THE EXOTIC GIFT AND THE ART OF THE SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY DUTCH REPUBLIC By ©2013 ELLEN O’NEIL RIFE Submitted to the graduate degree program in Art History and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ________________________________ Chairperson Linda Stone-Ferrier, Ph.D. ________________________________ Sally J. Cornelison, Ph.D. ________________________________ Stephen H. Goddard, Ph.D. ________________________________ Amy McNair, Ph.D. ________________________________ William D. Keel, Ph.D. Date Defended: 4/9/2013 The Dissertation Committee for Ellen O’Neil Rife certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: THE EXOTIC GIFT AND THE ART OF THE SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY DUTCH REPUBLIC ________________________________ Chairperson Linda Stone-Ferrier, Ph.D. Date approved: 4/9/2013 ii Abstract This dissertation examines the intersection between art and the gifting of exotic objects in the seventeenth-century United Provinces, directing attention to a special class of imagery visualizing the remarkable extent to which Europe’s first consumer culture became intertwined with foreign goods and influences. Its four chapters present representative case studies encompassing a range of media, including prints and paintings, and artistic genres, such as still life, portraiture, landscape, and allegory, from the mid- through the late- seventeenth century. These episodes of exotic gift exchange and their manifestation in art belonged to public and private spheres, the gifting of men and women, and multiple classes of society. In analyzing these images, my methodology draws on close readings; socioeconomic, historical, pictorial, and cultural contexts; gender; and issues in gift theory, including reciprocity, identity, personalization, and commodity/gift status, to explore the pictures’ meanings or functions for their audiences. Chapter one posits that Rembrandt van Rijn’s 1650 print of a Filipino shell was designed by the artist to function as a gift necessitating reciprocation, and/or as a work of art for sale, in an effort to ameliorate his tenuous financial situation. Chapter two provides a cultural biography of two c. 1665 paintings depicting Brazil by Frans Post (São Paulo, Ema Gordon Klabin Cultural Foundation; Rio de Janeiro, Private Collection), which Johan Maurits van Nassau gave to (French king) Louis XIV in 1678, and considers the pictures’ significance for their original Dutch audience, the giver, and the French court. Chapter three focuses on Nicolaes Berchem’s c. 1665 Harbor Scene (Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum) and proposes that the exotic gift exchange portrayed in the allegorical picture conflates trade and gift in the context of the burgeoning commercial city of Amsterdam. Chapter four highlights Gerard Hoet’s c. 1678 Portrait of Anna iii Elisabeth van Reede (Oud Zuilen, Slot Zuylen) that appears to make a statement about the noblewoman’s role in her family and society by virtue of her wearing a garment evocative of Japanese robes gifted to the Dutch, which became a convention of male portraiture. This representative selection of pictures reveals the incorporation of the exotic gift into the fabric of Dutch art and culture, indicating the significant role the exotic played in the formation of Dutch identity. iv Acknowledgments First and foremost, I express my abiding gratitude to Linda Stone-Ferrier, my doctoral adviser. Over the past ten years, she has been my champion. Her generosity of heart and spirit is unmatched. She invested in me throughout the doctoral process with her time and her significant efforts. Unequivocally, without her, this dissertation would not have been completed. Perhaps I can best express my thanks by saying that I would consider it a great honor to become the type of adviser, teacher, and mentor she has been to me. I have been lucky enough to have studied with women, including Martha Moffitt Peacock, Julie Berger Hochstrasser, and Linda Stone-Ferrier, who “make it work”—who are mothers, scholars, and teachers, and who took the time to encourage my own dreams and vision for my life. I am deeply grateful to be descended from such a lineage. The Hall Center for the Humanities at the University of Kansas provided essential funding for this project in the form of the Andrew Debicki International Travel Scholarship in the Humanities and a Graduate Summer Research Award. The Kress Foundation Department of Art History supported my degree progress via teaching assistantships, academic awards, and research funding, in addition to facilitating my being granted a Dissertation Completion Fellowship from KU that helped me bring the project to a successful conclusion. I express my thanks to the individuals and institutions who assisted me in accomplishing my research, including Hester Kuiper at Slot Zuylen, Lodewijk Gerretsen and Willem Brouwer at Kasteel Amerongen, and Paul Beliën at the GeldMuseum in Utrecht, who generously spent time discussing my research and made available to me