Representations of Gender in Seventeenth-Century Netherlandish Alchemical Genre Painting
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REPRESENTATIONS OF GENDER IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY NETHERLANDISH ALCHEMICAL GENRE PAINTING ELIZABETH OWAHONEY TWO VOLUMES VOLUMEI PH.D. THE UNIVERSITY OF YORK HISTORY OF ART DECEMBER 2005 ABSTRACT This thesis exploresthe depiction of genderin seventeenth-centuryNetherlandish genre paintings of the alchemist's or, more properly, the chymist's workshop. Derived primarily from the holdings of the Chemical Heritage Foundation,Philadelphia and the Wellcome Library, London, the paintings examinedby this project representa significant componentof Netherlandishgenre art, neglectedalmost entirely by critics. Of profound significanceto alchemicalphilosophy and emblematicart, genderalso plays a pivotal role in seventeenth-centurygenre paintings of the chymist's workshop. Expounding the nuancesof complex alchemicaldiscourse, this thesis exploresthe dynamic and often binaristic relationshipsbetween the 'male' and 'female' in thesescenes. Structured around the basic contentionthat all representationsof focal femalesin such paintings can be placed into one of four categories- Domestic Disquiet, Domestic Quiet, Patient and Chyrnical Worker - this thesisconsists of four chapters. Investigatingthe four categorizations,these chapters explore the extent and significance of genderedemblematicism in relation to traditional alchemicalsymbolism and Dutch Emblemata. The first chapter examinesfemale disquiet in pictures of the chrysopoeianworkshop and traces emblematic femalesin early modem emblembooks and genreprints. Focusing on depictionsof the feminine ideal in paintings by Thomas Wijck, the secondchapter reinterpretsthe notion of the 'chymical marriage' within genrescenes of alchemicalscholarship. Exploring symbols of alchemicalemblematic art, the third chapter discussespaintings of the iatrochernistand reconsidersthe female as a symbol of fertility. The fourth and final chapter examinesthe depiction of the ostensiblefemale chyrnist in the work of Thomas Wijck and David Ryckaert 1111. This thesis,then, excavatesthe symbolic nature of genderin chyrnical painting, and in doing so suggeststhat alchemicalsymbolism and philosophy might translate,to a limited degree,to genreart. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Volume I Abstract 2 Acknowledgments 4 Note 5 Introduction: 6 Part I 7 Part H 26 Emblemataand Domestic Discord: 45 FemaleDisquiet and Emblematic Intertextuality. H Pater et materfamilias: 74 DomesticQuiet in Paintingsof the Thymical Marriage'. ]ER Piskijkenand Pisse-Prophets: 107 EmblematicWomen in Paintingsof the Chymical-Uroscopist'sWorkshop. IV SororMystica: 143 Factoringthe Female Worker, Maid or Magus. Conclusion 174 Bibliography: Primary Sources. 187 SecondarySources. 192 Volume 11 Iflustrations 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author gratefully acknowledgesthe financial and technical assistanceoffered by the following individuals and organisations: Mr Paul Thomson,London. Mr and Mrs David Thomson, Sunningdale,Berkshire. The Wellcome Trust, London. Ms Maýorie Gapp and the Chemical Heritage Foundation,Philadelphia. Dr Katherine O'Mahoney, London. The Alchemy Web Site, Adam McLean and the Alchemy AcademyMembers. 4 Note: Picture Measurements: Where picture measurementshave beenstated, this thesis has reproducedexactly the information offered by the holding institution. It has beennoted in the courseof researchthat many collectors, in translating measurementsbetween metric and imperial scales,have been inexact in their calculations. In order not to contribute further to this inaccuracy,this thesis doesnot subscribeto a single systemof scale,but replicatesthe measurementsin the conventionadopted by eachinstitution. Catalogue References: To enableeasy referencefor future scholars,this thesis has reproducedthe cataloguing information offered by the holding institution or private individual. Where the opinions of the holding institution and the author diverge strongly, an additional explanatory note is included to clarify andjustify re-attribution. Every care has beentaken to highlight erroneous attribution whereverpossible. Many of the paintings examinedby this thesis belong to the WellcorneLibrary, London. As the Wellcome Library doesnot ascribe titles to many of its holdings, this thesis usesthe short descriptionsprovided by the Library in place of titles. Translations: Unless otherwisestated, all translationscontained within the thesis are the author's own. Author's Declaration: This thesis is the product of the author's original and non-collaborativework. None of the researchor writing containedherein has beenpresented previously in any context. 