5

MOLLY FARIES

A woodcut of the Flood re-attributed to Jan van Scorel*

It was most likely in the summer of 1520 that Jan van Scorel returned to from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The young Dutchrnan then visited several other Italian cities, as Carel van Mander tells us, before travelling on to where he became curator of the Belvedere collection under Adrian VI. To Van Mander and subsequent art historians, Scorel's contact with Italian art during the early 1520s was of fundamental importance, for it established the painter as the major proponent of Italianate style in the north- after his return to in 1524. Italian influence is an often-considered topic in Scorel litera- turc : although outright copies of Italian works are infrequent in Scorel's career, the artist clearly knew Venetian and Roman works, especially Raphael's logí?ie, and compositions by Giulio Romano and Pcruzzi.1 Additions to Scorel's ()el4lr(, have been made steadily since the monographic studies early in this century, 2 but it is not surprising that somc of Jan van Scorel's compositions should have remained unrecognized, especially if long mistaken as Italian. The Flood (fig. 1) has usually been considered Venetian, perhaps executed by one of Titian's woodblock cuttcrs, Nicolo Holdrini.3 It is here re-attributed to Jan van Scorcl. The Flood is a large woodcut in two shccts. Copies in reverse and in the original direction also exist, some bearing the monograrn of the later 16th century Italian publisher and printer, Andrea Andreani. Although the two versions of the print differ slightly in size, the borders are original, even if retouched as they were in the examples I was able to study. The Metropolitan's example of the original has also been tinted in imitation of a chiaroscuro woodcut, but the print was certainly planned without any additions in color.4 The Andreani copy undoubtedly contributed to the basic categorization of the woodcut as Italian, yet the proble- matic nature of its style was conceded when it was included in the 1976/77 exhibition, Titan and the Venetian Woodcut. The attribution of the design to either Titian or Palma Vecchio (perhaps because of his bathing scenes) has never been fully accepted. The catalogue entry, in addition, alludes to the print's northern S aspects: it evokes 'a different world, that of Durcr.' The scene depicted is the deluge described in Genesis 8:6. Couples and nude figures cling to a narrow tonguc of land in the foreground while across the water tiny figures clambor up a distant shorc to try to reach the top of a pyramid standing before other ancient ruins. Throughout the composition many of the distraught and frightened turn to glance or gesture towards the ark floating on the water which will eventually inundate the entire setting. The rising water has already claimed a number of victims, including a dog and a horse, and it stretches upward on a diagonal to a wide expanse near the horizon. The Flood has often been interpreted as the symbolic parallel for the Baptism of Christ, and the ark seen as a prcfiguration of F.cclesia; but Scorcl's vision recalls 6

the eschatalogical sense of the verses of Matthew 24:37-39: '...and they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.' Like another slightly earlier northern European interpretation of the Flood, Hans Baldung Grien's painting of 1516 (fig. 2), Scorcl's composi- tion stresses the unrelenting obliteration of earthly life over any hope of salva- tion. In the interesting subject of Mankind Before the Flood that develops slightly later in the Netherlands in the 16th century, the warning of impending doom continues to be the basic thcine.6 Rather than thc combination of the events of the deluge and the recession of the water which sometimcs occurs in Italian versions,7 the subject of Scorel's Flood seems to be the mornent when the damned recognize that the ark will forever be inaccessible to them. A painting in the Prado of the same subject has in fact been attributed to Jan van Scorel (fig. 3). The large panel has never been accepted as an autograph work, but perhaps it should now be regarded as the work of a followcr, reflecting Jan van Scorel's concern with this subject.8 A number of motifs lI1 the woodcut of the Flood recur, however, in other paintings which arc more secure attribu- tions. The hand-on-thc-hcad gesture is seen again in Jan van Scorcl's Bathsheba in the Rijksmuseum. The antique-inspired ark is similar to any number of ships in Scorel's versions of the Martyrdom of St. Ursula. Moreover, the combination of the pyramid of Caius Sextus with an obelisk, gate, and columns like those from the temple of Saturn is repeated almost exactly in two paintings in Jan van Scorel's circle.9 Compositionally, in the figure types and groupings, and in the handling of the 7

1 Woodcut after Jan van Scorcl, The Flood, New York City, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1935 (35. 19a-b).

