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Article Amor docet Musicam (Love teaches Music) by an unknown artist, who has reworked an engraving possibly by Crispin van den Queborne, painter and engraver, 1604-1652 based on an original design by Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne, painter and draughtsman,1589-1662

based on an original design by Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne, painter and draughtsman, 1589-1662

Cupid, or Eros, representing Love, is seated at a table surrounded by figures singing or playing music. Seated before an open book of music, Cupid directs the group and sings with them. He seems to be marking the tempo by tapping his arrow on the table. Two aristocratic ladies are seated on each side of Cupid. Cupid holds the hand of the woman at the left who wears a turban and sings. The woman to the right of Cupid wears an unusual pointed headdress which supports a veil behind her. She plays a lute and also sings. A gentleman at the far left plays a bass viol. On the far right is a jester who plays panpipes. Another object, oval in shape and with a handle, is suspended from his waist. Seated before the jester is a woman wearing a wreath in her hair. She appears to be a shepherdess, as a crook and scattered blossoms lie at her sandaled feet. She holds a long scroll of paper in her lap and sings with the rest of the group. The musical group is seated in a room, the left side of which is curtained off. The whole scene is viewed through an architectural framework, a roundel within a square. In the right background quadrant, there appears to be a view through a window. It is a scene depicting a man who leans on his staff as he gazes at a woman sleeping before a fountain. At the top of the fountain is a statue of a putto or cherub who pours water from a vessel.

This image of a musical group conducted by "Love" comes from an "emblem book" by Jacob Cats (1577-1660), a Dutch poet, lawyer, and statesman. This particular plate comes from a 1712 folio edition of the collected works of Jacob Cats entitled Alle de wercken....[1] This engraving appears on page 493 under the heading, "Eerlicke Vryagie" ("True Courtship") and is titled, Amor docet Musicam (Love teaches Music). The first edition of the collected works of Jacob Cats (Alle de wercken...) was published in 1655, and subsequent editions were published in 1658 (the Folger copy is dated 1657-1659), 1700, 1712 and 1726. These editions are all very similar, each containing Cats' previously published titles.

In the 1712 edition, this engraving of Love teaches Music comes from the book entitled Spiegel van den ouden en nieuwen tijt (Mirror of ancient and modern times). It is a large section, covering pages 477 to 566. Each page of Spiegel ... presents a proverb with texts in Dutch, Latin, French, and Italian, the Dutch being in two or three columns directly beneath the image and the other languages are in a smaller font in three columns at the bottom of the page. There is an engraving on every page to illustrate each proverb. Every engraving is contained in a circle surrounded by a square, and each measures about 5 x 5 inches, and is centered at the top of each page. Thus, the illustrations are placed almost exactly back-to-back, which explains how the image of a farmer and his sheep, illustrating another proverb, appears on the verso of Love teaches Music. Spiegel... was first published as a separate title in 1632.[2]

The 1632 engraving of Love teaches Music and the image of the farmer and his sheep on the verso are the same plates that were used in all the subsequent editions of Spiegel... and in the later editions of Alle de wercken... because the dimensions of the platemarks are identical. However, a comparison of the different editions in which Love teaches Music and the farmer and his sheep appeared shows slight differences in the impressions. As the plates became worn from the many printings, the engraver strengthened the original lines by re-engraving them, and later made further modifications, as well.[3] In its earliest state in 1632, Love teaches Music has a very "clean" look. Compared with the 1712 impression, the 1632 plate has more "white space" in the image - in the curtain, in the faces, in the floor. The faces of the figures are more rounded and expressive and the details of the scene are more easily "read" in the 1632 version.

As late as the 1700 edition of Alle de wercken..., the engraving of Love teaches Music still had the same "clean" and open quality of the original 1632 image. By contrast, the Miller plate from the 1712 edition has more hatching in the curtain, faces and floor. The Miller image is darker overall with fewer highlights or "white spaces," thus it is clear that the engraver has reworked the original copperplate of 1632.

The Miller print is not signed, thus the engraver is unknown. The artist who designed the engravings for Spiegel..., as well as almost all the emblem books of Jacob Cats, was Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne (1589-1662), but the plates were actually engraved by other artists. Some of the engravings in the 1632 edition of Spiegel... were signed by Adriaen Matham (1599-1660), Willem Hondius (1597-1652), and Crispin van den Queborne (1604-1652), whose plates are signed with his monogram "CVQ." Though the images of Love teaches Music and the farmer with his sheep on the verso are not signed in the 1632 edition of Spiegel..., they seem to be done in the style of the plates signed by Crispin van den Queborne. Van den Queborne's engravings all show an artist who has a light, deft touch. In each work all of his figures have varied expressions and movements and their clothing and any draperies - tablecloths or curtains - fall in a very natural and easy manner. There is a fine attention to detail whether the setting is a kitchen or a bedroom, and the horizons of his landscapes are carefully delineated with trees and small buildings. There is a wonderful sense of space in van den Queborne's works, with easy progressions from the foreground to the distance.

