Armut lässt sich leichter ertragen als Luxus

Wir kennen Karel van Mander in erster Linie als Künstlerbiografen. Sein Schilder-Boeck (1604) ist eine der wichtigsten Quellenschriften zur niederländischen Kunst. Dabei wird oft übersehen, dass er auch zu den produktivsten »Inventoren« seiner Zeit gehörte: 170 Kupferstiche wurden nach seinen Entwürfen ausgeführt und immerhin 40 seiner gezeichneten Vorlagen sind bis heute erhalten. Zu dieser Werkgruppe gehören die beiden hier gezeigten Genreszenen (Inv. 8013, Inv. 8014). Sie dienten mit zwei weiteren Blättern der Albertina (Inv. 8011, Inv. 8012), einem Blatt in New York (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Inv. 1980.121) und einer Zeichnung aus der ehemaligen Sammlung Klaver (zuletzt Auktion Sotheby’s New York, 26.1.2011, Nr. 562) als Vorlage für eine sechsteilige Folge von Sprichwörtern (Hollstein 95–100). Für die grafische Umsetzung sorgte ein unbekannter Stecher der Goltzius-Werkstatt. Van Mander erläuterte die Motive in je einem Vierzeiler direkt unterhalb der Zeichnung. In der Albertina wurden diese Verse allerdings vor längerer Zeit abgetrennt und rückseitig auf das jeweilige Blatt aufgeklebt.

Thema der ersten Zeichnung ist das noch heute in Holland geläufige Sprichwort »Elk meent zijn uil een valk te zijn« (Jeder hält seine Eule für einen Falken): Es ist auf Eltern gemünzt, denen beim Blick auf den eigenen Nachwuchs der Wirklichkeitssinn abhandengekommen ist. Mit verklärtem Lächeln präsentiert ein Mann nach Art des Falkners seine Eule auf einem Lederhandschuh –doch ist sein Blick durch blinde Brillengläser getrübt. Hinter seinem Rücken widmen sich seine närrischen Söhne ihrem kindischen Spiel.

Dass »Mann« Armut leichter (er)trägt als Luxus und Überfluss, illustriert unsere zweite Zeichnung. Die feiste »Frau Luxus« wurde von ihrem Träger abgesetzt: Lieber belädt er sich mit der mageren Armut in ihrem zerlumpten Gewand.

Als klassisch gebildeter Künstler konnte Karel van Mander zwischen verschiedenen Erzählmodi unterscheiden. Das Figurenideal seiner Historien weicht hier einer derben Bildsprache, mit karikaturhaft überzeichneten Protagonisten in der Tradition des von ihm hoch geschätzten Pieter Bruegel d. Ä.

Bosch, Bruegel, Rubens, Rembrandt. Meisterwerke der Albertina, hg. von K. A. Schröder und C. Metzger, Albertina, Wien, Ostfildern 2013, Abb. 93, S. 196.

In the late sixteenth-century Northern Netherlands,

Karel van Mander (1548–1606) was among the most

productive inventors of prints on a wide range

of subjects. Some were devoted to genre scenes,

such as a series of six illustrating proverbs,1 all of

whose designs are extant today. Four belong to the

Albertina, shown here for the first time together,

and the other two are in New York (fig. 1) and

Haarlem (fig. 2). The engraver remains unknown.

Leesberg considered him a member of the Hendrick

Goltzius (1558–1617) workshop,2 while earlier

authors proposed Jacques de Gheyn II (1565–1629),3

Gillis van Breen the Elder (1560–1602/12),4 or

Nicolaes Braeu (active c. 1586–1600).5 All four

drawings are of the same size, varying only by millimeters.