2 Hans Baldung Grien, The Flood, panel dated 1516, Bam- berg, Staatsgalerie.

landscape, the Flood relates most directly to Scorcl's Baptisnz (fig. 4), implying a common date during the artist's Haarlcm period (1527-30) for the two works.l° In both compositions figures assume contrived poscs near the water's edge in the foreground while diminutive forms arc used as a space-crcating de- vice in the background. Like the Jordan river in the Baptism, the flood waters follow a strong diagonal into depth. The shapes of tree trunks and foliage, including Scorel's characteristic 'dripping' limbs, distant cityscapes and moun- tains are similar in the two works. Italian motifs abound in both the Flood and the Baptism, and in some cases, the artist referred to the same models. Scorel certainly knew 's most famous works, for his Entry c f Clvrist into Jerusalem obviously derives from Michelangelo's Deluge on the Sistine Ceiling." The Cascina cartoon, though weakly reflected in the Flood as the 1976/77 catalogue states, exerted a stronger influence on the Baptism, as evidenced in the background figures in particular. 12 Nonetheless, the influence of Raphael may be more pervasive. Raphael's Mirac- ulous Draught of Fisyies is certainly the ultimate source for the bending male figures in both the Flood and the Baptism.13 The female figures and facial types, which in the Baptism were described by Van Mander as (flracelUcke Raphaelsche tronikens 14 (graceful Raphaelesque faces) belong to the same family of forms. The woman who holds her hair out to one side in the Flood is in fact in the same pose (although seen from behind) as Scorel's Lucretia, a painting which also dates from the period and derives in turn from a Rairnondi print after 15 a design by Raphael. The pose of the male figure near the middle of the Flood, also seen from behind, is similar to one of the executioners in Raphael's Judgment of Solomon, and the xvonian with outstretched arms in the tniddleground seems likely to have been taken from Raphael's Fire in the Borgo.16 Aside from the possible reference to dying gladiator poses and the influence of several of Jacopo 8

de Barbari's prints (which might account for some of the Italo-Germanic refer- ences in the Flood), the figure style in this woodcut seems to rely more heavily on Raphael's idiom. It is now known that the Baptism established the landscape formula used by Scorel throughout the rest of his career and that it (and thus the Flood, too) was a rcworking of the earlier Tobias and the Angel (d. 1521, fig. 5), a painting exc- cuted during or just after Scorel's stay in Venice. 17 In the compositions from the Haarlem period Scorel retained the overlapping, and alternately light and 9

3 Follower ofJan van Scorel?, The Flood, Madrid, The Prado.

4 Jan van Scorel, The Baptis1rlof Christ, Haarlem, Frans Halsmu- seum.

5 Jan van Scorel, Tobias and the Angel, panel dated 1521, on loan to Diisseldorf, Kunstl11u- seum.

dark landscape strata to create depth, but they were coordinated along one dominant rcceding diagonal. The Baptism and the Flood may also revive (and express more overtly) the figure types Scorel was formulating for the first time in the Tobias and the Angel. The kneeling and seated male nudes in the lower right corner of the Flood are similar to the poses of Tobias and the angcl. In parti- cular, the figure in the lower right corner of the Flood (as well as one of the boys in the tree), and the angel, betray as their model the famous Belvedere Tor- so, or one of its many painted and printed Renaissance reconstructions. 18 Exa- mination of the Tobias and tlze Angel with infrared light has also revealed that the angel was underdrawn as a nude and that the legs and torso were much morc carefully formed than the arms or the head (fig. 6).19 This indicates not only that Scorcl was assimilating standard Renaissance poses by 1521 but also that he was acquainted with Italian methods of drawing the unclothed figure in preli- minary studies, then draping it as appropriate for the subject of the painting. This interesting insight into Scorel's painting procedure clearly indicates how the artist's studies in Italy continued to influence the more nature figural compo- sitions of his Haarlem years. The Flood, as the 1976/77 Venetian Woodcut catalogue states, conveys the style of the drawn model and was cut with an exactitude which 'would seem to pre- clude an attribution to Boldrini.'2° Parallel lines are used for shading throughout the composition. Those indicating the deepest shadow arc almost straight, as for instance under the projecting arm of the kneeling male or across the chest and shoulder of the boy behind the tree. Other lines curve slightly to suggest thc volume of the nude forms; somc arc sheared off neatly by the knife to form a sharp line between the light and dark sides of a figure. This contrast is espe- cially noticeable in the standing fernale figures; it is also one of the frequently described characteristics of Jan van Scorel's paintings.21 There is some cross- hatching as well as a basket weave pattern in the ground near the three. It is some- what difficult to find the most appropriate comparison for the linear patterns in this print since the woodcut may generalize on the model and since no known independent drawings by Scorel survive from the Haarlem years; yet it is possi- ble to relate the woodcut to what we know of the graphic convention of Scorel's underdrawings from this period. By the time of the slightly earlier Lochorst triptych (c. 1526-27) Scorel's underdrawing relied on zones of slightly curved parallel hatching. There was in this work evidence of a change from the highly textured and stippled pen sketches from Scorel's early travels (c. 1519-21) and of the intervening influence of Oiirer and Raphacl in this underdrawing mcth- 10

' b ,.,

f

7 6 Detail of fig. 5, reflectogram as- sembly of the figure of the an- gel showing the underdrawing in the torso and legs.

