leisure, 40
begaeft zijn’, Inl. p. 85-86. where, with a reference to Seneca, young 41
27 Konst 1993, p. 7, Vermij 1999b, p. 29. artists are encouraged to practise temper-
28 See esp. Panofsky 1927, passim, and Wil- antia, Inl. p. 199, p. 200. In chapter VIII, 42
liams 1997, pp. 135-150 and elsewhere. Van Hoogstraten advises patient forebear- 43
44
45
n o t e s t o c hap t e r i v           399
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 399 10-10-2008 16:24:56

1 ance (‘verdraegsaem gedult’) in the face of want to refer to ‘characters’ but solely to the
2 the opinions of ignorant art lovers, Inl. p. expression of states of mind; cf. Miedema
315, cf. also Inl. p. 317: ‘Maer laet u al deeze 1973, p. 501. Vossius writes about ‘charac-
3 opschuimingen eens ontstelden gemoets, ô ter’ in Vossius 1690, § 19.
4 Schilderjeugt, niet verrukken, maer stel ge­ 44 Inl. p. 107; Zopyrus is also mentioned by
5 stadich, nevens een betamelijk gedult, deeze Van Mander, see Miedema 1973, p. 501.
twee middelen in’t werk [i.e., favourable be- 45 ‘De kroostkunde nu is een kennis van uit
6 haviour and respect]’. Elsewhere, too, Van de byzonderheden, die in de aengezichten
7 Hoogstraten expresses Stoic views, such as of tronien der menschen bespeurt worden,
8 Marcus Aurelius’s advice not to become too haer landaert, geslacht, geest en neyging des
occupied with just one thing, Inl. p. 71; a gemoets te verklaren’, Inl. p. 40; cf. Gauri-
9 literal reference to the ‘Stoic philosophers’ cus: ‘Physiognomica … est certa quaedam
10 on p. 90. Cf.: ‘Een bequaem gemoedt is ge- observatio, qua ex iis que corpori in sunt sig-
11 schikt in alle voorvallen, en schijnt een lust nis, animorum etiam qualitates denotamus’,
en toeneyging, tot alle zaken die het ver- Gaurico 1969, p. 129; on this passsage see
12 richt, te dragen. ... Wanneer zoodanigh een Michels 1988 p. 76.
13 mensche, zich by eenen die van rasenden 46 Inl. p. 41. Boccaccio associates the remark
14 toorn brant bevint, soo zal hij dese gewel- about ugliness in contrast to a good charac-
dige gemoets beweging, waer voor alle din- ter with Giotto, see Panofsky 1970, p. 14, n.
15 gen schrikken, om ver gewurpen te worden, 2.
16 soo geschikt weten te wijken, dat hy op een 47 Cicero, Tusculanae disputationes IV, xxxvii,
17 ongemerkte wijs, dese wraekgierige hitte af 80. Van Hoogstraten says that Socrates suc-
koele’, EJ p. 63. ‘Leer spot, spijt, schimp en ceeded in overcoming his ‘hostile nature’,
18 geck altijdt verduldich lijden/ Soo sult ghy Inl. p. 46.
19 lichtelijck de sond’ van gramschap mijden’, 48 ‘[P]rikkel […] om onze aengebore gebreeken
20 De Bie, Cabinet p. 543. ook te wederstaen’, Inl. p. 113.
36 ‘De Stoiken riepen, dat deeze hartstocht 49 ‘Maer deze verschillentheit wort men aller­
21 [i.e. sadness] een rechtschaepen man noit en meest gewaer in de beweegingen des
22 behoorde te beweegen: maer de Schilders gemoets: want dan worden de tronien zoo
23 en Treurdichters geven aen haere Tafe­ veel meer die dieren gelijk, daer zy naer aer-
reelen en Toneelen, door het uibeelden van den’, Inl. pp. 41-42. The classical source for
24 verscheyde droefheden en jammerklachten, this idea is Aristotle, Historia animalium I-
25 het beste sieraet’, Inl. p. 111. III. Inl. p. 112; cf. the hints for depicting a
26 37 ‘[D]at hy door de Deugd en Reden alle onge- stupid person: ‘Fleshy and bulging muscles
temde harts-togten bedwingen, en met een on the temples are, according to Scaliger,
27 goede order sijnen geest ... bestieren kan, tot sure signs of stupidity, ignorance and an ab-
28 aanleiding aller vrye konsten’, Goeree, SK horrence of the arts’, Inl. p. 42.
29 p. 4. 50 Goeree, MK p. 197.
38 ‘Gelijk ook den Maker gewild heeft, dat ... 51 Inl. p. 41; for the chiromantic and physi-
30 de gesteldheyd van ’t Gemoed en de Passien, omantic tradition that can be traced back to
31 met den yver der Doening in’t Aangesicht the Chaldeans in relation to the passions in
32 des Menschen niet en souden verborgen bli- art see Barasch 1967.
jven’, Goeree, MK p. 338. 52 ‘[J]a dat nog verder gaet, en van veelen
33 39 De Lairesse, GS II, p. 11. gelooft word, het geluk of ongeluk, dat
34 40 Verberckmoes 1999, with bibliography. iemant over’t hooft hangt, te kunnen voor­
35 41 The reception of Theophrastus’s Characteres spellen ... Datmen uit het weezen eens men-
is an intellectual tradition that to a degree schen iets van zijn toekomende geluk of
36 runs parallel to physiognomy: whereas in ongeluk zoude kunnen voorzeggen, is een
37 the latter the character of a type of per- oud gevoelen’, Inl. p. 40-42.
38 son is represented by physical traits, in the 53 Miedema 1973, p. 501.
former it is defined by a particular pattern 54 Junius, TPA p. 234; ‘wanneer dien afghe-
39 of behaviour. maelden persoone soude overlijden’, Junius,
40 42 Verberckmoes 1999; specifically on Leonar- SKDO p. 253.
41 do see Kwakkelstein 1994; on physiognomy 55 Van de Wetering 1999, p. 21.
and art theory in the fifteenth and sixteenth 56 ‘[S]piegel des geests’, Inl. p. 41, ‘spiegel
42 centuries see Reisser 1997. van het hart’, p. 110; Van Mander, Grondt
43 43 Van Mander concludes that he does not VI,26-27, f. 24rv; cf. Miedema 1973, p.
44 493.
45
400          note s to chap te r iv
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 400 10-10-2008 16:24:56

 57 Inl. p. 40; Van Mander, Grondt VI,4, f. 23r. 67 ‘[L]ekkeren vis-eeter’, Inl. p. 74; ‘dat alle 1
58 ‘Maer deeze beweegingen des gemoeds Schilders haer eygen zelfs beeltenis best 2
worden wel meest in het aengezicht be- konden maken’, Inl. p. 168.
speurt’, Inl. p. 109. 68 ‘[S]i dice che ogni depintore depinge se 3
59 ‘[L]eevent te maken, dat al die hen toe be- medesimo […] depinge se in quanto depin- 4
hooren zich daer aen verlustigen ... op dat tore: id est secondo il suo concepto; e benchè 5
men dan twee zinnen te gelijk door die oog- siano diverse fantasie e figure de’dipintori
en en ooren bemachtige’, EJ p. 82. che dipingono, tamen sono tutte secondo 6
60 ‘[C]um proavis atavisque posteri confabula- il concetto suo’, Savonarola, Prediche so- 7
mur ... Physionomiam enim, quidquid ob- pra Ezechiel, XXVI, quoted in Tatarckie- 8
strepatur, singulare animi iudicium dare’, wicz 1979, p. 78. On this subject see Kemp
Huygens, Fragment p. 74; Huygens 1994, 1976. 9
p. 81, cf. p. 88. 69 ‘Men betrachte eerst wie men selfs is, 10
61 ‘Voornamentlijk moet men waer nemen, van wat staet en aensien sy met welke wy 11
dat geen valsheydt in onse reden schijne, of spreken, wat zake, in welke gelegenheyt, en
dat de oogen de mont doen liegen, en alsoo of men te hoopen heeft, dat het voor een 12
in een oogenblik onsen arbeydt en beden­ korts­wijlige en scharpzinnige spreuke sal 13
king te vergeefs om ver valt’, EJ, pp. 63-64. gehoude worden’, EJ p. 74. 14
This book places a great deal of emphasis 70 Huygens, Fragment pp. 75-76, Huygens
on keeping ‘innate faults’ hidden, cf. EJ p. 1994, pp. 82-83. 15
9; the courtier must ensure that his deceit is 71 Cf. Jansen 2001, p. 129, p. 137. 16
not detected: ‘deze goede dingen moeten by 72 ‘Wy noemen manier, een zekere handeling 17
ons in zoodanigen orden gepleegt worden ... des Schilders, niet alleen van zyn Hand,
dat [geen] bedrieger aen ons gespeurt wort’, maar van zyn Gemoed ... Het woord Manier 18
EJ, p. 46. betekent in een Schilder het zelve, dat het 19
62 ‘[T]en hoogsten verfoeyt ... van die geen, woord Stijl betekent in een Autheur; want 20
die des Menschen Lichaam geheel ... met een schilder is bekent by zyn Manier, gelyk
sijnen Geest, vereenigd heeft’, Goeree, MK als een Autheur is by zyn Stijl, of een Koop- 21
p. 109. mans Hand is by zyn Schrift’, Weyerman, 22
63 ‘Een schoon lichaem belooft wel een De Levens-beschryvingen der Nederlandsche 23
schoone Ziele; maer het aenghezicht be- Konst-Schilders en Konst-Schilderessen (The
lieght oock wel het herte’, De Brune 1657, Hague & Dordrecht 1729-1769, volume I 24
p. 14, par XLVII. p. 27), quoted from Broos 1990, p. 127. 25
64 Inl. p. 349; see above, p. 145. 73 F. Baldinucci, Cominciamento, e progresso 26
65 ‘d’Alleroutste schilders zijn ook al verschey- dell’arte dell’intagliare in rame (1686); for the
de weegen ingeslagen, en de byzondere passage on Rembrandt see Slive 1953, pp. 27
driften haers gemoeds zijn altijts in hare 104-115; on Rembrandt’s ugly and ‘plebe- 28
werken bekent geworden .... Zoo is’t dan, ian’ appearance (‘una faccia brutta, e plebea, 29
dat de Konstenaeren elk als tot iets eygens era accompagnato da un vestire abietto, e
gedreven worden, waer door men, als door fucido’) see p. 113. 30
een byzonder merk, haere werken kent, ge­ 74 The traditional topos that the painter and 31
lijk men de zweemingen [i.e. characteristic his work correspond (Michelangelo makes 32
features] en ’t kroost der ouderen in de kin- difficult work, Raphael, in contrast, makes
deren gemeenlijk gewaer wort. En al hoewel graceful work, etc.) recurs in Vasari’s lives of 33
deze byzonderheden eer afwijkingen, dan the artists; cf. Rubin 1995, p. 331. 34
volkomene vasticheden der konst kunnen 75 On this subject see Guépin 1991, p. 468. 35
genoemt worden, zoo zijnze ... den liefheb- 76 The author speaks of ‘the performance of
bers een bekoorlijke vermaeklijkheyt’, Inl. p. self’ in still lifes, Brusati 1990/91, p. 182, cf. 36
74. p. 170. 37
66 ‘Het gemeen zeggen is, dat de Schilders de 77 Junius, TPA 108; ‘dewijl het seker is dat 38
gebreken, die zy zelfs in haren persoon heb- de Konstenaers ghestaedighlick verquickt
ben, ook veeltijts in haer werk vertoonen. worden door de kracht des levendighen 39
... De reden zouw zijn, dat onze innerlijke roerende gheests die den onverwachten voord- 40
zinnen met onze uiterlijke gedaenten lich- gangh haeres wercks in hun overvloedigh- 41
telijk overeendragen’, Inl. p. 65. The same lick uytstort’, Junius, SKDO pp. 100-101.
observation is found in Leonardo, cf. Borin- 78 ‘[A]ls of hy in de konst wederom verjeugde’, 42
ski 1965 I, p. 170. Inl. p. 349. 43
44
45
n o t e s t o c hap t e r i v           401
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 401 10-10-2008 16:24:56

1 79 ‘[W]anneer ik schilder, leef ik, en speelen- della vista fa chiaro e aperto testimonio’,
2 gaende sterf ik’, Inl. p. 348. Francesco Bocchi, Opera di M. Francesco Boc-
80 ‘[D]eeze beweegingen des gemoeds worden chi sopra l’ immagine miracolosa della Santissi-
3 wel meest in het aengezicht bespeurt, na ma Nunziata de Fiorenza (Florence 1592),
4 welkers trekkingen die van het lichaam zich pp. 61-68; quoted from Barocchi, Scritti p.
5 ook voegen: zoo dat, wanneermen die van 1005.
het aengezicht machtig wort zich zelven in 94 ‘[L]e figure movano gli animi de’ riguardan-
6 te beelden, men die van het lichaem te lich- ti, alcune turbandogli, altre rallegrandogli,
7 ter zal kunnen raemen’, Inl. p. 109. altre sospingendogli a pietà, e altre a sdegno
8 81 Cf. Konst 1993, p. 94. ... come aviene parimente al Poeta, all’ His-
82 ‘[E]en verwoeden ... met een barsch en torico, e all’Oratore’, Dolce 1557, fol. 41r-
9 dreygend aengezicht ... veranderde verwe v.
10 ... de vergramde, hun oogen branden en 95 ‘Still I would not for this reason go so far
11 glinsteren ... hun aengezicht is rood van’t as to approve a practice of which I have
bloed, dat uit het diepste van hun ingewant read, and which indeed I have occasionally
12 opwelt; hun lippen beeven, en hun tanden witnessed, of bringing into court a picture
13 klapperen, hun hairen ryzen te berge, ... hun of the crime painted on wood or canvas,
14 geheel lichaem siddert en dreygt schriklijk, that the judge might be stirred to fury by
hun gelaat is leelijk gezwollen en verderft the horror of the sight. For the pleader who
15 zich zelve’, Inl. p. 112. prefers a voiceless picture to speak for him
16 83 Junius, TPA p. 208; ‘[e]lcke beroerte onses in place of his own eloquence must be sin-
17 ghemoeds, seght Cicero, ontfanght een gularly incompetent’, Quintilian 1920-1922,
seker ghelaet van de nature, ’t welck men 6.1.32-33.
18 voor ’t bysondere ende eyhgene ghelaet der 96 ‘[Z]iel-roerende kracht der welsprekend-
19 selviger beroerte houden magh’, Junius, heid’, Junius, SKDO p. 42, ‘Actien en Natuur-
20 SKDO p. 221, with note Lib. II de Oratore. lijke Gebeerden [gaan] verre boven de wel-
84 For one example see Inl. p. 42. sprekendheyd der Orateuren’, Goeree, MK
21 85 ‘[D]e affecten oft d’inwendighe crachten’, p. 294.
22 Van Mander, Grondt VI,10, f. 23v; see fur- 97 ‘Hy behoort met den hoogen geest der treur-
23 ther VI,60-61, f. 27v. speldichters vermaegschapt te zijn, om alle
86 Van Mander, Grondt VI,56-57, f. 27v; Inl. beweegingen des menschelijken gemoeds
24 p. 112, p. 358; cf. Borinski 1965 I, p. 1. niet alleen te kennen, maer ook, als’t pas
25 87 Konst 1993, p. 22. geeft, de zelve te kunnen uitdrukken; dewijl
26 88 ‘[D]en motus des Lichaems van buyten’, men noit eenich beelt behoort onder handen
‘veranderen en t’roeren der lidtmaten’, Van te nemen, zonder daer in zeekere beweeging
27 Mander, Grondt VI,47 en 35, f. 26v en 25v. … te vertoonen’, Inl. p. 88-89.
28 89 Motus is a concept dat that Lomazzo, in 98 ‘Zeeker het koloreeren valt den Poëten lich­
29 particular, applies very broadly; see Barasch ter, als ons Schilders’, Inl. p. 112; cf.: ‘[d]
1985, pp. 276 ff. e Poëten doen hare personaedjen ook wel
30 90 For this see most recently Roodenburg veelerley driften byna al teffens vertoonen,
31 2004. gelijk Tasso van Armide zingt’, Inl. pp. 111.
32 91 ‘[D]e sprake der handen ... een algemeen 99 Weber 1991, p. 89, Konst 1993, p. 89 n. 49.
sprake aller volkeren des aertbodems’, Inl. 100 ‘Wilmen nu eer inleggen in dit alleredelste
33 p. 118. deel der konst, zoo moetmen zich zelven
34 92 Cf. the way Félibien renders Poussin’s geheel in een toneelspeeler hervormen. Ten
35 words: ‘Just as the twenty-four letters of the is niet genoeg, datmen flaeuwelijk een His-
alphabet are used to form our words and to torye kenbaer make, Demosthenes was niet
36 express the various passions of the soul, so ongeleerder als anders, toen hem het volk
37 the forms of the human body are used to walgelijk den rug toe keerde: maer sedert
38 express the passions of the soul and make Satyrus hem Euripides en Sopohokles vaer-
visible what is in the mind’, quoted in Ba­r- zen met beeter toonen en bevallijker be-
39 asch 1985, p. 326. See Kapp 1990, on sermo wegingen had voorgezeyt, en hy hem zelven
40 corporis in the context of courtiers’ literature, ... geheel den komediant leeren nabootsen
41 and also on this question Hess 2000 and hadde, sedert, zeg ik, hoordemen hem als
Rehm 2002. een orakel der welsprekentheit. Dezelve
42 93 ‘[I]l costume del volto, cioè pensiero, che fa- baet zalmen ook in’t uitbeelden van diens
43 vella tacitamente, e di tutta la vita per mezzo hartstochten, die gy voorhebt, bevinden,
44
45
402          note s to chap te r iv
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 402 10-10-2008 16:24:56

 voornaemlijk voor een spiegel, om te gelijk verkiezing eens Schilders is vryer, als die 1
vertooner en aenschouwer te zijn’, Inl. pp. van een History schrijver, zijnde deze ver- 2
109-110. bonden aan de dingen van den grond op te
101 Inl. p. 109.The same anecdote is found in verhandelen, daer een konstenaer plotselijk 3
Junius in connection with the concept of of in het begin, in het midden, of wel in 4
enargeia, Junius, SKDO p. 50. het eynde der Historie valt, nae zijn lust en 5
102 ‘Zoo moogt gy ook, als u eenigen druk over- goetdunken, Hy verbeelt of het voorgaene,
komen is, u met de konst troosten, en als u het tegenwoordige, of het toekomende, en 6
iets behaeglijx voorkomt, zoo is’t tijdt, dat is niet verder verbonden, als met ’t geene 7
gy aenmerkt wat innerlijke gevoelicheden in een opslach der oogen tevens gezien kan 8
en uiterlijke bewegingen deeze lijdingen worden, uit het eeuwich vervolg der zaeken
veroorzaken’, Inl. p. 109. te vertoonen’, Inl p. 178. 9
103 Horace, Ars poetica, 3.99-102. 113 ‘Het zy nu, datmen een enkel beelt, of veele 10
104 ‘[M]overà l’istoria l’animo quando i huomini te zamen voor hebbe, men moet toezien, 11
dipinti molto porgeranno suo movimento datmen alleenlijk een oogenblikkige be­
d’animo’, Alberti 1547, 2.41. weeging, welke voornamentlijk de daed der 12
105 ‘’t Is niet genoeg, dat een beelt schoon is, Historie uitdrukt, vertoone; gelijk Horatius 13
maer daer moet een zeekere beweeglijkheyt zegt: “Breng yder werkstuk, zoo ’t behoort,/ 14
in zijn, die macht over d’aenschouwers heeft; Slechts enkel een eenweezich voort.” Op
Gelijk Horatius van het dichten zingt. “Een dat het werk eenstemmich den toeziender, 15
schoon gedicht zal my niet licht beroeren,/ als een anderen omstander verrukke, van 16
Maer vriendlijkheyt kan hert en ziel vervoe­ een felle daed doe schrikken, en door het 17
ren./ Men lacche, of ween’, d’aenschouwer zien van iets blygeestichs doe verheugen: of
raekt op’t spoor:/ Dus wilt gy dat ik dat hy door eenich aengedaen ongelijk met 18
schreye, schrey my voor.” Zoo is’t ook met meedelijden bewoogen worde; en in een 19
de Schilders, zy beroeren ’t gemoed niet, rechtvaerdige daed zich vernoegt bevinde’, 20
zooze deeze beweeglijkheyt overslaen’, Inl. Inl. p. 116.
p. 292-293. 114 On the concept of ‘eenweezich’ as a design 21
106 Quintilian, Inst. orat. 7, 2, 32: ‘Intersequitur principle in Rembrandt’s studio see also Van 22
‘enargeia’ quae a Cicerone illustratio et evi- de Wetering 1997, p. 253. 23
dentia nominatur, quae non tam dicere vi- 115 ‘Een enkele en oogenblikkige daet uit te
detur quam ostendere; et adfectus nonaliter, beelden’, Inl. p. 116. 24
quam si rebus ipsis intersimus, sequentur.’ 116 ‘[T]en is niet genoeg, datmen flaeuwelijk ... 25
For enargeia and energeia see Michels 1988, een Historye kenbaer make’, Inl. p. 109. 26
p. 61, p. 182. 117 ‘Hier vereyscht dan voor al, dat de doenin-
107 Cicero, Orator 23.79, the virtutes dicendi are gen of beweegingen des lichaems met de 27
puritas, perspicuitas, decorum and ornatus. lydingen des gemoeds overereenkomen, al 28
108 Cf. Franken 1995. waert zelf[s] in byna stilstaende vertoonin- 29
109 ‘Een schilder die oordeel heeft, zal niet gen’, Inl. p. 116.
meer op een panneel uitbeelden dan ’er op 118 De Lairesse explains the meaning of the de- 30
een plaats en op een zelfde tijdt gebeurt is. piction of the passions in genre painting; see 31
Een Spel dat een spreekende schildery ver- Kemmer 1998. 32
strekt, vereischt de zelfde eigenschap,’ Jan 119 Cf. Von Rosen 2000.
Vos, ‘Inleiding tot Medea’, in Vos 1975, p. 120 Michels 1988, p. 62. 33
354; cf. De Lairesse, GS I, p. 143. 121 ‘[E]nargeia ... evidentissime repraesentatur’, 34
110 ‘[D]emonstratio est cum ita verbis res ex- Gaurico, De Sculptura (Florence 1504, p. 62, 35
primitur ut qui negotium et res ante oculos see further p. l6), quoted in Michels 1988, p.
esse videatur’, Cicero, Rhetorica ad Heren- 74; Gaurico 1969, pp. 42-45. 36
nium, IV,lv,68. 122 Junius, TPA p. 265; ‘d’uytdruckelickheyd 37
111 ‘[E]en spel hierinne tegen een Schildery ofte duydelickheyd ... die ons de gantsche 38
verscheelt, dat het in yder handeling een saecke soo blijckelick voor d’ooghen stelt,
byzondere tijdt, plaets, of daedt begrijpt: als of wy de naeckte vertooninghe der din- 39
daer de Schildery maer een oogenbliklijke ghen selver aenschouden’, Junius, SKDO p. 40
daedt of zaek vertoont’, Inl. p. 189. 291. 41
112 ‘Wanneer de zaek, die gy voorhebt, in uw 123 Junius, TPA p. 57; ‘[het] blijckt dat dien
verstant wel begrepen is, zoo neem, nae Konstenaer maer alleen duydelick ende uyt- 42
uw keur, een oogenbliklijke daedt, want de druckelick wercken kan, de welcke de din- 43
44
45
n o t e s t o c hap t e r i v           403
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 403 10-10-2008 16:24:56

1 ghen die hy ter handt treckt als teghenwoor- totelean principle of peripeteia and the art
2 digh aenschouwt. ’t Welck meest van allen in of Titian see Puttfarken 2003, pp. 16 ff.
de herts-tochten ofte in de inwendighe be- 138 In the Roomsche Paulina Van Hoogstraten re-
3 weghingen onses ghemoedts plaetse heeft’, counts how Paulina’s chastity is jeopardized
4 Junius, SKDO p. 50. when greed gets the upper hand over Mun-
5 124 ‘[D]istaccandosi dalla superficie con tanta dus’s feelings of friendship: ‘Here friendship
energìa, che spira le parole, e parla con chi is in distress, fettered to love and affection’,
6 gli si fà incontro, e si ferma à riguardarlo’, Van Hoogstraten 1660, last part, p. F3.
7 Bellori 1695, p. 80. 139 ‘’t Meysje, dit staetich gezicht beschou-
8 125 Inl. p. 292. wende, kreeg zulk een schrik en verander-
126 Junius, TPA p. 53; ‘Greg[orius] Nyssenus ing, datze haer omkeerende weer dadelijk
9 nae een wijdtloopigh en gantsch beweghe­ nae huis liep’, Inl. p. 350-351; after Gregory
10 lick verhael van Isaacks Offerhande, heeft dit of Nazianzus, Carmina moralia 1,2,10, 793-
11 daer en boven daer by gevoeght. “Ick hebbe 807.
menighmael”, seght hy, “d’af-beeldinge 140 Van Mander describes a Paris by Euphranor,
12 deser geschiedenisse in een Schilderye in which judgement and wisdom are coupled
13 met weenende ooghen aanschouwet, soo with love and valour; Van Mander, Grondt
14 krachtighlick was de gantsche Historye VI,40, f. 26r.
door de Konst voor ooghen gestelt”’, Jun- 141 ‘[F]lauwicheit in’t sterven, de moederlijke
15 ius, SKDO p. 45 voorzorge, kommer en droefheyt’, Inl. p.
16 127 Junius is referring to St Gregory of Nicene, 109. Van Mander, Grondt VI,24, f. 24v;
17 De deitate filii et spiritus sancti oratio; the to- VI,67-68, f. 28rv, Het leven der oude antijcke
pos is found primarily in the writings of doorluchtighe schilders, in: Van Mander 1604,
18 Counter-reformation authors like Gilio, f. 71v; Plinius, Nat. Hist. XXXV, 98.
19 Paleotti and Molanus; cf. Comanini 1591, p. 142 Inl. p. 111.
20 310. 143 ‘Fa anco il dolore svenire, gridare ... e simili
128 Cf. Sumowski 1979-1992, no. 1155x, p. effetti, come si deue fare nel padre Giacob,
21 2567, and no. 1195x, p. 2651. quando gli fù rappresentato dai figliuoli, il
22 129 Cf. Shakespeare, in Hamlet 2.2: ‘For lo, his mantello di Gioseppe’, Lomazzo 1584, book
23 sword,/ Which was declining on the milky II, cap. 16, fol. 166; for this scene in Rem-
head/ Of reverend Priam, seem’d i’th’air brandt’s circle see Sumowski 1979-1992, no.
24 to stick;/ So, as a painted tyrant, Pyrrhus 1220x, p. 2685.
25 stood’. 144 E.g. Sumowski 1979-1992, no. 1108, p.
26 130 ‘Als wilde hy hun, met neerstich bestieren,/ 2469 (the sacrifice of Manoah), no. 1160x,
Medelijdich eenich jammer bedieden,/ Of p. 2577 (the holy women by the tomb); no.
27 yet dat schrickelijck staet te gheschieden, 1154x, p. 2565, no. 1192x, p. 2643 (Tobias
28 Van Mander, Grondt V,38, f. 18r. alarmed by the fish), no. 1230x, p. 2725 (the
29 131 Inl. p. 116. Resurrection).
132 ‘Seneka mede zegt, dat de vervaerlijke 145 Vos, Alle de gedichten 1 (1726, p. 361), quoted
30 Schilderye van een droevige uitkomste ons from Weber 1991, p. 199; Lomazzo 1584,
31 gemoed ontroert’, Inl. p. 349. fol. 168.
32 133 ‘[D]e Schilders en Treurdichters geven aen 146 Cf. Konst 1993, p. 82. Michels uses the
haere Tafereelen en Toneelen, door het uit- terms, pragma, ethos and pathos, which like-
33 beelden van verscheyde droefheden en jam- wise stem from classical rhetoric; pragma
34 merklachten, het beste sieraet’, Inl. p. 111. refers here to practical argumentation that
35 134 ‘[O]nse herten [worden] door een stuck has an effect on the listener’s rational under-
’t welck ons een rechtvaerdighe wraecke standing; logos and pragma are therefore es-
36 af-beeldet krachtighlick beroert’, Junius, sentially interchangeable; Michels 1988, p.
37 SKDO p. 45. 54.
38 135 ‘Tu Artifex, quid quaeris amplius? delectan- 147 ‘Bewijsredenen ... Redenen, Zeden en Hart-
tur spectans multitudo, ducitur Pictura, gau- stochten, welke by de Ghrieken Logoi, Ae-
39 det, dolet, ridet, miratur, et, Pictura quosuis thae en Pathae ghenoemt worden’, Vossius
40 affectus inspirante, ad misericordiam aut 1648, pp. 29.
41 odium inducitur’, Nativel 1996, 1,5,4, p. 148 Junius, TPA p. 297; ‘wie in alle dese din-
370. ghen overtreft, deselvighe sal voor den aller
42 136 Cf. Konst 1993, p. 52. grootsten Meester ghehouden worden’, Ju-
43 137 See Blankert 1976, pp. 41-45. On the Aris- nius, SKDO pp. 330-331.
44
45
404          note s to chap te r iv
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 404 10-10-2008 16:24:56

 149 Cap. XXI, ‘Dell’officio e fine del pittore haere werken de boovengemelde Reedewik- 1
cristiano, a similitudine degli oratori’: ‘De- kingen of menschelijke zielen gewaer word’, 2
lectare est suavitatis, docere necessitatis, Inl. p. 87.
flectere victoriae’, with a reference to Au- 156 ‘Maer gelijk ’er by de Poëten verscheyde be- 3
gustine, ‘De Doctrina Christ, IV, 12’, Pale- quaemheden zijn, en deze, door den Geest 4
otti 1960, pp. 214-216. Speroni believes ‘sì van onze Thalia ontsteeken, niet dan aer- 5
come il dipintore et il poeta, due artefici dicheden hervoor brengt: daer een andere,
all’oratore sembianti, per diletto di noi fan- van Melpomene bezeten, een hoofser tael, in 6
no versi et imagini di diverse maniere: quali krakende broozen, ten toneele uitbromt: en 7
orribili, quai piacevoli, quai dolenti e quai li- een darde door de gunst van Clio met groot- 8
eti; così il buono oratore non solamente con ser heldevaerzen hervoor komt; zoo schoeit
le facezie, con gli ornamenti e co’numeri, de Schildergeest, op dergelijke leesten’, Inl. 9
ad amore, ma ad ira, ad odio et and invidia p. 175. 10
movendo, suol dilettar gli ascoltanti’, Sper- 157 Gombrich 1966; Bialostocki 1966, chapter 11
oni, Dialogo della rhetorica (Venezia 1596), 1; Raupp 1983. On the comparison of the
quoted from Barocchi, Scritti p. 262. functions of theatre and paintings see Konst 12
150 Junius, TPA p. 297; ‘[des kunstenaars] 1995, pp. 103-116. 13
schuldighen plight brenght het mede, … 158 Konst 1993, pp. 188-193. 14
dat sy ons souden onderwijsen; het behoort 159 ‘[O]m d’alderbarbariste harten gedwee te
tot vermeerderinghe van haere aensien- maken, en gunst en liefde, schier tegens de 15
lickheyd, dat sy ons souden vermaeken; de natuur, te verwekken’, Inl. p. 357. Van Hoog- 16
noodwendigheyd haeres voornemens ver­ straten praises Lippi elsewhere: ‘wegens het 17
eyscht het eyndelick, dat sy onse herten uitbeelden van tochten, en voornaemlijk van
soude beroeren’, Junius, SKDO p. 330. droefheit, heeft broer Lippi van Florencen 18
151 See the introduction to the ‘Historiogra- geen kleine eere behaelt, want hyze zoo 19
phe des bâtiments du Roy’, in Conférences de natuerlijk vertoonde, dat niemant zijn werk 20
l’Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture zonder deernis kon aenzien’, Inl. p. 112.
pendant l’année 1667 (Paris 1669, London 160 ‘Het wit en ooghmerck der wettige Treur- 21
1705 2nd ed., unpaginated [p. 6v]), quoted spelen is de menschen te vermorwen door 22
in Jansen 1999, p. 54. schrick en mededoogen’, Vondel 1927-1937 23
152 ‘De Hoogh-draavende Spreekwijs heeft V, p. 613, r. 179; the passage occurs in the
voorneemlijk plaats in ghroote dingen; als preface to Lucifer (1654). 24
van Ghodt en’t Ghemeenbest; waar om zy 161 ‘[D]ewijl het zien meer de harten beweeght 25
inzonderheidt in Heldelijke en truerighe dan het aenhooren en verhael van het ge- 26
dingen by-ghe-braght wordt. ... Haalt Over- beurde: schoon de toestel des treurhandels
draghten van ghroote dingen, brenght de zoodaenigh behoorde te wezen, dat die 27
heftighste Ghestalten by: als Uitbarstingen, [...]..] zonder wanschape en gruwzaeme 28
Persooneeringen, Afwendingen. Zy is be- wreetheden te vertoonen, en misgeboorten, 29
quaam om de Hartstoghten te ontroeren. ... en wanschepsels, door het ontstellen van
In’t teghendeel voeght de Nederighe Stijl an zwangere vrouwen, te baeren, medoogen 30
slechte dingen, en is vernoeght met de eigh- en schrick uit te wercken, op dat het treur- 31
enschap der woorden, ghewoonlijke Over- spel zijn einde en ooghmerck moght tref- 32
draghten; insghelijx met scharpzinnigheidt fen, het welck is deze beide hartstochten
en gheestigheidt. ... De middelbaare Stijl in het gemoedt der menschen maetigen, ... 33
word ghebruikt in middelbaare dingen. En d’aenschouwers van gebreken zuiveren, en 34
is nederiger als de hooghdraavende; maar leeren de rampen der weerelt zachtzinniger 35
hooghdraavender als de nederighe’, Vossius en gelijckmoediger [te] verduuren’, Vondel
1648, p. 29. 1977, pp. 38-39, verses 139-155. 36
153 ‘De Schilderyen dan, die tot den derden en 162 ‘[L]’occhio [...] commove gli animi ad odio, 37
hoogsten graed behooren, zijn die de edelste ò all’amore, ò à timore, che tutti gli altri, sec- 38
beweegingen en willen der Reedewikkende ondo le cose vedute, e per ciò essi supplicii
schepselen den menschen vertoonen’, Inl. p. gravissimi presenti vedendo, e quasi veri [...] 39
87. alle volte li sono cagione per cio di essere 40
154 Inl. p. 85; Cf. Emmens 1969, p. 121. commossi alla vera pietà, e da questa tirati 41
155 ‘[M]en vind History Schilders genoeg ... alla devotione, e in ultimo al buon timore, i
deeze behooren noch niet alle tot den der- quali tutti sono rimedii, e mezi ottimi per la 42
den graed van de konst: ten zy datmen in loro salute’, Armenini 1586, p. 34. 43
44
45
n o t e s t o c hap t e r i v           405
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 405 10-10-2008 16:24:56

1 163 ‘Dese Const heeft sulcken kracht dat sy niet lamo historici, seu naturalis, seu civilis, ob
2 alleen nieusgirighe ende Const-lievende oculos ponantur’, Vossius 1690, § 11.
Gheesten en verlockt maer wel de grootste 174 ‘De Schilderye, een stilzwijgend werk, en al-
3 Sondaers, en Barbarische herten, jae on- tijts den zelven schijn houdende, doordringt
4 ruerelijcke en steenrotsighe Tyrannen can en beweegt het gemoed zoodanich, dat ze
5 beweghen, lichtvaerdighe tonghen toomen, meenichmael de kracht der welsprekenheyt
eyghen Opinie-volghers beschamen en zelven schijnt te boven te gaen’, Inl. p. 349;
6 bloetdorstighe oft wraeckgirighe menschen cf. Junius, SKDO p. 44.
7 versoenen’, De Bie, Cabinet, p. 332. 175 Plutarch, Moralia 346f-347a; quoted by
8 164 Junius, SKDO p. 45; Nativel 1996, p. 538; Baxandall 1964, p. 92.
after Valerius Maximus, Dictorum facto- 176 ‘Maer hoor hoe St. basilius de kracht der
9 rumque memorabilium libri X, 5,4,7, ext. 1. Schilderye boven zijne welsprekentheyt
10 165 Sumowksi 1979-1992, no. 1194x, p. 2649. verheft: Staet op nu, zegt hy, ô gy door-
11 Van Hoogstraten commends Van Baburen luchtige Schilders, die d’overtreflijke daden
because, unlike many of his fellow-coun- der Kampvechters afbeelt, verheerlijkt nu
12 trymen, he does not focus on ‘trifles’ in his door uwe konst ’t verminkte beelt des Op-
13 choice of subject, but on the ‘most noble se- perheers: ... Ik gae mijns weegs, van u lieden
14 lection’, Inl. p. 257. overwonnen zijnde in de Schilderye der
166 ‘[T]reurige en beklaeglijke [...] het gemoed kloeke daeden des Martelaers’, Inl. p. 349;
15 tot medelijden’, Inl. p. 79. cf. Borinski 1965 I, p. 98.
16 167 ‘[H]et beste sieraet’, Inl. p. 111. 177 Vossius 1990, pp. 57-58.
17 168 Junius, TPA p. 215; ‘want ghelijck de Tra- 178 ‘[G]edachtenisse van doorluchtige persoo-
goedie-spelers niet gherechtight en sijn nen’, Inl. p. 78.
18 allerley vuyle en gantsch wreede geschiede- 179 Cf. Vossius 1690, § 10: ‘Atque hoc non lev-
19 nissen den volcke openlick te vertoonen, soo iter ad laudem Picturae pertinet: magis vero,
20 is het mede onbilligh de Schilders eenighe quod non modo est, ubi Poësin vel aequet,
onvlaetighe [sic] ofte oock felle daeden voor vel vincat: sed etiam paria Historiae faciat.
21 de ooghen der aenschouwers naecktelick Nam et Pictura res gestas ad posteros trans-
22 souden voorstellen’, Junius, SKDO p. 229. mittit. Unde illi quoque, qui legere historias
23 169 ‘Veel zaeken zultge voor het oog verbergen,/ nesciunt, ex picturis eas discunt. Praeterea,
’t Een past gezien, en’t ander past gehoort;/ ut Historia, sic pictae etiam imagines vehe-
24 ’t Onvlatich zou ’t gezicht met aenstoot ter- menter ad virtutem, et gloriam accendunt.
25 gen./ Medea deê voor’t volk geen kinder- Cf. the same passage in Junius, SKDO p.
26 moort,/ Noch Atreus kookte ook geen ver­ 132.
vloekte spijzen/ Van Hoerekroost, uit wraek, 180 Vossius 1990, pp. 57-58.
27 voor ieders oogh./ ’t Veranderen ook van 181 ‘[Z]oo schijnt het vermaek van hen te zien
28 Kadmus, vol afgrijzen,/ Zach niemant, noch onze aendacht te verdubbelen, en wy aen-
29 van Progne, toenze vloog’, Inl. pp. 183-184; merken haere daeden, als ofze in onzen tijdt
cf. p. 94. waren voorgevallen’, Inl. p. 8.
30 170 Huygens, Fragment p. 73. 182 ‘[D]at een oprecht oeffenaer der Schilder-
31 171 ‘[L]’arte sia accompagnata sempre con grazia konst, die haer alleen om haer zelfs wil, en
32 e facilità e di pulita leggiadra di colori, e om haeren deugtsaemen aert navolgt, waer-
condotta l’opera a perfezzione non con uno lijk t’onrecht zoude versmaet worden’, Inl.
33 stento di passione crudele, che gl’uomini che p. 348.
34 cio guardano abbino a patire pena della pas- 183 Cf. Sluijter 2000a, pp. 5 ff.
35 sione, che in tal opera veggono sopportata 184 Van Hoogstraten presents the muse Erato
dallo artefice, ma da ralegrarsi della felicità as a ‘flattering Siren’, Inl. p. 1; cf. Borinski
36 che la sua mano abbia avuto dal cielo quella 1965 I, pp. 5-7.
37 agilità che renda le cose finite con istudo e 185 ‘[D]e gantsche ghestalte onser inwendigher
38 fatica si, ma non con istento, tanto che dove beroeringhen door een soet gheweld nae
elle sone poste non siano morte, ma si ap- de der teghenwoordigher Schilderyen ve-
39 presentino vive e vere a chi le considera’, randerende’, Junius, SKDO p. 330, Nativel
40 Vasari 1988 I, p. 115. 1996, p. 568, cf. Quintilian, Inst. orat. 2,5,8.
41 172 Inl. p. 111; Cicero, Orator 21.72-74; Alberti 186 Cf. Cicero, Oratio in Pisonem, 29.71, De fini-
1540, II.42. bus, 5.22.51, and De re publica, 2.42.69.
42 173 ‘Adde quod pleraque omnia naturae, et artis 187 Shakespeare, Hamlet III, 2.
43 opera, melius penicillo pictoris, quam ca- 188 Terence, Adelphi 33.61.
44
45
406          note s to chap te r iv
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 406 10-10-2008 16:24:56

 189 ‘Comedy is a mirror of human life’, Vossius 201 Lomazzo 1584, lib. II, cap. I, pp. 506-7, cf. 1
1990, p. 52, n.11, See also Borinksi 1965 I, Miedema 1977, p. 210. 2
p. 143. 202 Sumowski 1979-1992, no. 1111, p. 2474
190 Van Mander, Grondt VI,5 and VI,34-35, (dated 1650), and no. 1214x, p. 2692. 3
f. 23 and 25v; Junius, SKDO pp. 220-1. In 203 Cf. Inl. p. 110, Junius, SKDO p. 220. 4
line with this traditional criticism of the use 204 ‘’t Gedenkt mij dat ik, in zeker aerdich geor- 5
of texts in the study of the passions, eventu- dineert stukje van Rembrant, verbeeldende
ally LeBrun’s codification was contested too, een Johannes Predicatie, een wonderlijke 6
first by Roger de Piles; one passion can after aendacht in de toehoorderen van allerleye 7
all be depicted in different ways; see Kirch- staeten gezien hebbe: dit was ten hoogsten 8
ner 1991, p. 54. prijslijk’, Inl. p. 183.
191 ‘[V]oornaementlijk tot haere eygene be- 205 Sumowski 1979-1992, no. 1211x, p. 2687. 9
denkingen’, Inl. p. 41. 206 Junius, TPA p. 208; ‘om uyt d’ooghen der 10
192 ‘Affecten uytbeeldinge wort van groote ontsteldere menschen de veelvoudighe ge- 11
Meesters meer gebruyckt als sy weten’, Van daente van garmschap [sic], liefde, vreese,
Mander, Grondt VI,71, f. 28v. hope, smaed, vroolickheyd, vertrouwen, 12
193 ‘Want wat d’Affecten moghen bedrijven/ en diergheleycke beweghinghen meer, te 13
Wijst Natuer al meer dan men can beschri- lesen’, Junius, SKDO p. 221. 14
jven’, Van Mander, Grondt VI,5, f. 23r. 207 Van Mander, Grondt VI,73, f. 28v.
194 ‘De Natuere ... en can niet lieghen’, Van 208 ‘Dan sijn oock veel des ghemeyn volcx ad­ 15
Mander, Grondt VI,31, f. 25r. vijsen/ Hier in seer voorderlijck’,Van Man- 16
195 ‘[O]m op den rechten wech te komen, en der, Grondt VI,25, f. 24v. 17
zeeker te gaen, zoo moet een konstoeffenaer 209 ‘[O]p des ghemeenen volcx oordeel behoeft-
zich tot de leevende natuer keeren, en zien, men ooc te letten’, Van Mander, Grondt 18
hoe ver het hem in de beweegingen geoor- I,49, f. 5r; Miedema 1973, p. 498; the ob- 19
loft is te gaen’, Inl. p. 294. servation that the artist should try to gauge 20
196 ‘[G]een oeffening [is] den Schilder nutter ... bthe opinions of his public is also in Alberti,
dan met goede opmerking vele dingen na’t De Pictura III.62; see also Barasch 1985, p. 21
Leven af te schetsen; en voornamelijk die 260. 22
dingen, die hem by toeval, en in in [sic] stil- 210 ‘[H]et oordeel van vreemden, verstandigen, 23
ligheyd hier en daar voor komen’, Goeree, en dommekrachten, van nijdigen, gunstelin-
MK p. 293; cf.: ‘Wie en weet niet, dat- gen, en onpartijdigen ontwaekt den geest. 24
men met voordragt en sonder oorsaak niet Jae de Boeren zullen u somtijts wel een feyl 25
wel soo Natuurlijk weenen, of een droevig in uw werk aenwijzen, gelijk Durer [sic] 26
misbaar maken, of sig uytsinnig toornig zegt, hoewel zy u niet leeren kunnen, hoe gy
aanstellen kan dan wanneer een treurig of die zult verbeeteren’, Inl. p. 320. 27
onverdraaglijk voorval, onse Passien en Ac- 211 Van Hoogstraten refers to Agrippa’s Onzee­ 28
tien, daar toe op een ware grondslag gaande kerheit der wetenschappen in the translation 29
maakt?’, Goeree, MK p. 294. by his friend Joachim Oudaen, Inl. p. 171.
197 Barzman 1989, pp 22-23 refers to an anony- 212 ‘[S]aepissime videt simplex et rudis idiota, 30
mous lecture at the Accademia dating from quae videre non potest depravatus humanis 31
1570-1580; cf. Junius, SKDO p. 220. scientiis scholasticus doctor’, Agrippa, De 32
198 Van Mander, Grondt VI,73, f. 28v-29r. vanitate, ed. Barocchi, Scritti p. 91, p. 93.
199 Ortelius tells the same anecdote about 213 Vossius describes ‘ethos’ as the quality that 33
Brueghel and Bellori relates it to Carav- the speaker wants to engender in his audi- 34
aggio; cf. Pliny, Nat. Hist. XXXIV, 81, cf. ence: the ‘Aethae’ or ‘Morals’ are appro- 35
XXXVI; Inl. p. 219; Goeree, SK pp. 87-88; priate ‘to prompt goodwill; the Passions to
Junius, SKDO p. 87; Nativel 1996, p. 492. move’, Vossius 1648, p. 2; cf. ‘Op dat een 36
200 ‘Een wijs ende verstandigh aenmercker Reden zedigh zy, zo moet een Reedener ... 37
der dinghen diemen behoort nae te volgh- zien, en by welke hy spreekt, en van welke 38
en, houdt sijne ooghen geduyrichlick hy spreekt. Want de zeden der Menschen
gheslaeghen op die menschen onder de welcke veranderen zo ten opzicht van de natuur des 39
hy leeft; achtende dat hem de lesse, die hy Volx en de ghemeenenbests: als ook in delk 40
te leeren heeft, in elck bysonder mensche, in’t byzonder, ten opzicht der Hartstoghten, 41
als in een klaer en leesbaer Boeck, op ’t aller Heblijkheden, Ouderdom en Avondtuur’,
duydelickste voorghespelt is’, Junius, SKDO Vossius 1648, p. 5. 42
p. 221, cf. p. 280. 214 ‘[De] regtschapen Konstenaar ... ’t oor- 43
44
45
n o t e s t o c hap t e r i v           407
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 407 10-10-2008 16:24:56

