Noordnederlandse kunstl525 -1580 RIJ KS MUSEUM a m s t e r d a m

Kunst XdenstoA-^

6®

CO =3 CUO _o

•+->(X5 Redactie 03 O J. P. Filedt Kok W. Halsema-Kubes W. Th. Kloek

Metinleidingen door/with introductions by B. Dubbe en W. H.Vroom David Freedberg J.R.J.vanAsperendeBoer, M. FariesenJ. P. FiledtKok

Staatsuitgeverij ' s - g r a V e n h a g e 69

Artandiconoclasm, 1525-1580 The case of the Northern Netherlands

David Freedberg

1 Theory: the question of images Christianity (a fact which appealed to the Reformers of the sixteenth century), but they were rehearsed By 1525 the main lines ofthe argument about in an infinitude of variations throughout the great images that was to torment Europe for the rest of Byzantine iconoclastic controversy of the eighth the century were already firmly drawn. The con- and ninth centuries.® The arguments against images sequences of the argument had their epicentre in included the notion that since God and Christ wer'e the Netherlands; but the rumblings and tremors divine and uncircumscrlbable, It was impossible - would be felt In areas that covered a vast radius, or sacrilegious-to attempt to represent them In from the northernmost reaches of Scandinavia to material and circumscribed form; that the very the straits of Gibraltar and Messina, from the British materiality of the image led to a variety of forms of Isles In the West to Magyar Hungary and onward concupiscence of the senses; that devotion to into the Balkans In the East.' Almost everyone now images in some way obstructed real and direct acknowledges that If there was any single phenome- devotion to saints; that one was dangerously liable non that may be said to mark the commencement to confuse image with prototype, to venerate the of the Revolt of the Netherlands, It was the great image itself, rather than what it represented; that It Iconoclastic events of August, September and was better to have the living image of Christ and his October 1556.^ But it is all too often forgotten that saints In one's mind and heart than to make dead the real target of these events - however they may images of them; and so on.^ The most telling argu- be explained in terms of social, religious and econo- ments in their favour, In the early days, were these: mic motives-were Images: paintings, sculptures, one could have Images precisely because ofthe stained glass, prints; and that in the very period incarnation of Christ. The fact that he was made covered by this exhibition (but especially in the incarnate enabled one to make real Images of him. second and third quarters of 1565) the long-stan- The honour paid to an image referred directly back ding arguments about the use and validity of Ima- to its prototype,® and finally - as Gregory the Great ges, both In the churches and outside them, had was to put it a little later- Images were the books of come to a sudden and threatening head. This is the the illiterate.' Those who could not read would critical background to the present exhibition, along learn the scriptures and the mysteries ofthe faith with a further equally revealing but in fact more by seeing them represented around them. It would painful Issue: What actually happened to the Images be hard to overrate the historical significance of this in 1566 and in the sporadic outbursts of Iconoclasm particular argument. Then, in the middle ages, the in the 1570s, and why were they attacked? three-fold notion that images served to instruct, From the very beginning of the century until his edify and strengthen the memory was emphasized death in 1534, Erasmus expressed some ofthe and elaborated;'" so was the ultimately platonlc most pertinent aspects ofthe problem ofthe use of idea that the material sign could help the ordinary both secular and sacred Imagery. Like many others, human mind to ascend to the spiritual." he criticized provocative imagery and nudity In art; But at the same time the feeling grew that images he objected to drunken or riotous behaviour in the could be abused. Not only were they improperly presence of images (especially on saints' days and used for financial gain, they also proliferated exces- other religious festivals);^ he was gravely concerned sively, rather like relics. Too much money was about the exploltalon of paintings and sculptures spent on paintings and sculptures rather than for gain (in the same way that holy relics were investing in the real images of God, the living poor.'^ exploited); and he had deep reservations about the It was just these arguments, with additions, refine- way in which images were allowed to come in the ments and satirical adornments that were to be way of more direct relations between man and God. repeated over and over again throughout the six- It was preferable to pray to him and to implore him teenth century, from the highest to the lowest without the mediation of Images, relics, and saints levels. In the great princely and royal courts and in in general.^ In these respects Erasmus was no the humblest sermons. To us, many of these argu- different from many other Christian humanists: he ments may seem technical and theological, but it is had no real wish to break with Catholicism, though not hard to imaglae their crucial relevance In an age he saw the abuses of the established Church and of when criticism ofthe malpractices ofthe church led its ministers all too clearly. But his criticism was swiftly to much more fundamental christological firmer in its overall moral stance while at the same and ontological issues. The practical side of these time more benign and genial. It was more learned, momentous questions was embodied in the better articulated and more widely read - despite church's use of religious imagery-which ranged so the persistent but unsuccessful attempts to sup- visibly from sumptuous adornment to the cheaply press his works. More serious and substantive propagandlstic, from unimaginably splendid altar- allegations than these, however, were made by the pieces to scruffy broadsheets. And the issues came three great reformers, as well as by a host of minor to a head In the periodic outbursts of iconoclasm, and usually more virulent writers, like Andreas from isolated acts in the first two decades of the Bodenstein von Karlstadt In Wittenberg and Ludwig sixteenth century to the great German and Swiss Hatzer, the Mennonlte from Zurich.^ The basic movements of the twenties and thirties, the English arguments against images - especially religious and Scottish one of the forties, the occasional images - were old. They dated to the days of early French ones of the fifties and early sixties, and the 70

culminating cataclysm of the Netlierlandish expe- took place throughout the German-speaking coun- the absurd multiplication of relics, and in some riences of 1556. Of all tlie great reformers, Luther tries; and following the final removal of images from cases the problem was identical; he challenged his was the most benign on the subject of images. He Zurich churches in the previous year, Huldrych readers to consider how many paintings they knew was horrified by the outbreal< on iconoclasm instiga- Zwingli gave his views on images most fully in Ein to have been reputedly painted by St. Luke, and ted by his follower Andreas Bodenstein von Karl- Antwort, Valentin CompargegebenlCompar's pointed to devotions to images of clearly apocry- stadt in Wittenberg in 1522. For Luther, the key initial critique of Zwingli's views is unfortunately phal saints. How could images which were so mis- text from the Decalogue Thou shalt not make unto now lost). The great Swiss reformer was far less leading serve as books of the illiterate? Or so unbe- thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing sanguine about images than Luther, and his views coming? After all, prostitutes in their bordellos were that is in heaven above or that is in the earth about them were perhaps to be most influential of often more decently attired than images of the beneath, or that is in the water under the earth' was all for the future development of the reformation. Virgin in the temples of the Papists. Christian ima- to be understood as part of the first commandment, For him, as for the other Swiss reformers, the ges-worship had become no better than pagan and was to be taken specifically in conjunction with Decalogue comprised the full biblical text, and thus image worship. Men and women could only be the insistence that Thou shalt have no other God included the whole of the injunction against graven misled by the sensual materiality of images; better before me'. But in his catechetical writings, and in images. to hear and to attend to the pure word of God. subsequent Lutheran catechisms the injunction on But in the Ansv^er to Valentin Compar, Zwingli These kinds of views were not only disseminated graven images was, in fact, omitted. Whereas for assembled his views into a massive indictment throughout the Netherlands by the early 1560s, men like Karlstadt, the first commandment implied against representational art. Men were not suppo- they were also reproduced and modified - either that one should have no images in churches (or, for sed either to worship or to serve images. There substantially or only very slightly-in any number of that matter, in private houses), Luther's primary were far too many of them in churches and in pri- treatises and sermons. I have concentrated on concern was with the abuse of religious imagery. vate places. They led directly to idolatry. Instead of them because it was precisely these writers who He saw the positive use of illustration both in biblical worshipping God, men worshipped strange gods, informed and stimulated all the others. But let us and in other texts, as a means of instructing the Abgotter. Images were external, material phenome- examine the Netherlandish situation, especially the faithful; he was tolerant of religious imagery in na, leading to false belief, and therefore were no North Netherlandish situation, at closer quarters. churches (although he preferred narrative subjects more than idols, Gotzen. They were not to be tolera- For the whole period we have been examining the to devotional ones), and he does not seem to have ted, unless they were strictly confined to the narra- problem of images was not only topical but crucial; worried too much about secular forms of imagery, tive representation of historical events. In Eine by the time resentment against the Spanish Catho- whether public or private.'^ kurze christliche Einleitung{A brief Christian lic regime came to a boiling-point in the early What he did object to was the excessive money Introduction), Zwingli had said that these were 1560s, the image question had reached its most spent on adorning churches, and the motives for allowed outside churches, so long as they did not critical stage too. It provided every one of those doing so - such as the assumption that the more give rise to reverence; but for ecclesiastical, liturgi- travelling preachers^' who purveyed the doctrines expensive the material image, the higher the spiri- cal, and any kind of spiritual purpose they were of Luther, Zwingli or Calvin in one form or another tual reward. This kind of implicit belief roused the entirely irrelevant, if not downright idolatrous. with a target that may have been theoretical and full force of Luther's ire; it was self-evidently better When the images were finally removed from the theological at fts core but was all too visible and to spend one's money on clothing the poor.'" From churches of Zurich, Zwingli rejoiced in the beauty of mutely assailable in every corner of the Nether- his earliest writings on, Luther returned to these their whiteness.'® lands. If Erasmus's criticism of the use of images issues, which one might generally subsume under The views of Luther and Zwingli were taken up and grew out of his characteristically keen observation the problem of the relationship between the proper modified by a host of other reformed writers inclu- of their misuse, and of people'sfolly in investingtoo use of images and their abuse. The latter was tanta- ding Melanchthon, Bugenhagen, Oecolampadius, much in them both spiritually and economically, mount to idolatry. In addition to the issues noted and Bullinger, to say,nothing of the lesser minds like there were other writers in the Netheriands whose above, which he began to adumbrate in 1514-15, Karlstadt, Hatzer, Thomas Muntzer, Leo Jud and criticism were considerably more severe and whose Luther soon made it clear that everyday Christian any number of minor figures. There is no space to arguments agreed with the main lines of Reformed practice had come to lay too much emphasis on the go into the refinements - or the vulgarities - they thought. In the course of the 1520s, the anonymous cult of saints at the expense of man's direct rela- brought to bear on the great debate about images, author of pamphlet Van den Propheet Baruch tionship with God. This relationship, between image but it is worth recalling them simply as further took the apocryphal prophet Baruch's attacks on worship and the cult of saints, would recur with indices of the widespread dissemination, from one the idolatry of the Babylonians as the pretext for a increasing intensity throughout the century. Ima- corner of Europe to the other, of the kinds of views sustained and passionate attack on what he saw as ges, as he repeatedly reminded his readers, were in we have been outlining. Whether published in book the idolatry of his own times. He did not mince his the end no more than mere wood and stone. The or in pamphlet form, whether heard in sermons in words, transforming a basically Lutheran outlook fullest discussion of images comes in the tract the greatest churches, in barns, or in the open air, into something much more vehement; 'Ende en is Wider die himmlischen Propheten von Biidern few people, regardless of class, could have escaped niet een groote sotheyt, dat yemant meyndt dat die und Sakramenten {Against the heavenly Prop- them; so that everyone had some sense of the heylighen gheerne souden hebben dat men haer hets in the matter of Images and Sacraments) of image question, and no one would have been left beelden besocht, die houte ende steenen 1524-25, where Luther takes his clearest stance on untouched by the grand debate about their institu- zijn....Daer wort nu alsoo groote affgoderije mede the use of images for the purposes of remembrance tional, spiritual, economic or even social status. ghedaen, als oyt metten afgoden der Heyde- and better understanding of the scriptures, and The last of the great reformers to write extensively nen....Ende nu si doot zijn, soo besoectmense, soo where he insists that if there were to be any icono- about images was Calvin. His key contribution to behangtmense met silver gout ende fluweel, ende clasm, it had better be carried out in an orderly the debate may well lie in his insistence that the costelicken cleynodien.als si dies niet en behoeven. fashion, and by order of the proper authorities.'^ injunction against graven images in Exodus 20 and Ende die ander levende arme heylighen, diet behoe- The issue recurred in the most practical sense with Deuteronomy 5 was not only an integral part of the ven, die laetmen naect ende bloot in hongher ende the events of 1566 in the Netherlands. In 1525, the Decalogue (contrary to Catholic and eariy Lutheran dorst gaen'.^^ ('Is it not great folly that someone very year of the completion of the Heavenly Prop- thought) but constituted the substance of the should suppose that the saints would be pleased to hets, the three 'Godless Painters' of Nurnberg- second commandment. For Calvin there was no have their images visited, that are only wood and Georg Pencz and Barthel and Sebald Beham - were doubt about the biblical injunction against graven stone....Even greater idolatry is now committed expelled from the town for their radical Protestant images; and it remained universally valid." Calvin than ever was the case with the idols of the Hea- sympathies, thus providing us with one of the ear- was also more scathing and more satirical about then....And now that the saints are dead we visit liest instances of the espousal by artists of views the uses and abuses of images, particularly religious them, and adorn them with silver, gold and velvet which at first sight might seem wholly antithetical to ones. He knew how to poke fun at the standard and precious jewels - even though they do not need their calling.'^ In the same year Ludwig Hatzer Catholic justifications of religious imagery, including them. It is the other poor living saints who need published his radical and apparently very popular the way in which early and only apparently authentic them, and whom we allow to go naked, hungry and booklet against images entitled Ein Urteil Got- documents and councils were used to bolster the thirsty....'). Such blunt versions of well-known views tes.... wie man sich mit alien gotzen und bildnus- antiquity of the use of pictured images in churches. would be repeated ad infinitum from one side of the sen halten soil-, " isolated outbreaks of iconoclasm The proliferation of images was as meretricious as Netherlands to the other. We find them in the Dutch Artandiconoclasm 71

relation of BalthasarFriberger's tract on the become dangerously provocative. In the same year notions which people were hearing from local as the apparance ofthe Corte lnstruccye{m pastors, from travelling preachers or buying in • nf 1524 " in the Lutheran Refutacie vant 1554), Jan Gerritsz. Versteghe (= Johannes Anasta- pamphlet form, they could not have missed them in SSiUofthesameyear-and,nthe fihtforwardZwInglianism ofthe well known sius Veluanus), the erstwhile pastor of Garderen, their other cultural manifestation either. Amongst Se schoolmaster and writer, Wlllem Grapheus. published the most radical and sustained attack on the most well-known mockers ofthe abuse of ima- inteking consolation form the wooden statues of images yet, in the book entitled Der Lel

