Tag: Amsterdam

Jael, Judith, David and Samson. True Heroes!

Jael, Samson, Judith and David are heroes from the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament who risked their own lives to save their people from the enemy. They are unlikely but true heroes, charming, clever and cunning, and in the case of Samson fighting with physical strength. Paintings with these true heroes had often a political or moralising message. Their stories were associated with the underdog defeating an oppressor; a small country fighting victoriously against the big enemy. The four are commonly depicted as follows: Jael holds the hammer and peg with which she killed Sisera (Judges 4:17-23), Judith displays the head of Holofernes and holds the sword with which she decapitated him (Judith 13:6-10), David leans on the gigantic sword with which he cut off the head of Goliath (I Sam.17: 51), and finally Samson who holds the jawbone with which he slew a thousand Philistines (Judges 15:15-20).

_{Artemisia Gentileschi (Italian, 1593 – 1654), Jael and Sisera (1620), 93×128cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest.}

The topic of the canvas is the moment in which Jael is about to kill Sisera, a general of the enemy. Jael welcomed Sisera into her tent and covered him with a blanket. Sisera asked Jael for a drink of water; she gave him milk instead and comforted him so that he fell asleep in her lap. Quietly, Jael took a hammer and drove a tent peg through Sisera’s skull while he was sleeping, killing him instantly. Jael was the woman with the honour of defeating the enemy and their army.

_{Andrea Mantegna (Italian, c.1431 – 1506), Judith with the Head of Holofernes (c.1497), Tempera on Panel, 30x18cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington.}

Besieged by the Assyrians, the beautiful Israelite widow Judith went into the enemy camp of Holofernes to win his confidence. During a great banquet Holofernes became drunk, and later in his tent Judith seized his sword and cut off his head. Often an elderly female servant is depicted taking away the head in a bag or basket. Look at the Mantegna painting, you can see Holofernes on the bed, just by way of one of his feet! Their leader gone; the enemy was soon defeated by the Israelites. This ancient heroine was understood in the Renaissance as a symbol of civic virtue, of intolerance of tyranny, and of a just cause triumphing over evil. The story of Judith and Holofernes comes from the “Book of Judith”, a text that’s part of the Old Testament of the Catholic Bible. The Book of Judith is excluded from the Hebrew and Protestant Bible, but still considered an important additional historical text.

_{Donatello or Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi (Italian, c.1386 – 1466), David (c.1440), bronze, 158cm, Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence, Italy.}

This is the story of the Israelite boy David and the Philistine giant Goliath. The Israelites are fighting the Philistines, whose champion – Goliath – repeatedly offers to meet the Israelites’ best warrior in single combat to decide the whole battle. None of the trained Israelite soldiers is brave enough to fight Goliath, until David – a shepherd boy who is too young to be a soldier – accepts the challenge. The Israelite leader offers David armor and weapons, but the boy is untrained and refuses them. Instead, he goes out with his sling, and confronts the enemy. He hits Goliath in the head with a stone from his sling, knocking the giant down, and then grabs Goliath’s sword and cuts off his head. The Philistines withdraw and the Israelites are saved. David’s courage and faith illustrates the triumph of good over evil. Donatello’s bronze statue is famous as the first unsupported standing work of bronze cast during the Renaissance, and the first freestanding nude male sculpture made since antiquity. It depicts David with an enigmatic smile, posed with his foot on Goliath’s severed head just after defeating the giant. The youth is completely naked, apart from a laurel-topped hat and boots, and bears the sword of Goliath. The phrase “David and Goliath” has taken on a more popular meaning denoting an underdog situation, a contest wherein a smaller, weaker opponent faces a much bigger, stronger adversary.

_{Salomon de Bray (Dutch, 1597 – 1664), Samson with the Jawbone (1636), 64x52cm, Getty Center, Los Angeles.}

The biblical account states that Samson was a Nazirite, and that he was given immense strength to aid him against his enemies and allow him to perform superhuman feats, including slaying a lion with his bare hands and massacring an entire enemy army of Philistines using only the jawbone of a donkey. Holding the jawbone as his attribute, Samson looks upward, perhaps to God. The great strongman just slew a thousand Philistines with that jawbone. Overcome by thirst, he then drank from the rock at Lechi, a name that also means “jawbone” in Hebrew. Due to a mistaken translation in the Dutch Bible, some artists, like Salomon de Bray on the paining above, depicted Samson with a jawbone and water dripping out of the bone, rather than the rock issuing water.

