Bulletin du Musée National de Varsovie (19.1978)

iiowever, of a specific meaning. Thus, conforming to contemporary Dutch aesthetie ideas,
the movement of the figurę in the picture manifested his emotions and spiritual diversity
(in this sense Rembrandt's words from his 3rd letter to Huygens were interpreted: "...die
meeste ende die naetuerreelste beweechgelichheyt"— see: S. Slive Rembrandt and His
Critics 1630—1730, The Hague, 1953, p. 36ff). In portraits this movement was expressed
by gesture, obvious at the beginning — in the forties of the 17th c. gradually becoming
ever morę elegant and melancholy. The Poznań picture belongs to the type of the Dutch
Arcadian portrait from the period when the traditional shepherd's costume was replaced
by fashionable clothing in the style of "van Dyckschen Grafinnen" and those who were
wearing it were transformed from country maidens into half-divine creatures. At first glance
such highly artificial representations do not have much in common with Arcadia, shepherds
and the kingdom of nymphs. However, Joost van Vondel had up doubts in entitling his
poem, dedicated to the portrait of Maria Luiza Gonzaga, painted by Justus van Egmont
in this very convention: "On representation of the royal fiancee of Poland painted in Paris
as a nymph in a grove, in a golden dress adorned with diamonds and pearls" (see: — R. Wish-
nevsky, Studien zum „Portrait historie"..., op. cit. p. 22, 265). Comparison of the portrait of
a lady from van Perponcher family with other works by Nason similar in the formal ai-
rangement brings out additional evidence on the correctness of the "Arcadian" interpieta-
tion. The already mentioned Portrait of Geertruid van der Werff represents, for example,
a completely legible allegorical image based probably on the allegory of Venusta from C. Ripa's
Iconologia. This would be suggested by the principal attributes accompanying the portrayed
person who was characterized by the painter not only as Venus but also as Pomona,
«vidently in order to emphasize even more her "divinity".

Less interesting though equally instructing is the example of the Portrait of Jacoba van Liere
painted by Nason two years after Jacoba's marriage to Jacob van Wassenaer (1670), from the
coli. Kasteel Hoekelom. Almost identical in the formal arrangement with the Poznań picture,
it has an additional element — roses, the significance of which is surely linked with the
emblem of P. Hooft Love reaching for her fruits (see: M. Praz, Studies in Seventeenth Century
Imagery, Rome, 1964, p. 124). The fact that this is an Arcadian, mythological image is
supported by this picture companion piece representing Jacoba's husband as Mars (in the
coli. Wassenaer-Catwijck).

i) 1. Portret holenderski, 1956, no. 65,ill.; 2. A. Dobrzycka, Malarstwo holenderskie to zbiorach Muzeum Narodowego w Pozna-
niu, Poznań, 1958, no. 93, ill. 77.

Uncertain works or those unjustly ascribed to Pieter Nason

No. 12 Portrait of a Married Couple (fig. 23)

a) o.p. 83 X 65 cm.; lost during the World War II

b) According to a German catalogue from 1940, sign. "PNason 1648"4

c) From the former coli. of the Potocki then Branicki in Wilanów; noted there at time of
Aleksander Potocki1; bought probably before 1821 by Stanisław Kostka Potocki.

d) till 1939 — good

e) unknown

f) unknown

g) Originally, ascribed to Thomas de Keyser1; a long time considered to be an outstanding
work of M. Mierevelt2' 3; sińce the 1940 published in a catalogue as a work of P. Nason
from 16485.6.

43