3 The Contradictions of Church

It is unnecessâry, as we have observed, to see the Church with our eyes, or feel it with our
hands; on the contraÍy . . . it is no less to be considered as existing, when it escapes our ob-
servation, than if it were evident to ouÍ eyes. Nor is our faith the woÍse, because it acknowl-
edges the Church which we do not fu1ly comprehend.

-John Saluin, irrsf;f.Jfes of fàe êftrísfian Êerrgion, 1§3§

The mystery of the worid is the visible, not the invisible.

pi6*urs sf Borian Gray, {89{
-Oscar Wilde, IÍre

The realist paintings of De Witte and Saenredam,
as we have seen, often evoked more than what was
visible to the eyes, introducing incongruous or re-
pressed elements in order to probe at the troubled
histories of the Gothic churches. In the previous
two chapters, we examined a range of pictorial
strategies that effectively drew attention to the
changed status of the visual image after icono-
clasm. This next section turns to an analysis of the
Reformed churches as public spaces, interrogating
their multifaceted role in civic life. This chapter
specifically takes up paintings that focus on vari-
ous public functions of the Reformed churches,
with-a divergent range of customs and traditions.
It seems that doctrine and practice did not always
align in the Reformed church interior, and the gap
between them created a space that was surprisingly
open to diversity.
Holy Place
To begin, it is important to emphasize that Ro-
man Catholic claims on the churches have never
abated. A vital example is the Heilige Stede (Holy
Place), a Gothic chapel that once stood at the
heart of Amsterdam, where it marked the site of
a renowned medieval miracle. On March Í5,Í345,

from Sunday worship services to everyday uses. a sick man in Amsterdam made preparations for