Calvinist tract first published in Norwich in 1550: in thing in its condemnation of all Images, and In the an attempt to curbthelroutspokenness.^'All across commenting on the daily superstition of Image- programmatic advocacy of their removal. People the Low Countries, but expecially in the South, they worship, the author sarcastically observes that who by then may have been contemplating the performed plays and recited poetry, often on grand •want die beelden so langhe als sy Inde beeltsnljders purification of churches to make them suitable for popular occasions like the 'Landjuweelen' In Ghent winckel zijn, so en connen sy geen miraculen doen, Protestant worship of one form or another would in 1539 and in Antwerp in 1561.^® Already in 1533 tot der tijt toe datse dese fijne ghesellen ghebrocht have found their manifesto in a work like this; and an Amsterdam Chamber of Rhetoricians was sen- hebben In haer hoerachtiche kercke, ende die the unequivocal expression of hostility to the Catho- tenced to make a Roman pilgrimage for having cruycen dewijie si zijn onder de goutsmltshanden, lic use of images would have given them courage, produced a play on the subject of Daniel and Bel so en is daer gheen heillcheyt in, maer alse dese support and - In all likelihood - a further pretext for (Daniel 14:2-21), with its trenchant reference to the ypocriten die eens gevinghert hebben, dan moet- the destruction of Images. In the course of his book, destruction of idolatrous pagan images, and- - men die bonet daer voor at nemen ende die knien Verstege was unsparing in his attack both on the perhaps more significantly at that time - to the buyyghen, ende sy gaen daer achter bleetende cult of saints and the use of image in perpetuating killing of the priests of Bel, in the form of the moc- ende crijschende achter haer valsche goden'.^®^ ('as it. Not a single early church father, he maintained kery of contemporary clergy.^® Another Amsterdam long as images remain in the sculptor's workshop (wrongly), advocated that saints be honoured in this play, the Tafelspel van Drij Personagien of 1557, they cannot do any miracles, until the time that way; and he caustically observed that the Gregorian insisted that the greatest of all sins was idolatry and these fine fellows have brought them into the who- dictum that paintings were the books ofthe illiterate the God put a curse on all those who made likenes- rish church; the same applies to the cmclfixes in the was invalid, since it was nowhere to be found In ses,while in the following year the image question goldsmiths shop, when they have no holiness In scripture. But the main recommendation regarding was discussed in a dialogue between 'Godlljke them; but as soon as these hypocrites finger them, images in the Lelveneration of images with candles and so Testament, such as the destruction of idols by zynt, dar sal men se uyt den Tempelen werpen on were merely outward signs; 'Godly Sage' accu- Josiahand Elijah.^' ende verbranden. 5 Synt sie noch geen affgoden, sed 'Wordly Scholar' and his Ilk of deceiving the Parallels like these were frequently to be drawn, nochtannlch ist nut, dat sie al uyt gewerpen unde world into blatant idolatry.''^ So much forthe Catho- from now on until well after the iconoclasm of verbrandt werden, want sie kunnen ons nymmer lic and even the Erasmian stances.... 1566, and especially those which demonstrated - baten, mar gering elendich schaden under grote In 1562,1564 and 1565, In the crucial years just as. for example, the Josiah story was taken to do - affgoden werden, als mennichmal is befonden in before iconoclasm, the Antwerp Chanjber of Rheto- the rightfulness of the removal of images by official seer iamerlycke manyren.'^'' (Where the preaching ricians known as the 'Violieren' produced an Apostle and lawful authorities,^® These views were common- ofthe Gospel does not help, no images will help play by Its subsequently well-known dean, Willem place. If one could not read them, one could be either. Where the Gospel is accepted and believed, van Haecht. The play gives us some sense of the sure to hear them in the sermons ofthe ministers. If no images are necessary. Where the Gospel is not climate of cultural disapprobation in which all art of the attitudes of AngelusMemla, the attractively preached, they are pernicious Idols. Where images the Netherlands is to be placed in these years. It broad-minded priest from Heenvllet are only known are Idols, they should be thrown out of the templen opens with a painter still busy painting the set. A from his Verantwoordingot 1553 (images could and burnt. Even If they are not idols, it is right to Calvinist appears, and petulantly tells him that he is serve as the 'libri idiotamm', but the money spent throw them out and burn them, since they can wasting his time making pictures forbidden by God; on them was better spent on the poor),^' then we never help us and only wreak pernicious damage they were all Idols.^^ The painter responds by saying also know that the Dordrecht priest Marinus Evers- and become great Idols, as has often happened in that the Calvinist had misunderstood the prohibi- waert was obliged to renounce before his former very bad ways.) One could hardly imagine a better tion: it pertained only to the adoration of images, parishioners the view 'dat de beelden der Heiligen rallylng-cry for all those who wished to purify the and not to their use as decoration. If they were anders niets doen dan de kerken versieren, gelijk tin churches and make them fit for the preaching of adored or worshipped he would rather they were toper, metaal of ander hulsraad het huis ver- God's word. destroyed. But God must have given him his talents siert'Cthat the statues of the saints do nothing but for some purpose, and there were always the cases Versteghe put the sentiment with rather disinge- aecorate the churches just as tin, copper, metal, of Bazaleel and Oholiab, the Cherubim on the Ark, nuous fervour: 'Ditallesdiepangemerckt, isna and other household materials decorate the hou- and the Brazen Serpent as precedents for divinely myn kleyne verstant nyt wel muegelick, dat rechte e.) The next year Cornells van der Heyden publls- sanctioned artisitc activity.'"' There were worse evangellsche herten, in den gereformierden Tem- M his Carte Instruccye ende Onderwijs in forms of idolatry than images, such as greed. All plen, noch aide grove gotzen laten biyven, off Which he expressed views almost as moderate as this, as van Haecht himself acknowledged, was nyuwen laten maken muegen'.^® (Taking all this nose of Merula; his concern, like that of Erasmus, consistent with the Lutheran attitude on images; deeply Into consideration, it just does not seem and he made his own position on the matter clear Z u ' than with their abuse. One possible to my limited understanding that truly when he named his Calvinist protagonist - whose "ould neither misbehave like Turks, heathen and evangelical hearts could allow all the gross Idols to position on the subject was somewhat overdrawn - stay or have new ones made'). The best thing would exnrtT procession, nor 'Vernuft en Blind' ('Ingenious and Blind').We may be to limit the decoration of churches to the writing adorp th times of danger, nor pause for a moment to consider at least one of the issue w'T''®'®''®'^ ostentatiously.The of edifying proverbs on the walls (in large letters), or most significant implications of van Haecht's play. Damnh, ! ® but as the Norwich to leave them completely white.Everything else The guilds most closely associated with the Cham- P^'^Phlet suggests, it threatened at any point to was popish, Babylonian abuse. If these were the 72

bers of Rhetoric were those of the Painters, and the brilliantly concise one in the Heidelberg Cate- that there was not enough time, and the Council here, as in several other of their plays, the very chism of 1562: was exhausted after eighteen years of deliberation validity of their calling and their production were 'XCVI Vraghe. Wat heyscht God in tweede ghebodt? - but it was a case of too little too late. Instead of being substantively questioned if not actually moc- Antwoorde. Dat wy God in gheenderley wijse afbeel- dealing with the substantive matters raised by one ledict included a Question 98: But may not pictures be tolerated in elimination of all superstition and 'filthy quest for severe injunction against the destruction or removal the churches as the laymen's books? No. For we gain', all lasciviousness was to be avoided, 'so that of images and portraits in honour and memory of should not be wiser than God who does not wish to images shall not be painted with seductive charm, God, the Virgin and the Saints." That was the year have his Christianity taught by dumb images, but or the celebration of saints days and the visitation of the destruction of images in Wittenberg, and rather by the living preaching of his word.') of relics be perverted by the people into boisterous iconoclasm soon became a widespread phenome- 'Stomme beelden' ('Dumb images') was something festivities and drunkenness.'®® In the final section of non throughout Germany. News of such events to reckon with. Of all the Protestant confessions, its decree, the Council set out to ensure the avoi- travelled swiftly to the Netherlands, through prea- this is the one that gained the widest currency in the dance of abuses in the future, and it gave instruc- chers, pamphlets, tracts and travellers. If there was Netherlands, and almost immediately. In the very tions for the ecclesiastical supervision of art that any single group whose active hostility to images year of its formulation it was translated into Dutch. were to be taken up In any number of local synods was clear from an early date it was the Anabaptists. Petrus Dathenus appended another translation of it in the immediately following years. No new or The sight of an image of the Virgin being carried in to his Dutch version ofthe Psalms in 1566. It was unusual images were to be set up without the prior procession in Delft was too much for David Jorisz. officially adopted by the Convent of Wesel in 1568, approval of the bishop, who also had to give official on Ascension Day 1528, who disrupted the solem- by the Synod of Emden in 1571 and by the national approval for the acceptance of new miracles and nity of the occasion by shouting abuse at all invol- Synod of The Hague in 1587; and along with the relics. Disputes were to be referred to theologians, ved, even the priests.®^ Six years later his co-religio- Confessio Belgica it became the basic creed ofthe and if any doubtful or graver abuse needed to be nists tried to assume control of Amsterdam, while Reformed Church in the Netherlands. This is the eradicated, the matter was to await synodal deci- in that year Jan Matthijs of Haarlem and Jan van confession that entered Dutch Protestant thought sion, and ultimately that of the Pope.®' All this may Leiden supervised the violent and sustained attack at a time when the nation was struggling to disso- well have had considerable effects for later Catholic on images in the millenaristic community they set ciate itself from everything associated with Spain, art, both in and outside the Netherlands; but for the up in IVIunster, across the border in Germany.^^ and when images themselves turned out to be the time being the decree on images formulated by the Meanwhile iconoclasm was spreading still further clearest focus for the beginnings of the Revolt. The Council of Trent was like a straw in the gathering into Germany, in Switzerland, in Bohemia and was ideas encapsulated in the Heidelberg Confession wind. The images had been swept out of one Ger- soon to take on semi-legalized form in England and became part ofthe mainstream of Dutch Calvinism, man town after another; in France the Protestant Scotland. By the 1550s and early 1560s the pro- but their implications were to be much more deeply forces were still causing trouble, while England had blem had become acute in France as well, and the felt. They became part of the common theological a new Queen, who would swiftly provide sympathe- official authorities of the Catholic Church realized stock of the Netherlands; and almost everyone tic asylum to Netherlandish opponents of Catholi- they could no longer evade the core of the problem. knew them. But we have moved ahead too swiftly. cism. The Netherlands was wavering and ready to From Luther's famous opponent Johannes Eck on, Not surprisingly, in the very year in which the Hei- fall; and the doctrines which the Council of Trent many Catholic theologians and writers - and even delberg delegates assembled, the delegates to the had so laboured to refute were everywhere in the some poets, like the Flemish poetess Anna Bijns - greatest Council in Christendom, the Council of air. Nothing could avert the impending catastrophe had polemicized against the Protestant attitudes to Trent, came to the realization that the Catholic - least of all a group of aging clerics meeting in a images, but now the time had come to formulate an Church urgently needed a unified stance on the cold and provincial town on the north-eastern offical position.^" If the Church was to do anything subject of images. There had been plenty of indivi- borders of Italy. at all about the continued assault - both polemical dual defenders of the Church's position in the face and real - against images, then it had to have an of the Protestant attacks, but the time had come to 2 Action: iconoclasm in the Netherlands impregnable position on which to fall back (that it provide an official definition. Worried by recent failed ultimately to do so is not part of our story). outbreaks of iconoclasm in France, a group of On 5 April 1566 three hundred armed members of The need for that position must have been made all French delegates exercised just sufficient pressure the Compromise of the Nobility under the leaders- the more apparent not only by recent events in to ensure the passage of a decree on religious hip ofthe Count of Brederode presented their France, but also by the rapid development of Pro- imagery at the very last session of the Council, on 3 momentous Request to the Regent of the Nether- testant theological positions on the matter, such as and 4 December 1563.Perhaps it was simply lands at her palace in Brussels. A member of the 73

„rt derisively referred to them as les Gueux', and at his instigation the assembled group began to at Elburg, and the day after at Harderwijk. On 25 '^"le Ue stuck. But Margaret of Parma could sing Daniel Marot's rhymed version of the Ten September the Count of Brederode removed the not dismiss the beggers so lightly, and In the face of Commandments. Its second strophe could not Images in Vianen to his castle, and by the time the their demands for the moderation of the placards have been more explicit: storm reached Venio In the South East on 5 Octo- d the abolition of the inquisition she was obliged Taillerne teferas image ber, Delft was undergoing a second attempt at tmnstruct the magistrates to be more lenient in De quelque chose que ce solt purification. Asperen was only affected on 8 Octo- Lrtreatment of heretics. But the so-called 'Mode- Si honneur lui fais ou hommage ber, by which time Den Briel was suffering again, tion' of 9 April with which Margaret responded to Ton Dieu jalousie en recolt before finally being plundered by the 'watergeuzen' 'le nobles' Request did little to quieten the growinAng d then, as If possessed, they attacked the ima- In 1572 - who simply completed what the icono- 5 Nothing seemed to be able to stop the ges. An hour later the whole church interior was clasts had begun five years eariier. It is a frightening unrest.' destroyed." catalogue; and even though one can point to cases nroliferation of Calvinist preachers all over the country, and if they were not Calvinists they were of These, then, were the main elements In the drama: such as those of Dordrecht and Gouda (where no every other conceivable Reformed persuasion. preachers, who prepared the way for iconoclasm, If preachings were held at all) or Haarlem, Rotterdam, they did not actually participate in it; their sermons, Amersfoort, Arnhem, Nljmegen, and Zutphen Wherever they could find a space they performed (where the local authorities were successful in * communion, baptised infants, or held their ser- many of which contained specific references to the idolatry constituted by the images of the Roman preventing Iconoclasm), the details of destruction mons. Because of the large number attending Church (or, as they preferred to call it, the whore of give one considerable pause for thought. How them, the sermons were most frequently held in the Babylon, the Antichrist, and so on); hired bands could one hope to form anything but the most open air, and by the time Margaret forbade them in (except in a few places In the North, where Icono- fragmentary picture of an artistic heritage decima- her placard of 3 July 1556 they could not be stop- clasm does Indeed appear to have been sponta- ted in the course not just of a few months, but ped." neous); the demand for Protestant places of wors- largely In those few brutal days In 1566? And what Tension mounted, the sermons - the so-called hip, preferably in existing churches which had been survived then would remain at the mercy of repea- 'hagepreken' - were held under armed guard, the purified of their adornments, even whitewashed; ted attacks by soldiers and other plunderers for at crowds grew, and the demands for their own Protes- the diligent efforts of churchwardens and other least a decade. One can only wonder at what was tant places of worship were redoubled with ever church officials to spirit away the best Images and left. The grim story has its positive and cheering greater fervour.®^ Preachers poured Into the county, decorations before the arrival of the iconoclasts moments too, as we shall see, but by and large we from France, from Germany, from Switzerland and (many of the works in the present exhibition were can agree with those later writers who could not from England; and on 10 August 1566 at Steen- spared in this way); the frequent attempt of town find sufficient terms to express their horror at the voorde In the South-Western corner of Flanders, councils to close the churches and put them under loss of art occasioned bythe 'rasende', 'woedende', following an inflammatory sermon by the former armed guard, so that they could be protected from 'ontzlnnighe' and 'const-vijandlghe' iconoclasts, as hatmaker Sebastian Matte, twenty or so members the disorderiy onslaught of the Iconoclasta; someti- Karel van Mander was so graphically to describe ofthe audience rushed to the convent and smashed mes iconoclasm was prevented altogether, and them less than half a century later.™ all its images.®^ sometimes the images were removed in an orderly A huge amount has been written about the course The leader there was Jacob de Buyzere, a former way, under more or less official supervision. The of iconoclasm in each of these places, and conside- Augustinian monk who had turned preacher, and only significant difference between North and rable discussion has been devoted to the issues of like Matte was also from leper and a recently retur- South was that in the North there were more instan- the extent of organization In each case, of the role ned exile from England. Within the next three days ces of second occurrences of iconoclasm In Octo- of local nobility (like Brederode and Culemborg), or they proceeded to Bailleul and Poperinghe, In each ber; and that the appearance of the Sea Beggars In that of William of Orange (who was frequently case preaching sermons and leading an increasingly the coastal towns often meant still further cases of appealed to In the hope that he might stave off large group of iconoclasts in the destruction of local the sacking and looting of churches during the early excesses of iconoclasm or violence), the social images." The pattern of preparation and destruc- seventies-to say nothing of the marauding militia status ofthe iconoclasts, their numbers, the role of tion was now established and the storm swept on. who tested and ransacked any number of places for the preachers, the element of spontaneity In the By the time It reached Antwerp on Tuesday 20 the rest ofthe decade. initial outbursts, as well as the whole complex Issue August®^ the revolt was fully under way, and few Barely had the news from Antwerp reached of motivation and the relationship with the social, towns could be sure that they would be spared the MIddelburg and Breda - on 21-22 August - when political and economic events of 1566." Since this consequences of the Iconoclastic fury. Almost iconoclasm broke out there too, before spreading essay has been written in the context of artistic everywhere there is evidence of the role of prea- to the surrounding villages and towns.®® production and thought about art in the period chers and ofthe fact that at least some if not all the In 's-Hertogenbosch It began on the 22nd. between 1525 and 1580 there is no need to exa- iconoclasts were hired and organized according to On 23 August nearby Heusden was affected, but so mine the pressures on an already Irascible popula- some preliminary plan - whether by preacher, local was Amsterdam. Iconoclasm did not proceed In tion by the grain shortage of late 1565 early 1566;^^ nobleman, local reformed community or any combi- any direct line from one centre to another (although or the reorganization ofthe Netheriandish bisho- nation acting in concert. The instances of sponta- In some local instances bands of iconoclasts spread prics and the consequent fear of the Inquisition; or neous mob activity (despite the allegations of con- out to surrounding areas), it occurred in sporadic the unhelpful attitude-to say the least-of the temporary historians) are rare, and most come outbreaks all across the country (Fig. 3). Delft and Regent of the Netherlands and - ultimately - the after news from Antwerp and elsewhere had been Utrecht were smitten on 24 August, The Hague and King of Spain. Here, as we consider the main out- carried to the North and East.'^'^ The news fanned Leiden on the 25th. On that day too the churches of breaks of Iconoclasm in the North, in the very out in every direction. We will concentrate on what Eindhoven and Helmond were purified. period that events were lead to the establishment happened in the North Netherlands, but let us not On 26 August the iconoclasts got the upper hand in of an Independent Netherlands, let us concentrate forget that it affected the Southern areas of the Den Brieland Heenvllet; by the 27th they had on those details that bear largely on the relations country as well, and that the kinds of art on display already begun in Weert in Limburg; and on 2 Sep- between art and social act, between thinking about in the present exhibition were at risk In those places tember they were at Alkmaar. Four days later they art and actual event. too. Indeed, what happened at the Abbey of Mar- entered the churches in Leeuwarden, but in a chiennes near Doual, where some ofthe most As soon as they heard the news from Antwerp on 21 comparatively orderly manner. In that town the splendid altarpieces byJa n van Scorel (cat. 109) August a number of people gathered In St. Martin's preachers refused to conduct services until the were spirited away just In time, provides an exem- in Middelburg. Swiftly they began to break the churches had been whitewashed.®' plary and sad case ofthe connexion between image- images. The two burgomasters arrived and success- For a variety of reasons it took until 14 September problem, sermon, and Image-destruction. fully appealed to the Iconoclasts to leave the before the images at Culemborg were removed; One day after hearing of the purification of the church, despite the presence of some who vehe- this was the same day on which Winsum was affec- churches in Antwerp, the Tournai iconoclasts sac- mently wished to follow the Antwerp example. ted. On 15Septemberthere was iconoclasm at ted the churches of their city; they then moved on Meanwhile the consistory was planning a more Batenburg in the East; on 18 September In Gronln- ra the province of Douai and upon entering the systematic form of iconoclasm. The next day a gen and the 'Ommelanden' in the North. Three Pbey of Marchiennes gave out their usual rallying proclamation was Issued against the destruction of days later, on 21 September, Iconoclasts appeared cry of 'Vive les Gueux'. A leader called for silence images and the harming of priests and clerics. But 74 Artandlcsnocl

