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Kretzer and His Konst-Kabinet

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Kretzer and His Konst-Kabinet "The eye, the senses and the mind": Marten Kretzer and his Konst-kabinet Gary Schwartz In memory of Michael Montias In 1650 a rhymed description was published of an Amsterdam collection of paintings owned by a man named Marten Kretzer. The poet was Lambert van den Bos (1620-98), an apothecary, educator and language virtuoso who had recently embarked on a long, difficult career in writing.1 Before running aground in old age and ending his days in poverty, van den Bos brought forth a prolific production of plays, poetry, history, journalism and translations. After publishing, at the age of 21, a Dutch translation of the Greek comic epic the Batrachomyomachia (The battle of the frogs and the mice), in the course of the 1640s he had seen his first plays staged in the Amsterdam town theater and had written several epic poems on themes from recent history. One of his commercial successes was the translation in 1648 from the Italian of a book by Alessandro Giraffi on the revolt in Naples in 1647 led by Mas Aniello, which went into five printings.2 By and large, however, van den Bos lived not from his past writings but from his next one, in the form of commissions. MARTEN KRETZER AND THE ARTS The earliest appearance in the documentary record of Marten Kretzer (15983-16704) shows him in a remarkable light. The time was mid-August 1635, on the approach run to the bull market in tulips of 1636-37. We find Kretzer engaged in the purchase of two tulip bulbs, to be paid for with “eleven paintings by various masters and a print by Lucas van Leyden.”5 The seller, Jan Hendricxsz. Admirael, accused Kretzer of failing to deliver all but one painting. Kretzer proclaimed his willingness to come up with the goods, but only after he had obtained assurance that the bulbs were as advertised. This may not have been an entirely sincere condition, since it could not be confirmed until the bulbs flower the following spring. Both Admirael and Kretzer traded in art as well as tulips. The two commodities have a number of things in common. They make a direct appeal to the senses, but their value is dependent on less unequivocal qualities as well. It takes connoisseurship to distinguish the chaff from the corn and market knowledge to know which items are rare enough to command high prices. The marketing of bulbs and works of art depends less on price competition than on creating by rhetorical means a widely shared conviction that this tulip is superior to that, this master to another. This set of properties – sensual pleasure, commercial interest, superior knowledge and the power of the word – also marks Kretzer’s later activities. We hear no more about his trade in tulip bulbs, but all the more about his involvement in art collecting, the art trade, art appraisal and the theatre. Kretzer’s father, Bartelt Cretser, was a soldier from "Oxenfort" (presumably the Bavarian town of Ochsenfurt, near Würzburg, where a number of Kretzers live to this day) who fought for the States army in the 1580s.6 After the tulip-bulb dispute, the outcome of which is unknown, Kretzer manifested himself mainly in connection with the arts. Between 1644 and 1649, he served three one-year terms Schwartz: 1650: Kretzer (1 February jjjj) 1 on the board of the Amsterdam town theatre: 1644/45, 1647/48 and 1648/49.7 During this period several plays were dedicated to him by their authors. Two were comedies: Leon de Fuyter's Verward hof (Confusion at court, a translation of the Spanish play El palacio confuso; premiere 19 September 1647) and Arnold Boelens' Bedrogen vrijer (Deceived lover; 18 January 1649), jointly dedicated to Kretzer and his fellow board member Jan Meures. The posthumous edition of Jan Harmensz. Krul's tragedy with a happy ending Tirannige liefde (Tyrannical love; 25 November 1647) has a dedication by Symon Engelbrecht to "Geeraerd Brand, Marten Kritzer en Kaspar Venkel" as the incumbent theatre board. Two other authors credited Kretzer with having provided the material for plays of their own: van den Bos for the comedy Lingua (14 September 1648, to be discussed below) and the actor-author Adam Karelsz. van Germez for Eduard of d'eerbare weduwe (Eduard or the virtuous widow; 27 November 1657). Kretzer volunteered his organizational talents to new as well as existing bodies. The director of the theatre, Jan Vos, cited "Kretser's advice" as the inspiration for the forming of the Brotherhood of Painting that had a celebratory gathering on 21 October 1654. In a publication of Thomas Asselijn's play "Broederschap der