As we shall see, these images tease out multiple his imminent death. A priest was called to the
ways that the new practices of Calvinism coexisted deathbed and performed the last rites, giving the
alongside-at times in contradiction and conflict man his final Eucharist meal. The ailing man was
not able to keep the bread and wine down, and not
long after he had ingested this consecrated food,
he felt the urge to vomit. He got up, went to the
hearth in his bedroom, and threw up into the fire.
The holy bread was ejected from the mans body
whole and undamaged. Perfectly intact, it lay in
the frreplace and was not consumed by the leap-
ing flames.1 According to various accounts of this
miracle, the sick mans wife was able to reach into
the fire without injury and recover the host. She
put it in a small box and brought it to one of the
priests of Amsterdamt Oude Kerk. But the host
refused to stay in the Oude Kerk; it miraculously
returned to the home of the sick man, insistently
marking that site as holy. In order to revere this
sacred place, a chapel was constructed around the
relics of the holy host and hearth.2 More miracles
followed, confirming the sacred powers of the site.
The most prestigious of these occurred in 1484,
when the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian, the
ruler of the Low Countries, fell gravely ill, visited
the chapel, and was healed. In thanksgiving, he
bestowed upon Amsterdam the honor of including
the emperor's crown atop the civic coat of arms.
The Amsterdam miracle and its site thus were
central to the historical identity of the city. Long
after the Reformation, the chapel's importance
a pilgrimage center was recounted in seventeenth-
century civic descriptions of Amsterdam. In his
1663 history of Amsterdam, for instance, Olfert
Dapper notes that in pre-Reformation times, the
chapel brought fame and prosperity to Amster-
dam: "and people, even those from far away places
came togethet not only for pilgrimage and prayer,
but mainly they brought gold and riches here."3
At this juncture in his naffatlve,Dapper comes
up against the problem of medieval Dutch his-
tory: how to both esteem and discredit the Ro-
man Catholic past, especially the elements that
were no longer credible in the Calvinist context.
While Dapper could not deny the signifrcance of
this sacred site for the early growth of the ciry he
had to dismiss the miracles as frauds: 'just like the
first miracle, all of the following ones surely were
twaddle"-tricks got up by the Roman Catholics
for financial gain.a Instead of emphasizing the
sacredness of the Holy Place, he highlights its
economic importance; by drawing large numbers
of pilgrims, it contributed significantly to Amster-
dam's expansion into a commercial hub. In this
way, the sacred powers of the site were neutralized
in the context of mercantile Calvinist Amsterdam.
Dapper writes that although Amsterdam's Roman
Catholics persisted in calling this chapel the Holy
Place, the Calvinists had removed al1 decorations
and liturgical objects and pointedly renamed it
the Nieuwezijds-kapel, or New Side's Chapel.s
This designation forcefully denied the miraculous
history of the Holy Place, recharacterizingit ac-
cording to its specific geographical location on the
"new side" of the city. Dapper's vacillating account
reveals something important about the Gothic
churches: in spite of-perhaps even because of-
fervent attempts to reform them, the powerful
as histories of these buildings continued to define the
city. The potentiality of this type of contradictory
space merits fu rther investigation.
Indeed, Dapper's account participates in the
larger post-Reformation redefinition of space.
Roland Barthes's assessment of Dutch painting as
an art that depicts the world as object is relevant in
this regard. Barthes's essay resonates with the writ-
ings of Henri Lefebvre on the early modern altera-
tion of social space. As Lefebvre argaes rn The
Pr o duc ti o n of Sp a c e, pre- Reformation Europe was
a landscape of the sacred: "Consider the Church.
fhe Contradictions of Church
gg Anonymous. lntertor of the Nietweztjcls-kapet, Amsterclam, ca. 1652.
Catharijneconvent, Utrecht.
. . . The fact is that the 'world'-that imaginary-
real space of shadows-was inhabited, haunted by
the Church. This underworld broke through here
and there-wheÍeveÍ the Church had a'seat."'6
Late medieval space had hidden powers, and the
church provided multiple points of access between
this world and the realm of the divine.In the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, these forces
were eclipsed (but never entirely eradicated) by the
order of abstract space. In Lefebwet definition,
abstract space denies its previous histories and
Thc Translormation of Public Space
Oi on canvas, /3 x 9l cm. MLrseum
sacred powers. Conceived as an object, this new
kind of space is linked more securely to politics,
institutions, the logic of commerce, and eventu-
ally the interests of the state. Thus, the church was
infiltrated with different relations of power: "Re-
ligious space did not disappear with the advent of
commercial space; it was still-and indeed would
long remain-the space of speech and knowledge.
Alongside religious space, and even within it, there
were places, there was room, for other spaces-for
the space of exchange, for the space of power."7 In
the larger historical shift to abstract space, the very
concept ofchurch changed and took on a series of
complex new meanings and functions'
The case of Amsterdards Holy Place is particu-
larly relevant in this regard. The chapel was given
over to the use of the city's Reformed congrega-
tions after the Alteration of 1578, when Amsterdam
officially declared itself a Calvinist city' There is
a noteworthy painting of the Nieuwezijds-kapel
made by an anonymous artist in around ú57 (fig'
zz).t This view of the church interior demonstrates
how the Calvinist attempt to neutralize the sacred
powers of this place served as a means to appropri-
ate it for their new text-based religion' Hanging
from painted brass rings seemingly affixed to the
top of the canvas is an illusionistic curtain, pul1ed
back to al1ow a glimpse into the austere Gothic
interior. At the bottom of the painting is a large
book, which lies open on a wooden ledge' Like
the curtain, the book provides an entry into the
space beyond while simultaneously setting it apart'
A worship service is in progress. The preacher is
in the pulpit, and an orderly, attentive congrega-
tion gathers to listen. The walls and columns that
surround them are bare. The Holy Place seems to
have been completely transformed into a Re-
formed church, purged of any visible reminders of
its powerful sacred Past.
Given the painting's subject mattet its two
threshold devices convey somewhat conflicting
messages. The painted curtain was a motif often
employed by Dutch artists to draw attention to the
representational status of painting.e Unveiling the
deceptive pleasures ofart, the self-reflexive realism
of this fictive picture curtain vividly announces
that this is not an actual church; it is a skillfully
wrought painted illusion of a church' In this way,
the curtain both lauds and cautions against the
artifice of painting. The book, on the other hand,
indicates that this church is based on the author-
ity of the Word of God. When viewed from the
threshold of the Book, the illusory image seems to
take a secondary role in the painting' It becomes a
vehicle to show how indoctrination ofthe congre-
gation through the Bible ensured greater unifor-
mity of belief than the ambiguous revelations of
the holy relics, images, and cult objects that had
formerly filled this chapel.The visual image thus
functions in a new way-it does not contribute to
the holiness of the church, but pointedly negates it'
Although this painting is convincing as a relatively
factual rendering ofhow the interior looked in the
mid-seventeenth century, it simultaneously asserts
the primacy of the Word and conveys Calvinist
distrust of the image. In order to create a new and
credible history for the chapel, the painting must
both assert and deny its own truth value'
This representation of the Nieuwezijds-kapel
works insistently against the renowned history
and collective memory of the Holy Place' lndeed,
as I argue throughout this book, the shift from
sacred space to the abstract space of the Word was
particularly striking in the Dutch Republic, as its
most prominent medieval churches were appropri-
ated and reconceived, their histories and powers
denied. Here it is worth recalling P' T' A' Swillens's
assertion: "Nowhere in Europe has the church in-
terior been the object of so much interest as in the
Netherlands."10 In these buildings, people could
contemplate the afterefrects of Reformation, icon-
oclasm, and revolt, dramatic events that impacted
not just the religious history of the Dutch Repub-
lic, but also its intertwined political, social, and art
histories. The reformed Dutch churches register
the historical ruPtures ofthe sixteenth century;
they stand as attempts to forget what went before'
I he L ontràdlctrons or L nur!n
At the same time, these Gothic buildings provided
points of contact with the longue durée of Dutch
history, connecting people to their shared past in
spite of the fact thatthis long history was at odds
with the present religious, political, and artistic
situation. This irresolvable tension between the
persistence of collective memory and the power
of historical forgetting was one of the paradoxes
that must have made the church such a fascinating
subject to Paint.
This chapter examines some of the artistic strat-
egies deployed by visual imagery that engages with
the changed conception ofchurch. Lefebvre asserts
that the efficacy of abstract space lies in its abiliry
to mask its own internal contradictions-to present
itselfas coherent and securely linked to the inter-
ests of governing powers. The actual contradictions
of space persist, however, and"aÍe clearly revealed
by analysis."11 Many of the paintings examined in
this chapter do this sort of analysis. They probe at
the churcht inner conflicts and inconsistencies, a
practice that is hopefirl for Lefebvre, who insists on
. rn:r'.
'!t,
"j
{f§.
The Transt-ormation of Public Space
the capability of social space to generate compet-
ing meanings, which makes room for the inclusion
rather than the elimination of differences' Indeed,
these paintings reveal that the Dutch churches
were never purely and essentially Calvinist' Not
only were they haunted by repressed histories, but
disparate public and ciüc uses of the buildings co-
existed alongside and at times infiltrated their reli-
gious services. Because of their prominent locations
and complex histories and functions, the reformed
Gothic churches played a signiflcant role in the re-
conceptnlization of pubJic space and concomitant
reorganizat\on of public life in the Dutch Republic'
Paintings of the churches shared in this function by
allowing their varied viewers to analyze the internal
contradictions ofavital social space that stood at
the heart of the multicultural Dutch cities'
Preaching Ghurch
One of the very first representations of the interior
of an actual Dutch Calvinist church is a drawing
of Haarlem's Great Church or St. Bavokerk by
23 Pieter Saenredam, ,VaYe
of the St. Bavokerk, Haailem
from Westlo East, I627, Pen
and aquare, Noord-Hol ands
Arch eÍ.
 I

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.-* iu", r ri tv É*! ?ot r rr,, r' stn ni!ár.nt*.g3/t
"