1 deel van de gantsche Weereld’, ‘dat men een doordringende kracht op het gezicht
2 ... zig wijsselijk drage in het aanhoren van van allerley menschen’, Inl. p. 25.
alle-mans oordeel, selfs ook van de onkun- 226 ‘E não somente o discreto é satisfeito, mas
3 dige’, ‘niemand noemde, maar wees met sijn o simples, o vilão, a velha; não ainda estes,
4 vinger op het omstaande Volk; te kennen mas o estrangeiro sarmata e o índio, e o per-
5 gevende, dat het oordeel van den gemeenen siano (que nunca entenderam os versos de
Man, hem voorsigtig had gemaakt, om sijn Virgílio, nem de Homero, que lhe são mu-
6 konst wel aan te leggen’, ‘wanneer als de dos) se deleita e entenderá aquela obra com
7 gantsche menigte van’t Volk, hare Werken grande gosto e pronteza; e até aquele bár-
8 op het nauwst ondersoeken’, Goeree, SK baro deixa então de ser bárbaro, e entende,
pp. 87-88. por virtude da eloquente pintura, o que lhe
9 215 Michels 1988, pp. 55-57. nenhuma outra poesia nem números de pés
10 216 Jansen 1995, p. 115. The preference for podia ensinar’, De Holanda 1984, p. 47.
11 the vernacular is also a theme in the Italian 227 ‘[T]endo ainda por mor a potência da pin-
tradition; see Rubin 1995. On the prefer- tura que da poesia em causar mores efeitos,
12 ence for writing in one’s own language that e ter muito mór força e veemência, assi para
13 prevailed in the Van Hoogstratens’ circle in comover o espírito e a alma, a alegria e riso,
14 Rotterdam see Zijlmans 1999, p. 151. como a tristeza e lágrimas, com mais eficaz
217 Van Hoogstraten refers to Gregory who eloquência’, De Holanda 1984, p. 97.
15 ‘Schilderyen, onder den naem van der 228 ‘A pintura de Flandres ... satisfará ... geral-
16 leeken boeken, in de kerken voorstond, niet mente a qualquer devoto, mais que nen-
17 om die aen te bidden, maer om den volke huma de Itália, que lhe nunca fará chorar
met een begrijpelijke maniere te leeren’, Inl. uma só lágrima, e a de Flandres muitas ...
18 p. 251. A mulheres parecerá bem, principalmente
19 218 ‘[O]m de kracht en zuiverheid hunner taal’, às muito velhas, ou às muito moças, e assim
20 ‘Is het niet een groote dwaaling, eenige mesmo a frades e a freiras, e a alguns fidal-
uitheemsche woorden te willen gebruiken gos desmúsicos da verdadeira harmonia’, De
21 in een taal die van zelve ryk genoeg is?’ De Holanda 1984, p. 29.
22 Lairesse, GS I, pp. 194-195. 229 ‘En dewyl dit onderwerpen zijn, die meer
23 219 Jansen 1995, pp. 164-166. dan een dierlijke beweeging in [zich] heb-
220 ‘[V]oor hy desselfs natuer, neyging, en hoe ben, zoo zijn de konstenaers, die hier toe
24 wijdt sijn verstant strekt, te vooren betracht een rechte bequaemheyt hebben, alderdunst
25 en overweegt: op dat hy noch te laeg, noch gezaeyt’, Inl. p. 87; cf.: ‘In een waerachtich
26 te hoog, maer na de mate des vernufts [of Konstenaer wort ... een grootmoedige
the audience], sijn reden stiere’, EJ pp. 77- natuere vereyscht ... [en] datmen liever de
27 78. weeldericheit des ongetemden geests in
28 221 ‘Zo zag men Rubbens en van Dyck, man- een lustbaere en overvloedige vinding, zelfs
29 nen die dagelyks te Hoof en by de Grooten tot vergrijpens toe, moet laten speelen, als
verkeerden, hunnen gedachten op het ver- datmen de wakkerheyt des voortvarenden
30 heevene der Konst vesten; Jordaans en gemoeds in een al te beklemde stoffe zoude
31 Rembrandt weder op het burgerlijke; Bam- laeten versterven’, Inl. p. 78-79.
32 boots en Brouwer op het allergeringste; en 230 Cf. Junius, SKDO p 222.
dus ieder na de maat hunner neigingen, 231 Inl. p. 93, p. 200.
33 voor zo veel dezelve tot den ommegang met 232 ‘Men moet de ziel in d’ope lucht laeten
34 menschen van hunne soorten strekten’, De wandelen, op dat zy grooter worde, en met
35 Lairesse, GS I, pp. 182, 185. Cf. De Vries een ongebonde geest den Hemel aenzie’,
1998, p. 110. Inl. p. 200; cf. ‘Even also moeten oock de
36 222 ‘[D]e beweegingen des gemoets en des li- Konstenaers een open veld hebben om den
37 chaems ... en de persoonen, als of menze vierighen ernst haerer brandende Konst-
38 kende’, Inl. p. 195. liefde daer in sonder eenighe verhinderingh
223 ‘[D]e beweginge soo ware, als die in onse te oeffenen’, Junius, SKDO p. 211.
39 hedendaechse Feeste ghevonden werden’, 233 Junius, SKDO p. 174.
40 Angel, Lof p. 48. 234 Junius, TPA p. 180; ‘dat de hitte onses be-
41 224 The saying libro degli idioti can be found, for roerden gemoeds meer daer in vermagh dan
example, in Castelvetro; see Schröder 1985, de naerstigheydt selver’, Junius, SKDO p.
42 p. 68. 189; also pp. 190, 215.
43 225 ‘[H]et boek der Leeken ... werkende met 235 Junius, TPA p. 57; ‘soo moetmen dan dese
44
45
408          note s to chap te r iv
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 408 10-10-2008 16:24:56

 beroerten in alderley manieren uyt de waer- diceva con moti al naturale ritratti farà senza 1
heydt der dinghen getrocken worden; ende dubbio ridere, con chi ride ... maravigliar si 2
een rechtsinnigh Konstenaer behoort liever con chi si maraviglia, desiderare una bella
te versoecken al wat daer erghens te ver­ giovane per moglie vedendone una ignuda, 3
soecken is, dan dat hy de verbeeldingen sijnes compatire con chi s’affligga, e anco in pigliar 4
vruchtbaeren ghemoedts door een bedwon- di mangiare vedendo chi mangi di pretiosi, e 5
ghen ende koele imitatie soude laten ver­ delicati cibi, cader di sono vedendo chi dol-
dwijnen’, Junius, SKDO p. 50. cemente dorma [etc.]’, Lomazzo 1584, lib. 1, 6
236 Inl. p. 180. cap. 2, p. 105; cf. Scribanius’s remark about 7
237 Inl. p. 13. a Saint Sebastian by Coxcie: ‘et spectatores 8
238 Spies 1999, p. 125. vulneris dolorem sentiunt’, Scribanius 1610,
239 ‘Maer hier is een Poëtische geest van noode, p. 39. 9
om een ieders ampt zich wel voor te stellen. 248 Quintilian, Inst. orat. 3, 1, 21-25. 10
Die deeze niet en gevoelt, tree vry te rugge; 249 ‘Wie ook der Italiaensche of Nederland- 11
want hy en zal de zaek niet machtich zijn; sche groote Meesters is er oit geweest, die
ten waer hem eenich Godt of Poëet de hul- of in’t geheel der konst, of in eenich deel, 12
pige hand bood’, Inl. p. 110. niet iets byzonders als eygen gehad heeft? … 13
240 ‘Maer wie zouw al de veranderlijke werkin- Rubens [was fixed] op rijklijke ordinantien, 14
gen, die van de menschen, door’t zoo zeer Antony van Dijk op bevallijkheit, Rembrand
verschillende reedewikken, bedreeven op de lijdingen des gemoeds, en Goltsius op 15
worden, kunnen optellen, of in zijn verstand eenige groote Meesters hand eigentlijk na te 16
begrijpen? Wat vangt de wil niet al aen? En volgen’, Inl. p. 75. 17
wat voert de Fortuin niet al uit?’, Inl. p. 86. 250 Rembrandt to Constantijn Huygens, 12
241 ‘Een bewooge Geest kan alleen iets groots, January 1639; reprinted in Van Rijn 1961, p. 18
dat andere overtreft, voortbrengen, en de 34. For earlier interpretations of this term 19
gemeene dingen verlaetende, en door een see Miedema 1973, p. 495, and De Pauw-de 20
heylige inblazing verheven, zingt dan eerst Veen 1959.
iets, dat hooger is, dan’t geen dat uit een 251 ‘[I]n het bitter lijden Christi, de moeder 21
sterflijke mond kan komen, Ja ’t gemoet Maria, als den Zalichmaker aldernaest, met 22
kan niet, zoo lang het bij zich zelfs is, iets de grootste beweeging, die ons mogelijk is’, 23
dat hoog en moeilijk om bij te komen is, Inl. p. 110-111.
bereyken. Het moet van zijn gewoone tret 252 ‘[E]en Passie Christi, d’welck soo won- 24
afgaen, en opwaerts stijgende, den breydel derlijck ende uytnemende druckelijck ghe­ 25
tusschen de tanden neemen, en den be­ schildert was, datter niet een versteent hert 26
stierder wechvoeren, en ter plaets brengen, in een sondighen mensch gevonden en cost
daer’t door zijn eygen beweging niet darde worden oft het moest sich beweghen, soo 27
komen’, Inl. p. 200. wanneer jemant t’selve werde verthoont’, 28
242 Inl. p. 200. This divine inspiration is ex- De Bie, Cabinet, p. 269. 29
plicitly associated with the passions. In the 253 Junius, TPA p. 265.
section on the passions, Van Hoogstraten 254 Huygens, Fragment p. 77. 30
commends Van Dyck for a Mary Magdalen, 255 Huygens, Fragment p. 78: ‘[Rembrandt] 31
a painting he said was ‘bathed with Divine uno in homine collegit singula et universa 32
favour’, Inl. p. 115. expressit’.
243 Junius, TPA p. 56; ‘soo en is het hun niet 256 Houbraken also mentions St John Preaching, 33
moghelick de hitte haerder beroerder sin- which is striking in its ‘natural depiction of 34
nen langher te bedwinghen, maer sy worden the expressions of the listeners’, Houbraken 35
door ick en wete niet wat voor een onwe­ 1718-1721, I p. 261.
derstaenelicke kracht aen gheport om haere 257 ‘[A]aandagtige bedenkingen der meniger- 36
swanghere herssenen als met den eersten hande Hartstochten’, ‘waar door zy verzet, 37
t’ontlasten’, Junius, SKDO, p. 49. verbaast en verwondert stonden ... den 38
244 Wine ‘beweegt de geest van onderen op’, Hartstocht van verwonderinge ... het ver-
Inl. pp. 200-201. baast staaren met het gezicht op den ledigen 39
245 Michels 1988, p. 61. stoel, waar in Kristus een oogenblik te voren 40
246 ‘[D]at men naulijx machtich was, anders te gezeeten, nu daar uit verdwenen was’, Hou- 41
gelooven, of men zach de levende Schilderye braken 1718-1721, I p. 258.
der geesten en zielen zelve’, Inl. p. 29. 258 ‘[G]emeene luiden ... Misschien dat hy de 42
247 ‘[U]na pittura rappresentata come dianci wellevens wetten, door Gratiaan, beschre- 43
44
45
n o t e s t o c hap t e r i v           409
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 409 10-10-2008 16:24:56

1 ven, gekent heeft’, Houbraken 1718-1721, levende gelijkenisse, alleen machtich zijn
2 I, p. 271. ons gemoed te ontroeren’, Inl. p. 226; ‘De
259 Rembrandt ‘scavoit fort bien qu’en Peinture verwen hebben een sonderlinghe kracht
3 on pouvoit, sans beaucoup de peine, tromper om onse ooghen tot sich te trecken, seght
4 la vûë en representant des corps immobiles Plutarchus, vermids’t menschelicke ghe­
5 et inanimez; et non content de cet artificé sicht door de bloeyende lieffelickheyd der
assez commun, il chercha avec une extrême ­selvigher krachtighlick opgheweckt ende
6 application celuy d’imposer aux jeux par des ghespijst wordt’, Junius, SKDO, p. 260.
7 figures vivantes’, De Piles, Abregé de la vie des 6 ‘[D]e verwe, die d’oogen meest rooft’, Inl.
8 peintres (Paris 1715,2 16991), p. 423, quoted pp. 216-217; ‘d’onweetende [te] bekooren’,
in Slive 1953, pp. 216-218. p. 218.
9 260 ‘[D]oor een kunstige verdeeling van ­licht, 7 Inl. p. 226, p. 224; ‘versterkt en verheugt’,
10 om dezelven beter te doen uitblinken, Inl. p. 231; ‘eenen zonderlingen lust in
11 gewoonlyk aan zyne eenvoudige beelden d’alderglinsterenste koleuren’, Inl. p. 305.
spreekende vrolykheden en gemoedsbe­ 8 ‘Verwe verstout, en verschrickt de persoo-
12 weegingen’, L.H. ten Kate, Verhandeling nen ... Verwe doet verdroeven en verjolijsen’
13 over het denkbeeldige schoon der schilders, bee- Van Mander, Grondt XIII,9, f. 51r.; ‘Dan
14 ldhouwers en dichters, (Amsterdam 1720, HS t’herte rijst uyt swaermoedich bemoeyen’,
1436 UBA), pp. 7-8, quoted in Slive 1953, p. Van Mander, Grondt XIII,15, f. 51r.
15 171. 9 Agrippa’s De occulta philosophia, II I, 49, con-
16 261 For Zeuxis as painter of ‘driften of hart- tains a passage that may have been followed
17 stochten’ cf. Inl. p. 78, and Van Mander, by Lomazzo; see Klein 1970, p. 102. Van
Grondt VI,65, f. 28r- On the interpretation Mander writes about colour and the hu-
18 cf. White & Buvelot 1999, p. 219, Golahny mours, Grondt XIV,29, f. 54v.
19 2004, pp. 200-5, and Blankert 1973. 10 ‘[D]e groene verwe verquikt de quaede
20 262 Huygens, Fragment, p. 73. oogen’, Inl. p. 221; ‘Root beduit bloetrijk,
263 On the gift see Bruyn et al. 1989, pp. 192 blaeuw galachtich, wit koutvochtich, en
21 ff. zwart zwaermoedicheyt’, p. 223.
22 264 ‘The subject matter of tragedy is sublime 11 Inl. p. 223.
23 and terrifying, such as the commandments 12 Each motus of the body is accompanied by
of kings, massacres, cases of despair ... be- a particular colour; melancholy motions
24 ing deprived of one’s family, the killing of are dark, fearful gestures are pale; Lomazzo
25 parents, cases of incest, fires, battles, the 1584, Cap XI: ‘Come si compongono le
26 putting out of eyes’, J.C. Scaliger, Poet- carni secondo i moti de’ corpi’.
ices libri septem, 1.6., quoted in Smits-Veldt 13 Van Mander, Grondt XIII,10, f. 51 r.
27 1991, p. 53. 14 Junius, TPA p. 284; ‘de bequaemheyd der
28 verwen onse fantasie door een aenghenaem
29 bedrogh seldsaemlick plaght te beguyche-
cha pt er v len’, Junius, SKDO p. 316.
30 1 On the paragone in Dutch art literature, see 15 ‘[B]ekoort, ja betovert’, Inl. p. 227.
31 e.g. Emmens 1979, pp. 49-51. 16 ‘Wanneer de Teykenkonst als ’t lichaem wort
32 2 ‘[L]’alchimia de i pittori Venetiani’, Lomaz- gepreezen,/ Zoo moet de Schilderkonst de
zo 1584, p. 191; cf. also Weststeijn 2007. geest en ziele weezen,/ Het hemels vuer
33 3 Junius, TPA p. 50; Briggs 1989, pp. 69, 70, gelijk, dat in Prometheus beeld/ Het leeven
34 95. eerst ontstak’, Inl. p. 217. Van Hoogstraten
35 4 Cf. the Inleyding: ‘De Poëten geven menich- stresses that drawing ‘nurtures’ what is
mael den Schilder door eenich duister woort ‘born alive’ in painting because of colour:
36 zoo groot een licht, als veel moeilijke onder- ‘de konst van teyknen teelt/ ’t Geen door de
37 rechtingen zouden kunnen te weeg brengen. Schilderkonst, als leevend wort geboore’; cf.
38 Want wie zal zich geen allerbehaeglijkste Van Mander, Grondt XII,1, f. 46v.
zwier inbeelden, als hy van Venus by Vir- 17 Cf. the analysis in chapter II of the way Van
39 giel deeze woorden leest? Zoo spreekende; Hoogstraten conceives the Italian disegno
40 gingze heene, [en] blonk over haeren roos- solely as disegno esterno, pp. 97-99.
41 verwigen nek’, Inl. p. 296. 18 ‘Hoog is het wel teykenen ... maer boven al
5 De bloote Teykening … heeft nergens nae het wel schilderen of koloreeren, waer toe
42 zulk een bewegende kracht, als de verwen: alles strekt, te achten. De verwe geeft eerst
43 gemerkt dezelve, door het bedroch van een de rechte volkomenheit’, Inl. p. 216.
44
45
410          note s to chap te r v
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 410 10-10-2008 16:24:56

 19 ‘[W]anneer de koloreeringe valsch is, zoo flesh’, p. 54; ‘life is not more lifelike’ than 1
zouden mooglijk de trekken en linien wel Titian’s portraits, p. 55. 2
goet konnen zijn, maer zy beelden niet uit’t 31 ‘[Z]ulk een man, die zich zoo geheelijk had
geen zy anders vermogen, dat is, de natuer overgegeeven, om de natuer, met penseel en 3
gelijk en onfeylbaer te vertoonen, welk de verwen, bestiptelijk nae te volgen’, Inl. p. 4
ware Schilderkonst in haer volmaekten 242. 5
graedt stoutelijk belooft,’ Inl. p. 217. 32 ‘[D]atmen de verwen zoodanich breeke, dat
20 ‘’t Is dan niet genoeg, dat men schoone het vlees schijne’, Inl. p. 227. 6
kleuren mengelt, maer men moet de waere 33 See the last chapter in Von Rosen 2001. 7
natuerlijkheyt naspeuren’, Inl. p. 227. The 34 See Van de Wetering 2005, pp. 307-311. 8
chapter dedicated to Terpsichore is about 35 ‘[D]er Verwen cracht’, ‘monden, wanghen,
‘colouring naturally’, Inl. p. 214. Cf. an ex- en lieflijcke ooghen’, Van Mander, Grondt 9
pression like ‘coloured from life’; the same XIII,16, f. 51v. 10
term is found on pp 218, 229, 241. 36 ‘Wat ist? ghy maalt wel’t lijf, maar niet ’s 11
21 ‘Daerom hebben alle groote meesters, by lijfs eeuwigheyt,/ Noch ’t sterck basuyn-
wien de konst van’t wel koloreeren in acht- gheklanck, noch ’t gheesten onderscheyt’, 12
ing geweest is, in naekten en tronien al haere Camphuysen 1638, p. 116. 13
krachten gebaert, om de natuer voorna- 37 In this context Van Hoogstraten speaks 14
mentlijk hier in nae te volgen’, Inl. p. 226. about Parrhasios’ curtain, about Mattia
22 Cf. the ‘natural carnation’ of Jacques de Preti; Zeuxis’s ‘deception’, and Giovanni da 15
Bakker, Inl. p. 227; and the ‘natural nude’, Udine’s deception of the Pope; Inl. pp. 217, 16
p. 228; ‘het vleesch … speelt in duizent ve- 218, 226, 229. 17
randerlijkheden binnen ’t bestek van zijnen 38 ‘[D]en verzierlijken Rembrant, nae de dood
aert’, Inl. p. 228. Incarnadine is associated van mijn Vader Theodoor mijn tweede 18
with diversity by ‘Van Mander, Grondt Meester’, Inl. p. 257. 19
XII,30, f. 49r. 39 On ornatus see Hazard 1976, pp. 15-32; 20
23 Cf. Kruse 2000. Biermann 1997.
24 Jansen 1995, p. 163. 40 Cf. ‘ornamentum autem afficti et compacti 21
25 ‘[U]we roeden zullen mijn pincelen zyn, u naturam sapere magis quam innati’, Alberti 22
bloed mijn verwen, en u kruis mijn paneel, quoted in Biermann 1997, p. 144. 23
waar op ik my geheel nieuw af-schilderen 41 The four virtutes dicendi are latinitas, ornatus,
zal’, De la Serre 1658, p. 166. perspicuitas (or evidentia) and decorum. 24
26 Lehmann described how the two mediums 42 ‘Quem deum, ut ita dicam, inter homines 25
continued to be used side by side for a very putant? Qui distincte, qui explicate, qui 26
long time, and flesh tones were the last el- abundanter, qui illuminate et rebus et ver-
ement of a painting in which oil was used; bis dicunt, et in ipsa oratione quasi quem- 27
symposium Atelierpraktijken in woord en ge- dam numerum versumque conficiunt – id 28
schrift, Utrecht, 29 October 2004. est quod dico ornate’, Cicero, De oratore iii. 29
27 ‘Rembrant en andere, die dit konstdeel won- xiv.53.
derlijk hoog achten’, Inl. p. 228. 43 Quintilian, Inst. orat. 8,3,6, quoted by Jun- 30
28 De Piles, Abregé de la vie des peintres (Paris ius: ‘De manhaftige schijn-staetelickheyd, 31
1699, p. 437), quoted in Golahny 1984, p. ghelijckse voornaemelick in de recht­ 32
246. schaepene rustigheyd van een onverseerde
29 ‘[S]olo a Tiziano solo si deve dare la gloria kloekheyd bestaet; soo moet se haer meeste 33
del perfetto colorire. Laquale o non hebbe cieraet soeken in de ghesonde verwe van een 34
alcun de gli antichi: o se l’hebbe, mancò a onghekrenckte sterckte, sonder sich met de 35
chi più, a chi manco, in tutti i moderni: per- vertaerde glattigheyd van hoogh-verwighe
cioche, come io dissi, egli camina di pari con blancketsels in’t minste te behelpen’, Junius, 36
la Nattura: onde ogni sua figura è viva, si SKDO p. 273. Cf. Cicero, De oratore, iii. 37
muove, è le carni tremano’, Dolce, Aretino, xxv.100. 38
ed. Roskill 1968, p. 51. 44 Cicero, De oratore, iii.xl.161: [translatio] lu-
30 ‘[U]n tinta di carne cosi simile alla vera, che men affert orationi’. Quintilian calls meta- 39
non par dipinto, ma vivo’, ‘che Titiano in phors ‘lumina orationis’, Inst. orat. 8,5, 34. 40
quel nudo habbia posto carne, e non colori’, 45 ‘[Q]uod maxime tanquam stellis quibusdam 41
Dolce, Aretino, ed. Roskill 1968, p. 51. Else- notat et illuminat orationem’, Cicero, De
where he observes in regard to flesh colour oratore iii.xliii.170. 42
that ‘it appears to be not Painting, but real 46 Junius, TPA p. 11; ‘Met sulcken uit-nemende 43
44
45
no t e s t o c h ap t e r v           411
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 411 10-10-2008 16:24:57

1 cierlijckheyt, heeft den overgroten, alwijsen colori: non ornamenti affettati, ma sodezza
2 Maeker van dit Al, de geschapen Wereld, da maestro, non crudezza, ma il pastoso e
bekleed, dat de Grieken midt-gaders ook tenero della Natura: e nelle cose sue combat-
3 de Romeynen deselvighe een-stemmighlijck tono e scherzano sempre i lumi con l’ombre,
4 sodaenighen name hebben toe ghepast, die e perdono e diminuiscono con quell’istesso
5 in sijnen eyghenen aert een cieraat betey­ modo, che fa la medesima Natura’, Dolce
ckent’, Junius, SKDO p. 3. 1557, p. 184.
6 47 Junius, SKDO p. 3, cf. ‘[o]ptimus maximus 57 ‘[C]on proportione che tenda più al virile
7 Vniuersi fabricator talem fecit hunc mun- che all’effeminato, & con habiti sodi e senza
8 dum, ut eum Graeci ... óμ ornamenti ornamento’, Lomazzo 1584, Lib. 7, cap. 3,
nomine appelauerint’, Junius, ed. Nativel p. 535; Titian was said to have painted a
9 1996, p. 125. personification of spring ‘ornata di verde’,
10 48 ‘[N]atuur het pluimgediert,/ En’t zeegewas p. 570.
11 beschildert en versiert’, Inl. p. 303. 58 Lomazzo 1584, p. 691.
49 ‘Né di più bella o più nobile materia stimo 59 ‘[N]on faciunt meliorem equum aurei frae-
12 io che possa ragionarsi, poi che la pittura è ni’, Junius, De pictura veterum 3,3,13, see
13 quella con cui il grande Iddio abbelì et ornò Nativel 1996, p. 567.
14 non solo l’universo, ma anco il picciolo 60 Junius, TPA p. 251; ‘De manhaftige schijn-
mondo che creò a sembianza sua, colorando staetelickheyd, ghelijckse voornaemelick in
15 i cieli, le stelle … co’vaghi e leggiadri colori de rechtschaepene rustigheyd van een over-
16 elementary’, Lomazzo 1974, p. 13. Cf. seerde kloekheyd bestaet ... moet ... haer
17 Borghini 1584, pp. 1-2. meeste cieraet soeken in de ghesonde verwe
50 ‘[Z]oo is de konst van wel koloreeren wel by van een onghekrenckte sterckte, sonder sich
18 een schoon gebouw te vergelijken, zonder met de vertaerde glattigheyd van hoogh-ver-
19 welke de Teykenkonst van haere voornaem- wighe blancketsels in’t minste te behelpen’,
20 ste versieringen ontbloot blijft’, Inl. p. 217, Junius, SKDO p. 273.
cf. Van Mander, Grondt II,1, f.8, and XII,1, 61 Inl. p. 229.
21 f. 46v. Ornament and incarnadine are linked 62 For this term see Goeree, MK p. 25.
22 in the letter written in Raphael’s name to 63 ‘Maar alhoewel [de] bevalligheyd die de
23 Leo X: ‘senza ornamento ... l’ossa del corpo ware schoonheyd verseld, soo eenvoudig en
senza carne’; Alberti also makes this connec- nauw in haar selven bestaat, datse niet ligt
24 tion and treats incarnadine in books VI-IX door een moyelijke opsmukkingh bekomen
25 of De re aedificatoria, cf. Biermann 1997, p. werd, egter bevindmen dat de Bevalligheyd,
26 145. schoon’er de schoonheyd ontbreekt, door
51 Junius, TPA p. 252; ‘d’ over-veruwde fi­ een verstandig en wel toegepast Cieraat,
27 guren ... gelijckse de verscheydene eygh- veel schoonheyd kan werden bygesett; sulx
28 enschappen ende werckinghen van eenen datwe door dese beguicheling menigmaal
29 levendighen gheest klaerder uytdrucken, buyten staat gestelt worden; de Gemaakte
soo plaghtense met eenen oock ons ghe­ van de waarachtige Schoonheyd wel te
30 sicht door d’aenlockelicke lustbaerheyd van onderscheyden’, Goeree, MK p. 28.
31 menigherley treffelicke veruw-cieraeten 64 ‘[S]e daar door behaaglijk in de oogen der
32 seldsaemlick te beguychelen’, Junius, SKDO Mannen sijn; en haar tot liefkosingh aanset-
p. 275. ten... [it was deemed] min strafbaar, sich aan
33 52 ‘De natuer der zachtvleezige verwe is zoo een Schoone, dan aan een Leelijke vrouw te
34 bekoorlijk, datter geenerley blanketzel by vertasten’, Goeree, MK p. 23.
35 halen mach’, Inl. p. 226. 65 ‘[N]iet anders als schilderyen, tot bedrogh
53 ‘T’vermoghen der verwen in veel manieren/ van de ooghen gemaeckt’,De Brune 1657, p.
36 Is openbaer aen Voghelen en Beesten/ Die 181, par. CDLXXVI.
37 hen gheeft een edel heerlijck versieren’, Van 66 ‘Painting ... is a Mystery; and ... Whores ...
38 Mander, Grondt XIII,13, f. 51r. using painting, do prove [their] Occupation
54 Van Mander, Grondt XIV,10, f. 53r. a Mystery’, Shakespeare, Measure for Meas-
39 55 Roskill 1968, p. 299; reference to Proper- ure, IV,2.
40 tius, Elegieën I,2 vv. 21-22: ‘Sed facies aderat 67 ‘[O]m onse gemoederen in het beschou-
41 nullis obnoxia gemmis, Qualis Apelleis est wen der selve soo te overtuygen, datmense
color in tabulis.’ waarlijk soodanig voor schoon groet... de
42 56 ‘Non ha dimostrato Titiano nelle sue opere pogingen van ons hert [worden] als’t ware
43 vaghezza vana, ma proprietà convenevole di daar heenen getrokken... Gracie, of liever
44
45
412          note s to chap te r v
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 412 10-10-2008 16:24:57

 de Bevalligheyd... [komt voort] uyt een zoet giare; e questa è la forza sua singolare, che 1
en aanminnig gebaar of bestuur der Oogen, dà talora alle figure tale spirito e tal vivezza, 2
Mont en Handen, die bescheydentlijk de che le fa apparer vive e vere’, Zuccari, L’Idea
streelende toonen der tong ... ver[ge]sellen’, (Torino 1607, II, 6, 24), ed. Barocchi, Scritti 3
Goeree, MK p. 24. p. 1036. 4
68 Inl. pp. 228, 291, 268, 273, 306. For these 78 ‘[Z]oo krachtich, dat, nae zommiger gevoe- 5
remarks in regard to Rembrandt’s studio len, al d’andere stukken daer als kaerteblaren
practices, see Van de Wetering 2001a. nevens staen’, Inl. p. 176. 6
69 Vondel 1927-1937, X p. 630: ‘ Dus baert de 79 ‘[Z]o[wel] ten opzichte van zyne natuur- 7
schilderkunst ook zoons van duisternisse/ lykheid, als ook zyne uitsteekende kragt ... 8
Die gaerne in schaduwe verkeeren, als een was’er ooit een Schilder die de natuur in
uil/ Wie’t leven navolght kan versierde kracht van coloriet zo na kwam, door zyne 9
schaduw missen/ en als een kint van ’t licht schoone lichten […] En is zulks niet genoeg 10
gaet in geen scheemring schuil’; quoted by om de geheele waereld te verlokken’?, De 11
Slive 1953, p. 70. Lairesse, GS I, p. 325.
70 ‘[W]ant de schaduwe[n] by een ghevoeght 80 Dempsey 2002 has pointed out that both 12
zijnde op haer behoorlijcke plaets, gheven styles recur in Italian and Spanish art theory. 13
sulcken tooverachtige kracht ... [zo]dat [zij] The works of Rembrandt and Dou are also 14
veel dinghen, die nauwelijcx door gheen contrasted in terms of this dichotomy, see
Penceelen met verwen zijn na te bootsen, Sluijter 2000c, pp. 250-58. 15
seer eyghentlijck doen schijnen’. ‘Want wy 81 Wybrand de Geest, for instance, writes of 16
moeten door schijn-eyghentlijcke kracht ‘a rough Painting, as by Rembrandt’, De 17
(soo noem ick het) het gesichte der Konst- Geest 1702, p. 92.
beminders, door een, eendrachtelijcke goede 82 ‘Dees Schildery moogt gy van by bekijken:/ 18
orderen der ’tsamen-voeginghe van licht en En d’ander heeft meer welstants uit der 19
schaduwen, overweldigen en in nemen’, An- hand’, Inl. p. 241. 20
gel, Lof pp. 39-40. 83 ‘De Handeling van het Penseel is twee­
71 ‘Un tableau dont le dessin et les couleurs lo- derly, doch zeer verschillende van malkander, 21
cales sont médiocres mais qui sont soutenues want de eene is een vloeijende, en malsse of 22
par l’artifice du clair-obscur, ne laissera pas gladde; de tweede een wakkere en vaardige, 23
passer tranquillement son spectateur, il of stoute’, Lairesse, GS I, p. 7.
l’appellera, il l’arrêtera du moins quelque 84 Van Mander discusses this subject in Grondt 24
temps’, De Piles 1708, p. 301. VII,10, f. 29v ff. Van Hoogstraten, in con- 25
72 See Ciardi’s comment in Lomazzo 1973, p. trast, attacks Holbein’s precision, preferring 26
189. a certain ‘looseness’: ‘Ik laet dien grooten
73 ‘[T]erribile e acuto lume’, Lomazzo 1974, p. meester in zijn verdiende waerde, maer 27
133. houde meer van de verwe, die’t vlees en 28
74 ‘[N]e gl’uomini [the divine light] si piglia hair te zamen maekt met een lossicheit na 29
per il lume dell’intelletto agente, che illu- te bootsen; de glansen en wederglanssen op
mina il paziente o possibile ... Il medesimo haer rechte plaets te zwieren, zonder juist 30
lume si diffunde et estende ne’ corpi che se hair voor hair aen te wijzen’, Inl. p. 229. De 31
gli affacciano, ne’quali si scuopre il colore Lairesse expresses a preference for the ‘bold 32
et una risplendente belezza ... cagionata da and quick’, although not at the same time
questo lume insieme con una certa virtú wanting to endorse Rembrandt’s radical ap- 33
benefica e generante. Ma là dove i raggi non proach to it, in GS I, p. 324. He also puts 34
s’avvicinano ... rimane un color caliginoso, il up a contrary argument, accusing painters 35
qual afflige l’animo e tormenta. Sí che tutte who become ‘enamoured’ of an ‘audacious
le cose, secondo la loro capacità, sentono il and quick brush’ of neglecting more impor- 36
vigore della luce, la quale congiungendo a sé tant aspects, GS I, p. 137. On this debate 37
quanto è di cose concreato col vivifico calor see Van de Wetering 1991, Van de Wetering 38
suo’, Lomazzo 1973, p. 189. 1997, chapter VII; Sluijter 2000c, pp. 244-
75 ‘[I]l calor del fuoco che non arde, ma ris- 54; Gaskell 2002, and most recently Pousão- 39
plende e vivifica ogni cosa col suo caldo’, Smith 2003. 40
Lomazzo 1973, p. 197. 85 ‘[O]nnoodich fijmelwerk’, Inl. p. 216. 41
76 Lomazzo 1973, cap XII, p. 201. 86 ‘[E]en gladde stijvicheit, of een nette fi-
77 Cf. Zuccari: ‘La particolar sua facoltà [i.e. of jmeling’, ‘verstandelooze liefhebbers’, Inl. 42
painting] è il colorire, ombreggiare e lumeg- p. 234. 43
44
45
no t e s t o c h ap t e r v           413
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 413 10-10-2008 16:24:57

1 87 Van de Wetering 1991, p. 32; Van de Weter- [de liefhebbers] sich allermeest opghenomen
2 ing 1997, p. 307. met den naed des selvighen kleeds; “Aenghe­
88 Emmens 1979, p. 47. sien men dien naed vele eer met sijne ghe-
3 89 Huygens, Fragment p. 77. dachten begrijpen, als met d’ooghen kan
4 90 ‘Neem dan vry borstels, die een hand vullen, onderscheyden”’, Junius, SKDO p. 325.
5 en laet yder streek’er een zijn, die de verwen 97 ‘De rechte en slechte eenvoudigeyt deser
op veel plaetsen byna onvermengt leggen; Konsten heeft den voordgangh der selviger
6 want de hoogte en de dikheit der lucht zal benevens andere middelen mede veroor­
7 veel dingen smeltende vertoonen, die by saeckt. Want ghelijck wy bevinden dat die
8 zich zelven steekende zijn’, Inl. p. 235. ghene allernaest tot de volmaecktheyd quae-
91 ‘t’En is ook niet ‘altijts van nooden de men, dewelcke d’aenghenaeme bevalligheyd
9 buytekant door een omtrek aen te wijzen; haerer wercken niet soo seer en stelden in ’t
10 want somtijts kunnen ook eenige duwkens, ydele waenkunstighe verw-gepronck, als wel
11 wijt van elkander, dezelve veel grootser uit- ... in’t naturelick ghebruyck van weynighe en
beelden’, Inl. p. 28. gantsch ghemeyne verwen; so plaghten oock
12 92 ‘Laet u geen kleyne kantigheden van een zach­ d’oprechtelick goed-aerdighe Leerlinghen
13 te schaduwe verveelen [i.e. do not bother ... sich aen dese gantsch loffelicke eenvou­
14 with a few angular details in a shadow], noch digheyd stantvastighlick te verbinden, den
dat een bruindere in’t midden derzelve van voornaemsten ernst haerer Aemulatie daer
15 naby ietwes stoot [nor with a lighter shade instellende dat sy dese eygenschap der ouder
16 in the middle of the shadow which, when Meesters recht wel moghten treffen’, Jun-
17 the painting is viewed close up, contrasts ius, SKDO p. 97.
with its surroundings]; want de [suggestive] 98 Jansen 1995.
18 kracht zal te grooter zijn, als gy’t wat uit de 99 This term from Quintilian is explained in
19 hand stelt [i.e. if you place the brushstrokes Jansen 1995, p. 126.
20 a little way apart], en gy zult gewoon worden 100 Jansen 1995, p. 110.
deel tegens deel te vergelijken [i.e. leave 101 The painter ‘con lo stile d’argento nota con
21 separate areas of colour unmixed, and learn brevità tali movimenti, e similmente nota
22 trust in optical mixing]; en eindelijk meer gl’atti de’circostanti’, Leonardo 1651, cap.
23 nuts uit deeze wijze van doen rapen, als gy u XCV, p. 27.
oit zoud hebben durven inbeelden: daer gy 102 ‘D’overvloet oft Copia veel vermijden,/ en
24 anders, door het zoet verdwijnende gefutsel, in’t weynich eensaem, wel-doen verblijden’,
25 gevaer loopt van geheel te verdoolen’, Inl. p. Van Mander, Grondt V,27, f. 17v.
26 29-30. 103 ‘[U]t fluere omnia ex natura rerum homi-
93 ‘Beter is ’t de zachticheyt met een vol pin- numque videantur’ (making it appear that
27 seel te zoeken, en, gelijk het Jordaens plach everything we say derives simply from the
28 te noemen, lustich toe te zabberen, weynich facts of the matter and the characters of
29 acht gevende op de gladde in een smelting’, the people involved), Quintilian, Inst. orat.
Inl. p. 233. 6,2,13, cf. De oratore 1,3,12: the cardinal sin
30 94 ‘[E]ven gelijk men zijn vriend van verre be- of rhetoric ‘is to depart from the language of
31 speurende, of by schemerlicht ontmoetende, everyday life and the use of it that is approved
32 strax als met het verstant zijn gedaente ziet, by the judgement of the community’.
en bevat, zoo geeft een ruwe schets dikwils 104 ‘[H]et penseel eens konstenaers moet altijts
33 aen den kenders zoo grooten indruk, dat oprecht, en nimmer valsch zijn, om de deugt
34 zy’er meer, dan dieze gemaekt heeft, in zien en waerheyt wel uit te drukken’, Inl. p. 235.
35 kunnen’, Inl. p. 27. 105 Huygens, Fragment pp. 53, 58.
95 ‘[I]n die eerste aenwijzingen en trekken [kon 106 Huygens, Fragment p. 58.
36 men] de gedachten van die groote Meesters 107 Huygens, Fragment pp. 75-76, Huygens
37 ... naespeuren’, Junius, SKDO p. 360. Cf. 1994, pp. 82-83.
38 Van Hoogstraten: ‘schoon alle stukken niet 108 Inl. p. 73.
even zorgvuldelijk tot den eynde toe worden 109 ‘Bewijzende dat de wel-spreekkendtheydt,
39 uitgevoert, zoo zullen mooglijk die geene, en het by-brengen van die zuyvere, en nette
40 die met een wakkere toezicht als ter vlucht woorden niet weezen en kan by luyden van
41 overloopen schijnen, meer gouts uit het groot begrip’, Huarte 1659, p. 288.
penseel hebben, als daer de laetste hand aen 110 ‘[E]en man gantsch uyt-steekkende in wijs­
42 gehouden is’, Inl. p. 235. heydt, en voorzichtichheydt (lijk Sokrates
43 96 ‘In’t goude laeckene kleed van Venus vinden was) en die geen gaaf van spreekken en hadt;
44
45
414          note s to chap te r v
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 414 10-10-2008 16:24:57

 van de welke zy zeyden (die verstonden wat mannen, ook de ruuwen kunnen spreeken, 1
een wonder verstandt, en weeten in hem als sy maar met geloofwaardigheyd en reede 2
zat) dat zijne woorden en spreukken eeven spreeken’, Agrippa 1661, pp. 3-4, cf. De van-
eens waaren als een kas, of taefereel, ’t welk itate, ed. Barocchi, Scritti pp. 79-80. 3
van buyten heel rou, en plomp gewrogt daar 116 ‘[S]ervando in questo la regola dell’istorico, 4
uyt zag, maar dat oopen-gedaan zijnde, men che narra il fatto come è stato, e non 5
daar binnen zag zulke oover-treffelijkke dell’oratore, che spesso amplifica et estenua
werken, en schilderyen’, Huarte 1659, p. le cose’, Paleotti 1960, p. 344. 6
230. 117 ‘[C]he ambiscono di essere ritratte con la 7
111 ‘In diergelijk een mis-verstandt staakken faccia colorita e graziosa, credendosi pur 8
die ook, die de reeden ... geeven wouden troppo con questo mezzo di diventare più
waarom Aristoteles op zulk een duystere, belle, che è cosa ridicola’, Paleotti 1960, p. 9
en rouwen stijl zijne werken beschreeven 344. 10
hadt, en zeyden, hy dat al willens soo hadt 118 ‘[A]nzi, se vi fossero anco defetti, o naturali 11
gedaan, omdaar door te maakken dat zijne o accidentali, che molto la deformassero,
werken in meerder agtbaarheydt zouden ge- né questi s’avriano da tralasciare’, Paleotti 12
houden worden, dies schreef hy zoo lomp, 1960, pp. 340-1. 13
en slordig heen ... [hetzelfde geldt voor] die 119 ‘Ziet onse Jufferen, verliesen zy niet daar 14
harde, en rouwe stijl van Platoos schrijven, door zelf dat gene zy met zoo yverigen be-
en zijn kortheydt daar in hy zijn werken in geerte zoeken? ... Zoo ziet men ook dat dese 15
een dringdt, zijn duysterheydt van reeden, al te gedwongene lossigheydt en apen-werk, 16
en de ongevoechelijkke stelling van dien’, waar mede zy te gunstiger vermoeden om- 17
Huarte 1659, p. 230. dat te worden, ons doen walgen, vermits wy
112 ‘[Paulus, die] door zijne ingebooren kragt sien alles gemaakt werk is. Dit zijn de ge- 18
niet afgerigt genog en was om vreemde breken der gedwongenheyt, zoo wel van al 19
taalen te leeren, en die met treffelijkke, en te beschroomt, als al te overvloeyend, strij­ 20
zuyvere netticheydt te kunnen uytten, en alle dende tegens het eenvoudige cieraat, waar
vereyste vercieringen daar in voegen, had hy mede de harten getogen worden. “Wat çiert 21
zelver aldus van hem niet gesprookken ge- de blanke Amaril? ... ’t glimmend voorhoofd 22
hadt? “Ik meen dat ik niet minder gedaan en gevernist?/ Of roode verwe op’er kaken?/ O 23
heb als een van al de Apostelen; en schoon neen, ’t en was maar moeyt verquist,/ Haar
ik wel wat plomper als zy in het spreekken zedige oogen ’t hart doen blaken”’, EJ p. 24
ben, in goede kennis, en weetenschap ben ik 15. 25
daarom by haar niet minder”’, Huarte 1659, 120 Junius, TPA p. 255-56; ‘datmen sijn werck 26
p. 230. met eenen ruyghen rock bekleede, dan dat-
113 Agrippa concludes that ‘[d]e voorschriften men ’t met d’omhangsels van hoerachtighe 27
van wel te zeggen, het leeven der menschen cieraeten ontschoone ... een moedvaerdi­ 28
meer schadelijk dan vorderlijk zijn, en om gher dapperheyd ... sonder ons selven veele 29
de waarheyd te zeggen, ’t is blijkelijk dat ontrent de nettigheyd van eenighe dunne
die oeffeningh der reeden-konst, geheel en hayrkens en d’uyterste naghelen te kekom- 30
all’, niet ander is, dan een behendigheyd meren [sic]’, Junius, SKDO p. 278. 31
van smeermuylen, en aap aap te zeggen, (en 121 Vossius translates actio as handeling: ‘Pro- 32
gelijk zommige nogh vrymoedigher zeggen) nunciatio sive Actio - Utspreeking oft Han-
van lieghen, als die, ’t geen ze door des zaaks deling is een bequaame toepassing der stem 33
waarheyd niet te weegh kan brengen, door en ghebaerden na de dingen en woorden ... 34
de opsmukkingh des reedens over-reedet’, De deelen der Uitspreeking zijn twe; het 35
Agrippa 1661, p. 53. eene vormt de stem; het ander de bewee­
114 ‘[B]edriechelijke waarschijnelijkheyd’, ghing des lichaams. Van de eerste plight wordt 36
‘opsmuk’, ‘hoere-blanketzelen’, ‘de dit deel Uitspreeking; van de laatste Hande- 37
gemoeden der onbedoghte’, Agrippa 1661, ling ghenoemt’, Vossius 1648, p. 30. 38
pp. 60-63. 122 Jansen 1995, p. 156.
115 ‘[D]e leugenspraak heeft verblomde woorden 123 Van de Wetering posited this proposition as 39
van doen, op datze de gemoeden der men- a central element of Rembrandt’s views on 40
schen bemaghtige, maer de reede des Waer- art, but without substantiating it with con- 41
heyds ... is eenvoudigh, na geene opsmuk- temporary observations; Van de Wetering
kingen noch beglimpingen uytziende [...]‘dat 1996, p. 276. 42
by yder de voornaemste en welspreekenste 124 ‘[D]e Schilders de gebreken, die zy zelfs in 43
44
45
no t e s t o c h ap t e r v           415
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 415 10-10-2008 16:24:57

