Chronologically, we next pay a visit to Huigh de Groot (Hugo Grotius) 1583-1645.
The seventeenth century was known as the Golden Age of the Netherlands. Delft participated in this Golden Age and leaves us certain legacies. Hugo Grotius left a legacy in international law, including writings on freedom of the seas; he left his mark as a scholar, diplomat, historian, and erudite man of letters.
Hugo Grotius was born in Delft in 1583 to the mayor of Delft, Jan Huigh de Groot and his wife Alida. The family was a distinguished one in public service. His father was a lawyer and had a beer-exporting business, was well-educated and talented and became a member of the Board of Regents of the University of Leiden from 1595-1617. In the mid-sixteenth century, Grotius' grandfather had been a Dean of the Guild of St. Lucas, the Guild to which painters and much later, faiencers belonged. The Deans were chosen by burgomasters from the ranks of the highly respected "burgher-noblesse" community. They were to supervise the Guilds and see that all municipal ordinances were observed.
Although Grotius was born in Delft and was buried in the Nieuwe Kerk he does not seem to have spent a lot of time in Delft. He graduated from the University of Leiden in 1594 and received Doctor of Laws at the University of Orleans, France.
He held high offices in the Courts of Holland and served Prince Maurits van Nassau. He was sent on a mission to London in an Ambassadorial capacity. He became Pensionary (Governor) of Rottterdam from 1613 to 1617. He became involved in the political and religious conflicts between Arminians/Remonstrants, advocates of Free will and Calvinists/Counter Remonstrants, advocates of Predestination. Grotius spoke for the Arminians and Prince Maurits supported the Calvinist government, and this conflict eventually led Grotius to a jail sentence in 1619, escape in 1621, flight, and exile in Paris. He becomes a man with a price on his head. From 1635 to 1644 he became Swedish ambassador to Paris. When that appointment ceased, he was invited to Sweden but he decided not to settle there. En route back to Paris, his ship was wrecked and he died in Rostock, Germany in 1645. His body was brought back to Delft and was buried in the Nieuwe Kerk, one of the few commoners among the members of the Dutch Royal Family. A rather ironic twist for someone persecuted by the Royal Family of the time. The large monument to Grotius looks across at the Mausoleum of William of Orange. At the time of my visit in 1998, William's Mausoleum was away being restored for Millennium celebrations and the whole area was surrounded by construction barriers. It may have accounted for the fact that I missed the stained glass window dedicated to Hugo Grotius which is mentioned in the brochure.
Grotius was a man of many parts -famous as jurist and scholar. He made important contributions to international law. In 1631, he wrote an introduction (Inleydinghe) to the jurisprudence of Holland. He wrote in favour of free and open access to the sea for all nations of the world. He wrote poetry both in Latin and Dutch, was historian for the States of Holland, edited Greek and Roman authors. The Spanish Inquisition put many of his works on the Index of Forbidden Books. As a theologian he tried to maintain links with both Protestants and Catholics. He remains a figure of renown.
I would like to think that Grotius, as a scholar and writer, would have noticed and appreciated the appearance and value of the newly developing faience and tile industries. He would at least have been aware of his grandfather's involvement in the Guild.
By the time Hugo Grotius was born, tile production was well underway in the Low Countries; Guido Andries and the other Antwerp potters had created their lovely polychrome tile tableaus, for example, Conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus, 1547 and the tile floor in the Chapel of The Vyne (1520) in Hampshire, England. Potters from Flanders moved north particularly after the fall of Antwerp to Spain in 1584.
Art was largely bound up with church activities and functions. The Oude Kerk and the Nieuwe Kerk were the centre of religious life in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, as they continued to be. The Nieuwe Kerk was begun in 1383/1396 and finished 100 years later. The population was only about 6-8,000, so this represented an active and dedicated group of residents augmented by pilgrims passing through the town. As the churches, convents and chapels grew and prospered, so did the Guilds which were formed at this time. The Guild of St. Lucas to which painters and faiencers would belong was formed about 1434-1435.
As we come to a discussion of Guilds, I must express my gratitude to Montias (1) where so much of my information was obtained. (Please see the Bibliography)
In 1536 came the Great Fire in which the Nieuwe Kerk was seriously damaged. The building and contents were largely destroyed. The Oude Kerk was also badly damaged. For a period of some 20 years trades and crafts people arrived in Delft to work on reconstruction. Some stayed, joined their Guilds and gained citizenship in Delft. Glassmakers, sculptors and stonemasons were in particular demand for church construction.
In 1566 further disasters struck when the fanatical group of Calvinists known as the Iconoclasts rampaged through many towns, including Delft, destroying religious art treasures and anything which could be classed as a religious idol. Not only the Oude Kerk and the Nieuwe Kerk suffered at their hands but also convents, chapels and other religious organizations. These destructive waves carried on more or less until 1572 when Delft joined the rebellion against the Spanish and a Protestant administration took over the town. I find this dramatic change referred to as the religious "Alteratie" (Alteration/Reformation)
In 1609 the Twelve Year Truce began between the States General and Spain. All towns which supported the Prince of Orange had been struggling to find funds to support the rebellion and Delft had been involved since 1572. The Guilds found themselves very short of money as a consequence. The arrival of Flemish artists was a mixed blessing, bringing as it did competition to local artists. It seemed time for the Guilds to take stock of the new circumstances.
The City administration of Delft issued a "New Guild Letter" in 1611, which reorganized and regulated the Guild of St. Lucas. These rules defined the crafts and activities of the members, laid down the qualifications for Guild Masters, regulated administration, covered registration of apprentices and set the Guild dues such as annual fees and fines and laid down rules as to how these monies were to be spent. This Guild was to cover painters and faiencers which interests us here, but also such crafts as glassmakers, tapestry-makers, booksellers and vendors of prints and paintings.
Under the new Calvinist administration artists no longer had the churches as patrons and employers. They had to find new sources of support. Private collectors and wealthy burghers began to fill the void. Paintings and faience grew more popular as interest in home decoration increased.
Grotius's life spanned the initial growth period when potteries were forming but full development came later.
In 1632, the year Grotius fled Holland again, this time with a price on his head, two men were born in Delft who were also destined, each in his own diverse field, to leave their mark on the world and to be a source of pride for their home town. Antony van Leeuwenhoek and Johannes Vermeer were born in Delft, but, unlike Grotius, lived the major part of their lives there.
Antony van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723), a draper by trade, was a respected citizen who held posts in the municipal affairs of Delft. These were as Chamberlain of Sheriffs/Chief Warden of the City of Delft, as a surveyor, and as a wine-gauger (inspector of weights and measures)
His international fame and his greatest legacy, stems from his work with
special microscopes of his own design and manufacture, grinding and/or blowing
glass for the lenses himself.
It was an era of intense interest in new scientific
discoveries in microscopes, telescopes and optical devices such as the camera
obscura, all of which were dependent on improvements in optics and optical
lenses.
Antony van Leeuwenhoek made his experiments with his single lens microscopes which were smaller and more accurate than the large compound microscopes already invented. He had no formal scientific training but by practical experiments he took the field into new realms of discovery. He described for the first time red blood cells, spermatozoa (his 'little animalcules'), protozoa and bacteria. Beginning in 1673, he conveyed his new findings to the Royal Society of London in the form of letters. He knew no language but Dutch, so these letters were translated into English and sometimes into Latin, and published in the Society's Philosophical Transactions. In 1680 Van Leeuwenhoek was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society- a signal honour for an "amateur" scientist.
