Die indischen Gesandten (aus der Belgica-Folge)

Joachim Wtewael (1566–1638) was one of the leading

exponents of Mannerism in Utrecht around 1600.

These six drawings form part of a series of thirteen

extant works making up the Belgica-Folge, also

called The Netherlandish History, a visual-allegorical

account of the Dutch Revolt against the Spanish

Hapsburg monarchy (1566–1648), from its origins

in the 1550s through the Twelve Years’ Truce of

1609.1 A fourteenth drawing associated with the

group is a copy of a presumably lost original.2

Together, the images depict the tribulations and

victories of the maiden Belgica, a personification

of the Netherlands, beginning with her tense

courtship by the Hapsburg rulers, followed by

her violent suppression by the Spanish military

under Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel,

3rd Duke of Alba (1507–1582). A tenuous rescue by

the House of Orange, first by William the Silent

(1533–1584) and then, following his assassination,

by his son, Maurice of Nassau (1567–1625), leads to

renewed prosperity for the cities and towns of the

Netherlands, and a strained armistice.

In 1975, McGrath set forth a full historical analysis

of the series without the benefit of two scenes

that were more recently discovered.3 One of these

sheets bears the date 1612, thus resolving some

scholarly debate.4 As well, Bok’s recent discovery

of a document, published by Van Ruyven-Zeman

in 2011, confirms that the drawings were models

for a cycle of stained-glass windows rather than

print designs, as previously proposed.5 Twelve

glass panels (now lost) based on Wtewael’s designs,

commissioned by the Netherlands’ States General,

were installed in 1612 in the city hall of Woerden,

near Utrecht, which had been the site of diplomatic

negotiations in 1610.

The Albertina’s six scenes are spread throughout

the saga. The Courting of Belgica [91] is the first

drawing in the series. A nobleman wearing the

Order of the Golden Fleece, an insignia that

identifies him with the House of Hapsburg, woos

the elegant young maiden. The background scenes

of agriculture, the fishing industry, and maritime

trade allude to the sources of Netherlandish

prosperity, but the small group of soldiers that

accompany the courtier, and a merchant encumbered

by a sling on his arm, suggest an uneasy

alliance. The Vow [92], alternatively titled A Savior

Appointed, is the seventh in the series. Belgica sits

in an unkempt state, with one foot on a stone,

suffering after the subjugation and bodily harm she

has undergone amid the Inquisition at the hands of

the Duke of Alba and the unrest pictured in the five

previous scenes. She gazes toward the hand of God

descending from above, which chooses as her savior

the nobleman beside her. The man, identifiable

as William of Orange, accepts his role as savior of

the Netherlands, though still in the insignia of the

Golden Fleece, suggesting that a total break with

Spain has not yet occurred. In the background,

McGrath identified the prince’s historic aid to

the town of Leiden in 1574, which had endured a

Spanish siege and was saved by the famous breaking

of the dikes.6

The Wake [93], also known as The Pledge by

the Bier, is the eighth scene. By 1580, the Prince

of Orange had been condemned by the Spanish

king, and in 1584 he was assassinated in Delft. The

bier must therefore be that of the prince, who is

attended by a youthful noble, his son and successor,

Maurice of Nassau. Belgica is distracted by the

scene beyond the doorway, which features images

of torture, persecution, and tyranny. A small,

mutilated tree symbolizes the House of Orange,

which, though cut, continues to grow, a reference to

the promise of Prince Maurice, who took his father’s

motto, Tandem fit surculus arbor (The new shoot

will in time become a tree).7 In the tenth scene, The

Military Triumph [95], the mature prince advances

toward the maiden in a triumphal chariot and

invites her to join him with the tap of his hand on

a pillow. Restored to her previous finery, she grasps

his hand. To the right, three soldiers hold shields

that, in the final version, would have undoubtedly

contained insignia. McGrath described these as

possible tributes to the prince’s pivotal military victories

in the cities of Breda (1590), Geertruidenberg

(1593), and Groningen (1594).8

The two remaining Albertina designs have been

more difficult to place in the sequence since they

lack the numbers that appear on the other sheets.

The Woerden city hall had just twelve windows,

which suggests that Wtewael ultimately eliminated

at least two of his designs from the scheme.9

The two unnumbered drawings could be these.

The Capitulation of the City [94], alternatively titled

The City Delivered, allegorizes the spectacular

liberation of Geertruidenberg in 1593. Three

captains who carried out a courageous surprise

attack with the assistance of the ladder (depicted in

the background) rid the city of a Spanish garrison.