They were apparently executed without

any underdrawing.6 Three of the sheets have been

incised with a stylus, a common method for transferring

the design to the printer’s plate. Only on [82]

have no such traces been discerned.7

While the respective prints feature Latin verses

by the Catholic humanist Franco Estius, also known

as Frans van Est (c. 1544–c. 1594),8 the drawings

include samples of Van Mander’s poetry. For each

sheet, he composed a quatrain elaborating on the

proverb, which was written below the scene in a

quick and fluid hand.9 The drawings in New York

and Haarlem preserve the original arrangement of

image above text,10 whereas the texts were cut off

and kept separately in the Vienna sheets. We do not

know, however, who was responsible for clipping the

texts. This could have occurred when the drawings

entered Duke Albert von Sachsen-Teschen’s collection

or earlier. The foursome can be traced back to

the Busserus sale (1782), suggesting that the original

group of six was separated sometime prior, resulting

in different treatment by their respective owners.

Van Mander was a gifted storyteller, creating

strong visual accompaniments for the sayings.

The first, The Scales of Marriage [80], shows a

young couple. A youth and his bride are seated

on a balance scale, together with their dowry. The

young woman’s open coffer full of gold weighs more

than the young man’s money bag. As much as his

parents may try to pull his scale down, the matter is

settled. Or unsettled. Cupid is already leaving, and

the gestures of the girl’s parents indicate that the

bridegroom was found to be too light.

The second drawing, The Bagpipe Must Be Filled

[81], pictures two carousers: one complaining about

his empty jug, the other playing the titular bagpipe.

They are joined by a woman who seems to address

the viewer, as if Van Mander’s mouthpiece. The

verses have a simpler rhyme scheme than those of

the first sheet. They would make a good drinking

song, praising the filled pitcher and deploring the

empty belly and the long fast.

The third drawing, The Wisdom of Fools [82], is

an apt visualization of the proverb “Elk meent zijn

uil een valk te zijn” (Each fancies his owl to be a

falcon), still common in present-day Holland. A man

in a falconer’s habit is showing off his hunting bird.

Blinded by opaque eyeglasses, he does not realize

that it is an owl. This proverb refers to parents

who have lost their sense of reality when it comes

to their children. Do the fools playing silly games

with marottes allude to such parents? Only the owl,

casting a skeptical glance at the beholder, appears to

have maintained its common sense.

“They are strong legs that can bear luxury” is

the motto of the last drawing, Poverty Is Easier to

Bear Than Luxury [83].11 Those of the man depicted

evidently were not able to bear that weight. He has

cast stout Luxury to the ground, preferring the lean

burden of Poverty in her tattered gown. However,

she is grasping a stick used to drive oxen, subverting

the message that poverty is easier to bear than

abundance.

