De ontwikkeling van de kunsttheorie in de Hollandse Gouden Eeuw II. Karel van Mander

Abstract

The development of art theory in the Dutch Golden Age. II. Karel van Mander. Karel van Mander´s didactic poem Den Grondt der Edel Vry Schilder-const, which the present author published 40 years ago, is now the subject of fresh study that focuses on the impressions that the young Karel must have experienced in Rome, with the emphasis on the academy principle. His didactic poem is modelled on the epideictic poema didascalica in the manner of Virgil´s Georgics, and must have been intended primarily as a manual for the gentle amateur. Its only use to young apprentices, at most, would have been as a reminder of what they learned from their master. Emphasis is placed on the influence of L.B. Alberti´s De Pictura, which was known to Van Mander from the idiosyncratic edition of 1547 by Gualterus Rivius. The symmetrical arrangement of the text in chapters suggests the symbolims of a laborious ascent to the temple of fame, and at the same tieme sketches a development from drawings by way of the fall of light and ingenuity to the painting of histories and composition. The author admits that his edition of 1973 may have placed a little too much emphasis on an allegorical explanation of details, but concludes that there is no reason to depart from that commentary.