In the foreground, the captains present Belgica and

Prince Maurice of Orange, now in general’s regalia,

with the keys to the newly liberated city. The scene

would have logically preceded the triumphal victory

[95], had it not almost certainly been abandoned.

Likewise, the fascinating Indian Merchants Pay

Homage to Belgica [96] could have been intended

for the space before the presumed final Twelve

Years’ Truce design in Boston, or after it. The group

of exotically dressed men bearing gifts symbolize

the Netherlands’ trading interests in the East and

West Indies. The three men closest to the enthroned

bring with them coins and precious metals, and

wear the garb generally associated with Turks,

Ethiopians, or Arabs.10 Further back, the elaborately

feathered men represent the Americas and bear

natural resources such as a roll of tobacco and

a cone of sugar. The Dutch East India Company

(VOC), with interests in the Indian Ocean, had

been in operation since 1602. And while the Dutch

West India Company (GWIC) did not yet exist when

the drawing was made, Dutch trade in the West

Indies and South America had been sporadically

carried out in the first decade of the century. Quite

possibly, the composition was abandoned due to the

contentious negotiations surrounding the truce,

signed in 1609, within which West Indies trade was

ultimately shelved.11

Wtewael’s patriotic program hints at some of

the internal Netherlandish squabbles over the

conditions of a truce with Spain. There were two

factions, one primarily consisting of the merchant

city leaders who supported peace and held tolerant

views on religion, and the other comprising supporters

of Prince Maurice, who favored continuing

war and strict adherence to Calvinist doctrine.12

As an Orangist and a conservative Calvinist,

Wtewael undoubtedly belonged to the latter camp.

Throughout the series, his elegant, calligraphic

style renders subtle nuances of facial expression

(downcast looks, pursed lips) and gesture (holding

back, pointing forward), suggestive of hesitance,

optimism, or indecision.

Wtewael excelled at creating tonal areas using

dark, almost black washes while controlling subtle

nuances of tone (see, in particular, [96]) that

suggest deep shadows while still delineating form.

His mastery of the layering of ink lines, washes, and

white opaque watercolor is apparent throughout the

cycle, but is especially discernible in passages such

as the brick wall in The Capitulation of the City [94].

Here, he drew the bricks with pen and ink, allowed

the ink to dry, and then layered the pen and ink

with wash. He returned with pen and ink to draw

over some of the original lines, lending an ingenious

aged quality to the wall. Wtewael’s precision is

rarely matched in Netherlandish drawing. All told,

his techniques create space, volume, and variety

in compositions that, in theme, rely on suggestion,

metaphor, or innuendo rather than action.

 

1. The additional drawings are now in the following collections:

Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, MA, 1999.183

(formerly Perman collection, Stockholm, and Abrams collection,

Boston); Collection of Maida and George Abrams, Boston

(Robinson W. 2002, 78–79, no. 27); Centraal Museum, Utrecht,

20845, 20846 (formerly Davis Daniels collection, New York);

National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 18104 (formerly Perman

collection, Stockholm); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles,

85.GA.230. A thirteenth, previously unknown composition

appeared on the art market at Christie’s London, July 29, 2020,

lot 41: A Dutch Maiden Leading the Prince of Orange to Battle,

pen and two shades of gray ink, gray wash, heightened with

white, pen and gray ink framing lines, on paper, 19.2 x 24.4 cm,

now private collection, United States.

2. See McGrath 1975, pl. 26a.

3. McGrath 1975.

4. Lowenthal 1987, 215–17. Lowenthal argued for a date in the

1620s before further information surfaced.

5. Van Ruyven-Zeman 2011, 1:248–52, 260n284.

6. McGrath 1975, 197.

7. McGrath 1975, 199.

8. McGrath 1975, 202–3.

9. A third elimination was probably the unnumbered Dutch

Maiden Leading the Prince of Orange to Battle (see note 1).

The scene depicts Belgica leading Prince Maurice to battle, and

could have appeared between The Maid Assisted (J. Paul Getty

Museum), scene 10, and The Military Triumph [95], scene 11.

10. McGrath 1975, 213.

11. McGrath 1975, 215–16.

12. Robinson W. 2002, 78.

 

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. 91-96.

