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DOI Artikel:Brusewicz, Lech: On the perception of paintings in 17th century Holland
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18898#0018
in common with ancient or Renaissance humanism, which is exemplificd by a well-known anec-
dote abcrat Zeuxis ąuoted by the popular pastorał poet J.H. Kral. In a short epigram, fuli of
suggestive Word play, he not only brings out thc idea of the vanity of paintings, but moralizes
in an amusing way about women's virtue. ,,Zeuxis (with the inclination of a painter) has deccived
the birds when they flew down (with greed) towards his painting to peck out grapes (painted
by the brush), nothing other then wood and paint was given to the birds; the semblance deceives
(through lust) and desire deceives by the semblance of many; a maid often has nothing which
she ought to share; in short and in conclusion, it is worthy that one ridicules many virgins
being women before wives are made of them"01. It appears from the parable and the accom-
panying commentary that naturalistic paintings were for Krul symbols of sham reality and
metaphors of the world with its deccptive, stupefying influence leading to indecency and making
one an object of ridicule, which every pious peison should avoid. A similar thought also appears
in a treatise by the influential Netherlandish pieacher and poet Jodocus van Lodensteyn:
„You adom your ample hall with the splendour of a painting. It is nothing more, however,
then paint and copy of a vain principal"52.
Deprecative opinions of paintings that called them stupid (maile) and dead pictures (dode
schilderijen) and stressed their passing character and thcir being among things that arouse the
greed of the eyes, were quite freąuent on the pages of contemporary literary works. They were
usually lavishly illustrated, which, for all its pungency, is not devoid of meaning. They were
used not only by avowed moralists and preachers of the type of Revius or Camphuysen but
even by Catholics and poets known for their interest in the art of painting, e.g. Jeremias de
Decker, who was fascinatcd by Rembrandt, or the famous director of an Amsterdam theatre
Jan Vos53. These views were probably well-known to artists especially sińce some of them con-
tributcd to their populaiization. A print from Coornhert's series Allegory of the hope for gain,
after M. van Heemskerck's design, also well known in thc 17th century thanks to Willem Swan-
enburgh's copy54, provides such an example. It shows the devil as a painter painting symbols
of human lust, power and conceit on a heart-shapcd shield. The legend undcr the print reads:
„The devil fills man's heart with vain, worthless things, thus enabling desire to capture him
deceitfully, but the end of the tale brings only sorrow"(fig. I)55.
„We draw joy and pleasure from a painting but is there anything elseinit except the vanity
of things?" asekd Cornelis Udcmans in the poem Op een schoone Schilderije, published in 16 5 956.
Dirck Camphuysen expressed himself on the subject even more acutely in two poems, one of
which, cntitled Against the intellectual stupidity of the art of painting..., was written in ho-
nour of a short Latin work Idolelenchus by his friend Johan Geesteranus. Both poems, included
51. J.H. Krul, Eerlyeke Tylkorling, Haerlem, 1634, p. 58 (Minne-beelden):
Zeuxis (door schilder lust) 't gevogelt łieeft bedrogen:
AIsŁ na zijn seluldery, uyt lust, is ncer gevlogen,
Om Druyven (met Pinceel gemaelt) te picken af,
't Geen aen't gevogelt niet ais hout, cn verwe gaf;
De schijn begrieght (door lust) en lust bedriegbter vele,
Een Maeght heeft dickwils niet 't geen sy behoort te dele:
In 't kort, en tot besluyt, *t is waerdigb dat ment laecbt,
Veel Maegbden Vrouwen zijn, eermen haer Vrouwen maecbt.
52. Quoted after G. Brom, op. cii., p. 260. Regarding earthly things, Lodensteyn held a firm view that Christiana should
»void everything that may lead to sin. However, he had a different aesthetic and religious attitude concerning the beauty
of the human body. Cf. J, C. Trimp, ,,Het loven en de blijdschap bij Lodensteyn", De nieuwe laalgids, 72, 1979, p. 513 ff,
53. Cf. ibid.
54. Cf. I.M. Veldman, „Een serie allegorische prenten van Coornhert met een ontwerptekening van Maarten van Hecms-
kerck", Bullelin van hel Rijksmuseum, XIX, 1971, p. 70 ff.
55. Quoted after I.M. Veldman, Maarten van Heemskerck..., op. cii., p, 82.
56. Quoted after L.J Boi, ,,Rembrandts 'Musicerend gezelschap': een vamtas-aIlegorie", Bullelin van hel Rijksmuseum,
25, 1977, p. 95.