already a crowd had gathered in front ofthe church, uren voormiddach, als alle de ambachtslieden verdestrueert dat niet dan een Romp was over- and with a cry of 'Vivent les gueux', assailed its gewoon sijn naer maeltijt te gaan' ('As a result of gebleven' ('the remaining ornaments and adorn- images. Within a few hours the images in the three this warning, one could see the clergy in the street, ments which could previously be seen in this parish churches, five cloisters and a beguinage had carrying all their jewels out of the church, such as church, and with which it was so shiningly adorned, been destroyed. The high altarpiece ofthe abbey chalices, ciboria and vestments for the mass; this consisted of sumptuous altars, outstanding pain- was saved as a result of the intervention of the mainly took place around 11 o'clock in the morning, tings and pictures, precious stained glass, magnifi- magistrate. Then the iconoclasts moved to the when the craftsmen were accustomed to go to their cent organs and so on. Most of these were des- Arnemuiden, and set about their worl< with the help meals.')." What happened here, as in many other troyed, ruined, and damaged in the outbreaks of of members ofthe local population. From IVIiddel- places, was that attempts were made to remove iconoclasm. The High Altar of this church was so burg and from Vlissingen iconoclasts spread out, and hide the best works of art; but by now it was to assulted and destroyed in the fury that only the and left a trail of destruction over the whole of the little avail. core of it survived.').®® island of Walcheren." The chain of events is entirely A large group of men and women had gathered in In Utrecht iconoclasm was immediately preceded typical. the Nieuwe Kerk, but there, fortunately, 'veel goede by two characteristic events: first by the Protes- In Breda the destruction was terrible; and here, in burgers hebben met veel goede woorden het voick tants' demand for places of worship of their own; the cry of a prominent citizen as he led the uut de kerck gekregen en de kerck vast toegesloten' and second by a sermon just outside the town iconoclasts in the Church of Our Lady, we have ('by means of many good words a number of good gates, here by a preacher called 'Scheie Gerrif. some measure of the pitch of sentiment against citizens got the people out of their church, and When members ofthe reformed party met, they images: 'Smijt alles uit dit pesthuis naar buiten' closed the church shut.').'® The Oude Kerk, on the agreed that 'de afgriselijckheyt van de beelden' (Throw everything from this plague-house outside'). other hand, suffered badly. There a grain-carrier ('the frightfulness of the images') should be remo- And then they destroyed the images according to called Jasper took exception to an inscription on a ved from the churches, but promised to deposit an apparently predetermined plan.'" As for 's-Her- glass panel; 'siet daer hanct in dat glasen bordeken these and other treasures in the Town Hall.®'The togenbosch, we have considerable evidence for the dat gruwelicke en godlasteriicke gedicht' ('look - official Investigation (of 1567) into the events of activity, from the end of July on, of a preacher there's a horrible and blasphemous poem hanging these days - here as elsewhere - provides us with called Cornelis van Diest. There were attempts to on that glass plate.'), he exclaimed, and smashed it ample evidence of the widespread and often impe- stop him, but he nevertheless managed to enter the to the ground." Upon hearing the noise a group of tuously violent destruction in the town.®® It also gates and began preaching. Almost immediately youths started throwing stones at the paintings and provides insight into one ofthe many personal afterwards, on the evening of 22 August, a group sculptures, and began to pull them down. Fortuna- casualties of those days, in its prolonged investiga- gathered in St. Jans; they sang a psalm in front of tely, some pictures had already been removed from tion into the stance and action of Adriaen de Wael the rood screen; and then began to smash the the church. The 'schutters' were sent there, but the van Vronensteyn. Despite his repeated (and appa- images until the 'schutters' finally arrived and imagebreaking grew more fiery yet. Finally the rently justified) insistence that he adhered to the closed the church. Much was thereby saved. But iconoclasts were appeased, and the church was Old Faith, and despite his attempts to moderate the remaining churches and cloisters were severely closed.®" On 2 September, as elsewhere in the iconoclastic activity, he was finally executed. In St. hit, and on 24 August the first sermon was held in country, an official placard arrived from Brussels (it Gertrude's, for example - where there is definite the purified Cathedral. Still the reformed party was was dated 25 August!) forbidding further icono- evidence of an attempt at systematic and complete not satisfied, and they demanded four more chapels clasm under pain of death and confiscation, and destruction - he angrily shouted at those icono- for their services. As in so many places the storm insisting on the immediate repair of the churches clasts who were trying to break some windows was soon stilled; at least for a while, since when the and their furnishings.®' (presumably with painted glass): 'Ghy schelmen, townspeople heard ofthe possibility ofthe introduc- But the lull was only temporary. Further violent wat wilt dij doen? Dat en sijn ymmers gheen beel- tion of the inquisition there, a renewed and really assaults on images followed later in the month. On den' ('you rascals, what do you want to do? They remorseless outbreal< of iconoclasm swept throught 26 September,'the cloister of the Friars Minor was aren't pictures after all.').®' A vigorous altercation the churches and cloisters of the town.'® attacked 'met een wonderlijcke furie' ('with astonis- ensued - but the glass was saved. There was much In Amsterdam there had been a large number of hing fury'),while on the next day the Carthusian else that he managed to save, including the vaulting sermons, and the situation was so tense that Brede- monastery was similarly invaded. But there, after ofthe church itself. Since it had figures ofthe apost- rode urgently requested Orange to come to the destroying some glass pictures and books, the les painted on it, De Wael tried another approach: town and put it in order. On the very next morning crowd was persuaded to go home.®® Here as elsew- 'Wat wilt ghij doen? Laet staen, men sel een schilder (23 August) a group of merchants appeared in front here the Friars Minor suffered particularly, for comen ende laten die beelden uutstrijcken' ('What of the Stocl< Exchange in the Warmoesstraat with reasons that are still not entirely clear, but possibly do you want to do? Leave it alone, we will have a several pieces of marble and alabaster, purportedly because of their close association with the town painter come and paint the images out'); and was from some of the freshly destroyed altarpieces in government and their reported role in the investiga- successful.'" But Utrecht suffered badly, and the Antwerp Cathedral. Not surprisingly, this alarmed tion of heresy. iconoclasts did their work in the Buurkerk, the the burgomasters, who immediately instructed the In Delft women were in the forefront of the attack Mariakerk, St. Nicholas's, St. Gertrude's, the clois- clergy of the Nieuwe Kerkto remove and hide as on the Minderbroeders,®" but there the Oude - and ters of the Dominicans and the Friars Minor-and much as they could of their church furnishings.'® the N ieuwe Kerk were most gravely at risk. I mages probably St. James's too." Much of our evidence for the events of these days that had not been spirited away in time were des- Iconoclasm in Leiden on 25 August was almost as comes from the eyewitness account of Laurens troyed, although in the Nieuwe Kerk the magistrate frenzied and as random. A few days earlier the local Jacobsz. Reael, who, despite his Protestant sympa- filally managed to persuade the Iconoclasts to stop, rhetoricians had publicly derided the use of images, thies and the likelihood that he was actually present and to prevent them from burning the objects they and when the iconoclasts got started, men, women at the onset of at least iconoclastic outburst himself, had dragged to the market-place.®® The overall and children apparently ran in and out ofthe chur- made no bones of his deep antipathy to the wanton result of these two horrifying waves of iconoclasm, ches to the cry of 'ook hier moet gebeuren wat violence of the iconoclasts and - indeed - to the however, was to deprive the churches of town of elders geschied is' ('what has happened elsewhere whole process of destruction. This apparently their most significant furnishings - and especially must be done here too').'^ Although St. Peter's was inconsistent stance is characteristic of the authors the pictures, organs, and glass. As van Bleyswijck put under armed guard in the nick of time, the of any number of contemporary accounts; but it is was to comment ofthe Oude Kerk one century later: church of Our Lady, St. Pancras, and even the entirely consistent with that strand of Erasmian 'De resterende Ornamenten en Cieraden die in chapter house of St. Pancras were attacked; so, as thought that we find in Reael himself and in so many dese Kerck wel eer aenschouwt ende gesien weerde usual, were the Friars Minor. In many places - other of the leading figures in the drama of those en waer mede sy aldermeest pronckte ende verciert probably most-theft of objects from the ransacked days. Here is Reael's graphic description ofthe was bestonden in overprachtige Altaren, uytne- churches was expressly forbidden (whether by the removal of precious objects for safekeeping: 'Door mende Schilderyen en Tafereelen, kostelijke preachers, the local nobleman, or the organizers of dese waerschouwinge sach men de geestelijcke geschilderde Glasen, magnifycke Orgalen en soo the iconoclasts); but here in Leiden, although the persoonen bij de straet geloopen, dragende uut de voorts alle meest in de Beeld-stormeryen vernielt, Council does appear to have allowed guilds and kerckalle haerjuwelen, als kelcken, ciboria en geruyneert of geschonden; het hooge Autaer dese families to remove their altars and paintings to misgewaden: dit geschiede principael ontrent 11 Kerke was in de furie soodanigen aengetast ende safety,'^ parts of altars and other church furnishings Artandiconoclasm 75

^ere transported to public placesand offered for Quirijnsz. pronounced judgment on the St. Roch die in de kercke was'."® Sometimes the iconoclasts There appears to have been considerable and Images and the other objects. Thereupon the rheto- knew what they were doing. sale cuous thievery,- whereas elsewhere the ricians took them and threw them into the fire. All No more vivid picture of the kinds of exchange that nromiscu the while they sang refrains and chanted psalms, as took place on the eve of Iconoclastic outbursts «n;.ities were often severe. £ PpenedirTheHague,ontheoth.^ If to mock the Holy Communion Itself."" could be offered than the case of Weert. An extraor- As in so many other places, the council of Den Briel dinary contemporary account by a nun tells of the l a trdifferent. After an initial spurt of unrest, sent for advice and help from the Prince of Orange events of 27-30 August when the images were The churches were methodically stripped^Two days before the actual outbreak of iconoclasm, while the destroyed in the town and its vicinity: Ir issuing an ordinance forbidding the destruc- local Protestants clearly had contacts with the 'Maer dat voicktierde en maeckte soo bijster of:iEeson23Au widely subversive Count of Brederode.'"^ If Brede- gerught met roepen, singen en spotten, dat men Provincial Council of Holland ordered that the rode was not unlnfluential here then the actions of dengeuzen paep, heerThomassen, niet verstaan maees be removed from the town's churches 'met Floris van Pallandt, Count of Culemborg could not konde. Sij kloterden met de klompen, sij riepen liderstillicheytsondercommocy'('in all tranquillity have been more overt.One would have thought d'een tot d'ander: toet! d'ander riepen; gij llegt het and without disturbance'), and saw to it that twelve that at least one of the most pressing reasons for al wat glj seght! de derde riepen: coeckoeck! sotji- men were paid seven 'stuivers' each to do the iconoclasm was absent in Culemborg, since the mlge riepen saemenderhandt: De swarten duyvel necessary work, while the 'schutters' guarded and Count allowed the local Protestants to hold services staet hier op den preekstoel!' ('but the crowd raved locked each church.'® in his castle.""* But iconoclasm did break out on 7 and made such a loud noise with their shouting and These are the poles of iconoclasm in 1566: on the September, in a small chapel In the town. The singing and mocking that one could not understand one hand, disorderly destruction, plundering and Count Issued an edict forbidding any destruction In the beggars' pope, MrThomasz. They jumped theft, with motives that were violent or mercenary; churches and cemeteries; but at the same time he around In their clogs, they called one to the other on the other hand, controlled and sometimes syste- authorized the removal of all exterior images 'in 'toet!'; the other shouted 'everything you say is a matic iconoclasm, often for sound theological goede en stille manieren'.'® Less than a week later lie', a third person shouted 'coeckoeck!' and some reasons, with little if any theft and some saving on he was less circumspect and issued instructions to all shouted together: 'The black devil is standing on the grounds ofthe artistic merit of particular works destroy the images in his town - in which process the pulpit here!')"® of art. We cannot examine every outbreak of icono- he participated himself. Having wrecked most of Frivolity and fury went hand in hand. clasm here, but there are a few further details that the churches and chapels in Culemborg, the small Asperen was only affected on 8 October. There are both symptomatic and telling. group of Iconoclasts (which Included two local Wessel van Boetselaer ordered the churches to be Den Briel, for example, offers further instances of noblemen) spread out Into the neighbouring region. stripped. Willem van Zuylen van Nyevelt, 'drost' of supervised iconoclasm (on the day after it struck Three of the richest iconoclasts (along with four Culemborg (who had already destroyed his own Leiden and The Hague). It was one of those towns others) had already participated in the outbreak at family chapel) arrived with a preacher and half a where the range of reformed beliefs was strikingly Utrecht.'"® dozen soldiers whom he placed around the chur- broad, from Anabaptism to pure Calvinism, and where it is not always easy to Identify the particular Bedum near Groningen offers the case - often ches and cloisters. Thus guarded, the iconoclasts grouping to which individuals belonged.'® Here the encountered elsewhere - of the participation of the could then range free and do their work of destruc- main churches - St. Catherine's and the Maerlant local priest in taking down the images.'"^ In Lopper- tion untroubled by zealous wardens or other offi- Church - were closed In time, and thus were spared sum nearby and in Groningen itself the school cials.'" And so one could continue the sorry tale.... the worst of the onslaught; but the remainder were masters took part.'"® They too, one feels might Much more unusual than these lamentable events more or less severely assailed. In the cloister ofthe have known better or acted with more restraint. - lamentable at least for art - were the cases ofthe Poor Clares, Pleter Michiels gave specific instruc- Was it the excitement of emotional release, the towns which escaped iconoclasm altogether. Haar- tions as to which images should be spared and outward show of new commitments, the display of lem is perhaps the most notable example, for there which not, while after the destruction in the cloisters long pent-up resentments or genuine theological there were repeated demands for Protestant places and convents two of the foremost Protestants (one antipathy that lay at the root of such behaviour? Any of worship. The requests were at least partly met; man and one woman) appeared 'omme tebeziene combination Is possible, even forthe learned or but If there was one figure who may be said to have oft de bellestorminge te rechte geschiet ende half-learned. One cannot simply blame the Ignorant prevented the worst of the storm from affecting volcommen was'." Indeed, they were heard enthu- mob orthe rude 'gespuys'. Haarlem it was Dirk Volckertszoon Coornhert."® siastically to proclaim: 'God sij geloeft dat dees In Venlothe reformed community demanded the Despite the threat of his efforts being grossly misun- verre gecommen es want het moeste aldus use of the cloister of Trans Cedron for their services; derstood (as we learn from the sustained inquiry of geschien'.'SThis kind of blunt and unreasoning the magistrates refused; the preacher Leonardus 1567 into his activities in August and September justification was also offered by Sem Jansz. of held a sermon there; and iconoclasm Immediately 1566), and at considerable risk to himself, Coorn- Monnikendam, when he asserted that those who erupted."" In the meantime officials of the parish hert managed to stave off the demands for icono- attacked the images and shattered them were church of St. Martin and the four deans ofthe clasm; he made repeated and sometimes clandes- simply doing God's will." How could one provide merchants guild helped dismantle the altars - tine attempts to reach the Prince of Orange in order an argument against folkishly apodeictic assertions although even there (according to eyewitness to invoke his help In those critical days - and all this such as these? Perhaps the iconoclasts knew that; reports) some out-of-towners were present."" despite his evident lack of sympathy with the Catho- and even as sophisticated an intelligence as Mamix Members ofthe shoemakers guild participated in lic use of images. For Coornhert, even if images van Sint Aldegonde could claim of the Antwerp the destruction at St. Nicholas.'" In the Trans were misused or abused, there could still be no iconoclasm that It must obviously have been the Cedron cloister the images were either burned or justification for their disorderly removal; and this, will of God, since otherwise how could so few people smeared with oil."^ By and large, however, the along with his distaste for civil unrest, must have ^ave achieved (sic!) so much in so short a tlme.'°° main towns of Gelderland and the Overkwartier lain at he roots of his strenuous and ultimately determinist views ofthe destmction of images were spared and It would be superfluous to go Into successful efforts.'" wre not uncommon; and for a short time some details of the kind we have already encountered for Like Haarlem, Nljmegen was spared any form of Peopte held images very cheap indeed. places like Elburg and Harderwijk."^ Later on, in organized or large-scale iconoclasm; but even so it „Briel itself offers the spectacle of some very 1578-79, we find extremely aggressive forms of was necessary to send two commissioners to inves- Md but telling behaviour on the part of the local church purification in Gelderland by the troops of tigate what happened there in 1566.'^" After all, oricians (who, one might have thought, would John of Nassau."'' From the many possible exam- along with Roermond, VenIo and Zaitbommel, resth T. to pictures and sculptu- ples from Limburg, we need recount only two ofthe Nljmegen was one of the 'mauvaises villes' of Gel- in 11 suggests). On Ash Wednesday most telling. In Maastricht the iconoclasts replied derland; and what seems to have happened there to the churchwardens of St. Matthias when they towrh I their chamber in the local on 23-25 September 1566 was clearly quite enough ^wn hall, Where five images from the St. Roch tried to stop them from destroying the main crucifix to justify its reputation (along with its evident eym- there (the painting of the Virgin from the choir had nes h.H? '' ' '''t^ ''turgical accesso- pathy for several of the preachers it harboured). already been burnt); it had to be smashed, since kanea ^ for safekeeping. A kind of There was nothing which one might call an icono- this was the most idolatrous object in the whole taken n^ seems to have clastic movement there, no concerted or even Place. With staff and missal in hand, Huych church: 'dat tselve cruys was die meeste affgoderije spontaneous group assault, but rather a few isola- 76