Joachim Wtewael (auch: Uytewael) war zunächst bei seinem Vater, dem Glasmaler Antonis Jansz. Wtewael, in der Lehre. Von etwa 1584 bis 1586 war er Schüler von Joos de Beer. Anschließend zog er nach Italien, wo er in Padua für den Bischof von Saint-Malo tätig war. Um 1592 kehrte er nach Utrecht zurück; hier führte er bald eine eigene Werkstatt. Neben Abraham Bloemaert war Joachim Wtewael der wichtigste Vertreter des Utrechter Manierismus um 1600. Als Maler und als Zeichner befasste er sich vor allem mit mythologischen, biblischen und allegorischen Themen.

Die Zeichnungen (Inv. 8160, Inv. 8161, Inv. 8162 und Inv. 8163) gehören zu einer Folge von dreizehn Blättern, von denen sich sechs Exemplare in der Albertina befinden. Das letzte Blatt der Serie ist mit 1612 datiert (Maida and George Abrams Collection, Boston). Über ihre Bestimmung wurde lange Zeit gerätselt, bis Van Ruyven-Zeman darin Vorlagen für einen Zyklus von Glasfenstern erkannte, zu dem das zentrale Regierungsorgan der Niederlande – die »Staten Generaal« – den Auftrag erteilt hatte. Die später zerstörten Scheiben wurden 1612 im Rathaus der Stadt Woerden angebracht, in dem 1610 wichtige diplomatische Verhandlungen stattgefunden hatten. Wtewaels Allegorien behandeln das schwere Schicksal der Niederlande während des 1568 ausgebrochenen Religionskrieges mit Spanien. Die Serie entstand während der von 1609 bis 1621 dauernden Waffenruhe, die den Niederlanden zu wirtschaftlichem Aufschwung verhalf. In sämtlichen Blättern der Folge werden die Niederlande durch die allegorische Figur der »Belgica« verkörpert.

Im ersten Blatt der Serie (Inv. 8161) wird die elegante junge Frau von einem adligen Herrn hofiert, der sich aufgrund seiner Insignien–er trägt die Collane des Ordens vom Goldenen Vlies um den Hals–als Personifikation des Hauses Habsburg zu erkennen gibt.

Nach den in den darauffolgenden Blättern dargestellten Qualen und Erniedrigungen der Belgica gehört Die Übergabe der Stadt (Inv. 8160) bereits der triumphalen Schlussphase des Zyklus an. Allegorisiert wird die spektakuläre Befreiung der Stadt Geertruidenberg im Jahre 1593: Drei Kapitäne, die die mutige Aktion mithilfe einer hier zu sehenden Leiter durchgeführt hatten, überreichen ihrem General – dem Prinzen Maurits von Oranien – und dessen Begleiterin Belgica die Schlüssel der soeben zurückeroberten Stadt.

Im Blatt Der militärische Triumph (Inv. 8162) präsentiert sich Belgica nach den vielen Erniedrigungen und äußeren Zerstörungen, die sie in den vorangehenden Episoden erleiden musste, wieder in ihrer anfänglichen gepflegten Erscheinung. Der den Triumphwagen lenkende Edelmann, der sich zur eleganten Rückengestalt der jungen Frau hinüberbeugt, um mit ihr gemeinsam den Triumphzug anzutreten, wurde von E. McGrath als Prinz Maurits von Oranien identifiziert. Dieser war durch entscheidende militärische Erfolge gegen die spanischen Überherrscher hervorgetreten. Die drei Schildträger rechts im Hintergrund verweisen vermutlich auf die wichtigsten Eroberungen des Prinzen: die Rückgewinnung der Städte Breda (1590), Geertruidenberg (1593) und Groningen (1594).

In der Szene Indische Kaufleute huldigen Belgica (Inv. 8163) bieten exotisch bekleidete Männer der thronenden Belgica ihre Geschenke dar. Neben der thronenden Gestalt häufen sich dank der Handelstätigkeit der Vereinigten Ostindischen Kompagnie (VOC) und der Westindischen Kompagnie (WIC) die Reichtümer.

Die höchst kultivierten, in feinsten Nuancen ausgeführten Zeichnungen stehen noch ganz in der Tradition des Manierismus; kennzeichnend für die Serie sind die raffinierten Haltungen und Gesten der Figuren wie auch die vielen Repoussoirs und komplizierten Durchblicke. Gleichzeitig bestechen die Blätter durch die Fülle an realistischen Details.

Bosch, Bruegel, Rubens, Rembrandt. Meisterwerke der Albertina, hg. von K. A. Schröder und C. Metzger, Albertina, Wien, Ostfildern 2013, Abb. 99, S. 202.