DOI Heft:
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DOI Artikel:Brusewicz, Lech; Nason, Pieter [Ill.]: The paintings by Pieter Nason in polish collections
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18863#0029
for kings and rulers108, also theologians, astronomers and other men of science108, occasionally
also tlieir own family members110 i.e. the persons who enjoyed widely-spread repntation and
whose fame outlived them, prolonging their real existence.
In many a portrait of this type, the persons portrayed seem to confirm the fact by "coming
closer" to the spectator beyond the space in which they were painted, or rather keeping in
mind the aforementioned function of the sili in the Vanilas type portraits — towards the really
existing world. The hand resting on the sili or being behind it outside appears to be a legible
and suitable interference with the essential "communicative" system of the portrayal art:
the portrayed person stands for the past, the spectator for the present.
The fact that the motive was not a coincidence, but constituted an expression of the ever
more popular in the bonrgeois circles of the North tendency to expose their own individualities,
•capable of overcoming the time and death, is proved by its career in the 17th century Dutch
portrait painting. It occasionally appeared in the case of rulers111, whereas frequently in the
portraits of theologians and preachers112, sometimes painters113.
The painting by Pieter Nason also includes a window sili, while the hand "comes out" of
the picture towards the spectator beyond the space in which the man is portrayed. The icono-
graphic significance, of the illusionistically painted hand, reaching out from the painting was
not only to emphasize the "exceptionality" of the model and his possible fame conąuering
the time. Both the elements played as early as in the 16th century only the function of stressing
the illusion of the model "being alive" as well as the ultimate similarity between himself and
his painted representation (necesarry in the case of images of the monumental type). This can
be proved by Portrait of Dietrich Born by H. Holbein the Younger of 1533, which includs the
following inscription under the sili upon which the portrayed person is leaning: "Lend him but
a voice and you will believe that you can see him in his own person, living and not painted"114.
Therefore one can more easily comprehend the cases of adaptation of this iconographic type —
freąuently encountered in the 17th century — in self-portraits, this most documentary kind
of painting, characterized by the free interpretation of the portrayed person, represented as
"being alive" and the detailed elaboration of the model's features and his state of mind. Although
the example of this kind of self-portraits can be observed as early as in Durer's work, they
became common in Holland in the 30th of 17th century, comparing Rembrandt's engraving
of 1639 and its oil version (London, National Gallery); a similar case is a self-portrait of Gerb-
rand J. van de Eeckhout of 1647 or in the graphic art of Nicolaes de Helt-Stockade (Holl-
stein IX, p. 12).
Neither the likeness of the ruler nor a scientist .or a theologian can be taken into considera-
tion in the discussed painting by Pieter Nason. The lack of attributes of power as well as the
fact that for portraits of rulers Nason employed the typical iconographic scheme very much
like that used by G. Honthorts eliminate the first possibility. The Portrait of Descartes painted
by Nason himself towards the end of the 40s (!) (Dublin collection of James Murnaghan, photo —
108. Cf. a well-known portrait of Venetian doge, Giovanni Bellini, in the London National Gallery collection; also Portrait
of Emperor Maximilian I by Master from Frankfort, (Friedlander op. cit., VII, table 116, no. 161).
109. Cf. Portrait of Paracelsus by Q. Massys. It was copied by Rubens (the copy in the Musśes Royaux des Beaux-Arts in
Brussels) and may have had a certain influence on the application by Rnbens of this motive in his Portrait of Tiberius
and Agrippina in the Liechtenstein Gallery. Some portraits of this type had also a profound meaning of Vanitas, cf,
Portrait of Hermann Huddaens van Minden by Ludger tom Ring the Younger, the Berlin-Dahlem Museum.
110. Cf. Poitrait of the Arlist's Fathsr by M. Hcemskerk in the Metropolitan Museum (New York).
111. Cf. Drawings by J. Falck with the Portraits of Louis XIII and his wife Anne (Hollstein, op. cit., VI, p. 224).
112. Cf. A drawing by Rembrandt from 1646, of Jan Gornelis Sylvius (Hollstein, op. cif., XIX, B, 280). At times, also scholara
could be portrayed in this way; still a typical pattern followed by their portraits in the 18th century is "a picture within
a picture"; see Portrait of a Mathematician by F. Boi in the Louvre (Paris).