The Miller engraving Love teaches Music and the image of the farmer with his sheep on its verso were reworked by an artist with a heavier hand, as indeed all of the plates were reworked in the 1712 edition of Alle de wercken.... Strong diagonal hatchings cross the finely engraved lines of the original image in Love teaches Music, and horizontal lines have been added to the floor. In the case of the farmer tending his sheep, the sky is crossed with stronger horizontal lines and stormy clouds have replaced the wispy clouds in the earlier versions. The face of the farmer has been altered, as well. In the 1712 edition, he glances backward over his right shoulder toward the woman in the left distance whereas in earlier editions, he simply looked forward as he closed the dam before the grazing sheep. Even the fleece of the sheep has been modified from soft curls in the 1632 engraving to diagonal cross-hatchings in the 1712 edition.

As in many of Cats' writings, he invites the reader to look at this image of Love teaching Music carefully and listen to the story he will tell you. He explains that the saying, Love teaches Music, comes from ancient Greece and that Venus' child, Cupid, taught in a school where a hundred sweet sounds were played. If something was not sweet, he made it sweet. He taught without a stick or threats as a schoolmaster would because it was easy for young men and women to learn the arts. Young men and women without any knowledge of the world and who do not take love seriously are advised to listen to the "master." Both young men and women are advised to wait until you know a person better, to use common sense, and proceed cautiously and correctly in Love, for "Love teaches a man and woman something that nobody else can teach."

A similar moral is told in the poem accompanying the image of the farmer and his sheep on the verso. A farmer and his wife are sitting in the green fields when a flock of sheep approaches. The farmer starts to get up to divert them from the grain across the dam, but his wife says there is no need, there is plenty of time. The farmer disagrees. He explains that when the sheep cross the dam and begin eating the grain on the other side, it will be impossible to stop them, thus they must be stopped before they cross the dam before it is too late. In the moral here, a young woman must say "no" to a young man who wishes to take advantage of her. She must stop his advances before it is too late.[4] Cats reinforces this moral with two lines from Ovid which come from the Heroides, a series of imaginary love letters sent from legendary women of classical antiquity to their husbands or lovers (or, occasionally, from the men to the women) - Penelope to Ulysses, Briseis to Achilles, Dido to Aeneas, Hero to Leander, etc. The lines quoted by Cats, "Dum novus est, potius coepto pugnemus amori! Flamma recens parva sparsa residit aqua ...," come from Book XVII, which is a letter from Helen to Paris who has just declared his love for her in the previous letter, Book XVI, saying he was "on fire with love." Helen is intrigued and nearly won over, but hesitates. Here is a translation: "While it is new, let us rather fight against the love we have begun to feel. A new-kindled flame dies down when sprinkled with but little water."[5]

For additional sources on Jacob Cats and other examples from his emblem books, see Miller 581/M and 627/O. See also photographs in the Miller Collection of other images from a 1658 edition of Alle de wercken... - 273a/M, 273b/M, 274/M, 275/M, and 276/M.

About the Artists and Author

Crispin van den Queborne, painter and engraver, 1604-1652
Crispin van den Queborne was a Dutch painter and engraver. Born in The Hague in 1604, he died in the same city in 1652, though he worked in Utrecht in 1623. He was the son of the painter, Daniel van den Queborne, who was painter to the court of Maurice of Orange in The Hague. Crispin van den Queborne engraved many portraits and, though not documented in Bénézit, he seems to have engraved many works after designs by Adriaen van de Venne for the emblem books of Jacob Cats, since his monogram "CVQ" appears on many engravings in various editions of Cats' works.

Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne, painter and draughtsman, 1589-1662
Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne was a Dutch painter of allegories, landscapes and portraits, as well as a designer of book illustrations and a poet. His brother, Jan van de Venne, was a publisher and art dealer with whom he worked closely. Adriaen van de Venne was the principal designer of illustrations for the emblem books of Jacob Cats, from the first editions of Silenus Alcibiadis, sive Proteus (also known in Dutch as Sinne- en minne-beelden) and Maechden-plicht in 1618 to Doot-kist and Aspasia of 1656. Until his death in 1625, his brother Jan van de Venne was a publisher of Cats' emblem books, the last one being Houwelyck (Marriage) in this year. Adriaen van de Venne also designed or engraved individual prints or series of prints of a political nature in support of the house of Orange Nassau. He also painted miniatures for a small album entitled "tLants sterckte" ("Fortress and strength of the land") to honor the new Stadholder, Frederick Henry, in 1625. While in The Hague, van de Venne produced many paintings in grisaille, that is, paintings in tonalities of black, white, and grey versus paintings in color, though he did also paint some landscapes in color. Most of van de Venne's paintings portrayed genre scenes of peasant life, usually offering a moral lesson. Van de Venne also wrote and illustrated his own books on contemporary Dutch life, some having themes of human folly, which were considered highly original.[6]