Jael, Judith, David and Samson are just a few of the many heroes depicted in art. These four are exceptionally brave. Through their courage their people found victory and freedom. The message these four send, is to be brave in difficult times. Keep hope, keep faith, and set a step when there is the opportunity. It can change history, for oneself, and maybe for the world!

Jael, Judith, David and Samson; a print series.

In 1588 Hendrick Goltzius designed a series of four Heroes and Heroines from the Old Testament, after which Jacob Matham made the engravings. The print series could refer to events during the Dutch Revolt or The Eighty Years’ War (1568 – 1648), an armed conflict between The Netherlands under the leadership of William of Orange (“The Silent”) and Spain under King Philips II, the sovereign of The Netherlands. An end was reached in 1648 with the Peace of Münster when Spain recognised the Dutch Republic as an independent country. It’s the unlikely hero and heroine fighting and defeating the enemy; a print series with stories from the old bible books, translated into a contemporary political message.

On the drawings and the corresponding prints Jael, Judit, David and Samson are all portrayed full-length, in the foreground, with their characteristic attributes, while in the background their heroic deed is depicted. Jael holds the hammer and peg with which she killed Sisera, Judith displays the head of Holofernes and holds the sword with which she decapitated him, David leans on the gigantic sword with which he cut off the head of Goliath, that he carries in his left hand, finally Samson who holds the jawbone with which he slew a thoudanss Philistines. The preparatory drawings all still exist and are in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Hereunder on the left the drawings by Goltzius and on the right the prints as engraved by Matham. Once engraved into a copper plate and after printing, the print becomes a “negative” of the original drawing.

_{Hendrick Goltzius (Dutch, 1558 – 1617), Jael (c.1588), drawing, 26×17cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Jacob Matham, engraver (Dutch, 1571 – 1631) after a drawing by Hendrick Goltzius (Dutch, 1558 – 1617), Jael with hammer and tent peg (c.1588), engraving, 27×17cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.}

_{Hendrick Goltzius (Dutch, 1558 – 1617), Judith (c.1588), drawing, 26×17cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Jacob Matham, engraver (Dutch, 1571 – 1631) after a drawing by Hendrick Goltzius (Dutch, 1558 – 1617), Judith with Holofernes’ head and the sword (c.1588), engraving, 27×17cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.}

_{Hendrick Goltzius (Dutch, 1558 – 1617), David (c.1588), drawing, 27×17cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Jacob Matham, engraver (Dutch, 1571 – 1631) after a drawing by Hendrick Goltzius (Dutch, 1558 – 1617), David with Goliath’s head (c.1588), engraving, 27×17cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.}

_{Hendrick Goltzius (Dutch, 1558 – 1617), Samson (c.1588), drawing, 26×17cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Jacob Matham, engraver (Dutch, 1571 – 1631) after a drawing by Hendrick Goltzius (Dutch, 1558 – 1617), Samson with the jawbone (c.1588), engraving, 27×17cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.}

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Clara the Rhinoceros

The Rijksmuseum Amsterdam presents Clara the Rhinoceros, an exhibition about an animal who travelled far from her native land of India and became the most famous rhinoceros in the world, a true pre-intstagram Jurassic Park hype in the 18th century. The objects on display show the celebrity status of Clara and how “Claramania” spread over Europe.

Clara is just one month old when she is captured by hunters in her native Assam, in present-day India, in 1738. Her mother was killed in the process. A powerful prince presents Clara to director Sichterman of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) trading post in Bengal. The aim of exchanging gifts is to maintain sound mutual relations and promote trade. Bengal is vital to the Dutch: this is where they buy cotton fabrics, saltpetre, opium and enslaved people.