113. Cf. Portrait of Herman Saftleoen an engraving by J.G. Bronchorst (Hollstein, s.d., p. 230).
łl4. U. Christoffel, Hans Holbein D.J., Berlin, s.d., p. 99.
23
also tlieir own family members110 i.e. the persons who enjoyed widely-spread repntation and
whose fame outlived them, prolonging their real existence.
In many a portrait of this type, the persons portrayed seem to confirm the fact by "coming
closer" to the spectator beyond the space in which they were painted, or rather keeping in
mind the aforementioned function of the sili in the Vanilas type portraits — towards the really
existing world. The hand resting on the sili or being behind it outside appears to be a legible
and suitable interference with the essential "communicative" system of the portrayal art:
the portrayed person stands for the past, the spectator for the present.
The fact that the motive was not a coincidence, but constituted an expression of the ever
more popular in the bonrgeois circles of the North tendency to expose their own individualities,
•capable of overcoming the time and death, is proved by its career in the 17th century Dutch
portrait painting. It occasionally appeared in the case of rulers111, whereas frequently in the
portraits of theologians and preachers112, sometimes painters113.
The painting by Pieter Nason also includes a window sili, while the hand "comes out" of
the picture towards the spectator beyond the space in which the man is portrayed. The icono-
graphic significance, of the illusionistically painted hand, reaching out from the painting was
not only to emphasize the "exceptionality" of the model and his possible fame conąuering
the time. Both the elements played as early as in the 16th century only the function of stressing
the illusion of the model "being alive" as well as the ultimate similarity between himself and
his painted representation (necesarry in the case of images of the monumental type). This can
be proved by Portrait of Dietrich Born by H. Holbein the Younger of 1533, which includs the
following inscription under the sili upon which the portrayed person is leaning: "Lend him but
a voice and you will believe that you can see him in his own person, living and not painted"114.
Therefore one can more easily comprehend the cases of adaptation of this iconographic type —
freąuently encountered in the 17th century — in self-portraits, this most documentary kind
of painting, characterized by the free interpretation of the portrayed person, represented as
"being alive" and the detailed elaboration of the model's features and his state of mind. Although
the example of this kind of self-portraits can be observed as early as in Durer's work, they
became common in Holland in the 30th of 17th century, comparing Rembrandt's engraving
of 1639 and its oil version (London, National Gallery); a similar case is a self-portrait of Gerb-
rand J. van de Eeckhout of 1647 or in the graphic art of Nicolaes de Helt-Stockade (Holl-
stein IX, p. 12).
Neither the likeness of the ruler nor a scientist .or a theologian can be taken into considera-
tion in the discussed painting by Pieter Nason. The lack of attributes of power as well as the
fact that for portraits of rulers Nason employed the typical iconographic scheme very much
like that used by G. Honthorts eliminate the first possibility. The Portrait of Descartes painted
by Nason himself towards the end of the 40s (!) (Dublin collection of James Murnaghan, photo —
108. Cf. a well-known portrait of Venetian doge, Giovanni Bellini, in the London National Gallery collection; also Portrait
of Emperor Maximilian I by Master from Frankfort, (Friedlander op. cit., VII, table 116, no. 161).
109. Cf. Portrait of Paracelsus by Q. Massys. It was copied by Rubens (the copy in the Musśes Royaux des Beaux-Arts in
Brussels) and may have had a certain influence on the application by Rnbens of this motive in his Portrait of Tiberius
and Agrippina in the Liechtenstein Gallery. Some portraits of this type had also a profound meaning of Vanitas, cf,
Portrait of Hermann Huddaens van Minden by Ludger tom Ring the Younger, the Berlin-Dahlem Museum.
110. Cf. Poitrait of the Arlist's Fathsr by M. Hcemskerk in the Metropolitan Museum (New York).
111. Cf. Drawings by J. Falck with the Portraits of Louis XIII and his wife Anne (Hollstein, op. cit., VI, p. 224).
112. Cf. A drawing by Rembrandt from 1646, of Jan Gornelis Sylvius (Hollstein, op. cif., XIX, B, 280). At times, also scholara
could be portrayed in this way; still a typical pattern followed by their portraits in the 18th century is "a picture within
a picture"; see Portrait of a Mathematician by F. Boi in the Louvre (Paris).
113. Cf. Portrait of Herman Saftleoen an engraving by J.G. Bronchorst (Hollstein, s.d., p. 230).
łl4. U. Christoffel, Hans Holbein D.J., Berlin, s.d., p. 99.
23