Eye of the Beholder: Johannes Vermeer, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, and the Reinvention of Seeing

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Eye of the Beholder: Johannes Vermeer, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, and the Reinvention of Seeing Page 44

by Laura J. Snyder


  190 Gruter’s brother Isaac: Rees, “Baconianism,” p. 109.

  190 Isaac also put out: See Dibon, “Sur la réception,” pp. 99–100.

  191 “The father of Experimental Philosophy”: Quoted in Weld, A History of the Royal Society, 1:328.

  191 Philosophical systems, Petty: Petty, The Advice of William Petty to Samuel Hartlib (1648), cited in Webster, The Great Instauration, p. 147.

  191 “They have one place”: Sprat, History of the Royal Society, pp. 88–89; see also Jardine, Going Dutch, p. 81.

  191 “Let no man”: Bacon, Advancement of Learning, bk. 1, in The Works of Francis Bacon, 3:268.

  192 “which is before our eyes”: Quoted in Ruestow, The Microscope in the Dutch Republic, p. 57.

  192 “We know [God]”: Quoted in Weststeijn, The Visible World, p. 110. The Confession of Faith, known as the Belgic Confession, was first written in 1561.

  192 As Jacob Cats: Cited in Ruestow, The Microscope in the Dutch Republic, p. 57.

  192 “came to attain almost”: Webster, The Great Instauration, p. 335.

  192 “the Power, Wisdom”: See Sprat, History of the Royal Society, p. 82.

  192 “It is the glory of God”: Proverbs 25:2, quoted in Bacon, preface to The Great Instauration, in The Works of Francis Bacon, 4:20.

  192 “Wisdome of the great”: Wren, Monarchy Asserted (1659), quoted in Webster, The Great Instauration, p. 170.

  193 “God has deposited”: Quoted in Jorink, Reading the Book of Nature, p. 4.

  193 nothing in the universe: Cited in Ruestow, The Microscope in the Dutch Republic, pp. 57–58.

  193 While some wondered: In 1705, Leeuwenhoek told the Royal Society of a visitor who had puzzled over this question of the purpose of microscopic structures. See ibid., p. 79.

  193 behold what was: Cited in Malet, “Early Conceptualizations of the Telescope as an Optical Instrument,” p. 242.

  193 “At last mortals may”: Huygens, De gedichten, quoted in Alpers, The Art of Describing, p. 17.

  193 “God’s invisibility becomes”: Quoted in Fournier, “The Fabric of Life,” p. 83. The French natural philosopher Peirsec similarly admitted that his study of the eggs of fleas and lice with the microscope caused him to “admire in the highest degree the effects of divine providence, which was far more incomprehensible to us when that aid to our eyes was wanting.” Letter to Girolamo Aleandrea, June 7, 1622, quoted ibid., p. 46

  193 “no better way to glorify”: AvL to Nicolaas Witsen, March 8, 1696, AB, 11:239. See also AB, 3:396–97, 6:306–9, 338–39, 7:116–17, 378–79.

  193 “often burst out with”: AvL to RSL, Oct. 15, 1693, AB, 9:237.

  193 “Nothing can compel”: Huygens’s autobiography, quoted in Alpers, The Art of Describing, p. 9, emphasis added.

  194 When the Royal Society: As Sprat points out, the original charter of the Royal Society indicated that two “Curators” were to be appointed to oversee experiments. Sprat, History of the Royal Society, p. 145.

  194 This latter usage appears: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, ed. William Smith (1870), cited in http://incisive.nu/2010/the-curate-and-the-curator/#note-661-2. See also “curator, n.,” OED Online, http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/45960?redirectedFrom=curator, accessed May 6, 2014.

  195 The first History: “Account of Athanasii Kircheri China Illustrata,” Philosophical Transactions 2 (1665–78): 484–88, and Sprat, History of the Royal Society, p. 251.

