DOI chapter:
Essays
DOI chapter:Gamberini, Diletta: The Poetry of the Portraits
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70034#0077
Diletta Gamberini
HJF.RONYMO BOSCHIO PICTORI.
ßwdfiiiTndt, Hicrenyrnf 'B'jfchi, „tfrorti? TU Ditis auart*
Jlleoculmtum attouitinf qttiil CretUeri^Limfrrecejfr^
•Pfllor in miyiMtknwrtsfi T^tmusqm domos ■ m qamd)
Sfeilm Erdi ytliimna mim Qmcqmd h<tketfini« imm jftuni
Tarn bene jfrfre dextro.
J Av
Fig. 1: Hieronymus Bosch, in: Lampsonius:
Pictorum aliquot, 1572, Taf. 3
probably the result of those spectral
and hellish visions that the painter
must have experienced, given how skill-
fully he depicted infernal subjects.19 A
comparable textual strategy, which in-
tegrates the portrait by constructing a
narrative exegesis around some of its
visual elements, is to be found in the
verse on Hieronymus Cock. The poet
here explicitly refers to the engraving
and argues that the figure’s somewhat
sluggish quality was the consequence
of its being a post-mortem portrait -
an element on which he elaborates fur-
ther by explaining the meaning of the
skull to which Cock points.20 The visual
apparatus can, in fact, be so central that
sometimes its story and quality, rather
than those of its human subject, become
the exclusive focus of Lampsonius’s
composition. Such is the case with the
text on the portrait of Joachim Patinir,
which topically praises the outstanding
liveliness of the image and then pro-
ceeds to inform the reader about the
picture’s model (a printing plate by Dürer] and authorship (with the attribution
of the engraving to Cornelis Cort].21
Among the manifold ways in which the Effigies capitalizes on the interaction
between word and image, particularly noteworthy is the one that underpins the
likeness of Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen and its epigram (fig. 2]. Already on the visual
level the engraving stands out from the series to which it belongs. First, the illus-
tration is the only one presenting a three-quarter-length figure rather than the
usual half-length format.22 Moreover, as an alternative to the typical plain back-
ground of an indoor setting, the painter is represented against the backdrop of a
landscape whose exotic nature, not apparent from the turreted city it incorporates,
is signaled by a clearly visible palm tree and a small, adjacent, centrally domed
structure. By building on such distinguishing visual features, Lampsonius con-
structs his text. The author recalls how the artist had traveled far and wide with
the retinue of Emperor Charles V, and how during these journeys he had depicted
the sovereign’s noble deeds. The poet also adds that such records were eventually
transposed into precious embroideries - a reference to the drawings and sketches
70
HJF.RONYMO BOSCHIO PICTORI.
ßwdfiiiTndt, Hicrenyrnf 'B'jfchi, „tfrorti? TU Ditis auart*
Jlleoculmtum attouitinf qttiil CretUeri^Limfrrecejfr^
•Pfllor in miyiMtknwrtsfi T^tmusqm domos ■ m qamd)
Sfeilm Erdi ytliimna mim Qmcqmd h<tketfini« imm jftuni
Tarn bene jfrfre dextro.
J Av
Fig. 1: Hieronymus Bosch, in: Lampsonius:
Pictorum aliquot, 1572, Taf. 3
probably the result of those spectral
and hellish visions that the painter
must have experienced, given how skill-
fully he depicted infernal subjects.19 A
comparable textual strategy, which in-
tegrates the portrait by constructing a
narrative exegesis around some of its
visual elements, is to be found in the
verse on Hieronymus Cock. The poet
here explicitly refers to the engraving
and argues that the figure’s somewhat
sluggish quality was the consequence
of its being a post-mortem portrait -
an element on which he elaborates fur-
ther by explaining the meaning of the
skull to which Cock points.20 The visual
apparatus can, in fact, be so central that
sometimes its story and quality, rather
than those of its human subject, become
the exclusive focus of Lampsonius’s
composition. Such is the case with the
text on the portrait of Joachim Patinir,
which topically praises the outstanding
liveliness of the image and then pro-
ceeds to inform the reader about the
picture’s model (a printing plate by Dürer] and authorship (with the attribution
of the engraving to Cornelis Cort].21
Among the manifold ways in which the Effigies capitalizes on the interaction
between word and image, particularly noteworthy is the one that underpins the
likeness of Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen and its epigram (fig. 2]. Already on the visual
level the engraving stands out from the series to which it belongs. First, the illus-
tration is the only one presenting a three-quarter-length figure rather than the
usual half-length format.22 Moreover, as an alternative to the typical plain back-
ground of an indoor setting, the painter is represented against the backdrop of a
landscape whose exotic nature, not apparent from the turreted city it incorporates,
is signaled by a clearly visible palm tree and a small, adjacent, centrally domed
structure. By building on such distinguishing visual features, Lampsonius con-
structs his text. The author recalls how the artist had traveled far and wide with
the retinue of Emperor Charles V, and how during these journeys he had depicted
the sovereign’s noble deeds. The poet also adds that such records were eventually
transposed into precious embroideries - a reference to the drawings and sketches
70