ted incidents - all of which provide eloquent testi- was so dramatically overtaken by the real crisis that but especially to the eyes.'^® Was this one of those mony to individual hostility to images in general and it had played so crucial a role in generating. standard attempts to deprive an image of its appg, Roman image-worship in particular. Isolated inci- rent life (and the picture here is very lifelike indeed) dents like these must be taken into account as we 3 Suffering: the destruction of art by striking out those same organs that, above all learn to accept the modern interpretation of iconco- evince its vitality?'^' In any event, as in the case of lasm in the Netherlands as organized and non-spon- The records ofthe large-scale investigations intro- the polyptych by the Master of Alkmaar, it reminds taneous deliberate work. Thus on the night of 24-25 duced by Margaret of Parma and the Duke of Alva us that whatever the social and economic motives September, two brothers damaged the railings into the events of 1566 are absorbing and horri- of the iconoclasts, their behaviour may at least in around the Crucifixion scene in the churchyard of fying. They are full of mutual incrimination, exagge- part have depended on rawer psychological impul St. Stephen's, as well as the image of the Virgin ration and grudge-bearing; the informers had a field ses.'®" there. On the same evening there seems to have day. From the testimony delivered to his commis- Altogether instructive in the paradigmatic quality of been a particular disturbance around the Kraan- sioners we gain some idea - indeed, a most vivid its fate is the first great masterpiece of North poort, from which the statue of St. Christopher was one - of the depradations wrought by the icono- Netherlandish art in the period covered by this dislodged and thrown to the ground. So was the clasts and the consequences of their excesses. We exhibition, Lucas van Leyden's great Last judg- statue of St. Anthony in the churchyard of the same learn ofthe extent ofthe damage and the range and menftriptych (Leiden, Lakenhal) of 1526-27 (Fig: name.'^' The testimony gathered for Nijmegen is variety of the participants; but what we barely learn 5). On the eve of iconoclasm in Leiden in 1566 it rich in detail, and thus we have a report of the from these records at all are the names of the was probably taken for safekeeping from St. words of the very man - Adriaen Rijckens - was precise works affected by the events of 1566. The Peter's, along with other works from the church, to along with his brother is reported to have removed most one can hope for is the specification of a the Hospital of St. James (in general, throughout the crown ofthe statue of the Virgin in the chur- subject and a location, but the names of artists are the North and South Netherlands there seems to chyard of St. Stephen's. 'Die hoeren to Coelen rarely if ever mentioned. Even the medium of parti- have been some sense - highly erratic or non-exis- dragen sodanige croen wanneer sy omgeleydt cular works is frequently omitted. After all, the aim tent though it may have been in places - of the worden, ghy hebbet lange genoech gedragen' ('The of Alva's inquiries was to gauge the scale of civil importance of the major works and of the need to whores of Cologne wear these kinds of crowns unrest, to identify its protagonists and to reintro- save them). In 1527 it was transferred to the St. when they are carried around; and you've worn it duce some measure of order; it was not to make an Catherine's hospital, before finally being taken to for long enough') he is said to have cried as he did inventory of lost objects. Thus we may get some thetownhall in 1577. On 11 September of that year the brazen deed.'^^ Into what disrespect images sense ofthe overall effects ofthe emptying ofthe the painter Isaac Claesz. van Swanenburgh and had fallen; how they had lost their aura! Of course churches, and of their literal purification as a result another were paid for their expenses in effecting there had always been people who knew that ima- of whitewashing and the replacement of stained the last move.'^' Can it have been Swanenburgh or ges were no more than painted pieces of wood and glass with figures by plain glass. This was always an was it some coarser painter who afterwards stone; but now, for a very brief period, there were easy and expansive step to take, as - to take one covered the offending figure of God the Father- socially sanctioned ways of proving just that, and of out of very many possible examples - the Count of only restored to his rightful place by the restoration demonstrating the futility of believing that they Culemborgdid in 1566 and again in 1578; 'Dye of 1935 - at the top of the central panel? And when were anything more. Art in the service of the Church heere van Kuyllenborch heef zijn kerck gans doir were the Hebrew letters for Jehovah painted there would indeed reclaim some of its aura; but art in the laten wytten...ln dye glaessen siin uitgenomen, dair (Fig. 6a, b)?'®^ The matter must remain uncertain, Netherlands could never be founded on the same hillichgen in waeren, ind ander glaesse daer weer but the fate of that figure reminds us again of the premises again. The consequences were not imme- yn geset sonder hillichgen klaer glaesse' ('The Lord way in which altarpieces were not only wholly over- diately apparent, but they were momentous. If of Culemborg has let his church to be completely painted - van Mander gives at least one drastic there were no other justification for an exhibition whitewashed. Iij some windows glass which contai- example in his life of Hugo van der Goes'^' - but covering this period of revolution and revision, this ned saints was removed, in others they were repla- also selectively so. Certainly, in the eyes of most alone would be sufficient. ced by clear glass without saints on them. and Protestants, the representation ofthe divine, the everywhere we have evidence of the painting of unmaterial and the uncircumscribable in the person Already in November 1567 the Council of Troubles texts - say the Ten Commandments - directly over of God the Father constituted one of the worst issued instructions about the repair of churches; the whitewash (and sometimes even on the very offences of Catholic art. It would not be an but on 14 February, 1568 the Duke of Alva sent a surfaces of altarpieces).'^® Butforthe names of agreeabble task to count the number of times such 'missyve' throughout the Netherlands in which he artists whose works were affected, we must either figures were removed or censored.'®" instructed that all the damaged or destroyed chur- use deduction (since we know from other sources Perhaps the best overall picture of the effects of ches and cloisters should be rebuilt and repaired.'^® where specific works were located, and we usually iconoclasm on specific works.of art is to be found, In the South, his instructions were almost univer- know which churches were affected), or archaeolo- not surprisingly, in the great historian of Dutch and sally adhered to - if not immediately, then even- gical evidence; or - most significantly - the evi- Flemish art, Karel van Mander. Although Het Schil- tually - as soon as finances and other resources dence of local chroniclers and writers on art. derboeckvias published in 1604'®®, almost forty permitted. In the North, of course, many of the There are some works where the damage is such years after the first outbreak of iconoclasm, we churches remained white, purified and Protestant. that one can only assume that it occurred during have every reason to take his testimony seriously But apart from the wretched plundering of the the events ofthe 1560s and 1570s. Amongst these (though there are lapses, as in his dating the des- 'watergeuzen' in the 1570s, and cases such as the one should probably include works of art such as truction of images in Gouda to 1566, rather than to destruction in Amsterdam's Nieuwe Kerk in 1578, the polyptych of The seven works of mercy by the 1572 and his exaggeration what actually was des- or the vandalism of Jan of Nassau's troops in Gel- Master of Alkmaar, dating from 1504 and therefore troyed there). Apart from anything else, van Mander derland at the end of that year, the events of one of the limited number of major works by a was himself a Protestant emigre from Flanders August, September and October 1566 were never North Netherlandish artist to have survived almost (who left the country after painting one altarpiece to be repeated again. The iconoclastic wave subsi- 'in toto' from the period immediately preceding for the church in Courtrai)'®® and one might have ded with surprising suddeness. But if one thought that covered by the present exhibition.'^® Recent thought that he had no need to overstate the case that its effects were only temporary, one would be restoration has revealed that the work was mutila- against the depradations of those who were, hopelessly wrong. It is the task of neither this essay ted in an evidently purposeful way - many of the broadly speaking, his co-religionists (unless, of nor the exhibition as a whole to assess the long slashes were clearly directed against the eyes of course, he was concerned to distinguish his own term significance of iconoclasm; but let us look the clerics, for example - to such an extent that we Mennonite attitudes from those of other Protes- more closely at the short term effects. We have are provided with eloquent testimony to the kinds tants). Indeed he goes to considerable lengths to given some indication ofthe extent and range ofthe of basic and emotional hostility to images that must disown them, to repudiate their violent deeds, and damage in 1566, but have not so far referred much so often have underlain the organized iconoclastic to make his opinion of their acts known in no uncer- to identifiable works of art. Let us look at a few of attacks (Fig. 4).'^' Similarly, and the remarkably tain terms. Every time he speaks of the iconoclasts the details which can be reclaimed, and at some of vivid portrait from Toledo of Jacob Cornelisz. and he refers to them informs such as 'rasend', 'woe- the immediate consequences for the great debate his wife by their son Dirk Jacobsz. (cat. 74), there is dend','onverstandigh', 'uytsinnigh', 'ontsinnigh', about images, that grand theoretical issue which evidence of considerable damage to the picture. 'const-vijandigh', 'woest', 'blind', 'oproerigh' ('ra- nnrr 77

• •furious','stupid','crazy','senseless','hostile ning wing (now one of the chief glories of the Kunst- in Utrecht.'®^ How it got there we may only guess; rt' 'wild' 'blind','riotous') and so on and so historisches Museum In Vienna) was sawn in two but fortunately It survives in the Parish Church of 137 It is not at all surprising to find the rueful and could be seen In the Hall of the Knights of St, Bingen (see vol. I, fig. 258). The following passage ;Lion that many of the works by Pleter Aertsen John of Jerusalem.'''^ The Regular Canons outside in the life of Blocklandt gives one a poignant sense lire destroyed 'tot jammer der kunst door het Haarlem also owned some works by Geertgen ofthe difficulty of coming to an adequate assess- !Lt onverstandf ('a tragic loss to art through (unfortunately unspecified by van Mander), and ment of the work of artists like him, given the effects Taving stupidity').'^® Amongst these was the High these too were destroyed, either by soldiers or by of iconoclasm:' Dese schoon dinghen zijn meest Altar of the NIeuwe Kerk in Amsterdam, with a the iconoclasts.""' door blinden Ijver en onverstandlghe raserije in de A/af/V/fyon the centre panel and an Annunciation. All this in a town which, as we have seen, was one of oproerlghe Beeldtstorminghe vernielt, en door Barbarischen handen den ooghen der Const-lieven- Circumcision ar^d Adoration ofthe magion the the few usually assumed to have been free from wings^ a Martyrdom of St. Catherine was appa- iconoclasm. The doubt as to whether works were den naecomers berooft soo datter weynich is over- rently'represented on the reverse. Delft had been lost In 1566 or as a result of later military deprada- ghebleven' ('These beautiful things were mostly particularly rich in works by Aertsen: the Carthusian tions is entirely characteristic - and justified. One destroyed by blind zeal and stupid violence in the monastery had a Cmc/f/x/ontriptych by him, with a cannot always attribute loss or destruction to the riotous iconoclasm, and stolen from the eyes of Nativity and an Adoration ofthe magi on the dramatic days of 1566. Then there were other art-loving posterity by barbaric hands, to such an wings and Four evangelists on the exterior; while disasters, like the great fire of 1576, in which many extent that very little has remained').'®' For all Its the Nieuwe Kerk had an Adoration ofthe magi on paintings by Jan Mostaert were said to have been bluntness of tone, the passage may stand as a the High Altar, with an Ecce Homo 'en soo yet lost.'''® It Is not only our picture of sixteenth century motto for the present essay and, Indeed, for the anders' on the wlngs.'^' All, according to van Man- Netherlandish painting that is seriously mutilated exhibition as a whole. der, were lost; but It is worth nothing that two of the because of the events of these years; our view of Its We now know that the destruction was not always Evangelists from Delft altarpiece survive (Prinsen- fifteenth century predecessors is equally deficient, 'barbarisch' and 'onverstandigh'; indeed van Man- hof. Delft), along with an Adoration ofthe magi forthe same sad reason. der records with barely veiled pride how many and a fragment ofthe Nativity (cat. 230-31 and In Amsterdam van Mander records the loss of works were saved, both In the North and South 229). Jacob Cornellsz. van Oostsanen's apparently very Netherlands, These Included Cornells Enge- Yet another Crucifixion a\tarp\sce by Aertsen used beautiful Descent from the cross as well as the brechtsz, Marlenpoel alterpieces, which were to be in Warmenhuysen in North Holland, and this is same artist's Seven works ofmercytrom the spirited away to the safety of the Town Hall In what happened to it: 'Dit werck als A° 1566. t'ghe- Oude Kerk (some fragments he reported to have Leiden (and hung too high, according to van Man- meen in zijn raserije was, wiert in stucken geslaghen seen at the home of Cornells Suycker in Haar- der, to be properly appreciated).'®" But by the met bijlen, alhoewel de Vrouw van Sonneveldt lem).'^® Equally distressing was the loss - save one large, as we have seen, he goes to elaborate t'Alckmaer daer voor boodt 100. pondt: want small fragment to be seen In the Doelen - of Dirk lengths, despite his Protestant affiliations, to dis- alsooment uyt de Kerck bracht om haer te leveren Barentsz. Fali ofthe rebel angels 'met veelderley tance himself from the acts of the iconoclasts. So vielen de Boeren als uytsinnigh daer op en brachten naeckten, seer uytnemende ghehandelt' ('with do the later local chroniclers who supplement the die schoon Const te niet.('Even though the many kinds of nudes, really outstandingly done') Information provided by van Mander. Unfortunately window of Sonnevelt from Alkmaar offered 100 (cat. 250)"", to say nothing of Anthonis Block- we do have to depend on seventeenth century pounds for It, this work was smashed to pieces with landt's altarpiece of The death and burial of St. sources for this kind of specific information. Only axes when the people were raving in 1566; for Francis, which disappeared from the church ofthe rarely are there found archival documents like the when it was being brought from the church to Friars Minor.'''® All this lost in addition to the works proud and unusually specific one of around 1568 deliver it to her, the peasants mindlessly fell upon it of Aertsen cited above, to the grave loss of Heems- describing the paintings by Mabuse formerly on the and brought the beautiful work of art to nothing'.) kerck's paintings, and several works by Jan van High Altar of the Abbey of Middelburg;'®® and there Although it may well have been part of Van Man- Scorel. are no equivalents in the North to the remarkable der's 'programme' to stress the opposition between Scorel, Heemskerckand Blocklandt are three of the contemporary account by Marcus van Vaernewljck culture (as represented by painting) and non-cultu- major figures In this exhibition whose work was of Ghent, who provides us with so much first-hand re, the sequence of events is one that we may seriously decimated by iconoclasm. So was Jan information about destruction and saving in the recognize from contemporary chronicles. No won- Vermeyen, whose paintings in Brussels - and espe- Southern Netheriands in 1566.We do of course der that van Mander tells how Aertsen despaired cially In St. Gudule - were either destroyed or have some less specific contemporary chroniclers, and dangerously lost his temper with the icono- removed 'doord'uytsinnighe beeldstormlnghe' ('by like Reael, but they are not, on the whole, especially clasts: 'Pleter was dickwils ongeduldigh dat zijn the mad iconoclasm').''" With Scorel, van Mander Interested In art. By the time we come to Oudenho- dinghen die hij de Weerelt tot gedachtnis meenden records the loss of some of his prime works in the ven's 1649 Beschryvlnghe derstadt ende meye- laten, soo te meten wierden ghebracht, ghebruyc- following way: 'Maer dat te beclaghen is veel zijn rye van 's-Hertogenbosch, however, the informa- kende dickwils met sulcke Const-vijandlghe groote ander dinghen, t'Crucifix t'Amsterdam, de schoon tion is valuable indeed. Thus he records in detail the woorden tot sijn eyghen ghevaer oft perijckel.' deuren t'Utrecht In S. Marlen, oock een schoon loss of a number of works by HIeronymus Bosch i'Pieter was frequently angry that the works which Tafel ter Goude, bij hem in zijnen besondersten and by Jan van Scorel from the St. John's church he had intended to leave to the world for posterity Tijdt en Fleurghedaen, werden A° 1566 van het there,'®' and we no longer rub our eyes when we were thus brought to nothing, and he frequently ontslnnighe ghemeen ghebroken en verbrandt, met read how the unusual high altarpiece by Bosch was used strong words with these enemies of art to his noch veel meerfraey dinghen' ('But what is lamen- replaced by the Ten Commandments written in own danger and peril.') Aertsen must have been table is the fact that many of his other works - the gold letters.'®® Bythe time Oudenhoven was wri- desperate when he saw what was happening to his Crucifixion in Amsterdam, the beautiful wings in St. ting, this is just the sort of thing that was happening works - to say nothing of how he must have feared Mary's in Utrecht, as well as a beautiful panel In in England, on much larger scale, and forthe or his livelihood in a country which at least momen- Gouda, done by him in his very best period and at second time in a hundred years.'®' arily appeared so hostile to art. the height of his abilities - were smashed and bur- Dirck van Bleyswijk is the other seventeenth century t was, of course, not only a matter of hostility, but ned in 1566 by the senseless common people, town chronicler who provides us with a considera- so of the general precarlousness and fragility of along with many more fine things').'®" In the case of ble amount of information about Iconoclasm. In his ne Situation. Thus van Mander reports that after Blocklandt he is a little more specific: he laments Beschrljvinge der Stadt Delft of 1667 he not only ne surrender of Haarlem In 1572 the Spaniards the loss of several beautiful altarpleces in Delft excerpts a considerable amount from van Mander stared many of Heemskerck's works - already including the one mentioned above; but he is mista- but also draws on a number of contemporary docu- mhly decimated by iconoclasm - 'onder decksel ken in recording the loss of the outstanding Martyr- ments and records to which he had gained access. ^^n te willen coopen, en nae Spaengien geson- dom of St. Jamestmm Gouda, since it is still Thus he provides details of the way In which a ( under the pretence of wishing to buy them preserved In the same town (Fig. 7).'®' Then he significant number of ornaments, silver and metal- sent to Spain'); in the same town the great goes on to note that there was a large altarpiece of ware were saved from the churches and cloisters of form I " tot St. Jans, which had the Assumption ofthe Virgin at the home of the town,'®" and on occasion he is even able to destr^ over the high altar of St. John's, was 'Jofvrouw van Honthorst dlcht achter den Dom' correct van Mander - as in his insistence that the oyed, along with one of its wings. The remai- ('Jofrouw van Honthorst just behind the Cathedral') painting by Pleter Aertsen mentioned by Van Man- 78 Artandrconoclas

