DOI article:
Tomalak, Mirosław: Two Unknown Paintings by Lodewijk Toeput and Joos de Momper the Younger
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.72800#0143
Mirosław Lodewijk Toeput, Joos de Momper, and the Series of the Seasons
Tomalak
In the 1580s and 1590s, Lodewijk Toeput received several commissions to paint
series of either the months or the seasons. In his Meraviglie dellArte Carlo Ridolfi
wrote that "nella sala di casa Onigo [a Treviso] fece le quattro Stagioni e in casa
de Zigoli i dodici mesi dell'anno".10
Unfortunately, these works have not survived or rather, as suggested by Luci-
ana Larcher Crosato, we do not know any details enabling their identification.11
However, there are other paintings and drawings by Toeput representing the
same subject which we shall now briefly examine.
The only complete cycle of the seasons, preserved in a private collection
in Venice, follows the iconographic tradition of triumphal processions. The
composition of the four paintings is generally based on woodcuts by Mono-
grammist A.P. executed in 1536, now at the British Museum.12 Each season is
represented here by a god or goddess sitting on a triumphal car: Flora personifies
Spring, Ceres - Summer, Pomona - Autumn, and Janus - Winter. The gods are
surrounded by various allegorical and mythological figures. The sky features
the zodiac signs depicted appropriately to each season. This allegorical tradi-
tion was abandoned by Pozzoserrato in his other series in the Villa Chiericati
alla Longa. In the frescoes the iconography of the seasons is combined with the
rhythm of life in a suburban villa, its pleasures, and enjoyments. Thus, instead
of associating the seasons with specific deities and personifications, the artist
depicted them on the example of these human activities which were especially
close to the residents of the Villa, giving them a universal, allegorical dimension.
Both above-mentioned works differ considerably from the Warsaw paint-
ings. They do prove Toeput's interest in the subject and his ability to render
it in various manners, but do not show any compositional affinities with our
landscapes. This does not mean, however, that such works do not exist. On the
contrary, we can point here to at least a few paintings and drawings which are very
close to them: Summer, Rhode Island, Providence Art Museum; Winter (Autumn?),
private collection; Autumn, Warsaw, National Museum, Venus and Amor (Allegory
of Spring), Basel, Kupferstichkabinett.13 A tondo with a depiction of autumn or
10 Carlo Ridolfi, Le meraviglie dell'arte, Venezia 1648, ed. Detlev von Hadeln, vol. 2, 3rd ed.,
Berlin 1914, p. 94.
11 Luciana Larcher Crosato, Di "Quattro Stagioni" del Pozzoserrato e la grafica fiamminga,
"Münchner Jahrbuch der Bildenden Kunst" 1985, Bd. 36, p. 119.
12 Ibidem, pp. 119-130. In her article L. Larcher Crosato gives a thorough overview of Flem-
ish prints which could have influenced Toeput's Venetian series.
13 Heinrich Gerhard Franz, Niederländische Landschaftsmalerei im Zeitalter des Manierismus,
Graz 1969, p. 230, fig. 453; Larcher Crosato, Di "Quattro Stagioni"..., p. 122; Bert Meijer, Αproposito
della Vanitä della ricchezza e di Ludovico Pozzoserrato [in:] Toeput a Treviso. Ludovico Pozzoserrato,
Lodewijk Toeput, pittore neerlandese nella civiltä veneta del tardo Cinquecento. Atti del Seminario
Treviso 6-7 novembre 1987, ed. Stefania Mason Rinaldi, Domenico Luciani, Asolo 1988, p. 121.
142
Tomalak
In the 1580s and 1590s, Lodewijk Toeput received several commissions to paint
series of either the months or the seasons. In his Meraviglie dellArte Carlo Ridolfi
wrote that "nella sala di casa Onigo [a Treviso] fece le quattro Stagioni e in casa
de Zigoli i dodici mesi dell'anno".10
Unfortunately, these works have not survived or rather, as suggested by Luci-
ana Larcher Crosato, we do not know any details enabling their identification.11
However, there are other paintings and drawings by Toeput representing the
same subject which we shall now briefly examine.
The only complete cycle of the seasons, preserved in a private collection
in Venice, follows the iconographic tradition of triumphal processions. The
composition of the four paintings is generally based on woodcuts by Mono-
grammist A.P. executed in 1536, now at the British Museum.12 Each season is
represented here by a god or goddess sitting on a triumphal car: Flora personifies
Spring, Ceres - Summer, Pomona - Autumn, and Janus - Winter. The gods are
surrounded by various allegorical and mythological figures. The sky features
the zodiac signs depicted appropriately to each season. This allegorical tradi-
tion was abandoned by Pozzoserrato in his other series in the Villa Chiericati
alla Longa. In the frescoes the iconography of the seasons is combined with the
rhythm of life in a suburban villa, its pleasures, and enjoyments. Thus, instead
of associating the seasons with specific deities and personifications, the artist
depicted them on the example of these human activities which were especially
close to the residents of the Villa, giving them a universal, allegorical dimension.
Both above-mentioned works differ considerably from the Warsaw paint-
ings. They do prove Toeput's interest in the subject and his ability to render
it in various manners, but do not show any compositional affinities with our
landscapes. This does not mean, however, that such works do not exist. On the
contrary, we can point here to at least a few paintings and drawings which are very
close to them: Summer, Rhode Island, Providence Art Museum; Winter (Autumn?),
private collection; Autumn, Warsaw, National Museum, Venus and Amor (Allegory
of Spring), Basel, Kupferstichkabinett.13 A tondo with a depiction of autumn or
10 Carlo Ridolfi, Le meraviglie dell'arte, Venezia 1648, ed. Detlev von Hadeln, vol. 2, 3rd ed.,
Berlin 1914, p. 94.
11 Luciana Larcher Crosato, Di "Quattro Stagioni" del Pozzoserrato e la grafica fiamminga,
"Münchner Jahrbuch der Bildenden Kunst" 1985, Bd. 36, p. 119.
12 Ibidem, pp. 119-130. In her article L. Larcher Crosato gives a thorough overview of Flem-
ish prints which could have influenced Toeput's Venetian series.
13 Heinrich Gerhard Franz, Niederländische Landschaftsmalerei im Zeitalter des Manierismus,
Graz 1969, p. 230, fig. 453; Larcher Crosato, Di "Quattro Stagioni"..., p. 122; Bert Meijer, Αproposito
della Vanitä della ricchezza e di Ludovico Pozzoserrato [in:] Toeput a Treviso. Ludovico Pozzoserrato,
Lodewijk Toeput, pittore neerlandese nella civiltä veneta del tardo Cinquecento. Atti del Seminario
Treviso 6-7 novembre 1987, ed. Stefania Mason Rinaldi, Domenico Luciani, Asolo 1988, p. 121.
142