Feb. 26. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



213 



ANCIENT DUTCH ALLEGORICAL PICTURE. 



(Vol. Vi., pp. 457. 590. ; Vol. vii., pp. 46. 97.) 

 My Query respecting this picture has been an- 

 swered in the Navorscher by a learned gentleman 

 who writes under the signature of Const ante b, in 

 that publication. The editor of the Navorscher 

 has communicated to me the name of this gentle- 

 man, and also the following translation of his re- 

 marks on my Query, and has also kindly permitted 

 me to make what use of the latter I think fit. I 

 therefore transmit them to you, that you may, if 

 you think the subject of sufficient interest, insert 

 them in your pages. Jas. H. Todd. 



Trinity College, Dublin, 



Did not the whole arrangement of the picture 

 give me reason to suppose that it must be a kind 

 of symbolical point (figuurlyk punt), such as the 

 lllietoricians were wont to show during their 

 solemn processions — the character also of the 

 additional verses, and especially the description of 

 the paintings against the wall of the room, which is 

 represented on the piece, would corroborate this 

 meaning. These pictures, with the ai-ms men- 

 tioned as making part of them, point directly at 

 Haarlem as the town whence the painting must 

 have had its origin ; for who is not acquainted, 

 albeit only;through the title of the Opregte Haar- 

 lemsohe Coiirant*, with, '* the sword proper, on a 

 red field, between four stars, surmounted by a 

 cross, or ? " 



Now, in the seventeenth century there existed 

 at Haarlem three Societies of Rhetoricians. One, 

 the Oude Kamerf, erected in 1503, had chosen 

 for its motto, Trou moet bU/cken; and for its 

 symbol, the pelican or speelkoornen ; whilst her 

 shield was emblazoned as follows, — in the middle 

 our Saviour crucified, and, behind the cross, -tineas 

 bearing his father. To this Kamer the painting 

 alludes, of which Dr. James II. Todd says, " That 

 nearest the fire-place is oval, representing the 

 crucifixion. There is a white scroll across the 

 picture, containing words which" I cannot make 

 out." Had the sentence not been obliterated, the 

 querist would have read, Trou moet hlycken. The 

 second allegory, with illegible subscription, cannot 

 be anything but the ensign of the so-called Jo^Jg'e 

 Kamer at Haarlem, de WJ/ngaertrancJten, with the 

 symbol, Liefde boven al (Love above all). I pre- 

 sume this on account of the framework of the 



* The first number of the still existing Sincere Haar- 

 lem Courant (I give you a literal translation of the 

 title) must have appeared before May 19, 1665, on 

 which day its nineteenth number was printed. See the 

 Navorscher, vol. ii. pp. 29. 96. 126. — J. H. v. L. 



f See Ampzing, Kronyk von Haarlem, p. S98. ; and 

 A. van den Willigen's monograph in Witsen Geys- 

 beek's Apollineum, vol. iil. p. 59. — Constanteb. 



painting, ornamented on each side with bunches of 

 red grapes (vine-branches) dependent from below. 

 These bunches have been figured in the identical 

 way on a scutcheon of the same Kamer, which is 

 still preserved in the council-hall of Beverwi/k : 

 there also we see, to the right, a female statue 

 representing Faith ; and, on the upper part, in the 

 middle, another with a burning heart in her hand, 

 and two (not three) children at her side, repre- 

 senting Charity, who thus has been placed above 

 all the rest, conformably to the motto of the 

 Society. But, in lieu of the third child, stands 

 immediately under her on the Beverwyk blazon 

 another woman, Rhetorica ; and to the left, in- 

 stead of the man with the hawk (?), another female 

 representing Hope, and completing, in this man- 

 ner, the Christian trilogy (1 Cor. xiii. 13.). Be- 

 sides, in the middle compartment, not John Bap- 

 tist but our Lord is seen, standing as victor over 

 Hell, in which Satan is conspicuous. However, 

 notwithstanding these deviations, I think the re- 

 semblance too striking not to consider the painting 

 on the wall as the ensign of the Jonge Kamer. The 

 third or last picture, representing the marriage of 

 Christ with the Church, Is the well-known blazon of 

 the third llederi/kerkamer at Haarlem, surnamed de 

 Flaamsche (the Flemish), which bore the Witte 

 Angieren (white stock-flowers, not lilies), with the 

 motto, In liefd getrouw. This shield too is still 

 preserved In the town-hall at Beverwyk. 



Thus, the three Haarlem Societies of Rheto- 

 ricians are represented by their shields In the 

 room designed ; nay, if I am not mistaken, the 

 painter has given us a delineation of their meet- 

 ing-place. This appears: 1. By the statue In the 

 niche, Rhetorica. 2. By the two cup-boards, one 

 of which contains the prizes, carried by the Ka- 

 mers at various entries and processions ; to wit, 

 silver and gold cups, flagons, and dishes : whilst in 

 the other, its books are deposited. 3. By the table 

 under the window, well to be distinguished from 

 that around which the guests are seated, and used 

 by the Rhetoricians as a movable stage, on which to 

 rehearse their plays (whence Willems and Mone 

 derive the name of tafelspel [table-play]). 5. By 

 the broad roller under the pictures, that occupies 

 the space, where otherwise was commonly hung 

 the Keur (statutes) of the Kamer. This last in- 

 scription, connected with what Is to be read over 

 the fire-place, fully explains the meaning of the 

 whole picture. The lines censure the disputes 

 regarding the dogmata of religion, because every 

 body thinks his conviction the best one ; many 

 controversies being carried on " Wanneer het 

 volck is vol" (whilst people are full), by incom- 

 petent and illiberal critics, and these contentions 

 alienating their hearts from Charity, the chief 

 commandment of Christ. In a word, the painting 

 Is the faithful representation of what tJie Haarlem 

 Rhetorician, Dirk Volkerts Coornhert, professed 