der as having stood on the high aitar of the Nieuwe dealing with the fundamental issues at stake.'®' In least notionally Catholic places. They point to the Kerk did not stand there but elsewhere in the the end, a book like this-just as the even more acute difficulty of defining the doctrinal, theological church.'®' The High Altar was in fact a complex traditional De vetustissimo sacrarum imaginum and fideistic stance implicit in so many of the Crucifixion polyptych by Jan van Scorel, which usu published in the same year by Frederick objects produced before and during iconoclasm. Bleyswijck describes with considerable care: The Schenck van Toutenburg, the future Archbishop of The first of these monuments is the roodscreen-like Crucifixion with the thieves had on the one wing Utrecht - was irrelevant. gallery known as the 'kraak' in the Reformed (Her- an Entry into Jerusuaiem and on the other a If church art was no longer to flourish in the way it vormde) church at Oosterend in Friesland (Fig. 8); it Resurrection-, on the reverse of these was a Bap- had before, every other form and genre seems to is in wood and is dated 1554."® The ornamental tism of Christ, the next set of wings (covering the have been newly inspired. Van Mander himself may elements of this work clearly derive from the latest ones just mentioned) had a Preachingand a Decoi- have bewailed the effects of iconoclasm in no Antwerp fashions, like the strapwork popularized by iation of John the Baptist, while on the reverse of uncertain terms, but as soon as he arrived in Haar- Cornelis Floris; but what is of concern to us here are these was a Sacrifice of Isaac and The history of lem in 1579 he joined a group of fellow painters and the notable figurative subjects and the vernacular the 11000 virgins.^^^ As if daunted by the prospect sculptors who seem to have taken what had so texts above the gallery and below the scenes. The of enumerating in similar detail the remaining works recently happened as an opportunity to rethink the texts derive from a Bible published by Jacob van which had been destroyed, he now simply refers to very bases of their art, and to produce new forms Liesvelt in Antwerp in the 1530s."'' While Liesvelt another source for the loss of paintings by Frans and new styles. The situation in the Southern only fell foul ofthe inquisition for the marginal Floris, Maarten van Heemskerck and Anthonie Netherlands must then have seemed even bleaker. illustration of his 1542 edition ofthe Bible (which Blocklandt.'®® The consequences of iconoclasm for Perhaps there the consequences of iconoclasm was not used by the artist of the 'kraak') and was art were lamentable and clear; he even invokes were even worse; and the application ofthe Council executed in 1545, we must nevertheless confront reformed authority as he summarizes the damage of Trent's recommendation for the ecclesiastical the possibility of reformed influence here. to such a large number of works, 'alle welcke rari- supervision of art cannot have helped. It is true that In a general way the use ofthe vernacular does teyten gelijck die meerendeels de rasend Kerck- one of the immediate results of iconoclasm in 1566 point, implicitly at least, to the desire for a more plunderinghe nevens andere kostelijckheden en was the publication, in the Southern Netherlands, direct relationship between laity and scripture; but Juweelen sonder onderscheyt jammerlijck heeft of a great spate of treatises in favour of images - by this time the phenomenon was not especially vernielt (want sulcks self van onse Gereformeerde but only ostensibly in favour."' In fact, in their unusual. What is unusual is the iconography of the Theologanten ten hooghste werdt gheimprobeert) attempt to purify images of misuse and abuse scenes on the 'kraak'. There are eleven subjects soo is oockte beklaghen soo weynigh recht (whether actual or potential), many of them turned from the Old Testament (of which 8 are derived bescheyt van soo groot een schat voor de konst-lie- out to be inordinately prescriptive and censorious. from the Books of Kings) and only 7 from the vende is over gebleven alleenlijck eenige weynige Artists in the South cannot but have been unnerved New."® Some of the scenes are taken from the over geblevene en gesalveerde stucken en brocken by phenomena like these; but in the North their Liesvelt Bible of 1538, while others are clearly van dese uytmuntendheden siet men noch heden situation was, for the time being at least, rather based on illustrations in Bibles such as those publis- ten dage in Burgemeesteren Raedt Gamer te pronck more encouraging. This may have had more to do hed in Antwerp in 1533-34 by Willem Vorsterman hangende'.'®" with the security and stability offered them by their (placed on the Index of forbidden books in 1546) In our previous sections we have already reprodu- new and newly independent homeland, and with and by Hendrick Peetersen in Middelburg in ced Bleyswijck's very similar sentiments on the the growing mood of confidence in the country at 1541."® The Old Testament subjects include ones dreadful effects of iconoclasm on the Oude Kerk in large, then with the direct effects of iconoclasm. which had rarely been represented before, such as Delft; but after referring to the fact that only the But without the challenge offered by the whole The angei routing the Assyrians, Josiah called to core ('romp') ofthe High Altar remained there, he question of images and by the terrible consequen- the throne, Joab killing Amasa, David's last proceeded to tell of the splendid new altarpiece by ces it so briefly had, the course of Dutch art would words, David writing a letter to Joab, and - as an Willem Danielsz. van Tetrode which was almost have been entirely different. exceptional representation from the apocryphal immediately commissioned to replace it.'®® That book of Daniel - Daniel unmasking the priests of work was commissioned in March 1568 for the 4Signifi, ; the ;questi Bel."'' Most unexpectedly, the Old Testament huge sum of 1500 'Carolusgulden'; but it was never scenes do not stand in typological relationship to completed. Payments run until 1572;'®® and then This period, like every other, leaves many enigmas the New Testament ones; rather, as Miedema the town suffered new troubles. This may be all too behind. Among the questions that relate directly to noted, they are exemplary. They emphasize the typical of the disturbed state of the Netherlands the objects and concerns ofthe present exhibition directness of God's relationship with Man and the during these years, but the very fact of the new is this: to what extent are the controversies and role of Christ as Redeemer. This is how Miedema commission, and the classicizing splendor of what events we have been discussing reflected in visual characterized the iconography ofthe 'kraak' as a was actually made by Tetrode (unfortunately lost in form in the years between 1525 and 1585? The whole: the great fire of 1654)'®' raises one ofthe most issue is not at all as simple or as clear as one might 'de scenes geven blljk van een zeer levendige profound questions ofthe period as a whole. Des- expect. belangstellingvoorde moderne bijbelvertalingen, pite the depradations ofthe iconoclasts, and des- Two monuments, both published by Hessel Miede- een belangstelling die geen behoefte meer heeft pite the unrest thus caused in the hearts and minds ma,"^ could by their very nature not be included in aantraditionele liturgischeoftypologischeformules of artists, iconoclasm did not sound the death knell the present exhibition, but should nevertheless maar die duidelijke nadruk legt op het exemplari- of Dutch art, as might have been expected. On the claim our attention. The first is a large-scale struc- sche karakter van bijbelverhalen waar een direkte contrary: it inaugurated a period of unparalleled ture that can obviously not be moved, and is typical relatie tussen God en de mens blljkt' ('the scenes innovation. To some extent this may have been of the kind of monument that must once have provide evidence of a very lively interest in the sparked by the way in which both Protestants (as existed in much greater abundance than now (Fig. modern translations ofthe bible, an interest that no van Bleyswijck suggested) and Catholics united in 8). The second is a kind of low-level pictorial perfor- longer has any need for traditional liturgical or condemning the iconoclasts. The groundswell in mance on the vaulting of a church that was typically typological formulas, but which places clear empha- favour of art grew on both sides. One year after the covered over with a layer of plaster and whitewash sis on the exemplary nature of those biblical stories events of 1565 and in direct response to them, the until its recent recovery (Fig. 9). Both monuments in which a direct relation between God and man is pastor of the Oude Kerk, Martinus Duncanus publis- could not be more representative ofthe more apparent')."® hed his Cort Onderscheyt tusschen Godiijcke ordinary kinds of art in the period before iconoclasm But, as he rightly cautioned: ende Afgodissche Beeiden.^^ Although signifi- - so much of which is now lost - than those largely 'Het zou voorbarig zijn, deze nieuwe ikonographie cantly in the vernacular and although it enjoyed the prestigious objects represented in the present te interpreteren als reformatorisch; wel lijkt het accolade of two reprintings, the book is filled with exhibition. They are thus paradigmatic not only in waarschijniijk dat het verlaten van de typologie voor extremely traditional arguments in favour of images their stylistic range, from the workaday to the een veel direkterexemplarische ikonographie buttressed by an armoury of biblical quotations; comparatively distinguished, but also and above all samenhangt met de nieuwe direkte vroomheid and, as its title suggests - it deflected the theologi- in their iconography, which reveals the dialectic waarin de hervorming tot stand zou komen, maar cal arguments underlying the iconoclast position by between Catholicism and Reformed belief in all its waarbij eerder de naam van Erasmus dan die van suggesting the elimination of abuses, rather than tension - even though the monuments were for at Luther moet worden genoemd' ('It would be rash to rufTrifn 79