7 Detail ofJan van Scorel's Mary Magdalmc in , Rijksmuseum, infrared photo- graph showing the underdrawn hatching in the face. od. 22 Zones of parallel hatching havc also been detected in the undcrdrawing of the Baptism) though the execution is in general much freer. The best c01npari- son rnay be found in the undcrdrawing of Scorcl's Mary Magdalene, another painting from thc Haarlem period .23 An infrarcd photograph revealing the underdrawing in the shaded side of the Magdalene's face (fig. 7) clearly shows the drawing convention which must also have been present in the modcl for the Flood. There are only six known prints after Jan van Scorcl, of which three, including the Flood, are woodcuts.24 Since the number of these prints is so small and since their styles are so diverse, it is as difficult to gain a clear picture of the artist's relations with printers as it is to prove that Scorel cut any of his own blocks. If drawn during Scorel's Italian stay, the design for the Flood could have come into the hands of an Italian publisher, though this is unlikely if a date in thc Haarlcm period (or slightly later) is accepted. Cornelis Bos and Herman van Borculo are Dutch printmakers known to have worked after Scorel's designs, but their graphic work diffcrs stylistically from the Flood. Naming the print- maker may be an almost impossible task since Scorel's drawn model would cer- tainly have influenced the cutting style to a great extent. Nonetheless, when one compares the Flood with the six sheets of the Lion Hurzt, another woodcut designed by Scorel or one of his followers, 25 it is apparcnt that the cutter of the Flood had a much greater facility in the handling of surfacc relief and illumi- nation. The name of Jan Swart should at least be put forward for consideration as the printrnaker of the Flood. Both a printer and painter, Jan Swart has been labelled 11

a close follower of Scorcl on the basis of Carel van Mander's information that the two artists meat. Van Mander even knew of a trip by Jan Swart to Venice, a fortunate coincidence given the traditional attribution of the Flood. The dates of Scorel's meeting with Swart and Swart's stay in Venice have never been fixed, however.26 In addition, a comparison of the Flood with Swart's well- known woodcut of the Christ's Sermon from a Ship, usually dated ca. 1528, re- veals that similarities arc limited to the basket weave pattern in the ground and tufts of grass ending with spiraling lines, areas where standardized cutting tech- niques arc most likely to be applied. The suggestion that Swart cut the block for the Flood must therefore remain hypothetical until Swart's career can be more clearly established. If the rcattribution of the Flood to Scorel gains accep- tance, however, the woodcut would not only be a record of a major, but now lost, composition by this master, but it would also be one of the most accom- plishcd graphic reproductions of Jan van Scorel's work.