Schilderkunst," written for and produced on that occasion, the Brotherhood is said to have been founded by "M. Kretser, B. van der Elst, N. van Heldt Stockade, [and] J. Meures." The two well-known painters Bartholomeus van der Helst and Nicolaes de Helt Stockade are here sandwiched between two former members of the theatre board who had earlier been joined in the dedication by Arnold Boelens.8 Although poets had no formal place in the Brotherhood of Painting (as opposed to the abortive Union of Apelles and Apollo of 1653), the involvement of Asselijn and Vos as well as Kretzer and Meures reveals it to have had a bridge function between the dramatic and visual arts. In the field of painting it would be a mistake to consider Kretzer a well-meaning amateur. The guild of St. Luke, of which he must have been a member, called him in at least three times to perform appraisals of important painting collections.9 Among them was the collection of the dealer Johannes de Renialme (ca. 1600-1657).10 On that occasion Kretzer and the painter Adam Camerarius signed the record appraisal of 1500 guilders for Rembrandt's Christ and the woman in adultery. In one newly discovered document Kretzer is actually referred to as a “fijnschilder” – a painter in the highly detailed mode associated with Gerard Dou.11 A close association of Kretzer with at least one painter – the still-life and genre painter Pieter van den Bosch (1612/13-after 1663), a fijnschilder himself – is firmly documented.12 On 4 January 1645 he and van den Bosch signed a contract that Abraham Bredius, who published it in 1934, called “curious”: “Pieter van den Bosch will be beholden, as he committed himself (and Mr. Kretzer has accepted), to come to the house of the aforesaid Mr. Kretzer every day from the coming first of February until 1 February 1646, on long days (except Sundays, two days at Christmas, two at Pentecost, two at Easter, one at Ascension as well as any special days of penitence may be decreed by the States-General during this period [none were]), from seven in the morning until seven o’clock in the evening, and on short days from dawn until dusk, and during this time to work conscientiously and diligently (to the best of his ability) painting any and all pieces as the aforesaid Mr. Kretzer may order Schwartz: 1650: Kretzer (1 February jjjj) 2 and desire from him.”13 Should van den Bosch find the strength to work during his time off, he was required to offer the results to Kretzer at the same rate he earned during the week. This may sound overdemanding (Bredius pitied the poor painter), but a work week of 72 hours was not unusual at the time. Moreover, van den Bosch's pay was exceptionally high: 23 guilders for the first 51 weeks and 27 for the last week, or 1200 guilders in total, in a period when even the most skilled hired workers, such as ship's carpenters, earned barely half that amount.14 The contract places Kretzer on the high side of the scale between "mecenaat" (benevolent patronage) and exploitation. At the same time it reveals how business-like patronage could be. The agreement was certified by an Amsterdam notary with his own interests as collector and patron, Joris de Wijze. Fifteen years later de Wijze himself entered into a similar relationship with Emanuel de Witte, and this time it was Kretzer who did the paper work. On 30 April 1670 Kretzer declared that he was the one who, in his own home, had drafted the contract governing the relations between the notary and the painter. De Witte was to live in with de Wijze and to receive from him 800 guilders a year as well as room and board, presumably in exchange for his entire production.15 The arrangement probably commenced around 1660; a time limit is not specified. The amount of the emolument goes once more to show that Kretzer was far from parsimonious in his patronage of Pieter van den Bosch. The same conclusion can be drawn from a number of similar contracts from these years. In 1649 the Haarlem painter Gerardus Berleborch put his colleague Lambert Jansz. to work for a year on terms of this kind for a total of 240 guilders.16 In 1663, in Bergen op Zoom, Maria Willeboirts Bosschaert took on the services of the young painter Jacobus van den Creke for six months at the substandard rate of 24 guilders in all.17 Further light on deals of this nature is shed by a document in the archives of the Haarlem guild of St. Luke. In 1642 a heated debate was going on concerning the attempt of the township and the guild to regulate and curb public sales of art. The old guard, led by Frans Pietersz. de Grebber, submitted a 29-point petition in favor of a liberal policy towards art sales.
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