,ryave olthe Sf. Bavokerk, Hearlem. from West to East, with a Mtntster
24 Jan van de Velcle (etchea after Peter Saenredam,
Preaching to the Congregatton. From Ampz ng's Descrrptron af Haarlem, 1628 Etching and engrav ng. Noord-Ho lands Arch eÍ

Pieter Saenredam (fig. 23).This image was com-
missioned to illustrate Samuel Ampzing's t6z\
civic history, the Description and Praise of the City
Haarlem in Holland. Ampzing was one of Haar-
lem's orthodox Calvinist ministers. Saenredam was
acquainted with him; in fact, the artist's personal
library included the description of Haarlem and
all of Ampzingt theological books besides.l2 I
stress this connection in order to highlight the fact
that artistic renderings of actual Calvinist church
interiors had their inception in the context ofcivic
descriptions, or beschrijoingen, as they are called in
Dutch. These civic histories, which developed in
the early seventeenth century, expressed a new type
of Calvinist-inspired historical consciousness. 13
Dapper's history of Amsterdam, cited above, is
of part of this same genre and participates in the
larger effort to rewrite the Roman Catholic past
from a Calvinist perspective. Saenredam's first
church portrait should also be understood within
this framework it gives visual expression to a new
Calvinist mode of reassessing urban architecture in
tandem with civic histories and achievements.
An etching based on Saenredam's site drawing
was published in Ampzingt book.It depicts a
central view down the nave of the transformed
Gothic cathedral (fr1.r+).In contrast with the
drawing, which depicts an empty interior, the