1 haren persoon hebben, ook veeltijts in haer hoofd hebbe’ (‘constantly has the phantasms
2 werk vertoonen’, which is explained by the of the visible works in his head’), Ripa 1644,
fact that ‘dat onze innerlijke zinnen met p. 452.
3 onze uiterlijke gedaenten lichtelijk overeen- 134 Houbraken 1718-1721, I p. 272; Houbraken
4 dragen’, Inl. p. 65. See also note 00. used the Dutch version of 1696.
5 125 In his Microcosmo Scannelli quite literally as- 135 German scholarship speaks about ‘politische
sociates painters with physical features and Klugheit’ or ‘political intelligence’; cf. Kapp
6 compares Raphael with the liver, Veronese 1990, p. 84, n. 88, and Schröder 1985, pp.
7 with the genitals, etc.; see Sohm 2001, p. 103-104.
8 139. 136 ‘[A]spirando todos a la ufania de primeros en
126 ‘[G]een eygen handeling te betrachten, su género ... Sin salir del arte, sabe el ingenio
9 maer alleen de natuurlijkheyt’, ‘om te be- salir de lo ordinario y hallar en la encanecida
10 toonen dat den meester, en niet het pin- profesión nuevo paso para la eminencia ...
11 seel, den Schilder is’, Inl. pp. 234 (marginal que el elentado capricho nunca se rindío a la
note), 235; for this anecdote in Van Mander fácil imitación ... Vió el otro galante pintor
12 see Stanneck 2004. que le habían cogido la delantera el Ticiano,
13 127 ‘[D]atmen in de rechte en slechte eenvoud- Rafael y otros. Estaba más viva la fama
14 igheyd sijner wercken gheen Konste maer cuando muertos ellos: valióse de su inven-
de nature selver meynt te beschouwen’, Jun- cibile inventiva. Dió en pintar a lo valentón.
15 ius, SKDO, p. 323. Objetaronle algunos el no pintar a lo suave
16 128 ‘[D]ryderley penseelen, als goude, zilvere, y pulido, en que podía emular al Ticiano, y
17 en kopere’, Inl. p. 235. sodisfizo galantemente que quería más ser
129 The ‘smooth stiffness, or precise finickiness’ primero en aquella grosería que segundo
18 is associated with the artist’s ‘sleep’ (this ap- en la delicadeza’, Gracián, Héroe (hoofdstuk
19 plies to Honthorst, Inl. p. 234); the rough XVII), quoted in Schröder 1985, pp. 123-
20 manner, in contrast, is associated with an 124.
‘alert brushstroke’, with ‘playing’, ‘percep- 137 ‘[C]haque coup de Pinceau ... fait admirer
21 tivity’, working ‘intelligently’, ‘attentive- [la verité] de son Génie’, De Piles 1699, p.
22 ness’, and the giudizio dell’occhio (‘the judge- 437.
23 ment of the eye’), see Inl. pp. 233, 234, 235. 138 ‘Nu moet’er het kennelyke van den meester
Cf.: ‘zoo zeggen wy ... dat zy gelukkich zijn, noch in’, Houbraken 1718-1721, I p. 73.
24 die met een wakkere hand, terwijl de geest 139 ‘Zyne wyze van doen ontrent de konst
25 noch onvermoeit is, hunne werken kunnen (schoon in vele deelen te mispryzen) doet
26 ten einde brengen’, Inl. p. 236, and: ‘der is my besluiten dat hy zulks voordachtig
een groot onderscheyt in de geesten; zoo gedaan heeft’, Houbraken 1718-1721, I p.
27 dat, daer des eens begrijp aen wast, des an- 273.
28 ders, terwijl het beezich is, in slaep valt’, Inl. 140 ‘[C]he non possono, per l’ estremo diletto
29 p. 240. che sentono de l’invenzione, aver pazienza
130 Cf. Van Mander (drawing on Pliny), Het di finire alcuna opera cominciata,’ Lomazzo,
30 leven der oude antijcke doorluchtighe schilders, Trattato, in Barocchi, Scritti p. 349. Apelles
31 in: Van Mander 1604, f. 77v. was said to have known that he had to stop
32 131 Scaliger believes that in Homer ingenium work on a painting in time, Inl. p. 236.
and idea or res are superb, but the verba are 141 ‘[I]k geloof datmen de gratien uit zijn werk
33 rough; see Borinski 1965, I, p. 233. wech drijft, als men het te dikwils over
34 132 ‘[Z]waermoedich en met hooftbreeking’, schildert’, Inl. p. 240.
35 Inl. p. 237. 142 ‘[D]at het den Konstenaeren ghenoeghe­
133 A consequence of the fact that ordinnantie licker is te wercken, dan ghewrocht te heb-
36 – composition – calls above all on the im- ben’, Junius, SKDO p. 260.
37 agination is that the artist runs the risk of 143 ‘[T]en lesten wrocht [Titiaan] zijn din­
38 falling into a melancholy, which is the re- ghen met cloecke pinceel-streken henen, en
sult of the overuse of this mental function: ghevleckt, soo dat het van by geen perfectie,
39 ‘in’t ordineeren moetmen zich vooral van maer van verre te sien, goeden welstandt
40 zwaermoedicheit wachten’, Inl. p. 174. Ripa hadde’, Van Mander, Het leven der ­moderne,
41 likewise expresses the view that the artist oft dees-tijtsche doorluchtighe Italiaensche
can descend into melancholy by overtax- schilders, in: Van Mander 1604, f. 177r. For
42 ing his imagination because he ‘gestaedigh the preceding history of the esteem for the
43 de fantasien van de sichtelijcke wercken in’t visible brushstroke see Sohm 1991, esp. p.
44 142.
45
416          note s to chap te r v
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 416 10-10-2008 16:24:57

 144 ‘[M]et vlecken en rouw’ streken’, ‘wat verre rudes, sous des couleurs si rudes?’ Quoted 1
... gheweken ... daer van was’, ‘met groote in Van de Wetering 1997, p. 306; for the full 2
Const, den arbeydt verbergende’, Van Man- text of the treatise see Merrifield 1999.
der, Het leven der moderne, oft dees-tijtsche 157 ‘[O]h maravegia! Queste dela Pitura è stri- 3
doorluchtighe Italiaensche schilders, in: Van garie! ... Gh’è quel che vedo: vedo linee, 4
Mander 1604, f. 177r. Vasari observes that peli, segni, variole, nei, rughe, e caveli: Ma 5
in Titian’s late ‘manner’ the mastery is so de qua vedo tuto, e no gh’è niente. Vedo un
well concealed that his works could no long- impasto, un sprezzo de penelo’, Boschini, 6
er be imitated, Vasari 1988, vol. VI, p. 166; Carta ed. 1966, p. 327. 7
on the differing opinions of Titian held by 158 ‘[Bassano] dunque è stato di così fiero colpo 8
Van Mander and Vasari, see Golahny 2000, di pennello, che certo in simile maneggio
pp. 8-17. non ha avuto pari e, a differenza d’ogn’altro, 9
145 ‘Meer moeyt isser in als men soude peysen ... sprezzando la diligenza e la finitezza, con 10
den arbeydt daer onder/ Groote Const be- un Caos (per così dire) de colori indistinti e 11
deckt is ... zijn dinghen schijnen/ Lichtveer- miscugli di confusione, che da vicino e sotto
dich, die doch zijn ghedaen met pijnen’, Van l’occhio rassembrano più tosto un sconcer- 12
Mander, Grondt XII, 22-25, fol. 48r-v. to, che un perfetto artificio ... ma scostan- 13
146 ‘[D]e vlakke plaetstreeken onverwerkt ge- dosi in debita distanza, l’occhio e l’orecchio 14
laten, welke uit de hand staende, ook dies te dell’Intelletto restano paghi [vermaakt],
grooter kracht hebben’, Inl. p. 234. e godono la più soave armonia che render 15
147 The decorum doctrine posits that youth and possa un ben accordato instrumento, tocco 16
age have different styles, cf. Jansen 2001, p. da maestra mano, e la più simpatica unione 17
128. tra l’Arte e la Natura che possi formare con-
148 ‘Souvent il ne faisoit que donner de grands certo umano’, Boschini, Breve instruzione ed. 18
coups de pinceau, & coucher ses couleurs 1966, p. 725. 19
fort épaisses, les unes auprès des autres, sans 159 ‘Spesso anchor nella pittura una linea sola 20
les noyer & les adoucir ensemble ... Quoy- non stentata, un sol colpo di penello tirato
que toutes n’ayent pas les graces du pinceau, facilmente, di modo che paia che la mano 21
elles ont beaucoup de force; & lorsqu’on les senza esser guidata da studio o d’arte alcuna 22
regarde d’une distance proportionée, elles vada per se stessa al suo termine secondo la 23
font un très bon effet, & paroissent avec de intention del pittore’, Castiglione 1528, lib
beaucoup de rondeur’, Félibien 1685, vol. 1, p. 30. On the concept of sprezzatura in 24
IV, p. 151. Rembrandt’s studio see Van de Wetering 25
149 See Golahny 1984, pp. 246-50, and Pousão- 1993, pp. 16 ff., Van de Wetering 1997, pp. 26
Smith 2003, p. 262. 160-163.
150 ‘[E]lles sont dans Rembrandt très-distingués 160 ‘[G]elijck het een groote konst is by de Ora- 27
à les regarder de près, mais dans une distance teuren of Redenaers, haer werck alsoo te 28
convenable elles paroissent très-unies par la maken datter geen konst in blijcke, alsoo is’t 29
justesse des coups’, De Piles 1699, 386. mede by den Schilders, datse alsoo weeten
151 Krüger 2001, esp. p. 121. te schilderen, dat haer konst niet blijcke, 30
152 In his preface to Junius’s treatise, for in- ten zy aen de verstandige: en dat lof, dat een 31
stance, Jan de Brune writes that ‘eenige ­kloecksinnigh Schilder van een goed gerucht 32
[schilders] souden het in hun vermogen verwacht, is van de Deughd voortgekomen’,
wesende verachten, uyt vreese van dat hun Ripa 1644, p. 453. Cf. De Brune, ‘’t Is met 33
stucken gehouden mochten werden voor de welsprekenheyd, als met het water, ’t 34
wercken van de natuer en niet van de konst’, welck best is, als het zuyver, licht en minst 35
Junius, SKDO Preface, unpaginated (p. vi). smaecke heeft? ’t Is een subtijle konst, gheen
153 ‘[E]en gedaente, die bevlekt is met verschey- konst te ghebruycken’, De Brune 1657, p. 36
den verwen’, Inl. p. 360. 198, par. DXXV. 37
154 ‘[G]ecoleurde schaduwe’, Goeree, TK p. 161 ‘[E]en sekere soorte van onachtsaemheyd’, 38
16. Junius, SKDO p. 188.
155 ‘[D]oeck of planck/ met verw besmeerd’, 162 ‘[H]et werck van een voorsichtighlick ver- 39
‘een werck dat in hem selfs maar treck en heelde en wijslick bedeckte Konste’, Junius, 40
schaduw is’, Camphuysen 1638, pp. 115, SKDO p. 318. 41
108. 163 ‘[D]e voornaemste kracht der Konste ... dat-
156 ‘Comme il est possible que le pinceau ait men sijne Konst voorsichtighlick verhele’, 42
couché tant de douceurs sous ces traits si Junius, SKDO p. 322. 43
44
45
no t e s t o c h ap t e r v           417
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 417 10-10-2008 16:24:57

1 164 ‘[I]n den schijn van onopmerken … de hoog- zoo veel zaken begrijpen ... Hy is voorwaar
2 ste kunst speelt’, Inl. p. 197; cf. ‘een welkun- verwonderlijk, schijnende als oft hem niet
stige, maer in schijn ongemaekte plaetsing ter harte ging, verricht hy zoo voortreflijk
3 uwer beelden’, Inl. p. 190; ‘een schijn van zonder eenige verwarring sijne warachtige
4 losse onachtsaemheit’, Inl. p. 190. vertelling, en rust nimmer in sijne orden-
5 165 ‘[D]e ongelukkige gedwongenheydt, en ing al leerende, even gelijk de zijde-stikkers
loomigheydt, in welke men alles geparst en het goudt en zilver in haar werk schikken ...
6 verdrietig uytvoert’, ‘een aart van vrye los- ’t Is waar, dat, dewijl hy diepsinnig kort en
7 sigheydt, daar ester de kunst onder verbor- eenighsins duyster is, wel een gauw verstant
8 gen is ... en alle zaken, als of men niet daar van nooden is hem te verstaen, waerom hy
aan gedachte, aardigh verricht ... dit is ook ook van eenige berispt wort’, EJ pp. 22-23.
9 de oorsaak waarom men zeght, den redenaar 177 Van Hoogstraten argues that the ‘rough
10 geen beter konststuk te hebben, als dat hy sketch’ often has greater persuasive impact
11 sijn reden niet gedwongen, maar als vielt than the finished drawing, which leads to
hem zoo in, voorstelt, andersints versuymt the view cited earlier that people often base
12 hy een groot voordeel by sijn toehoorders.... a likeness only on a certain suggestive un-
13 dat de al te groote lossigheydt ... veel arger certainty. This is why sketches are so popu-
14 is, dan te grooten sorgvuldigheydt’, EJ pp. lar with collectors, Inl. p. 27-28.
13-14 178 ‘[M]et onnoodich fijmelwerk malkander
15 166 ‘Daerom hebben groote meesters ook wel blind te schilderen’, Inl. p. 216.
16 dingen, die in ’t eerste aenleggen een geluk- 179 ‘[S]ommige heeft tans den lust tot netticheyt
17 kige welstant hadden, onopgemaekt gelaten, zoodanich verleyt, dat zy, zelfs in tweespan-
van vreeze dat zy die zouden bederven. Zoo nebeelden ... bynae onzienlijke dingen zin-
18 kan’t ook gebeuren dat de grondverwe uwes neloosselijk bestaen uit te beelden’, Inl. p.
19 doeks of paneels in’t koloreeren te pas komt, 240.
20 en met eenige duwkens geholpen, uwen ar- 180 ‘[The aforementioned painter is] he who
beyt verlicht’, Inl. p. 321. loves the small eye, a tiny finger, a fin-
21 167 Inl. p. 233. ished head, but with the pretext of esteem-
22 168 Junius, SKDO p. 27; TPA p. 35. ing nothing but the finest quality. It seems
23 169 ‘’t Zy dan ... dat het oog in de ruwe schetssen to them that finish is a precious balsam of
van gevallige voorwerpen eenige vormen such substance that it maintains good taste
24 uitpikt, gelijk wy aen den haert in het vuer uncorrupted, adapted to the always curious
25 pleegen te doen’, Inl. p. 237. dilletant. They tell me little, these finished
26 170 ‘Chaos van verwen’, Inl. pp. 237. pigmies (sti fini Pigmei)’, Boschini, Carta ed.
171 ‘[Q]uanto più i mezzi, co’quali si imita, 1966, p. 151-152, cf. Sohm 1991, p. 104.
27 son lontani dalle cose da imitarsi, tanto più 181 ‘’t Welk hem, nevens zijn groot oordeel in
28 l’imitazione è maravigliosa’, ‘quella sorta het navolgen van’t leeven, tot den besten
29 d’istrioni che co’movimenti soli e co’cenni Landschapschilder van de Werelt gemaekt
sapevano recitare una storia o favola, che heeft’, Inl. p. 137.
30 quelli che con la viva voce l’esprimevano in 182 Pino, Dialogo di pittura (Venezia 1548), ed.
31 tragedia o in commedia, per usar quelli un Barocchi, Trattati I, p. 134.
32 mezzo diversissimo et un modo di rappre- 183 ‘[S]pezialmente esso Tiziano ha colorito con
sentare in tutto differente alle azioni rappre- vaghissima maniera i monti, i piani … nelle
33 sentate’, Galilei 1954, p. 34. carni ha avuto tanta venustà e grazia con
34 172 ‘[E]en ghemackelicke ende onbedwonghen quelle sue mischie e tinte, che paiono vere
35 vaerdigheyd ... als of sich den Konstenaer e vive, e principalmente le grassezza e le te-
maer alleen door een jeugdighe speelsieckte nerezze che naturalmente in lui si vedono’,
36 tot het werck hadde laeten aendrijven’, Jun- Lomazzo 1974, chapter XIII, p. 127.
37 ius, SKDO p. 326. 184 ‘Unico è questo al mondo hor frà pittori/
38 173 Cf. Von Rosen 2001, p. 331. Nel dar spirito e color à le pitture./ E nel
174 Van de Wetering 1997, pp. 160-163. pinger paesi avanza ogn’uno’, Lomazzo,
39 175 Brevitas could earmark a text as being ap- Rime p. 94, quoted from Barasch 1978, p.
40 propriate for a limited readership, cf. Jansen 208.
41 1995, p. 110. 185 Van Hoogstraten calls Titian ‘zulk een man,
176 ‘Onder de Latijnen behoudt Tacitus (na het die zich zoo geheelijk had overgegeeven, om
42 zeggen der werelt wijzen) de eerste plaats, en de natuer, met penseel en verwen, bestipte­
43 wie kan ook beter als hy met weynig woorden lijk nae te volgen,’ Inl. p. 242.
44
45
418          note s to chap te r v
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 418 10-10-2008 16:24:57

 186 Goodchild 1998. See also the collected erom zijn de Italiaenen beter in’t gros van de 1
source material in Torresan 1981. konst: maer onze Nederlanders, die niet zoo 2
187 ‘[Z]elf[s] d’Italianen al voor lang bekennen vlug van geest en gedachten zijn, maer aerd­
mosten, dat de Nederlanders hen in land- achtiger en kouder, zullen ’t den Italiaenen 3
schappen te boven gingen’, Inl. p. 137. in eenich byzonder deel, daer hun natuer 4
188 ‘[I]l farsi pratico e valente nelli lontani, dil toe neigt, zelden gewonnen geven’, Inl. p. 5
che ne sono molto dotati gli oltramontani, e 13.
quest’avviene perché fingono i paesi abitati 195 ‘[O]nze Schilderjeugt [mag] trachten ... om 6
da loro, i quali per quella lor selvatichezza si meester in alle deelen van onze kunst te 7
rendono gratissimi. ... Questa parte nel pit- worden […] En voorwaer, dezen graet der 8
tore è molto propria e dilettevole a sé stesso Algemeenheit in de konst te bereyken, is zoo
et agli altri; e quel modo de ritrare li paesi veel waerdiger datm’er nae stae, om datze 9
nello specchio, come usano li Tedeschi, de kroone der gloryen aen haere verwin- 10
è molto al proposito’, Pino, Dialogo di pit- ners geeft ... Raphaël, zegt men, was in alle 11
tura (Venezia 1548), ed. Barocchi, Scritti p. dingen universeel of gemeenzaem gracelijk,
1350. hy wist overal wech meede: ’t welk in een 12
189 Lomazzo 1584, Cap. LXII ‘Composizione algemeen Schilder, om goedt te heeten, ver­ 13
del pingere e fare i paesi diversi’. Echoing eyscht wort’, Inl. p. 72; for bijwerk see pp. 14
Van Mander, Van Hoogstraten mentions 72-73.
in the Inleyding Patinir (p. 137), Herri met 196 In 1639-1640, for instance, Rembrandt also 15
de Bles (137), Van Scorel (255), Gillis Mos- made his self-portraits in emulation of Rap- 16
taert (39-40), Breugel (141, 176) and Lucas hael’s portrait of Baldassare Castiglione; see 17
(14 and elsewhere). Patinir and Herri met White & Buvelot 1999, pp. 170-175.
de Bles ‘raised landscape painting in these 197 Houbraken 1718-1721, III p. 157, mentions 18
lands to a high plane’, while Albert Ouwater ‘Gebouwen, Lantschappen, onstuimige Zee, 19
‘won the prize among the landscape painters stille Wateren, Dieren, Bloemen, Fruit, 20
produced by Haarlem’, Inl. p. 137. en stil leven’ painted by Van Hoogstraten.
190 This is a key contention in Goodchild 1998. Czech 1997, p. 366, n. 19 refers to a Supper 21
The distinction between ‘Northern’ colour at Emmaus, conceived as an Italianate land- 22
and ‘Southern’ drawing recurs in Van Hoog- scape, in a museum in Bucharest that can 23
straten; he contrasts the ‘polished’ manner probably be attributed to Van Hoogstraten.
of the painters from Rome and Tuscany Another work that demonstrates Van Hoog- 24
with the more lifelike colour of the North- straten’s experience in painting landscape 25
ern Italians, who ‘not only adorned art with by-work is the View from a Villa (1668) in 26
beautiful colours, and shining varnish, but London, Mr and Mrs R. Robinson collec-
gave it all life’, Inl. p. 256. tion, cf. Brusati 1995, pp. 110-11, no. 98. An 27
191 ‘[N]ae een lang, en alchymistisch onder- inventory reference dating from 1694 refers 28
zoek’, Inl. p. 338; cf.: ‘Giovanni da Bruggia to ‘mountains by Hoogstraten’, see Roscam 29
… si mise a provare diverse sorte di colori; Abbing 1993, p. 94, no. 33.
e, come quello che si dilettava dell’archimia, 198 Cf.: ‘Wat juweelen/ Draegt vrouw Natuer in 30
a far di molti olj pe far vernici, ed altre cose, haer veelverwig kleet!’, Inl. p. 204. 31
secondo i cervelli degli uomini sofistici, 199 ‘[I]n’t lommerich geboomt, of in de luchtige 32
come egli era’, Vasari, Le vite (ed. Milanesi, beemd; daer de Veldnimfjes ... het Bosch en
pp. 565-66), quoted in Torresan 1981, p. ’t Gebergt niet dan van liefdelietjes, doen 33
17. wedergalmen’, Inl. p. 123. 34
192 Inl. p. 77. 200 ‘Wiens Schildergeest zouw niet tot wat 35
193 ‘Pintam em Flandres propriamente para ongemeens uitspatten, die de Poëten zoo
enganar a vista exterior ... O seu pintar é Schilderachtich van lantschap hoort zin- 36
trapos, maçonarias, verduras de campos, gen?’ Inl. p. 138. 37
sombras de arvores, e rios e pontes, a que 201 ‘[D]aer den Poëet speelen gaet, heeft ook 38
chamam paisagens’, De Holanda 1984, p. den Schilder vryen toom’, Inl. p. 138.
29; on this passage cf. Averni 1981. 202 ‘[E]lk in haer eygen aert’, Inl. pp. 139-140. 39
194 ‘Né digo tanto mal, da flamenga pintura 203 ‘[M]eer vryheyts’, ‘die in nauwer wetten 40
porque seja toda má, mas porque quer fazer staen’, Inl. p. 137. 41
tanta cousa bem (cada uma das quais, só, 204 Ames-Lewis 2000, pp. 175-76.
bastava por mui grande) que não faz nen- 205 ‘Qui l’Ariosto colorisce et in questo suo 42
huma bem’, De Holanda 1984, p. 29; cf. ‘hi- colorire dimostra essere un Tiziano’, Lo- 43
mazzo 1584, p. 299. 44
45
no t e s t o c h ap t e r v           419
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 419 10-10-2008 16:24:57

1 206 This is one of the central theses of Beening views about the beneficial effect of being in a
2 1963. room with landscapes decorating the walls.
207 Horace, Ars poetica vs. 10: ‘Pictoribus atque 216 Junius, SKDO, pp. 54-55.
3 poetis/ quidlibet audendi semper fuit aequa 217 ‘Zoo zachmen ook Krassus afwijk in
4 potestas’. het barre Armeniën schilderen, dat den
5 208 ‘[I]l poeta vole in tal caso chiamarsi anco lui toeziender dorst krijge, en de warme locht
pittore ... non riceverai altro piacere, che à schijne te gevoelen’, Inl. p. 124.
6 udire tale effetto descritto dal poeta’, Leon- 218 ‘Het bloot gesigt,/ Schynt, in den storm (soo
7 ardo, Trattato, in Busch 1997, p. 66. levend is de kunst)/ Ons ook te [ver]wikke-
8 209 ‘[L]a libertà poetica [sarà] in moltissime len;/ Het drabbig ligt,/ Der dik-bewolkte
cose … alberi di più sorte … monti, colli, son, gesaeidt op ’t dunst’,/ Schynt ons te
9 valli, prati, campi, fiumi, stagni, fonti, rivi, prikkelen,/ Met innerlyken anxt, en harte-
10 pesci, animali, uccelli di più sorte’, Gilio, wee’, Joachim Oudaans poëzy (Amsterdam
11 Due dialoghi…nel secondo si ragiona degli er- 1712, vol. II, pp. 134-5), quoted in Beening
rori de’pittori circa l’historie (1564), quoted 1963, p. 234.
12 from Barocchi, Trattati II, p. 18. 219 Aretino to Titian (May 1544), quoted in
13 210 ‘In queste cose sarà la licenza del pittore: se Busch 1997, p. 85.
14 vorrà anco dipingere il giorno, la notte, il 220 Leonardo talks about ‘allegri siti’, and the
cielo sereno o pieno di nuoli, il sole, la luna, ‘scherzare […] delli serpeggianti fiumi’, Le-
15 le stelle, il mare, i fiumi, i laghi, i fonti, chi onardo, Trattato, ed. Busch 1977, p. 66.
16 peschi, chi nuoti nell’acqua, chi faccia una 221 ‘[R]uine di monti loghi paurosi e spavente-
17 cosa e chi un’altra’, Gilio, Due dialoghi… voli che danno terrore alli loro risguardatori
nel secondo si ragiona degli errori de’pittori et anchora lochi piaccevoli suavi et dilette-
18 circa l’historie (1564), quoted from Barocchi, voli di fioriti prati di varij colori piegati da
19 Trattati II, p. 22. suave onde dalli suave moti di venti’, Leon-
20 211 According to a remark in the introduction,Van ardo, Trattato ed. McMahon 1956, II, pp. 36
Hoogstraten started this work in emulation and 36v.
21 of Sannazaro; Van Hoogstraten 1669, un- 222 ‘[S]foga l’arabbiata sua ira et alcuna volta su-
22 paginated. On Sannazaro and the Grondt perata da i venti si fuggie dal mare scorrendo
23 see Miedema 1973, p. 647. On this author’s per l’alte ripe delle vicini, promontorij dove
influence on descriptions of landscape in superate le cime de monti discende nelle
24 Dutch literature, see Beening 1963. opposite valli e parte sene miscia, miscuna
25 212 Sannazaro 1533, ‘Preamble’, unpaginated. preredate dal furore e venti e parte ne fuggie
26 213 ‘Als den boomgaert, wit van bloisem, dalli venti richadendo, in pioggia sopra del
overvloet van fruit belooft, laet u dan, ô mare ... caciandosi inanzi cio che s’oppone
27 Schilderjeugt! door geen vadzige vaek dien alla sua ruina’, Leonardo, Trattato ed. Mc-
28 onwaerdeerlijken tijd ontsteelen, maer be- Mahon 1956, II, pp. 36 and 36v.
29 gin dingen die noit te vooren gezien zijn. 223 ‘Il [moto] vegetabile è quello che si dà
Schilder my dan de groente, daer den dauw alle frondi, ai fiori, frutti, arbori et erbe ...
30 afdruipt, en de versche bloemen na’t leven L’elementale è quello che si dà nell’acqua,
31 uit; gy zult kleuren vinden, die noit Schilder gonfio e fluttuante per l’onde agitate dai
32 te werk ley. ... Al lang genoeg gemeene din- venti ... nell’aria coruscante, precipitoso, os-
gen gemaekt, die den prikkel van eerliefde curo, spaventevole e gonfio per le agitazioni
33 gevoelt, slaet wat hoogers ter hand, en vind che fanno in lei i venti, e per le nubi che le
34 licht een zeldsame en nieuwe vond uit’, Inl. congregano’, Lomazzo 1974, pp. 179-81; cf.
35 p. 231. Barasch 1985, pp. 276 ff.
214 ‘Entre tous les plaisirs que les differens 224 ‘Or tutte queste specie di moti vengono a
36 talens de la Peinture procurent à ceux qui les formare nella pittura il commovimento ...
37 exercent, celui de faire un Païsage me paroît E questo è quello che spinge i riguardanti a
38 le plus sensible, & le plus commode: car commoversi diversamente, et appassionarsi
dans la grande varieté dont il est susciptible, a riso, a dolore, ad audacia, a … et agli altri
39 le Peintre a plus d’occassions que dans tous affetti dell’animo’, Lomazzo 1974, pp. 179-
40 les autres genres de cet Art de se contenter 181.
41 dans le choix des objets’, De Piles, Cours de 225 ‘[E]en heerlijke Schipstorm in een gruwzaem
peinture par principes (Paris 1708), quoted in Zee-onweder’: ‘Hier speelt de behendicheyt
42 Busch 1997, p. 161 des Schippers, ’t buigen der riemen door de
43 215 Gombrich 1966, pp. 107 ff. reports various kracht der roeyers, ’t gewelt der winden, ’t
44
45
420          note s to chap te r v
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 420 10-10-2008 16:24:57

 beweegen en breeken der baeren, ’t blixe- peli dell’uomo e di tutti gli animali, sudori, 1
men uit den Hemel, en des Schilders hooge spume e altre cose, che non possono fare gli 2
geest, zoo wonderlijk deur malkander, dat scultori’, Varchi, Della maggioranza e nobiltà
het geheel stuk in’t aenzien schijnt te bewe- dell’arti (1549), ed. Barocchi, Trattati vol. I, 3
gen’, Inl. p. 125. p. 37. 4
226 Junius, TPA p. 61; ‘soet-ruysschende Beek- 240 ‘[L]a maraviglia del colorire […] rappre- 5
skens die met een aenghenaeme suyselingh senta la differenza trà ciascun animale, se
onsen slaep-lust soo gheweldighlick niet è terrestre, aquatile, ò volatile, e distingue 6
en konnen verwecken, of sy houden onse gli huomini di ciascuna ragion […] e trà gli 7
ooghen noch veel krachtigher open met de elementi mostra le fiamme, l’acque, i fonti, 8
suyvere klaerheyt haerder silver-stroomen’, le nubbi, i lampi, i tuoni, e le pietre, & in
Junius, SKDO pp. 54-55. ciascheduna si contengono quasi tutte le 9
227 ‘d’Alleraengenaemste verwe ... versterkt en virtù del colorire … che non vi è cosa alcuna 10
verheugt het gezicht, door hare levendicheyt corporale da Dio creata, che per essa non si 11
en blyheyt’; ‘een duyzend gebrokeverwich possa rappresentare’, Bisagni 1642, p. 230.
lantschap ... wanneer de lieve lente beemden 241 ‘[G]eensins dat gout-geel-hayr, noch de 12
en velden vernieuwt, en het bosch zijn nieuw- glants van de wapenen, noch een donckere 13
bewasse kruinen opsteekt’, Inl. p. 231. nacht, noch een onweder van de doot, noch 14
228 Burton 2001, II 2.4.1. die lampen en vierige schichten, noch de
229 Inl. p. 159. brandt van een stadt, noch het rijsen van 15
230 Burton 2001, II 1.1.9. den dageraet, met haer roosverwige kaken, 16
231 Inl. p. 223. ‘Men moet de ziel in d’ope lucht uyt-drucken: en om kort te gaen, hy kan 17
laeten wandelen, op dat zij grooter worde, ons den hemel, noch de zee, noch de aerde,
en met een ongebonde Geest den Hemel noch de bergen, noch de beemden, noch 18
aenzie’, Inl. p. 200. de bosschen, noch de rivieren, steden noch 19
232 Inl. p. 231; cf. Van Mander, Grondt VIII,1, huysen, eygentlijck vertoonen, al het welck 20
f. 34r. de Schilder doen kan’, Van den Bos 1662, p.
233 De Brune, Preface to Junius, SKDO, 117. In this passage the Italian original also 21
unpaginated. dealt with flesh tones and the colour of eyes 22
234 ‘De Schilder-Konst [is] veel al-gemeener, and the ‘beams’ that they ‘emit’, th sculptor 23
om dat sy de Natuyre veel over-vloede­ cannot ‘esprimer la graziosa vista degli oc-
lijcker weet na te bootsen: want boven dien chi neri e azzurri, col splender di que’ raggi 24
dat sy aff-beelt alderley Dieren, als, Voge- amorosi’, Castiglione 1528, p. 126. 25
len, Vissen, Wormen, Vlieghen, Spinnen, 242 ‘Summa, verwe doet hier sichtbaer be- 26
Rupsen, soo kanse ons oock verthoonen trapen,/ Al wat ter Weerelt van Godt is ghe­
alderhande Metalen: onderscheydende de schapen ... In den voor-somer, als de velden 27
selve, als Goudt, Silver, Metael, Koper, Tin, bloeyen,/ Vol blijde coleuren, schoon dif- 28
Loodt, en wat des meer is. Men kan door ferentich’, Van Mander, Grondt XIII,15, f. 29
haer uyt-beelden den Regen-Boogh, Regen, 51rv.
Donder, Blixem, Wolcken, Waesem, Licht, 243 ‘[T]weelingen van eender dracht’, Inl. p. 30
Weerschijn, en dierghelijcke dinghen meer’, 245. 31
Angel, Lof, pp. 25-26; for this passage see 244 Junius, TPA p. 61; ‘[De liefhebber] be­ 32
Sluijter 2000c, p. 211. schouwt ... het silver-straellighe licht der Maene
235 Angel, Lof, pp. 25, 54. Van Hoogstraten ... hoe de groote lampe des Hemels uyt de 33
uses this term in the context of flesh colour, Zee ’s morghens opstijght en ’t flickerende 34
Inl. p. 228. water met een twijffelachtigh bevende licht 35
236 ‘[V]eranderinge [is] voor alle dingen ver- verguldt ... hoe ’t gheberghte hoogher op
maeklijck’, Ripa 1644 p. 453. in een nevelachtighe blaeuwigheyt ver­ 36
237 Inl. p. 125, cf. Inl. p. 232. Van Hoogstraten dwijnt. Hy besichtight met een sin-wackere 37
praises Ambrogio Lorenzetti who was ‘the noest[i]gheyt al ’tgene sich den menschen 38
first’ since Apelles to start painting weather hier op d’aerde ende over de aerde aenbiet.
conditions, Inl. p. 125. De dampe veel-verwige waeter-wolcken, 39
238 Beening 1963, p. 232. voor-naemelick als ons dien wonderbaeren 40
239 ‘[L]umi, aria, fumi, fiati, nuvoli, riverberi [regen]boge daer in vertooght word; […] 41
et altre infinite apparenze, come sarebbe ’t koele over-welfsel van een dicht beplant
l’apparire del sole, l’aurora, la notte, i colori gheboomte, welckers bevende Loof in et- 42
dell’acque, le piume degli uccelli, i capelli e tellicke plaetsen meer of min doorstraelt 43
44
45
no t e s t o c h ap t e r v           421
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 421 10-10-2008 16:24:57

1 wesende, schijnt met een schitter-rijck spe- 255 Roskill 1997, p. 78.
2 lende licht de lommerachtighe gras-groente 256 Emmens 1979, pp. 152-168; Bakker 1995.
te vervreughden’, Junius, SKDO pp. 54-55. 257 ‘[S]childer-achtige spreucke [...]: Het zijn
3 245 ‘Zoo hebben de voornaemste Schilders ook de beste Schilders die ’t leven naast komen’,
4 altijt iets, dat hun best meevalt. Dezen zal’t ‘het stellen der standen buyten de nature,
5 lusten, wat stof hij ook voorheeft, dezelve en het wringhen en buygen der geleden en
deur aerdige deelen wonder behaeglijk te ghebeenderen’, Bredero, Boertigh, amoreus,
6 doen schijnen, als of hy meer vermaeks had en aendachtigh groot liedboeck (ed. G. Stuiv-
7 in’t vertoonen van een soorte der mede­ eling 1975, pp. 17-18), quoted in Bakker
8 werkende dingen, als in’t gros van de zaek; 1995, p. 152.
[…] Een ander zal dezelve deelen door een 258 ‘[E]infaltige und nicht in sonderbares Nach-
9 gedwongener ordre, door schikschaduwe en sinnen lauffende, ihme wohlgefällige und
10 beeldesprong wonderlijk vergrootsen. Maer schilderachtige (wie sie die Niderländer
11 de derde acht alleen een bloote en onbed- nennen) sachen’, ‘voller aus der Natur her-
wonge vertooning en bralt quansuys op’t ausgesuchter Artigkeiten’, Sandrart, Teut-
12 ware groots, volgt de Roomsche zwier van sche Academie (Nuremberg 1675), quoted in
13 Rafaël en Angelo, en houd staende, dat […] Bakker 1995, p. 155.
14 het bedwang der lichten en schaduwen een 259 Van Hoogstraten contrasts ‘true painterly
brosse kruk is: en onrecht datmen, om het knowledge of musculature’ with the anato-
15 eene te verschoonen, het andere verduis- my of medicine, Inl. p. 52; cf. pp. 153, 218,
16 tere’, Inl. pp. 175-176. 263.
17 246 Gombrich 1966b. 260 ‘[E]en schilderachtig oog, vaerdiger tot
247 ‘[H]y, zijn geheel paneel in’t gros overzwad- uitbeelden, dan tot uitspreeken’, Inl. p. 46.
18 derende, hier licht, daer donker, min noch ‘Wiens Schildergeest zouw niet tot wat
19 meer als een veelverwige Agaet, of gemar- ongemeens uitspatten, die de Poëten zoo
20 bert papier, bestont allerley aerdige kod- Schilderachtich van lantschap hoort zin-
digheeden daer in te zoeken, die hy met gen’, Inl. p. 138. Van Mander, Grondt V,62,
21 weynig moeiten en veel kleyne toetsjes ken- f. 20v.
22 lijk maekte ... en in ’t kort zijn oog, als op het 261 ‘[D]at meer schilderachtich sij en voor de
23 uitzien van gedaentens, die in een Chaos van konst verkieselijck een mismaeckt, out, ver-
verwen verborgen laegen, afgerecht, stierde rimpelt mensch, als een welgemaeckt, fris en
24 zijn hand en verstandt op een vaerdige wijs, jeugdigh; een vervallen of ongeschickt ge-
25 zoo datmen een volmaekte Schildery zag, bouw, als een nieuw en nae de konst getim-
26 eermen recht merken kon, wat hy voor mert; een bedelaer en boer, als een edelman
hadt’, Inl. pp. 237-238. of Coningh’, De Bisschop, Paradigmata
27 248 Cf. Van de Roemer 2005, pp. 139-173. graphices (1671), quoted in Bakker 1995, p.
28 249 Some examples that painters in the Neth- 156.
29 erlands could have been familiar with are 262 ‘[H]et minste datmen ter handt slaet, be-
found in the decorations in St Carolus Bor- hoort een volkomen zin te hebben’, Inl. p.
30 romaeus Church in Antwerp. Poelenburgh 187.
31 and Bramer painted on stone. 263 ‘[W]ant vermits de Konst is een afbeeld-
32 250 ‘[E]xempelen van Schilderyen, die de nature ingh van al dat sichtbaer is, soo heeft oock
in naeaepinghe des Konsts uyt haeren ­rijcken de schoonheyt plaets in dat alles, en heeft
33 boesem by gevalle schijnt uyt te storten’, even wijde palen als de konst selfs. En is dae-
34 ­Junius, SKDO, p. 78. rom te betrachten niet alleen in’t menschen
35 251 Inl. pp. 341-342. beeldt, maer oock in beesten van alle slagh,
252 The ruby, for instance, is associated with fire in gebouw, in landtschap, in lucht, in wa-
36 and the emerald with water, Inl. p. 341. ter en alles datmen uytbeelt’, De Bisschop,
37 253 Lomazzo 1584, Cap. XV. Paradigmata graphices (1671), quoted in Em-
38 254 ‘Ik zwijge van den blossen dageraet,/ Zoo mens 1979, pp. 70-72.
sierlijk in’t veel verwigh pronkgewaet./ De 264 ‘[W]anneermen de Schoonheyd alleen in
39 goude Zon en Maen en Starren, zwieren/ In’t sekere respecten of opsigten neemt, die de
40 blauw Azuur, het goud verheugd Saffieren/ dingen tot malkander hebben, en aanmerkt
41 […] Hoe geestich dat natuur het pluim­ soo alsser veel dingen afhangen van de ver-
gediert,/ En’t zeegewas beschildert en versiert,/ schillige Zinnelijkheden der Menschen’,
42 ’t En belgt zich niet: d’eendrachticheyt, in’t Goeree, MK p. 20.
43 schikken/ Der verwen, schijnt onze oogen te 265 ‘[A]erdige leelijkheit, daer Brouwer werks
44 verquikken’, Inl. p. 303.
45
422          note s to chap te r v
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 422 10-10-2008 16:24:58

 genoeg mede gehad zouw hebben, om hare da costoro viene condannata all’opinione 1
ongave begaeftheden t’overtreffen’, Inl. p. e all’uso ... togliendo l’ufficio alla mente e 2
67. donando ogni cosa al senso’, Bellori 1976, p.
266 ‘[I]n de Tafereelen veel dingen schoon kan 22. 3
noemen, welke in ’t natuurlijk Leven leelijk 279 For Vondel’s text see Bakker 2005. 4
en verfoeyelijk, ja mismaakt zijn’, Goeree, 280 Vondel 1937, p. 34. In this context Vondel 5
MK pp. 17-18. names ‘Diagoras, Leucippes, Epicuur, Lu-
267 ‘Daer is altoos noch een kleine smette, die crees and Democrijt’, p. 11. 6
het heldere glas van hare spiegels bewalmt’, 281 Descartes covers himself against a possible 7
Inl. pp. 64-65. The French title of this slim comparison with the classical atomists; Des- 8
volume is L’Entretien des bons esprits sur les cartes 1657, p. 374.
vanités du monde; cf. De la Serre 1658, pp. 282 ‘’t wild geval/ Het t’zamenrunnen der on- 9
296-97. deelbre vezelingen/ En stoffe’, ‘Natuur 10
268 ‘[E]en verstandich keurmeester’, Inl. p. 283. kan zonder hand en verf geen landschap 11
269 ‘[H]et voorhoofd [is een] Kerkhof-spiegel: schilderen./ Wat kan dit wild geval? Niet
Want de rimpelen zijn alzoo veel gespoorde anders dan verwilderen’, Vondel 1937, pp. 12
wegen, die na het graf geleiden. Die brui­ 32-33. 13
ne of blaauwe oogen zijn twee lanteernen, 283 ‘In spinrag, en in stof .../ Wat openbaren zich 14
vol keers-snutzel; ik wil zeggen vol etter en verscheidenheên van kringen/ En trekken,
dragt, dat uit hare roode hoeken zijpelt. ... zwier in zwier! .../ Wat kunstig teekenaar/ 15
Die kleine mond is ... een bron-ader van Neemt zooveel troniën, zooveel gedaanten 16
speekzel, en duizend andere onreinigheden. waar!/ ... Het schijnt of Rafels geest of Ti­ 17
Die witte en wel-gerijgde tanden zijn kleine tian verrees,/ Of Angelo’s vernunft, Bassaan,
beenderen, die alle dagen geschuert worden, of Veronees’, Vondel 1662, p. 23. 18
uit vrees datze verrotten zouden’, De la 284 ‘[V]erscheidenheên’, Vondel 1662, pp. 23 19
Serre 1658, pp. 296-97. ff. 20
270 Inl. p. 66. 285 ‘[N]oi ... diremo che l’arte è uno abito fat-
271 ‘[V]erscheydentheyd [aan menselijke ge- tivo, con vera ragione, di quelle cose che 21
zichten] [is] soo groot ... alsser gebrokens non sono necessarie ... Dicesi ‘di quelle cose 22
tussen twee Getallen konnen zijn of bedagt che non sono necessarie’, perché tutte l’arti 23
werden; dat is, volgens onse Denkingen on- si maneggiono intorno a cose contingenti,
eyndig’, Goeree, MK p. 188. cioè che possono essere e non essere egual- 24
272 ‘[O]ngelijkheit’, Inl. p. 136, ‘in haer eygen mente, et in questo sono differenti l’arti 25
aert’, p. 139. dalle scienze, perché tutte le scienze sono di 26
273 ‘Duyzend gebrokeverwich lantschap’, cf. cose necessarie’, Varchi, Della maggioranza e
‘Verscheydenheit’ in composition, Inl. p. nobiltà dell’arti (Firenze 1549), ed. Barocchi, 27
198, p. 228, p. 321, in the context of ‘hand­ Trattati vol. I, p. 10. 28
ling’ p. 235; cf. Van Mander: ‘Verwe gheeft 286 ‘[E] quelli [i.e. the painters] imitano le 29
onderscheyt der dingen’, Grondt XIII,9, f. cose com’elle sono, e questi [the painters]
50v, marginal note. com’elle appariscono: ma perchè le cose 30
274 Goeree, SK p. 22. sono in un modo solo, et appariscono in in- 31
275 ‘[S]ou de Schilderye het Principaal, en de finiti, e’vien perciò sommamente accresciuta 32
volmaakte natuur, slechts een Kopy zijn’, la difficultà per giugnere all’eccelenza della
Goeree, SK p. 22. sua arte’, Galileo 1954, p. 34. 33
276 ‘[M]olto furono quelli, che imitarono la sua 287 See Heeze-Stoll 1979. 34
maniera nel colorire del naturale, chiamato 288 ‘Quelle vanité de la peinture, qui attire 35
perciò Naturalisti’, Bellori 1976, p. 215. l’admiration par la ressemblance des choses
277 ‘Michelangelo da Caravaggio ed altri consi- don’t on n’admire point les originaux!’ Pas- 36
mili rari imitatori della più apparente natu- cal 1963, p. 504. Pascal was translated into 37
ralezza nel dissegno, decoro, e bella gratia; Dutch by Frans van Hoogstraten. For the 38
dimostrarono però gli altri ne’loro dip- relationship between illusionism and vanitas
inti rilieuo, e maggior verità, e dello stesso see Schneider 1989. 39
Michelangelo primo capo de’naturalisti’, 289 ‘[D]aer en sijn geen dingen hier beneden de 40
Scannelli 1657, p. 197. welcke van de Son beschenen werden, die 41
278 ‘Naturalisti ... simili a Leucippo e a De­ verseeckert sijn van altijt te duyren: of sy
mocrito, che con vanissimi atomi a caso com- sijn de veranderlicheyt onderworpen, niets 42
pongono li corpi. Così l’ arte della pittura en behouter een onbeweeghlicke selfs-bly- 43
44
45
no t e s t o c h ap t e r v           423
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 423 10-10-2008 16:24:58