Jacob Cats, poet, lawyer, diplomat, 1577-1660
Jacob Cats was a Dutch poet, lawyer, and diplomat, who held the post of "raadpensionaris," a position equivalent to that of prime minister for the States of Holland. He was even knighted by Charles I on his visit to England in 1627. However, Jacob Cats is most famous as a writer of "emblem books" which were illustrated collections of proverbs that offered advice on how to live one's daily life. Through simple moral tales, written in rhymed verse, Cats addressed all of the major themes in life - youth, old age, illness and death, as well as love, marriage, parenting, and managing a household. Through witty and clever stories he also presented the dangers of leading a dissolute life - drinking, gambling, carousing, and promiscuity. Jacob Cats was the most popular and beloved writer in 17th-century Holland. His first two emblem books were published in 1618, and went through numerous reprintings. By 1655, when his collected works were first gathered together and published in folio editions, more than 300,000 of his books had been printed or reprinted, the most popular being Houwelyck (Marriage) and Spiegel van den ouden ende nieuwen tijdt (Mirror of ancient and modern times) which comprised 50,000 and 25,000 copies respectively. The books appealed to persons from all strata of society and to all ages - from farmers and fishermen to city dwellers and gentry, to teachers and students, and to parents and children. Many of the proverbs are still in use today, such as "There is many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip" or "Birds of a feather flock together." In the emblem books, each of the proverbs was illustrated by an engraving, and Jacob Cats' verses were supplemented by poetry or prose from classical writers such as Ovid or Seneca, and appropriate texts from the Bible were added to reinforce a moral lesson.[7]

Notes

  1. Jacob Cats, Alle de wercken.... Amsterdam: N. Ten Hoorn, 1712, which is in the Folger Shakespeare Library, call number: PN6349.C2 1712 Cage. [back to article]
  2. Two copies of this are in the Folger Shakespeare Library, both published in s'Graven-Hage: Isaac Burchoorn, 1632, call number: PN6349.C2S7. [back to article]
  3. For comparison purposes between the original engravings of 1632 and the Miller engravings of 1712, it may be useful to review a modern reprint of the 1632 edition of Spiegel van den ouden ende nieuwen tijdt, edited by H. H. Zwager, Amsterdam: Facsimile Uitg. Nederland, 1968. Library of Congress, call number: PT5630.S65 1968. [back to article]
  4. The summaries of Jacob Cats' poems for Love teaches Music and the farmer and his sheep are courtesy of Joost Wellen, Washington, DC, 25 August 2005. [back to article]
  5. See Ovid. Heroides and Amores. English translation by Grant Showerman. 2nd edition revised by G. P. Goold. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1977. Vol. 1, lines 189-190, pp. 238-239. LC call number: PA6522.A1 1977 Vol. 1. [back to article]
  6. More complete biographical information is available in an article on van de Venne by Martin Royalton-Kisch, "Adriaen (Pietersz.) van de Venne," in Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online External link (subscription only). [back to article]
  7. Most of the literature on Jacob Cats is in Dutch. A short biographical notice on Jacob Cats is available in the Encyclopaedia Britannica Online External link (by subscription only). There is also a biographical entry on Cats in European Authors 1000-1900: A Biographical Dictionary of European Literature, edited by Stanley J. Kunitz and Vineta Colby. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1967, pp. 160-161. Rare Book Reading Room, Reference Section. LC call number: PN451.K8. The information provided for Jacob Cats above is derived from an excellent article by Benjamin B. Roberts and Leendert F. Groenendijk, "'Wearing out a pair of fool's shoes': Sexual Advice for Youth in Holland's Golden Age," in Journal of the History of Sexuality External link 13.2 (2004):139-156, which is available online (by subscription only). The article describes the huge population growth in Holland in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, especially in the major cities such as Amsterdam, Leiden, Utrecht, and Groningen. Urban centers were filled with university students, apprentices, sailors and servants, and the shenanigans of adolescents and young men were rampant. Thus, the emblem books of Jacob Cats, which provided advice on leading a moral life through simple rhymed parables, were particularly apropos in 17th-century Holland and were enormously popular. [back to article]

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  • Amor docet Musicam (Love teaches Music) by an unknown artist, who has reworked an engraving possibly by Crispin van den Queborne, painter and engraver, 1604-1652 based on an original design by Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne, painter and draughtsman,1589-1662

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Amor docet Musicam Love teaches Music by an unknown artist, who has reworked an engraving possibly by Crispin van den Queborne, painter and engraver, -1652 based on an original design by Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne, painter and draughtsman,1589 to 1662. Web.. https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200182866/.

APA citation style:

Amor docet Musicam Love teaches Music by an unknown artist, who has reworked an engraving possibly by Crispin van den Queborne, painter and engraver, -1652 based on an original design by Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne, painter and draughtsman,1589 to 1662. [Web.] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200182866/.

MLA citation style:

Amor docet Musicam Love teaches Music by an unknown artist, who has reworked an engraving possibly by Crispin van den Queborne, painter and engraver, -1652 based on an original design by Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne, painter and draughtsman,1589 to 1662. Web.. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200182866/>.