5 INTRODUCTION Wheresoeverwe have spokenplainly, there we have spokennothing, but where we ' have used riddles and figures, there we have hidden the truth. Through a cryptic and mutable corpus of imagery, alchemistsfor centuriessought to convey, and yet contain, the secretsof the Great Work. Preservingthe alchemicaltruth from "ungodly, foolish, slouthful and unthankefull hypocrites", medievaltreatises encrypted their esotericrituals in obscureallusion to greenlions, white geese,black ravens,black toads, 2 peacocksand hermaphrodites. At the heart of this curious symbology lay the sovereign figures of the White Queenand Red King. Exemplars of a denseand largely impenetrable pictorial tradition, theseantithetical monarchsembody the essentiallybinaristic characterof alchemicalphilosophy. For generations,this peculiar alchemicaliconography was confined to manuscriptform. During the early modem period, however, a new type of alchemicalart evolvedin the Netherlands. With the emergenceof genrepainting, chymical activity beganto feature with regularity in works by the commercially consciousartists of the early seventeenth century. With a similar attention to emblems,their scenesof the chyrnical workshop betray a sharedinterest in philosophiesof gender. Exploring the sharedemblematics of alchemical philosophy and early modem conduct books, this thesis examinesthe depiction of genderin seventeenth-centuryNetherlandish chyrnical genrepainting. This project demandsextensive introduction, due to its interdisciplinary nature and the complexity of alchemicalculture. For this reason,the following introduction is in two parts. Part I outlines the fundamentalarguments of this thesis and expoundsits methodology. In addition, this sectiondelineates current criticism in this area and offers a historical and sociological context for its discussionof alchemicalgenre painting. 3 Furthermore,it presents sometechnical issueswhich have arisen during the courseof research. Part R is concerned solely with alchemy. This sectionserves to explicate the intricacies of alchemicalculture and philosophy in the early modem period. Outlining difficulties inherentto the field, specifically in relation to terminology and definition, this sectionalso describesthe variety and significanceof alchemicalart, and exan-finesthe fernaleprinciple within. 1McLean, 1980: 47. 2 Bostocke, 1585: Sig. CW. 3 The phrase 'alchemical genre painting' is defined fully in section I of Introduction Part 11:31-32. 6 PART I 1 Basic Premise Underpinningall derivative argumentsin this thesis lies the basic contentionthat all representationsof focal femalesin seventeenth-centurychymical genrepainting can be placed into one of four categories:Domestic Disquiet, Domestic Quiet, Patient and Chymical Worker. Investigatingthese four categorizations,the four chaptersexplore the extent and significanceof genderedemblematicism in relation to traditional chyrnical art and Dutch Emblemata. This thesis,then, excavatesthe symbolic nature of genderin chyrnical painting, and in doing so suggeststhat alchemicalsymbolism and philosophy might translate, to a limited degree,to genreart. The numeroussubsidiary conclusionsthat emergeby the close of this thesis are summarizedand clarified in the conclusion. The following sectionoutlines in brief the material substanceof the four chapters. The openingchapter of this thesis, 'Emblemata and Domestic Discord', introducesthe first of four femalecategorizations evident in alchemicalgenre painting. Examining gender dynamicsin the alchemicalpaintings of Hendrick Heerschop,Jan Steen,Richard Brakenburgh,Adriaen van de Venne and Adriaen van Ostade,this chapter exploresthe developmentand origin of specific portraits of domesticdiscord and their relationshipto alchemicaltheory. Thesepaintings, which are united through the satirization of their subject, all employ the female in an unequivocalcondemnation of 'chrysopoeia' or transmutational alchemy. The emblemiconography of the period and the prints of Pieter Bruegel the Elder are usedto explore the broader cultural resonanceof genderedsymbols in theseworks. By contrast, Chapter111, 'Pater et materfamilias', examinesscenes of 'esoteric' or, in this case, scholarly alchemy. Thesescenes are consistentlycharacterized by themesof domestic harmony and genderequilibrium. Expressingthe domesticideals of the Republic, these paintings, principally by the Dutch painter Thomas Wijck, convey an admiration for measured alchemicalscholarship. Here, the thesis considersimages of femaledomesticity and male scholarshipin relation to their chymical context. In line with Chapter I, the male and female are located within an emblematictradition and, specifically, within a wider systemof alchemicalsymbology. Chapter 191encompasses a separatebranch of chymistry in its analysis of 'iatrochemical', or rnedical-alchernical,paintings. 'PisIdjken and Pisse-Prophets'evaluates the fermle as a 7 symbol of fertility and pregnancy. More specifically,