Marriage Portraits in the Dutch Golden Age (17Th Century)

Marriage Portraits in the Dutch Golden Age (17th century)

The year was 1585: The fall of Antwerp, during Holland), to which artists, intellectuals, and which the Spanish army defeated the Dutch rebels, financiers fled from the Spanish armies. The new marked the final rift between the Protestant north art of the Renaissance, coming to Holland from and the Roman Catholic south of the “Low Coun- Italy through France, found a haven of refuge in tries”. While the continuing Spanish hold on the cities such as Amsterdam, Haarlem, and The Hague south (i.e. Brabant and Flanders) during and after that emerged as capitals of the “Golden Age” (17th the Eighty Years’ War (1568-1648) caused a decline century), thus marking the swan song of a medieval in this region, there was spectacular economic and era in which southern trade metropolises such as artistic expansion in the north (mainly the province Ghent, Bruges, Liège, and Antwerp called the tune.

1. Nicolaes Eliasz. Pickenoy: Portraits of an unknown man and lady (1636). Panel, London, Richard Green

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Holland was the center of the Republiek der to decorate their homes and to leave behind a Verenigde Nederlanden (Republic of the United mark of their importance. Thus they showed a Netherlands), a state consisting of seven north- lively interest in the portrait as a way of having ern provinces bound by the Union of Utrecht oneself immortalized. For the artists themselves, (1579), with a surface area approximately that of portraits became an important source of revenue. the present Kingdom of the Netherlands. Just as Some of the greatest works, from the brushes of in England the great artistic epoch of Queen Eliz- such painters as Frans Hals, Anthony van Dyck, abeth I (1558-1603) coincided with commercial and Jan Vermeer, were painted for this market. and naval expansion, and in France the golden age In this economically favorable context, mar- of classicism sang the military glory of Louis XIV riage as an institution came to occupy a very (1661-1715), in this Golden Age the Dutch repub- important place in all social relationships: it united lic achieved a position of world power. It devel- not only families but also economic (and politi- oped a vast colonial empire, emerged as a center cal) interests. Therefore, in the first quarter of of international finance, and served as a notable the 17th century a typical form of portrait was cultural center. that of well-to-do couples, in which the spouses Calvinist Protestantism became the officially were represented in two separate and yet com- recognized religion of the republic, favored by plementary paintings, the so-called pendants. Until politics and economically supported by the gov- ca. 1630, the large majority of all portraits were ernment. But a far-reaching toleration was of this type, and their composition and arrange- extended to other religions: although public prac- ment rarely varied. This was not due to a lack of tice of Catholicism was forbidden, private wor- creativity on the painter’s behalf but reflected the ship was rarely interfered with; Jews who fled to social code of the time: although the separation Holland from Spain and Portugal became suc- of the couple into two frames formally repre- cessful in business, especially in Amsterdam. Thus, sented the wife as a separate person with a cer- both this climate of religious temperance and the tain individuality, at the same time her identity economic prosperity of the region drew finan- was merely “reflected” by the husband’s. cial and intellectual talent from abroad which, In these marriage portraits, the spouses are consequently, gave the artistic climate a tremen- commonly depicted in a very traditional and aus- dous boost. tere manner, in which calvinist norms such as decency and dignity, gravity and sobriety pre- “They are not true husband and wife who with dominated. Most often the couple is depicted each other merely consort: standing en trois-quarts (from head to knees) or truly wedded are they who in two frames are as seated in a chair. Hardly ever are any feelings or one light” emotions of the husband and wife evident in their portraits; although their bodies are often The economic prosperity increased social mobil- turned towards each other, their gazes do not ity, from which mainly the old municipal nobil- meet. However, their solidarity can be expressed ity, the bourgeoisie, and the merchant guild ben- by the use of similar attributes or an identical efitted. They introduced a different mentality: source of light illuminating both their faces. the emphasis shifted towards an independent and One of the most known, well-liked, and capa- very practical way of thinking. The nouveaux ble portrait painters in Amsterdam in the early riches set themselves up as maecenas of the arts and 17th century was Nicolaes Eliasz. Pickenoy started looking for new forms of art to manifest (ca. 1588-1655). In 1636 he painted the pendants their newly acquired richness. The art most highly of an unknown man and lady (ill. 1 & 2), which esteemed was painting, commissioned by a illustrate the type described above. Both hus- wealthy upper-middle class who wanted art works band and wife are represented according to the

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2. Frans Hals: Marriage Portrait of Isaac Massa and Beatrix van der Laen (1622). Canvas, Amsterdam, Rijksmu- seum marital conventions of their time, the husband on 25 April 1622, the work is the only one by taking the active and dominant part, his wife Frans Hals that represents a married couple in playing a passive and subordinate role: he is one painting, sitting merrily together in a very wearing a large hat with a wide brim and vig- informal way under a tree in the open air. In orously clenches his fist over his heart; she wears comparison to the traditional pendants of the a rather plain dress without any notable acces- same period, this marriage portrait radiates a high sories and holds her hands in an unpretentious degree of informality, mainly through the smil- way, the open left hand suggesting a certain sub- ing facial expression of the spouses. Their pose is missiveness. harmonious and well balanced: Beatrix bends The oeuvre of the famous painter Frans Hals slightly to the right, a perfect counterweight to (ca. 1581-1666) also includes several marriage pen- her husband. If we compare the position of their dants, but he dared to break through the artistic hands to those of the couple in illustration 1, we conventions in his remarkable portrait of Isaac see that both husbands hold their right hand over Massa and Beatrix van der Laen (ill. 3). Painted their heart, and both wives hold their left hand most certainly on the occasion of their marriage downwards. But while in the first painting these

