DOI Heft:
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DOI Artikel:Kobayashi-Sato, Yoriko: Hendrick Ter Brugghen's "King David Harping surrounded by four Angels"
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18904#0022
The iconography of the lion appears in so many different forms that it defies accurate inter-
pretation. At times, the same iconography can have completely opposite meanings. One story
that is brought to mind in connection with David is 'David Slaying the Lion and the Bearr
(I Samuel 17 : 34—35), which can also be found represented in painting. This is an episode
taken from David's life when he was still young and dauntless. In this case, as in many of the
phrases involving łions in the Psalms, the lion is depicted negatively as an evil creature that
should be destroyed. On the other hand, in the passage in the Revelations that decribes David
as 'the Lion of the tribe of Juda' (5 : 5), the lion symbolizes the majesty of David the King-
At the present stage, I am not prepared to judge which meaning the lion in David (Fig. 1) embod-
eis. If, as Tiimpel indicates, the seventeenth century Dutch artists were only able to justify the
production of religious paintings by attaching a moralizing content to essentially religious
subject matter49, we cannot deny the possibility that some meaning other than that of a religious
vein may be hidden beneath the surface50.
The Republic of the United Netherlands was founded in 1581. Since that time, the Nether-
Iands has been an officially Protestant nation. The Protestant doctrine, which rejects the wor-
ship of sacred images, deprived artists of their most supportive patron, the Church. Even as
late as 1678, Hoogstraeten lamented, „Ever sińce the iconoclasm of the late century, art has
almost completely died in Holland. As a result, our best source of work, the Church, has been
closed off to us. Most artists are creating insignificant trifles"51. This does not mean, however,
that the production of religious works of art ceased completely in the Netherlands. In fact,
many splendid religious paintings by Dutch artists of the seventeenth century, Rembrandt
among them, have come down to us today52. In seventeenth-century Holland, religious paintings
not only hung on the walls of Catholic schuyl kerken (refuge churches) but, laden with moralistic
and symbolic meaning, decorated the palaces of statesmen, town halls, and homes of the town-
people53.
Meanwhile, with the passage of time, religious works of art gradually infiltrated the Protestant
churches as well. First, they appeared as stained glass windows and then on the organ shutters
and around the pulpit54. For example, on August 14, 1602, two artists, S. Vredeman de Vries
and A. Willaerts, were requested by Dom Kerk to paint David playing a harp and St. Cecilia
playing an organ on the shutters of its organ55. Other organ shutter paintings by the above-
-mentioned Van Zijl (1608, St. Jacobi Kerk), J. van Bronckhorst (1655, Nieuwe Kerk, Am-
sterdam), and Caesar Everdingen (Grotę Kerk, Alkmaar) are also extant. In all these works,
an episode involving St. Cecilia, who is considered the patron saint of musie, or David is por-
trayed.
49. Chr. Tiimpel, Religieuze Hisllrieschilderkunsl, Amsterdam, 1981, p. 45—53.
50. The above mentioned organ shutter in Jacobi Kerk painted by Van Zijl consists of eight panels. The themes of six of the
panels, including David Playing a Harp and St. Cecilia Playing an Organ, are related to musie. On each of the other two pa-
nales a child (a puttó) is depicted. From their representation with such attributes as an hour-glass, a skuli, and soap
bubbles, we can conclude, they symbolize vanitas, with which musie was then often associated. These are, therefore, a good
example of moralizing religious subject.
51. S. van Hoogstraeten, Inleyding tot de Hoge Schole der Schilderkonst, Rotterdam, 1678, p. 257: „dat de konst, sedert de
Beelstroming in de voorgaende eeuw, in Holland niet gcheel vernietigt is, seboon ons de beste loopbancn, nameljjk de
kerken, daerdoor geslooten zijn, en dc mceste schilders zieh deshalven tot geringe zaeken, jae zelfs tot beuzelingen te schil-
dereń geheelijk begeeven..."
52. Concerning the revaluation of the Dutch history-painting in the seventeenth century, see God en Goden, op. cii.
53. See note 49. In the note of this article Tiimpel mentions that it is necessary to discuss religious painting completely apart-
from the confession of its painter.
