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Gerard De Lairesse and the Semantic Development of the Concept of Haltung in German*

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Gerard De Lairesse and the Semantic Development of the Concept of Haltung in German* Hans Joachim Dethlefs Gerard de Lairesse and the Semantic Development of the Concept of Haltung in German* I. Introduction: Early German renderings of the Dutch concept of houding ‘At the same time I wish painters familiar dealings with the greatest work by Lairesse, who, as it were, puts the palette into their hand, sits next to them, and inculcates in them practice and truth.’1 Gerard de Lairesse’s Groot Schilderboek (1707) was ac- knowledged a degree of authority by the Dresden Academy Director Christian Lud- wig von Hagedorn exceeded only by that accorded to Roger de Piles (‘mon ancien guide’).2 Less generous, however, was Hagedorn’s verdict in his Betrachtungen über die Mahlerey (1762) on the two-volume German translation – Des Herrn Gerhard de Lairesse, Welt-belobten Kunst-Mahlers, Grosses Mahler-Book – which appeared anonymously in Nuremberg in 1728-1730. ‘In the event of a new edition, the German translation of the so-called Great Book of Painting could be once again compared to the original text and the book made more comprehensible by means of correct word- ing, and generally made easier to open up.’3 The translation is attributed to the Ber- lin painter and writer on art Samuel Theodor Geri(c)ke (1665-1730), who translated into German Charles-Alphonse du Fresnoy’s didactic poem De Arte Graphica (1668) 1 Rembrandt, Landscape, c. 1640. Panel, 52 x 72 cm. Braunschweig, Herzog Anton-Ulrich-Museum. 215 Oud Holland Jaargang/Volume 122 - 2009 Nr. 4 100026 Oud holland no.4-2009.indb 215 04-03-2010 17:22:47 and Lairesse’s Grondlegginge ter Teeckenkonst (1701) under the title Kurtzer Begriff der Theoretischen Malerkunst (1699) and Gründliche Anleitung zur Zeichen-Kunst (1705). Lairesse’s Mahler-Buch was frequently referred to in German art theory in the eighteenth century. The appreciation it enjoyed was not even impaired by the anti-classicist Sturm und Drang revolt which began around 1770. In 1784 the book had a new edition ‘newly compared to the original text’.4 The smoother text by the anonymous translator draws, in all important terminological questions, on the first German edition from 1728-1730. Despite Hagedorn’s criticisms, the first translation of theMahler-Buch has its mer- its. This article will highlight these merits and also take a look at the history of an aesthetic concept that was linked to the name of Joachim von Sandrart. In Chapter XIII of the theoretical part of the Teutsche Academie from 1675 (‘Von Austheilung und Vereinigung der Farben’), reference is made to the term which ‘we in Dutch call Hauding.’ 5 Only very few people have mastered this art, which is why, Sandrart goes on, all artists have much to learn ‘especially from the laborious and in this case highly rational Rembrand’.6 In this respect Rembrandt had ‘as it were achieved a miracle / and true Harmony, without the obstacle of some special colour / according to the rules of light / completely well observed’7 (fig. 1). Unfortunately, Sandrart at this point makes no suggestion of his own as to the translation, so that the reader of the Teutsche Academie who wants to know more about this highly-praised concept has to rely on the Dutch tradition.8 The concept ofhouding is given systematic treatment in the chapter on perspective, light and shade (‘Van de houdinge ofte Perspective van Doncker en licht’) in Inley- dinge tot de Al-ghemeene Teycken-Konst by Willem Goeree, printed in 1668. The book was astonishingly successful in the German-speaking territories: in 1669, 1677 and 1723 it was published in Hamburg, and in 1745 and 1756 in Leipzig.9 In the 1669 Ham- burg edition the important poet, language reformer and translator of the German Baroque, Philipp von Zesen, entitles Goeree’s chapter on houding ‘Vom Verschiessen der Dunkelheit / und des Lichtes’.10 One of its central passages runs as follows: Das verschiessen ist dasselbe/ dadurch man dem scheine nach / alles / was in einer Zeichnung oder Mahlerei sich befindet / hinter- und vor-wärts schiessen oder weichen siehet; da doch das hinterste und vörderste / oder das nächste und fern- este / ja was darzwischen ist / sämtlich auff seiner gehörigen stelle stehen bleiben; also / daß man dort das verschiessen und hinaus weichen / hier das gleichsam herannahen und herzuschiessen des raumes / oder der weite und breite des platzes / der zwischen iedem Bilde oder Leibe ledig und offen ist / mit dem auge so natür- lich fassen kan/ eben als wan unsere füße einen zugang darzu hetten.11 Houdinghe dan, om den sin van het woordt en kracht van hare werckinghe uyt te drucken, is dat geene, ’t welcke alles wat in een Teyckeningh ofte Schildery komt, doet achter en voor uyt wijcken, en van her voorste tot het achterste, alles op sijn plaets doet staen, alsoo dat yder dinck sijn eygen standtplaets komt te behouden, ende dat men de ruymte en wijdtheydt van de plaets die tusschen yder Beeldt ofte Lichaem open en ledigh is, wijckende ofte na sich toe-komende, Natuyrlijck met de oogh, als of het met de Voeten toe-ganckelijck ware, kan naspooren, daerom sy dan houdinghe ghenoemt wordt.12 The nowadays little-used term Verschiessen (or Verschiessung or Verschieß) describes the progressive reduction of light, the diminution of colours, the weakening of their strength or liveliness according to variations in distance. In Johann Christoph Ade- lung’s 1793-1801 Wörterbuch, the word is already marked as archaic: ‘nur noch figür- lich von den Farben, mit der Zeit bleicher, schwächer an Stärke und Lebhaftigkeit 216 Oud Holland Jaargang/Volume 122 - 2009 Nr. 4 100026 Oud holland no.4-2009.indb 216 04-03-2010 17:22:48.
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