The Contradictions ol Church

 etching includes the staffage ofa congregation
gathered around a preacher. Significantly, it is
the preaching church that is represented here'
Ampzingt poem, which accompanies the etching,
expresses an orthodox perspective on the church:
Here you are led into the inside of our church,
As elegant a creation as your eyes have
eveÍ seen'
ifthey can see, give your gazeits frll,
Yes,
Revel, delight your heart in looking at
this building.
Aye, see how the parts grow out ofeach other!
Aye, see how the Parts fit each other!
The piers, the vault, the arches, all the rest,
The wood, the stone and brass work, they are
all the best!
Indeed, this is quite considerable and not to be
despised:
But because we practice there God's holy
service,
And also His Word is taught there sound and
pure,
For that this church is rightly and mostly
honoured.to
The poem is quite revealing regarding Calvinist
approaches to the visual, especially in its celebra-
tion ofthe aesthetic pleasures offered by the build-
ing. These verses proudly indicate how, even in its
cleansed post-Reformation state, the splendor of
the church was considerable. Clearly the Calún-
ists did not completely reject oÍ repress the visual
t
delights afforded by an intricately wrought Gothic
interior. A second poem, accompanying Saenre-
darris depiction of the exterior of the St' Bavokerk,
further elucidates the functions of these pleasures:
The liansÍàrmation oiPublic SPace
This is the Great Vessel, praised throughout
the land,
Constructed as beautifully and daringly as any
church anywhere,
The glory of the town, a wonder of the land'15
As the St. Bavokerk was a distinguishing landmark
in the town and a source of civic pride, the visual
impact of the building could not be ignored' This
is in keeping with the humanist aims of civic his-
tories, which traditionally emphasized the physi-
cal beautyofthe city, especially its architectural
monuments. Lmpitng,whose father was one of
Haarlem's first Calvinist Church leaders, also was
aware of how this prominent building proclaimed
Calvinist dominance in the citY.
Following the logic of Calvinist image inter-
dictions, the emphasis of these Poems is on the
building's nonfigurative elements: it was appropri-
ate for the eye to revel in the impressive vaulting,
arches, and carved work. Appreciation of these
architectural features would not promote idola-
try or detract from God's glory. Nevertheless, the
final verse of the poem about the church's interior
stresses that the true beauty of the church lay in
purity ofdoctrine and the sound preaching of
scripture.l6 The church building itself was oÚ a
"Great Vessel"-a lovely and fltting container for
the Word. In the engraving we see the church as
inwhich religious teachings
a large,empty area
could be conveyed to an assembly' It is for this
reason that the church truly deserved honor'
The work of drawing this interior of the St' Ba-
vokerk for Ampzing's volume seemingly prompted
Saenredam to make a specialty of painting Dutch
Reformed churches.The paradoxical nature of the
subject matter must have been apparent to the art-
ist from the outset. Saenredanis original drawing,
 a careful rendeÍing of the empty church, pays close
attention to the material space itself The addition
ofthe staffage figures and poem to the engraved
image that appeared in Ampzing's book changes
the meaning of the drawing significantly. While
the physical visible church might delighr rhe eyes
and fill the gaze,the engraving indicates that the
true importance of the church centeÍs on commu-
nication of the abstract Word.
Different definitions of "church" come into
play here. The poem begins, "Hier is onse keriC,
and then describes the building itself: its archi-
tectural strucflire and ornament. In the last verse,
a different vision of church supplants this. The
Dutch word most often used to express this ideal
is gemeente-the congregation that comes together
around the preaching ofscripture and the cor-
rect administration of the sacraments. In fact, the
word kerk (church) does not appeaÍ in the Dutch
Protestant Bible, for the connotations ofthis term
were somewhat troubling to reformers. Luther
avoided kirche in his vernacular translation. His
main objections to the term were twofold: fear-
ing that people might think that kirchewas merely
the church building, he also worried that kirche
evoked the hierarchical structure of the Roman
Catholic Church. Gemeine,by contrast, called up
the Protestant ideal ofa priesthood ofbelievers.lT
tr'ollowing the example of the LutheÍan transla-
tion, the Dutch Bible adopte d genteente as the
preferred term.
This tension between kerk and gerrteente was
manifested in the Calvinist approach to Roman
Catholic church buildings. After the Alteration,
Calvinist ministers demanded and received the
largest and most prominent churches in the Dutch
cities. These buildings were not just bestowed upon
the Calúnists; they were the spoils of war. As
Andrew Pettegree asserts, they were secured
through the ruthless use of political power, üo-
lence, and force.This conquest ofsacred space was
celebrated as a providential sign of God's favor.
As one Delft clergyman put it, "We can never
thank the Lord sufficiently for opening so large
a door to his holy Word everywhere, and espe-
cially in Ho1land."18 Indeed, the appropriation of
the monumental Gothic churches ostentatiously
marked the Calvinists'sudden change in status
from a persecuted ge meente worshipping in secret
to a dominant public kerk.lhis blessing posed its
own conundrums, however, for the door that the
Lord had opened led into an architectural interior
structured around the very theological pÍactices
and beliefs that rhe Calvinists rejected.
In response to this challenge, the Calvinists
undertook the laborious process of refurbishment,
employing various spatial strategies to turn atten-
tion away from kerk-the physical building and
its former functions-to the accommodation of
the gemeente. The etching in Ampzing of Saenre-
damt interior of the St. Bavokerk (fr1."+) and the
anonymous painting of the Nieuwezijds-kapel (fig.
zz) both depict the results of this labor. The van-
tage point in each image follows the orientation of
the buildings themselves, providing a view down
the nave from west to east. Both interiors are quite
austere. In fact, Saenredam (probably following
the dictates of his commission) deliberately effaced
some of the church's actual decorations. He does
not represent visual foci like the coats of arms, wal1
paintings, chandeliers, and stained-glass windows
that actually did adorn the church at this time.le
In both images, visual access to the choir, the
former sacral and visual center, is blocked by the
assembly of congregants. This dark mass of bod-
ies stops the eye on itsjourney up the nave and
'lhe Contradictions
of Church
redirects it to a new focal point: the preacher in
the pulpit. Suspended from one of the columns
at the center ofthe nave, the pulpit is equipped
with a large soundboard designed to improve
acoustics. Around the pulpit is the dooptuin
(baptismal enclosure).This is the sacral center of a
Reformed church: a space set apart for the reading
and preaching of the Word and the sacrament
baptism.2o The congregation gathers around this
new liturgical center. The choir, formerly reserved
for a segregated clergy, is effectively cut offby
this realignment of the interior. This disruption
to the orientation of the building undermines the
original significance and function of its structure.
By appropriating and adapting pregiven architec-
tural frameworks, the Calvinists were able to make
use of the sheer size of the Gothic interior, forging
a new kind of communal ecclesiastic architecture
that provided an open public space for the laity to
apprehend God's teaching. As Catherine Randall
has described it, the Calvinists turned architecture
into architexture. They transformed these buildings
into settings for the Word.21
In these images of the preaching church, most
ofthe congregation sits or stands in front ofthe
pulpit and baptismal enclosure, but there are also a
number of figures situated behind or far to the side
ofit. From this vantage point, they could not pos-
sibly see the pastor very well, but probably could
clearly hear him. These marginal frgures point to
one of the central premises of this spatial recon-
figuration: the Calvinist church is emphatically
oriented to the ears rather than the eyes. Seeing
the preacher was secondary to hearing him, for one
could hear without seeing and still apprehend the
message.22 In a peculiar way, both images of the
preaching church draw attention to the corollary
of this: to see without hearing was futile.To make
Thc'franstbrniation of Public Sprce
or view a pictuÍe of a sermon was consequently a
somewhat questionable undertaking, for preaching
was primarily an aural rather than a visual event.
Indeed, no visual image of a Calvinist church
could ever represent the true church, for accord-
ing to Calvinist understandings, the true church
was not a visible, physical place. It was a happen-
of ing, a time-based practice that occurred whenever
the Word was taught.23 Church was constituted
around scripture-inspired faith in an invisible God.
The true church itself was invisible; it was located
in the hearts of believers, and only God could see
into the hidden depths of the human heart. The
force of God's Word transformed believers, coher-
ing them into a faith community. While we cer-
tainly can see this gathering ofthe faithful, the real
church, as Calvin emphatically pointed out, was
not a material entity: "it is unnecessary, as we have
observed, to see the Church with our eyes, or feel
it with our hands."2a Two different apprehensions
of realiry come into play here. The visible outwârd
appearance ofthe church on earth is at odds with
the deeper, invisible reality of the true church.
This poses an intriguing artistic problem for
realistic visual renderings of the Calvinist church.
The etching based on Saenredam's drawing of the
St. Bavokerk (fi1."+) finds a rather prosaic text-
based moralizing solution, probably proposed by
the preacher Ampzing. Although in the actual
etching the getneente is dwarfed by the Gothic
kerk, v\ewers could read the accompanying
didactic poem and understand the true importance
of church:
But because we practice there Godt
holy service
And also His Word is taught there sound
and pure
 For that this church is rightly and mostly
honoured.2s
The true church is found in the preaching ofthe
Word rather than in the building itself or, by ex-
tension, in an image of the building.
The anonymous aÍtist of the Nieuwezijds-kapel
painting (frg. zz) comes up with a purely visual
elucidation of this problem of representing the
visible church while simultaneously acknowledg-
ing the true, invisible church. The open book at the
paintingt threshold draws viewers into the church,
prompting them to read it on its own terms. For
Protestants, after af.,the Book was always open
and was open to a11.2ó The Book sits on a ledge,
which calls up a particular kind of church bench,
like the one occupied by the two book-reading
men in the center of the painting. Book and ledge
together situate viewers as if they are participants
in the worship service. In this way, the painting
indicates how personal faith based on scripture
was the basis for membership in this kind of com-
munity. The book at the threshold of the painting
creates a point ofinterface between the inner self
and its outvyard participation. With the use of this
visual device, viewers of the painting do not merely
look at an image of the church, but are encour-
aged to turn inward and seek true church. In short,
viewers come to understand that they themselves
are the church: temples consecrated to the Lord.
Visible church interior thus probes the nature of
interior invisible church.
This kind of relationship berween public,
external, empirical space and inner moral space
was central to Protestant understandings of com-
munity. As Joseph Koerner has pointed out, the
new Protestant sites of assembly-where com-
munity was formed through communication, and
individuals collectively confronted their inner
convictions-prefigured modern notions of the
public sphere.27 New conceptions of social repre-
sentation emerged within this space. Lalpeople
no longer were represented by the church; instead,
they represented the church. Indeed, they were the
church.
Ideally, this church of the lairy was united
through their shared beliefs. In practice, however,
the church was quite rigidly divided. As Margaret
Miles succinctly puts it, Protestants believed in the
spiritual, rather than social, equality ofbelievers.2s
While the architecture of the Calvinist church
was reoriented to minimize old church hierarchies
and join together afa\th communiry the new ar-
rangement of space also created social divisions.
Lefebvre's claim that post-Reformation religious
space made room for secular power relationships is
eúdent in the painting of the Nieuwezijds-kapel.
The paintingt close view of the genxeente actually
pÍesents a rigid tableau of ranked society. Promi-
nent within this assembly are the preacher, the
men seated in the baptismal enclosure beneath
him, and the men who occupy the church benches
that are attached to the columns and back wall. All
are physically raised above the rest ofthe congre-
gation, signi$zing their higher starus.
The focal person in the church service is the
preacher in his elevated pulpit. While professing
a priesthood of believers, the new Word-based
religion still relied on an educated clerical elite to
interpret scripture and ensure uniformity of be-
The actual status of the clergyman within the
lief.2e
community was somewhat ambiguous, however.
Preachers were not normally from among society's
uppermost social groups; this was not a highly paid
profession. Nonetheless, it was an influential social
position. Together with church council, preach-
The Contradictions of Church
ers were involved in church discipline and closely
supervised the private morals of the congregation.
Often styling themselves as ancient prophets of
Israel, preachers had the power to convey their
interpretation of Godt will. Eloquent speakers
were especially influential. As a seventeenth-cen-
tury pamphlet noted,'And men must know that
