Predigt Johannes des Täufers

At first glance, this rendering of John the Baptist

sermonizing appears as if zoomed in on one of

the arenas pictured in Hedge Preaching [45]. The

drawing can be assigned to the same period, for

both thematic and stylistic reasons. The artist

Chrispijn van den Broeck (1530–1590/91) gave the

conventional subject, taken from biblical texts, a

degree of contemporary specificity, “historicizing a

contemporary phenomenon,” as Jonckheere puts it.1

In any case, it is unsurprising that events like the

hedge preaching of 1566 that is the overt subject

of [45] remained in the memory of an alleged

eyewitness such as Van den Broeck and surfaced

in works of that period.2

There are nuances worth exploring by further

comparing this work with the closely related Hedge

Preaching [45]. Both picture a cross section of society.

3 Like the anecdotal details included in [45] such

as vendors and soldiers, in the present drawing we

see mothers suckling their babies, teenage children

gathering at the feet of the preacher, young men

and older folks resting from a day’s labor. Here,

Van den Broeck goes further to characterize his

audience, including an intellectual, to the left of

the pulpit, whose pensive pose seems to be a direct

quote from Raphael’s (1483–1520) School of Athens,4

as well as men in rich costume, probably the tax

collectors who were exhorted by John to receive no

more than the mandatory amount.5

Many of the listeners have placed baskets and

parcels on the ground, goods intended for trade, as

exemplified by the doves in the basket beside the

young man at front right. They allude to the marketplace,

the city, the milieu that has been abandoned

for the wilderness of the forest, here equated

with the biblical desert. Alongside numerous

parallels to [45], one aspect is fundamentally different:

the soldiers. In this drawing, they belong to the

crowd rather than being a threatening presence, as

if asking John for his counsel. John’s answer would

have been appropriate to any soldier of Van den

Broeck’s age: “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse

falsely, and be content with your wages.”6 With its

association with the biblical text, the present sheet

provided a positive if not utopian7 foil for the drama

and strife of the period.

We do not know for what purpose this drawing

was made. Given the large format, a connection

with a painting is one option. Some of the motifs,

along with the general setting, are indeed reminiscent

of a painting in a Spanish private collection.8

Alternatively, the sheet may have functioned as an

independent work of art, as suggested by the rather

high level of execution and the use of different

shades of inks and white opaque watercolor to

enliven the surface.

 

1. Jonckheere 2012, 59.

2. See Jonckheere 2016 on the impact of the iconoclastic riots and

associated events, creating a mental image in the memories of

witnesses.

3. Related to the iconography of John the Baptist preaching,

this type is known as Standespredigt, or covering all ranks;

Von Metzsch 1989, 49–50.

4. Apparently, Van den Broeck knew the engraving by Giorgio

Ghisi (1520–1582) published by Hieronymus Cock (1518–1570) in

Antwerp in 1550; Ghisi after Raphael, The School of Athens,

51.3 x 81 cm, engraving, British Museum, London, V,5.132.

5. Luke 3:12–13.

6. Luke 3:14.

7. The background scene, left, of the baptism of Christ, renders

the Holy Ghost ascending in the shape of a dove in a manner

akin to an ominous cosmic visitation.

8. Saint John the Baptist Preaching, private collection, Madrid;

Díaz Padrón 1984, 80, fig. 5. The connection with this painting

both in style and motif may be considered a final argument in

favor of Van den Broeck’s authorship that was first proposed by

Benesch O. 1928 and is generally accepted in the literature. Prior

to 1928, the drawing was identified as “Venetian,” with Wickhoff

1891 having already rejected the traditional attribution to Marco

dell’Angolo del Moro (c. 1537–after 1586). Its attribution to

Van den Broeck was also confirmed by Birke and Kertész 1994.

 

Emily J. Peters, Laura M. Ritter (Hg.), AK Tales of the city. Drawing in the Netherlands from Bosch to Bruegel, Cleveland Museum of Art 9.10.2022 - 8.1.2023, New Haven 2022, Kat. Nr. 46