new iconography reformation iconography. heretical tendencies and Protestant sympathies. burgomaster (Fig. 11)"^ and in many other pain- Around 1563 it actually carried out a minor icono- tings, glass panels and prints?"® Similary, if one clasm in the Grote Kerk by ordering the purification looks at the problem from the other side of the ' Is more likely that the abandoning of typo- direct piety In which the of the altars under the leadership of heretical prea- debate, one cannot tell whether the representation jnnected with the new but which should rather chers.'®' And it was just this council which little ofthe Brazen serpent (cat. 138) would have car- reformation had its ongins, iscoi ;sociated with the name of Erasmus than with over one year earlier had commissioned the remar- ried overtones ofthe Catholic defence of images. be as: kably untraditional cycle of paintings in the main There was no shortage of pro-image writers who , 179 Whole issue ofthe relationship between icono- church of their town. pointed to that particular salvific use of a represen- and religious beliefs could hardly have been The question of Protestant influence, then, Is by no tation"" -just as there was no shortage of writers, more udiciously put; but before moving on let us means straigthforward; but are there any works in either camp, who fiercely denied the relevance of ^flect on the appearance of just one subject which which reflect the image question - and, indeed, Old Testament examples and proscriptions. has already been found In an Amsterdam play of iconoclasm Itself - more directly? Once again the Questions like these accumulate still further and 1533 and will feature again - the story of Daniel question yields no easy answers. acquire considerable urgency in the case of a num- and the Pnestsof Bel.'® Although no more promi- Amongst the works in the present exhibition, consi- ber of printed images after designs by Maarten van nently placed than any other of the scenes on the der the well-known case of Lucas van Leyden's Heemskerck. For all their marvellous stylistic inno- •kraak' and although not particularly legible from Adoration of the golden calf (cat 37). Here is a vations, Heemskerck's paintings of religious sub- below, it does raise this particular question: what, if painting which represents the corruption of the jects were done for stralghtfonA/ardly Catholic any, is the relationship between the increasing Israelites in the Wilderness following their erection patrons, and their iconography - aside from a few criticism ofthe idolatrous and misguided use of of the Golden Calf, exactly the same theme used by possible cases of Protestant influence - seems images on the one hand, and a subject which shows the polemicists to illustrate the corruption that doctrinally and thematically sound. But with several the revealing of the trick by which false priests led Inevitably follows Idolatry.'®® Moses went up to of his print series the situation Is much more com- people into the idolatrous worship of the Image of Sinai to receive the tables of the law; and abando- plex. In the first place we should remember that Bel on the other?'®' This is indeed an unusual sub- ning their true God, the children of Israel erected they reached not only a much wider audience than ject to represent, but we should not push the paral- the image of a false one. The parallel with reformed the paintings, but may well have been intended to lel too far. Even if a relationship Is assumed, there is criticism could hardly be more striking; but was the cater to specific segments of the market for prints nothing to prevent it from being seen interms ofthe parallel Intended? It is hard to Imagine that In the and propaganda - whatever Heemskerck's own context so judiciously described by Miedema; and context we have been describing the significance of views. Perhaps the most Interesting series in this the same applies to other obviously relevant but such a subject would have been lost. But there is a respect are those which deal with some ofthe most less unusual subjects such as Christ driving the further puzzle: if one were to paint a subject that dramatic Instances of Old Testament Idolatry and moneychangers from the Tempie}^^ was implicitly critical of the idolatry of Christians ofthe overthrow of pagan idol worship by just rulers The Issue of purification comes to the fore in the (and of Catholicism in particular) why should one do (even though few of them form part of the usual case of the recently revealed paintings on the vault it in the form of precisely the kind of object that was repertoire). They were published in the years imme- and pillars of the Grote Kerk at Harderwijk (Fig. usually attacked? Indeed, the work appears to have diately before and after the tumultuous events of 9).'®' These wonderfully robust and simple decora- the form of a small altarpiece, although it is unlikely 1566. In them, the idols could hardly have been tions of 1561-52 are accompanied by text derived to have been used as such (despite the usual trans- more clearly represented, their adoration more from a number of different contemporary Bibles, lation of Van Mander's 'kasken' as 'small altarpie- crassly shown or their destruction more paradigma- including the Vorsterman Bible of 1528.'®" But the ce').'®' One cannot assume that the picture is an tically suggested. The most striking ofthe series are subjects, once again, are most unusual. Part ofthe example of Intentional Irony on the part of the The history of Bel and the dragon designed in decoration is traditional enough, with typological painter, and that he deliberately made an object on 1564 and published by HIeronymus Cock In the parallels between Old and New Testament, and a which he painted a subject which implicitly undermi- following year, The history ofAhab and Elijah comparatively stralgthforward Last judgment But ned It; but what then are we to make ofthe subject? engraved and published by Phillip Galle, The his- the Last Judgment theme is expanded in an extraor- Certainly It was new (at least on pictures); but how tory of Athaiiah engraved by Harmen Muller after dinary way: it is followed by representations of The topical was It? And to what extent - if at all - would drawings dated 1567, and The history of Josiah worl<$ of mercy (necessary for salvation) and by by Galle after studies dated 1569."® How, in 1565, figures showing the absence of Mercy (which leads It have been read in terms of the debate about when the Bel series was first published, could prints to damnation); then by nine female figures repre- Images? such as those showing the vast and ugly Image of senting the Beatitudes, with a series of figures The same questions arise in the case of a number of showing the vices (including some marked ' NOTA further objects; and not only of paintings. The small Bel (which the priests used so cleverly to hoodwink BENE') opposite them; and finally the Wise and panel in Hampton Court for a long time given to and trick the people) not have been seen as an Foolish Virgins.'®® Lucas van Leyden but now more accurately attrubu- Incitement to iconoclasm - or at least as an allusion ted to the Master ofthe Sermon In the Church to the greedy exploitativeness ofthe Idolatrous All this, as Miedema observed, marks a notable shows St. Sebastian and the priest Poiycarp at clergy (Fig. 12)?"® And how could anyone have break with Catholic tradition: the compiler of the the sickbed ofthe Prefect Chromatlus; but In the avoided taking the scene showing the systematic programme may well have had Protestant leanings. background of the picture is a scene of iconoclasm destruction of the Temple of Bel and of Its contents At the same time there seems to be a clear desire to (Fig. 10)."° It shows the destruction, authorized by (with the child urinating on a fallen bust in the avoid the blatantly heretical. In Its rejection of Chromatlus himself, of a sumptuous idol in the corner) as the logical outcome of the behaviour so traditional formulae and the clear need to return to adjoining chamber; whereupon the formerly idola- graphically exemplified in the preceding prints of the original sources, attitude and preferences here trous Roman Prefect was cured.'" Did a subject the series (Fig. 13)?"' may broadly be described as humanist. 'Aan die such as this have any topical reference? We cannot Such images are followed after 1566 by the repea- voorkeur, eerder dan reformatorische, is 00k de be certain; indeed, if we were, one would have to ted representation of huge idols and patently false ikonographle van Harderwijk toe te schrijven. Maar think of the implications of all those representations priests, ofthe massacre ofthe priests and destruc- het direkte verband met de hervorming is hiermee, of the Flight into Egypt which show the collapse of tion of images by righteous rulers? Take as exam- "leen Ik, wel duidelijk' ('The iconography at Harder- an idol (almost always in the background) as a ples the opening scenes with the idols in The his- wik IS to be ascribed to this preference, rather to result of the imminence of Christ; and it is unlikely tory Ahab,^^^ The destruction ofthe house of he reforming one. But in this I believe the direct that many of these falling Egyptian idols - if any at Baal in the Athaliah series (Fig. 14),"' orthe mag- reformation to be clearly appa- all - would have been explicitly intended to be nificent and sustained commentary on the false use )• Almost exactly the same might be said of understood as allusions to the idolatrous use of of images and their removal by the king In The 0 ofthe most famous artists ofthe Reformation, Christian images - though there is no question that history of Josiah, which reaches its height In four l^urerand Holbein. some of them might have been read in this way, prints showing violent and vigorous iconoclasm again, Miedema exercises a just and prudent whatever the intentions of their authors. And what achieved by means of hammers, ropes, fires and are the implications and overtones of representa- axes (eg. Fig. 15,16 and 17).™ Who could fail to imrn h ' tl^® ^^mediate context of the commission. The town tions of The Idolatry of Solomon, as, for example, see the topical relevance of such works? Then there ^"cil of Hardenwijk had long been known for Its in the triptych of around 1525 owned by a Zierikzee is the question of why Heemskerck should have 80

chosen to represent the priests of Bel in the earlier of the sacraments and other aspects of Catholic dinary pertinence of the kinds of issues generated series as tonsured monks: is this simply anti-cleri- devotion; above is the pope, surrounded by monks in the great debated around him, and in the cal, or is it more tendentious than that - particularly and bishops, and fastooned with indulgences, cataclysmic events from which he suffered. They in the light of the abundantly evident idolatry of rosaries and the like, while below the accoutre- are pertinent to our understanding of Dutch history, these priests and their rightful overthrow?^"' Cer- ments ofthe liturgy (including many images) are pertinent to our understanding of Dutch art, and tainly almost every one of these series contain being smashed to bits or carted away to destruc- pertinent to the very roots of the way in which we scenes of the slaughter of idolatrous priests. These tion.^"' The second print shows the removal and think about all art. In the period between 1525 and are not the only allusions to idolatry and to icono- destruction of images (in the left background), while 1580 every doubt that had ever been raised about clasm in Heemskerck'swork; there are a number on the right a devil carries the cross and other the artistic endeavour was aired and then subjected more. And yet for 22 years before he died in 1574 Catholic insignia ('want alle dees cremekie hoort to the most critical scrutiny imaginable. Every Heemskerck was churchwarden of St. Bavo's in den duyvel toe' ('because all this stuff belongs to aspect of the validity and the worth of art was Haarlem;^°2 in the Clades ludaeorum series he the devil') reads the inscription). Below the devil, raised and raised again; it was debated, discussed represented the destruction of the Temples of monks and bishops worship the pope as the whore and argued, in countless treatises, sermons and Jerusalem by Nebuzaradan again by Titus (destruc- of Babylon seated atop a seven-headed beast on an polemics. In The Netherlands these momentous tion by enemies of the true religion);^"® and he was altar.One assumes there must have been many debates coincided with extraordinary social and a close friend of Dirck Volckertsz. Coornhert, who others like these; but unfortunately we are left with political pressures, to culminate in a brief but fierce more than anyone else appears to have staved off the more ambiguous kinds of imagery. Perhaps it assault on images. What resulted, astonishingly, serious iconoclasm in Haarlem.™ Could it be that was simply safer to leave the matter ambiguous; or was not resignation and defeat, but rather a sustai- in prints like these Heemskerck was not acctually perhaps it was the effectiveness of the censors that ned and extraordinarily imaginative reevaluation of advocating the destruction of images, but rather eliminated the more explicit and the more blatantly the Dutch artistic tradition. If ever there was a suggesting that if the churches were to be purified, subversive visual commentaries. period that testifies most eloquently to commit- then the process should only be carried out at the There is one artist in whom all these questions ment in the face of criticism it is this one. One might behest of the rightful authorities - an idea that is come together - and yet remain elusively and have thought that the controversies about images frequent not only in the major Reformation writers, frustratingly unanswered: Pieter Aertsen. Despite would wither the roots of art, or that iconoclasm but also in Coornhert himself.^"® One of the most the attention devoted to him in the last fifteen years would remove the evidence of its growth; but that striking features of all the prints noted above is the - most notably by Jan Emmens - the whole ques- did not happen at all. Not only did art survive; it emphasis on the presence of the ruler (or the prop- tion of how it is that Aertsen came to paint his flourished. It built innovatively on the past and het) at each ofthe major iconoclastic events. But remarkable kitchen and genre-pieces (of. cat. 225- prepared the way for a magnificently inventive whether this puts these images closer to Catholic 28) has still not been entirely resolved.™ One can future. But it would be wrong to see the period attitudes or rather to those of Luther or Calvin must do no more than speculate on the possibility that at between 1525 and 1580 solely in terms of transi- still remain unclear. The most likely possibility is least part ofthe motivation (quite possibly uncons- tion: its achievements, as this exhibition so elo- that the stance is to be aligned with that broad cious) may have been as a result of impatience with quently testifies, stand wholly on their own. Erasmian strain in Dutch culture to which we have traditional forms of religious art; and that the moti- already alluded. We now know, as a result of the vation may well have sprung from the influence of work of lija Veldman that if there was any artist at Protestant ideas about such forms and their func- this time who might be called humanist - both in tions.^'" But we cannot know the answers to these ' The only general survey still remains the unsatisfactory and superficial book by the narrow and the broad senses - it was Heems- questions until we have more biographical imforma- Von Vegh 1915. For more recent kerck;^"® and in this respect we may well want to tion (especially concerning the reasons for his attempts at different kinds of overview, come to similar conclusions as those which Mie- return from Antwerp to Amsterdam in 1556) and see Freedberg 1977 and Freedberg 1986, dema arrived at in the case of the vastly different further insight into the kinds of works he produced as well as the excellent selection of essays in Warnke 1973. objects in Oosterend and HardenA/ijk. For all that, after 1566, when commissions for altarpieces were ^ Scheerder 1974 provides a sound but all there is certainly a strong sense in these works by dramatically limited. Certainly we know of his deep too brief general survey. De Jong 1974 Heemskerck of the potential idolatrousness - at and unsurprising exasperation at the destruction of provides a good summary in a small least - of images. If there were any images of the his works in that year and after.^^' But what are we compass. F'or good assessments of the sixteenth century which seem to be making a state- to make ofthe wholly suprising painting of The general problems and issues involved, ment in favour of iconoclasm it is these; could it be idolatry of Nebuchadnezzar m'H in Rotterdam see Dierickx 1966, Freedberg 1973 and the excellent study by Duke/Kolff 1969, that the artist is here only insisting on the right way (Fig. 20)?^'^ Here is a work which shows the massive which although comparatively local gives of going about it? and clearly idolatrous image erected by the King of the reader the best possible impression It will be apparent from the abundance of questions Babylon, while in the background, unmistakably, of the main historiographic and sociolo- gical issues. raised here how difficult it is to come to specific are the three holy children - Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego - who were prepared to die for their ' On these particular aspects of Erasmus' conclusions either about particular attitudes or criticism, with the relevant sources, see opposition to the idol which so offensively domina- about the precise nature ofthe relationship Freedberg 1971. between topical issues and subject matter. If any- ted the scene and is so grossly venerated there. '' For these and other aspects of Erasmus' thing, this is simply an indication of the richly It is hard to imagine how the topical significance of attitude to art, see, inter alia, Giese 1935, p. 257-79, Panofsky 1969, p. 200-27, and textured context of thought about images and their the scene could have gone unnoticed by anyone in the Netherlands in the years covered by this exhibi- Moxey 1977A,p. 122-26. value during the whole period covered by the exhibi- " For the best overview of the reformation tion (and the same subject was also represented in tion. If it were easier to unravel single strands then debate, see Von Campenhausen 1960. the fabric would be less rich than it palpably is, and print by Heemskerck);^'" but we are still left with Karlstadt's Von Abtuhung der Bilder (Wit- one would be less given to insist on the importance the puzzle of how more precisely a work such as tenberg, 1522) is available in the edition by H. Lietzmann (Bonn, 1911). For Hat- of viewing all images of the period in the context we this would have been read and for whom it could have been painted. Perhaps it would be as well not zer and his 1525 booklet entitled Ein have been describing. There are of course a number Urteil Gottes....wie man sich mit alien gotzen of images of a polemical or satirical nature whose push the possibility of topical reference too tar, und bildnussen halten soli, see n. 17 below. import in not unclear at all; but these - perhaps since exactly the same subject was painted by ® The literature on Byzantine iconoclasm interestingly - seen to come mostly from the Sou- Aertsen's son, Pieter Pietersz., for the Haarlem is now vast. A good compendium of information, with a useful bibliography thern Netherlands. It may simply be a question of Guild of Bakers (cat. 229) - for whom the subject was oddly, indeed perversely, appropriate - in and selection of texts is provided by survival, but one looks in vain for prints like Marcus Bryer/Herrin 1977. 1575.^'® But those were different times... Gheeraerts' remarkable Allegory of iconoclasm ' For the best discussions of these argu- (Fig. 18) or the engraving of 1566 headed "t isal We still know too little about Pieter Aertsen. His ments, see Von Campenhausen 1952, verloren, ghebeden oft ghescheten; ick heb de work seems to pose in acute form many of the and Kitzinger 1954. ' The argument comes of course form St. beste canse ghestreken, 1566' (Fig. 19). The first questions suggested in this last section of our discussion. Even if the case of Aertsen fails to Basil, and is to be found in the course of shows a monstrous face-like landscape, on which his discussion of the essential unity of the provide the answers, no one could deny the extraor- are scattered a variety of scenes showing the abuse Trinity in the De Sptritu Sancto, XVIIl, 45 Artandtconoclas