a seÍmon from the pulpit can do more harm than
a hundred blue books."30 The public proclama-
tion of the Word is likened to inexpensive printed
publications, for both had the power to reach and
impact large and diverse gÍouPs of people.
While they had some autonomous authoriry
preachers also answered to city governments,
who appointed ministers and paid their salaries.
In fact, the ciüc government was extremely
involved in church governance. Civic magistrates
often served as elders and sat on church consisto-
ries, governing bodies whose membership tended
to be dominated by men from the highest social
classes-wealthy and often commercially success-
ful patricians, regents, and civic officials.31 Reli-
gious and political leadership overlapped; in
order for society's most prominent citizens to
participate in government, membership in the
Reformed Church was required.These new hierar-
chies were conveyed by the restructuring of the
architecture. In the Nieuwezijds-kapel painting,
the church consistory is clearly visible: its mem-
bers sit separately inside the baptismal enclosure.
Together with the ministeq these men of influence
occupy this segregated sacral center. Although
they had blocked offthe choir, which traditionally
separated the clergy from the lairy the Calvinists
did not completely reject the powerful notion of
a spiritual elite.
A standard Reformed church plan also
included four raised pews that were built against
'I1le Transformltion oi Public Sprcc
the columns of the nave: these were for official
groups of upper-class church members such as
civic magistrates and churchwardens. Dirck van
Bleyswijck, describing Delft's Oude Kerk in his
civic history of t667, notes that the church is
"aheady crowded with benches and seats for the
magistrates, consistory, and people of quality."32
These prominent places were called heerenbancken,
or masters'benches, an innovation introduced into
the Calvinist churches after the Alteration.33 De-
signed and designated for the hoogmogende beeren,
the high and mighty governors, these elevated
pews symbolized their political importance. As we
see in the painting of the Nieuwezijds-kapel, not
only did these special benches make these politi-
cally prominent men more visible than the rest
ofthe congregation, but they also afforded their
occupants good views ofthe preacher, each other,
and the assembled people.
The redesigned architecture facilitated the
exercise of civic power; the church service was a
weekly event where governors and governed were
gathered in the same place. While hearing was giv-
en precedence in worship, there clearly were visual
dynamics at play during the service as well. The
painting gives an indication of the weekly surveil-
lance ofpastoq consistory, and civic leaders over
the people who attended the church service. Under
the watchful eyes of religious and political lead-
ers, the congregants appear uniformly disciplined
and attentive. This type of panoptic scrutiny was
interconnected with the new mechanisms of moral
regulation instituted by the Calvinist Church.
Through activities such as home visitations, the ad-
ministration of church discipline, and the control
of poor relief the pastor and consistory were able
to intervene in and influence the everyday conduct
of church members.3a
 The mechanisms used in the enforcement of
religious uniformity obviously were efficacious in
the imposition of political stability as well. Michel
de Certeau has argued that Íeligion changed sig-
nificantly in the seventeenth century as it increas-
ingly accommodated the concerns of politics. With
the post-Reformation fragmentation of the ideal
of a single, uni$zing religious truth, the churches
began to employ new instruments of cohesion in
order to enforce discipline and moral behavior.
The ideal of public order, as Certeau points out,
traditionally was a political rather than a religious
value.3s The new emphasis on morals and outward
behavior was symptomatic of the growing
alliance between politics and religion, an attribute
ofabstract space.This certainly occurred in the
Dutch Calvinist churches. As Heinz Schilling
notes about the overlapping concerns ofchurch
and government in the Dutch Republic, "the
state became more sacral before it became more
secu1ar."36 Given this context, the painting of the
Nieuwezijds-kapel seems to illustrate a specifi-
cally Calvinist stance on good governance. Calvin
asserted that there were two regimes of authoriry
in charge of human affairs, one ecclesiastical and
one political. With the conspicuous representation
ofboth disciplinary structures in this painting, the
church begins to look less like a voluntary open
assembly of equals and more like a place where
religious and civic poweÍs colluded in the mainte-
nance of social order.37
From the painting itselí the gender hierar-
chies that structured this new ordering ofsociety
are evident. No women occupy the seats of honor,
for religious and civic leadership was reserved for
men. Within the rest of the congregation, men
and women are seated separately. Men occupy the
church pews, while women sit in chairs arranged
around the edges of the assembly.38 The patriarchal
social order of the church was both visible and au-
raTrfor,from their position on the margins, women
could listen but were not permitted to speak or
preside in the worship service. Although the Cal-
vinists rejected clerical hierarchies and advocated
the theoretical equality of all Christians, clearly
there was ambivalence about the place of women
within the gemeente.
Two women in the left foreground of the
painting are especially conspicuous. They appear to
havejust entered the painting's space and stand out
from the rest ofthe congregation. The attention the
painter paid to portraying their faces distinguishes
them from the largely anonymous mass of people
within the church. The only other faces that are
clearly delineated are those of the two men seated
in the central heerenbanck.Based on this visual
evidence, art historians have speculated that the
painting may have been a commissioned portrait
of two church masters and their wives.3e Indeed, it
was chiefly as the wife of an important man, such
as a council member, preacher, church mastet or
civic magistrate, that women could have attained a
higher status within the Calvinist Church. Unlike
the Roman Catholic Church, this new institution
had very few autonomous spiritual or leadership
roles for women, who were valued primarily as
wives and mothers. Moral purirywas emphasized,
for church leaders were obligated to lead exemplary
family lives, and in order for men to hold church
offices, their wives had to be church members in
good standing.ao Assigned a precisely delimited
portion of religious space, women were incorpo-
rated and subordinated within its hierarchies.
If this painting was commissioned by a church
leader, then it is the private identity of the paint-
ing's patron that is here related to the context of
The Contredictions ofChurch al
 this public space of assembly. The painting's üewer
is in fact positioned as a church leader, seated in
the heerenbanckwith alarge Bible open before
him. As an exemplary community member, he
both participates in and oversees the gemeenÍe.T.he
image intimates how public participation in civic
and religious governance was based on disciplined
inner convictions rather than the external rituals
the old order. As Koerner notes about Protestant
sites of assembly, "church building maps the space
of modern subjectivity. The subject as object of
legitimate force fluctuates continuously with the
subject as personal domain."al Such understand-
ings of the connections between inner subjectivity
and political control were made manifest in spaces
like the PÍotestant church, a new kind of public
sphere made up of private individuals.
The particularity of the Dutch Republic's inter-
twined political and religious stÍucture has been
described as a forerunner of modern democratic
sociery. Taking issue with this úew; Schilling has
emphasized that the Reformation did not usher in
greater equality among Dutch citizens. If anything,
political power in the Dutch Republic became
more concentrated in the oligarchic town govern-
ments after the Alteration. Less than half of r
percent of the adult male population had electoral
rights. It was really only men of the urban elite
who participated in government, and, if anything,
this system ossified in the late seventeenth and
early eighteenth centuries.a2 As this painting indi-
cates, the majority took their seats among the gov-
erned. Depicted as the paintingt patron probably
wished to see them, this regimented arrangement
of bodies in space serves to indicate the alignment
of minds through shared beliefs. The restructuring
of the architexture of the kerkfacilitates the indoc-
trination of a docile geril.eente.In order to achieve
-I.ranslormation
The of PublJc Space
the ideal of social coherence pictured, those who
were among the elite did not completely eschew
the workings of the hierarchical society that they
had overthrown.This painting of the Nieuwezijds-
kapel posits inner conviction as the basis of politi-
cal and religious participation. But it concurrently
demonstrates hor.v, through the use of architecture
of and painting, personal piety was still asserted
through the outward display of the social presrige
of a spiritual (and political) elite.43 While practices
such as the Calvinist worship service contributed
to the development of modern understandings of
subjectiviry this painting pictures and generates a
subject who was emphatically early modern caught
in a vacillation between the espousal and repudia-
tion of traditional ways of being.
Public Church
The painting of the Nieuwezijds-kapel and the
etching of Haarlem's St. Bavokerk in Ampzing's
civic history (frgs. zz and z+) both make rather or-
thodox statements about the relationship between
religion and politics. In Lefebvre's terms, they
conform to the logic ofabstract space. In practice,
church and civic governance did not mesh quite as
seamlessly as is suggested by these images, how-
ever. Returning to the oeuvre of Pieter Saenredam,
we will see how various post-Reformation con-
cepts and functions of the church could come into
conflict.The etching ofthe St. Bavokerktakes the
viewer on a rather quick journey from image to
meaning, the work of interpretation simplified by
the didactic poem. This text acrually describes two
different functions of the church: as a "preaching
church" used by the Reformed congregations, and
as a "public church" for the entire ciúc population.
One of Saenredamt very first paintings of a church
interior is based on the site drawing he did for the
engraving in Ampzing's civic history (fig. z3). His
painting of the Nave of the St. Baookerk, Haarlenc,
(flg.
from Wst to East, with Promenading Burghers
z5) departs significantly from the book engraving,
however.aa Notably, it depicts the public church
rather than the preaching church. A well-dressed
group of men and women confrdently occupies
the space; they promenade up the center of the
nave and do not gather here for any discernible
religious purpose. Wande I kerk (walking church)
was a term used to designate a speciâc facet of the
public church as a civic space that was open to all.
Offering protection from the changeable Dutch
weather, the Gothic churches had long functioned
as spacious gathering places where people could
meet to stroll, converse, and view the interiors of
these impressive buildings.
In contrast to imagery of the preaching church,
representations ofthe public church show that
religion was only one facet of the social life of the
church building. In fact, these churches were not
owned or controlled by the Calvinists; they actu-
ally remained in the possession of the pre-Refor-
mation parishes, and many previous civic functions
continued under their administration. The main-
tenance and uses of the material church and its
furnishings were managed by churchwardens, usu-
ally socially prominent men from the parish who
were appointed and supervised by the city gov-
ernment. The office of churchwarden was a civic,
rather than a church, position. The wardens did
not report to the church consistories and were not
obliged even to consult with them. In fact, until
r654,wardens were not required to be members of
the Reformed Church. In some cases, this meant
that Roman Catholics actually remained in charge
of the medieval churches long after the Reforma-
tion. Obüously this could foster tensions, and
there are numerous records of complaints made by
church consistories to the civic magistrates about
uses of the buildings that were not in keeping with
Reformed practices.as
Ideally, the public church was temporally
distinct from the preaching church, for the usage
of the church buildings for nonreligious pllÍPoses
took place outside of worship times. Protestants
generally condoned the multipurpose functions
of church buildings for community activities. In
effect, this served as an efficacious strategy in their
efforts to desancti$r these spaces.a6 At times this
stÍategy could go amiss, however, for the functions
of the public church could clash with the aims of
the preaching church. As one seventeenth-century
Calvinist iately protested, "On Sundays so many
people continue to go walking in the church or
talking with each other while God's Word is being
read: this is a violation ofholy Íespect and love of
God's Word and serves as a hindrance and annoy-
ance for others who diligently listen."a7 Clearly
not everyone observed the temporal separation of
the building's secular and religious functions.The
walking church could disrupt the disciplined order
of the preaching church.
In depicting the public church, Saenredam
actually suppresses visual evidence ofthe preach-
ing church in his painting (fig. zS).Compared to
his site drawing and the etching in Ampzing (figs.
4 and z4), his representation conspicuously does
not include the pulpit, baptismal enclosure, church
pews, and heerenbanckez. In this striking alteration
of the building's actual appearance, S aenredam
effaces all signs ofthe preaching church and repre-
sents the entire interior as a walking church.as
To repeat Lefebvre: "Alongside religious space,
and even within it, there were places, there was
room, for other spaces."ae In the painting of the
The Contradictions of ChrLrch