  195 Only much later would: “curator, n.,” OED Online.

  195 Suffering from a variety: Inwood, The Forgotten Genius, p. 8.

  195 “Mr. Hooke observed”: Quoted ibid., p. 7.

  196 “invented thirty several”: Quoted ibid., pp. 9-10.

  196 Although an air pump: See ibid., p. 19, and Shapin and Schaffer, Leviathan and the Air-Pump.

  196 “to furnish [the group]”: Quoted in Inwood, The Forgotten Genius, p. 28.

  197 “the most ill-natured”: Quoted in Weld, A History of the Royal Society, 1:293–94.

  197 “I know [Hooke]”: Quoted in Jardine, Going Dutch, p. 296.

  197 From the time of its: See Fournier, “The Fabric of Life,” pp. 48–50.

  198 He had previously presented: See ibid., p. 52.

  198 I with … [a] sharp Penknife: Hooke, Micrographia, p. 113.

  198 By his careful sectioning: See Fournier, “The Fabric of Life,” pp. 34–35.

  199 at the start of 1665: More precisely, the book was published at the end of 1664, but the title page was imprinted with the date 1665. See ibid., p. 51. Pepys says he saw it in a bindery in Jan. 1665.

  199 “the most ingenious book”: Quoted in Inwood, The Forgotten Genius, p. 57.

  199 Eight of the observations: Fournier, “The Fabric of Life,” p. 53, and Inwood, The Forgotten Genius, p. 63.

  199 “The Rules YOU have”: Hooke, Micrographia, preface, n.p.

  200 Like Bacon, Hooke: See Huerta, Giants of Delft, p. 19.

  200 “a supplying of their”: Hooke, Micrographia, preface, n.p.

  200 “the subtilty of the”: Ibid.

  200 as big as a cat: Quoted in Ruestow, The Microscope in the Dutch Republic, p. 76. See also Fournier, “The Fabric of Life,” p. 54. For an opposing view claiming that the images played only a secondary role to the text, see Dennis, “Graphical Understanding.”

  200 In these drawings: Weld says Wren “assisted” Hooke with the book, and notes that Wren did all the drawings for Dr. Willis’s Treatise on the Brain (see Weld, A History of the Royal Society, 1:273). Webster claims Wren drafted illustrations of microscopical objects, later used by Hooke in the book (see Webster, The Great Instauration, p. 170). Hooke praised Wren effusively in his preface, saying that “since the time of Archimedes, there scarce ever met in one man, in so great a perfection, such a Mechanical Hand, and so Philosophical a Mind,” but does not directly say that Wren made the drawings (see Hooke, Micrographia, preface, n.p.).

  200 This was in marked: Fournier, “The Fabric of Life,” p. 54.

  201 “How exceeding curious”: Hooke, Micrographia, p. 180.

  201 During this period books: As noted by Jardine, Going Dutch, p. 291.

  201 The Royal Society’s: Ibid., pp. 264–65.

  202 Christiaan Huygens translated: Ruestow, The Microscope in the Dutch Republic, p. 22–23n89.

  202 The book was well known: See ibid., p. 23n90, and Jorink, “In the Twilight Zone,” p. 153.

  202 Constantijn Huygens, for example: Osselton, The Dumb Linguists, p. 25.

  202 The French philosopher Pierre Bayle: See Israel, The Dutch Republic, p. 1039.

  202 “many of them speake”: Quoted in Osselton, The Dumb Linguists, p. 13.

  203 He would later comment: AvL to RSL, Sept. 10, 1697, AB, 12:219.

  203 Later in his career: See, e.g., AvL to Robert Boyle, July 28, 1676, AB, 2:47.

  203 In both, subjects: See Damsteegt, “Language and Leeuwenhoek,” p. 17n6.

  203 Leeuwenhoek also revealed: See Ruestow, The Microscope in the Dutch Republic, p. 166. See also B. J. Ford, Single Lens, p. 59.