NOTES * This article would not have been possible if Anne sides. Because of the way the sheets are presently Markham Schulz, who first saw the print at the hinged, I was not permitted to examine the prints exhibition cited in note 3, had not been curious and for watermarks, but the museum's object file gracious enough, in the spring of 1982, to ask me if states that there is no evidence of watermarks. I agreed with her attribution of this woodcut to Jan The Metropolitan's Andreani copy is backed. The van Scorel. British Museum, as Assistant Keeper Martin Royalton-Kisch has kindly informed me, has the ' This topic and the relevant literature have been original (reg. no. W5-59) without watermark, conveniently summarized in two theses: P. A. the Andreani copy, second state (1935-2-265)and Billings,jati van Scorel in Italy, Master's thesis, backed, and two impressions in the same direction New York University, 1967; and M. Faries,Jan as the original (rcg. nos. 1878-8-8-1368 and van Scorel,His Style and Its HistoricalContext, T)is- 1 R9S-1-22-120S),both without watermarks. As of sertation, I3ryn Mawr Collegc, 1972, esp. eh. 11. this writing no further information was available about any watermarks in the Paris and Amster- 2 Many additions to Scorel's oem>rewere included dam impressions. Interestingly, the above Verre- in the exhib. cats. Utrecht, Centraal Museucn, Jan fiatl Woodcutcatalogue (op. cit. note 3) mentions vart Scorel, 3 August-30 October 1955; and that the impression of the original print in the Utrecht, Ccntraal Museum, Jnn van Scorel ill Bibliothcque Nationale has been inscribed, 'Titien Utrecbttand Douai, Musée de ]a Chartreuse, jail in. Holbcin gr.' The Metropolitan woodcut also van Scoreld'Utrecht, 5 March-17 July, 1977, which has an inscription on the reverse; although the presented to the public the important Mar- first two words are illegible, the third is; 'Schorel.' chiennes polyptych, re-discovered by the director It was not possible to photograph this inscription of the Douai museum, J. Guillouet. Recently because of the way the sheets arc presently Christa Mackert located a Scorel workshop draw- hingcd. ing of Christ irt the Cardern Gethsemt1/!e,and the forthcoming study of pigments and painting tech- 51). Rosand and M. Muraro, op. cit. note 3, cat. niques in the Scorel group by M. Faries and J. R. J. nos. t10-81. van Asperen de Boer will include two previously 6 unpublished panels. For quick reference to the iconography of the Flood, see cd. E. Kirschbaum et. al., Lexikol1der 3 D. Rosand and M. Muraro, exhib. cat. Titian christ lichenIkol1ographie, Rome, Freiburg, Basel, and the Venetian Woodcut, 1976/77, cat. nos. Vienna, 1972, Vol. 4, cols. 161-163, 'SintHut.' 80-81. The painting by Hans Baldung Gricn (B. van Tercy, herzeichnis der Gemdldedes Hans BaldI/II}? 4 The only impressions of this print I have been Grien [Studien zur deutschenKtifis(qeschiclite, Vol. able to study at first hand are those in the Print I], Baden-Baden, 1960, pp. 11-12) is mentioned Room of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in by both L. Rcau, Iconogrnphiede l'art chrétien, New York City: the original, inv. no. 35.19a-b, Paris, 1956, Vol. 11,pp. low-109 and K. Kiinstlc, and the Andreani copy, inv. no. 18.17.3-151 (see Ikonographieder christlaclvernKUl1st, Freiburg, 1928, D. Rosand and M. Muraro, op. cit. note 3, cat. Vol. I, pp. nos 80, for an illustration of the original and 81, for another Andreani copy in the Boston J. Pope-Hennessy, Paolo Uccello,London, 1969, Museum of Fine Arts). Under the magnifying p. 147, describes the two scenes in Uccello's cycle; glass, it is clear that the two sheets of the original and Leo Steinberg has suggested that Michelange- have been tinted with yellow, then heightened lo's famous fresco on the Sistine Ceiling is a con- with white. Many of the black printed lines have flation of several separate moments in time (Mel- also been reinforced, though the original borders lon Lectures, National Gallery of Art, Wash- can be detected beneath the retouching on all four ington D.C., May-June 1982). 12