81

but a useful guide to their role and to the Maarten van Heemskerck's representa- I.col.l49C),and>ssdmula^ ip(;xxi 1953, p. 3-33, as well literature on them is provided by Mack tions in print form on p. 79 and 80 above, aiscusseclbvLadne Crew 1978. For an attempt to assess the with notes. See also Saunders 1978-79, p. 1954, p..91 . asbvKitzi relationship between the kinds of ideas 76 for further Bel references in poetry Gregorian position IS to be about images that might have been pur- and songs. '"''^n he famotiincus 1lette r to Serenus, veyed by the preachers and the actual "" Ellerbroek-Fortuin 1937, p. 190. '""'founu d in ftn Marseillee s (who had remremovea d outbreak of iconoclasm, see Freedberg Een Tafelspel van twee personagien, te weten ''•'•'"•'Is romthechtirchesmhis 1976. de weereltsche gheleerde ende godlijcke wijse, BRN I, p. 261 and 271. For the references om te spelen voor een christelijcke congregatie, i! middle ages in gene ral, see Koll- in this and the next paragraph, I am published in Ellerbroek-Fortuin 1937, p. 'i qVv n 109 38. The threefold argu- 196-211. "•'" ' clb'efotind in one of its classic indebted to Moxey 1977A, p. 144-48. niei Articulen van Balthasar Friberger, in BRN Ibidem, p. 201-02. For the plays and ' Thomas Aquinas, forms I, p. 122. The work appears on the 1950 ,„erl,brossentenUamm, Commenmmn songs in this and the next three paragra- Index. phes, I am once again indebted to Moxey Published by Sebastian Heyden in Niirn- I977A, especially p. 148-163 (which, I'^'lSS ll -atement and further berginI524. along with p. 144-48, as cited in n. 22 above, appear in almost exaedy the same HrscJsto with other medieval parallels. The passage is taken from Grapheus's Troost ende Spiegel der Siecken and is repro- form in Moxey 1977B, p. 148-62. 'Maer mij dunckt gij doet al verloren CfSt.Bonaventureinthetoramm duced in BRN I, p. ISS. The Troost ende Spiegel der Siecken first appeared in 1525, pijne,/aen dees gemaelde belden van Ipieturae; simulacra etspecta- and then again in 1531 and 1557; inevita- godtverboden....het sijn al afgoden'. as (lata, •(V in De Vooys 1928, p. 191-92. For the rest int exemplaria vel potius exem- bly it found its way onto the Indices of cula). of this prologue to the Second Apostel Play plata, proposita mentibus adhuc rudibus 1550 and 1576. by van Haecht, see p. 191-97. De Vooys, etsensibilibus.ut per sensibiha, quae BRN I, p. 416. The work concerned is p. 29-30 plausibly suggests that while the vident transferanturad intelligibelia, Den Val der Roomsche Kercken, which after painter, like van Haecht himself, appears quae non vident, tampquam per signa ad its first appearance in Norwich in 1550 to have adopted a Lutheran position on signata'. See the nice outline of the semio- was re-edited in London in 1553, Emden, 1556 and Antwerp, 1561 - before appea- these matters, his opponent is presuma- tic implications of these ideas in Sukale ring on the Index of 1570. bly to be regarded a Calvinist. 1977, p. 188-89. " BRN X, p. 191-92. Ibidem, p. 40-41. These are exactly the The classic position here is to be found in precedents that appear in any number of For more on the significance of Old St Bernard's often cited letter to the pro-image treatises, especially the Catho- Testament subjects like these, involving \bbot William of St. Thierry, Apologia ad lic ones - as, for example, in at least one idolatry and the destruction of idols, see GulUelmum Sancti Theodenci Abbatem, PL work which will appear later in this dis- CLXXXII, cols. 915-17, with its tren- Saunders 1978-79, especially p. 64-69 cussion (cf. p. 78 above): M. Duncanus chant opposition of the refulgent but and 73-80. Cf. also the discussion ofthe (recte Donk), Een cort onderscheyt tuschen superfluous adornment of the churches appearance of subjects like these in the Godlycke end afgodissche beelden, Antwerp to the real needs of the poor. For the works of Maarten van Heemskerck on p. 1567 (second ed. 1579), fo. Avii v-Aviii r. relevant passages as well as some of the 79-80 below. Ibidem, p. 40; on Van Haecht's affiliation main Reformation derivations, see De Verantwoording van Angelus Merula, ed. and beliefs, see p. 20-37. Freedberg 1982, p. 149-50, n. 56. I.M.J. Hoog, Leiden (1897), p. 56-57, 'Ick en ben ick saeg liever mijn werck 131-32,161. For recent new material on ' The best and fullest discussion of Luther versleten,/mijns hertsen secreten kent Angelus Merula (recte Engel Willemsz.), on the Decalogue is to be found in Stirm godt de heere,/tmoet ver van mij sijn dat see Troost/Woltjer 1972, p. 321-32 with 1977, p. 17-23; on Luthers views on ik met lof en eere,/sou laeten aenbidden appropriate references to the earlier iconoclasm and on Karlstadt, see p. 24-58 mijn eonstich verven/...', Ibidem, p. 41. studies on him). there. A general appraisal ofthe relations Published in Een Lietboecxken tracterende between Luther and art, as well as his This is the modern Dutch orthography van den Offer des Heeren, 1563 and availa- position in the image controversy is pro- given by Kronenbrug 1911, VII, p. 59, ble in BRN H, p. 601. vided by Christensen 1979, who also has from the Revocatie ende abjuratie van H. WiederI900,p.83. a useful bibliography ofthe preceding Marino Everswaert, vicepastoor eertyts van- general works on the subject. See also der nywer kerk tot Dortrecht of 1533. Veelderhande Liedekens, Kmsterdam 1582, Von Campenhausen 1959. '' For the text of van der Heyden's pamph- p. 138. As, for example in the Sermon on Indulgen- let (which appeared on the lists of forbid- ™ As, for example, in Kuiper/Leendertz ces of 151S, the Sermon ot 12 March, den books of 1550 and 1569), see BRN 1924,1, p. 52. 1522, the letter to Count Ernest of IV, 19-21. The particular sentiment Cited bv De Hoop Scheffer 1886, p. 357. Saxony (WA I. p. 236, WA X-3, p. 32, WA expressed here occurs on p. 19. On van De Hoop Scheffer 1873, H, p. 541-42. Br. X, p. 558) and in many other places der Heyden himself, see F. Pijper in BRN On the extraordinary iconoclasm in including the Commentary on Deuteronomy IV, p. 3-19. Munster, seeWarnke, 'Durchbroehene of 1529 (eg. WA 1, p. 556, 598). See too On Versteghe, see F. Pijper in BRN IV, Geschichte? Die Bildersturme der Wie- Stirm 1977, p. 57 (with further sources in p. 79-123. The text of Dc Leken Wechwyser dertaufer in Munster, 1534/1535', in Luther), Christensen 1979, p. 42-65 and is reproduced in BRN IV, p. 123-363. Warlike 1973, p. 65-98. , Baxandall 1980, p. 88-93. For the editions and translations of Dc Eck's views may, for example, be found ' For these positions, see the works cited in Leken Wechwyser, see BRN IV, p. 117-18. in the fifteenth chapter of his Enchiridion, the previous note. For the particular Ibidem, p. 289. Ingolstadt 1529; but his poisiton was issue of the need for iconoclasm to be Ibidem, p. 289. clear from as early as 1522, when he carried out by the proper authorities, see Ibid, (continuation of previous passage): published his response to Carlstadt's Christensen 1979, p. 49-50, as well as p. 'Men mocht die tempelen mit treffelicken Von Abtuhung der Bilder and the Wit- ' 1,75-76, 80 and n. 28, 119 and 205 historien uyt hilliger schrifft laten bema- tenberg iconoclasm. It was entided De below. len, wil men figuren hebben. Off alleen non tollendis Christi et Sanctorum Imagini- For all its overt ideological interests, still schone sprueken, met grote letteren an bus, Ingolstadt 1522. For the pre-Triden- , seeZschelletschky 1975. die mouren laten schryven unde gar wit tine Catholic response and polemic, see On Hatzer and his booklet, see Garside sonder figuren laten biyven.' Polman 1932, especially p. 410-41; Sca- , I960, p. 20-36. '' On these aspects of the rederijkers' plays, vizzi 1981, p. 43-234; and Freedberg For the views of Zwingli, see, in addition see Loosjes 1909, p. 246-90; Enno van ' 1973, p. 50-56. For examples ofthe to the pioneering articles bv Von Cam- Gelder 1959, especiallv p. 23-27 and poems in which Anna Bijns sadrized or penhausen in 1959 and 1960, Garside 59-86. attacked what she regarded as reformed double standards in the matter of images 966 and the excellent analysis in Stirm The literature on the Landjuwelen is (they retained Lascivious and other '977, p. 138-60. Both Garside's book and substantial, but for a useful general over- unsuitable images in their homes, see 'hat of Christensen cited in n. 13-15 view, see Steenberghen 1952 with a good Refereinen van Anne Bijns, ed. A. Bogaers above suffer from too general a view of bibhography of earlier works on the and W.L. van Helten, Rotterdam 1875, the problem and an inadequate use of subject (and on the Rederijkers general- p. 106, 118 and 124. 1 c appropriate documentary sources. ly) on p. 215-19. For the few anti-image Stirm 1977, especiallv p. 166-80. allusions at the Landjuweel of 1539, see The text of this portion ofthe Heidelberg f or most of these attitudes and ideas, see Moxey 1977A, p. 153. Confession is that of Dathenus' transla- he marvellously sustained assault in the Ellerbroek-Fortuin 1937, p. 26; for the tion. It is also the one that appeared in 'nshtution de la relit I chretu (1560), reappearance of this subject and more on Richard Schilder's Formulierenboek{Mid- , I. chlprerxf! its possible significance, see the discus- delburg, 1611), which in turn lay at the he literature on the preachers is sion of the 'kraak' of Oosterend and of basis of the Dort Synod's discussions in 82 Artandrconoclas

1619. For the full text, the textual historv Backhouse 1971. p. 78. where the provocative sermon of'Gerrit and the variants, see Bakhuizen van den " Ibidem, p. 91-111 for this and the further van Kuilenburg' is also mentioned. On Brink 1976. p. 201-08 (for more on the progress of the group. other preachers active in and around various translations see p. 35-36). It is The literature on iconoclasm in Antwerp Utrecht, see p. 66-68. worth noting - as one considers the pro- is substantial, often good and sometimes For the 'Raads dagelijckx boeck' on the blem of variant readings - the differen- very provocative. Amongst the works events of 24-25 August, 1566 in Utrecht, ces between the text ofthe answer to worth consulting and perusing, see Van see Kleijntjens/van Campen 1932, p. Question 98 as given here, and that ofthe Roosbroek 1930, with a full bibliographv 71-243. two Emden translations of 1563 and of contemporary accounts, of which Kleijntjens/van (dampen 1932, p. 171. 1565. which runs as follows: 'Neent; want perhaps the most revealing is the one by "" Kleijntjens/van Campen 1932, p. 172. wij en zullen niet wijser zijn dan (iodt, de Godevaert van Flaecht edited by \'an The course of their activities is made welcke sijne Christenhevt niet door Roosbroek himself, De Kronieh van Gode- abundantlv plain in the extraordinary stomme afgoden, maer door de leven- vaert van Haecht over de troebelen van 1565 testimony published in Kleijntjens/van dige predicacie sijns woordts wil onder- tot 1574 teAntwerpen en elders, ed. R. van Campen 1932, p. 71-244. St. James's wesen ofte gheleert hebben'. 'Predicacie' Roosbroek, Antwerp 1929. Also useful really only appears in the hearing of Jan for 'verkondinghe' and 'stomme beelden' (for other places as well) is the 'Corte van Amerongen on p. 207-10, and in for 'stomme afgoden' are changes worth verhalinge vande Beeltstormerije, Alva's instructions to repair the churches, pondenng. geschiet binnen dese Nederlanden als here reproduced on p. 244-45. Brabant, Vlaenderen, Hollant ende ' These matters are all carefullv and bril- Cited in Scheerder 1974, p. 79. For the Zeelant, ende int lantvan Luydick', in liantlvsetoutin jedin 1935, p. 143-89 actions of the rhetoricians, see Loosjes F.G.V. 1743, p. 82-85. and 404-29. 1909, p. 623; Knappert 1908, p. 207-08; For a summary of the extent to which 'Imagines porro Christi, deiparae V'irgi- and p. 141 ill Kolffl966. iconoclasm was planned - and whether it nis et aliorum sanctorum in templis prae- SeeKist/Moll 1862, p. 429 for the rele- was locally planned or done so on a wider sertim habendes et retinendas....quo- vant document of 26 August 1566. On 28 and possibly national scale, as once was niam honus, qui eis exhibetur, refertur August the Council insisted on the sto- thought in certain quarters - see Scheer- ad prototvpa, qtiae illae repraesen- rage and safekeeping of objects (ibidem der 1952, p. 67-74; Scheerder 1974, p. tant....lllud vero diligenter doceant p. 431) 1 ndeed, just over a year later, on 98-I01;seealso Dierickx 1966, p. 1040- episcopi, per historias mysteriorum 16 December 1567, in a letter to the 48. Almost every one ofthe articles cited nostrae redemptionis, picturis vel aliis (;ourt of Holland the Council was to in the notes in this section contain evi- similitudinibus expressas, erudiri et claim that thanks to its care and foresight dence of organization; but some - for confirmari populum in articluis fidei the most impostant works of art were example notes 116 and 121 also cite those comtnemorandis et assidue recolendis', saved (ibidem, p. 433-36). Cf Hermes- instances wdiere iconoclasm seems to Decretum De invocatione, veneralione, et dorf[e.a.| 1978, p. 401 n. 60, as well as n. have taken a more spontaneous turn. reliquiis sa nctoru m et sums imaginibus (Ses- 131 below. For an excellent summarv of these even- sio XXV). readilv available in Decretum Scheerder 1974, p. 79. The best account ts, see Scheerder 1974, p."48-51. ed.l973. ofthe troubles in Leiden is Kolff 1966. See Fig. 3 for a map ofthe progress and Breen 1896, p. 32-33; cf also Scheerder ' 'In has autem sanctas et salutares obser- pattern (if one can call it that) of icono- 1974, p. 76-77. vationes si qui abusus irrepserint: eos clasm. For a good chronology, see prorsus aboleri sancta synodus vehemen- Scheerder 1974, p. 117-20. Appropriate For a brilliant discussion ofthe whole ter cupit. ita ut nullae falsi dogmatis bibliographic references for the appea- problem of the range of beliefs in a town imagines et rudibus periculosi erroris rance of iconoclasm in each of these and like this, see Troost/Woltjer 1972, espe- occasionem praebentes statuan- the following towns in this and the next cially p. 318-26, as well as the interesting tur....Omnis porro superstitio in sancto- paragraph will be given in the detailed material on p. 340-42 about lapsed or rum invocatione, reliquiarum venera- discussion on p. 74-76 above and notes lapsing priests in the neighbourhood. tione et imaginum sacro usu tollatur, below. " Ti-oost/Woltjer 1972, p. 328. omnis turpis questus eliminetur, omnis ™ Ibidem. denique lascivia vitetur ita ut procaci Woltjer 1962, p. 150-52, and Woltjer ™ Duke/Kolff 1969, p. 326 (with appro- ventistate imagnes non pingantur nec 1969, p. 170-V5. priate archival reference in n. 77). ornentur; et sanctorum celebratione ac See p. 77 above and n. 137 below. ""' See P. Marnix van St. Aldegonde, Vraye reliquiarum visitatione homines a com- " For some of the social and economic narration et apologie des chosespassees....en messationes atque ebrietatis non abutan- issues and factors, see the now well- Van MDLXVI, in Van Marnix ed. 1871, p. tur, quasi festi dies in honorem sancto- known left wing work Kuttner 1949 as 109. With this one may compare the very rum per luxum ac lasciviam agantur', well as Van der Wee 1971. similar sentiments expressed by the ibidem, p. 775-76. In addition to the works cited in the altogether notorious preacher Herman ' Ibidem, p. 776. For the influence in the preceding note, see, for example, the Moded, also about the Antwerp icono- Netherlands of this part of the decree, contemporary observations by Van \'aer- clasm, in his Apologie ofte verantwoording- both theologicallv and artisticallv. see newijck ed. 1905, p. 87; F. de Potter, ed., he.... (Maastricht, 1567), reprinted in Freedberg 1973, p. 165-70, as well as Dagboekvan Cornelis en Philips van Campe- Brutelde la Riviere 1879, p. 65. Freedberg 1976. ne, Ghent (1870), p. 10-11 (both with "" SeeWils 1938, p. 417, and supplement ' It is still worth consulting the remarkable reference to Ghent); and van Haecht's with Froost/Woltjer 1972, p. 335. compendium of documents in the estima- Kromeh(ci.n.{^b)p. 14, 17 (for Antwerp). Troost/Woltjer 1972, p. 334. ble work bv Te Water 1779-96. The most '' For Middelburg and its surroundings, His actions are documented with great useful up-to-date summary in English of seeVan Vloten 1873. care in De Jong 1957. these events is provided by Parker 1979, Beenakkerl971,p. 71. i";' Dejong 1957, p. 102. p. 68-71 (with good bibliographical refe- " See the chronicle in Ackersdijck 1857. ' As cited in Scheerder 1974, p. 86 (p. rences on p. 286-88) while a recent popu- ™ VanNierop 1978, p. 30. 85-87 provide an excellent summary of lar account in Dutch (with interesting " Breen 1896, p. 24. the events of the week following 7 Sep- illustrations) is provided by H. de Schep- ™ Breen 1896, p. 25-26. tember in Culemborg). perui \'an Deursen/De Schepper 1984, ™ Breen, 1896, p. 26. Scheerder 1974, p. 87. p. 54-63. '....want door het vi-iendelijck spreeken "" Kleijntjens 1948, p. 173. For another For a comprehensive summary ofthe van de schutterij sijn alle vertrocken, instance ofthe participation of a lapsed role ofthe preachers in the beginning of ende kerck worde geslooten', Breen priest in the iconoclasm around Gronin- the revolt, with a good bibliography of 1896, p. 27. gen, see Kleijntjens 1948, p. 174 (Lopper- primary and secondary sources (though Breen 1896, p. 31-32. sum). But everywhere the priests were see the following note), see Mack Oew Breen 1896, p. 38. On the course of the changing sides, and sometimes there 1978, and Decavele 1968-69, p. 1-42, as second iconoclasm in Antwerp, see van were former priests among the preachers well as the works cited in the following Nierop 1978, p. 36-38. who led the image-breaking in so many note. Breen 1896, p. 38-39. places. • 'Fhe classic ardcle on the hagepreken(aito- Seep. X'iO-'AloHheProces-Verbaelghehou- Kleijntjens 1948 p. 174. It is perhaps nishingly absent from Mack Oew's bibi- den na het inne-nemen van het cloostervan de worth recalling here that in 1568 twenty liography) is Fruin 1903. But the Mmnebroedersm Soutendam 1877, p. two Antwerp schoolteachers lost their accounts are so numerous (even the 179-221. On the course of iconoclasm in jobs as they were alleged to have have exactly contemporary ones) that it would Delft, see also Smit 1924. taught Protestant catechisms and psalms be furtile to list them here. Amongst the Scheerder 1974, p. 75; cf. Van Bleyswijck and encouraged their pupils to defy the most interesting for the North Nether- 1667, p. 250. authorities (Briels 1972, p. 92). lands are \'an Campen 1949 and Smit Van Bleyswijck 1667, p. 168. Kleijntjens 1935, p. 6; cf. also the docu- 1924. Kleijntjens/van Campen 1932, p. 67, ments published on the following pages 83