_{Sheet issued in 1742 by Clara’s owner, Douwe Most, to advertise the exhibition of Clara and pump that hype to the max. Clara, the Dutch rhinoceros visits the town of Middelburg in August 1742. The fee to see Clara is 20 cents for adults and 10 cents for children.
Text in Dutch: Advertissement. Aan alle Heeren en Liefhebbers wort Bekent gemaakt, dat alhier is gearriveert een Levendige Rhinoceros int Gebiet van den Grooten Mogol gevangen int Lantschap Assem, en uijt Bengalen in Hollant Aangelant. wiens weergaa noyt Bevorens hier is geweest, en men seght hij wort wel hondert Jaar Oud, en Deese is soo Tam als een Kalf, en is te sien . . . tot . . . Eijder Persoon voor 4 stuijvers en kindere van elf a twaalf jaar voor 2 stuijvers.
Below printed text in manuscript “dit beest is te seen over de Mol Straat bij de Kraan. en is wel 3500 lb swaar.”}

Clara is cherished in the household of director Sichterman and looked after by an Indian caretaker. She is considered so special that Clara is sometimes allowed to mingle with the dinner guests. After about two years, she has grown so much that she is passed on to a new owner, VOC captain Douwe Mout, who takes her with him when he sets sail at the end of 1740. He is the first person to successfully bring a rhino to the Netherlands safe and sound.

_{Petrus Camper (1722 – 1789), “Clara as a young Rhinoceros” 1742, drawing, Allard Pierson Museum, collection of the University of Amsterdam.}
_{Clara is about three years old when she arrives in The Netherlands. Petrus Camper was a Dutch scientist, physician, anatomist and zoologist in the Age of Enlightenment. He took the opportunity to make several drawings of Clara when she visited Amsterdam.}

Clara tours Europe for seventeen years, from her arrival in 1741 until her death in 1758. Her owner, former VOC captain Douwe Mout from Amsterdam, has a wooden carriage made in which Clara is transported from town to town, over mountains and rivers, in winter and summer. Mout exhibits her wherever there is an audience, at fairs and markets at inns and palaces, and against a fee of course.

_{David Redinger (active first half 18th century), “Exhibition of the Dutch Rhino Clara in Zurich” 1748, Woodcut, 17x33cm, Zentralbibliothek Zürich.}
_{This print is documenting Clara’s visit to Zurich, Switzerland. Note the depiction of Clara’s traveling cage to the left, with one wheel visible. Text on the print in German: “Wahrhafte und nach dem Leben gezeichnete Abbildung des liegenden Rhinoceros oder Nashorns, welches bereits in verschiedenen Ländern von Europa zur Schau herum geführt, und erst neulich in den meisten Haupt-Städten der Schweitz gesehen worden.”}

Clara is a hype during her lifetime. Precisely her unknown, extraordinary and exotic aspects are emphasised. She features in clocks and sculpture and even influenced Parisian fashion “mode au rhinocéros“. Clara is no longer an individual but has become an archetype. She remains the Rhino model for many years after her death in 1758.

_{J.J. de Saint Germain (1719 – 1791) and F. Viger (1708 – 1784), “Rhinoceros Musical Table Clock” 1755, c.75cm high, Parnsassia Collection.}
_{The Parisian bronzier and clockmaker Jean-Joseph de Saint-Gemain fashions exclusive timepieces for the elite. He makes a bronze sculpture of Clara when she is on view in Paris in 1749, which he uses as the support for such a clock, surmounting a music box. It seems as if Clara herself is making a sound and listening at the same time: her mouth open and ears pointed.}

People touched, teased, admired and studied Clara. She prompted this sensational level of interest because no one in Europe had ever been able to see a real live rhinoceros. She was a hyped up, must-see cultural and scientific phenomenon.