1 vende stant, dan alleenlick den onverander- voci tacite ch’ escono dall’ opere create d’
2 licke een-blyvende Godt’, Angel, Lof, p. 25. Iddio, le quali rappresentano la grandezza e
See also p. 105 for the term veranderlijkheid. maestà sua’, Paleotti 1960, pp. 147-48 (ital-
3 290 ‘Dat de wereltsche schoonheden en ver- ics mine).
4 makelijkheden niet te pas komen by de 301 ‘[I] libri sono letti solo dagl’intelligenti, che
5 schoonheid des Hemels, en de vreugde der sono pochi, ma le pitture abbracciano uni-
Zaligen’, Van Hoogstraten 1682, pp. 11-15. versalmente tutte le sorti di persone’, Pale-
6 291 ‘’t Is al onzeker en veranderlick, wat in de otti 1960, p. 142.
7 weereld is. Berghen veranderen in valley- 302 ‘Né in questo ci restringemo più a’libri degli
8 en, en deze wederom in gheberghten’, De istorici che degli oratori o de’poeti o d’altri,
Brune 1657, par. DCXIV, p. 217. poi che la pittura ... diffonde in tutti i sog-
9 292 See Sohm 1991. getti la sua grandezza, communicandosi a
10 293 In his study of the concept of pittoresco in tutte le materie, a tutti i luoghi et a tutte
11 seventeenth-century Italian art literature, le persone, quasi imitando in ciò la divina
Sohm suggested that the English word ‘pic- natura et eccellenza’, Paleotti 1960, p.149.
12 turesque’ unites within it issues of the choice 303 ‘Anzi leggiamo che in un sguardo solo di
13 of subject and of design. He points to the una pittura molte cose più comprendemo,
14 roots of the term picturesque in the seven- che con un lungo leggere di varii libri’, Pale-
teenth-century Italian pittoresco, and to the otti 1960, p. 143.
15 fact that compositions are also described as 304 EJ, ‘Van de religie’, chapter VIII, pp. 29-30;
16 pittoresco, see Sohm 1991, pp. 90, 240, 186. see Chap. II, n. 152.
17 294 Inl. p. 233. 305 Beening 1963, p. 95.
295 ‘Laet uwe penstreeken los en onbedwongen 306 ‘Het kostelijke [zuilen]koor zal d’oogen
18 alleen der dingen zwier en de schaduwen uit- haest verveelen:/ Maer nimmermeer het
19 beelden. Deeze wijze is ook allerbequaemst ­frisch der scheemrige prieelen:/ Welk, als gy
20 om Lantschappen na’t leven te teykenen’, duizendmael en duizendmael beziet,/ Van
Inl. p. 31. duizendmael aenschout op een gestalte niet.
21 296 ‘[R]ivolgo gli occhi al cielo; il quale, da che [i.e. not once in a thousand times sees one
22 Iddio lo creò, non fu mai abbellito da così the same image in the landscape]/ Want
23 vaga pittura di ombre e di lumi’, Aretino to waer gy opkijkt, of daer is nieuw groen ges-
Titian (May 1544), quoted in Busch 1997, p. prooten,/ Of vogel schudt de blaen; of wint
24 85. verschiet de looten’, Inl. p. 139. Cf. a pas-
25 297 ‘’t Veelvuldig wezen om ons heen ... elk sage in Tasso: ‘Che diremo del flusso e del
26 byzonder in de weer/ Om zich te cieren: riflusso, di cui fu recata la causa al Sole ed
en het spant/ Te zamen, om gelijkerhand/ alla Luna, la quale, più vicina agli elementi,
27 met zoo veel cierselen verlicht/ te streelen fa le sue operazioni più manifeste? ... Ecco
28 het menschelijk gezicht’, Van Hoogstraten l’ordine meraviglioso nelle cose che mostrano
29 1682, pp. 11-15. d’esser inordinate; ecco la determinazione di
298 ‘[D]e aerde, in het midden van soo veel quelle che paiono senza termine; ecco la leg-
30 zees, beset met bergen, dalen, boomen van ge della natura nella temerità della fortuna, e
31 alderhande slag, doorstroomt met rivieren, nella varietà de’paesi la concordia delle varie
32 beplant met ontallijcke kruyden, en schoone opinioni’, Tasso, ‘Risposta di Roma a Plu-
bloemen, [die] met recht een schoone tarcho’, in: Le prose diverse di Torquato Tasso
33 schildery door Godt en de natuer gemaelt, (ed. Guasti, Florence 1875, II, 931), quoted
34 te noemen zijn: het welcke wel na te volgen, in Ossola 1971, p. 256 (italics mine).
35 mijns bedunckens, geen kleyne lof is, waer 307 ‘[N]iets genoegt my [in het landschap], alles
toe men niet lichtelijck komen kan, sonder mishaagt my. ... De lugt heeft geen schoon-
36 de kennisse van veel dingen te hebben’, Van heit die zig niet vvervaarlijk maakt in een
37 den Bos 1662, pp. 112-114. oogenblik: want in een wenk bekleed zig
38 299 Junius, TPA p. 85; ‘nieman[d] soo verdigh- zijn aangezigt met weer-ligten, en donder-
lick spreken kan, of het valt de nature vry buien. ... De Bloemen vleien het gezigt wel:
39 wat lichter te Schilderen; Voornaemelick maar genoegen den geest niet, om dat zy
40 wanneer sy haer selven inden dertelen over- maar eenen ugtent bloeien. ... De Boomen
41 vloed van een brooddroncken vruchtbaer- hebben eenigen schijn van schoonheit: maar
heyd meynt te verlusten’, Junius, SKDO pp. die is alzoo broos als hare bladeren, waar van
42 77-78. zy t’zamen bestaan’. De la Serre 1658, pp.
43 300 ‘Non ci è gente o lingua o condizione di per- 159-160.
44 sone, che non possa intendere bene quelle
45
424          note s to chap te r v
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 424 10-10-2008 16:24:58

 308 ‘Was ist doch unser Lebenszeit/ Alß lauter penetrare più oltre, talmente che col diletto 1
Müh und Eytelkeit: [...]/ Ein Schnee, der im sia congiunto il giovamento presente o sub- 2
Früling weggeht [...]/ Ein Regenbog, so bald sequente’, Paleotti 1960, p. 388; cf. p. 384.
verschwindt,/ Ein Nebel, den die Sonn ver- 3
jagt,/ Ein Himmelröth, so lang es Tagt [...]/ 4
Ein Blat, vom Winde umbgekehrt’, quoted c h a pter vi
5
in Van Ingen 1966, p. 63. 1 ‘[D]e gansche natuer bespiegelt’; ‘zuster
309 Orazio Gentileschi, The Sauli-Magdalen van de bespiegelende Wijsgeerte’; ‘oneind­ 6
(1621-22), Switzerland, private collection; lijke bespiegelingen’, Inl. p. 24-25, p. 70, p. 7
illustrated in Nicolson 1979, p. 216. 326. At various points in the Inleyding, Van 8
310 On Deus pictor see esp. Nativel 1996, p. 419; Hoogstraten discusses the way that mirrors
cf. the examples in Barocchi, Scritti pp. 530, work, and their significance to the painter, 9
542, 506, 555, 694 n. 1, 767. e.g. in the context of reflected light, Inl. p. 10
311 ‘[L]a machina del mondo, che noi veggiamo 262, p. 263. 11
... dir si po che una nobile, e gran pittura sia 2 Quintilian, Inst. orat. 2, 17, 27.
per man della natura, e di Dio composta’, 3 On this image, see Honig 1998, pp. 1-2. 12
Castiglione 1528, pp. 51-52. 4 The mirror provides ‘slechts den schijn van 13
312 ‘[S]chept met verf op doeken en paneelen,/ t’waer wesen, maer de waerheyt selfs niet’; 14
Wat zichtbaar is .../ Gelyk als Godt, toen Van Mander, Wtbeeldingen der figueren, in
hy dit groot heelal/ Eerst schiep uit niet Van Mander 1604, fol. 133v. 15
.../ Hoe heeft hy aan dit landtschap zich 5 De Vecchi 1990. 16
gequeten, .../ Zoo hebben wy het opperste 6 Alberti 1996, p. 83, p. 76. 17
vermogen,/ Gelyk als in een schildery, voor 7 ‘La pittura non è altro che o arbero a uomo
oogen’, Anslo, Poezy (Rotterdam 1713, 159- o altra cosa che si specchia in un fonte. La 18
6), quoted in Beening 1963, pp. 221-22. differenza che è dalla scultura alla pintura 19
313 ‘Noch is’er echter, schoon men hier/ Na­ è tanta quanto è dall’ombra alla cosa che 20
tuurs gedaente ziet vol vier,/ Een uitsicht, fa ombra’, Cellini, Paragone, ed. Barocchi,
dat ons meer gevalt .../ Ik meen dien Hemel, Trattati I, p. 81. 21
dien met ziet,/ Hier boven’t lustige ver­schiet.// 8 ‘[L]’arte di necessità è inferiore alla natura, 22
Geen uitzicht, daer ons oog op straelt,/ Of’t perché la natura dà il rilevo et il motto alle 23
vind in dezen zich bepaelt .../ ’t Gansch aen- sue figure, il ch’è impossibile a noi. L’arte
zicht van den Wereltkloot,/ Dat zoo veel nostra fa l’effetto che fa lo specchio, il qual 24
wonders oit besloot,/ Heeft, zoo men ’t op riceve in sé quella forma (senza il motto) che 25
zijn waerde meet,/ Min schoonheid, dan een se gli oppone dinanzi’, Pino, Dialogo di pit- 26
pallembreet/ Van’s Hemels blinkende verdek tura (Venice 1548), ed. Barocchi, Trattati I,
.../ Ey zeg, mijn ziel, hoe weinig geld[t]/ De p. 100; cf. Ossola 1971, p. 239. 27
waerde van het schoonste veld/ Der wereld, 9 ‘[T]’sijn spieghels, spieghels zijnt, neen 28
als gy eens het schoon/ Bespiegelt hebt van t’zijn geen Tafereelen’; De Heere’s eulogy is 29
’s Hemels Troon!’ Van Hoogstraten 1682, reproduced in Van Mander, Leven fol. 201r.
pp. 11-15. 10 ‘[L]’è certamente de Natura un spechio’, 30
314 ‘Delle pitture profane ... non si può negare Boschini, Carta ed. 1966, p. 214. He also 31
che quasi tutte le cose, naturali et artificiali, refers to Titian as a mirror of nature; Bos- 32
opportunamente dipinte non possino ser- chini, Le ricche minere della pittura veneziana
vire di qualche utile alla vita, come a cose di (Venice 1674), quoted in Barasch 1967, p. 33
speculazione ...perché chi è dotato di spirito 61. 34
e di giudicio può e dalli uccelli e dai pesci e 11 De Lairesse, GS II, unpaginated, no. a2. 35
dai fiori e dalle citare e dai sassi cavare gran 12 Cf. Czech 2004, p. 234.
filosofia; anzi, a questo fine stanno esposte 13 ‘[I] poeti imitano il di dentro principalmente, 36
agli occhi nostri tutte le cose create di ques- cioè i concetti e le passioni dell’animo, ... et 37
to mondo, accioché, medianti quelle che si i pittori imitano principalmente il di fuori, 38
veggono, entriamo in cognizione e deside- cioè i corpi e le fattezze di tutte le cose’,
rio delle eterne, che non si veggono’, Cap. Varchi, Della maggioranza e nobiltà dell’arti 39
XXIII, Paleotti 1960, p. 385. (Firenze 1549), ed. Barocchi, Trattati vol. I 40
315 ‘E se replicarete che le ville, le fontane et i p. 55, see also p. 371. For the same distinc- 41
palazzi si dipingono per mero diletto degli tion in Dolce and Comanini, see Barocchi,
occhi, noi responderemo, come di già ab- ibid. p. 152 ff., p. 261 ff. 42
biamo detto, che l’occhio del cristiano deve 14 Varchi, Della maggioranza e nobiltà dell’arti 43
44
45
n o t e s t o c hap t e r v i           425
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 425 10-10-2008 16:24:58

1 (Florence 1549), ed. Barocchi, Trattati vol. geests’, Van Mander, Wtlegghingh op den
2 I, p. 47-48. Metamorphosis Pub. Ouidij Nasonis, in Van
15 Inl. p. 33; see above, chapter II, note 54. Mander 1604, f. 44r.
3 16 ‘Internal’ mental images ‘vertoonen aan de 31 Van Hoogstraten refers to perspective (deur-
4 Ziel eenige ingeschape Denk-beelden ... en zichtkunde) as deception; Inl. pp. 274-275;
5 Gedagten van eeuwige Waarheden’; exter- he describes artistic deception by Fabritius
nal features ‘komen van de voor-werpen der and by himself, p. 308. He discusses the art
6 sigtbare Wereld, door Middel of Aandoenin- of painting in terms of seeming or decep-
7 gen van de uyterlijke Sinnen ... gelijk dese tion: ‘De glans der kunst bedriegt/ Ook dik-
8 Denk-beelden in het Verstand alleen vertoond wils’, p. 23; he tells anecdotes relating how
werden als de dingen in een Spiegel, maar die kings and queens have been ‘deceived’ (p.
9 geensints selfs maakt’(italics mine) , Goeree, 218), and refers to the painterly ‘[b]edroch
10 MK p. 348. van een levende gelijkenisse’(p. 226); paint-
11 17 Agrippa 1661, p. 119. ‘[D]e verbeeldingen, ers are capable of giving their work a great
hoe levendig zij ook mogen schijnen, zijn ‘appearance of truth’ (p. 168).
12 altijd doo[d]sch, en een schaduw, die zich in 32 ‘[E]ygen-schijnende gedaente’ or ‘schijn-ey-
13 een spiegel vertoont, kan zoo bondig niet, ghentlicke kracht’, Angel, Lof, pp. 24-25, 41.
14 als eenig lichaam’, De Brune 1994, p. 51. Goeree writes that images have the quality
18 ‘De spiegel liegt, de schijn bedrieght’, De of making things appear more real (‘des te
15 Brune 1657, p. 323, par. DCCCIV. werkelijker ... doen schijnen’); MK p. 304.
16 19 Observations relating to mirrors can be 33 ‘[E]en schaduwe van t’rechte wesen, en den
17 found in the work of Agrippa, Cardanus, schijn van het zijn’, Van Mander, Leven fol.
Kircher and Della Porta, among others. 61v.
18 20 Bacon, Advancement of Learning III (1605, p. 34 ‘[S]emper citra veritatem est similitude’,
19 265), quoted in Briggs 1989, p. 16. Huygens, Fragment p. 75, with a reference
20 21 ‘[L]o ingiegnio del pittore col essere a si- to Seneca, foreword to the Controversiae and
militudine dello specchio, il quale sempre si Tacitus’ Annales IV, 58.
21 trasmuta nel colore di quella cosa ch’eli ha 35 E.g. Boschini, Carta ed. 1966, p. 86.
22 per obietto, e di tante similitudine s’empie, 36 Haydocke, A Tracte Containing the Artes
23 quante sono le cose che li sono contraposte’, of Curious Paintinge (1598, pp. 188-89),
Leonardo, Trattato, ed. Barocchi, Scritti p. cf. Norgate on spatial landscape paintings
24 1290. as ‘nothing but Deceptive visions, a kind
25 22 ‘[S]pecchio dell’alma natura ... vero ritratto of cousning [cozening] or cheating your
26 di tutti i concetti che si possono imaginare owne Eyes, by [y]our owne consent and as-
con forza di chiari e scuri in piano coperto sistance’, Norgate, Miniatura or the Art of
27 di colori, che dimostra ogni sorte di forme e Limning (1627-1628, p. 51); both quotations
28 di rilievo senza sostanza di corpo’, Zuccari, taken here from Gilman 1978, p. 133.
29 L’Idea, ed. Barocchi, Scritti p. 1047. 37 ‘[C]he la scultura è tanto superiore alla pit-
23 Inl. pp. 24-25. Zuccari’s words are also re- tura, quanto il vero alla bugia’, Vasari, Le
30 peated in Romano Alberti, Origine e pro- vite, ed. Barocchi, Scritti p. 1036, note 4.
31 gresso dell’Academia del Dissegno (1604), ed. 38 ‘[U]na bugia sì bella e sì dilettevole che cer-
32 Barocchi, Scritti p. 1013. tamente pare la verità’, Cellini, ‘Sopra la dif-
24 Ripa translates ‘Teoria’ as ‘Spieghelinghe’, ferenza nata tra gli scultori e’ pittori circa
33 Ripa 1644, p. 500 ff. il luogo destro stato dato alla pittura nelle
34 25 ‘[B]espiegelende Wijsgeerte’, Goeree, SK p. essequie del gran Michelangelo Buonarotti’,
35 45. in Cordié 1960, pp. 113-14.
26 See above, pages 84-88. 39 ‘[D]e dingen in een Tafereel alleen scheenen
36 27 Van Mander, Leven 285v. te wesen, maar in waarheid niet en waren’;
37 28 ‘[D]ewyl onze herstenen zyn als een glaze ‘waarlijk, uytwendig verheven, bevattelijk en
38 bol, in ’t midden van een kamer opgehangen, tastelijk’, Goeree, SK p. 23.
welke door alle voorwerpen, die zich ver- 40 ‘Hoe verr is waerheit van de Logen?/ Soo
39 toonen, aangedaan word, en een indruk daar verr als Ooren staen van d’Ogen’, Emmens
40 van behoud’; ‘het verbeelden van het geen 1981b, p. 71.
41 hem dagelyks voorkomt’, Lairesse, GS II, 3, 41 ‘[La pittura] diletta in doi modi: l’uno pro-
p. 185. prio della imitazione, il quale è parer la cosa
42 29 Junius, SKDO p. 33. vera e farsi sillogizzare hoc est hoc; il che
43 30 ‘[T]e seer gheneyght tot beroeringen des è la dilettazione propria d’ogni imitazione
44
45
426          note s to chap te r v i
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 426 10-10-2008 16:24:58

 e tocca alquanto dello intelletto. ... Ma tal zeit [Job] Dat is, Indien mijn hert mijn oo­gen 1
meraviglia non è nella scoltura, la quale gevolght heeft: waar uit hy klaarlik te ver- 2
imita il corpo col corpo, e non con manco staan geeft, dat ons hart bochtigh is tot het
dimensioni; ... perché qui non è similitu- gheen d’oogen beschouwen. “S’occhio non 3
dine, ma identità essenziale, perché e l’uno e mira, cor non sospira”, zeggen d’Italianen. 4
l’altro è corpo in genere substantiae’, Spero- ... t’Is vreemt om zien, dat d’oogen, die 5
ni, Discorso in lode della pittura (1542), quoted leden van’t zelfde lichaam, met het hart zijn,
in Barocchi, Scritti p. 1002. dat voornaamste deel zo deerlik bedriegen 6
42 ‘[C]osì come a ben dipingere la mia effigie è ... Ik weet geen andere deelen van ons li- 7
assai a vedermi, senza altramente aver con- chaam die malkaar zoodanige ondiensten 8
tezza de’ miei costumi ... dipingendo l’ art- doen’, De Brune 1994, pp. 276-277. Sluijter
efice null’altra cosa di me, salvo la estrema notes that both Camphuysen and Van de 9
mia superficie, nota agli occhi di ciasceduno; Venne express similar views; Sluijter 2000d, 10
similmente a ben orare in ogni materia basta pp. 157-169, p. 200, and Sluijter 2000b, pp. 11
il conoscere un certo non so che della verità, 118-131.
che di continuo ci sta innanzi’, Speroni, Di- 48 ‘De ooghen beweghen de innerlicke sinnen, 12
alogo della Rhetorica (1596), quoted in Baroc- met veel meerder kracht en naer-druck, als 13
chi, Scritti, pp. 261-262. de ooren doen ... De ooren strijcken het 14
43 [Sculptors] ‘imitano le cose com’elle sono, e vlies van de herssens, maer de ooghen rae­
questi [i.e. painters] com’elle appariscono’, cken het breyn, en deur-booren het blaesken 15
Galilei 1954, p. 34. van het herte’; De Brune 1657, p. 180, par. 16
44 See Sluijter 2000c, pp. 210-211, n. 47. CDLXXIV. 17
45 Poems inspired by paintings also make fre- 49 De Brune 1994, p. 34.
quent allusion to the ‘unreal’ nature of a 50 ‘[D]atter een Betooverende Kragt van de 18
portrait in comparison to the sitter; cf. Em- [ogen] af-straald’; ‘[d]ie door de Oogen 19
mens 1981a. gelijk als ingedronken werd; En insluypende 20
46 Junius, TPA pp. 50-51; ‘Noch soo wordt de door die open Vensteren, tot het binnenste
Schilder-Konst seer wel met de Poesye daer in van onses Herten indringt’, Goeree, MK, p. 21
vergheleken, dat soo wel d’eene als d’andere 116; cf. Junius, SKDO p. 282, and Sluijter 22
met een dapper vermaeckelicke beweginghe 2000d, n. 281. 23
in onse herten insluypen, alwaer sy ons ver­ 51 Love’s Labour’s Lost, IV, iii.
slaegen ghemoedt door d’aenlockelickheydt 52 ‘[V]leyende Syreen’, ‘aenleydster tot de 24
van een aenghenaeme verwonderingh soo kunst’, Inl. p. 1; ‘verlokkende Sireen’, p. 11. 25
gheweldigh beroeren ende ontstellen, dat 53 Cf. De Bie, Cabinet p. 23. 26
wy ’t ghene nae-gheboetst is voor’t waere 54 Junius, TPA p. 110; ‘het graveersel van
aennemen. ... overmidts het ghenoegh allerley gheyle onkuyscheyd verciert’, Jun- 27
bekent is, dat goede Schilderyen maer een ius, SKDO p. 104. 28
enckel ooghenspoocksel sijn. Soo houdt 55 De Brune 1994, pp. 280-283. 29
dan Philostratus oock op eenen seer goeden 56 De Bie 1661, pp. 68 ff., p. 207. Cf. Sluijter
grondt staende “dat dit een ghenoeghelick 2000b, esp. pp. 131-134. 30
ende onschandelick bedrogh is. Want aen 57 Sluijter 2000b. 31
die dinghen dewelcke niet en sijn sich soo 58 Junius, TPA p. 51; ‘door een aenghenaem 32
te vergaepen, als ofse waeren; ende vande doch voor-bemerckt bedrogh ons verstandt
selvighe soo gheleydet te worden, dat wy als het waere beguychelen ... [en] door 33
(sonder schaede nochtans) ons selven wijs kracht deser bedrieghelickheydt de bewe­ 34
maecken datse sijn; hoe en is het doch niet ginghen onses ghemoedts herwaerts en der- 35
dienstigh tot verlustinghe onses ghemoedts, waerdts [sturen] nae haeren eyghenen lust’,
en vry van alderley op-spraecke?”’, Junius, Junius, SKDO, p. 43. 36
SKDO pp. 42-43, cf. Junius 1638, p. 54-55; 59 ‘[D]e spoockerye van het schijn-roerighe 37
see also De Brune 1994, p. 435. leven’, Junius, SKDO p. 329. 38
47 The full passage, derived from the story of 60 ‘[T]ooverachtige kracht’, Angel, Lof, pp.
David and Bathsheba, in which David is 39-40. 39
deceived by desire, describes the ‘begeer- 61 ‘[G]eeft het vermoeden van eenige overna­ 40
likheid, die door d’oogen in Davids hart tuurlijke kracht’, Inl. p. 357. On p. 211, Van 41
quam ... Om dees bedrieghelikheids wil, is Hoogstraten is more critical of the ‘villain-
het goed zijn oogen wijsselik te beteugelen. ous delusions and Sorcery’ with which the 42
... “Si secutum est cor meum oculos meos”, art of painting can be compared. 43
44
45
n o t e s t o c hap t e r v i           427
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 427 10-10-2008 16:24:58

1 62 ‘Zag Zeuxis dit banket, hy wierd al weêr van blanketsel, of vleiery, of betoovering,
2 bedroogen:/ Hier leit geen verf, maer geest waer door die ruwe en onbedreven toehoor­
en leven op’t paneel./ Dou schildert niet, ô ders, waer uit geheele staten bestaen, lich-
3 neen, hy goochelt met’t penseel’, Trauden- ter kunnen ingenomen worden dan door de
4 ius, Rijmbundel (1662, p. 17), quoted by Sluij­ sieraden dezer kunst, als ze te regt te passe
5 ter 2000c, p. 244; see also Kwak 2002, p. gebragt worden. Dit niet tegenstaende heb-
249. ben beide die Filosofen [Plato and Aristo-
6 63 ‘Questa no xe Pitura, l’è magia,/ Che incanta tle] lof gezogt uit de lessen dezer kunst, en
7 le persone che la vede’, Boschini, Carta ed. door het bestraffen der zelve haer gemaekt
8 1966, p. 207; ‘strigarie’ cf. p. 327. tot een koningin der menschen, wanneerze
64 Quintilian, Inst. orat., 2,15, 6-9. haer den naem gaven van “Zielroerster”’,
9 65 He compares the image to a dream (Sofist Van Hoogstraten 1725, pp. 1-2.
10 266c), to an image (eidolon, 236a) and to a 74 ‘Nam et mendaciam dicere etiam sapienti
11 phantasm (phantasma, 236g). For the Soph- aliquando concessum est ... si aliter ad aequi-
ist tradition in relation to early modern tatem perduci iudex non poterit’, Quintilian,
12 views, see Schroeder 1997, p. 24 ff. Inst. orat. 2, 17, 27.
13 66 ‘De Sophisten noemden de wysheid dwaas, 75 H. Wotton, Elements of Architecture (1672, p.
14 schandelyk, en eerloos’, De Lairesse, GS II, 52), quoted in Ellenius 1960, p. 88 n. 5.
p. 189. 76 The theory of theatre, with its concept of
15 67 Junius, TPA p. 51; ‘soo wordt den bedroghen vraisemblance, values persuasiveness more
16 mensche wijser als hy die niet bedroghen en highly than verisimilitude; cf. Konst 1993,
17 is’, Junius, SKDO pp. 42-43; cf. De Brune p. 76.
1994, p. 435. 77 Inl. p. 93.
18 68 ‘[G]emaakt geween met zonderlinge lust 78 ‘[E]ssendo il verisimile quello che le cose,
19 aanhoren’, De Brune 1994, pp. 436-37. che non sono chiare e certe, porge cosí ra-
20 69 ‘[D]e Schilderije is Sophistisch, dat is thoon- gionevolmente e con le sue circostanze, che
schijnigh en niet waerachtigh, want de din- le rende persuasibili e quieta il commune
21 gen die in een Schilderije schijnen, sijnder intelletto delle persone, séguita perciò che
22 inder waerheidt niet in’, Junius, SKDO, non verisimile sarà quella pittura, la quale
23 Preface, **r; cf. ‘waanschijnig of toonschij­ non contradirà già alla verità, perché quella
nig’, Goeree, SK p. 23. saria falsa’, Paleotti 1960, pp. 365-6.
24 70 ‘[G]elyk ook die oude Man met de Globe 79 Carlo Borromeo, Instructiones fabricae et
25 de ydele betrachting verbeeld: want wie supellectilis esslesiasticae (1577), in Barocchi,
26 kan in de geheimen van God en de Natuur Trattati III, p. 61.
indringen? ... Weshalven dan de rechte en 80 Boschini, Carta ed. 1966, p. 322 r 15.
27 eige gedachte van dit voorwerp alleen daar 81 ‘Beau vraisemblable qui paraît souvent plus
28 op uit komt, dat alles ydelheid is ... gelieve te vrai que la vérité même’, quoted in Lichten-
29 weeten, dat de Wyzen zelf, door zommige, stein 1989, p. 197.
voor dwaazen geacht worden’, De Lairesse, 82 Cf. Zuccari, L’Idea, ed. Barocchi, Scritti p.
30 GS I, pp. 192-93. 1040, and Inl. p. 230.
31 71 ‘[C]ome il dialettico cerca di sodisfare con la 83 See Brusati 1999.
32 ragione et il sofista attende col falso a con- 84 Roscam Abbing 1993, p. 19.
trafare il vero, così i pittori delle grottesche, 85 For this theme in the sixteenth century, see
33 lasciando il vero et appigliandosi al falso, Van Stipriaan 1996.
34 non cercano altro, a guisa de’ sofisti, che 86 Schröder 1985, p. 104, cf. also Jansen 2001,
35 ingannare chiunque gli s’accosta’, Paleotti p. 305.
1960, p. 443. 87 ‘Hacer y hacer parecer. Las cosas no pasan
36 72 ‘Un peintre qui ne s’attache point à la vérité por lo que son, sino per lo que parecen.
37 de la nature ressemble à un philosophe qui ... Son muchos más los engañados que los
38 met toute son étude à former des raisonne- avertidos; prevalece el engaño y juzganse
ments pour prouver que l’être n’est rien et las cosas por fuera ... La buen exterioridad
39 que le corps n’est que l’ombre, et à faire des es la mejor recomendación de la perfección
40 arguments pour surprendre sur une fausse interior’, Gracián, Arte de prudéncia (Obras
41 apparence l’esprit des ignorants’, Address to completas, 1967, p. 188); quoted in Schröder
the Académie, 26 April 1697; quoted in Lich- 1985, p. 103.
42 tenstein 1989, p. 206. 88 ‘Het is niet genoeg dat men achtens waert
43 73 ‘Zeker daer is geen soort van toeredinge, of is, maer men moet sijn waerdy soo schikken,
44 dat se geacht wort’, EJ p. 54.
45
428          note s to chap te r v i
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 428 10-10-2008 16:24:58

 89 Schröder 1985, p. 132. on the representation of the ugly and insig- 1
90 The Cannocchiale aristotelico was published in nificant: Comoedia est peiorum imitatio, p. 351 2
1655; the following paragraphs quote from ff.
a modern, revised version of the 1670 edi- 102 ‘Jae een groot behendich listich bedriegher/ 3
tion and from an original reprint from 1688. Van s’Menschen ooghen, oock een cluchtich 4
Schröder 1985, pp. 94-145 shows how Te- liegher’, Van Mander, Grondt VII,55, f. 5
sauro’s views linked up with Gracián and 33v.
other courtiers’ manuals. 103 ‘[Caravaggio] con falsos y portentosos mi- 6
91 In the theoretical section on ‘metafore rapp- lagros, y prodigiosas acciones se lleverá tras 7
resentanti’, for instance, Tesauro deals with de si a la perdición tan grande número de 8
‘Feste, Giostre, Balletti, e Mascherate ... le gentes, movidas de ver sus obras, al parecer
Cerimonie, che con figurate insegne accom- tan admirables (aunque ellas en si engañosas, 9
pagnano le publiche attioni’, Tesauro 1670, falsas, y sin verdad, ni permanencia) ... Assí 10
p. 38; cf. Schröder 1985, p. 132 ff. este Ante-Michelangel con su afectada y ex- 11
92 Tesauro 1670, p. 86, 89, 69. terior imitación, admirabile modo y viveza,
93 ‘[U]na segreta e innata delitia dell’Intelletto ha podido persuadir tan grande número de 12
humano l’avvedersi di esser stato scherzevol- todo género de gente’, Carducho, Diálogos 13
mente ingannato’, Tesauro 1670, p. 278. di pintura (1633), quoted in Bologna 1992, 14
94 ‘[Q]uel trapasso dall’inganno al disinganno, p. 73.
è una maniera d’imparamento, per via non 104 ‘[T]’schoonste leven uyt t’schoon [te] onder- 15
aspettata; e perciò piacevolissima’, Tesauro scheyden en uyt te kiesen’, Van Mander, Het 16
1670, p. 278. leven der moderne, oft dees-tijtsche doorluchtighe 17
95 Observations about the deceptive nature of Italiaensche schilders, in Van Mander 1604, f.
paintings are a recurrent theme in De Brune 191r. 18
1994, cf. p. 49. 105 ‘Michiel Agnolo Caravaggio zeyde, dat alle 19
96 Cf. Van Stipriaan 1996, p. 178 ff. In the liter- Schildery Bagatelli, kinderwerk en beuzeling 20
ature of art, too, judgement or discernment was, wiens werk het ook zijn mocht, die niet
(giudizio) based on experience is a recurrent na’t leven geschildert was. Vermits’er niets 21
theme: Van Hoogstraten discusses opmerken, beter, niets goet, als alleen de natuer te vol- 22
opletting and oordeel (observation, attentive- gen zijn kan. Des wegen schilderde hy noit 23
ness and discernment or judgement) in the een streek anders, als na’t leven. Het onder-
context of estimating proportions with pro- werp der Schilderkonst is, gelijk te vooren 24
nounced foreshortening; Inl. p. 35, 63, 308. geroert is, alles na te beelden: haer voor­werp 25
97 ‘[M]et wonderlijck bedrogh, doch aenge- dan is de geheele zichtbare natuer, waer van 26
naem en soet’, Ripa 1644, p. 453. zich niets in onze oogen vertoont, of het
98 ‘[D]it ist de eerste Maler die mir betrogen heeft zijn eyge vorm en gedaente’, Inl. p. 27
heeft’, Houbraken 1718-1721, III p. 158. 217. 28
99 ‘[L]a pittura è imitazione et è gioco’, 106 ‘[I]l primo capo de’naturalisti’; Scannelli 29
Comanini, Il Figino (Mantua 1591), quoted 1657, p. 197, and ‘Michelangelo da Carav-
in Barocchi, Trattati III, p. 285. aggio nel teatro del Mondo, unico mostro 30
100 ‘[L]a Pittura, laqual trahendo dinanzi agli di naturalezza, portato dal proprio istinto 31
occhi li simulacri delle cose: per virtù della di natura all’immitatione del vero... con tal 32
Imitation materiale, genera nell’intelletto verità, forza, e rilievo, che bene spesso la
un piacevole inganno, e una ingannevole natura, se non di fatto eguagliata, e vinta, 33
maraviglia: facendoci à credere che il finto apportando però confusione al riguardante 34
sia vero: onde ancora i cadaveri, e altri hor- con istupendo inganno, alletava, e rapiva 35
ridi corpi, che vivi spaventano, imitati dilet- l’humana vista,’ p. 51.
tano’, Tesauro 1670, p. 26, cf. Krüger 2001, 107 Inl. p. 75. 36
p. 248. 108 Houbraken 1718-1721, I pp. 261-62. 37
101 ‘Finalmente ogni obietto schifoso e laido, 109 De Piles 1699, p. 423. 38
s’ode senza schifiltà, quando con pellegrine 110 ‘[I]l est vrai que c’est un fard; mais il serait
forme si rappresenti. Peroche, come il rap- à souhaiter que tous ces tableaux qu’on fait 39
presentato sia noioso: nondimeno il mezzo aujourd’hui fussent tous fardés de cette 40
rappresentante è piacevole’, Tesauro ed sorte’; De Piles 1708, p. 274. 41
1670, p. 124; in another part of his Canoc- 111 ‘Il y a des faussetés déguisées qui représen-
chiale, Tesauro discusses humorous subjects tent si bien la vérité que ce serait mal juger 42
(‘Trattato dei ridicoli’), dwelling at length que de ne s’y pas laisser tromper’, La Roche- 43
44
45
n o t e s t o c hap t e r v i           429
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 429 10-10-2008 16:24:58

1 foucauld, Maxime 282, in Portrait de M.R.D. Tesauro 1970, p. 445. For Aretino, see Von
2 fait par lui-même (Paris 1659), quoted in Li- Rosen 2001, p. 105. De Brune discusses the
chtenstein 1989, p. 245. image as metaphor in the preface to Junius’s
3 112 ‘[D]el vero più bella è la menzogna’, quoted book: ‘de gelijckenis is een geschilderde re-
4 in Boschini, Carta ed. 1966, p. 55. den, of sprekende Schilderije, die alle noten
5 113 For this phrase, see Summers 1981, chap. en woorden in macht verr te boven gaet’,
III, and Kantorowicz 1961. Junius, SKDO, unpaginated (p. **v).
6 114 ‘[L]a pittura ... fa apparere quello che non 129 After listing eleven kinds of ‘Argutezza’,
7 è’; Pino, Dialogo di pittura (Venice 1548), ed. Tesauro notes: ‘Togli da queste undici Ar-
8 Barocchi, Trattati I, p. 115. gutezze ideali ciò che vi è di falso, e quanto
115 ‘[O]gni pittura o scoltura regolarmente è vi aggiugnerai di sodezza, e di verità: al-
9 falsa, però che mostra di essere quello che tretanto lor torrai di bellezza e di piacere:
10 non è, essendo ella veramente una tavola divellendone la radice dell’Argutezza’, Te-
11 disegnata o un sasso o un bronzo, e non un sauro 1670, p. 491.
uomo vivo, come rassembra’, Paleotti 1960, 130 Tesauro 1670, p. 266, ‘metafora ottava, di
12 p. 359. decettione’.
13 116 Goeree states that drawing displays ‘ons 131 ‘[L]’ingegno consiste ... nel ligare insieme
14 door onwaerheyt, en een vermomt aenghe­ le remote e separate notioni degli propositi
sicht, de waerheyt der dinghen die zijn’ and obietti: questo apunto è l’officio della Meta-
15 ‘doet gelooven te zien datwe niet en sien’, fora, e non di alcun’altro figura: percioche
16 Goeree, TK, unpaginated, p. A1. trahendo la mente, non men che la parola,
17 117 ‘Want wat is de Schilderye? De wijze man da un Genere all’altro; esprime un Concetto
zegt, een gedaente, die bevlekt is met ver- per mezzo di un altro molto diverso: tro­
18 scheyden verwen’, Inl. p. 360. vando in cose dissimiglianti la simiglianza’,
19 118 ‘[E]en werck dat in hem selfs maar treck Tesauro 1670, p. 266.
20 en schaduw is’; ‘doeck of planck/ met verw 132 ‘Ma perche la maggior parte de’Concetti Po-
besmeerd’; painted figures ‘niet uyt vleysch etici, e Oratorij, e fondata nella Simiglianza.
21 en bloet [zijn],/ maer gom en aarde’; Camp­ Vogliot’io quì darti un saggio delle varie
22 huysen 1638, p. 108, 115, 113. maniere di rappresentar vivamente la
23 119 ‘[D]ees verw’, dit leeff-loos dingh, daar niet simiglianza fra due suggetti, il che princi-
dan schim is an’; Camphuysen 1638, p. 114. palmente ti servirà per concettizzar sopra le
24 120 See chapter V. The book’s French title is Pitture, o le Scolture. ... Come s’io dicessi,
25 L’Entretien des bons esprits sur les vanités du Costui non è Huomo, ma Demonio. Questa
26 monde, Inl. pp. 64-65, 283. non è Pittura di Alessandro, ma gli è Ales-
121 ‘[B]eschildert lijnwaat’, De la Serre 1658, p. sandro medesimo. Non è finto, ma vero’,
27 2. Tesauro 1670, p. 246.
28 122 ‘[N]iet anders als een stuk hout, aan mal- 133 ‘Et frà le sensibili ti si presentano nel primo
29 kander gelijmt’, De la Serre 1658, pp. 163, luogo i coloriti obietti dell’occhio, onde
164-165. tu suogli dire, li teneri smeraldi dell’herbe,
30 123 Camphuysen 1638, p. 115. i correnti christalli de’rusceletti, le labra
31 124 Krüger 2001. See also Stoichita 1993, passim di rose, collo di avorio; chiome di oro. ...
32 and Sluijter 2000c, pp. 255-258. Ancor’alle cose invisibili si trasportano le
125 ‘Dus zien wy dat de Konstenaers allenthal- voci de’Colori, fondate sopra qualche con-
33 ven .. schaduwen.... met meerder kracht venienza Analoga. Peroche, sicome il color
34 mogt uitsteeken, en d’oogen der aanschou- delle pitture, e ispetialmente sul viso delle
35 wers zelfs ook buiten het tafereel zoude Donne, gli è una simulata apparenza, ogni
schynen t’ontmoeten’, Junius, SKDO p. Simulation si chiama colore’, Tesauro 1670,
36 264; cf. De Lairesse, Groot schilderboek ed. p. 191.
37 Haarlem 1740, vol. II, p. 158. 134 ‘[M]a principalmente della Luce, obietto più
38 126 For the attribution to Van Hoogstraten see gradito alla vista, si derivano Translati no-
Ember 1999. bili, e illustri alle cose incorporee, come lu-
39 127 ‘[L]a Metafora ... in miraculoso modo gli ti men ingenii; fax veritatis; splendor gloriae. Et
40 fà travedere l’un dentro all’altro’, Tesauro Quintiliano, translucida oratio, cioè, ornata
41 1670, p. 301; see Gilman 1987, p. 75. di figure, come di gemme’, Tesauro 1670, p.
128 ‘Pittura [e] scultura son Metafore rappresen- 192.
42 tanti un’Obietto, per mezzo della Imitation 135 Ortelius applies the Pliny quotation to
43 de’colori in tavole, ò delle fatezze in rilievo’, Bruegel; see Bakker 2004, p. 203.
44
45
430          note s to chap te r v i
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 430 10-10-2008 16:24:58