X-shaped cuts to the eyes and mouths. I derstadRu mersivaal, Middelburg, Stadsar- ^,,K,eyi,„ens-article, as for example, on tj' am grateful to Jan Piet Filedt Kok for chief. No. 84. fo. 173; published inMesia- etc. etc p. 20. 27 ,. p. 6-7.43. drawing my attention to this aspect of the ger des sciences historiques, 29 (1855). p. 193; 11" Kleijntje"' , p. 44-46 for tl fe of painting's history and to the Toledo 416 and more recently in cat. exhib. 111 Kleijntjens 193: (Ohio) Museum of Art for letting me Rotterdam-Brugge. 1965, p. 38L berofmci libers ofthe shoemak a in have copies ofthe relevant material. In the manuscript now in the library of guild- '2'-' Further discussion of this issue in Freed- the University of Ghent (MS.G. 2469), il935, p.-'l- lis Kleijnijc'" berg 1986, p. 27-33 and n. 95-99. available as Van de beroerlicke tijden in de iiithe.se places are neatly For further discussion of these aspects of Nederlanden en voornamelijk in Ghendt in Theevents iScheerder 1974, p. 87-89. suininarizeci i I. u. 537-39, forwhat he iconoclasm, see Freedberg 1986. 1566-68, in Van \'aernewijck ed. 1872- For the fate and fortune of Lucas's trip- 81; and as Van Vaernewljck ed. 1905. . 538 'de s atestantise- tych during this period, see Rammelman- Perhaps the most spectacular of his van de Noor•dnederlands e pr Elsevier 1875. p. 75-76; Dulberg I899A. accounts of the saving of a work of art is 1 de brutaalste vormen van ring .een van I. p. 33-34; and. above all. Hermesdorf that concerning the Ghent altarpiece. lerheidsterreureii ,vetensknech- [e.a. I 1978. p. 325-30, p. 401, n. 58-60 but he also alludes, for example, to the ling. cheerderl974,p.92. For (with an important consideration ofthe painting by Gossaert mentioned in the i' Quoted 1 ,rf«7«flrinMaastr cht, validity of a group of documents about its previous note (albeit in rather vague more on the i 101-208 ('Maastr cht movement in 1566-77). and p. 411 Docs. terms) and refers to the devastadon in ' Baxl941.II,p. I and 2 (instructions and payments in Northern places like Leiden. omstreekshetwonderjaar). 1577). Including an Adoration of the magi and a 9. The Asquoted in Salomons 1985 p. Siege and attack ofBethulia bv Bosch; and a des an '•'2 For the history of the restorations and ^est of this article (p. 179-90) prov Creation of the World with a David and se and the final removal of the paint covering excellent short analvsis of the i Abigail and a Solomon and his mother Baths- God the Father (already detected but not subsidence ofthe particularly fierce heba (surprisingly on the High Altar) also completely 'freed' in or around 1806). outburst of iconoclasm in this small wea- by Bosch; and a Criicifixion{on the altar of see the comprehensive documentation in ving town in Netherlands-Limburg. Saints Peter and Paul) by Jan van Scorel; Hermesdorf [e.a. | 1978. p. 328-35 and I- See Duke 1968. Van Oudenhoven 1649,' p. 25. 415-17 (restorers' report). i« For the events in Haarlem and the role of Van Oudenhoven 1649, p. 25. Cited inn. 124 above. Coornhert. see especiallv Kleijntjens/ As recorded, for example, in Phillips For further examples, see Hermesdorf Becker p. 1 -134 (reproducing the docu- 1973, with visual evidence ofjust this [e.a.l. 1978, p. 402. n. 67. as well as Freed- ments of the official investigation and phenomenon in fig. 24a. 24b. 28.29a and berg 1982. with illustrations and discus- proceedings against him in 1567), with 29b. sion. an excellent summary of his actions and attitudes on p. XI-XI\'. The main relevant source is, of course, Van Bleyswijck 1667. p. 167 and 250. I' In addition to the documents cited in Het Leven der Doorluchtighe ^ederlandtsche Van Bleyswijck 1667. p. 249. Kleijntjens/Becker, see the pages on the en Hooghduylsche Schilders published as fo. Van Bleyswijck 1667. p. 247-48. relation between Coornhert's and the 196-305 of Van Mander, but printed in The reference is to the geographer iconoclastic position in Saunders 1978- Alkmaar by Jacob de Meester for Pas- George Braun; Van Bleyswijck 1667. p. 79. p. 80-83. schier van Wes[t|busch of Haarlem. 249. •" The characteristically copious testimon For a sound recent overview of his life Van Blevswijck 1667. p. 250. taken before them in eprinted in Van (with the appropriate references to ear- Van Bleyswijck 1667. p. 168. Hoeck. p. 215-433. lier sources), see \'an Mander ed. 1973, F'or the commission and fortuna of this Van Hoeck. p. 206-07. ith plenty of H, p. 297-306. Forthe Martyrdom of St. project, see Oosterbaan 1973. p. 32-36. further evide ceon the foil g pages, Catherine of 1582 (but commissioned by Oosterbaan 1973. p. 36-42 givesan excel- as. for example 1 p. 250 the Courtrai linen-weavers in 1581) still lent anthology of contemporary and -"-' Van Hoeck, p. 286. in St. Martin's in Courtrai, see Valentiner early descriptions ofthe magnificent See. for example. Kleijntjens/Van Cam- 1931, p. 6-9, and no. 7, reproduced on pi. marble and alabaster altar. pen 1932 p. 244, which also reproduces I. For Duncanus's book cf n. 44 above. the further instructions from the Utrecht As in Van Mander, fo. 2I0v, 2I3v. 224y, For more on the contents of this book Schoul, upon receipt of Alva's missyve, to 244v. 254r and 254v - to take only a very (and on its immediate context) see Freed- the churchwardens of all the local chur- few ofthe many possible examples (which berg 1973, p. 69-88. as well as Oosterbaan ches. include several ofthe instances cited in 1973. p. 157-59 (Oosterbaan also has an DeJongl957.p. 144. the following notes). excellent brief account of Duncanus's ° See. for example, the extraordinary case "" \'an Mander. fo. 244r. career on p. 150-63). ofthe painting of the Ten Command- "" Ibidem. ''" F. Schenck, De vetustissimo sacrarum imagi- ments in gold letters on a black ground Van Mander, fo. 244y. num usu in Ecclesia Christi catholica, Ant- on the surface of a now lost Crucifixion by Ibidem. werp (1567); briefly discussed in Polman Hugo van der Goes in St. [ames's in Bru- '••2 Van Mander. fo. 247r - and this apart 1932, p. 412-18. It'is perhaps worth ges. described bv Van Mander. fo. 204v. from 'al d'uytnemende constighe stucken noting here that Schenck's was the last \ an Oudenhoven 1649. p. 25. reports die de rasende beeldtstorminge schand- burial to be held in the Cathedral at the replacement of a painting bv Bosch lijc heeft vernielt. so datter nu ter tijt niet L'trecht; and that on that occasion mem- on the High Altar of St. Johns in's Herto- veel van hier te Lande gevonden en wort', bers of the Reformed community crowd genbosch with the text ofthe Decalogue '....eene die oyerble\'en was is doorge- into the building in order to sing their in large gold letters; and s^ • on and so saeght en zijn nu twee schoon stucken tot version ofthe psalms. forth. It is perhaps worth recalling here den Commandeur in de sael van t'nieuw ''' The extraordinary floods of works in how frequent were the recommendations ghebouw', Van Mander. fo. 206r. defence of religiotis imagery — in a com- that figured imagery be replaced bv text, 'doch door den krijgh oft beeld-stormen paratively short space of time - is discus- as in the case ofthe recommendation by vernielt', Van Mander. fo. 206r. sed atsome length in Freedberg 1973, p. \ersteghe(seep.71 above) that if one ' "" Van Mander. fo. 229v. 'want zijn huys 68-96 and 136-65; very briefly in Freed- had to have something on the walls, one doe afghebrendt is met dat van hem daer berg 1976, especially p. 28-29 and notes; Should either have stories from scripture, in overghebleven was'. and usefully but summarily in Polman or edifying savings in large letters ('off Van Mander. fo. 207v. 1932, p. 409-18. alleen schone sprueken mit grote letteren Van Mander. fo. 259y. In Miedema 1978 and Miedema 1980B. an die moeren laten schryven unde gar '•t" Van Mander. fo. 254v. I" Miedema 1978. p. 63. «it sonder figuren laten blijven' BRN IV, Van Mander. fo. 224v. Miedema 1978, p. 67 (p. 67-69 for the Van Mander. fo. 236r. 289)-which was much better. texts). Gouda, Museum St. Catherinagasthuis; Amsterdam. Rijksmusei no. 2815 Miedema 1978. p. 69. The New Testa- Van Mander. fo. 254r. each panel 101: ,54/,55 . Friedlar der ment subjects may show a significant Van Mander. fo. 254y. 12'.^•no . 55. concentradon; they are (on the west side) Van Mander. fo. 254r-254v. On the history and restoration of Th Christ entering ferusalem, Christ driving the VanMander. fo. 210v. moneychangers from the Temple, Christ tea- exrHr"'*^ poh ptvch. see thi '....wert principalvck beclaecht een seer excellent account in De Bruvn Kops ching in the Temple-, (on the east side, in schoene ryckelycke tafel van de hoogen better chronological order) the .4«nwnoa- outaer eertyts geschildert by Jasmyn ' appears from the photographs ofthe tion. Nativity, Circumcision, and Resurrec- Mabuyze. daer hy vyffthien jaren over painting in ts stripped state, which were tion. made by \\ besich geweest hadde: dewelcke gerepu- " amSuhrin 1959. immedia- Cf. Miedema 1978, p. 67-72, and fig. telv before he teert was to syne de schoenste schilderye ndertook restoration and 9-24. ••epairs. van geheel Europa....'. Register Perpetueel These photographs she iw severe Miedema 1978, p. 71. For speculation 84

about the possible conteuiporary signifi- series, see Saunders 1978-79, p. 63, n. cance ofthe Daniel subject, see p. 71 16-18. above and 79 below, and in the reference Hollstein VllL p. 247, no. 534-43, no. 5. in n. 39 above antl n. 190 below. Hollstein VllL p. 247. no. 534-43, no. 6. Miedema 1978, p. 87. The possibility of topical allusions in Miedema 1978, p. 71. these series by Heemskerck was raised by For speculation about the possible con- me in Freedberg 1973, p. 193-94 and temporary significance of this subject, Freedberg 1976, p. 35-37, and then see p. 71 and 79, and in the references in taken up and expanded by Saunders n. 39 above and n. 196 below. On the 1978-79, p. 59-83, who rightly emphasi- representation of this unusual subject, zed the relationship with discussions see also Schneider 1954. about the role of authority in the removal See p. 79 above and n. 196 below. of images. But see also Bangs 1977, p. Indeed, a work such as the glass panel 8-11, for a further discussion of this designed by Crabeth (cf. cat. 243) was particular print, as w'ell as a remarkable conceived of as part of a series devoted to stained glass panel after it (Ibidem, plate the Defensores Ecclesia. 1). Discussed at length bv Miedema 1980B, I'.IH Hollstein Vlll, p. 242. no. 230-33. p. 259-83. HI9 Hollstein VllL p. 246. no. 414-17, no. 4. Miedema 1980B, p. 273. 200 See especiallv Josiah destroying the Temples See Miedema 1980B. p. 261-72 for the of Ashtaroth and Chemosh, Hollstein \T 11, precise details of each subject and each p. 240-47, no. 5; but compare the equally inscription, with, on p. 269 and 273-74 \ iolent scenes of The Destruction of the an attempt to make sense of the "pro- house of Baal (no.3), The removal of the gramme' as a whole. horses of the sun (no. 4), The Destruction of Miedema 1980B, p. 281. the altars at Bethel (no. 6), and The Priests of Miedema 1980B,p.278. the High Places slaughtered on their altars The notion of corruption is strongly (no. 7). present in \'an Mander as well, who On this aspect ofthe series, see the excel- notes ofthe behaviour ofthe Israelites lent outline in Bangs 1977. 'In dit bancketteren sietmen seer leven- According to \'an Mander, fo. 247r. The dich uytghebeeldt des volcx dertel wes- newest monograph on Heemskerck, sen en den onctivschen lust ten ooghen Grosshans 1980 has a summary of his life uvt hem openbarende'. Van Mander, fo. and of some ofthe issues raised here on 213v. p. 18-26; but still does not supplant Veld- Ibidem. man 1977 A. Friedlander X, no. 94; but see also Bruvn Hollstein VIIL p. 242, no. 202-23; cL 1960. p. 80-81. The panel is one of three Freedberg 1976, p. 35. devoted to the Life of St. Sebastian. See note 118 above and Saunders 1978- Fhis most unusual scene comes from the 79. p. 80-82. life of St. Sebastian in the Legemla Aurea. This possibility - together with the rele- The Hague, Mauritshuis, No. 433; Fried- vant material from and about Coornhert lander XI. no. 64. The arms on the — is excellentlv discussed by Saunders reverse ofthe wings are those of Willem 1978-79, p. 67-83. Simonsz. (1498-1557), who amongst 206 Veldman 1977A. several other offices was eight times 207 London, British Musetim, Department burgomaster of Zierikzee, and of his wife ofPrintsand Drawings. Hodnett 1971, p. Adrianavan Duyveland (1506-1545). 26, pi. 2; noted by Freedberg 1973, p. As noted in cat. 's-Gravenhage 1968, p. 187-91 in the context of iconoclasm; and 36 (where a few other examples of this in cat. exhib. Amsterdam 1984, p. 41, no. subject are also given), the composition B12 (as Allegorie op de Verwording van de and iconography derive from prints by katholieke kerk). Lucas of 1514 and 1517-18 (Hollstein X, Amsterdam, Rijksprentenkabinet F.M. p. 82 and 204). 479A. Discussed in cat. exhib. Hamburg. Since the erection ofthe Brazen Serpent 1983-84, p. 144-45, no. 18; Van Deursen/ had for so long stood as a tvpological De Schepper 1984, p. 63; cat. exhib. antecedent for the Crucifixion; the Israe- Amsterdam 1984, p. 41-42, no. B13 (as lites were therebv saved from the plague De calvinistischepropaganda verdedigtde in the wilderness just as Christ on the beeldenstonn). cross saved mankind from its sins. On the For a variety of attempts to come to grips other hand, one could ahvays point to the with these problems, see expecially fact that it was later pulled down by Heze- Emmens 1973 and Moxey 1977A, Kreidl kiah. For a marvellous encapsulation of 1972 is devoted to the religious paintings, the relevance ofthe Brazen Serpent to but does not raise the kinds of issues the debate about images, see Marnix van broached here. Sint Aldegonde's fierce response to a A possibility also adumbrated by Freed- Lutheran interlocutor about the matter berg 1982, p. 142. in the Antwoord P. Marnixii, Heere van St. See p. 77 abo\'e and n. 141 above. .Aldegonde, op d'assertie eenes Martinists dat Rotterdam, Museum Boymans-van Beu- het afwerpen der beelden niemnnde dan der ningen, no. 1007; Friedlander XllI, no. hoogher overheli gheoorlooft en zijn (in \'an 297. Marnix ed. 1871. p. 1-34), p. 12. The Daniel 3; 5-25. survival of these arguments in the North 'Fhis possibihtv was again noted bv Freed- Netherlands (as well as many ofthe berg 1973, p. i91-93,andMoxey'l977A, others about images) is wonderfully p. 243-49 (substantially reproduced in testified to bv Didericus Camphuvsen's Moxey 1976, p. 70-74)'. For Heems- Stichtelyhe Kijmen, in which he translated kerck's prints of the story of Shadrach, Johannes Geesteranus's late sixteenth Meshach and Abednego, see Hollstein centurv Idolelenchus as Tegen't Geestigdom Vlll, p. 243, no. 264-67. The first of der Schilderkunst, Strafnjmen (for the these iiears remarkable similarities to reference to the Brazen Serpent see D.R. Aertsen's painting. Camphuysen, Stichtelyke Rijinen, See Wescher 1929, p. 155-57, reprodu- Amsterdam 1647, p. 190-91). ced on p. 155. Lhe painting is still preser- Hollstein VllL p. 247, no. 534-43; p. \ ed in the Frans Hals-Museum, Haarlem, 242, no. 230-33; p. 246, no. 414-17; and no. 234. p. 243. no. 240-47. For the many survi- ving drawings for the prints in these