AspeterSaenredam, l'.laveof thest,Bavakerk,Haarlem,fromWesttaEast,withPromenadtngBurghers,
82.9 x 1'1 0.5 cm. Phiacle phia Museum of Art, John G. Johnson Col ection, I9l7
Nieuwezijds-kapel (fig. zz), religious and civic
inteÍests coalesce within the church. In Saenredam's
painting, by contrast, religious functions are sup-
pressed and the entire building is depicted as a civic
space, possessed by the citizens who confidently
occupy it.
This painting of the walking church allows the
artist to sidestep some of the artistic challenges
that he must have encountered when working
with the preacher Ampzing. Notably, the focus on
civic rather than religious aspects of the building
allowed more scope for exploration of the artistic
The Trenslorrnation oi Public Space
i:
;!
t:
:i
'.:
:,
:i:l
i:l
i::
1628.OlL oncanvas,
history of this church. While Saenredamt draw-
ing for the Ampzing volume depicts an interior
cleansed of visual imagery, in this painting the
artist includes a frfteenth-century painting ofthe
exterior of the church, which can be seen at the
right of the composition. At the time, this work
was thought to be by the renowned Haarlem art-
ist Geertgen tot Sint Jans. Although only a small
element in the painting and in the church itself;
it is noticeable: it contrasts with the exaggerated
emptiness of the church and is emphasizedby
Saenredam's idiosyncratic use of staffage figures