fantastic resources, including their collections and curatorial files. My gratitude also extends to the staffs of the KU Library System, the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, the v Utrechts Archief, and the British Museum Department of Prints and Drawings for providing other research assistance. I am also grateful to members of the KU community who gave me advice and feedback as regards my project, including Sally Cornelison, Amy McNair, Steve Goddard, Sherry Fowler, Mary Dusenbury, Susan Craig, and Leslie Tuttle. I have especially benefited from Sally Cornelison’s thoughtful and generous mentoring over the years. My thanks also go to Amy McNair for graciously allowing me to attend her wonderful courses. To my friends and family, I express my deep and sincere thanks for their support and forbearance. I have been in pursuit of this degree for a decade. Such an extended period of time brought many people into my life who, in one way or another, made their own contribution to this project. I have been richly blessed with a profusion of loving support. To my grandmothers, one of whom did not survive to see me get the doctoral degree, I thank you for your pursuit of knowledge and your willingness to share and sustain my efforts to do the same. To friends who took care of my children, especially Susan Peterson and the Gordon-Ross clan, I convey my thanks for quiet, worry-free work time. To fellow art history friends, especially Madeline Rislow, Denise Giannino, and Lindsey Waugh, I express my thanks for keeping me in the loop and helping me stay professionally engaged. To my sister-in-law Teresa, how grateful I am that you married my brother so that I could always have an excuse to converse with you. To my husband, I thank you for putting up with me and allowing me the space and time to work through this project and complete it. To my parents, I express my gratitude for your unfailing support over thirty years of schooling, from kindergarten to graduate school. To my beautiful and bright daughters, I thank you for your patience and your affection. I hope you will never regret that your mother got a doctoral degree in the Humanities, and how I hope you will do your own thing (and choose to study the hard sciences). And last, to Maud Humphrey, you are missed. vi Table of Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………...iii Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………..……v List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………………...viii Introduction - Gifts as Glue: Exotic Gifts and the Seventeenth-Century Dutch Republic………..1 Chapter One - Layers of Preciousness: Rembrandt’s Shell as an Exotic Gift…………………...34 Chapter Two - Memory, Identity, and Gift Exchange: Accumulating History in Frans Post’s Views of Olinda…………………………………………………..73 Chapter Three - The Gift of Trade: An Exotic Presentation in Nicolaes Berchem’s Harbor Scene…………………………………………………………...132 Chapter Four - Gerard Hoet’s Portrait of Anna Elisabeth van Reede: Gift Gowns, Gender, and the Construction of Identity…………………………….…172 Conclusion - Missing Evidence: The Future of the Study of Exotic Gifts and Art in the Seventeenth-Century Dutch Republic………………………………......213 Bibliography………………………………......………..…………………………………….…218 Figures……………………………………………………………………..……………………253 vii List of Figures Figure 1-1: Rembrandt van Rijn, The Shell (Conus marmoreus), 1650 Figure 1-2: Rembrandt van Rijn, The Shell (Conus marmoreus), 1650 Figure 1-3: Rembrandt van Rijn, The Shell (Conus marmoreus), 1650 Figure 1-4: Conus marmoreus in habitat Figure 1-5: Conus marmoreus attacking another animal Figure 1-6: Roemer Visscher, Shell Emblem from Sinnepoppen, 1614 Figure 1-7: Clara Peeters, Fish Still Life with a Small Bouquet of Flowers, 1615 Figure 1-8: Jan Bruegel the Elder, Vase of Flowers, 1606 Figure 1-9: Jan van Kessel the Elder, Flowers in a Porcelain Vase, c. 1650 Figure 1-10: Pieter Claesz, Still Life with Nautilus, Book, and Goblet, 1624 Figure 1-11: Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, Bouquet in a Roemer, 1607 Figure 1-12: Balthasar van der Ast, Vase of Flowers, Basket of Fruit, and Shells, 1623 Figure 1-13: Balthasar van der Ast, Still Life with Shells and Coral, 1620 Figure 1-14: Wenceslas Hollar, Cypraea tigris (Tiger cowrie), c. 1645 Figure 1-15: Wenceslas Hollar, Mitra cardinalis (Cardinal mitre) and Terebra subulata (Subulate auger), c. 1645 Figure 1-16: Wenceslas Hollar, Conus imperialis (Imperial Cone), c. 1645 Figure 1-17: Herman Wingendorp, The Cabinet of Ole Worm, 1655 Figure 1-18: Jan Bruegel, Venus and Cupid in an Art Cabinet, c. 1630 Figure 1-19: Frans Francken the Younger, A Collector’s Cabinet, 1619 Figure 1-20: Frans Francken the Younger, Encyclopedic Still Life, 1617 Figure 1-21: Hendrick Goltzius, Portrait of Jan Govertsz. van der Aar, 1603 Figure 1-22: Abraham Susenier, Still Life of Shells, 1659 Figure 1-23: Gerard Dou, Allegorical Self-Portrait, 1647 Figure 1-24: Gerard Dou, Old Painter in his Studio, 1649 Figure 1-25: Cornelis de Man, The Visit of the Curiosities Dealer, c. 1660 Figure 1-26: K.