Heckenpredigt

This drawing is a unique visual document of a

late sixteenth-century phenomenon. By 1565,

Protestantism had become a mass movement in the

Netherlands, further invigorated after Margaret

of Parma (1522–1586), Regent of the Netherlands,

granted permission to preach out of doors that

year.1 Outdoor sermons delivered by Reformed ministers,

or hedge preaching (hagenpreken), as these

events taking place in the countryside surrounding

the cities were called, attracted thousands of listeners

and were also reflected in contemporary art,

though usually in the guise of biblical iconography,

such as the theme of John the Baptist preaching

(see [46]).2

Possibly intended as a design for a work in a

different medium, the present sheet is a rare

exception. Aptly, it has even been proposed to

have a journalistic quality.3 At least four different

preachers are depicted in action—offering alternative

sermons or perhaps just covering different

languages.4 Each is standing on a makeshift pulpit,

slightly enlarged in relation to the attendees who

are standing in circles, surrounding the respective

inner circles of seated listeners. In the foreground,

various types of spinoff activities take place, giving

the event a festival-like atmosphere. Books are sold

(to the right), leaflets (or song sheets?) are offered

to the public (to the left), and a woman is lending

tripod stools to those not able to stand. However,

the fair-like character is counteracted by the omnipresent

soldiers, carted up in wagons, patrolling

between the circles, or watching the assemblies

from higher ground, evoking a gripping image of

everyday life in the hard times just prior to the

outbreak of the Eighty Years’ War (1568–1648).5

It was Benesch who attributed the present drawing

to Chrispijn van den Broeck (1530–1590/91),6

adding an intriguing facet to the oeuvre of an artist

mostly known for his religious, allegorical, and

antique subjects. Apart from the short-lived suggestion

of Denis van Alsloot the Younger (1570–1627),7

Benesch’s attribution has been rightfully upheld

over the years. Arguments in favor of Van den

Broeck are made by stylistic comparison with works

such as [46] (though an attribution itself), which is

closely related in the rendering of foliage and in the

background scenes that are more fluidly sketched

than those in the foreground.8 Moreover, the historical

background accords with Van den Broeck’s

biographical data. He had moved from Mechelen

to Antwerp in 1557, became a citizen of the city in

1559, and started to work for Christoffel Plantijn

(1519/21–1589) in 1566.9 Antwerp had become

famous for its hedge preaching, with a notably large

assembly held outside its walls on June 20, 1566,

attracting at least 30,000 people.10

The freedom to attend a hedge sermon, however,

remained short lived. After iconoclastic episodes

in several Netherlandish cities from August and

September onward, efforts to tighten Spanish

control were implemented in October, with the

Spanish Duke of Alba (1507–1582) entering Brussels

in 1567, launching another chapter of chaos and

violence.

 

1. This course of events is summarized by Jonckheere 2012,

21–25; Van der Ham 2018, 30–36.

2. See, for example, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Saint John the

Baptist Preaching (Peters’s essay in this volume, fig. 9);

see Van der Ham 2018, 31, fig. 2.

3. Jonckheere 2012, 57.

4. Cf. a contemporary report quoted by Jonckheere 2012, 23,

mentioning afternoon services in both French and Low German.

5. Benesch O. 1964, 353.

6. Via an undated inscription in the Albertina’s copy of

Benesch O. 1928, 18.

7. In a note on the mount by George S. Keyes from 1975;

nonetheless, there is no stylistic link to works by this artist, who

belonged to a younger generation of Flemish landscapists.

8. Differences in these foreground groups are largely due to the

different costumes.

9. Mielke U. (NHD) 2011, xxi.

10. Van der Ham 2018, 30.

 

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. 45