54. Idem.
55. M. A. Vente, ,,Muziek ter Utrecht voor en na 1579", Tijdschrift van de Vereniging voor Nederlandse Mużiekgeschiedenis,
30, 1980, p. 114.
16
pretation. At times, the same iconography can have completely opposite meanings. One story
that is brought to mind in connection with David is 'David Slaying the Lion and the Bearr
(I Samuel 17 : 34—35), which can also be found represented in painting. This is an episode
taken from David's life when he was still young and dauntless. In this case, as in many of the
phrases involving łions in the Psalms, the lion is depicted negatively as an evil creature that
should be destroyed. On the other hand, in the passage in the Revelations that decribes David
as 'the Lion of the tribe of Juda' (5 : 5), the lion symbolizes the majesty of David the King-
At the present stage, I am not prepared to judge which meaning the lion in David (Fig. 1) embod-
eis. If, as Tiimpel indicates, the seventeenth century Dutch artists were only able to justify the
production of religious paintings by attaching a moralizing content to essentially religious
subject matter49, we cannot deny the possibility that some meaning other than that of a religious
vein may be hidden beneath the surface50.
The Republic of the United Netherlands was founded in 1581. Since that time, the Nether-
Iands has been an officially Protestant nation. The Protestant doctrine, which rejects the wor-
ship of sacred images, deprived artists of their most supportive patron, the Church. Even as
late as 1678, Hoogstraeten lamented, „Ever sińce the iconoclasm of the late century, art has
almost completely died in Holland. As a result, our best source of work, the Church, has been
closed off to us. Most artists are creating insignificant trifles"51. This does not mean, however,
that the production of religious works of art ceased completely in the Netherlands. In fact,
many splendid religious paintings by Dutch artists of the seventeenth century, Rembrandt
among them, have come down to us today52. In seventeenth-century Holland, religious paintings
not only hung on the walls of Catholic schuyl kerken (refuge churches) but, laden with moralistic
and symbolic meaning, decorated the palaces of statesmen, town halls, and homes of the town-
people53.
Meanwhile, with the passage of time, religious works of art gradually infiltrated the Protestant
churches as well. First, they appeared as stained glass windows and then on the organ shutters
and around the pulpit54. For example, on August 14, 1602, two artists, S. Vredeman de Vries
and A. Willaerts, were requested by Dom Kerk to paint David playing a harp and St. Cecilia
playing an organ on the shutters of its organ55. Other organ shutter paintings by the above-
-mentioned Van Zijl (1608, St. Jacobi Kerk), J. van Bronckhorst (1655, Nieuwe Kerk, Am-
sterdam), and Caesar Everdingen (Grotę Kerk, Alkmaar) are also extant. In all these works,
an episode involving St. Cecilia, who is considered the patron saint of musie, or David is por-
trayed.
49. Chr. Tiimpel, Religieuze Hisllrieschilderkunsl, Amsterdam, 1981, p. 45—53.
50. The above mentioned organ shutter in Jacobi Kerk painted by Van Zijl consists of eight panels. The themes of six of the
panels, including David Playing a Harp and St. Cecilia Playing an Organ, are related to musie. On each of the other two pa-
nales a child (a puttó) is depicted. From their representation with such attributes as an hour-glass, a skuli, and soap
bubbles, we can conclude, they symbolize vanitas, with which musie was then often associated. These are, therefore, a good
example of moralizing religious subject.
51. S. van Hoogstraeten, Inleyding tot de Hoge Schole der Schilderkonst, Rotterdam, 1678, p. 257: „dat de konst, sedert de
Beelstroming in de voorgaende eeuw, in Holland niet gcheel vernietigt is, seboon ons de beste loopbancn, nameljjk de
kerken, daerdoor geslooten zijn, en dc mceste schilders zieh deshalven tot geringe zaeken, jae zelfs tot beuzelingen te schil-
dereń geheelijk begeeven..."
52. Concerning the revaluation of the Dutch history-painting in the seventeenth century, see God en Goden, op. cii.
53. See note 49. In the note of this article Tiimpel mentions that it is necessary to discuss religious painting completely apart-
from the confession of its painter.
54. Idem.
55. M. A. Vente, ,,Muziek ter Utrecht voor en na 1579", Tijdschrift van de Vereniging voor Nederlandse Mużiekgeschiedenis,
30, 1980, p. 114.
16