This book contains the papers of the international symposium, organized on January 23–24 at the University of Groningen, entitled Understanding Art in Antwerp: Classicizing the Popular, Popularising the Classic (1540–80). On that occasion art historians, literary historians, and musicologists discussed the perception of art in mid-sixteenth-century Antwerp. More especially, the focus of the various papers is on how in early modern Antwerp imported Renaissance and classical features melted together with vernacular, that is, traditional and local idioms.
The series of short essays opens with the keynote address by Joanna Woodall and the comments on it by David Rijser. This first session of the symposium dealt with the relationship between the classical and the vernacular in rather general terms, while the speakers in the six further sessions went into more particular aspects. All these sessions were organized according to the same system, that is, that in each of them two papers were presented that, at the end of the session, were commented on and expanded by a third speaker.
In the papers of the second session (Annette de Vries, Caecilie Weissert, Elizabeth Honig) the importance of art theory comes up for discussion. Thus a comparison is made between the role of diligence in Italian and in Northern art. According to Vasari, diligence helped artists to finish their works. In Italian art this already became apparent during the early epoch of Italian painting, for example, in the work of Cimabue and Giotto. However, the works of these painters still lacked grace. The artistic situation in the Netherlands was well grasped by Carel van Mander. According to him, perfect finish and perfect diligence had characterized Netherlandish painting from the outset, that is, from the times of Jan van Eyck. A remarkable quality of early Netherlandish art was its illusionism in the rendering of reality. This style feature had long been legitimized in the well-known topos of the contest between Zeuxis and Parrhasius.
The papers of the third session (Koenraad Jonckheere, Yvonne Bleyerveld, Catrien Santing) are about the impact of figurative art, in its specific role as commenting on religious and moral issues of the time. Attention is focused on the use of allegorical personifications in moralizing engravings and their connection with the traditions of the Antwerp rederijkers (rhetoricians). These engravings were an influential carrier of Reformation thought. The latter was also expressed in contemporary painting, albeit in a very subtle way, by choosing a simple, plain setting instead of a classical Renaissance decorum, considered too luxurious and wordly for devotional imagery.
The papers of the fourth session (Todd M. Richardson, Femke Hemelaar, Jan Bloemendal) deal with figurative art and literature alike. More especially, it is made clear how traditional Netherlandish elements are coupled with concepts from humanist and Roman literary sources, in order to achieve moral wisdom. In fine art this is exemplified by Pieter Bruegel’s paintings, while the dramatic work of the rhetorician Cornelis van Ghistele is chosen as illustrative of contemporary literature.
The papers of the fifth session (Stijn Bussels, Jeroen Vandommele, Hilde de Ridder-Symoens) stress the importance of the artes liberales in the process of education and achievement of knowledge. The role of the rhetoricians in linking traditional vernacular concepts to humanist and ancient thought is explained and the importance of the Antwerp Landjuweel of 1561 strongly accentuated. The role of allegorical personifications in rhetorician dramaturgy and in painting is elucidated.
The papers of the sixth session (Anke van Herk, Bart Ramakers, Samuel Mareel) are entirely devoted to the literary importance of the rhetorician Willem van Haecht, who considered knowledge of ancient culture an absolute starting point in order to be able to define vernacular culture. This is made clear by an analysis of his Cephalus and Procris as well as by his Apostle Plays. On the other hand, the specific style of these dramas may also reflect the typical Netherlandish sense for detail realism.
The seventh and last session (Louis Peter Grijp, Jan R. Luth, Hubert Meeus) enters into sixteenth-century musical life in Antwerp. It is clearly shown how, by a harmonious interplay of music and literature, it became possible to restyle in a humanist way old Netherlandish folk songs and devotional songs by adapting these to contemporary polyphony and classical metrics.
Without any doubt, these papers will prove to be substantial contributions toward a sharper view of the complexity of cultural life in Antwerp at the heyday of the city’s development.