  203 In 1675 he remarked: See AvL to Oldenburg, Dec. 20, 1675, AB, 1:343.

  203 He would soon ask: See AvL to Oldenburg, Jan. 22, 1676, AB, 1:343.

  203 In one letter Leeuwenhoek: See Damsteegt, “Language and Leeuwenhoek,” p. 19. Waller is best known for being the editor of Hooke’s posthumously published works. He was also a skilled illustrator who often drew images to accompany articles published in the Royal Society’s Transactions. See Kusukawa, “Picturing Knowledge in the Early Royal Society.”

  203 He would have heard: Brian Ford believes that Leeuwenhoek began to make microscopes only after his exposure to Micrographia while in London; this would mean that Leeuwenhoek was lying when he later claimed to be making microscopes from 1659 and to have examined the English chalk with one during his trip in the late 1660s. See B. J. Ford, Single Lens, pp. 39–40, and Ruestow, The Microscope in the Dutch Republic, p. 23n90. However, while it is
certainly possible that Leeuwenhoek was not being truthful about these details, in the absence of evidence in favor of such dissembling it seems more reasonable to assume he was telling the truth. In either case it is clear that he knew Micrographia by 1674, because in that year he described sections he made of various samples—these are the same objects, listed in the same order, as those appearing on one page of Hooke’s book. See B. J. Ford, Single Lens, p. 59.

  204 “A piece of the finest”: Hooke, Micrographia, p. 5.

  204 The sight of colored: Ibid., p. 7.

  204 Like Leeuwenhoek, Hooke: As Felicity Henderson explains on her website Hooke’s London, “In March 1674 he wrote ‘at Barrets made tryall of Golding flowerd Shift wch succeeded.’—which (I think!) means that they tried applying gold leaf to a shift already printed with a flower pattern. As late as 1679 Hooke was still discussing cloth printing with Barrett: ‘At Barrets, with him to Garways [ie. Garraway’s coffeehouse]. Discoursd to him the way of staining Sattin with Lead moulds and copper plates.’” See http://hookeslondon.com/2013/08/27/artists-and-craftsmen-2/#more-161.

  205 “good plano convex”: For these quotes about microscope making, see Hooke, Micrographia, preface, n.p.

  206 And, because of the need: See Ruestow, The Microscope in the Dutch Republic, p. 16.

  206 Hartsoeker declared the single-lens: See ibid., p. 15.

  206 Until the nineteenth century: B. J. Ford, Single Lens, p. 124.

  206 Indeed, as late as 1854: See ibid., p. 5.

  PART 8: YEAR OF CATASTROPHE

  207 More recently, he had: See Jorink, “In the Twilight Zone,” p. 131.

  207 A member of the city government: See Fournier, “The Fabric of Life,” p. 23, and Jorink, “In the Twilight Zone,” p. 154.

  207 They pulled on the ropes: See Israel, The Dutch Republic, pp. 798–99.

  208 Though the plan had: See ibid., pp. 796–99.

  208 “strong, high rampart”: Boitet, Beschrijving der stadt Delft, quoted in Swillens, Johannes Vermeer, p. 30.

  209 Most members of the marksmen: Israel, The Dutch Republic, pp. 121–22.

  209 These weekday services: See ibid., p. 644.

  210 The regents of the provinces: See ibid.,pp. 799–801.

  210 Participants in this mob: Ibid., p. 803.

  210 A phrase was coined: See Dreiskämper, Redeloos, radeloos, reddeloos, p. 7, and Klever, “Spinoza’s Life and Works,” p. 40.

  210 On September 10: Israel, The Dutch Republic, p. 806.

  210 Under the command: Ibid., p. 797.

  211 The young Prince William: See ibid., pp. 808–14.

  211 Once Dutch merchant ships: Ibid., pp. 818–19.

  211 Taxes were raised: Swillens, Johannes Vermeer, p. 29.

  212 “especially paintings and such”: Israel, The Dutch Republic, p. 881, quoting Gerrit Uylenburgh. Uylenburgh’s particular financial troubles had much to do with his selling fake master paintings to the Great Elector of Brandenburg, Friederich Wilhelm. I discuss this further in section 5, below.