 136 ‘Mà [Zeuxis and Parrhasios] finalmente Romeynen, in Van Mander 1604, fol 61v, r. 1
dipinser cose, che si potean dipingere. Mol- 27-32. 2
to più arguto, e ingegnoso fù Apelle, ilqual, 145 Sumowski 1979-1992, no. 1273xxx, p. 2818;
sì come scrive il medesimo Historiografo; cf. Inl. p. 191. 3
“Pinxit ea, quae pingi non possunt”. Egli fù 146 The identification of Narcissus with paint- 4
il primo à far vedere de cose invisibili con ing was also reinforced by a well-known ek- 5
visibili simulacri’, Tesauro 1670, p. 191. phrasis of Philostratus describing a painting
137 Cf.: ‘Figure ironiche son metafore of Narcissus, cf. Vossius 1690, § 17. 6
d’Hipotiposi, rappresentanti all’occhio alcun 147 ‘[E]yghen liefdighe, wanneer sy sterven ... 7
Suggetto invisibile, e astratto, per mezzo di geen gheniet meer hebbende van den wel- 8
corpi Humani’, Tesauro 1670, pp. 445-446. lusten, daer sy hun leven mede hebben over-
138 Panofsky 1947-8, ed 1971, p. 131; cf. Tho- gebracht’, Van Mander, Wtlegghingh, in Van 9
mas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, Ia, 1,9,3, see Mander 1604, f. 26 rv. 10
Aquinas 1963, pp. 32-35; see above, Chap. 148 ‘Pictura [komt voort] uyt een vergancke­ 11
III, n. 221. lijcke schaduwe die nochtans de bloem is van
139 Krüger 2001 and Stoichita 1993 refer to alle Consten, waer op wel te pas compt de 12
seventeenth-century Dutch painting; Ham- fabel van Narcissus ... verlievende op sijn ey- 13
mer-Tugendhat 2000, adopting a similar ghen schaduwe ... is verandert in een bloem, 14
theoretical vantage point, specifically dis- waerom de bloem aen Pictura niet qualijck
cusses Van Hoogstraten’s work The Slippers en wordt toegheeygent, ter wijlen het water 15
(Paris, Louvre). (uytbeldende de schaduwe van Narcissus) de 16
140 Thissen 1994, p. 200 ff. Dullaert wrote se- oorsaeck was van sijn liefde ende doodt ... 17
rious poetry with Christian themes; in po- Niemandt en sal my ghelieven te berispen
etry he enjoyed ‘byzonder gezelschap aen om dat ick soo Edelen Const noeme een 18
Joachim Oudaen en François van Hoog- schaduwe ende de selve ghelycke by een 19
straten, ook aen Samuel, broeder des laet- bloem, wel wetende dat ons leven niet an- 20
sten, als hy te Rotterdam quam, die hem alle ders en is als een weecke Veldt bloem ende
in groote agtinge hielden, en zyne gaven een wijckende schaduwe’, De Bie, Cabinet 21
waardeerden’, Van Hoogstraten 1983, p. 7. pp. 23-24. 22
141 ‘Wat is anders het gene, dat noit genoeg 149 ‘Met hoe veel nieuwe Narcissen is de werelt 23
geleert en wort, dan de veragtinge van niet bevolkt? ... Maar ik zoude my nim-
d’ydelheden der wereldt?’, quoted in This- mer konnen inbeelden van wat natuur hare 24
sen 1994, p. 202. As this allusion to De Es- oogen zijn, dewijl zij dingen zien die niet en 25
tella makes clear, the vanitas ideology is not zijn. Het valt haar ligt lighamen aan haare 26
exclusively Calvinist in nature: Frans’s circle harzenbeelden te geven, en gevoelige voor-
included people with Collegiant, Calvinist, worpzelenvan haare inbeeldingen te maken 27
Mennonite, pietist and Catholic sympathies; ... Zy bespeuren aanlokzelen, zoetigheden, 28
cf. Thissen 1994, p. 196, p. 200, pp. 210- trek-azingen [i.e. bait] en bevalligheden die 29
215. onzienlijk zijn, en die niet bestaan als in hare
142 ‘[Z]y was outstijts, en is noch de bloeme wangedachten: ik laat u bedenken of zy ver- 30
van alle Konsten: Hierom rekenen onze wondering waardig zijn’, De la Serre 1658, 31
Poëten haer afkomstich van Narcissus, die pp. 145-46. 32
in een bloem verandert wiert. Want wat 150 Diego de Estella, The contempte of the world,
mach beter rijmen op de schoone gestaltenis and the vanitie thereof, ed. 1975, p. 32. 33
dezes jongelings, zich in de kristallijnklare 151 Sluijter 1988 and 1998b. 34
fonteine spiegelende, dan een konstich en 152 See Brusati 1991 and Sluijter 1998, p. 184 ff. 35
wel geschildert beelt de natuer gelijkvor- with references to work by Dou and Bailly
mich. Hierom noemen andere haer ook de (e.g. fig. 30), and more in general about the 36
schoone dochter van de schaduwe’, Inl. p. vanitas iconography in self-portraits, Raupp 37
25. 1984. 38
143 Ovid, Metamorphoses III, 345-510. 153 1584, Brussels, KB, reproduction in Asemis-
144 The anecdote appears in the work of Alber- sen 1994, p. 141. The text is from Horace, 39
ti, Leonardo, Pino, Biondo and Van Man- Epistles I, 4,30. 40
der. On this theme, see Pfisterer 2001 and 154 On this theme, see Sluijter 1998, p. 179. Cf. 41
Goldin 1967. Cf. Van Mander about Narcis- the vanitas scenes by a follower of Honthorst
sus in Het leven der oude antijcke doorluchtighe (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) and Bigot 42
Schilders, soo wel Egyptenaren, Griecken als (Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, Rome), 43
44
45
n o t e s t o c hap t e r v i           431
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 431 10-10-2008 16:24:58

1 cf. Nicolson 1979, p. 1298 and p. 842. in twist geraakt waaren, en d’eerste, druyven,
2 155 ‘[Q]uelle pitture che si chiamano vane; il met zulk een overeenkoming geschildert,
qual nome potria rendere forsi dubitazione, dat de voogelen toevloogen, voort gebraght
3 essendo che ogni pittura in certo modo si hadde; bragt de andere een geschilderden
4 può dire vana, per essere come ombra e fig- doek voort, zoo in der waarheid schijnende,
5 ura della verità’, Paleotti 1960, pp. 382-83. dat hy, die door ’t oordeel der vogelen op-
156 ‘Quante cose noi vediamo tutto dì dentro bobbelde [i.e. he swelled in self-conceit],
6 quest’ampio teatro del mondo, tutte, secon- zeyde men zou de doek wegh schuyven,
7 do la dottrina di Socrate nel Fedone, sono om’t werk te toonen: eyndelijk zijn dwaa­
8 imagini et ombre ... Le cose sottolunari sono ling gewaar wordende, was genootzaakt den
ombre, come non permanenti nell’esser anderen de eerkroon over te langen, dewijl
9 loro e come fugaci’, G. Comanini, Il Figino hy-zelf de voogelen bedroogen hadde, maar
10 (Mantova 1591), ed. Barocchi, Trattati vol. Parrhazius, den Konstenaer’, Agrippa, 1661,
11 III, p. 341. pp. 113-114, cf. the Latin in De vanitate, Ba-
157 ‘Die ’t ware goet ontbeert, vermaakt zich rocchi, Scritti p. 752.
12 met den schyn’, Geeraerd Brandt, Poezy 164 ‘Wat is al ’s Werelts doen? een ydelheit, een
13 I (Amsterdam 1725, p. 89), see Emmens niet,/ Wat anders, alsze schijnt, voor dieze
14 1981a, pp. 28-29. regt beziet/ Dat leerde my dit Boek, maar
158 ‘[V]leyend oog-bedroch’, Camphuysen Schilder! als daar by/ Uw hand quam, riep
15 1638, pp. 119, 108, 115, 116. ik uyt, ’t is maar een Schildery,/ Een buyten-
16 159 ‘’t Malen is der Ydelheen algemeyne malle verw alleen; die ’t Werelts-Kint verheugt,/
17 Moer’; ‘Maar (och!) al ydelheydt. door ’t ’t Bestendig is alleen in ’t oefnen van de
kamerspeelsche wesen/ Van’t koude vuyr Deugt’, introductory poem by S. Simonides
18 uws hels verdwijnt het ware weesen,’ Camp­ to De la Serre 1658, unpaginated.
19 huysen 1638, p. 116; cf. Sluijter 2000a, pp. 165 ‘Versiert met pracht van schilderij/ Uw
20 10-14. ruime zaal,/ ’t Is niet dan verf en maar kopij/
160 ‘[D]e ydelheyd der menschen ... ’t bederf des Van’t ijdle principaal’, Brom 1957, p. 266.
21 levens’, Agrippa 1661, p. 115. 166 Carabell 1998, p. 53.
22 161 Agrippa 1661, p. 112; cf. the Latin origi- 167 Cf. Czech 2002, pp. 360-67.
23 nal: ‘Pictura itaque ars est monstruosa, sed 168 Inl. p. 325; cf. Ripa 1644, p. 441.
imitatione rerum naturalium accuratissima, 169 On the rhetorical background of the picture-
24 lineamentorum descriptione et colorum in-a-picture procedure, see Weber 1998.
25 debita appositione constans’, Agrippa, ed. 170 ‘Humana cuncta fumus, umbra, vanitas, et
26 Barocchi, Scritti pp. 751. scenae imago: et verbo ut absolvam, nihil’;
162 ‘[Z]oo verzieren de Schilders Historien en cf. Tesauro 1670, p. 138.
27 verdightselen, en aller dinghen afbeeldse- 171 The serpent creeping out from beneath
28 len, ligt, glans, schaduwen, uytsteekselen, a stone also graces the frontispiece of De
29 neerdellingen [i.e. things that come to the Geest’s Kabinet der Statuen; Van Hoogstraten
fore or recede], drukkenze uyt: dit heeft de may be referring to a print by Goltzius, cf.
30 Schilderkonst, daarenbooven [as compared Czech 2002, p. 367.
31 with poetry], uyt de sight-geest, datze’t 172 Van Hoogstraten quotes from Michelange-
32 gezight bedriege ... en ’t geen de beeld- lo’s sonnets, published in 1623 by his great-
houwerey niet bereyken kan, dat bereykt zy; nephew Michelangelo Buonarotti il Gio-
33 zy schildert, vuur, straalen, light, donders, vane, Inl. p. 297 and p. 361.
34 blixemen, weer-lighten, den ondergang, 173 De Brune 1994, pp. 280, 281.
35 den morgenstond, den twee-light [twilight, 174 ‘E così morte e vita,/ contrarie, insieme
neevelen; en des menschen neygingen; de in un picciol momento/ dentro a l’anima
36 beweegingen des gemoeds, ja byna de Stem sento’, Saslow 1991, No 168, p. 326; cf.:
37 zelf druktze uyt: en door leugenaghtige ‘[Michelangelo’s] world is profoundly dual-
38 afmeetingen, en maat-raamingen, doetze istic in the sense of a great division in the
die dingen die niet en zijn, als ofze waaren, universe between opposing forces of good
39 en die zoodanig niet en zijn, eghter zooda­ and evil, flesh and spirit, earth and heaven
40 nigh schijnen’, Agrippa 1661, pp 112-14; cf. ... love, both earthly and divine; time and
41 De vanitate, ed. Barocchi, Scritti p. 752. death, the enemies of worldly fulfilment;
163 ‘Gelijkerwijs de geschight-schrijvers, van de art, which can counteract the transience of
42 schilders Zeuxes en Parrazius vertellen; die physical beauty; and God, whose eternal
43 alsze van de voortreffelijkheid van de Konst realm and laws hold out hope for the spirit’s
44
45
432          note s to chap te r v i
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 432 10-10-2008 16:24:58

 salvation from the sinful tragedy of earthly der, Leven f. 300v. Angel does not make the 1
life’, Saslow 1991, p. 23-24. leap to the rhetorical converse of the epi- 2
175 The full text reads as follows: ‘Mijn levens deictic train of thought, however. Indeed, he
Schip bouwvallig komt vast [i.e. steadfast] posits the permanence of art; Angel, Lof p. 3
drijven,/ Door ’t woeste Meir, ter haven, 58. He derives this passage from De Brune’s 4
daer elk een/ Wort afgeëischt en rekenschap preface to Junius’s book, SKDO unpaginat- 5
en reên/ Van al zijn doen, gedachten en ed, p. ***5v.
bedrijven.// Dat ’s werelts gonst my vleyend 183 ‘[D]aer sy op het eynde van hun cort leven 6
toe wouw schrijven/ Een Godt te zijn, dat sullen moeten rekeningh af gheven, sy en 7
ik de konst alleen/ Begrepen had, zijn yd’le souden hun sinnen op de schoon en ydel 8
zotticheen/ En valscheên, die den mensche wellusten des werelts (die soo bedrieghe­
niet beklijven.// Wat is’t doch al, wat ik op lijck is) soo vast niet stellen’, De Bie 1661, 9
aerd genoot,/ Indien ik hier ontfang een p. 207. 10
dubble doodt?/ d’Een ben ik wis, en d’ander 184 ‘[S]chijn sonder sijn’, De Bie 1661, p. 469. 11
dreigt te prangen.// Genoeg gedicht, ge- 185 ‘De wereldt is een bedrieghster ende fal-
schildert en geslaeft:/ Mijn ziel gerust nu tot saris, want sy bedrieght een jeghelijck, sy 12
de Liefde draeft,/ Die d’armen spreide aen’t betoovert ... Al’t gen[e] de wereldt is ... en is 13
Kruis, om ons t’ontfangen’, Inl. p. 361.’ maer ydelheydt, en moet als roock vergaen’, 14
176 Saslow 1991, p. 476, no. 285, cf. no. 43 v.12 De Bie 1661, p. 82.
(duo mort’), no. 293 v.3 (l’una e l’altra morte). 186 ‘Niemant en moet hem verwonderen dat 15
177 Goeree describes the human condition such soo grooten Const is ghesproten uyt een 16
that ‘de noodwet des doodts ... onse licha- schaduwe (die in haer selven Niet en is) 17
men eens tot verderflijkheyd in den schoot aengesien wy altemael voorts comen van
der aarden moeten gezayd werden [d.i. ten slijm der aerden ... daerom behoorden wy wel 18
grave gedragen worden], om met een on- met reden de Hemelsche dinghen meer te 19
verderfflijk lichaam wederom uyt te botten’, beminnen als te trachten naer de ydelheydt 20
Goeree, MK p. 8. des werelts’, De Bie 1661, pp. 23-24.
178 ‘De mensch bestaet uyt twee delen, ziele en 187 Czech has drawn attention to the complex 21
lichaem: maer die zo veel verschillen als de theological background of Van Hoog- 22
eeuwigheyd en de verganckelickheyd. De straten’s decision to give his two books the 23
eene onsterffelick zijnde, steygert naer den titles of ‘The Visible World’ and ‘The Invis-
hemel; het ander wert met aerde bedeckt, en ible World’, and concludes that it is ‘more 24
van de wormen verteert. De eene en wert than likely’ that this two-part division al- 25
niet af-gemaelt, als door de zeden; het ander luded to a pronounced theological back- 26
wert door de schilders op een panneel ver­ ground. He notes that Van Hoogstraten
thoont. De eene heeft al haer schoonheyd refers to the Bible about forty times in the 27
van binnen in’t verborgen; het ander van Inleyding and that he was baptized into the 28
buyten in’t opper-vlies, ’t welck af-ghetogen Dutch Reformed Church as an adult; during 29
een slijmigh en bloedig vleesch doet zien; the preparation for this he was ‘thoroughly
dat noch de kasse is van onreyne stoffe’, De instructed in religion’ according to the par- 30
Brune 1657, pp. 65-66, par. CCVI. ish register, Roscam Abbing 1993, p. 52, no. 31
179 Horace, Odes III, 30, vs. 6; cf. Białostocki 47; cf. Czech 2002, p. 67. 32
1966, p. 184. 188 ‘De Platonici stellen twee werelden, eene
180 He hopes that ‘[God] [z]ijn ziel na deze tijdt die wy met de sinnen begrypen, waer inne 33
tot iets beters wil gebruiken’, letter to Wil- wy leven. d’andere, die metten verstande al- 34
lem van Blijenberg, 4/14 September 1663, leen begrepen wort dat is, de Schepper der 35
quoted Roscam Abbing 1993, p. 61, and vorighe werelt’, De Mornay 1646, fol. 45v,
expects that ‘[z]ijn beste deel de dood niet marginal note. 36
vreezende, ... tot in de Hemelen [zal] vlie- 189 Epistle to the Colossians 1:15-16. 37
gen’, Inl. p. 361. 190 ‘Schepper des hemels en der aarde, en aller 38
181 Van Hoogstraten 1666, p. 53. dingen, zienlijke en onzienlijke’, ‘Statenver-
182 ‘Noch dat niemant sich hem te ydelijck ver- taling’ quoted by Czech 2002, p. 65. 39
heffe op de Const/ die ick voorhenen een 191 Augustine’s doctrine did much to determine 40
schaduw van’t rechte wesen/ en een bloem artistic culture in the early modern period, 41
heb gheheeten/ wetende dat oock ons leven insofar as he offered a counterbalance to the
niet en is als een wijckende schaduwe/ en neoplatonic views that were fairly common 42
een ongheduriche Veldt-bloem’, Van Man- by that time; Bouwsma 1975, Czech 2002, p. 43
67. 44
45
n o t e s t o c hap t e r v i           433
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 433 10-10-2008 16:24:59

1 192 Bryson 1990, pp. 119-120. dient’, Van Hoogstraten 1682, pp. 234-235.
2 193 ‘[D]ewyle onse ooghen de klaerheyt van een 204 ‘[S]piegelen van schepsels, van geschrift/
zoo groot [i.e. Divine] licht niet en konnen Des Bybels, en van Gods weldaedigheid en
3 verdraghen, ons zy ghenoegh dit licht in zijn gift/ En oordeel’, Van Hoogstraten 1682, p.
4 schaduwe te beschouwen. De werelt, die wy 235.
5 met onse sinnen begrypen, ende daer inne 205 The reader must ponder: ‘Wat noch in’t lest
wy leven, is de schaduwe van die werelt, voor ongeval/ Dees zichtbre wereld treffen
6 die metten verstande alleen te beschouwen zal,/ Als welkers neigen tot vergaen/ En on-
7 is by de name van dewelcke verstandelijcke standvastelijk bestaen/ Niet min by Gods
8 werelt, de navolghers van Platonis leere, voorzienigheid/ Naer allen schijn besloten
Godt verstaen’, De Mornay 1646, f. 45v. leid’, Van Hoogstraten 1682, p. 17.
9 194 ‘[W]y en schouwen God in zijn wezen niet 206 Van der Goes was a friend of Luyken’s and
10 aen: maer wel in zijne wercken’, De Mornay played a key role in the circle surrounding
11 1646, fol. 22v. the Van Hoogstratens. Frans van Hoog-
195 Bouwsma 1975, pp. 37-38. straten, Dullaert, Oudaen and Van der Goes
12 196 Bouwsma 1975, p. 37. evidently spent much time together and
13 197 ‘[G]helijckerwijs, na dat de ooghen ende ver- Frans in particular is said to have greatly
14 wen, ende schijnbare dinghen verscheyden admired the painter; see Zijlmans 1999, p.
zijn, ende het licht der Sonne verscheyden 155. Luyken’s Duytse lier dates from 1671
15 ghewercken voorbrenght: alsoo is GODS and his Jesus en de ziel from 1678; on his po-
16 teghenwoordigheydt verscheydentlijck by etry in relation to his circle of friends, see
17 verscheyden dinghen, sonder nochtans ver- Van Eeghen 1990, pp. 65-112.
scheyden te zijn’, De Mornay 1646, f. 26r. 207 ‘’f [T]egenwoordig zichtbaar leven … met al
18 198 ‘[W]y [zullen] Godt beschouwen ... inde wat vlugtig is, omgeeven’; ‘het groote boek
19 ghebreken, die men in alle dinghen kan der dingen’; Luyken 1711, p. 54.
20 schouwen, als veranderlijck, onmachtigh, 208 ‘Dewyle wy niet en aanmerken de dingen
met stoffe behangen te zijn, etc. welcke din- die men ziet, maar de dingen die men niet
21 ghen wy moeten houden vele verder, dan en ziet. Want de dingen die men ziet zyn
22 eenigh verstant, die met zyne ghedachten tydelyk, maar de dingen die men niet en ziet
23 soude konnen afsonderen, van Gode ver- zyn eeuwig’.
scheyden te zijn’, De Mornay 1646, f. 27r. 209 ‘De Schildery is maar een schyn,/ Van Din-
24 199 ‘Omnis mundi et natura/ Quasi liber et pic- gen die in’t wezen zijn:/ Van haare Fruit
25 tura/ Nobis est et speculum’, Alan de Lille, kund gy niet Eeten,/ Uit haaren Mond kund
26 De Planctu Naturae (vol. 210, 579A), cf. Van gy niet weeten./ Zo is de gantsche zicht­
Ingen 1966, p. 178. baarheid,/ Van ’t welbehaagen dezer tyd,/
27 200 ‘[A]en alle kanten sal ons soo overvloedige De wereld met haar doen en weelden,/ Als
28 stoffe van sijn blinckende heerlijckheyt ge- schaduwen van doode beelden’, Luyken
29 geven worden ... waer dat gy maer u oogen 1711, p. 68.
sult keeren, gy sult overal klare spiegels sien, 210 ‘Al wat het oog besiet,/ Ist prinsepaal nog
30 daer in Godts macht en Majesteyt gesien niet./ De Kunst steld ons een Schijn te
31 wort, klare schilderijen daer in Godts wezen vooren,/ Hoe’t in het Weesen staat beschoo-
32 en macht gelijck als in geschildert en uyt ge- ren,/ Gelijk de groote Schilderij,/ Van’t AL
druckt is’, Van Blijenberg 1671, p. 59. der siene­lijke dingen’, Luyken 1694, p. 84.
33 201 On this theme, see Bakker 2004, p. 153. 211 ‘Het eeuwig Niets,/ iets boven alle zinnen,/
34 202 Calvin 1949, p. 18. Een Al, daar’t al af kwam/ Wat ooit begin-
35 203 ‘Veel zulke spiegels heeft hier onze ziel te sel nam,/ Is ’t goed en zoet dat wij zo zeer
baet,/ Die zy gebruikt, wanneer zy haer ver- beminnen!’, Luyken in Schulte Nordholt
36 luchten gaet:/ Haer oog verneemt, daer’t 1978, pp. 62-63.
37 in der Schepslen spiegel ziet,/ De macht 212 The Inleyding refers to the Second Epistle to
38 en wijsheid Gods, die alles schiep uit niet;/ the Corinthians, Inl. p. 106.
Maer in het Heilboek ziet zy ’t groote won- 213 I Corinthians 13:12; cf. Nolan 1990.
39 der staen/ Van ons verlossing, en den Hemel 214 Chong 1999, p. 13.
40 opgedaen,/ Ja al zijn glory ons tot erffnis 215 Falkenburg 1989, p. 56.
41 toegezeid;/ Zy word gewaer door ’t glas van 216 Gombrich 1978, p. 104.
Gods weldaedigheid.’ Hall concludes that 217 Brusati 1991, p. 175.
42 ‘my nimmer zulk een heldre zon of dag/ In 218 Sluijter 1998, p. 184, 196.
43 d’oogen straelt, of ’k ben met eenen bril ge- 219 Blankert 1995, p. 42; cf. Bialostocki 1966, p.
44 202.
45
434          note s to chap te r v i
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 434 10-10-2008 16:24:59

 220 Blankert’s comment that Vermeer saw 232 Roscam Abbing 1993, chronology n. 122, 1
‘earthly reality’ as transcendental therefore p. 76. Van Hoogstraten refers to Descartes’s 2
seems to me incorrect: earthly reality has ideas on optics in the Meteores, Inl. p. 304
no other metaphysical significance than (‘Discours VIII, De l’arc-en-ciel’), p. 325ff. 3
confronting the viewer, through a sensory 233 The Dutch translation has been taken as the 4
stimulus, with its transcendental founda- source text here, since this is the text that 5
tions; the ephemeral and sensory elements Van Hoogstraten is most likely to have read
of the visible world serve as elements of a himself: ‘Gelijk men ziet dat de prenten, in 6
rhetorical ‘argument’ designed to convince koper of hout gesneden, en met een weinich 7
us of the perpetuity of the invisible world. inkt hier en daar op’t papier gezet, bosschen, 8
221 Krüger 2001. steden, menschen, ja ook strijden en stor-
222 Wheelock 2002, p. 274 ff. men aan ons vertonen, hoewel van een grote 9
223 Bomford 1998, p. 133 accepts the attribu- menigte van verscheide hoedanigheden, die 10
tion, as do Brusati 1995 and Wheelock zy in deze voorwerpen ons doen bevatten, 11
2002, 274-77. Koslow 1967, pp. 53-54, note geen andere is, dan de gestalte alleen, van
58, rejects the attribution. de welken zy eigentlijk de gelijkheit heb- 12
224 Brusati 1995, p. 213, fig. p. 216; see also ben. En dit is noch een zeer onvolmaakte 13
Buci-Glucksmann 1986, p. 46 ff. gelijkheit, dewijl zy op een heel platte vlakte 14
225 Cf. Massey 1995, Brüger 1945 and Schröder lighamen, die verscheidelijk gerezen en inge­
1997. zonken zijn, aan ons vertonen; en dewijl zy, 15
226 Bomford 1998. volgens de regels van de Deurzichtkunde, 16
227 The theory of anamorphosis was expounded dikwijls beter kringen door langronden, dan 17
in the seventeenth century in Kircher’s Ars door andere kringen, en vierkanten beter
magna lucis et umbrae (1671), with which Van door scheve ruiten, dan door andere vier- 18
Hoogstraten may have become acquainted kanten vertonen, en dus met alle d’andere 19
in Vienna, where he claims to have visited gestalten: in voegen dat zy dikwijls, om in 20
the Jesuits. hoedanigheit van beelden volmaakter te
228 Cylinder anamorphoses are quite common, wezen, en een voowerp beter te vertonen, 21
but I know of no other examples of reflect- dat niet moeten gelijken’, Descartes 1659, 22
ing cones. pp. 81-82. 23
229 ‘[L]a Metafora, tutti à stretta li rinzeppa in 234 ‘[V]an zulk eenen, die die gewisheyt nevens
un vocabolo: e quasi in miraculoso modo gli een verzekerde hand verkregen heeft, zal 24
ti fà travedere l’un dentro all’altro. Onde niemant der lichaemen afmeetingen afvor- 25
maggiore è il tuo diletto: nella maniera, che deren. Want de oogen, door de konst bereyt 26
più curiosa & piacevol cosa è mirar molti zijnde, vangen aen een Regel te zijn, en de
obietti per un’istrafóro di perspettiva, che hand volgt de konst met een verzekert be- 27
se gli originali medesimi succesivamente ti trouwen’, Inl. p. 63. 28
venisser passando dinanzi agli occhi. Opera 235 Wheelock 2007, p. 87. Wheelock construes 29
(come dice il nostro Autore) non di stupido, the still life in the foreground with an oys-
ma di acutissime ingegno’, Tesauro 1670, p. ter and a clock as a vanitas still life, in which 30
301; cf. Gilman 1978, p. 75. the oyster alludes to the temptations of the 31
230 ‘[L]es inventions de perspective, où certain senses, pp. 274-277. 32
beaux dessins ne paraissent que confusion, 236 Wheelock 2002, p. 129; on similar works,
jusqu’à ce qu’on rapporte à leur vrai point see Heuer 1997. 33
de vue’, Leibniz, Monadologie (1711), quoted 237 Ember 1999. 34
in Gilman 1978, p. 97, p. 254. 238 Huygens translated some of Donne’s poems; 35
231 ‘[C]e qui paraît souvent ressemblant dans see also De Brune 1994, p. 358, pp. 361-
ces portraits médiocres n’est moins que cela 363. 36
... Du moment que par quelque signe il se 239 Donne 8:220, quoted in Gilman 1978, p. 37
forme dans notre esprit une image qui a du 169. 38
rapport à une chose que nous connaissons, 240 Donne 8:230, quoted in Gilman 1978, p.
nous croyons aussitôt y trouver une grande 169. 39
ressemblance, quoiqu’à la bien examiner, il 241 ‘[W]at anders, alsze schijnt, voor dieze 40
n’y eut souvent qu’une légère idée’, Entre- regt beziet’; ‘Een buyten-verw alleen; die 41
tiens sur les vies et les ouvrages (Paris 1668- ’t Werelts-Kint verheugt,/ ’t Bestendig is
1688, Entretien VII, pp. 453-454), quoted in alleen in ’t oefnen van de Deugt’; liminary 42
Lichtenstein 1989, p. 188. poem by S. Simonides to De la Serre 1658, 43
44
45
n o t e s t o c hap t e r v i           435
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 435 10-10-2008 16:24:59

1 unpaginated; see above, Chap. VI, n. 164. 259 De la Serre 1658, p. 325.
2 242 ‘[E]en gedaente, die bevlekt is met verschey- 260 ‘Was ist das/ das wir Leben heissen?/ Ein
den verwen’, Inl. p. 360. Circkel voll gedrungener Noth./ Ein Traum
3 243 See Brusati 1995, pp. 136-137 on this self- und ein Betrieglich gleissen/ ein ungewisses
4 portrait. Morgenroth’, Heinrich Mühlpforths teutsche
5 244 Erasmus, Enchiridon militis christiani (1515), gedichte (Breslau 1698, 661, Str. 1), quoted
par. XIV; quoted in Bakker 2004, p. 204, n. in Van Ingen 1966, p. 62.
6 511. 261 Zeuxis laughs at the vanity of the old wom-
7 245 These diagrams are compiled and presented an who wants her portrait painted; on the
8 in Andrej Pilgoun, Representing the Medieval theme of vanity in self-portraits, see Sluijter
Cosmos (publication forthcoming). 1998.
9 246 On the Tarocchi see Westfehling 1998. 262 ‘[O]ilmè, ch’i’ son tradito/ da’giorni mie fu-
10 247 Cf. Christus als Salvator Mundi (Pinacoteca gaci e dallo specchio’, Saslow 1991, no. 51,
11 Ambrosiana, Milan, 16th century) and Car- p. 135.
avaggio’s fresco in the Casino di Villa Ludo- 263 The ‘storiette’ in stucco in the Capella
12 visi (Rome) for scenes depicting the firma- Orsini of Santa Trinità in Rome were lost at
13 ment as a transparent sphere with a globe the end of the eighteenth century, cf. Rom-
14 at its centre; Bosch’s The Flood (‘Madrid ani 2003, cat. no. 15, p. 85 ff.
Triptych’, Prado), with the firmament as a 264 Goeree, MK, ‘voorreden’ p. i.; he notes that
15 sphere containing a flat disc. ‘de Tronye de spiegel, of liever het levendig
16 248 Atlas, Moses and Hermes Trismegistus were uytdruksel van de Ziel is’, Goeree, MK, p.
17 the first three philosophers, according to 31.
Augustine, De civitate Dei XVIII, 39. Atlas 265 Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the philosophers,
18 was the first to teach human beings about II.33; cf. Carabell 1998, pp. 62, 72.
19 the heavens, according to Pliny, Naturalis 266 Calvin, Institutes 2:7.
20 Historia II, 6,3; see Bentini & Agostini 2004, 267 ‘Nemico di me stesso,/ inutilmente i pianti
p. 258. e’ sospir verso,/ ché non è danno pari al
21 249 Ripa 1644, p. 562. In the Inleyding the muse tempo perso’, Saslow 1991, no. 51, p. 135.
22 Urania is depicted holding a pair of com- 268 ‘Als ge in een Spiegel u beschout/ En ziet
23 passes; cf. Czech 2002, p. 362. uwe eertijds gladde wangen,/ Gerimpelt, en
250 Van Hoogstraten refers to the floor mosaic, uw huid veröud;/ Dan leert gy hoe ... Niets
24 Inl. p. 335. ... het noodlot [kan] wederstreven’, Vaenius
25 251 Pascal, Pensées (1660), I, 72; cf.: ‘wie als Mit- 1683, p. 93.
26 telpunkt des Alls muss [Gott] auch als des- 269 Bakker 2004, p. 382 ff.
sen unendlicher Umkreis bezeichnet wer-
27 den, da sein Wesen das aller Anderen in sich exc ur sus
28 schliesst’, Cusanus, De docta ignorantia II, ii 1 Miedema argues that the structure of Van
29 fol. 38, quoted in Pochat 1973, p. 240. Mander’s art theory ‘is based on analogy
252 ‘[E]en ronde kloot of kogel vertoont een with cosmic ideal structures’; this ‘is in line
30 ronde kring, en een eenigen Orizont of with the thinking of Van Mander’s time ...
31 zichteind, hoewel wy met hand en verstandt Van Mander’s “ars” thus becomes an in-
32 een oneyndich getal begrijpen’, Inl. p. 34. struction model between the macrocosm
253 ‘Twee aerdt clooten’; Scheller 1969, p. 118, (the universe) and the microcosm (man),
33 with bibliography. so that its importance extends far beyond
34 254 A Young Painter with a Vanitas Still-Life, c. painting alone’, Miedema 1973, pp. 308-9;
35 1632 (whereabouts unknown, illustrated in on the ‘astro-psychological implications of
Sluijter 2000c, p. 32). the Grondt’ see also pp. 307-8, 351, 354,
36 255 Jan Miense Molenaer, A Painter in his Studio, 447, 510, 512, 514, 534.
37 1631, Staatliche Museen, Berlin; Vermeer, 2 My thanks to Professor Wieb van Bunge for
38 The Art of Painting, 1662-1665, Kunsthis- his expert comments on this chapter, with
torisches Museum, Vienna. particular reference to the passages on Van
39 256 See Brown 1991, pp. 284-287, with refer- Blijenberg and Spinoza.
40 ences to Chapman (1990) and Van de Waal 3 ‘De schorss’ ist die ghy soeckt, uw’ oordeel
41 (1956); other interpretations in Emmens is ellendigh:/ Recht anders onse Godt: die
1979 and Mai 1999. siet maar op ’t inwendigh’, Camphuysen
42 257 Brown 1991, p. 286. 1638, p. 115.
43 258 Cf. Brown 1991, p. 286. 4 ‘[I]l fine ... della pittura è fra tutte l’arti es-
44
45
436          note s to e x cursus
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 436 10-10-2008 16:24:59

 sere imitatrice della natura ... non però haar oorsprong nemen’, Goeree, MK p. 1
compitamente, ché allora non sarebbe im- 366. 2
mitatrice, ma simile l’un’all’altra; ma nel 21 Translation from the Dutch. ‘[D]at men niet
miglior modo che sia possibile a noi, cioè onderstelt dat de ziel, om te gevoelen, enige 3
almeno quanto all’esterno nella superficie beelden behoeft te beschouwen, die door de 4
accidentale’, Zuccari, L’Idea, ed. Barocchi, voorwerpen tot in de harssenen gezonden 5
Scritti p. 1038. worden, gelijk onze [aristotelische] Wijs-
5 ‘Mundus exteriora rerum ostendit, interiora begerigen gemenelijk doen ... [die], ziende 6
tegit’, Houbraken 1718-1721, I pp. 326- dat onze geest lichtelijk door een schildery 7
327. opgewekt kan worden, om’t voorwerp, dat’er 8
6 ‘[N]atuyrlijck (doch verdorven) ... dat sich op geschildert is, t’ontfangen, gemeent heb-
den mensche altijdt wat sichtbaerlijcx voor- ben dat onze geest op gelijke wijze moest 9
stelt, om het onsichtbare uyt te drucken’, opgewekt worden, om de dingen te bevat- 10
Biens 1982, ‘Voorreden aen den leer-be- ten, die door enige kleine beeltjes, de welken 11
geerighen leser’, unpaginated. in ons hooft gevormt wierden, onze zinnen
7 Czech 2002, pp. 77-80. treffen’, Descartes 1659, pp. 81-82. 12
8 Descartes 1657a, p. 89. 22 Goeree, MK p. 367. 13
9 ‘Welke vertooningen aan het Verstand ook 23 ‘[W]elkers Natuure is, een ding aan den Be- 14
tweesints konnen zijn; want sy zijn of in- schouwers Oog te geven, soo alsse dat ont-
wendig, of van buyten komende’; ‘De uyt- fangen heeft’, Goeree, MK p. 370. 15
wendige komen van de voor-werpen der 24 ‘Hier zyn ons’ oogen bogen,/ En schieten 16
sigtbare Wereld’, Goeree, MK p. 348; see stralen uyt: daer is ’t een’ grove logen;/ Daer 17
Chap. VI, n. 16. is ’t maer spiegel-glas, en neemt de dingen
10 Brusati 1996, esp. pp. 91, 92-94, 224, p. 93: in’, Huygens 1984, stanza 885. 18
‘Van Hoogstraten’s printed Academy has 25 Inl. p. 33; see chapter II, note 54. 19
closer ties to the interests and projects of 26 Cf. Vermij 1999a, n. 17. 20
the Royal Society for the Advancement of 27 [V]an desen Alder constichsten Beeldenaer
Learning than to the classicist ideals of the en Schilder’, Van Mander, Grondt XIII,1, f. 21
French and Italian academies that his trea- 50r; Van Mander associates the colours with 22
tise is usually presumed to reflect’. the elements, Van Mander, Grondt XIII,4, f. 23
11 Thissen 1994, p. 121; Alpers 1983, p. 75. 50v.
12 Roscam Abbing 1993, no. 8, p. 107; 28 ‘[N]aer’t leeven’; for example, when he saw a 24
Sumowski 1983-1994, p. 2097. reversed rainbow in sea-spray and in a foun- 25
13 Constantijn to Christiaan Huygens, 11 No- tain, Inl. p. 304. 26
vember 1655, in Oeuvres Complètes de Chris- 29 Boyle 1664, pp. 84-85.
tiaan Huygens, The Hague 1880-1950, I, p. 30 Boyle 1664, pp. 85-86. 27
364. 31 La Dioptrique, par. 6:91-2. Cf. Descartes’ 28
14 Inl. p. 207; Klever 1990, p. 50. painting metaphor in the Méditations 7:20, 29
15 Inl. p. 263. which he uses to demonstrate that only ge-
16 ‘[E]en recht natuerlijke Schildery’, Inl. p. ometry and arithmetic are reliable sciences. 30
263. 32 ‘[D]at elk dings kolorijt met vlijt dient 31
17 Leibniz (Nouveaux essais sur l’entendement achterhaelt’, Inl. p. 214; ‘koleuren, die de 32
humain, II, 12.1) and Locke are quoted in dingen by zich zelfs hebben’; Inl. p. 217; ‘elk
Vermeir 2003, pp. 120 ff. ding zijn eyge en natuerlijke koleur’, Inl. p. 33
18 ‘Lichamen in een donkere Kamer [die] 258; cf. ‘Alle dingen hebben haere koleuren 34
door d’opening van een kleyn gaatje tegens in de scheppinge bekomen, en zijn door 35
een Doek of Papier geschilderd werden’, het eerste licht zichtbaer geworden’, Inl. p.
Goeree, MK pp. 362, 363. 219. 36
19 Cf. Descartes 1996, VI, pp. 114-115. 33 ‘Wy zullen overslaen wat de wijsbegeerigen 37
20 ‘‘[N]a wat zijde of Oord een voor-werp dat van lux (licht) en lumen (schijnsel) seggen, 38
in onse Oogen gevormd, en van ons gesien en alleenlijk van licht en verlichtinge, zoo
werd, gekeerd is, of in welke stand-plaats veel het onze [schilder]kunst betreft, hande- 39
het sig bevind... Men moet voorwaar niet len’, Inl. p. 257. 40
meenen dat dit geschied door een Daad 34 ‘De koleuren of verwen zijn veranderlijk 41
of Beeldnis die uyt het Gesiene voor-werp door onderscheyde verlichtingen’, Inl. p.
komt, maar alleen door de stand der deeltjes 257. 42
van de Herssenen uyt welke de Senuwen 35 Van Hoogstraten says that ‘no illuminated 43
44
45
no t e s t o e x c u r s u s           437
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 437 10-10-2008 16:24:59

1 thing is present near a shadow, but that it consisteth the likenesse vnto a man, of a
2 shares its light and colour with it’, Inl. p. picture drawn in blacke and white repre-
263; he devotes a chapter to ‘How Shadow, senting a man ... it will be but a likenesse or
3 Reflection and the Thickness of the Air representation of a man, because it wanteth
4 Change Colours’, commenting: ‘Colours the warmeth, the softnesse, and the other
5 can be changed by the interruption of any qualities of a liuing body, which belong to
bodies that shade them, or by reflections’, a man: but if you giue it all of these, then it
6 Inl. p. 264. is no longer a likenesse or image of a liuing
7 36 Inl. p. 263. creature, but a liuing creature indeede ... if
8 37 Van Mander, Grondt from VII, 27, f. 31r, the likenesse were complete in euery regard,
esp. §§ 50-52. then it were no longer to be called like, but
9 38 ‘[H]et behoort voornamentlijk tot de Hou­ the very thing it selfe’, Digby 1970, p. 357.
10 dinge, dat men verscheyde lichten, en ver­ 52 For the identification see Ekkart 1997,
11 lichte dingen tegen elkander wel vergelijkt’, p. 133, Brusati 1995, p. 296, n. 126, and
Inl. p. 301; cf. Taylor 1992. Millner 1946. Ekkart cites Van Blijenberg’s
12 39 Digby 1970, p. 258. anti-Spinozism as an argument against the
13 40 Digby 1970, p. 39. identification; in the late 1660s, however,
14 41 Digby 1970, p. 45. Van Blijenberg was still full of praise for
42 Digby 1970, p. 257. the philosopher and sent him his own first
15 43 ‘[Z]oo leyt een volmaekte Schildery ook philosophical work.
16 reets op uw palet’, cf: ‘Kunt gy de breekin- 53 Zijlmans 1999, p 154, 169.
17 gen de verwen, die gy voor hebt na te vol- 54 On Van Blijenberg’s fascination with Spino-
gen, maer wel met het verstant bevatten, za’s philosophy and his role as one of the
18 gy zultze zonder grooten arbeit wel uit uw first critics of Spinoza see Van Bunge 2004.
19 palet zien’, Inl. p. 225. 55 As far as writings in the vernacular are con-
20 44 ‘[H]et oog en het oordeel’, Inl. p. 235. See cerned, the important ones in this early
also above, pages 72-90. phase of radical philosophy are those by
21 45 ‘[T]he very same obiect must appeare of the Koerbagh brothers, Franciscus Van den
22 different colours, whensoever it happeneth Enden and Lodewijk Meyer; cf. Israel 2001,
23 that it reflecteth light differently to us ... p. 314.
accordingly painters are faine to use almost 56 Israel 2001, pp. 307-15.
24 opposite colours to expresse them. In like 57 ‘[C]ort en claer toonen ... dat in ons behal-
25 manner if you looke upon two pieces of the vent lichaem nog iets anders is, dat niet al-
26 same cloth, or plush, whose graines lye con- leen geen lichaem is, maar een eygen en op
trawise to one an other, they will likewise sigh self bestaende selfstandicgheyt, welk
27 appeare to be of different colours’, Digby blijckt, om dat als ick naerstigh een lichaem
28 1970, p. 260. examineer, daer niet in vinde als een spacye
29 46 Digby 1970, p. 262. en uytbreydingen’, ‘laet alles dat in de ge-
47 Translated from the Dutch. ‘[D]at’er geen schapen nateur [sic] is door uwen gedagten
30 beelden zijn, die in alles met de voorwerpen, loopen, gy sult in alles een lichaem en een
31 de welken zy vertonen, gelijk zijn ... ja dat uytbreydinge vinden, maer laet dan uwe ge­
32 dikwijls hun volmaaktheit hier in bestaat, dagten oock eens door uwe gedagten loopen,
dat zy hen niet zo naau, als zy wel konden, gij sult er geen lichaem nog uytbreydinge in
33 gelijken’, ‘in voegen dat zy dikwijls, om in vinden’; ‘dencken [is] van lichaem [onder-
34 hoedanigheit van beelden volmaakter te scheiden] soo veel als licht van duysternis-
35 wezen, en een voorwerp beter te vertonen, sen’, Van Blijenberg to Van Hoogstraten, 10
dat niet moeten gelijken’, Descartes 1659, January 1661, in Roscam Abbing 1993, no.
36 pp. 81-82. 65, pp. 56-57.
37 48 Inl. pp. 35, 63, 308. 58 The Tractatus was not published until 1677.
38 49 ‘[P]ure con la difformità deve l’occhio 59 In the text itself the whole is referred to by
rimaner ingannato e deve la perfezione con the title Principia van Godt en godts-dienst, cf.
39 l’imperfezione apparire’, Boschini, Breve Is- Thissen p. 138.
40 truzione, ed. 1966, p. 750. 60 For the relation between Van Blijenberg’s
41 50 ‘[I]l Pittore forma senza forma, anzi con for- Kennisse and early Spinozism see Van Bunge
ma difforme, la vera formalità in apparenza’, 2004, p. 111.
42 Boschini, Breve Istruzione, ed. 1966, p. 750. 61 ‘[D]at onse ziel wat anders is als het lichaem’,
43 51 Digby 1970, p. 2. ‘[L]et vs consider, in what ‘Wy zetten ons selven tot een eynde of oog-
44
45
438          note s to e x cursus
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 438 10-10-2008 16:24:59

 wit voor, om te bewijsen dat’ er een Godt is, quoted in Freudenthal 1899, p. 212. 1
en dat hy de werelt regeert, dat onse ziel wat 73 Zijlmans 1999, p. 170. 2
anders is als het lichaem, en dat die onsterf- 74 Roscam Abbing 1993, chronology no. 129,
felijck is’, Van Blijenberg 1671, p. 1. pp. 78-80. 3
62 ‘Kom dan hier ô Atheisten, en laet u leeren 75 ‘[O]p loutre reedens gronden’, Inl., 4
dat Godt niet verde is van een yeder onder unpaginated. 5
ons, dat hy met ons verstand kan geraeckt 76 The Inleyding was largely written in the
en gelijck met onse handen getast werden, 1660s, in an environment where optics 6
en dat soo menig ding als’er in de werelt is, played a major role – especially in Rotter- 7
wy soo menig argument en soo veel-voudige dam and Delft – and painters like Fabritius, 8
overtuyginge hebben van dat’er een God is’, Vermeer and Van Hoogstraten himself were
Van Blijenberg 1671, p. 67. experimenting with illusionist tricks and de- 9
63 Van Blijenberg 1671, p. 72. vices such as the camera obscura; Vermeer 10
64 ‘[D]e over groote soliditeyt’, ‘de vernoeg- actually owned two works by Van Hoog- 11
inge die [hij] daar door ontfangen [heeft]’, straten, as is revealed by the inventory of
Spinoza 1677, p. 529. Vermeer’s house on the Oude Langendijk 12
65 Van Blijenberg wrote to Spinoza: ‘Ghy stelt in Delft, which was drawn up on 29 Febru- 13
... dat scheppen en onderhouden is een en ary 1676. For the relationship between Ver- 14
het zelfde ... en dat God niet alleen de zelf- meer’s illusionism and Van Hoogstraten’s
standigheden, maer oock de bewegingen ideas, see Wadum 1998, pp. 208, 212; for 15
in de selfstandigheden heeft geschapen ... the interest in optics among Delft artists, 16
aengesien dat er buyten God geen oorsaeck see Wheelock 1977. 17
van beweginge is, en soo volcht dan dat God 77 Spinoza 1977, letter 28.
niet alleen oorsaeck van de selfstandigheyt 78 Goere 1705, p. 673. 18
van de ziel is, maer oock van ydere Bewe­ 79 Junius, TPA p. 85; Junius, SKDO p 77. 19
ginge of poogingen van de ziel’, Spinoza 80 See for Spinoza’s relation to the Stoics: 20
1677, p. 529. Cf. Klever 1997, pp. 72-73, on James 1993, Kristeller 2001.
a letter from Spinoza to Van Blijenberg. 81 ‘Spinoza in veel dingen met Aristoteles, 21
66 Van Bunge 2004, p. 111, states that Van Blij­ Epikurus en andere Ouwde Filozofen onder 22
enberg was certainly fascinated by Spinoza’s de Stoicynen, over een stemd’, Goeree 1705, 23
work at first, a fascination that drove him to pp. 665, 674.
his eventual criticism. 82 ‘[G]eopenbaert, ende in alle dinghen afghe- 24
67 Cf. Thissen 1994, p. 140. maelt’, De Mornay 1646, fol. 1 r. 25
68 ‘[D]e goede gronden van [hun] vriend­ 83 Cf. Israel 2001, p. 232. 26
schap’, ‘dourbout van veelerley speculatien 84 Israel 2001, p. 323.
tusschen [hen] voorgevallen’; ‘ooit heb ik 85 Goeree 1705, p. 673. 27
getracht ... met uws gelijk van hooge gehei- 86 Spinoza, Ethics I, proposition 29. 28
men te twistredenen, maar hebbe ik echter 87 ‘Yder bezonder ding, of dat eindig is, en 29
zoo grooten schrik van door eijgen neuswijs­ een bepaalde weezentlijkheit heeft, kan niet
heit den gemeenen wegh af te gaan in iets wezentlijk zijn, noch tot werken bepaalt 30
nieuws vast te stellen, als ik walging hebbe worden, zo het niet van een andere oorzaak, 31
van hen die ... alles verloochenen na te vol- die ook eindig is, en een bepaalde wezent­ 32
gen’, Van Hoogstraten to Van Blijenberg, 2 lijkheit heeft, bepaalt word tot wezentlijk te
August 1662, Roscam Abbing 1993, no. 71, zijn, en tot te werken’, Ethics I, 28, Spinoza 33
pp. 59-60. 1677, pp. 28-29. 34
69 ‘[O]m zyne wetenschappen’, Roscam Ab- 88 ‘Uit het volgende volgt klarelijk dat de din- 35
bing 1993, p. 21. gen naar hun opperste volmaaktheid van
70 Zijlmans 1999, pp. 154, 169. Even before God voortgebracht zijn; vermits zy uit de 36
the publication of Spinoza’s Ethics there gestelde volmaakte natuur van God nood- 37
were various ‘reading groups’ in the Repub- zakelijk zijn gevolgt. Dit wijst ook in God 38
lic in which his ideas were discussed, as we ook geen onvolmaaktheid aan: want zijn
learn from a letter from Simon de Vries to volmaaktheid heeft ons gedwongen dit te 39
Spinoza dated 24 February 1663, see Spino- bevestigen: ... dat de dingen op geen andere 40
za 1977, p. 105. wijze, en in geen andere ordening van God, 41
71 Zijlmans 1999, pp. 170-73, 161. geschapen hebben konnen worden ... dat
72 Poem in Adriaan Verwer, ’t Mom-aensicht aleenlijk van Gods besluit en wil afhangt dat 42
der atheistery afgerukt (Amsterdam 1683), yder ding het geen is, dat het is’, Ethics I, 33, 43
44
45
no t e s t o e x c u r s u s           439
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 439 10-10-2008 16:24:59