8 Thc Flood in the Prado (cat. no. 1515) was first instance, in Raphael's ceiling of the Stallza delia published and illustrated by G. duck, 'A propos Segnatura(Oppé op. cit. note 15, pi. 99); the seated dc quelqucs peintres neerlandais du XVIe sieclc,' Mars in Marcantonio Raimondi's engraving (d. Gazette des Beaux.Arts, vl' periode. XVI (193fi), 1508, B. XIV, 257, 345); and, though not pre- pp. 196-199 and fig. 3: on p. 198 Gliick makes the viously noted, the seated servant in Titian's interesting rcmark that the Prado painting, ...cc woodcut of the Sacrificeof Abrallam, ca. 1514-15 qui rne faitpercser à une gravure sur bois de Boldrini, (D. Rosand and M. Muraro, op. crit.note 3, cat. dont 1'irtnerrtionci ete'récemmolt attribuée par Wilhelm no. 3A-B). Suida Palina Vecchio.I know this work only through a photograph. author and J.R.J. van Aspcren de Boer examined the Tobias alld the AII,Relwith infrared yIllustrations of these paintings can be found most reflectography Aug. 16, 1978; both would like to easily in exhib. cat. Scorel 1955,op. cit. note 2, cat. acknowledge the kind assistance of Dr. H. nos. 18, 51, 55, and 103. The rediscovered wing Alth6fcr in the conservation laboratory of the with the Martyrdomof St. Llrsrllafrom the Mar- KutlStmuseum,Düsseldorf, during that examina- chiennes commission is pictured in exhib. cat. tion. Other findings were reported by Faries in Scorel 1977,op. e-it.note 2, cat. no. 32. The antique the 1980 color conference (op. cit. note 10). ruins recur in the Good Smnarifall in the Rijksmuseum and in the Visscher van der Cheer 2oD. Rosand and M. Muraro, op. cit. note 3, cat. triptych in the Cmfraal Museum, Utrecht (lacking nos. 80-81. the pyramid and obelisk, however). 2' Carel van Mander in fact criticized Scorel'ss 10 Forthe Baptism,see exhib. cat. Scorel 1955,op. harsh lighting; for a plausible explanation of this cit. note 2, cat. no. 19; and Faries, op. cit. note 1, early text, see H. Miedema, Karel vcartMartder, pp. 81 ff.The painting is also the focus of a forth- Den grotidtder edel vryschilderconst, Utrecht, 1973, coming article by Faries, 'Some results of recent Vol. II, p. 600. Scorel research: Jan van Scorel's definition of landscape in design and color,' A Conferencenrn 22 For Janvan Scorel's underdrawings in general, Color and 1'eclzraiq?.tein Renaissance Paintirng, Tcm- see M. Faries, `Underdrawings in the workshop ple University, Philadelphia, PA., September production of Jan van Scorel, A study with 22-23, 1980, to be published by Princeton infrared reflectography,' Nederlallds Klmsthisto- University Press. rischjaarboek, XXXVI (1975), pp. 89-228; fig. 7 in this article illustrates the typical underdrawing " The derivation from Michelangelo is noted in in the Lochorst triptych; for the particular discus- exhib. cat. Scorel 1955,op. cit. note 2, cat. no. 11. sion of the influence of Diirer and Raphael on Scorel's underdrawing convention, see Faries, op. '`Faries, op. cit. note 1, pp. 81ff; and Faries, op. cit. note 1, pp. 76-79. cit. note 10. 23 For the underdrawing of the Baptism and the "Faries, op. cit. note 1, pp. 81ff, and Faries, op. Mary Magdalelle,see Faries, op. cit. note 22, pp. cit. note 10. 93-105 and figs. 2-3, and 13b. 24 1" Carel van Mandcr, Het Schilder-Boeck,Haar- Schele, Corrtelis Bos, A study the or(Rillsof lem, 1604, fol. 235v (Davaco facsimile edition, the Netherland Grotesque, Stockholm, 1965, pp. Utrecht, 1969). 115-116, no. 19, discussesBos' engraving (d. 1547) of the IsraelitesCarrying the Ark Acrosstlte jordall 15 Berlin, Staatliche Musem PreussischerKulturbe- after Scorel. The cxhib. cat. Scorel1955, op cit. note sitz, Catalogue of Paintings, 2nd rev. ed., Berlin- 2, includes Jacob Matham's Tran.ifiguratiollafter Dahlem, 1978, p. 406, cat. no. 644B. Scorel (cat. no. 124), and the woodcut of the Lioii Hunt (cat. no. 128). In 1966/67 J. Cr. van Gelder ' 6 For illustrations, see for instance A. P. Oppe, published an anonymous print after Jan van Raphael, ed. C. Mitchcll, New York, 1970, pls. Scorel's Raising Lazarus ('Jan van Scorcl in 107 and 169. Anne Markham Schulz also noted Frankrijk en Vlaatideren', Simiolus, r, pp. 7-8 and the connection with the Fire in the Bojgo. fig. 1); and the cxhib. cat. Scorel1977, op. cit.note 2, includes I Icrinaii van Borculo's woodcut Viewof '?Faries, op cit. note 1, pp. 82-83; and the fuller jerusalem (cat. no. 29). discussion, Faries, op. cit. note 10. 25 Thc Lioii Hiiiit is discussed most fully in J. 18For the Belvedere Torso and its influence, see Bruyn, 'Twee anonyme navolgcrs van Jan van H. Ladendorf, Antikenstudiumund Atitiketikc)pic Scorel,' Oud Holland, LXX (1955), pp. 223-232. (Abhand/utlgder SächsischenAkademie der Wissen- schaftm zu Leipzig, Philologisch-historischeKlasse, '6See for Jan Swart, G.J. Hoogewerff De Noord- Vol. 46, no. 2), Berlin, 1953, pp. 3lff. Ladcndorf s NederlandscheSchilderkunst, The Hague, 1939, fig. 74, a print of 1515 supposedly by Giovanni Vol. II1, pp. 420-476; and M.J. Friedlander, Early Antonio da Brescia, shows the torso with lcgs al- Netherlandish Painting, ed. H. Pauwels and G. most identical to the angel's in Scorel's Tobiasand Lemmens, Leydcn, 1972, Vol. 13, pp. 13-16. the An,Rel.The torso also influenced other works Both illustrate the woodcut, Christ's Sermonfrom Scorel could have known: the seated Adam, for a Ship.