_{Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686 – 1755), “Clara in Paris” 1749, 310x453cm, Staatliches Museum Schwerin, Schwerin, Germany.}
_{As an experienced animal painter, Oudry seizes the opportunity to portray Clara in the spring of 1749, when she was in Paris. He depicts her life-size and almost tangibly, just as the visitors saw her. A real portrait. She is 11 years old, 3.6 meters long and 1.7 meters tall, and weighs over 2500 kilograms. This magnificent painting was shown at the Paris Salon in 1749 and acquired in 1750 by Duke Christian Ludwig II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin together with a series of menagerie paintings. In fact, the Clara painting was never put properly on display, probably due to its size. The painting remained stored away for a long time. Only since 2008, following extensive restoration work at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, has it been on exhibit in the Staatliches Museum Schwerin, permitting the “Claramania” to be rekindled once more in Schwerin.}

Clara became famous because she lived virtually her entire life in captivity in countries where she did not belong, far away from her own habitat. She served as entertainment, as decoration as well as a source of knowledge. But what might Clara have thought of her experiences?

_{Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen, “Rhinoceros with a Turkish Man on its back” c.1755, Porcelain, 28x26x11cm, Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel, Sammlung Angewandte Kunst, Kassel, Germany.}
_{The stereotypical man and the rhinoceros are both archetypes here. What matters most to the European buyers of this kind of painted porcelain figurines is that they were out of the common and real talking pieces, as Clara the Rhinoceros travelled though Europe those years and had become a mega celebrity hype. Incidentally, the man’s proportions are much too large in relation to the rhino.}

Clara never fails to be a sensation. Douwe Mout is nothing if not enterprising. Anyone can see here – for a fee! He has prints made for advertising purposes, which can also be bought as a souvenir. He calls her a wonder beast, tells how heavy and large she is and also how much she eats and drinks per day: 60 pounds of hay, 20 pounds off bread, and 14 buckets of water. Clara becomes a celebrity. A veritable must-see!

_{Johann Elias Ridinger (1698 – 1767), “The Rhinoceros Miss Clara in Augsburg” 1748, drawing, 29x44cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington.}
_{Local artists Ridinger makes a few sketches on June 12, 1748, when Clara is in Augsburg, Germany. He truly portrays here as an animal of flesh and blood. He later incorporates some of the sketches in his engravings (see hereunder). Written on the sheet by the artist at bottom right in brown ink: Anno 1748 den 12. Junii habe ich disen/Rhinoceros allhier in Augspurg nach dem Leben gezeichnet. Seine Grösse war in der Höhe 6. Schü die Länge 12 Schü, von Farbe ist er meist Castanien braun unten am Bauch und in der tieffe seiner falten Leib od Fleisch farbe gewesen. J.E. Ridinger hatt ihn von 6. Seiten gezeichnet (On June 12, 1748, I drew this rhinoceros from life here in Augsburg. It was six feet tall and twelve feet long, it was mostly chestnut brown, but on its belly and in the folds of its skin flesh color. J.E. Ridinger drew it from six angles)}.

Clara may not have been the first rhinoceros to come to Europe, but she did become the most famous one. After her long voyage from India, she travelled around Europe in her custom-made cart, accompanied by her entourage. She travelled for 17 years, far and wide: to Vienna and Paris, to Naples and Copenhagen, Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands, everywhere. Eventually, Clara died in London in 1758.

_{Johann Elias Ridinger (1698 – 1767), “The Rhinoceros Miss Clara in Augsburg” 1748, etching, 34x28cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington.
Lower center in plate: Anno 1748 im Monath Maij und Junio ist dieses Nashorn Rhinoceros in Augsburg… (Anno 1748 in the month May and June this Rhino was in Augsburg). Print after the drawing by Ridinger as can be seen above. By etching after a drawing the print becomes a reverse image, like a “negative” of an old-fashioned photo or selfie.}

Clara was almost never free to walk or run. She depended on humans for her survival, and was rarely able to display natural behaviours – except for example the occasions when she needed to cross a river by swimming, and clearly enjoyed the water. In 1750 the Neurenberg biographer Christoph Gottlieb Richter published a conversation between a rhinoceros and a grasshopper, in which the rhinoceros bemoans the way people treat her and stare at her. This book presents a role-reversal, with the rhinoceros appraising and studying people rather than the other way around.