1 Spinoza 1677, pp. 34-35, cf. Spinoza 1999, quoted by Tatarckiewicz 1979, p. 380.
2 pp. 88-90. 95 In illustration of this Panofsky quotes Fi-
89 ‘Eenige nieuwe Philosoofen sijn van gevoe- cino’s conception of beauty as a ‘ray from
3 len; dat de Schoonheyd niet soo seer een the face of God... that first reaches the An-
4 hoe­danigheyd, of volmaaktheyd is van ’t gels, then the human soul, and ultimately
5 Voorwerp ’t welk men siet, als wel een ge- enlightens the world of corporeal matter’,
wrogt, of daad daar af in den geenen die from Ficino’s De amore, quoted in Panofsky
6 ziet: ... De Schoonste hand door een ver­ 1927, p. 28.
7 groot-glas gesien, sal verschrikkelijk schijnen. 96 Inl. p. 18, p. 77; see chapter II, notes 10 and
8 Invoegen dat de dingen in sich selven aange- 15.
merkt, of tot God betrokken, noch Schoon 97 Spinoza 1999, pp. 156-157, see Excursus,
9 noch Leelijk zijn’, Goeree, MK p. 20. n. 93.
10 90 ‘Alles, dat’er is, drukt op een zekere en 98 ‘[A]l’t geen, ’t welk, als wezentheit van zelf-
11 bepaalde wijze Gods natuur, of wezentheit standigheit stellende, van een onëindig ver-
uit: dat is al’t geen, ’t welk is, drukt op een stant bevat kan worden, alleenlijk tot een
12 zekere en bepaalde wijze Gods vermogen uit, enige zelfstandigheid behoort, en by gevolg,
13 dat d’oorzaak van alle dingen is. Dieshalven, dat d’uitgestrekte, en de denkende zelf-
14 uit al’t geen, dat is, moet enig gewrocht (ef- standigheit (extensa et cogitans substantia) een
fectus) volgen’, Ethics I, 36, Spinoza 1677, pp. en de zelfde zelfstandigheit is, die nu onder
15 37-38. deze, en dan onder die toeëgening (attribu-
16 91 There are, though, different kinds of modes: tum) begrepen word. In dezer voegen is
17 infinite (such as God’s intellect) and finite ook de wijze (modus) van d’uitstrekking, en
(such as the human intellect), and within the het denkbeelt van die wijze een en dezelfde
18 infinite there are ‘indirect’ and ‘direct’: cf. zaak, doch op twee wijzen uitgedrukt ... Tot
19 Ethics I, 20-23. een voorbeelt, de kring, die in de natuur
20 92 ‘[M]en vind Wijsbegerigen zelven, die zich wezentlijk is (existere), en het denkbeelt van
vroedgemaakt hebben dat de hemelsche de wezentlijke kring, dat ook in God is, is
21 bewegingen een zoete overeenstemming een en de zelfde zaak, die door verscheide
22 maken: alle welke dingen klarelijk ge­ toeeigeningen verklaart word,’ Ethics II, 7,
23 noech tonen dat yder mensch van de dingen, Corollary, Spinoza 1677, pp. 52-53.
naar de gesteltheit van zijn brein, geöor- 99 ‘[D]at wy by naturende natuur het geen
24 deelt, of liever dat hy d’aandoeningen van moeten verstaan, dat in zich is, en door
25 d’inbeelding voor de dingen zelver omdat zich bevat word, of zodanige toeëigeningen
26 heeft. ’t Is dieshalven geen wonder, dat onder van de zelfstandigheit, die een eeuwige en
de menschen zo veel verschillen, als wy be­ oneindige wezentheid uitdrukken; dat is
27 vinden, ontstaan zijn, aar uit ook eindelijk God, voor zo veel hy als een vrije oorzaak
28 het twijffeldom (Scepticismus) is gesproten,’ aangemerkt word. Maar by de genatuurde
29 Ethics I, appendix, Spinoza 1677, pp. 43-45, natuur versta ik dit alles, ’t welk uit de noot-
cf. Spinoza 1999, p. 88. zakelijkheid van Gods natuur, of van yder
30 93 ‘De reden dan, of d’oorzaak, om de welke van Gods toeëeigeningen volgt, dat is alle
31 God werkt, en om de welke hy wezentlijk is, de wijzen van Gods toeëigeningen, voor zo
32 is een en de zelfde. ... Want wy zijn gewent veel zy als dingen aangemerkt worden, die
alle d’ondeeligen der natuur weêr tot enig in God zijn, en die zonder God niet konnen
33 geslacht, ’t welk algemeenst genoemt word, wezen, noch bevat worden’, Ethics I, 25, 29,
34 te brengen, te weten tot de kundigheit (no- Corollary, Spinoza 1677, pp. 28, 31.
35 tio) van ’t wezend (ens), ’t welk volstrektelijk 100 Ethics II, proposition 2; see Spinoza 1999, p.
tot alle d’ ondeeligen der natuur behoort’; 94.
36 ‘‘onder werkelijkheid en volmaaktheid [ver- 101 ‘[O]nnaspeurlijk rijk menigerley van yder
37 sta ik] hetzelfde’, Ethics IV, Preface, Spinoza soort voort te brengen ... die, alhoewel sy
38 1677, pp. 184-85, cf. Spinoza 1999, pp. 156- van een geslachte zijn, echter malkander
157. niet juist gelijkstaltig zijn’, Goeree, SK pp.
39 94 ‘Prius monere velim me Naturae non 20-21.
40 tribuere pulchritudinem, deformationem, 102 ‘Benedictus de Spinosa, die na alle waar­
41 ordinem, neque confusionem. Nam res non, schijnelijkheyd steld dat het Heel-al God is,
nisi respective ad nostram imaginationem, steld ... dat het lichaam en de Ziel, een en’t
42 possunt dici pulchrae aut deformes, ordina- selve ding is, dat nu onder de toe-eygening
43 tae aut confusae’, Spinoza, Letters XXXII, van beweging, en dan onder toe-eygening
44
45
440          note s to e x cursus
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 440 10-10-2008 16:24:59

 van denken bevat werd’, Goeree, MK pp. kelijke historien (1686), quoted in Israel 2004, 1
359-360. p. 15. 2
103 ‘Wy begrypen twee onderscheyde Denk- 118 ‘[W]ie Spinoza is geweest en wat ketterye
beelden in ons namelijk een van een den­ hy heeft gevolgd? gelove ik niet dat aan ye­ 3
kende Geest, en een van een uytgebreyd mand onbekend kan zyn. Syne schriften zyn 4
Lichaam’, Goeree, MK pp. 372-373. over al te vinden, en worden in dese jeuke- 5
104 ‘[W]y sijn bekommerd met dien vermetelen rige eeuw om hare nieuwheid, by na in alle
Ikarus soo hooge te vliegen, datwe den on- boekwinckels verkocht’, anonymous preface 6
begrijpelijke Majesteyt Gods, van soo na by, to Christopher Wittichius, Ondersoek van de 7
en boven ’t geen van hem geopenbaard is, Zede-konst van Benedictus de Spinoza (Am- 8
in dit Leven souden beschouwen’, Goeree, sterdam 1695), p. i; quoted in Israel 2004, p.
MK pp. 359-60. 26. 9
105 Klever 1990. 10
106 This is ‘On the Rainbow’, written in part in 11
response to Descartes’ Meteores. c on c lusi on
107 This even applies to human blood circu- 1 Van Gelder 1961; Knuvelder 1967, p. 107. 12
lation, to which the passions are closely 13
related. 14
108 Letter 2, Spinoza 1677, p. 75; Klever 1990,
p. 58. 15
109 Ethics II, 48. 16
110 ‘Het kan ook niet anders wezen, of de men- 17
sch moet een deel van de natuur zijn, en der
zelfder gemene ordening volgen’, Ethics IV, 18
Appendix 7, Spinoza 1677, p. 253. 19
111 ‘En echter zullen wy de dingen, die ons te- 20
gen ’t geen overkomen, ’t welk de reden van
onze nutticheit verëischt, gelijkmoediglijk 21
verdragen, zo wy meêwustig zijn dat wy 22
onze plicht hebben voltrokken, en dat het 23
vermogen, ’t welk wy hebben, zich niet zo
wijt heeft konnen uitstrekken, dat wy hen 24
konden schuwen, en eindelijk dat wy een 25
deel van de gehele natuur zijn, welker or- 26
dening wy volgen’, Ethics IV, Appendix 32;
Spinoza 1677, pp. 261-262. 27
112 Cf. Curley 1988, p. 129. 28
113 EJ, pp. 20-21; see chapter II, note 152. 29
114 ‘[D]e goddeloosheyt zoo uyt komt te weyen,
dat sy ’t gene de vogelen onder den Hemel, 30
de onvernuftige dieren, en de ongevoelige 31
dingen verkondigen ... in twijfel trekken ... 32
De vreeze Godts is den aenvang der waer-
achtige wijsheydt, welke alle onderrichtin- 33
gen der Philosophie, van hoe men behoort 34
te leven in sich begrijpt’, EJ, ‘Van de religie’, 35
chap. VIII, pp. 29-30.
115 Inl. p. 232. 36
116 Cf. Israel 2001, p. 315. 37
117 ‘[D]e gevoelens van Spinosa maar al te ver en 38
te veel door alle oorden en orden van men-
schen verspreid en geworteld zijn; datse de 39
hoven de grooten ingenomen, en verschei- 40
dene der beste verstanden verpest hebben; 41
dat luiden van seer burgerliken wandel door
de selve als godlijx tot ongodisterye verrukt 42
zijn’, Bekker, Kort begryp der algemeene ker- 43
44
45
no t e s t o c o n c l u s i o n           441
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 441 10-10-2008 16:24:59

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 442 09-10-2008 17:01:15

 1
2
3
Biblio gr aphy 4
5
Sources and editions 6
7
8
Ano., Tweederley naemlyst der Italiaensche constenaers, schilders, beeldthouwers, bouwmeesters, plaet- 9
snyders en anderen, Den Haag 1671. 10
Agrippa von Nettesheim, H.C., Van de onzekerheid en ydelheid der wetenschappen en konsten, J. 11
Oudaen (transl.), Rotterdam 1661. 12
Alberti, L.B., De pictura præstantissima, Basel 1540. 13
———, La pittura di Leon Battista Alberti, L. Domenichi (transl.), Venezia 1547. 14
———, Opere volgari, ed. C. Grayson, Bari 1960. 15
———, Over de schilderkunst, L. Hermans (transl.), Amsterdam 1996. 16
Angel, P., Lof der schilderkonst, Leiden 1642. 17
Aquinas, T., Summa theologiae, M. Browne & A. Fernandez (transl.), London 1963. 18
Armenini, G.B., De’ veri precetti della pittura, Ravenna 1586. 19
Baldinucci, F., Notizie de’ professori del disegno, Firenze 1974 (1681-1728). 20
Bellori, G.P., Descrizzione delle imagini dipinte da Rafaelle d’Urbino nelle camere del Palazzo Apos- 21
tolico Vaticano, Roma 1695. 22
———, Le vite de’pittori, scultori e architetti moderni, E. Borea (ed.), Torino 1976 (1672). 23
Bidloo, L., Panpoëticon Batavum, Amsterdam 1720. 24
Bie, C. de, Het gulden cabinet van de edel vry schilderconst, Antwerpen 1661. 25
Biens, C.P., ‘De Teecken-const; ofte een korte ende klaere aen-leydinghe tot die lofelijcke 26
const van teeckenen tot dienst ende behulp van de eerstbeghinnende jeucht ende liefheb- 27
bers (1636)’, in: E.A. de Klerck, ‘De Teecken-const, een 17de-eeuws Nederlands traktaatje’, 28
Oud Holland 99 (1982), 16-57. 29
Bisagni, F., Trattato della pittura, Venezia 1642. 30
Bisschop, J. de, Paradigmata graphices variorum artificum & Signorum veterum icones, Amster- 31
dam 1671. 32
Blijenberg, W. van, De kennisse Godts en godtsdienst, Leiden/Amsterdam 1677. 33
Borghini, V., Il riposo, Firenze 1584. 34
Bos, L. van den, De volmaeckte hovelinck, Amsterdam 1662. 35
Boschini, M., La carta del navegar pitoresco; ed. critica, con la ‘Breve instruzione’ premessa dalle 36
‘Ricche minere della pittura Veneziana’, A. Pallucchini (ed.), Venezia/Roma 1966 (1660 and 37
1673). 38
Boyle, R., Experiments and Considerations Touching Colours, London 1664. 39
Brune de Oude, J. de, Bancket-werck van goede gedachten, Middelburg 1657. 40
Brune de Jonge, J. de, Wetsteen der vernuften, oft bequaam middel, om, van alle voorvallende zaken, 41
aardighlik te leeren spreken, Rotterdam 1994 (1644). 42
Burton, R., The Anatomy of Melancholy, New York 2001 (1621). 43
44
45
          443
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 443 09-10-2008 17:01:16

1 Calvijn, J., Institutie, of onderwijzing in de christelijke godsdienst, A. Sizoo (transl.), Delft 1949.
2 Camphuysen, D.R., ‘Geestichdom der schilderkonst’, in: Verscheyden theologische wercken, Am-
3 sterdam 1638, 108-128.
4 Castiglione, B., Il libro del cortegiano, Venezia 1528.
5 Cennini, C., Il libro dell’arte, Firenze 1943.
6 Comanini, G., Il Figino, Mantova 1591.
7 Descartes, R., Beginselen van de wysbegeerte, Amsterdam 1657a.
8 ———, Bedenkingen van d’eerste wysbegeerte, Amsterdam 1657b.
9 ———, Les passions de l’âme, of de lydingen van de ziel, J.H. Glazemakers (transl.), Amsterdam
10 1659a.
11 ———, ‘Verregezichtkunde’, in: Proeven der wysbegeerte; of redenering van de middel om de reden
12 wel te beleiden, en de waarheit in de wetenschappen te zoeken, Amsterdam 1659b.
13 ———, Règles pour la direction de l’esprit, Paris 1992 (ca. 1628).
14 ———, La dioptrique, Paris 1996 (1637).
15 Digby, K., Two Treatises; in the One of Which, the Nature of Bodies; in the Other, the Nature of Mans
16 Soul; is Looked Into, Paris 1644.
17 Dolce, L., Dialogo della pittura [...] intitolato l’Aretino, Venezia 1557.
18 DuFresnoy, C.A., Piles, R. de & Verhoek, J., De schilderkonst, Amsterdam 1722.
19 Félibien, A., Entretiens sur les vies et les ouvrages des plus excellents peintres anciens et modernes,
20 Paris 1685.
21 Galilei, G., ‘Letter to Lodovico Cigoli of June 26, 1612’, in: E. Panofsky, Galileo as a Critic of
22 the Arts, Den Haag 1954, 32-34.
23 Gauricus, P., De sculptura, Delft/Antwerpen 1609 (1504).
24 ———, De sculptura, A. Chastel & R. Klein (transl.), Genève 1969 (1504).
25 Geest, W. de, Den leermeester der schilderkonst, Leeuwarden 1702.
26 Ghiberti, L., I commentari, C. Fengler (ed.), Wisconsin 1974.
27 Goeree, W., Inleydinge tot de algemeene teyckenkonst, Middelburg 1670.
28 ———, Natuurlyk en schilderkonstig ontwerp der menschkunde, Amsterdam 1682.
29 ———, Inleyding tot de praktyk der algemeene schilderkonst, Amsterdam 1697 (1670).
30 ———, De kerklyke en weereldlyke historien, Amsterdam 1705.
31 Hall, J., Seneca christianus; de vera tranquillitate animi, Amsterdam 1623.
32 Holanda, F. de, Diálogos em Roma, J. da Felicidade Alves (ed.), [Lisboa] 1984 (1548).
33 Hoogstraten, D. van, Beginselen of kort begrip der rederykkonst, Amsterdam 1725.
34 ———, ‘Kort berecht wegens het leven van Heiman Dullaert’, in: H. Dullaert, Gedichten,
35 Leiden 1983, 7-8.
36 Hoogstraten, F. van, De schoole der wereld, Dordrecht 1682.
37 Hoogstraten, S. van, Schoone Roselijn, of de getrouwe liefde van Panthus, Dordrecht 1650.
38 ———, ‘Op den weghwyzer van D.L.v. Bos’, in: L. van den Bos, Weghwyser door Italien, Dor-
39 drecht 1657, *11r-*12v.
40 ———, Den eerlyken jongeling, of de edele kunst, van zich by groote en kleyne te doen eeren en
41 beminnen, Dordrecht 1657.
42 ———, De Roomsche Paulina, ofte bedrooge kuisheit, Dordrecht 1660.
43 ———, Dieryk en Dorothé, of de verlossing van Dordrecht, Den Haag 1666.
44
45
444          bibl iograp hy
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 444 09-10-2008 17:01:16

 ———, De gestrafte ontschaking of zeeghafte herstelling van den jongen Haegaenveld, Amsterdam 1
1669. 2
———, Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst; anders de zichtbaere werelt, Rotterdam 3
1678. 4
———, Introduction a la haute école de l’art de peinture, J. Blanc (ed., transl.), Genève 2006. 5
Houbraken, A., De groote schouburg der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, vols. I-III, 6
Amsterdam 1718-1721. 7
Huarte, J., Onderzoek der byzondere vernuftens eygentlijkke abelheen, H. Takama (transl.), Am- 8
sterdam 1659. 9
Huygens, C., Ooghen-troost, F.L. Zwaan (ed.), Groningen 1984 (1647). 10
———, Mijn jeugd, C.L. Heesakkers (transl.), Amsterdam 1994. 11
———, Mijn leven verteld aan mijn kinderen, F.R.E. Blom (transl.), Amsterdam 2003. 12
———, Fragment eener autobiografie, A. Worp (ed.), s.l., s.a. 13
Junius, F., The Painting of the Ancients in Three Bookes, London 1638. 14
———, De schilderkonst der oude, Middelburg 1641. 15
———, The Literature of Classical Art, Vol. 1, the Painting of the Ancients; De pictura veterum, Ac- 16
cording to the English Translation (1638), K. Aldrich, P. Fehl & R. Fehl (eds.), Berkeley/Los 17
Angeles/Oxford 1991. 18
Lairesse, G. de, Het groot schilderboek, Haarlem 1740 (1707). 19
———, Grondlegginge ter teekenkonst, F.P. Bekker (ed.), Koekange 2003 (1701). 20
Lairesse, G. de, Joh. de Lairesse & P. Schenk, Picturae rudimenta Lairessiana, Amsterdam 21
1702. 22
Lampsonius, D., Da Van Eyck a Brueghel; scritti sulle arti di Domenico Lampsonio, G.C. Sciolla & 23
C. Volpi (transl.), Torino 2001. 24
Lomazzo, G.P., Trattato dell’arte de la pittura, Milano 1584. 25
———, Scritti sulle arti, R.P. Ciardi (ed.), Firenze 1973-1975. 26
———, Idea del tempio della pittura, R. Klein (ed.), Firenze 1974 (1590). 27
Mander, K. van, Het schilder-boeck waer in voor eerst de leerlustighe iueght den grondt der edel vrij 28
schilderconst in verscheyden deelen wort voorghedraghen, Haarlem 1604. 29
Luyken, J., Het leerzaam huisraad, Amsterdam 1711. 30
Luyken, J. & C. Luyken, Spiegel van het menselyk bedryf, Amsterdam 1694. 31
Mosini, G.A., Le arti di Bologna di Annibale Caracci, A. Marabottini (ed.), Roma 1966 (1646). 32
Mornay du Plessis, Ph. de, Bybel der nature; dat is, van de waerheydt der christelijcke religie tegen 33
de atheisten, epicureen, heydenen, joden, mahumedisten, ende andere ongheloovighe, Amsterdam 34
1646 (1602). 35
Paleotti, G., ‘Discorso alle imagini sacre e profane’, in: P. Barocchi (ed.), Trattati d’arte del Cin- 36
quecento: fra manierismo e controriforma, Bari 1960, Vol. II, 117-509 (1582). 37
Pascal, B., Oeuvres complètes, Seuil 1963. 38
Pepys, S., The Diary of Samuel Pepys, 11 vols., London 1970. 39
Piles, R. de, Cours de peinture par principes, Paris 1708. 40
———, Cours de peinture par principes, Amsterdam/Leipzig 1766 (3d ed.). 41
———, Abregé de la vie des peintres, Hildesheim 1969 (1699). 42
Poussin, N., Correspondence, Ch. Jouanny (ed.), Paris 1911. 43
44
45
b i b l i o gr ap hy           445
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 445 09-10-2008 17:01:16

1 Quintilian, M.F., Institutio oratoria, H.E. Butler (transl.), Cambridge (Mass.) 1920-1922.
2 Ridolfi, C., Le maraviglie dell’arte, D. von Hadeln (ed.), Venezia 1965 (1648).
3 Rijn, R. van, Seven Letters by Rembrandt, H. Gerson (ed.), Den Haag 1961.
4 Ripa, C., Iconologia of uijtbeeldinghen des verstants, Amsterdam 1644.
5 Sandrart, J. von, Teutsche Academie der edlen Bau- Bild- und Mahlerey-Künste, Vols. I-III, Nürn-
6 berg 1675-1679.
7 Sannazaro, J., Arcadia, Venezia 1533 (1501).
8 Scannelli, F., Il microcosmo della pittura, Neri 1657.
9 Scribanius C., Antverpia, Antwerpen 1610.
10 Serre, J.P. de la, Het onderhoud der goede geesten op d’ydelheden vande werelt, Rotterdam 1658.
11 Spinoza, B. de, ‘Zedekunst’, in: De nagelate schriften van B.d.S. [...] uit verscheide talen in de
12 Nederlandsche gebragt, Amsterdam 1677.
13 ———, Briefwisseling, F. Akkerman a.o. (ed., transl.,), Amsterdam 1977.
14 ———, De uitgelezen Spinoza, H. de Dijn (ed.), N. van Suchtelen, F. Akkerman (transl.), Am-
15 sterdam 1999.
16 Tesauro, A., Cannocchiale aristotelico; o sia idea delle argutezze heroiche vulgarmente chiamate im-
17 prese, Venezia 1670 (1655).
18 Vaenius, O., Quinti Horati Flacci emblemata, Amsterdam 1683 (1607).
19 Valla, L., ‘Voorwoorden bij de Elegantiae’, in: Om de waarheid en het recht, M. van de Poel
20 (transl.), Groningen 1998, 139-169.
21 Vasari, G., Le vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori et architettori; nelle redazioni del 1550 e 1568, L.
22 Bettarini, P. Barocchi (eds.), Firenze 1966 (1568).
23 Venne, A. van de, ‘Zeeusche mey-clacht; ofte schyn-kycker’, in: De Zeeusche nachtegael, Mid-
24 delburg 1623, 91-104.
25 Ville, I. de, T’samen-spreeckinge, betreffende de architecture en de schilderkonst, Gouda 1628.
26 Vinci, L. da, Trattato della pittura, R. du Fresne (ed.), Paris 1651.
27 ———, Treatise on Painting [Codex Urbinas Latinus 1270], A.P. McMahon (ed.), Princeton
28 1956.
29 Vondel, J. van den, ‘Aenleidinge ter Nederduitsche dichtkunste’, in: L. Rens (ed.), Joost van den
30 Vondel, poëtologisch proza, Zutphen s.a. (1650).
31 ———, Bespiegelingen van Godt en godtsdienst, Amsterdam 1662.
32 ———, De werken van Vondel, J.F.M. Sterck (ed.), Amsterdam 1927-1937.
33 ———, Bespiegelingen van God en Godsdienst, J.J. Zeij (ed.), Utrecht/Nijmegen 1937 (1662).
34 ———, Jephta, N.C.H. Wijngaards (ed.), Zuthpen 1977.
35 Vos, J., Toneelwerken; Aran en Titus, Oene, Medea, W.J.C. Buitendijk (ed.), Assen 1975.
36 Vossius, G.J., Elementa rhetorica, dat is beghinselen der redenrijk-konst, Amsterdam 1648.
37 ———, Van de kennisse syns selfs, Amsterdam 1654.
38 ———, ‘De graphice, sive arte pingendi’, in: De quator artibus popularibus, grammatistice, gym-
39 nastice, musice, et graphice, liber, Amsterdam 1690 (1650).
40 ———, Geschiedenis als wetenschap, C. Rademakers (ed.), Baarn 1990.
41 Zuccari, F., ‘L’idea de’pittori, scultori et architetti’, in: Scritti d’arte di Federico Zuccaro, D.
42 Heikamp (ed.), Firenze 1961 (1607).
43
44
45
446          bibl iograp hy
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 446 09-10-2008 17:01:16

 Studies 1
2
Ackerman, G.M., The Structure of Lomazzo’s Treatise on Painting, Princeton 1964. 3
Alpers, S., The Art of Describing; Dutch art in the Seventeenth Century, Chicago 1983. 4
Ames-Lewis, F., The Intellectual Life of the Early Renaissance Artist, New Haven 2000. 5
Argan, G.C., ‘La retorica e l’arte barocca’, in: E. Castelli (ed.), Retorica e barocco; atti del III con- 6
gresso internazionale di studi umanistici, Venezia, 15-18 giugno 1954, Roma 1955, 9-14. 7
Asemissen, H.U. & Schweinhart, G., Malerei als Thema der Malerei, Berlin 1994. 8
Bakker, B., ‘Levenspelgrimage of vrome wandeling? Claes Janszoon Visscher en zijn serie Plai- 9
sante plaetsen’, Oud Holland 107 (1993), 97-115. 10
———, ‘Schilderachtig; Discussions of a Seventeenth-Century Term and Concept’, Simiolus 11
23 (1995), 147-162. 12
———, Landschap en wereldbeeld; van Van Eyck tot Rembrandt, Bussum 2004. 13
———, ‘Een goddelijk schilderij; Vondel over landschap en schilderkunst in zijn “Bespiegelin- 14
gen” van 1662’, Neerlandistiek.nl 5/2 (2007), URL: [http://www.neerlandistiek.nl/publish/ 15
articles/000091/article.pdf]. 16
Balke, W., ‘Calvijn over de geschapen werkelijkheid in zijn psalmencommentaar’, in: Wegen en 17
gestalten in het gereformeerd protestantisme; een bundel studies over de geschiedenis van het gere- 18
formeerde protestantisme aangeboden aan S. van der Linde, Amsterdam 1976, 89-103. 19
Barasch, M., ‘Der Ausdruck in der italienischen Kunsttheorie der Renaissance’, Zeitschrift für 20
Ästhetik und Kunstwissenschaft 12 (1967), 33-69. 21
———, Light and Color in Italian Renaissance Theory of Art, New York 1978. 22
———, Theories of Art, 1; from Plato to Winckelmann, New York/London 1985. 23
Barck, K., Ästhetische Grundbegriffe; historisches Wörterbuch in sieben Bänden, Stuttgart 2000. 24
Barner, W., Barockrhetorik; Untersuchungen zu ihren geschichtlichen Grundlagen, Tübingen 25
1970. 26
Barocchi, P., Trattati d’arte del Cinquecento; fra manierismo e controriforma, Bari 1960. 27
———, Scritti d’arte del Cinquecento, Milano 1971-1977. 28
Barzman, K. E., ‘The Florentine Accademia del Disegno; Liberal Education and the Renais- 29
sance Artist’, Leids kunsthistorisch jaarboek 5-6 (1986-1987), 14-32. 30
Baxandall, M., Giotto and the Orators; Humanist Observers of Painting in Italy and the Discovery of 31
Pictorial Composition, 1350-1450, Oxford 1971. 32
———, Words for Pictures; Seven Papers on Renaissance art and Criticism, New Haven/London 33
2004. 34
Becker, J., ‘Zur niederländischen Kunstliteratur des 16. Jahrhunderts; Domenicus Lamp­ 35
sonius’, Nederlands kunsthistorisch jaarboek 24 (1973), 45-61. 36
———, ‘Gewoon is gek genoeg; atticisme als stijlprincipe’, De zeventiende eeuw 8/1 (1992), 37
84-90. 38
Beening, T.J., Het landschap in de Nederlandse letterkunde van de Renaissance, Nijmegen 1963. 39
Bentini, J. & G. Agostini (eds.), Een bijzondere Renaissance; het hof van de Este’s te Ferrara (cat. 40
Brussel), Brussel 2003. 41
Bialostocki, J., ‘The Power of Beauty; a Utopian Idea of Leone Battista Alberti’, in: W. Lotz 42
& L.L. Möller (eds.), Studien zur toskanischen Kunst; Festschrift für Ludwig Heinrich Heyden­ 43
reich, München 1963, 13-19. 44
45
b i b l i o gr ap hy           447
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 447 09-10-2008 17:01:16

1 ———, Stil und Ikonographie; Studien zur Kunstwissenschaft, Dresden 1966.
2 ———, ‘Y eut-il une théorie baroque de l’art?’, in: J. Sláski (ed.), Barocco fra Italia e Polonia,
3 Warszawa 1977, 29-56.
4 ———, ‘The Renaissance Concept of Nature and Antiquity’, in: The Message of Images, Wien
5 1988a, 64-68.
6 ———, ‘Mere Imitation of Nature or Symbolic Image of the World; Problems in the Interpre-
7 tation of Dutch Painting in the XVIIth Century’, in: The Message of Images, Wien 1988b,
8 166-180.
9 Biermann, V., Ornamentum; Studien zum Traktat De re aedificatoria des Leon Battista Alberti,
10 Hildesheim/Zürich/New York 1997.
11 Blanc, J., ‘Théories et pratiques de la couleur chez Samuel van Hoogstraten’, in: M.-C. Heck
12 (ed.), Théorie des arts et création artistique dans l’Europe du Nord du XVIe au début du XVIIIe
13 siècle, Lille 2002, 255-271.
14 Blankert, A., ‘Rembrandt, Zeuxis and Ideal Beauty’, in: J. Bruyn a.o. (eds.), Album Amicorum
15 J.G. van Gelder, Den Haag 1973, 23-32.
16 ———, Ferdinand Bol 1616-1680; een leerling van Rembrandt, Den Haag 1976.
17 ———, ‘Vermeer’s Modern Themes and Their Traditions’, in: A.K. Wheelock Jr (ed.), Johan-
18 nes Vermeer (cat. Den Haag & Washington), Zwolle 1995, 31-45.
19 Blunt, A., Artistic Theory in Italy 1450-1600, Oxford 1980 (1940).
20 Bok, M.J., ‘The Rise of Amsterdam as a Cultural Centre; the Market for Paintings, 1580-
21 1680’, in: P. O’Brien a.o. (eds.), Urban Achievement in Early Modern Europe, Cambridge
22 2001, 186-209.
23 Bologna, F., L’incredulità del Caravaggio e l’esperienza delle ‘cose naturali’, Torino 1992.
24 Bomford, D., ‘Perspective, Anamorphosis, and Illusion; Seventeenth-Century Dutch Peep
25 Shows’, in: I. Gaskell in & M. Jonker (eds.), Vermeer Studies, Washington/New Haven/
26 London 1998, 125-136.
27 Bonger, H., Leven en werk van Dirk Volckertsz Coornhert, Amsterdam 1978.
28 Borinski, K., Die Antike in Poetik und Kunsttheorie, Darmstadt 1965.
29 Bouwsma, W.J., ‘The Two Faces of Humanism; Stoicism and Augustinianism in Renaissance
30 Thought’, in: H.A. Oberman & T. Brady Jr. (eds.), Itinerarium Italicum; the Profile of the
31 Italian Renaissance in the Mirror of its European Transformation, Leiden 1975, 3-60.
32 Brenninkmeijer-de Rooij, B., ‘Theorie van de kunst’, in: B. Haak, Hollandse schilders in de
33 Gouden Eeuw, Amsterdam 1984, 60-70.
34 Briggs, J.C., Francis Bacon and the Rhetoric of Nature, Cambridge 1989.
35 Brinkkemper, S. & I. Soepnel, Apollo en Christus; klassieke en christelijke denkbeelden in de Neder-
36 landse renaissance-literatuur, Zutphen 1989.
37 Broekman, I., De rol van de schilderkunst in het leven van Constantijn Huygens (1596-1687),
38 Hilversum 2004.
39 Brom, G.B., Schilderkunst en litteratuur in de 16e en 17e eeuw, Utrecht 1957.
40 Broos, T.J., Tussen zwart en ultramarijn; de levens van schilders beschreven door Jacob Campo Weyer-
41 man (1677-1747), Amsterdam/Atlanta 1990.
42 Brown, C., The Dutchness of Dutch Art, Amsterdam 2002.
43 Brown, C. a.o. (eds.), Rembrandt; the Master and His Workshop; Paintings (cat. London, Berlin &
44 Amsterdam), New Haven/London 1991.
45
448          bibl iograp hy
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 448 09-10-2008 17:01:16

 Brüger, P., ‘The Baroque Equation; Illusion and Reality’, Gazette des Beaux-Arts 143 (1945), 1
164. 2
Brusati, C., ‘Stilled Lives – Self-Portraiture and Self-Reflection in 17th-Century Nether- 3
landish Still-Life Painting’, Simiolus 20 (1991), 168-182. 4
———, Artifice and Illusion; the Art and Writing of Samuel van Hoogstraten, Chicago 1995. 5
———, ‘Honorable Deceptions and Dubious Distinctions; Self-Imagery in Trompe-l’Oeil’, 6
in: O. Koester (ed.), Illusions; Gijsbrechts, Royal Master of Deception (cat. Cophenhagen), 7
Copenhagen 1999, 49-62. 8
———, ‘Pictura’s Excellent Trophies; Valorizing Virtuous Artisanship in the Dutch Republic’, 9
Nederlands kunsthistorisch jaarboek 54 (2003), 61-90. 10
Bruyn, J., ‘Het probleem van het realisme in de zeventiende-eeuwse Hollandse kunst van Hui­ 11
zinga tot heden’, Theoretische Geschiedenis 13 (1986), 209-218. 12
Bruyn, J. a.o. (eds.), A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, Vols. I-IV, Den Haag/Dordrecht 13
1982-2005. 14
Bryson, N., Looking at the Overlooked, Cambridge (Mass.) 1990. 15
Buci-Glucksmann, C., La Folie du voir; de l’esthétique baroque, Paris 1986. 16
Buitendijk, J.W.C., Het Calvinisme in de spiegel van de Zuidnederlandse literatuur der Contra- 17
reformatie, Groningen 1942. 18
Bunge, W. van, ‘Willem van Blijenbergh’, in: W. van Bunge a.o. (eds.), The Dictionary of Seven- 19
teenth and Eighteenth-Century Dutch Philosophers, Bristol 2004, 110-112. 20
Burke, P., The Fortunes of the ‘Courtier’; the European Reception of Castiglione’s ‘Cortegiano’, Cam- 21
bridge 1995. 22
Busch, W. (ed.), Landschaftsmalerei; Geschichte der klassischen Bildgattungen in Quellentexten und 23
Kommentaren, Bd. 3, Berlin 1997. 24
Carabell, P., ‘Painting, Paradox, and the Dialectics of Narcissism in Alberti’s “De pictura” and 25
in the Renaissance Theory of Art’, Medievalia et humanistica 25 (1998), 53-73. 26
Chong, A., ‘Contained Under the Name of Still Life; the Associations of Still-Life Painting’, 27
in: A. Chong & W. Kloek (eds.), Still-Life Paintings from the Netherlands, 1550-1720 (cat. 28
Amsterdam & Cleveland), Amsterdam 1999, 11-38. 29
Cordié, C. (ed.), Opere di Baldassare Castiglione, Giovanni della Casa, Benvenuto Cellini, Milano/ 30
Napoli 1960. 31
Curley, E., Behind the Geometrical Method; a Reading of Spinoza’s Ethics, Princeton 1988. 32
Curtius, E.R., ‘Theological Art-Theory in the Spanish Literature of the Seventeenth Cen- 33
tury’, in: European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages, Princeton 1973, 547-558. 34
Czech, H.-J., ‘Book Review: Celeste A. Brusati, “Artifice and Illusion”’, Simiolus 25 (1997), 35
363-369. 36
———, Im Geleit der Musen; Studien zur Samuel van Hoogstratens Malereitraktat ‘Inleyding tot de 37
hooge schoole der schilderkonst; anders de zichtbaere werelt’ (Rotterdam 1678), Münster 2002. 38
DaCosta Kaufmann, T., ‘The Eloquent Artist; Towards an Understanding of the Stylistics of 39
Painting at the court of Rudolf II’, Leids kunsthistorisch jaarboek 1 (1982), 119-148. 40
———, The Mastery of Nature; Aspects of Art, Science, and Humanism in the Renaissance, Prince­ 41
ton 1993. 42
Dalen, J.L. van, ‘Willem van Blijenberg’, in: P.J. Blok e.a. (eds.), Nieuw Nederlands biografisch 43
woordenboek, Leiden 1911-1937, vol. II, 170-172. 44
45
b i b l i o gr ap hy           449
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 449 09-10-2008 17:01:16

1 De Mambro Santos, R., La civil conversazione pittorica; riflessione estetica e produzione artistica nel
2 trattato di Karel van Mander, Sant’Oreste 1998.
3 ———, Arcadie del vero; arte e teoria nella Roma del Seicento, Roma 2001.
4 Dempsey, C., ‘Caravaggio e i due stili naturalistici; speculare contra maculare’, in: C. Volpi
5 (ed.), Caravaggio; nel IV centenario della capella Contarelli; convegno internazionale di studi,
6 Roma 24-26 maggio 2001, Città di Castello 2002, 185-196.
7 Dolders, A., ‘Some Remarks on Lairesse’s Groot schilderboek’, Simiolus 15 (1985), 197-220.
8 Duindam, J., Vienna and Versailles; the Courts of Europe’s Dynastic Rivals, 1550-1780, Cambridge
9 2003.
10 Eck, C. van, ‘Rhetorical Categories in the Academy’, in: P. Smith & C. Wilde (eds.), A Com-
11 panion to Art Theory, London 2002, 104-115.
12 Eck, C. van & R. Zwijnenberg, ‘Inleiding’, in: L.B. Alberti, Over de schilderkunst, Amsterdam
13 1996, 1-52.
14 Eeghen, I.H. van, ‘Jan Luyken en zijn bloedverwanten’, Doopsgezinde bijdragen 16 (1990),
15 65-112.
16 Ekkart, R., ‘Spinoza in beeld; het onbekende gezicht’, in: M. Rive & B. Heijne, A Stone in
17 Flight; Artistic Explorations Inspired by Benedictus de Spinoza, Amsterdam/Rijnsburg 1997,
18 129-162.
19 Ellenius, A., De arte pingendi; Latin Art Literature in Seventeenth-Century Sweden and its Interna-
20 tional Background, Uppsala/Stockholm 1960.
21 Ember, I., ‘Some Minor Masters on the Peripheries of Rembrandt’s Circle; Newly Attrib-
22 uted Paintings by Rombout van Troyen, Jacob van Spreeuwen, Willem de Poorter and
23 Samuel van Hoogstraten’, Bulletin du Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts 90-91 (1999), 97-111,
24 203-210.
25 Emmens, J.A., Rembrandt en de regels van de kunst, Amsterdam 1979 (1968).
26 ———, ‘Eins aber ist nötig – zu Inhalt und Bedeutung von Markt- und Küchenstücken des 16.
27 Jahrhunderts’, in: Kunsthistorische opstellen II, Amsterdam 1981, 189-221.
28 ———, ‘Apelles en Apollo; Nederlandse gedichten op schilderijen in de zeventiende eeuw’, in:
29 Kunsthistorische opstellen I, Amsterdam 1981a, 5-60.
30 ———, ‘Ay Rembrandt, mael Cornelis’ stem’, in: Kunsthistorische opstellen I, Amsterdam 1981b,
31 61-98.
32 ———, ‘Het onstaan van de kunstliefde’, in: Kunsthistorische opstellen I, Amsterdam 1981c,
33 117-121.
34 Falkenburg, R., ‘“Alter Einoutus”; over de aard en herkomst van Pieter Aertsens stillevencon-
35 ceptie’, Nederlands kunsthistorisch jaarboek 40 (1989), 40-66.
36 Fehl, P., ‘Imitation as a Source for Greatness’, in: G. Cavalli-Björkmann (ed.), Bacchanals by
37 Titian and Rubens, Stockholm 1987, 107-32.
38 Franits, W.E. (ed.), Looking at Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art; Realism Reconsidered, Cambridge/
39 New York 1997.
40 Frank van Westrienen, A., De groote tour; tekening van de educatiereis der Nederlanders in de zeven-
41 tiende eeuw, Amsterdam 1983.
42 Franken, M., ‘Zeventiende-eeuwse kunsttheoretische opvattingen over het probleem van tijd
43 in de schilderkunst’, in: A.C.G. Fleurkens a.o. (eds.), Dans der Muzen; de relatie tussen de
44 kunsten gethematiseerd, Hilversum 1995, 117-128.
45
450          bibl iograp hy
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 450 09-10-2008 17:01:16