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dote abcrat Zeuxis ąuoted by the popular pastorał poet J.H. Kral. In a short epigram, fuli of
suggestive Word play, he not only brings out thc idea of the vanity of paintings, but moralizes
in an amusing way about women's virtue. ,,Zeuxis (with the inclination of a painter) has deccived
the birds when they flew down (with greed) towards his painting to peck out grapes (painted
by the brush), nothing other then wood and paint was given to the birds; the semblance deceives
(through lust) and desire deceives by the semblance of many; a maid often has nothing which
she ought to share; in short and in conclusion, it is worthy that one ridicules many virgins
being women before wives are made of them"01. It appears from the parable and the accom-
panying commentary that naturalistic paintings were for Krul symbols of sham reality and
metaphors of the world with its deccptive, stupefying influence leading to indecency and making
one an object of ridicule, which every pious peison should avoid. A similar thought also appears
in a treatise by the influential Netherlandish pieacher and poet Jodocus van Lodensteyn:
„You adom your ample hall with the splendour of a painting. It is nothing more, however,
then paint and copy of a vain principal"52.
Deprecative opinions of paintings that called them stupid (maile) and dead pictures (dode
schilderijen) and stressed their passing character and thcir being among things that arouse the
greed of the eyes, were quite freąuent on the pages of contemporary literary works. They were
usually lavishly illustrated, which, for all its pungency, is not devoid of meaning. They were
used not only by avowed moralists and preachers of the type of Revius or Camphuysen but
even by Catholics and poets known for their interest in the art of painting, e.g. Jeremias de
Decker, who was fascinatcd by Rembrandt, or the famous director of an Amsterdam theatre
Jan Vos53. These views were probably well-known to artists especially sińce some of them con-
tributcd to their populaiization. A print from Coornhert's series Allegory of the hope for gain,
after M. van Heemskerck's design, also well known in thc 17th century thanks to Willem Swan-
enburgh's copy54, provides such an example. It shows the devil as a painter painting symbols
of human lust, power and conceit on a heart-shapcd shield. The legend undcr the print reads:
„The devil fills man's heart with vain, worthless things, thus enabling desire to capture him
deceitfully, but the end of the tale brings only sorrow"(fig. I)55.
„We draw joy and pleasure from a painting but is there anything elseinit except the vanity
of things?" asekd Cornelis Udcmans in the poem Op een schoone Schilderije, published in 16 5 956.
Dirck Camphuysen expressed himself on the subject even more acutely in two poems, one of
which, cntitled Against the intellectual stupidity of the art of painting..., was written in ho-
nour of a short Latin work Idolelenchus by his friend Johan Geesteranus. Both poems, included
51. J.H. Krul, Eerlyeke Tylkorling, Haerlem, 1634, p. 58 (Minne-beelden):
Zeuxis (door schilder lust) 't gevogelt łieeft bedrogen:
AIsŁ na zijn seluldery, uyt lust, is ncer gevlogen,
Om Druyven (met Pinceel gemaelt) te picken af,
't Geen aen't gevogelt niet ais hout, cn verwe gaf;
De schijn begrieght (door lust) en lust bedriegbter vele,
Een Maeght heeft dickwils niet 't geen sy behoort te dele:
In 't kort, en tot besluyt, *t is waerdigb dat ment laecbt,
Veel Maegbden Vrouwen zijn, eermen haer Vrouwen maecbt.
52. Quoted after G. Brom, op. cii., p. 260. Regarding earthly things, Lodensteyn held a firm view that Christiana should
»void everything that may lead to sin. However, he had a different aesthetic and religious attitude concerning the beauty
of the human body. Cf. J, C. Trimp, ,,Het loven en de blijdschap bij Lodensteyn", De nieuwe laalgids, 72, 1979, p. 513 ff,
53. Cf. ibid.
54. Cf. I.M. Veldman, „Een serie allegorische prenten van Coornhert met een ontwerptekening van Maarten van Hecms-
kerck", Bullelin van hel Rijksmuseum, XIX, 1971, p. 70 ff.
55. Quoted after I.M. Veldman, Maarten van Heemskerck..., op. cii., p, 82.
56. Quoted after L.J Boi, ,,Rembrandts 'Musicerend gezelschap': een vamtas-aIlegorie", Bullelin van hel Rijksmuseum,
25, 1977, p. 95.
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