DOI Heft:
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DOI Artikel:Białostocki, Jan: Foreword
DOI Artikel:Brusewicz, Lech: On the perception of paintings in 17th century Holland
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18898#0007
FOREWORD
From Novembcr 16th, 1981 to March 27th, 1982, Ars Emblematica Exhibition was open in
the National Museum. Its scope was to present to the Polish public specific iconographic pro-
blems of Dutch 17th century painting. It was devoted to its disguised symblism, so much stu-
died in the last decades by international art historical scholarship. The exhibition followed the
way traced by those in Amsterdam (1976) and Brunswick (1978). It combined paintings, prints
and books with illustrations Especially emblem books were given prominence, sińce it was
«mblems that permitted mostly a correct reading of forgotten meanings in Dutch pictures.
On November 28th, 1981 a symposium took place in the National Museum, devoted to the
problems raised by the exhibition. Thirteen papers were presented in which various ąuestions
were discussed — from those of methods of interpretation to those of specific meanings and
motifs. As in 1973, when papers from a seminar devoted to Landscapepainting were all pu-
blished in the Bulletin du Musee National de Varsovie, this time we also intend to print papers
presented, sińce they constitute considerable contribution to research in the field of relations
betw'een art and emblematics.
Jan Białostocki
Lech Brusewicz
ON THE PERCEPTION OF PAINTINGS IN 17TH CENTURY HOLLAND*
To Professor Jan Białostocki
The social function of pictures in 17th century Holland Was based primarily on their morał
valu.es and only secondarily on aesthetic ones. Although, as P. Rubens wrote referring to O. Vae-
nius1, the saying ,,la fin de la Peinture est autant d'eclairer Pesprit que de tromper les yeux,"
was popular among the artists, those responsible for the daily and intellectual life of the Dutch
consciously directed their attention to the non-aesthetic values of paintings. Could it have
been otherwise in a Protestant country where life on earth Was for most of the people an unceasing
f ight with evil, a source of the perfection of self-knowledge, and a search for contact with God ?a
* The preseDt text is an enlarged version of my article published in the catalogue of the Ars Emblematica exhibition held
at the National Museum in Warsaw in 1981.
1. Quoted after Wl. Tatarkiewicz, Estetyka nowożytna, Wrocław—"Warszawa—Kraków, 1967, p. 379.
2. Cf. B. Becker, ,,Coornhert, de 16de eeuwse apostel der volmaakbaarheid", Nederlandsch Arcliief voor Kerkgeschiedenis,
19, 1926, p. 59 ff.
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From Novembcr 16th, 1981 to March 27th, 1982, Ars Emblematica Exhibition was open in
the National Museum. Its scope was to present to the Polish public specific iconographic pro-
blems of Dutch 17th century painting. It was devoted to its disguised symblism, so much stu-
died in the last decades by international art historical scholarship. The exhibition followed the
way traced by those in Amsterdam (1976) and Brunswick (1978). It combined paintings, prints
and books with illustrations Especially emblem books were given prominence, sińce it was
«mblems that permitted mostly a correct reading of forgotten meanings in Dutch pictures.
On November 28th, 1981 a symposium took place in the National Museum, devoted to the
problems raised by the exhibition. Thirteen papers were presented in which various ąuestions
were discussed — from those of methods of interpretation to those of specific meanings and
motifs. As in 1973, when papers from a seminar devoted to Landscapepainting were all pu-
blished in the Bulletin du Musee National de Varsovie, this time we also intend to print papers
presented, sińce they constitute considerable contribution to research in the field of relations
betw'een art and emblematics.
Jan Białostocki
Lech Brusewicz
ON THE PERCEPTION OF PAINTINGS IN 17TH CENTURY HOLLAND*
To Professor Jan Białostocki
The social function of pictures in 17th century Holland Was based primarily on their morał
valu.es and only secondarily on aesthetic ones. Although, as P. Rubens wrote referring to O. Vae-
nius1, the saying ,,la fin de la Peinture est autant d'eclairer Pesprit que de tromper les yeux,"
was popular among the artists, those responsible for the daily and intellectual life of the Dutch
consciously directed their attention to the non-aesthetic values of paintings. Could it have
been otherwise in a Protestant country where life on earth Was for most of the people an unceasing
f ight with evil, a source of the perfection of self-knowledge, and a search for contact with God ?a
* The preseDt text is an enlarged version of my article published in the catalogue of the Ars Emblematica exhibition held
at the National Museum in Warsaw in 1981.
1. Quoted after Wl. Tatarkiewicz, Estetyka nowożytna, Wrocław—"Warszawa—Kraków, 1967, p. 379.
2. Cf. B. Becker, ,,Coornhert, de 16de eeuwse apostel der volmaakbaarheid", Nederlandsch Arcliief voor Kerkgeschiedenis,
19, 1926, p. 59 ff.
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