Van Mander probably made these drawings

around 1592.12 Populated by stereotypes such as

the man with the protruding nose or the haggard

woman, they reflect his interest in the art of Pieter

Bruegel the Elder (1526/27–1569).13 This influence

was first revealed in 1588,14 in works such as

Reveller and Sutler (fig. 3), another print design

incised for transfer.15

Rustic stereotypes traditionally served as indicators

of a comic mode,16 as did fools with their typified,

masklike faces. However, Van Mander clearly

also studied from life, as attested in his didactic

poem Den Grondt (1604). In chapter six, devoted

to the depiction of affecten (best translated as

“emotions” or “passions”), he relays what is needed

to distinguish laughter from sorrow.17 His accurate

description of a laughing face succinctly applies to

the visages depicted in [81, 82], suggesting that he

was already engaged with facial expressions in the

early 1590s: “But we see when we study from life,

that through laughter the mouth and cheeks broaden

and rise, the forehead sinks, and between them

both, the eyes are half shut and squeezed, making

small wrinkles at the ears.”18 At the same time, the

laughing faces have a theatrical character—not inappropriate,

since laughter signified foolish behavior,19

and fools appeared as stock figures in contemporary

plays and rhetorical farces.20

As was already observed in 2013,21 Van Mander

was able to distinguish among different narrative

modes. Drawings like [47], on the one hand, and

the present quartet, on the other, suggest his

thematic and stylistic range. Within the proverb

series, different nuances are also discernible. [81],

for instance, was executed in a less detailed, more

summary manner, as best seen in the dog’s head

or the background motifs.22 It differs markedly

from the more elaborately rendered [80], the latter

offering greater specificity in costume, accessories,

and setting. The somewhat coarse manner of [81] is

part of its “twin-level approach”:23 in a superficial

sense, the sheet is apparently addressed to the jolly

drinker and his kind, its simpler verses seemingly

encouraging his conduct. However, in line with

depictions of overindulgence in contemporaneous

prints, the drawing was also meant as a warning

against the dangers of alcohol, with countryfolk

serving as negative exemplars.24

But urban dwellers also got their just deserts with

Van Mander. [80] is set in a Dutch city. Unlike a

nearly contemporary depiction of the same subject

(fig. 4),25 it is not about class distinction: elaborate

dresses are worn by both sides of the party, and

there is no visual differentiation between the two

sets of parents. Rather, the artist dwells on the

generation gap, inviting the viewer to take the side

of the young couple, whose relationship is ruined by

greedy parents.

Van Mander’s morals were generally addressed

to the viewer’s personal behavior. This series encourages

the beholder to lead a good life marked by

realistic self-evaluation [82], while warning against

overconsumption of alcohol [81] and unmasking

greed and pride [80]. Only the fourth image of the

set [83] invites multiple interpretations: would

the artist—who was, in reality, in constant need of

money26—really have preferred poverty to riches?

 

1. Hollstein (HD) 1952, 11:163, nos. 36–41.

2. Leesberg (NHD) 1999, 104–11, nos. 95–100.

3. Adam von Bartsch, author of the sale catalogue of the Prince

de Ligne, 1794, 246.

4. Bobritzky Mules 1985, 9.

5. Schapelhouman and Schatborn 1993, 22.

6. The only chalk or charcoal portions are the monograms in

[80, 81, 83], apparently added later, as was that in [82], its brown

ink of a different shade than that used in the drawing.

7. With thanks to Karine Bovagnet for sharing the results of

the technical examination of the drawing; email to the author,

September 22, 2021.

8. Leesberg (NHD) 1999, xlvi.

9. It is revealing to compare Van Mander’s handwriting when

using his mother tongue with his Italian dedication in [47], the

latter evidently requiring greater care and accuracy.

10. In the prints, Van Mander’s verses were replaced by those of

Estius; however, the arrangement remained the same.

11. Schapelhouman and Schatborn 1993, 22.

12. Suggested by Leesberg (NHD) 1999, xxv, xcviii.

13. This has been stated by different scholars: among

others, Valentiner 1930, 53; Robinson in Hand 1987, 220–21;

Leesberg (NHD) 1999, xxvi–xxvii.

14. Leesberg (NHD) 1999, xxv.

15. See Boon 1978, 1:127.

16. On Van Mander’s view of Bruegel’s comic peasants,

see Miedema 1977, 210–11, 213; Van Mander 1994–99, 2:40.

17. Van Mander 1604, 25v.

18. Van Mander 1973, 25v, 168–69.

19. Miedema 1977, 211.

20. Karel van Mander, Two Putti Flanking a Fool’s Cap, 1597,

pen and ink, brush and wash, white opaque watercolor, on

paper, 20.5 x 27.4 cm, University Libraries, Leiden, PK-T-1636,

was probably made in connection with activities of the local

chamber of rhetoric; see Van Regteren Altena 1983, 1:46.

21. See Metzger and Schröder 2013, 196.

22. This may have been the reason for its price at the De Ligne

sale, two guilders, considerably lower than the ten guilders paid

for the other three drawings.

23. This expression was coined by Miedema 1977, 216.

24. Perhaps for good reason: servants, workers, and soldiers in

the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Netherlands reportedly

drank for much of the day; Blom 2021, 47.

25. Hollstein (HD) 1952, 9:205, no. 103.

26. See Leesberg (NHD) 1999, xviii.

 

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. 80-83