who gesture and look toward the painting-within-
the-painting. By drawing attention to this work
art, Saenredam departs from the orthodox image
ofthe austere preaching church that he created for
Ampzing. In this way, the painting makes a subtle
point about the illustrious history of church paint-
ing, situating Saenredam as heir to Dutch artistic
traditions that posited the church as a worthy sub-
ject to represent.50 Moreoveq by representing the
public church rather than the preaching church,
the painting shows the continuance of one of the
pre-Reformation functions of the building-as
public place where works by the foremost Dutch
artists were displayed.
Many of Saenredam's subsequent paintings
further explore the paradoxical nature ofposticon-
oclastic church buildings that continued to exhibit
works ofart. Saenredam created a second painting
of the St. Bavokerk in 16z8 (frg. z6). At first glance,
this work is so different from the artist's previous
depiction that it appears almost to be a different
interior. Here, white walls serve to foreground the
church's decorations. The painting draws attention
to the remnants of medieval artistry: aspects such
as the painted ceiling, the grotesque carved figures
on column capitals, and the stained-glass win-
dows (one obviously depicting the Madonna) are
emphasized. Clearly, Calvinist efforts to purge the
church of its former religious imagery were only
partly successful.
The painting also details post-Reformation
imagery, such as the text and tapestry paintings on
the piers. These were commissioned by civic guilds
whose altars had formedy stood at these sites. The
diamond-shaped tablets that hang throughout
the interior are funeral hatchments depicting the
coats of arms of the deceased who were buried
under the church floor. In the far background,
--
one of the painting's internal lookers examines a
of carved epitaph.sl Like the guild paintings, these
funerary markers are connected with the civic
church rather than the Calvinist Church. As
public church, the Reformed Church was the only
officially sanctioned institution permitted to offer
public religious services, and therefore was obliged
to bury, tnaÍty,andbapt\ze all members of the
civic community regardless of church membership.
The memory boards, epitaphs, and tombs found
in many Reformed churches advertised the social
a status of deceased community members. Such con-
spicuous visual display of worldly status was not
really sanctioned by Calvinists. Moreover, there are
accounts of Roman Catholics entering the public
church to pray by the graves ofthe dead, a practice
that was anathema to Calvinism. Even so, because
the civic churchwardens oversaw funerals, this
ambiguous visual culture of death continued to
fill the churches.52
Interest in church art also is evident in Saenre-
dam's depictions of organs (fig. z7).The place of
the organ in the church was a contentious issue for
the Calvinists. As one commentator protested, "I
really marvel that when other idols were removed,
this noisy idol was retained."s3 Denigrated by the
orthodox Calvinists, organs nevertheless remained
in the churches because-like the buildings them-
selves-they were owned and maintained by civic
governments. The organs were not played during
services, but public concerts were held outside of
worship times, providing another kind of oppor-
tunity for diverse members of the civic community
to gather. While the debates about church music
are beyond of the scope of this stlrdy, it is inter-
esting to note how Saenredam and subsequent
church interior painters drew attention to another
potentially idolatrous facet of church organs.
The Contradictions of Church
 Often painted by pre-Reformation aÍtists, oÍgan the artistic Past attest to the former vibrancy of