  212 He had to offer: See Montias, Artists and Artisans in Delft, p. 215.

  212 Unable to pay: See Montias, Vermeer and His Milieu, p. 318. Although De Cocq also sold artists’ supplies, such as linseed oil and turpentine, it appears that Vermeer owed him money for medications.

  212 These effects become most: Gowing, Vermeer, p. 25.

  212 Indeed, Vermeer’s highlighting: See Liedtke, “De Hooch and Vermeer,” p. 155.

  212 However, Vermeer’s method: See Huerta, Giants of Delft, p. 99.

  213 Over these layers: Wheelock, Vermeer and the Art of Painting, p. 68.

  213 He next bordered: See Huerta, Giants of Delft, p. 50.

  213 Sometimes, as in Young Woman: Wadum, “Contours of Vermeer,” p. 205.

  213 He was also a master: See Wheelock, “Vermeer of Delft,”, p. 25.

  213 The secondary shadow: Wheelock, Vermeer and the Art of Painting, p. 12.

  213 In Woman with a Balance: See Gifford, “Painting Light,” pp. 187–88.

  214 Finally, he added: Wheelock, Vermeer and the Art of Painting, pp. 11–12.

  214 To suggest the objects: See Gifford, “Painting Light,” p. 190.

  214 Elsewhere in the picture: Liedtke, Vermeer, p. 48.

  214 In the lead bars: See Wheelock, Vermeer and the Art of Painting, p. 93, and Gifford, “Painting Light,” pp. 190–91.

  214 In the viola’s red: Gifford, “Painting Light,” pp. 192–93.

  214 He suggested this: Ibid., p. 194.

  215 “He recorded light effects”: Ibid., p. 195.

  215 “sat in a dark closet”: Liedtke, Vermeer, p. 49.

  215 at least three months: Walter Liedtke, MMA gallery lecture, June 20, 2013.

  216 This beading effect: Costaras, “A Study of the Materials and Techniques of Johannes Vermeer,” p. 156.

  216 like that of Titian: On Titian’s method, Andrea Bayer, curator at the MMA, gallery lecture, Oct. 10, 2013.

  216 It is estimated that: Walter Liedtke, MMA gallery lecture, June 20, 2013. Montias believes that he painted between forty-five and sixty pictures, at the rate of two to three a year. See Montias, Vermeer and His Milieu, pp. 184–85.

  216 In earlier years, when: Montias estimates that Vermeer’s income in a good year was as high as 1,500 guilders, plus rent-free accommodations. Ibid.

  216 But later, during: See Liedtke, Vermeer, p. 12.

  216 “mania for maps”: Thoré-Bürger (1866), quoted in Welu, “Vermeer: His Cartographic Sources,” p. 529.

  217 Maps became so common: See ibid., p. 534.

  217 Map production throughout: Huerta, Giants of Delft, p. 20.

  217 By making this adjustment: See Liedtke, Vermeer, p. 113, and http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/woman_in_blue_reading_a_letter.html.

  218 A comparison of that map: See Welu, “Vermeer: His Cartographic Sources,” p. 530.

  218 The map shows the Zyp: See ibid., p. 534.

  218 Although it was not: Ibid., pp. 532–34. Welu notes that a corner of the map can be seen in the upper left foreground of The Love Letter as well, though this is far from obvious on viewing the picture.