"Were it possible in the future to liberate myself from the slavery that presently imprisons me and return to my homeland, in revenge I would exhibit men to my brothers. I am sure that the genus of rhinoceroses will look upon the wonder beast that man seems to be with more favour than human beings view a rhinoceros."

- said the rhinoceros, according to Christoph Gottlieb Richter.

Clara the Rhinoceros runs to 15 January 2023 in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. The texts above have been adapted from the Rijksmuseum press release and the exhibition sheets.

Thomas de Keyser (c.1596 – 1667)

Thomas de Keyser (c. 1596–1667) was a Dutch painter, stone merchant and architect. His father was the famous Amsterdam architect and sculptor, Hendrick de Keyser (1565 – 1621). Thomas was buried on this day June 7^th, 1667, in the family vault in the Zuiderkerk (Southern Church) in Amsterdam.

Thomas de Keyser excelled as a portrait painter and was the preeminent portraitist of Amsterdam’s burgeoning merchant class until the 1630s, when Rembrandt eclipsed him in popularity. From then on, Thomas’ style of painting became out of fashion and he received less commissions. This forced him in 1640 to return to the stone trading family business. His father was also the municipal stonemason of the city of Amsterdam.

The men on the 1627 painting above were the board and syndics of the Amsterdam guild of gold- and silversmiths. They controlled the quality of the raw material and of the finished products of the guild members. These group portraits were ordered by board members of the guilds and displayed in the guild’s hall, showing off success and authority. Thomas de Keyser put them together in a less static and almost informal manner, a composition that later will be followed by Rembrandt. The syndic on the right is Jacob Everts Wolff. He has a silver belt in his hand and seems to make an eloquent speaking gesture of persuasion, as if to say, “Trust us.” On the left is the dean of the guild, Loef Vredericx, of whom an individual portrait can be seen hereunder.

Thomas de Keyser (c.1596 – 1667), *“Portrait of Loef Vredericx as an Ensign”* (1626), 93x69cm, Oil on Panel, Mauritshuis, The Hague.

This is the portrait of Loef Vredericx, from the Mauritshuis in the Hague. In his daily life Loef was silversmith and dean of the guild. But here he is portrayed in the honourable position of Ensign of the Amsterdam civic militia. Although a full-length portrait, the size is relatively small and will have fitted better in the Amsterdam house of Loef Vredericx. Reducing the scale of such portraits to make them suitable for their patrons’ urban homes is one of Tomas de Keyser’s innovations within Dutch portraiture.

Thomas de Keyser (c.1596 – 1667), *“Portrait of a Silversmith, probably Christian van Vianen”* (1630), 64x54cm, Oil on Oak Panel, Auctioned at Sotheby’s 2015, current whereabouts unknown.

This is full-length portrait of another silversmith. Thomas de Keyser transformed Dutch portraiture from a static, formal approach towards a more informal and personal representation of the sitter, bridging portraiture and domestic genre scenes. It’s as if we interrupted this young silversmith while he was studying the design of the salt cellar. The identity of this silversmith has been debated ever since. It could be Christian van Vianen, who was the most innovative and celebrated silversmith in The Netherlands in those days. The large ornamental salt cellar on the table has a close resemblance to similar designs by Christian van Vianen.

Thomas de Keyser (c.1596 – 1667), “Officers and other Civic Guardsmen of the IIIrd District of Amsterdam, under the Command of Captain Allaert Cloeck and Lieutenant Lucas Jacobsz Rotgans” (1632), 220x351cm, Oil on Canvas, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

This is a group portrait of very large size, more than 2 x 3 meters. It’s a portrait of the Officers and Civic Guardsmen of the IIIrd District of Amsterdam, under the Command of Captain Allaert Cloeck and Lieutenant Lucas Jacobsz Rotgans. Joining these guards was a privilege for the rich well-connected members of the Amsterdam merchant families. Although they were indeed a police force and had to safeguard their part of the city, being a member had a high social and networking purpose. And you had to be rich to join, as it’s on a voluntary basis and you had to pay for your own uniform and weapons. And occasionally paying for a group portrait!

Jael, Judith, David and Samson; a print series.

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Clara the Rhinoceros

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