 Freedberg, D., The Power of Images, Chicago 1989. 1
Freudenthal, J., Lebensgeschichte Spinozas in Quellenschriften, Urkunden und nichtamtlichen Nach- 2
richten, Leipzig 1899. 3
Fumaroli, M., L’Âge de l’éloquence; rhétorique et ‘res literaria’ de la Renaissance au seuil de l’époque 4
classique, Genève 1980. 5
Gaskell, I., ‘Rembrandt van Rijn and Gerrit Dou; an Evolving Relationship?’, in: Rethinking 6
Rembrandt, Zwolle 2002, 107-120. 7
Gelder, J.G. van, ‘Samuel van Hoogstraten bij Rembrandt’, Kunsthistorische mededelingen van 8
het Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie 3 (1948), 48-49. 9
———, ‘Two Aspects of Dutch Baroque; Reason and Emotion’, in: M. Meiss (ed.), De artibus 10
opuscula XL; Essays in Honor of Erwin Panofsky, New York 1961, 445-453. 11
———, ‘Jan de Bisschop 1628-1671’, Oud Holland 86 (1971), 102-115. 12
Gilbert, C.E., ‘Antique Frameworks for Renaissance Art Theory; Alberti and Pino’, Marsyas 13
3 (1943-5), 87-98. 14
Gilman, E., The Curious Perspective; Literary and Pictorial Wit in the Seventeenth Century, New 15
Haven & London 1978. 16
Goedde, L.O., ‘A Little World Made Cunningly; Dutch Still Life and Ekphrasis’, in: A.K. 17
Wheelock Jr. (ed.), Still Lifes of the Golden Age (cat. Washington), Washington 1989, 18
35-44. 19
Golahny, A., Rembrandt’s Paintings and the Venetian Tradition (Diss.), Ann Arbor 1984. 20
———, ‘Paired Poems on Pendant Paintings; Vondel and Oudaen Interpret Lastman’, in: The 21
Eye of the Poet, Lewisburg/London 1996, 154-175. 22
———, ‘Insights into the Dutch Vasari; Carel van Mander’s Life of Titian’, Revue canadienne 23
d’études Néerlandaises 21/1 (2000), 8-17. 24
———, Rembrandt’s Reading; the Artist’s Bookshelf of Ancient Poetry and History, Amsterdam 25
2004. 26
Goldin, F., The Mirror of Narcissus in the Courtly Love Lyric, Ithaca 1967. 27
Goldstein, C. ‘Rhetoric and Art History in the Renaissance and Baroque’, Art Bulletin 73 28
(1991), 641-652. 29
Gombrich, E.H., ‘A Classical Topos in the Introduction of Alberti’s De pictura’, Journal of the 30
Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 20 (1957), 173. 31
———, ‘The Renaissance Conception of Artistic Progress and its Consequences’, in: Norm 32
and Form; Studies in the Art of the Renaissance, London 1966a, 1-10, 137-141. 33
———, ‘The Renaissance Theory of Art and the Rise of Landscape’, in: Norm and Form; Stud- 34
ies in the Art of the Renaissance, London 1966b, 107-136. 35
———, ‘Tradition and Expression in Western Still-Life’, in: Meditations on a Hobby Horse, 36
London 1979, 224-241. 37
Goodchild, K., Towards an Italian Renaissance Theory of Landscape (Diss.), Ann Arbor 1998. 38
Gosen, E. von, Samuel van Hoogstraten und seine ‘Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst’ 39
(Diss.), München 1933. 40
Guépin, J.P., De kunst van Janus Secundus; de ‘Kussen’ en andere gedichten, Amsterdam 1991. 41
Hammer-Tugendhat, D., ‘Kunst der Imagination/Imagination der Kunst; die Pantoffeln Sam- 42
uel van Hoogstratens’, in: K. Krüger (ed.), Imagination und Wirklichkeit, München 2000, 43
139-153. 44
45
b i b l i o gr ap hy           451
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 451 09-10-2008 17:01:16

1 Harrison, C., P. Wood & J. Gaiger (eds.), Art in Theory 1648-1815; an Anthology of Changing
2 Ideas, Oxford /Malden 2000.
3 Harrison, P., The Bible, Protestantism and the Rise of Natural Science, Cambridge 1998.
4 Hatfield, G., Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Descartes and the Meditations, London/New York
5 2003.
6 Hazard, M.E., ‘An Essay to Amplify “Ornament”; Some Renaissance Theory and Practice’,
7 Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 16 (1976), 15-32.
8 Hecht, P., ‘The Debate on Symbol and Meaning in Dutch Seventeenth-Century Art; an Ap-
9 peal to Common Sense’, Simiolus 16 (1986), 173-187.
10 Heezen-Stoll, B.A., ‘Een vanitasstilleven van Jacques de Gheyn II uit 1621; afspiegeling van
11 Neostoïsche denkbeelden’, Oud Holland 93 (1979), 217-250.
12 Held, J., Französische Kunsttheorie des 17. Jahrhunderts und der absolutistische Staat; Le Brun und
13 die ersten acht Vorlesungen an der königlichen Akademie, Berlin 2001.
14 Hess, P., ‘“Nachäffin der Natur” oder “aller Völker Sprachen”?: zur Rolle visueller Bildlichkeit
15 in Poetik und Rhetorik der Barockzeit’, in: H. Laufhütte (ed.), Künste und Natur in Dis-
16 kursen der früher Neuzeit, Wiesbaden 2000, 1047-1062.
17 Heuer, Ch., ‘Picture Curtains and the Dutch Church Interior, c. 1650; Framing Revelation in
18 the Golden Age’, Chicago Art Journal 7/1 (1997), 15-34.
19 Hinz, M., Rhetorische Strategien des Hofmannes; Studien zu den italienischen Hofmannstraktaten des
20 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts, Stuttgart 1992.
21 Hofstede de Groot, C., Die Urkunden über Rembrandt (1575-1721), Den Haag 1906.
22 Honig, E., ‘The Beholder as a Work of Art; a Study in the Location of Value in Seventeenth-
23 Century Flemish Painting’, Nederlands kunsthistorisch jaarboek 46 (1995), 252-297.
24 ———, Painting and the Market in Early Modern Antwerp, New Haven 1998.
25 Hoogewerff, G.J., Verbeelding en voorstelling; de ontwikkeling van het kunstbesef, Amsterdam
26 1939.
27 ———, ‘Nederlandse dichters in Italië in de zeventiende eeuw’, Mededelingen van het Neder-
28 lands Historisch Instituut te Rome 6 (1950), 39-116.
29 Hooykaas, R., Religion and the Rise of Modern Science, Edinburgh/London 1972.
30 Horn, H., The Golden Age Revisited; Arnold Houbraken’s Great Theatre of Netherlandish Painters
31 and Paintresses, Doornspijk 2000.
32 Horowitz, M.C., Seeds of Virtue and Knowledge, Princeton 1998.
33 Hundemer, M., Rhetorische Kunsttheorie und barocke Deckenmalerei; zur Theorie der sinnlichen
34 Erkenntnis im Barock, Regensburg 1997.
35 Ingen, F. van, Vanitas und memento mori in der deutschen Barocklyrik, Groningen 1966.
36 Irle, K., Der Ruhm der Bienen; das Nachahmungsprinzip der italienischen Malerei von Raffael bis
37 Rubens, Münster 1997.
38 Irmscher, G., ‘Ministrae voluptatum; Stoicizing Ethics in the Market and Kitchen Scenes of
39 Pieter Aertzen and Joachim Beuckelaer’, Simiolus 16 (1986), 219-232.
40 Israel, J., The Dutch Republic; its Rise, Greatness and Fall, Oxford 1995.
41 ———, Radical Enlightenment; Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750, Oxford
42 2001.
43 ———, Monarchy, Orangism and Republicanism in the Later Dutch Golden Age, Amsterdam
44 2004.
45
452          bibl iograp hy
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 452 09-10-2008 17:01:16

 James, S., ‘The Passions in Metaphysics and the Theory of Action’, in: D. Garber & M. Ay- 1
ers (eds.), The Cambridge History of Seventeenth-Century Philosophy, Cambridge/New York 2
1998, 913-951. 3
———, ‘Spinoza the Stoic’, in: T. Sorell (ed.), The Rise of Modern Philosophy, Oxford 1993, 4
289-316. 5
Jansen, G., ‘“On the Lowest Level”; the Status of Still Life in Netherlandish Art Literature 6
of the Seventeenth Century’, in: A. Chong & W. Kloek (ed.), Still-Life Paintings from the 7
Netherlands, 1550-1720 (cat. Amsterdam & Cleveland), Amsterdam 1999, 51-58. 8
Jansen, J., Brevitas; beschouwingen over de beknoptheid van vorm en stijl in de Renaissance, Hilver- 9
sum 1995. 10
———, ‘Verstandig spreken of zwijgende wijsheid? De “zwijgzaamheid” tussen rhetorica en 11
moraalfilosofie’, in: A.C.G. Fleurkens (ed.), Dans der Muzen; de relatie tussen de kunsten 12
gethematiseerd, Hilversum 1995b, 81-91. 13
———, Decorum; observaties over de literaire gepastheid in de renaissancistische poëtica, Hilversum 14
2001. 15
———, ‘Het geslaagde spreken; welsprekendheid als beroepsbekwaamheid in de zeventiende 16
eeuw’, De zeventiende eeuw 18/1 (2002), 31-42. 17
Jongh, E. de, Zinne- en minnebeelden in de schilderkunst van de zeventiende eeuw, s.l. 1967. 18
———, Tot lering en vermaak, Amsterdam 1976. 19
Jorink, E., Wetenschap en wereldbeeld in de Gouden Eeuw, Hilversum 1999. 20
———, ‘“Outside God, there is Nothing”: Swammerdam, Spinoza, and the Janus-Face of the 21
Early Dutch Enlightenment’, in: W. van Bunge (ed.), The Early Enlightenment in the Dutch 22
Republic, 1650-1750, Leiden 2003. 23
———, ‘Het Boeck der Natuere’; Nederlandse geleerden en de wonderen van Gods Schepping, 1575- 24
1715, Leiden 2006. 25
Kantorowicz, E.H., ‘The Sovereignty of the Artist; a Note on Legal Maxims and Renaissance 26
Theories of Art’, in: M. Meiss (ed.), De artibus opuscula XL; Essays in Honor of Erwin Panof- 27
sky, New York 1961, 217-279. 28
Kapp, V., ‘Die Lehre von der actio als Schlüssel zum Verständnis der Kultur der frühen Neu- 29
zeit’, in: Die Sprache der Zeichen und Bilder: Rhetorik und nonverbale Kommunikation in der 30
frühen Neuzeit, Marburg 1990, 40-64. 31
Kemmer, C., ‘In Search of Classical Form; Gerard de Lairesse’s Groot Schilderboek and Sev- 32
enteenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting’, Simiolus 26 (1998), 87-115. 33
Kemp, M., ‘“Ogni dipintore dipinge se”; a Neoplatonic Echo in Leonardo’s Art Theory?’ in: 34
C. Clough (ed.), Cultural Aspects of the Italian Renaissance, Manchester 1976, 311-323. 35
Kemp, W., Natura; ikonographische Studien zur Verbreitung einer Allegorie, Bamberg 1973. 36
———, ‘Disegno; Beiträge zur Geschichte des Begriffs zwischen 1547 und 1607’, Marburger 37
Jahrbuch der Kunstgeschichte 19 (1974), 219-240. 38
———, Rembrandt, die Heilige Familie oder die Kunst, einen Vorhang zu lüften, Frankfurt 1986. 39
Kibedi Varga, A., ‘Rhetorik, Poetik und die Kunsttheorie’, in: C. Wagenknecht (ed.), Zur Ter- 40
minologie des Literaturwissenschaft; Akten des IX. germanistischen Symposions, Stuttgart 1987. 41
Kieft, G., ‘Disegno interno e disegno esterno, een renaissancetheorie over mentale beelden en 42
artistieke produktie’, Handelingen van het zevenendertigste Nederlands filologencongres (1983), 43
362-371. 44
45
b i b l i o gr ap hy           453
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 453 09-10-2008 17:01:17

1 Kirchner, T., L’Expression des passions; Ausdruck als Darstellungsproblem in der französischen Kunst
2 und Kunsttheorie des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts, Mainz 1991.
3 Klein, R., ‘“Giudizio” et “gusto” dan la theorie de l’art au Cinquecento’, in: La Forme et
4 l’intelligible; écrits sur la renaissance et l’art moderne, Paris 1970, 341-352.
5 Klever, W., ‘Insignis opticus; Spinoza in de geschiedenis van de optica’, De zeventiende eeuw
6 6/2 (1990), 47-64.
7 ———, Mannen rond Spinoza (1650-1700); presentatie van een emanciperende generatie, Hilver-
8 sum 1997.
9 Klijn, M. de, De invloed van het Calvinisme op de Noord-Nederlandse landschapsschilderkunst 1570-
10 1630, Apeldoorn 1982.
11 Knuvelder, G., Handboek tot de geschiedenis der Nederlandse letterkunde, tweede deel: van 1567 tot
12 1766, Den Bosch 1967.
13 Konst, J.W.H., Woedende wraakghierigheidt en vruchtelooze weeklachten; de hartstochten in de Ned-
14 erlandse tragedie van de zeventiende eeuw, Assen 1993.
15 ———, ‘“Een levende schoon-verwighe schilderije”; de tragedie als historiestuk’, in: A.C.G.
16 Fleurkens (ed.), Dans der Muzen; de relatie tussen de kunsten gethematiseerd, Hilversum 1995,
17 103-116.
18 Konstam, N., ‘Rembrandt’s Use of Models and Mirrors’, The Burlington Magazine 119 (1977),
19 p. 94.
20 Kraye, J., ‘Moral Philosophy’, in: Q. Skinner a.o. (eds.), The Cambridge History of Renaissance
21 Philosophy, Cambridge 1988, 303-386.
22 Kris, E., & Kurz, O., Die Legende vom Künstler, Wien 1932.
23 Kristeller, P.O., ‘Stoic and Neoplatonic Sources of Spinoza’s Ethics’, in: G. Lloyd (ed.), Spino-
24 za; Critical Assessments of Leading Philosophers, London 2001.
25 Kroschewski, N., Über das allmähliche Verfertigen der Bilder; neue Aspekte zu Caravaggio,
26 München 2002.
27 Krüger, K., Das Bild als Schleier des Unsichtbaren; ästhetische Illusion in der Kunst der frühen Neu-
28 zeit in Italien, München 2001.
29 Kruse, Ch., ‘Fleisch werden – Fleisch malen; Malerei als “incarnazione”; mediale Verfahren
30 des Bildwerdens im Libro dell’arte von Cennino Cennini’, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 63
31 (2000), 126-144.
32 Kwak, Z., ‘“Taste the Fare and Chew it with your Eyes”; a Painting by Pieter Pietersz and the
33 Amusing Deceit in 16th- and 17th-Century Dutch and Flemish Kitchen Scenes’, in: T.
34 van Houdt e.a. (eds.), On the Edge of Truth and Honesty; Principles and Strategies of Fraud and
35 Deceit in the Early Modern Period, Leiden 2002, 223-251.
36 Kwakkelstein, M.W., Leonardo da Vinci as a Physiognomist; Theory and Drawing Practice, Leiden
37 1994.
38 ———, Willem Goeree, Inleydinge tot de Al-ghemeene Teycken-konst; een kritische geannoteerde edi-
39 tie, Leiden 1998.
40 Le Coat, G., The Rhetoric of the Arts, Bern/Frankfurt 1975.
41 Lee, H., Kunsttheorie in der Kunst; Studien zur Ikonographie von Minerva, Merkur und Apollo im
42 16. Jahrhundert, Frankfurt 1996.
43 Lee, R.W., Ut pictura poesis; the Humanistic Theory of Painting, New York 1967.
44
45
454          bibl iograp hy
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 454 09-10-2008 17:01:17

 Lehmann, A.-S., Mit Haut und Haaren; Jan van Eycks Adam und Eva-Tafeln in Gent – Rezep- 1
tion, Bedeutung und Maltechnik des Aktes in der frühniederländischen Malerei (Diss.), Utrecht 2
2004. 3
Levy, E., ‘Ideal and Reality of the Learned Artist; the Schooling of Italian and Netherlandish 4
Artists’, in: Children of Mercury; the Education of Artists in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Cen- 5
turies (cat. Providence), Providence 1984, 20-27. 6
Lichtenstein, J., La Couleur éloquente; rhétorique et peinture à l’âge classique, Paris 1989. 7
Liedtke, W., ‘Rembrandt and the Rembrandt Style in the Seventeenth Century’, in: W. Liedtke 8
a.o. (eds.), Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt in The Metropolitan Musem of Art (cat. New York), 9
New York 1995, 3-39. 10
———, ‘Rembrandt’s “Workshop” revisited’, Oud Holland 117/1-2 (2004), 48-73. 11
Loh, M.H., ‘New and Improved; Repetition as Originality in Italian Baroque Practice and 12
Theory’, Art Bulletin 86/3 (2004), 477-504. 13
Lorch, M., ‘Italy’s Leading Humanist; Lorenzo Valla’, in: J. Rabil (ed.), Renaissance Humanism; 14
Foundations, Forms and Legacy, Philadelphia 1988, vol. 1, 333-349. 15
Mack, P., ‘Agricola’s Use of the Comparison Between Writing and the Visual Arts’, Journal of 16
the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 55 (1992), 169-179. 17
———, Renaissance Argument; Valla and Agricola in the Tradition of Rhetoric and Dialecic, Leiden 18
1993. 19
Mai, E., ‘Zeuxis, Rembrandt en De Gelder – het zelfportret als statement in de beeldende 20
kunst’, in: Arent de Gelder (1645-1727); Rembrandts laatste leerling (cat. Dordrecht), Dor- 21
drecht/Köln 1999, 99-110. 22
Marin, L., ‘Imitation et trompe-l’oeil dans la théorie classique de la peinture au XVIIe siècle’, 23
in: A. Drzewicka, G. Gouillet & M. de Gandillac (eds.), Imitation; aliénation ou source de la 24
liberté?, Paris 1985, 7-22. 25
Massey, L., The Gamble of the Gaze; Anamorphosis and the Problem of Pictorial Illusion (Diss.), Ann 26
Arbor 1995. 27
McKim-Smith, G., ‘Writing and Painting in the Age of Velasquez’, in: G. McKim-Smith a.o. 28
(eds.), Examining Velasquez, New haven/London 1988, 1-33. 29
Merrifield, M.P., Medieval and Renaissance Treatises on the Art of Painting; Original Texts with 30
English Translations, Mineola 1999. 31
Michels, N., Bewegung zwischen Ethos und Pathos; zur Wirkungsästhetik italienischer Kunsttheorie 32
des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts, Münster 1988. 33
Miedema, H., Karel van Mander, Den grondt der edel vry schilder-const; uitgegeven en van vertaling 34
en commentaar voorzien door H. Miedema, Utrecht 1973. 35
———, ‘Schilderen is een ambacht als elk ander; verslag van een onderzoek rond Philips An- 36
gels Lof der schilder-konst en het zeventiende-eeuwse Noordnederlandse schildersgilde’, 37
Proef 3 (1973-1975), 124-144. 38
———, ‘Over het realisme in de Nederlandse schilderkunst in de zeventiende eeuw’, Oud Hol- 39
land 89/1 (1975), 2-18. 40
———, ‘Realism and the Comic Mode; the Peasant’, Simiolus 9 (1977), 205-219. 41
———, Kunst, kunstenaar en kunstwerk bij Karel van Mander; een analyse van zijn levensbeschri- 42
jvingen, Alphen aan den Rijn 1984. 43
44
45
b i b l i o gr ap hy           455
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 455 09-10-2008 17:01:17

1 ———, ‘Ars rhetorica en ars pictorica’, in: Met kracht van overtuiging; retorica in de renaissance;
2 acta colloquium Utrecht 11-3-1988, Utrecht 1988, 7-23.
3 ———, ‘Karel van Mander; Did he Write Art Literature?’ Simiolus 22 (1993), 58-64.
4 ———, ‘Jan Vermeer’s Art of Painting’, in: I. Gaskell in & M. Jonker (eds.), Vermeer Studies,
5 Washington/New Haven/London 1998, 285-294.
6 Millner, S., The Face of Bernard Spinoza, New York 1946.
7 Monk, S. H., ‘A Grace Beyond the Reach of Art’, Journal of the History of Ideas 5/ 2 (1944),
8 131-150.
9 Montagu, J., The Expression of the Passions, New Haven/London 1994.
10 Morford, M., Stoics and Neostoics; Rubens and the Circle of Lipsius, Princeton 1991.
11 Moss, A., ‘Literary Imitation in the Sixteenth Century; Writers and Readers, Latin and
12 French’, in: G.P. Norton (ed.), The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism; The Renaissance,
13 Cambridge 1999, 107-118.
14 Müller Hofstede, J., ‘Zur Interpretation von Pieter Bruegels Landschaft; ästhetische Land-
15 schaftsbegriff und Stoische Weltbetrachtung’, in: O. von Simson & M. Winner (eds.),
16 Pieter Bruegel und seine Welt, Berlin 1979, 73-142.
17 Muller, J.M., ‘Rubens’s Theory and Practice of the Imitation of Art’, Art Bulletin 64 (1982),
18 228-247.
19 Nativel, C., ‘La Rhétorique au service de l’art; éducation oratoire et éducation de l’artiste selon
20 Franciscus Junius’, XVIIe siècle 157 (1987), 385-391.
21 ———, ‘Rhétorique, poétique, théorie de l’art au XVIIe siècle; Marino et Junius’, Rhetorica
22 9/ 4 (1991), 341.
23 ———, ‘La Théorie de l’imitation au XVIIe siècle en rhétorique et en peinture’, Dix-Septième
24 Siècle 174-77 (1992), 157-167.
25 ———, Franciscus Junius, De pictura veterum; édition du livre I, Geneve 1996.
26 Nicolson, B., The International Caravaggesque Movement; Lists of Pictures by Caravaggio and his
27 Followers Throughout Europe from 1590 to 1650, Oxford 1979.
28 Nolan, E.P., Now Through a Glass Darkly; Specular Images of Being and Knowing from Virgil to
29 Chaucer, Ann Arbor 1990.
30 Ossola, C., Autunno del Rinascimento, Firenze 1971.
31 Panofsky, E., Idea; ein Beitrag zur Begriffsgeschichte der älteren Kunsttheorie, Leipzig 1927.
32 ———, Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art, London 1970 (1965).
33 Papy, J., ‘Lipsius’s (Neo-)Stoicism; Constancy Between Christian Faith and Stoic Virtue’, in:
34 H.W. Blom & L.C. Winkel (eds.), Hugo Grotius and the Stoa, Assen 2001-2002, 47-71.
35 Pauw-de Veen, L. de, ‘Over de betekenis van het woord “beweeglijkheid” in de 17de eeuw’,
36 Oud Holland 74 (1959), 202.
37 ———, De begrippen ‘schilder’, ‘schilderij’ en ‘schilderen’ in de zeventiende eeuw, Brussel 1969.
38 Peursen, C.A. van, Ars inveniendi; filosofie van de inventiviteit van Francis Bacon tot Immanuel
39 Kant, Kampen 1993.
40 Pevsner, N., Academies of Art; Past and Present, New York 1973.
41 Pfisterer, U., ‘Künstlerliebe; der Narcissus-Mythos bei Leon Battista Alberti und die Aristo-
42 teles-Lektüre der Frührenaissance’, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 64/3 (2001), 305.
43 Plett, H.F. (ed.), Renaissance Rhetoric, Berlin/New York 1993.
44
45
456          bibl iograp hy
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 456 09-10-2008 17:01:17

 Pochat, G., Figur und Landschaft; eine historische Interpretation der Landschaftsmalerei von der 1
Antike bis zur Renaissance, Berlin & New York 1973. 2
———, Geschichte der Ästhetik und Kunsttheorie; von der Antike bis zum 19. Jahrhundert, Köln 3
1986. 4
———, ‘Imitatio und Superatio - das Problem der Nachahmung aus humanistischer und kun- 5
sttheoretischer Sicht’, in: J. Meyer-zu Capellen & K. Oberreuter-Kronabel (eds.), Klas- 6
sizismus; Epoche und Probleme; Festschrift für Erik Forssmann, Hildesheim/Zürich/New York 7
1987, 317-35. 8
Porteman, K., Inleiding tot de Nederlandse emblemataliteratuur, Groningen 1977. 9
———, ‘Geschreven met de linkerhand? Letteren tegenover schilderkunst in de Gouden 10
Eeuw’, in: M. Spies, Historische letterkunde; facetten van vakbeoefening, Groningen 1984, 11
93-113. 12
Pousão-Smith, M.-I., ‘“Sprezzatura”, “Nettigheid” and the Fallacy of “Invisible Brushwork” 13
in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Painting’, Nederlands kunsthistorisch jaarboek 54 (2003), 14
259-280. 15
Puttfarken, T., The Discovery of Pictorial Composition; Theories of Visual Order in Painting, 1400- 16
1800 New Haven/London 2000. 17
Rademaker, J., Life and Work of Gerardus Johannes Vossius (1577-1649), Assen 1981. 18
Raupp, H.J., ‘Ansätze zu einer Theorie der Genremalerei in den Niederländen im 17. Jahr- 19
hundert’, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 46 (1983), 402-418. 20
———, Untersuchungen zu Künstlerbildnis und Künstlerdarstellung in den Niederlanden im 17. 21
Jahrhundert, Hildesheim 1984. 22
Reckermann, A., ‘Das Konzept kreativer imitatio im Kontext der Renaissance-Kunsttheorie’, 23
in: W. Haug & B. Wachinger (eds.), Innovation und Originalität, Tübingen 1993, 98-132. 24
Regteren Altena, I.Q. van & P.J.J. van Thiel, De portret-galerij van de Universiteit van Amster- 25
dam en haar stichter Gerard van Papenbroeck, 1673-1743, Amsterdam 1964. 26
Rehm, U., Stumme Sprache der Bilder; Gestik als Mittel neuzeitlicher Bilderzählung, München/ 27
Berlin 2002. 28
Reisser, V., Physiognomik und Ausdruckstheorie der Renaissance; der Einfluß charakterologischer 29
Lehren auf Kunst und Kunsttheorie des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts, München 1997. 30
Richter, I.A., Paragone; a Comparison of the Arts by Leonardo da Vinci, with an Introduction and 31
English Translation, London 1949. 32
Robert, R., ‘Une Théorie sans image? Le trompe-l’oeil dans l’antiquité classique’, in: P. Mau- 33
riès (ed.), Le Trompe-l’oeil de l’antiquité au XXe siècle, Milano 1996. 34
Roekel, J. van, P. Knolle & M. van Delft, Haags naakt; geschiedenis van het tekenen naar naakt- 35
model op de Haagse academie van beeldende kunsten, Den Haag 1982. 36
Roemer, B. van de, De geschikte natuur; theorieën over natuur en kunst in de verzameling van zeld- 37
zaamheden van Simon Schijnvoet (1652-1727) (Diss.), Amsterdam 2005. 38
Romani, V., Daniele da Volterra; amico di Michelangelo (cat. Firenze), Firenze 2003. 39
Roodenburg, H., The Eloquence of the Body; Perspectives on Gesture in the Dutch Republic, Zwolle 40
2004. 41
Roscam Abbing, M., De schilder en schrijver Samuel van Hoogstraten 1627-1678; eigentijdse bron- 42
nen en oeuvre van gesigneerde schilderijen, Leiden 1993. 43
44
45
b i b l i o gr ap hy           457
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 457 09-10-2008 17:01:17

1 ———, Rembrandt toont syn konst; bijdragen over Rembrandtdocumenten uit de periode 1648-1756,
2 Leiden 1999.
3 Rosen, V. von, ‘Die enargeia des Gemäldes; zu einem vergessenen Inhalt des Ut-pictura-po-
4 esis und seiner Relevanz für das cinquecenteske Bildkonzept’, Marburger Jahrbuch für
5 Kunstwissenschaft 27 (2000), 171-206.
6 ———, Mimesis und Selbstbezüglichkeit in Werken Tizians; Studien zum venezianischen Malerei-
7 diskurs, Emsdetten 2001.
8 Roskill, M.W., Dolce’s Aretino and Venetian Art Theory of the Cinquecento, New York 1968.
9 ———, The Languages of Landscape, Pennsylvania 1997.
10 Rubin, P.L., Giorgio Vasari; Art and History, New Haven/London 1995.
11 Saslow, J.M., The Poetry of Michelangelo; an Annotated Translation, New Haven/London 1991.
12 Saunders, J.L., Justus Lipsius; the Philosophy of Renaissance Stoicism, New York 1955.
13 Schatborn, P., Bij Rembrandt in de leer/Rembrandt as Teacher (cat. Amsterdam), Amsterdam
14 1985.
15 Scheller, R., ‘Rembrandt en de encyclopedische kunstkamer’, Oud Holland 84 (1969),
16 132-142.
17 Scheltema, J., ‘De Dordsche dichtschool vóór den jare 1672’, in: Geschied- en letterkundig
18 mengelwerk, Vol. III, Utrecht 1823, 35-152.
19 Schillemans, R., ‘Rimprant, nostrae aetatis miraculum’, Kroniek van het Rembrandthuis 1 (1991),
20 17-20.
21 Schlosser, J. von, Die Kunstliteratur; ein Handbuch zur Quellenkunde der neueren Kunstgeschichte,
22 Wien 1924.
23 Schnackenburg, B., ‘Rembrandt als Student; Vermehrung eines OEuvres’, Frankfurter Allge-
24 meine Zeitung 134 (12-06-2004), 43.
25 Schneider, N., ‘Zeit und Sinnlichkeit; zur Soziogenese der Vanitasmotivik und des Illusionis-
26 mus’, Kritische Berichte 8 (1989), 8-34.
27 Schröder, G., Logos und List; zur Entwicklung der Ästhetik in der frühen Neuzeit, Königstein
28 1985.
29 ——— (ed.), Anamorphosen der Rhetorik; die Wahrheitsspiele der Renaissance, München 1997.
30 Schull, P.S. (ed.), Dierijk en Dorothé, of, De verlossing van Dordrecht; dramatisch dichtstuk van
31 Samuel van Hoogstraten, Dordrecht 1833.
32 Schulte Nordholt, J.W., Ontmoeteing met Jan Luyken, Kampen 1978.
33 Sellin, P.R., ‘The Last of the Renaissance Monsters; the Poetical Institutions of Gerardus
34 Johannes Vossius, and Some Observations on English Criticism’, in: P.R. Sellin & S.B.
35 Baxter (eds.), Anglo-Dutch Cross-Currents in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, Los
36 Angeles 1976, 1-36.
37 Slive, S., Rembrandt and his Critics, Den Haag 1953.
38 Sloane, T.O., Encyclopaedia of Rhetoric, Oxford 2001.
39 Sluijter, E.J., ‘“een volmaekte schilderij is als een spiegel van de natuer”; spiegel en spiegel-
40 beeld in de Nederlandse schilderkunst van de zeventiende eeuw’, in: N.J. Brederoo (ed.),
41 Oog in oog met de spiegel, Amsterdam 1988, 146-163.
42 ———, ‘Didactic and Disguised Meanings? Several Seventeenth-Century Texts on Painting
43 and the Iconological Approach to Dutch Paintings of this Period’, in: W.E. Franits (ed.),
44
45
458          bibl iograp hy
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 458 09-10-2008 17:01:17

 Looking at Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art; Realism Reconsidered, Cambridge/New York 1
1997, 78-82, 211-218. 2
———, ‘The Painter’s Pride; the Art of Capturing Transience in Self-Portraits from Isaac van 3
Swanenburgh to David Bailly’, in: K. Enenkel (ed.), Modelling the Individual; Biography and 4
Portrait in the Renaissance, Amsterdam/Atlanta 1998, 173-196. 5
———, ‘Over Brabantse vodden, economische concurrentie, artistieke wedijver en de groei 6
van de markt voor schilderijen in de eerste decennia van de zeventiende eeuw’, Nederlands 7
kunsthistorisch jaarboek 50 (1999), 113-144. 8
———, Seductress of Sight; Studies in Dutch art of the Golden Age, Zwolle 2000a. 9
———, ‘Venus, Visus and Pictura’, in: Seductress of Sight; Studies in Dutch art of the Golden Age, 10
Zwolle 2000b, 86-159, 306-321. 11
———, ‘In Praise of the Art of Painting; On Paintings by Gerrit Dou and a Treatise by Philips 12
Angel of 1642’ in: Seductress of Sight; Studies in Dutch art of the Golden Age, Zwolle 2000c, 13
198-263, 329-339. 14
———, De ‘heydensche fabulen’ in de schilderkunst van de Gouden Eeuw; schilderijen met verhalende 15
onderwerpen uit de klassieke mythologie in de Noordelijke Nederlanden, circa 1590-1670, Leiden 16
2000d. 17
———, ‘The English Venture; Dutch and Flemish Artists in Britain 1550-1800’, Leids kunst­ 18
historisch jaarboek 13 (2003), 11-30. 19
Smits-Veldt, M.B., Het Nederlandse renaissancetoneel, Utrecht 1991. 20
Sohm, P., Pittoresco; Marco Boschini, his Critics, and their Critiques of Painterly Brushwork in Sev- 21
enteenth- and Eighteenth- Century Italy, New York/Cambridge 1991. 22
———, Style in the Art Theory of Early Modern Italy, Cambridge 2001. 23
Son, R. van, ‘Lomazzo, Lampsonius en de noordelijke kunst’, Nederlands kunsthistorisch jaarboek 24
44 (1993), 185-196. 25
Sörbom, G., ‘The Classical Concept of Mimesis’, in: P. Smith & C. Wilde (eds.), A Companion 26
to Art Theory, London 2002, 19-28. 27
Souchon, H., ‘Descartes et LeBrun; étude comparée de la notion cartesienne des “signes ex- 28
tericum” et de la théorie de l’expression de Charles LeBrun’, Études Philosophiques (1980), 29
427-458. 30
Spencer, J.R., ‘Ut Rhetorica Pictura; a Study in Quattrocento Theory of Painting’, Journal of 31
the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 20 (1957), 26-44. 32
Spies, M., ‘Enige opmerkingen over de relatie tussen de kunsten in de zeventiende eeuw’, in: 33
Rhetorica-Poëtica-Kunsttheorie, Amsterdam 1993, 11-16. 34
———, ‘Literatuur en Toneel’, in: W. Frijhoff, H. Nusteling & M. Spies, Geschiedenis van 35
Dordrecht, deel 2; van 1572 tot 1813, Hilversum 1998, 341-358. 36
———, ‘Dordrechtse “roman”-tiek in de zeventiende eeuw’, unpublished lecture, Amsterdam 37
Centre for the Study of the Golden Age, Amsterdam (7-3-2002). 38
Stanneck, A., Ganz ohne Pinsel gemalt; Studien zur Darstellung der Produktionsstrukturen nie­ 39
derländischer Malerei im Schilder-boeck von Karel van Mander (1604), Frankfurt am Main 40
2003. 41
Steenbakkers, P.M.L., ‘The Passions According to Lodewijk Meyer; Between Descartes 42
and Spinoza’, in: Y. Yovel (ed.), Desire and affect: Spinoza as Psychologist, New York 2000, 43
193-210. 44
45
b i b l i o gr ap hy           459
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 459 09-10-2008 17:01:17

1 Stipriaan, R. van, Leugens en vermaak; Boccaccio’s novellen in de kluchtcultuur van de Nederlandse
2 renaissance, Amsterdam 1996.
3 Stoichita, V.I., L’Instauration du tableau; métapeinture à l’aube des temps modernes, Paris 1993.
4 Summers, D., Michelangelo and the Language of Art, Princeton 1981.
5 ———, The Judgment of Sense; Renaissance Naturalism and the Rise of Aesthetics, Cambridge
6 1987.
7 Sumowski, W., Drawings of the Rembrandt School, Vols. I-X, New York 1979-1992.
8 ———, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler in sechs Bänden, Landau/Pfalz 1983-1994.
9 Tadema, J., ‘Een ambachtsman met “beschaafde” hobby’s; de dichter en verzamelaar Joachim
10 Oudaen (1628-1692)’, De zeventiende eeuw 20/2 (2004), 209-219.
11 Tatarckiewicz, W., Geschichte der Ästhetik, Basel/Stuttgart 1979.
12 Taylor, P., ‘The Concept of “houding” in Dutch Art Theory’, Journal of the Warburg and Cour-
13 tauld Institutes 55 (1992), 210-232.
14 ———, ‘Composition in Seventeenth-century Dutch Art Theory’, in: P. Taylor & F. Quiviger
15 (eds.), Pictorial Composition from Medieval to Modern Art, London/Torino 2000, 146-171.
16 Thissen, P., Werk, netwerk en letterwerk van de familie Van Hoogstraten in de zeventiende eeuw;
17 sociaal-economische en sociaal-culturele achtergronden van geletterden in de republiek, Amster-
18 dam/Maarssen 1994.
19 Tierney, B., ‘“Natura id est Deus”; a Case of Juristic Pantheism?’ Journal of the History of Ideas
20 24 (1963), 307-327.
21 Torresan, P., Il dipingere di Fiandra; la pittura Neerlandese nella letteratura artistica di Quattro e
22 Cinquecento, Modena 1981.
23 Trimpi, J., ‘The Meaning of Horace’s ut pictura poesis’, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld
24 Institutes 36 (1973), 1-34.
25 Vecchi, P. de, ‘Die Mimesis im Spiegel’, in: S. Ebert-Schifferer (ed.), Giovanni Gerolamo Savoldo
26 und die Renaissance zwischen Lombardei und Venetien; von Foppa und Giorgione bis Caravaggio,
27 Milano/Frankfurt 1990, 63-70.
28 Veldman, I., ‘Seasons, Planets and Temperaments in the Work of Maarten van Heemskerck’,
29 Simiolus 11 (1980), 149-176,.
30 Verbeek, T., De wereld van Descartes; essays over Descartes en zijn tijdgenoten, Amsterdam 1996.
31 Verberckmoes, J., Laughter, Jestbooks and Society in the Spanish Netherlands, London/New York
32 1999.
33 Vermeir, K., ‘Kijken naar de sterren; een wetenschapshistorische analyse van gemedieerde
34 zintuigelijkheid’, in: B. Vandenabeele & K. Vermeir (eds.), Gemedieerde zintuigelijkheid;
35 jaarboek voor esthetica, Budel 2003, 113-128.
36 Vermij, R., ‘Een nieuw concept; de wetten der natuur’, in: F. Egmond (ed.), Kometen, mon-
37 sters en muilezels; het veranderende natuurbeeld en de natuurwetenschap in de zeventiende eeuw,
38 Haarlem 1999a, 105-121.
39 ———, De wetenschappelijke revolutie, Amsterdam 1999b.
40 Vickers, B., In Defence of Rhetoric, Oxford 1989.
41 ———, ‘Humanismus und Kunsttheorie in der Renaissance’, in: K.W. Locher & H. Forster
42 (ed.), Theorie der Praxis; Leon Battista Alberti als Humanist und Theoretiker der bildenden
43 Künste, Berlin 1999, 9-74.
44
45
460          bibl iograp hy
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 460 09-10-2008 17:01:17

 Vries, L. de, ‘The Changing Face of Realism’, in: D. Freedberg & J. de Vries (eds.), Art in His- 1
tory/History in Art, Santa Monica 1991, 209-247. 2
———, Gerard de Lairesse; an Artist between Stage and Studio, Amsterdam 1998. 3
———, ‘Gerard de Lairesse; the Theorist as an Art Critic’, in: M.-C. Heck a.o. (eds.), Théories 4
des arts et création artistique dans l’Europe du Nord du XVIe au début du XVIIIIe siècle, Lille 5
2001, 291-298. 6
Wadum, J., ‘Contours of Vermeer’, in: I. Gaskell in & M. Jonker (eds.), Vermeer Studies, Wash- 7
ington/New Haven/London 1998, pp. 201-223. 8
Weber, G.J. M., Der Lobtopos des ‘lebenden’ Bildes; Jan Vos und sein ‘Zeege der Schilderkunst’ von 9
1654, Hildesheim 1991. 10
———, ‘Vermeer’s Use of the Picture-within-a-Picture; a New Approach’, in: I. Gaskell in & 11
M. Jonker (eds.), Vermeer Studies, Washington/New Haven/London 1998, 295-307. 12
Weijers, O., ‘Contribution à l’histoire des termes natura naturans et natura naturata jusqu’à 13
Spinoza’, Vivarium 16 (1987), 70-80. 14
Westfehling, U., Tarocchi; Menschenwelt und Kosmos; Ladenspelder, Dürer und die ‘Tarock-karten’ 15
des Mantegna (cat. Köln), Köln 1998. 16
Weststeijn, T., ‘Book Review: Hans-Jörg Czech, “Im Geleit der Musen; Studien zur Samuel 17
van Hoogstratens Malereitraktat Inleyding tot de Hooge Schoole der Schilderkonst”, Oud 18
Holland 117/1-2 (2004), 103-105. 19
———, ‘Rembrandt and Rhetoric; the Concepts of affectus, enargeia and ornatus in Samuel 20
van Hoogstraten’s Judgement of His Master’, in: M.J.E. van den Doel a.o. (eds.), The 21
Learned Eye; Regarding Art, Theory, and the Artist’s Reputation; Essays for Ernst van de Weter- 22
ing, Amsterdam 2005, pp. 111-130. 23
———, ‘”Painting’s Enchanting Poison”; Artistic Efficacy and the Transfer of Spirits’, in: C. 24
Göttler & W. Neuber (eds.), Spirits Unseen; the Representation of Subtle Bodies in Early Mod- 25
ern European Culture; Intersections vol. 9, Leiden 2007, 141-178. 26
———, ‘Samuel van Hoogstraten and the Trattato della pittura’’, in: C. Farago (ed.), Re-Read- 27
ing Leonardo: The Treatise on Painting across Europe from 1550 to 1900, London 2008 (in 28
print). 29
Wetering, E. van de, Rembrandt; the Painter at Work, Amsterdam 1997. 30
———, ‘The Multiple Functions of Rembrandt’s Self-Portraits’, in: C. White & Q. Buvelot 31
(eds.), Rembrandt by Himself (cat. Den Haag), Den Haag/London/Zwolle 1999, 8-37. 32
———, ‘Het licht van het ware’, Kroniek van het Rembrandthuis 1-2 (2001a), 3-10. 33
———, ‘Rembrandts Beginnings – an Essay’, in: The Mystery of the Young Rembrandt (cat. Kas- 34
sel & Amsterdam), Wolfratshausen 2001b, 22-57. 35
———, ‘Rembrandt’s Self-Portraits; Problems of Authenticity and Function’, in: E. van de 36
Wetering a.o., A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings. IV. The Self-Portraits, Dordrecht 2005, 37
89-317. 38
Wheelock, A., Perspective, Optics, and Delft Artist around 1650, New York/London 1977. 39
———, ‘Illusionism in Dutch and Flemish Art’, in: S. Ebert-Schifferer (ed.), Deceptions and 40
Illusions; Five Centuries of Trompe-l’oeil Painting, Washington 2002, 76-87. 41
White, C. & Q. Buvelot (eds.), Rembrandt by Himself (cat. Den Haag/London), Zwolle 1999. 42
Wickenden, N., G.J. Vossius and the Humanist Conception of History, Assen 1993. 43
44
45
b i b l i o gr ap hy           461
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 461 09-10-2008 17:01:17

1 Williams, R., Art, Theory, and Culture in Sixteenth-Century Italy; from techne to metatechne, Cam-
2 bridge 1997.
3 Wright, D.R.E., ‘Alberti’s De Pictura; its Literary Structure and Purpose’, Journal of the War-
4 burg and Courtauld Institutes 47 (1984), 52-71.
5 Yates, F.A., The Art of Memory, Chicago/London 1974 (1966).
6 Zijlmans, J., Vriendenkringen in de zeventiende eeuw; verenigingsvormen van het informele culturele
7 leven te Rotterdam, Amsterdam 1999.
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
462          bibl iograp hy
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 462 09-10-2008 17:01:17

 1
2
3
4
Inde x of subje cts 5
6
7
8
Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture 41, Atticism 229 9
277 Batavians 64 10
academy of art 42, 85 beauty 61, 66, 103, 225, 254, 338, 344
Accademia del Cimento 34 Bentveugels 47
11
Accademia del Disegno 201 beweeging, see passion, energia, motus 12
Accademia di San Luca 34, 157 beweeglijkheid 182ff, 207, 209, 247, 355, see also 13
actio 161, 223, 234, see handling energia
action at a distance 134, 156, 160, 171, 276, 331ff, Bible of Nature, see Book of Nature
14
353, 357 Biblical authority 340, 343 15
admiratio, see astonishment bifocal perspective 237ff, 304, 307, 311, 346f, 358, 16
affectation 76, 225, 232, 238, 280 see also complementarity
affects, see passions bijwerk, see parerga
17
alchemy 127, 220, 243, 335 biographies of artists 38, 45, 47f, 91, 179, 234, 18
alcohol 135, 188 295 19
algemeenheyd 99, see also universal scope of black people 133
painting blood 145, 181, 191, 206, 222, 283, 294
20
amor virtutis 91, 114 body 134, 139, 145f, 158f, 175ff, 204ff, 220ff, 234, 21
amplification 71 see also anatomy, health 22
Amsterdam 27, 30, 36, 45, 47, 196 body and soul, dichotomy of 173, 175ff, 294, 330,
anagnorisis 191 338ff
23
analogy 161, see similitude Book of Nature 110f, 113, 200, 203, 260, 302f, 24
anamorphosis 279, 304, 358 310, 331, 351, 356 25
anatomy 56, 66, 72, 76, 97 Book of the Illiterate 96, 182, 203f, 263
Ancients versus Moderns 46, 354 brevity 64, 69, 158, 204, 231ff, 240
26
anecdotes 47 Cabbala 317 27
animals 89, 176, 224, 248, see also monkey Calvinism 84, 109ff, 116f, 296, 310 28
antiquity 21, 63f, 66, 72, 88, 115, 124, 139, 142, camera obscura 332ff
165, 222 Cartesianism, see new philosophy
29
Antwerp 209 cartography 34, 96 30
ape of nature, see monkey catharsis 195, 198 31
appearance 269, 273ff Chain of Being 341, 354, see also similitude, hier-
arcadian poetry 34, 244, 261 archy of Creation
32
architecture 96, 261, 277 Chambers of Rhetoric 26, 200 33
Aristotle’s Wheel 317 chance 105, 201, 238, 252, 256, 334, 337 34
ars est celare artem 239f changeability, see veranderlijkheid
art lovers 42, 43, 47, 60, 137, 178, 355 changeant, see shot fabrics
35
art market 236, see also money character 77, 139, 146, 160, 175, 177, 204, see also 36
artes liberales, see liberal arts temperament, astrology 37
Asiatic style 229 chiaroscuro 49, 84, 145, 225ff, 250
astonishment 154ff, 167, 213, 240, 307 Chigi, Palazzo 156
38
astrology 129, 173, 315 children, see pregnancy metaphor 39
ataraxia 91, 175, see also constancy Chinese writing 75 40
Athenaeum Illustre 30 chiromancy 176
Athens 191 civil conversation 43, 355
41
atomism 256, 265, 330, 343, 356 civility 60, see also honneteté, honnête homme, 42
Attica 55 courtiers’ manuals 43
44
45
          463
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 463 09-10-2008 17:01:17