  219 These were related endeavors: See Liedtke, Vermeer, p. 150, and Welu, “Vermeer’s Astronomer,” p. 263.

  219 Holland’s greatest mapmaker: Welu, “Vermeer’s Astronomer,” p. 263.

  219 Vermeer meticulously re-creates: See Welu, “Vermeer: His Cartographic Sources,” p. 545.

  219 If Vermeer owned: Ibid., p. 546.

  219 A map on the wall: See Welu, “Vermeer’s Astronomer,” p. 265.

  220 Two unidentified maps: Liedtke, Vermeer, p. 150.

  220 The map in Vermeer’s: One can see across the top of the map the note that the map was made by Nicolem Piscatorem, or Nicolas Piscator, which was one name that Nicolas Visscher called himself (his father sometimes used Nicolas Jansz. Piscator). See Welu, “The Map in Vermeer’s ‘Art of Painting,’” p. 9.

  220 This map was, for centuries: Welu, “Vermeer: His Cartographic Sources,” p. 536.

  220 The Visscher map appears: See ibid., pp. 538–39.

  220 It also features several: Alpers, The Art of Describing, p. 121.

  220 Vermeer shows the map: See Welu, “The Map in Vermeer’s ‘Art of Painting,’” p. 12.

  220 These elements, such as: Ibid., p. 9.

  220 Vermeer’s mastery at depicting: Welu, “Vermeer: His Cartographic Sources,” p. 536.

  220 The map presents to us: See Steadman, Vermeer’s Camera, p. 39.

  221 The seventeen provinces: Welu, “Vermeer: His Cartographic Sources,” p. 540.

  221 The great mapmaker Jacobus Hondius: See Alpers, The Art of Describing, p. 256n2.

  221 Cornelis Drebbel, for instance: Ibid., p. 127.

  221 Claes Visscher was not only: Ibid., p. 128.

  222 Mapmaking was considered: See Welu, “The Map in Vermeer’s ‘Art of Painting,’” pp. 17–19.

  222 “How wonderful a goo
d”: Van Hoogstraten, Inleyding, p. 7, quoted in Alpers, The Art of Describing, p. 141.

  222 to bring objects before: As Alpers has perceptively noted in ibid., p. 133.

  222 “Those chartes being”: Quoted ibid., p. 157.

  222 Placing maps within pictures: Ibid., p. 159; see also p. 147.

  222 Mapping grew out of: Ibid., p. 147.

  223 Van Hoogstraten would go on: Yalcin, “Van Hoogstraten’s Success in Britain,” p. 166.

  223 Bacon’s idea of science: See Van Hoogstraten, Inleyding, p. 188, cited ibid., p. 182n30.

  223 The group watched experimental: Ibid., p. 175.

  223 Van Hoogstraten’s overriding: Weststeijn, The Universal Art of Samuel van Hoogstraten, p. 31.

  224 “to unroll the volume”: Van Hoogstraten, Inleyding, p. 70, quoting from Bacon, preface to Historia naturalis [i.e., the Sylva sylvarum] (1622). For both, see Weststeijn, The Visible World, p. 110.

  224 This view resonated: See Weststeijn, The Visible World, p. 297.

  224 Bacon, too, had written: Bacon, Advancement of Learning, bk. 1, in The Works of Francis Bacon, 3:265.

  224 Like Calvin and Bacon: It has been argued that Calvinism and the “two books” doctrine not only brought about a new science and philosophy but also contributed to the development of the realistic visual arts in the Dutch Republic. See Weststeijn, The Visible World, p. 111.

  224 “since [painting] is onely”: Henry Peachem, The Compleat Gentleman (1634), quoted ibid., p. 112.

  224 “in the continued mirroring”: Van Hoogstraten, Inleyding, p. 346, quoted in Weststeijn, The Universal Art of Samuel van Hoogstraten, p. 31.

  224 “nowadays human sensibility”: Quoted in Weststeijn, The Visible World, p. 112.

  224 Van Hoogstraten began: The manuscript was, at some point, in the hands of his student Arnold Houbraken, but it was never published, and its whereabouts today are unknown. See Horn, “Great Respect and Complete Bafflement,” pp. 210–16.

  224 The invisible world lying: On this point see Weststeijn, The Universal Art of Samuel van Hoogstraten, pp. 9–10.

 

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