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3. Anthony van Dyck: Portrait of Anna Wake (1628). 4. Anthony van Dyck: Portrait of Peeter Stevens (1627). Canvas, Koninklijk Kabinet van Schilderijen, Maurits- Canvas, Koninklijk Kabinet van Schilderijen, Maurits- huis, The Hague huis, The Hague

gestures stress the contrast between man and wife antiquity, the thistle was believed to possess cer- (dominance versus submissiveness), Hals’s paint- tain aphrodisiacal qualities, and this interpreta- ing radiates a much higher degree of togetherness tion still remained valid during the Renaissance. because of the less formal pose. Finally, in the background, firmly planted in Beatrix’s right hand is lying loosely but con- Hals’s native Dutch dunes, we see an italianate fidently on her husband’s upper left shoulder, in country house, a fountain, peacocks, and strolling front of a vine surrounding a tree that stands couples2, all symbols of faith and fertility, love and exactly between and behind the heads of the life, set in an idyllic love garden. couple. This is one of the most powerful sym- Although Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) bols of marital faith and commitment in the is not strictly a Dutch painter in the sense that painting. Indeed, just as the tree and the vine he did not live and work in the northern provinces cannot bear fruits without each other’s support, but in Antwerp3, I would like to take a brief so do husband and wife need each other.1 At excursion into one of his works. Indeed, like Beatrix’s feet, the ivy – also a climbing plant that Frans Hals, van Dyck was one of the great mas- attaches itself to a tree or a wall – carries a sim- ters of the baroque era who dared to break ilar metaphorical meaning of affection and friend- through the artistic conventions of the pendants ship. In contrast, the thistle in the lower left cor- in his marriage portraits of Peeter Stevens and ner of the painting is associated with the sexual his wife Anna Wake (ill. 4 & 5)4. The pose of aspects of the marital relationship. Indeed, in both husband and wife, as well as the general

239 INTAMS review 7 (2001) atmosphere of the paintings, are daringly inno- D, F./K, E./V, A.: Naar Eva’s vative: although Anna’s pose is still more con- Beeld; De geschiedenis van de vrouw in de ventional than that of her husband, it is certainly Europese cultuur, Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1987. a lot less formal than that of the unknown lady P, R.: Das Liebespaar in der Kunst, München: in illustration 1 and it well conveys her force of R. Piper & Co Verlag, 1916. character. She is very elegantly dressed, wears pre- V B, P. E.A. (Ed.): Kent, en versint Eer cious jewelry and a hair pin, and pertly holds a datje mint: Vrijen en trouwen 1500-1800, Zwolle: fan made of ostrich feathers in front of her. She Uitgeverij Waanders, 1989. proudly displays her engagement and her wedding V G, D.: Liebespaare Eheleute, Berlin: rings on the thumb of her left hand.5 Edition Hentrich, 1987. Most remarkable, however, is the inversion W, A.K./B, S.J./H, J.S. E.A.: of the right-left placement traditionally reserved Van Dyck: Peintures, Antwerpen: Fonds to the man and the woman, and which had been Mercator, 1990. inviolable until then. The inversion used in these portraits by van Dyck creates a new and dynamic 1 The classic metaphor of the vine surrounding the tree relationship between husband and wife; it replaces is represented for the first time in the work Emblema- the traditional hierarchical relationship typical tum libellus of Andrea Alciato (Paris, 1534) as a symbol of marriage portraits of the early 17th century of the highest affection, i.e. friendship or love that per- sists even after death: Amicitia etiam post mortem durans. with an attitude based on mutual respect and 2 In these strolling couples, the woman walks on the right reciprocity. This is also suggested by the tender side of the man, thus indicating they are engaged, in expression on Peeter Stevens’s face vis-à-vis Anna contrast to Beatrix, the married woman, who sits to her Wake and the way in which he holds his left husband’s left. 3 Anthony van Dyck was born on 21 March 1599 in hand, as if he were presenting his young wife to Antwerp, then the main port of the Spanish Nether- the spectator. lands. 4 Peeter Stevens and Anna Wake were married on 12 March 1628. Custom demanded that the portrait of the young wife was only made once the marriage had officially References: been celebrated. 5 The wearing of the engagement and wedding rings on B, J.: Vlaamse schilders in de Noordelijke the thumb was not a usual Dutch marriage custom of Nederlanden in het begin van de Gouden Eeuw, that time. However, it is found regularly in English por- traits of the late 16th and the early 17th centuries, and it Antwerpen: Mercatorfonds, 1987. th   was adopted in Holland during the 17 century. That D J , E.: Portretten van echt en trouw: Anna Wake was the daughter of an English merchant liv- Huwelijk en gezin in de Nederlandse kunst van ing in Antwerp might explain the early appearance of this de zeventiende eeuw, Zwolle: Uitgeverij Waan- custom in this portrait. ders, 1986. Dominique van Haelst

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