1 Classicism 65, 67 Dordrecht 27f, 32, 34, 36, 41, 110, 332, 342
2 collections of art 42, 124, 151 dozijnwerker 206
collections of curiosities 108, 251, 316 drama 36, 127, 137, 141f, 147, 171, 182, 200, 202,
3 Collegiants, see Rijnsburg Collegiants 269, 293, 354, see also tragedy
4 colour 45, 51, 61, 75, 90, 131, Chapter V passim, draughtsmanship 45, 61, 90, 96, 356, see also dis-
5 335, 357, see also paragone egno, Teykeninge
colours of rhetoric 220, 284 Dutch (language) 45, 64, 204
6 common people, judgement of 202f Dutch Republic 32, 48, 64, 67, 165, 329, 340
7 commonplaces 43, 19f, 26ff, 43f, 65, 72f, 78, 123, eenweezich 186
8 135f, 158, 242, see also quotations, collec- ekphrasis 77, 137ff, 246, 248
tions of elements 221
9 compasses in the eye 72, 309, 337 elocution 52, 54
10 complementarity of opposing viewpoints 237ff, emblems 70, 84, 115, 117f, 173
11 307, 319, 347, 351 Emmaus 192, 213
complementary colours 337 emphasis 231, 241
12 composition 51, 54, 60, 135, 141, 163, 209, 241 emulation 123, 152, 163ff
13 Confession of Dordrecht 110, 119 enargeia 182ff, see also energia
14 Confession of Nicea 296 encyclopaedic attitude to scholarship 27, 42f, 61,
connoisseur 128, see also art lover 63, 78, 108, 316, 354, see also universal
15 constancy 40, 50, 56, 67, 114, 207, 355 scope of painting
16 contemplation 111, 159, see also vita contemplativa energeia 19, 182ff, see energia
17 conterfeyten 103, 106 energia 19, 69, 185ff, 357, see also beweeglijkheid
contours 53, 132, 230f Epicurism 256
18 contradictions as inherent to early modern art epideictic rhetoric 18, 41, 70f, 191ff, 301, 330,
19 theory 21, 71, 353 335
20 copia 231 esotericism 176
copying 127f, 131, 142f, 163, 165 ethics 39, 41, 59, 61, 65, 70, 115, 172, 174, 227,
21 Counter-Reformation 76, 126 270, see also eudaimonia
22 courtiers’ manuals 33, 57, 65, 78, 96, 115, 134, ethopoios 175, 199, 216, 357
23 172, 178, 236, see also honnête homme eudaimonia 59, 67, 76, 116, 355
craftsmanship 41, 71, 83, 132f, 139, 179, 220, 230 evidentia, see energia
24 curiosity 272, 353, see also collections of eyghentlickheyt 105, 107, 109
25 curiosities facility 239
26 curtain 38, 84, 152, 279 fame 73, 91, 94, 124, 164, 198, 293, 304
deceit 69, 86, 166, 178, 223, 270ff, 304, 357 fantasy 99, 206, see also imagination
27 decorum 52, 68f, 204, 231, 250 Farnesina, Villa 156
28 deelen der konst, see parts of painting fatum stoicum 115, 258
29 Delft 342 fear 156, 190
denkbeeld 100, 106, see also mental image, idea, fine brushwork 229ff
30 disegno fine painters 46, 229f, 241, 353
31 determinism 115, 159, 341, 344, 348 Flemish (language) 64
32 Develstein circle 28, 30, 32 flesh colour 165, 219, 222f, 226, 242
dialectic 19, 29, 43, 64, 136 Florence 33, 55, 150, 201, 316
33 dialogues in art literature 43 food 128, 181, 209
34 difference, see diversitas force 124, 131f, 161, 221, 224, 237
35 digestive system, metaphor of, 128, see also food foreshortening 307, 313, 337
disegno 97ff, 134, 174 frame 304
36 disegno esterno 97ff, also draughtsmanship France 48, 165f, 173
37 disegno interno 97ff, 271, see also mental image fresco 97
38 dispositio, see composition furor poeticus, see poetic frenzy
dissimulation 178, 239f, 278, 323 Galilee 213
39 diversitas 105, 107, 113, 118, 255, 259, 303, 347, geest 103, 151, 200, see also spirit, inspiration
40 356 gemstones 251, 353
41 doctrine classique, see classicism genera dicendi 185, 193, 250
Doelen (Amsterdam) 227 genera pingendi 89, 191, 204
42 doening 181 genre painting 48, 113, 115, 254
43 dolls used in painters’ studios 164 gentleman, see honnête homme
44
45
464          inde x of subje cts
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 464 09-10-2008 17:01:18

 Gentlemen of St Peter’s 32 irony 240 1
Germany 24, 55, 166 je-ne-sais-quoi 132, 157 2
gestures 73, 182, 186 Jerusalem 188
geweld 200 judgement 69, 72, 90, 128, 337 3
ghemackelikcheydt, see facility konst 59 4
gheveynstheyd, see hypocrisy konstwoorden 64, 172 5
globe 84f, 276, 312, 316 kracht 227, see also force
good life, see eudaimonia kroostkunde, see physiognomy 6
grace 19, 49, 51, 54f, 69, 124, 132, 157, 159f, 209, kunstkamer 316, see also collections of curiosities 7
225, 242, 296, 357 Kunstlüge, see lie, deceit 8
Grand Tour 32, 279 labyrinth 57f
graphein 74f, 96 landscape painting 15, 39, 48, 69, 77, 109, 111, 9
Greece 63, 166f 165, 241ff, 354, 357 10
grotesque 125, 176 Latin 28, 36, 45, 64 11
Haarlem 126 Latin school 27, 29f, 32, 123, 127, 332
Haegaenveld 34 ff, 245 learned artist 32 12
handling 89f, 128, 130, 141, 177, 179, 223f, 234, learned eyes 164 13
240 Leiden 29, 156 14
happiness 58, see also summum bonum lenses 298, 344, 347, 357
harmony, celestial 49, 63 liberal arts 15, 18, 41, 55, 73, 83, 91, 220, 315, 15
hartstocht 172, see also passion 354 16
health, healing effect attributed to painting 158, lie, art as 274, 279f, 290 17
180, 195, 204, 221, 227, 247, 252, 261, 357 liefhebbers, see art lovers
Helicon 59 light 48, 52, 224, 226, 284, 297, 336, see also 18
hierarchy of Creation 88, 338, 344, 348 reflections 19
hieroglyphics 73, 75 lightning 123, 247ff, 261 20
history of art 164f lijding 172, 181, see passion
history painting 77, 84, 152, 163, 183, 193 liminary poems 30 21
history writing 96, 185f, 197ff, 233 local colour 226, 336 22
honnête homme 15, 56, 270, 278ff logic, see dialectic 23
honneteté 34, 214, 355 London 34, 304, 309, 331, 342
honour 91, 163, see also fame loose manner 219ff, 230, see also rough manner 24
hooge schoole, see academy of art lossicheit 90, 234, see also rough manner, facility 25
horror and compassion 188, 195ff love 161, 180, 275 26
houding 336 love of art 50, 60, 91, 95, 156, 160, 207, 275, 304
humanism 27, 47, 67f magic 177, 141, 156, 161, 224f, 227, 242, 275, 277, 27
humanitas 77 290, see also action at a distance 28
humours 221, 243, see also temperament, magnifying glass 344 29
character mannerism 126
hypocrisy 178, 272 marble 90, 245, 251 30
iconology 14f, 349, 358 mechanistic philosophy 64, 173, 330, 337, 341, 31
idea 100, 106, 117, 123, 174, see also disegno, men- 350 32
tal image, World of Ideas Medici Chapels 150
idolatry 109, 220, 283 melancholy 69, 135, 221, 235, 239, 247f 33
Illusionsbrechung, see puncturing of the illusion memory 52, 53, 56, 156, 133ff, 198, 272 34
imagination 100, 117, 124, 133ff, 145, 154, 175, Mennonites 109 35
195, 207, 235, 240, 332, 350, 356 mental image 74, 86, 99f, 133f, 164, 271f, 346, see
imitation 19, 29, 55, Chapter III passim also Idea, denkbeeld, disegno interno 36
incarnadine, see flesh colour metaphor, theory of 221, 281, 306, 358 37
India 205 microcosm 61, 63, 312, 341, 346, 356 38
ingenium 206, 279 mimesis 124, 126, 165, see also imitation
insanity 207 mirror 124, 130, 131, 179, 183, 198, 207, 216, 262, 39
inspiration 207, see also spirit, poetic frenzy 289, 297f, 304, 332, 336, 338, 348 40
instantaneous, see oogenblikkig mirror of nature 86, 108, 123, 200, 269ff 41
invention 51, 64, 124, 133, 135, 164 mnemotechnics 135
invisible world 85, 263, see also Onzichtbare werelt moderation 39, 60, 207 42
Ionia 55 modesty 39, 204, 207 43
44
45
i n d e x o f s u b je c t s           465
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 465 09-10-2008 17:01:18

1 modus 250f, 260 pathopoios 171, 193, 209, 211, 214, 216, 318, 357
2 money 91 pathos 195f
monkey symbolizing imitation 89, 101, 123, 127, performativity 137, 140ff, 179f, 204, 209, 234ff,
3 130 345, 358
4 mosaic 63, 353 peripety 190
5 motus 51, 172, 182, 247, see also passion, Persia 205
beweeglijkheid perspective box 91f, 304, 319, 332
6 move to action 70 perspicuity 185, 187, 231, see also energia
7 movere 75, see also Chapter IV passim physiognomy 175ff, 323, 353
8 multiplicity of the visible world 101, 107, 253, 255, pictography 97, see also hieroglyphics, graphein
297, 347 Pictura (The Hague painters’ confraternity) 42
9 Muses 36, 49, 55, 199, 275, 312 Pictura, personification of 14f, 101f, 171, 306, 315
10 music 149, 153, 180, 221 picturesque, see schilderachtig
11 mute poetry or rhetoric, painting as 117, 263, 357, pigment 219, 252
see also silence planetary spheres 49, 56, 63, 312, 353, 357
12 mythographical literature 49 Platonism 40f, 64, 100ff, 126, 329, 347f
13 naer het leven 104 Poëtenoorlog 46
14 Naples 33 poetic frenzy 73, 206f, 235f
natura naturans 102ff, 346f, 358, personification poetic license 136, 220, 243, 245
15 of 104 poetical theory 47, 65, 123f, 214
16 natura naturata 102, 346f, 351, 358 poetry compared to painting 26, 36, 38, 171, see
17 naturalists 256, 280, 343 also mute poetry
nature as generating principle, see natura naturans Pompeian style 125
18 Nederduytschen Helikon 26 pornography 275
19 Neoplatonism, see Platonism portrait 69, 143, 175, 177, 307
20 Neostoicism, see Stoicism power 226, see force
new philosophy 30, 34, 39ff, 110, 256, 326, Excur- practical reason 39, 42, 55, 71, 115, 174, 309, 357
21 sus, passim predictive aspects of physiognomy 177, 323
22 Nil Volentibus Arduum 36, 173 pregnancy metaphor 145, 178, 195, 206, 221, 234
23 novels 30 prepredicative level of response to art 116, 156,
nude 73, 90, 219, 222, 276 see also flesh colour 158
24 obscurity 241 presence 137
25 oil paint 222, 248 principaal 291, 299
26 ongelijcke gelijckheyt 163f prints 128, 136, 163, 165, 269, 307
Onzichtbare werelt 38ff, 84, 106, 109, 174 prism 337
27 oogenblikkig 185ff, 198, 209, 357 probability 232, 278, 280
28 oordeel, see judgement prophesy 207
29 optical rays 151, 275, 334, 348 proportion 51f, 225
optics 105, 307, 330, 335, 342, 347, 350 prudence 32, 67, 76, 236
30 order of doctrine 53ff puncturing of the illusion 160, 238, 241, 283, 319
31 order of nature 53f, 66, 103, 338, 344, 348 pygmies 241
32 ordinnantie, see composition Quérelle, see Ancients and Moderns
original, see principaal quotations, collections of 29, 44, 123, 128, 136,
33 ornament 132, 219, 223ff, 231, 234, 260, 284 353
34 ornatus, see ornament rainbow 248ff, 261f
35 painterly, see schilderachtig rapen 127ff
palette 230, 290, 304, 306, 336f realism 83, 193, 200ff, 348, 355, 357, 358
36 pansophy 63 recta ratio 58, 66, 166, 356
37 paradoxical encomium 255, 301f redenkonst 136, see dialectics
38 paragone of drawing versus colouring 45, 220f, 242, reflections, depiction of 48, 105, 225, 249
248, of painting versus sculpture 248f, 271ff, Regensburg 34
39 291, of rhetoric versus philosophy 261, oth- reparative impulse 230
40 er 240, 257 res cogitans and res extensa 330ff, 339ff
41 parerga 52, 173, 200, 243 rhetoric 19, 27, 67ff, 198, 238, and philosophy
Paris 41 40, and education 50, and the rules of art
42 partes orationis 49, 51 69, and painting 73, 182, 197, as key to art
43 parts of painting 41, 49f, 51, 55, 74, 129, 178, 355 theory 77ff
44 passions 64, Chapter IV passim
45
466          inde x of subje cts
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 466 09-10-2008 17:01:18

 rhetorical culture 65 taste 128, see also judgement 1
Rijnsburg Collegiants 342 temperament 69, 129, 135, 139, 204, 206f, 250, see 2
Rome 33, 41, 47, 55, 57, 97, 126, 151, 156f also melancholy
Rotterdam 27, 338, 342 tendres passions 186 3
rough manner 90, 179, 219ff, 229ff, 232, 235, 259, Teykeninge 97ff, 134, see also disegno 4
276, 319, 357 The Hague 42, 338 5
Royal Society 34, 111, 331f, 335 theatre, see drama
rules of art 65, 69ff Thebes 125 6
sacred oratory 27, 232, 269 theology 61, 69, 110, 113, 222 7
Sarmatia 205 thickness of the air 230 8
schilderachtig 252ff, 303, 349 tongue, emblem of 67, 70
Schoone Roselijn 34ff, 64, 171, 197 tragedy 36, 154, 173, 182, 185, 189, 193, 195, 276, 9
schrik en verandering 190 357 10
scintilla divina 101 transience, see vanity 11
sculpture 42, 96, 109, 139, 142, 151, 191, 248, 269, trompe-l’oeil, see deceit
291 tronie 176 12
Second Bible, see Book of Nature Tyana 133 13
Second Commandment 109, see also idolatry ugliness 88, 127, 253ff, 344 14
Second Sophistic 133ff, 140, 209, 329, 335 ultramarine 252
seed metaphor 71 underworld 57 15
self-portrait 25, 30, 85ff, 177, 179, 243, 289, 295, unfinished paintings 161, 230f, 236, 238, 319 16
301, 313, 321f unity of time, place and action 185 17
shock and change 190 universal master 86, 89, 99, 243, 259, 264
shot fabrics 248, 337 universal scope of painting 61, 77, 95f, 99, 107, 18
Siena 33, 313 113, 118, 243, 249, 261, 272, 356 19
Sikyon 55, 166 universals 100 20
silence 117, 132, 154ff, 182, 260, see also mute university of Leiden 29
poetry urbanitas 134 21
silverpoint 128 uytdruckelickheyd 187, see perspicuity 22
similitude 160, 180, 227, 302, 343 vanity 39, 59, 115, 258, 261f, 276, 285ff, 293, 296, 23
sketching 128, 136, 161, 201, 241 319
skull 262, 289, 293, 310 variety 164, 201, 248, 255 24
smell 149f, 247 Vatican 151 25
smoke 105, 249, 291, 293, 295 Venice 33, 55, 156, 220 26
soul, threepartite 174 ff, 193 veranderlijkheid 105, 248, 252, 255, 302
specificality, see eyghentlickheyt vernacular 47, see also Dutch (language) 27
spectrum (optics) 335 Versailles 32, 67 28
spirit 103, 124, 131f, 134, 139, 151, 180f, 200, 206, versierlijk, versieren 223, see also ornament 29
225, 242, 334 verwondering, see astonishment
spiritualia sub similitudine corporalium 160, 285, Vienna, Habsburg court at 33, 67, 279, 332 30
331, 348 vinding 135, see also invention 31
sprezzatura 238, 240, see also rough manner vir bonus 67, 76, 77f, 147, 203, 231, 355 32
sprong 250 virtue 57, 59, 83, 111, 165, 175, 198, 258
Staetveranderinge 190 virtues of painting 42, 69 33
still-life painting 15, 32, 77, 113, 151, 178f, 259, virtutes dicendi 223 34
296, 301f visible and invisible worlds, dichotomy of 116, 35
Stoicism 39, 40, 67, 84, 99, 113ff, 125, 159, 166, 270, 285, 295f, 312, 318, 330ff, 345ff
175, 204, 236, 257, 293, 343, see also con- visible brushstroke 161, 230, see also rough 36
stancy, vivere secundum naturam, recta ratio, manner 37
Lipsius, Seneca, Plutarch vita contemplativa 93, 159 38
studio, discussions in 42ff, 157, books used in 43, vivere secundum naturam 58, 125
stage-acting in 29, depictions of 152, 289, Voorburg 341 39
317 waarlijk groots, see sublime 40
sublime 155f War of the Poets, see Poëtenoorlog 41
summum bonum 159, 167, 349, 355, 357 welstand, wel staen 72, 237, see also grace
suspension of disbelief 160 World of Ideas 106, 256 42
synaesthesia 149ff zwier 90, see also grace 43
tabula rasa 99, 116 44
45
i n d e x o f s u b je c t s           467
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 467 09-10-2008 17:01:18

1
2
3
4
5 Inde x of na me s
6
7
8
9 Aachen, Hans von 14f Balen, Matthijs 31
10 Abraham 162, 164, 188f, 191, 195 Banning Cocq, Frans 228
Achilles 152, 247 Barendsz, Dirk 32
11 Aeneas 57 Bartas, Guillaume du 114
12 Aertsen, Pieter 280, 301f Bas, Agatha 282f
13 Aesop 176 Basil, Saint 198
Agamemnon 197 Bassano, Jacopo 238, 257
14 Agricola, Rudolf 29, 64 Bato 64
15 Agrippa von Nettesheim, Heinrich Cornelis 64, Beekman, Isaac 332, 342
16 202, 219, 221, 226, 232, 270, 272, 278, Bekker, Balthasar 350
290ff, 301 Bellori, Giovanni Pietro 130f, 188, 256, 264, 281,
17 Agucchi, Giovanni Battista 55, 158 343
18 Alberti, Leon Battista 15, 19, 26, 28, 42, 45ff, 50, Belshazzar 188
19 95, 101, 183, 287, 357 Benso, Giulio 34
Alberti, Romano 108 Beverwijck, Johan van 32, 172, 332, 334
20 Alexander of Macedonia 61, 70, 166, 284 Bialostocki, Jan 13, 101f
21 Algarotti, Francesco 281 Bie, Cornelis de 29, 45, 73f, 77, 114, 195, 211, 275,
22 Amadis, see Gaulle, de 288, 295
Amphiaraos 126 Biens, Cornelis 330
23 Andriesz, Abraham 34 Bisagni, Francesco 113, 249
24 Angel, Philips 15, 46, 70,105, 127f, 204, 226, 248, Bisschop, Jan de 32, 34, 47, 252f
25 259, 273ff, 295 Bles, Herri met de 242
Anslo, Reyer 262 Blijenberg, Willem van 31, 40, 109, 297, 329,
26 Antimachus 235 338ff
27 Antiochus 181 Blijenburg, Adriaen van 34
28 Apelles 55, 70, 124, 156, 165, 177, 225, 238, 285 Bloemaert, Hendrik 26
Apollo 55, 319 Bocchi, Achille 95, 182
29 Apollonius of Tyana 133, 137 Bocchi, Francesco 76, 127
30 Archimedes 198, 216 Boethius, 199
31 Arcimboldo, Giuseppe 280 Bonasone, Giulio 96
Aretino, Pietro 246, 260, 283 Borghini, Rafaello 42, 161, 237
32 Ariadne 57 Borinski, Karl 47
33 Ariosto 244 Borromeo, Cardinal Carlo 278
34 Aristotle 41, 52, 61, 70, 74f, 116, 124, 174, 176, Bos, Lambert van den 29f, 33, 57f, 67, 260
185, 193, 232, 279, 317, 343, 349 Bosch, Hieronymus 126
35 Armenini, Giovan Battista 195 Boschini, Marco 48, 238, 241, 271, 275, 278, 337,
36 Arundel, Earl of 46 357
37 Athena, see Minerva Boyle, Robert 335
Atlas 85, 312f, 315 Brandt, Gerard 290
38 Augustine 114, 296 Bredero, Gerbrant 32, 252f, 261
39 Baburen, Dirk van 196 Brouwer, Adriaen 26, 179, 254
40 Bacon, Francis 34, 64, 110, 113, 115, 272, 314, Brueghel, Pieter 176, 242, 285
315, 317, 331, 340, 354 Brun, Charles le 42, 173
41 Baglione, Giovanni 48 Brun, Pierre le 160, 238
42 Bakker, Boudewijn 109, 111, 113, 252 Brune, Jan de 65, 150f, 178, 226, 248, 259, 272,
43 Baldinucci, Filippo 48, 179 274, 279, 283, 293

44
45
468          inde x of name s
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 468 10-10-2008 16:24:59

 Brusati, Celeste 10, 69, 179, 302, 304, 331 Domenichino 47 1
Bucelinus, Gabriel 34, 47 Donne, John 232, 310 2
Buchelius, Arnoldus 30 Dossi, Dosso 313, 315
Buonarotti, see Michelangelo Dou, Gerard 46, 229, 275, 317 3
Burton, Robert 65, 115, 247 Drebbel, Cornelis 231 4
Butteri, Giovanmaria 55, 57 Dullaert, Heiman 26, 31, 127, 286, 291, 310 5
Calliope 49, 53, 57 Dürer, Albrecht 46, 66, 77, 123, 176, 202, 248
Callisto 140f Dyck, Anthony van 18, 55, 130f, 145, 177, 209 6
Callistratus 133 Electra 183 7
Calthoff, Caspar 111, 332f, 337, 342 Ellenius, Allan 76 8
Calvin, John 109, 113, 109, 119, 283, 296f, 323 Elsheimer, Adam 135
Campaspe 156 Emmens, Jan 15, 19, 47, 65f, 127, 229 9
Camphuysen, Dirk Rafaelsz 32, 45, 75, 199, 223, Epicurus 257, 343 10
238, 283, 290, 292, 300, 330 Erasmus 38, 89, 123, 312 11
Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da 20, 127, 130, Erato 244f
142, 256, 280ff Eristratus 181 12
Caravaggio, Polidoro da 161 Errard, Charles 131 13
Cardanus, Hieronymus 176 Estella, Diego de 286, 288 14
Carducho, Vicente 280, 315, 318 Esther 213
Carracci, Annibale 157f Euphranor 165, 198 15
Cartari, Vincenzo 48f, 55, 128 Eupompos 130, 201 16
Castiglione, Baldassare 67, 143, 146f, 238, 249, Euripides 179, 183 17
260, 262 Euterpe 49f, 56, 275
Cats, Jacob 30 Eyck, Hubert van 165, 271 18
Cellini, Benvenuto 271, 274 Eyck, Jan van 165, 243, 271 19
Cennini, Cennino 6, 222, 281 Fabritius, Carel 90, 157, 342 20
Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de 254 Faret, Nicolas 34
Chacón, Alonso 324 Félibien, André 41, 193, 236 21
Charles I of England, King 177 Feltham, Owen 315, 317 22
Christ 211ff, 222 Ferdinand III, Emperor 32, 69, 179, 278f 23
Chrysostom, see Dio Chrysostom Ficino, Marsilio 40, 55ff, 64, 151, 269
Cicero 17, 28, 51, 67, 73, 83, 95, 125, 129, 135, Floris, Frans 180 24
172, 175, 187, 193, 198, 200, 215, 224f Francken II, Frans 151 25
Cimabue 173 Frederik Hendrik, Prince 30 26
Cimon 196f Fresnoy, Charles Aufonse du 41, 48
Clio 84, 89, 182, 198f Furtenagel, Anna 289 27
Codde, Pieter 26 Furtenagel, Laux 289 28
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor 160 Galilei, Galileo 240, 257, 274 29
Comanini, Gregorio 280, 290 Gaulle, Amadis de 57
Comenius, Jan Amos 61, 75 Gauricus, Pomponius 42, 45, 176, 186 30
Coning, David de 27 Geel, Joost van 31 31
Coornhert, Dirk Volkertsz 39, 115, 129, 171f, 181 Geest, Wybrand de 54, 237 32
Cortona, Pietro da 47 Gheyn II, Jacob de 289f
Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de 70 Ghiberti, Lorenzo 45, 54 33
Coypel, Noel 277 Ghirlandaio, Ridolfo 45 34
Cupid 304, 306 Gijsbrechts, Cornelis Norbertus 309ff 35
Czech, Hans-Jörg 10, 28, 61, 330 Gilio, Giovanni Andrea 126, 245
Dale, Antoni van 342 Giorgio Martini, Francesco di 313f 36
Democritus 256f Giorgione 156, 244 37
Demon 191 Godewijk, Margareta van 30ff 38
Demosthenes 73, 183 Goeree, Willem 15, 28, 32, 43, 46, 48, 54, 64, 71,
Descartes, René 64, 87, 116, 134, 172f, 271, 307, 76, 97, 107f, 126, 129, 134, 136, 139, 141, 39
329ff, 349, 354 150f, 159, 173, 175f, 182, 200, 203, 225f, 40
Diana 140f 238, 254f, 271f, 275, 281, 321, 332ff, 343ff 41
Digby, Sir Kenelm 40, 330, 332, 336, 338 Goes, Hugo van der 156
Dio Chrysostom 28, 108, 165 Goes, Johannes Antonides van der 298 42
Dolce, Lodovico 43, 73, 182, 222, 225, 252 Goltzius, Hendrik 55, 95, 128, 248, 269f, 272, 275, 43
314, 316 44
45
          469
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 469 10-10-2008 16:24:59

1 Gombrich, Sir Ernst 71, 250, 302 Junius, Franciscus 17ff, 27f, 45ff, 63, on art lovers
2 Gorgias 276 42, 73ff, preferring examples over precepts
Gossaert, Geerten 227 71, on imitation 71, 125, 127ff, 163ff, on art
3 Goyen, Jan van 165, 239, 250ff and rhetoric 73ff, his Stoic ideas 91, 111,
4 Gracián, Balthasar 65, 236, 278 114, 126f, 159, 343, on the use of painting
5 Gregory of Nyssa, Saint 188, 204 112, on poetry 124, 135, on grace 132, on
Groot, Hugo de, see Grotius imagination 135ff, 207, on history paint-
6 Grotius, Hugo 54, 63, 353 ing 152, on passions 171ff, 181ff, on colour
7 Guercino 47 220ff, on the meeting of image and viewer
8 Guicciardini, Lodovico 48 283
Haarlem, Cornelis Cornelisz van 126 Jupiter 134, 221
9 Haecht, Willem van 152 Kate, Lambert ten 214
10 Hall, Joseph 114 Keil, Bernhard 47f
11 Hals, Frans 26, 236 Ketel, Cornelis 91, 234
Haman 213 Kindermann, Balthasar 315, 318
12 Hamlet 200 Kircher, Athanasius 63, 312
13 Hannibal 71 Knipbergen, François 165, 250
14 Haydocke, Richard 273 Kuijl, Gerard van 286
Hector 151 Lactantius 115
15 Heemskerck, Johan van 254 Lairesse, Gerard de 26, 36, 41, 45f, 69, 127f, 145f,
16 Heere, Lucas de 156, 271 182, 204, 227, 229, 252, 271f, 276, 283
17 Heijden, Jan van der 316, 321 Lampsonius, Domenicus 32, 47
Heinsius, Daniel 188 Lastman, Pieter 30, 47, 142
18 Helen of Troy 225 Lauremberg, Petrus 28
19 Hermes 55f, 188, 268f Lazarus 191
20 Hermes Trismegistus 313 Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm 257f, 307, 332
Hobbes, Thomas 173 Lely, Peter 229
21 Holanda, Francisco de 48, 205, 243, 262 Leonardo da Vinci 45f, 77, 142, 144, 149, 176,
22 Hollar, Wenceslaus 18 201, 245f, 272, 287
23 Homer 152, 163f, 205, 235 Leucippus 256
Honthorst, Gerard van 229 Lievens, Jan 156, 191, 213, 231
24 Hooft, Pieter Cornelisz 36, 39, 204, 235, 244, 261 Lille, Alain de 297
25 Hoogewerff, Godfried 13, 353 Lippi, Filippo 195
26 Hooghe, Romein de 56, 58, 67f Lipsius, Justus 39f, 114f, 172, 204, 222, 234, 293
Hoogstraten, David van 30f, 40, 64, 75, 277 Locke, John 332
27 Hoogstraten, Dirk van 30, 47, 166, 223 Lodenstein, Jodocus van 291
28 Hoogstraten, Frans van 27, 31, 38, 54, 112, 114f, Lomazzo, Gian Paolo 26, 42, 48, 52ff, 61ff, 66, 77,
29 259, 263, 298, 311, 325, 330, 342 129, 173, 191, 209, 220, 224, 226, 236, 242,
Horace 75, 183, 185f, 196, 229, 236, 245 244, 247, 252, 278
30 Houbraken, Arnold 38f, 128, 145, 159, 173, 179, Longinus 155
31 213f, 236, 243, 281, 330, 342 López, Francisco 318
32 Houckgeest, Gerard 309 Louis XIV, King 41
Howard, Thomas, see Arundel Lucas van Leyden 165, 225, 227, 242
33 Huarte, Juan 232, 353 Lucian 133, 137
34 Huygens the Younger, Constantijn 332 Luyken, Caspar 300
35 Huygens, Christiaan 127, 332 Luyken, Jan 278, 298ff, 311, 316, 320, 325
Huygens, Constantijn 30, 45, 83, 107, 112, 153, Lysippos 129f, 201
36 176f, 179, 196, 204, 209, 213f, 230ff, 255, Mander, Karel van 15, 20, 26, 30f, 38f, 41, 45ff,
37 257, 273f, 310, 334 53, 58ff, 64, 72, 74, 77, 91, 95, 97, 100, 261,
38 Hyperides 73, 276 272f, 280, 287, 295, on speech as act 67, on
Icarus 347 geest 103, his concept of nature 103ff, 116,
39 Iphigeneia 197, 201 329, 350, on emotion 171ff, on colour 221,
40 Isaac 188 249f, 335f, on Titian 237f, on landscape
41 John the Baptist 201 253
Jordaens, Jacob 230 Mantegna, Andrea 77, 312f
42 Joseph 191 Marseus van Schriek, Otto 34, 111
43 Judas 212 Marshall, William 314, 317
44
45
470          inde x of name s
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 470 10-10-2008 16:24:59

 Marsyas 223 Pero 196f 1
Martialis 236 Petrarch 293 2
Mary 211 Phaeton 145
Mary Magdalen 262 Phidias 202 3
Matham, Theodorus 29 Philostratus the Elder 28, 124f, 133, 137, 149, 4
Medea 185, 196 274 5
Medusa 153, 196, 213 Philostratus the Younger, 133
Meerdervoort, Cornelis Pompe van 32 Phryne 73, 156, 276 6
Melpomene 52, 226 Piles, Roger de 41, 48, 55, 145, 159ff, 214, 222, 7
Mercury, see Hermes 226, 229, 236f, 245, 278, 281 8
Merula, Paulus 32 Pino, Paolo 242, 271, 281
Merwede, Matthijs van de 32f Piombo, Sebastiano del 324 9
Metrodorus 95 Plasse, Cornelis Lodewijcksz van der 20 10
Metsu, Gabriel 153 Plato 41, 75, 95, 101, 124, 207, 232, 273, 276f, 11
Michelangelo Buonarotti 26, 34, 48, 55, 57, 77, 296
150f, 158,165f, 178f, 202, 205, 243, 250, Pliny 54, 108, 177, 201, 278 12
257, 270, 275, 293ff, 321 Plotinus 102 13
Miedema, Hessel 10, 39, 59f, 72, 103, 115, 175 Plutarch 39f, 89, 93, 114, 125, 198, 247, 348 14
Miense Molenaer, Jan 317 Poirters, Adrianus 320
Mierevelt, Michiel van 179 Polus 183 15
Minerva 15, 134 Polykleitos 129 16
Mnemosyne 135 Pompey 9 17
Montenay, Georgette de 84 Porcellis, Jan 165, 250
Morandi, Giovanni Maria 157 Pordenone (Giovanni Antonio Licinio) 222 18
Mornay du Plessis, Philippe de 116ff, 270, 296f, Poussin, Nicolas 47, 153 19
302, 331, 343, 353 Praxiteles 156, 276 20
Moses 104, 313 Prometheus 221
Mostaert, Gillis 242 Propertius 225 21
Mühlpforth, Heinrich 320 Protagoras 276 22
Mulder, Joseph 138 Protogenes 156, 165f, 181, 236, 238f, 257 23
Myron 129 Pyrrho 95
Narcissus 262, 287ff Quevedo 176 24
Nettesheim, see Agrippa Quintilian 17, 19, 28, 41, 50, 54, 58, 72, 96, 125, 25
Neun 249 134, 182f, 185, 191, 197, 209, 215, 276f, 26
Nierop, Maarten van 9 284, 295
Nispen, Adriaan van 29 Rafaello see Raphael 27
Nispen, Karel van 29 Raphael 45, 77, 143f, 156, 161, 165f, 188, 236, 28
Oedipus 190 250, 257 29
Oldenburg, Henry 345 Regius, Henricus 339
Orlers, Jan 30, 156 Rembrandt van Rijn, 25, 27, 30, 34, 43f, 46f, 90, 30
Ostens, Jacob 342 123, 156, 165, 171, 179, 211, 222f, 226, 31
Oudaen, Joachim 31, 40, 246, 248, 278, 342 229ff, 236, 243, 264, 281, 316, portrait of an 32
Ovens, Jurriaen 47 old man 127, self-portraits 177, 223, etch-
Ovid 36, 145, 287 ings with facial expressions 183f, landscapes 33
Paets, Willem 31 243, 246, 250, 260, Abraham’s Sacrifice 188, 34
Paleotti, Cardinal Gabriele 48, 73ff, 76, 96, 108, 209, Belshazzar’s Feast 188, 190, The Blinding 35
193, 233, 260f, 263f, 277f, 281, 289 of Samson 214f, Christ at Emmaus 213, Christ
Palma il Vecchio, Jacopo 247 in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee 212f, The 36
Panofsky, Erwin 100 Deposition 211, 213, Girl at a Window 145f, 37
Paracelsus 64, 176 Haman and Ahasverus 213, The Holy Family 38
Parrhasios 55, 152, 165, 279, 285 with the Curtain 155, Judas Repentant 212f,
Pascal, Blaise 258f, 313 Landscape with a City on a Hill 250f, The Last 39
Patinir, Joachim 227, 242 Supper 144, The Night Watch 227, Portrait of 40
Paul, Saint 114, 232f, 296, 298, 300 Agatha Bas 282f, Portrait of Jan Six 240, The 41
Peacham, Henry 112 Preaching of Saint John 201f, 209, The Resur-
Pels, Andries 31 rection 208, The Raising of the Cross 210, 213, 42
Pepys, Samuel 151 Samson’s Wedding 204f, Self-portrait (Ken- 43
44
45
i n d e x o f n am e s           471
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 471 10-10-2008 16:24:59

1 wood House) 304, 317ff, Self-portrait as Zeuxis Strozzi, Giovanni 150
2 214, 321 Swanenburg, Jacob van 47
Reni, Guido 34 Tacitus 95, 232, 240, 273
3 Resta, Sebastiano 49 Tasso, Torquato 244
4 Ridolfi, Carlo 48 Taylor, Paul 10, 45
5 Ripa, Cesare 48, 122, 135, 137, 151, 173, 238, 248, Terborch, Gerard 186, 249
279, 315, 318 Terence 200
6 Rochefoucauld, François de la 281 Terpsichore 218
7 Rodenburg, Theodoor 124 Tesauro, Emmanuele 279, 283f, 306, 308, 324
8 Rossius 73 Testa, Pietro 47
Rubens, Peter Paul 55, 135, 140, 142, 145, 147, Thalia 51, 56, 141f,182
9 209, 242, 248, 264, 281 Theon 149, 153
10 Ruytenburgh, Willem van 228 Theophrastus 232
11 Saavedra Fajardo, Diego de 117f Theseus 57
Sadeler, Egidius 14, 248 Thucydides 198
12 Saenredam, Jan 270 Tiberius, Drusus 232
13 Saftleven, Herman 290, 292 Timaeus 296
14 Samson 204 Timanthes 201
Sandrart, Joachim von 29, 33f, 38, 48, 73, 75, 179, Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti) 46, 262
15 252, 262 Titian 34, 77, 128, 140, 142, 180, 222ff, 226, 229f,
16 Sannazaro, Jacopo 36, 245, 253 236f, 238, 242ff, 257, 260, 264
17 Sanzio, Rafaello, see Raphael Traudenius, Dirck 275
Sappho 244 Urania 56, 85, 91, 293, 312
18 Satyrus 183 Uytenbogaert, Johannes 232
19 Savonarola, Girolamo 179 Vaenius, Otto 91, 95, 115, 151, 288f, 323
20 Scaliger, Julius Caesar 28, 123, 176, 214 Valla, Lorenzo 96
Scannelli, Federico 63, 280 Varchi, Benedetto 43, 48, 249, 257, 271
21 Schlosser, Julius von 25, 45, 47, 353 Vasari, Giorgio 45ff, 197, 236f, 243, 274, 278, 316,
22 Schrevelius, Theodorus 30 321
23 Schule, Christian 258 Vecellio, Tiziano, see Titian
Schuurman, Anna Maria van 30, 159f Veen, Otto van, see Vaenius
24 Scorel, Jan van 227, 242 Venne, Adriaen van de 287
25 Scribanius, Carolus 209 Venus 56f, 150, 156, 158, 161, 244, 304, 306, 308
26 Scriverius, Petrus 30f Vermeer, Johannes 113, 154, 186, 302f, 342
Sebastian, Saint 209 Veronese, Paolo 257
27 Seneca 39f, 57, 91, 105, 114, 125, 159, 172, 175, Vinci, Da, see Leonardo
28 181, 188, 207, 221, 225 Virgil 36, 150,163f, 205, 236, 244
29 Serre, Jean Puget de la 222, 254, 261, 283, 286, Vitruvius 28, 125
288, 291, 320, 353 Vives, Juan Luis 54
30 Shakespeare 9, 220, 226, 269, 275 Vlerick, Pieter 46
31 Sidney, Sir Philip 36, 254 Volterra, Daniele da 321, 324
32 Simonides 158 Vondel, Joost van den 29, 124, 126, 128, 190, 195,
Six, Jan 240 204, 226, 256ff, 265, 329, 356
33 Sluijter, Eric Jan 9, 105, 275, 289, 302 Vos, Jan 45, 75, 185, 191, 196, 213
34 Socrates 95f, 176, 232, 321, 324 Vossius, Gerardus Johannes 27ff, 44, 46, 51f, 70,
35 Someren, Johan van 29 74, 76, 87, 96, 123f, 133, 136, 156, 171, 191,
Sophie of Hannover, Electress 258 193, 197f, 200, 207, 216
36 Sophocles 183 Vranckx, Sebastiaan 268f
37 Spenser, Edmund 275 Vredeman de Vries, Hans 248
38 Speroni, Sperone 75, 274 Werff, Adriaen van der 138
Spiegel, Hendrik Laurentsz 39, 59, 114f Wetering, Ernst van de 9, 43, 90, 223, 240
39 Spinoza, Benedictus de 31, 65, 172f, 256ff, 332ff, Weyerman, Jacob Campo 179
40 338ff, 358 Wotton, Henry 277
41 Spranger, Bartholomeus 248 Zeuxis 55, 152, 165, 214, 279, 285, 321
Steenwinkel, Antonie van 289 Zopyrus 176
42 Stegmann, Josua 261 Zuccari, Federico 39, 57, 60f, 76, 97ff, 117, 134,
43 Stieler, Caspar, see Balthasar Kindermann 174, 227, 271, 277f, 280, 315, 319f, 323,
44 330, 356
45
472          inde x of name s
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 472 10-10-2008 16:25:00

 1
2
3
Illust r at ion c r edit s 4
Flaps: Samuel van Hoogstraten, Perspective Box 61. Kassel, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Gemäl- 5
with Views of a Dutch Interior, wood, 58 x 88 degalerie Alte Meister 6
x 64 cm (exterior measurement), National 62. RMN / René-Gabriel Ojéda
Gallery, London. Presented by Sir Robert 63. Alte Pinakothek, München 7
and Lady Witt through the National Art 64. Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe 8
Collections Fund, 1924 69. James Philip Gray Collection, Museum of Fine 9
Front and page 327. Royal Picture Gallery Mau- Arts, Springfield, Massachusetts © David
ritshuis, The Hague Stansbury 10
Back and fig. 5. Museum Boymans Van Beunin- 71. National Gallery, London. Bought with a con- 11
gen, Rotterdam tribution from the National Art Collections 12
Pages 11, 267, and figs. 33, 34, 35, 36, 115. Na- Fund, 1964
tional Gallery, London. Presented by Sir 73. Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo 13
Robert and Lady Witt through the National 76. York City Art Gallery, York 14
Art Collections Fund, 1924 81. Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche 15
2, 41, 65, 66, 67, 68, 72, 74, 79, 92, 93. Rijksmu- Kunstsammlungen, Dresden © Artothek
seum Amsterdam 82, 83. Pinakothek, Munich © Artothek 16
6. City Art Gallery, Manchester 84. Haarlem, Teylers Museum 17
4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 24, 25, 85. Private collection, England 18
26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 37, 42, 43, 56, 78, 87, 88. Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne
90, 94, 100, 104, 109, 110, 111, 112, 119, 89. Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Ga- 19
127, 131, 132, 140 University Library Am- lerie, Frankfurt © Artothek 20
sterdam (UvA) Special Collections 95. Herzog Anton-Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig 21
9. Leiden University Library, Special Collections 97. Galeria Colonna, Rome
21, 125, 126. The British Library, London 98. Musée Massey, Tarbes 22
22, 39. Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max-Planck-Insti- 101. The Royal Collection © 2007 Her Majesty 23
tut für Kunstgeschichte, Rome Queen Elizabeth II 24
23. Albertina, Vienna 102. Kunsthaus Lempertz, Cologne, 2006-11-18,
Page 81 and fig. 70. The State Hermitage Museum, lotnr. 1076 25
St. Petersburg 105. Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Brussels 26
31, 38, 48, 50, 55, 58, 75, 77, 91, 99, 103, 120, 121, 106. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna 27
134. Photo Collection Institute of Art His- 107. Metropolitan Museum, New York
tory, University of Amsterdam 108. KMSK © Reproductiefonds – Lukas 28
Page 121 and fig. 54. The National Museum of 113. The National Gallery of Art, Washington 29
Fine Arts, Stockholm D.C 30
45. The Warburg Library and Photo Collection 114, 117. Founders Society Purchase, General
46. National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburg Membership Fund. Photograph © 1996 31
47. Coll. Knowsley, Earl of Derby, Knowsley Hall, The Detroit Institute of Arts 32
Prescot 118. Statens Museum for Kunst, Kopenhagen 33
49. National Gallery of Canada 122. Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Kunst­museum
51. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Robert des Landes Niedersachsen, Braunschweig 34
Lehmann Collection, 1975 (1975.1.294) © 123. Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara 35
Malcolm Varon 124. Print room Leiden University, PK-1958-T-3 36
52. Musée du Louvre, Paris © RMN – Jean-Gilles 130. The Morgan Library and Museum, New
Berizzi York 37
53. The Samuel Courtauld Trust, Courtauld Insti- 135. The Iveagh Bequest, Kenwood House, Lon- 38
tute of Art Gallery, London don © English Heritage 39
57, 80. Gemäldegalerie, Berlin 136. Uffizi, Florence
59. National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin 137. Biblioteca Angelica, Rome, mas. 1564, f. 40
60. Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunst­ 287v 41
sammlungen, Dresden 141. The Jewish Museum, New York © Art Re- 42
source Scala, Florence
43
44
45
          473
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 473 10-10-2008 16:25:00

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 474 10-10-2008 16:25:00

 1
2
3
Pre viously Published in this Ser ie s 4
5
6
7
8
Peter de Cauwer – Tranen van bloed. Het beleg van ’s-Hertogenbosch en de oorlog in de Nederlanden, 9
1629 (ISBN 9789089640161) 10
11
Liesbeth Geevers – Gevallen vazallen. De integratie van Oranje, Egmont en Horn in de Spaans- 12
Habsburgse monarchie (1559-1567) (ISBN 9789089640697) 13
14
Jonathan Israel, Stuart Schwartz, Michiel van Groesen [Inleiding] – The Expansion of Tolerance. 15
Religion in Dutch Brazil (1624-1654) (ISBN 9789053569023) 16
17
Eric Jan Sluijter – Rembrandt and the Female Nude (ISBN 9789053568378) 18
19
Anna Tummers, Koenraad Jonckheere – Art Market and Connoisseurship. A Closer Look at Paint- 20
ings by Rembrandt, Rubens and Their Contemporaries (ISBN 9789089640321) 21
22
Erik Swart – Krijgsvolk. Militaire professionalisering en het ontstaan van het Staatse leger, 1568-1590 23
(ISBN 9789053568767) 24
25
Griet Vermeesch – Oorlog, steden en staatsvorming. De grenssteden Gorinchem en Doesburg tijdens de 26
geboorte-eeuw van de Republiek (1570-1680)(ISBN 9789053568828) 27
28
Thijs Weststeijn – Margaret Cavendish in de Nederlanden. Filosofie en schilderkunst in de Gouden 29
Eeuw (ISBN 9789089640291) 30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
         475
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 475 10-10-2008 16:25:00

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46

Visible world HR beeld.indd 476 09-10-2008 17:01:19