cases were repositories for paintings that had

religious patronage ofthe arts.
The art historian Van Regteren Altena dubbed
survived iconoclasm and its aftermath' The image
Saenredam an archaeological painter because of
ofthe risen Christ on an organ case depicted in
the ways that he preserved visual traces of the
Saenredanis ú36 paintingof the St' Bavokerk is
I
especially striking in this regard (fi'g' z)J^ In effect,
culture of the Dutch past.55 As they inventory the
I

the public and secular functions ofthe organ al- contents of the church, these images bear witness

lowed this conspicuous pre-Reformation religious

to a history that the Calvinists and their white-
image to remain in the church. Such remnants of wash failed to eradicate. Moreover, they highlight

t:

::

':..

:.

':.:

l',lorth Ío south, 628, oil on panel, 38 5 x 47 5

'1 cm' The J Paul
96 peter Saenredam, Transeptolthe sÍ, Bavokerk, Haarlem, írom
GêLt, N/usêu^r. -os Angê'es

The Trrnslormatjon of Public Space

 2? Pieter Saenredam, Vlew
Across Íhe Choir of the St
Bavokerk, Haarlem, from the
South AmbulatorY Towards
the Large and Small Organs
and the Christmas ChaPel,

ru
1636. Oil on Panel,93.7 x
55.2 cm. O Rilksmuseum,
Amsterdam.

§& **
+;*

ffi
**§§

llle Contradictions of Church

 by the testimonies of other witnesses' It must be
the new kinds ofchurch art that developed in the
recogrizableas "what anybody else might behold'"
wake of iconoclasm. Saenredam's striking new
in Saenredanis lookers within the pictures perform
approach to realistic painting is a central issue
this function. As figures of reception, they observe
almost all of the literature on this artist' While
he
the contents ofthe church and encourage the
mastered the traditional techniques of Nether-
painting's external viewers to do the same' The
landish realism, especially in the close attention to
trustworthiness ofthe representation is tested in
detail and the careful application ofpaint to create
the exchange with beholders' These images are not
luminous effects of light and color, Saenredam
just records of Saenredam's individual experience
also took realism in new directions' His method
by
of these spaces.They are made public and tested
of making precise mathematical calculations of
collective experience through the engravings and
the dimensions of actual buildings in order to ac-
paintings that were seen and presumably discussed
curately render them in perspective is celebrated
by a wide range ofPeoPle.
for its exactitude.s6 The empirical accuracy of the
he In the face of the fragmentation of belief in
images seemed to matter to Saenredam, and
a single religioustruth, these images make new
derived multiple ways to assert it' Many of his
kinds of truth claims. No longer conduits to
works, especially the drawings, are signed and spe-
the sacred, the reality ofthe churches is bound
cifically dated with the month and the actual day
up with their position in a world that could be
that the artist visited and recorded the site'These
verifiably and scientifically observed, measured'
inscriptions proclaim, "I was there"-in that place
All of these techniques insist on the and recorded.The ideal ofone coherent spiritual
at that time.sT
truth is superseded by trust in empirical truth'
authenticity of the works themselves, bestowing on
Like iconoclasm, empiricism rejects the.presence
them the characteristics of testimonies'
of the sacred realm within the visible world'se
In
In these images, we how closely the work of
see
this way, Saenredam's church interiors particiPate
drawing and painting is connected to the making
in the larger seventeenth-century shift to abstract
of history. Saenredam was not just an archaeolo-
and
space. Saenredarris very method of working
gist; he was also an archivist' By capturing what
re-
the formal qualities of his carefully constructed
these buildings looked like at a specific moment
alism do not simply record this shift; they actively
in their history, these judicious representations
transform contemporary understandings of the
store information about the churches' Swillens
has
(fig''S) churches. By highlighting the changed relationship
argued that the 16z8 St. Bavokerk interior
between religion and art, such paintings authenti-
was a decisive work that effectively transformed
cate their new representational status'
the genre of church interior painting' Depart-
As we have already noted, especially in the
ing from the sixteenth-century style offantasy
analysis of Saenredanis St. Bavokerk uith Fictiae
church interiors, this painting "showed nothing
Bishop\ Tomb of 163o (fig' rz), the empirical ac-
more nor less than what he (himself) beheld, what
cuÍacy of Saenredamt depictions is not always
anybody else might behold'"ss Saenredam stood in
convincing. The same can be said of Naoe of the St'
the church as an eyewitness' But for any witness
Baookerk utith Promenading Burghers
(frg' z5)' This
testimony to hold true, it must be corroborated

The Transformtti.on oi Public Spacc

painting is not entirely faithful to the actual church,
for Saenredam conspicuously did not depict the
furnishings of the sacral center of the church,
which his viewers must have expected to see. While
the painting's realist techniques create what Bar-
thes has termed "the effect of the real," the image
cannot be interpreted as a scrupulously truthful
account of empirical realiq,jo It does more than
present verifiable facts about the church. Drawing
on Lefebvre, I find it more productive to think of
Saenredamt churches in terms of how they register
the contradictions of space.61 Contradictory space is
occupied by potentially antagonistic elements, and
this is what we have seen in the works examined
far. By recording traces of the sacred past-the re-
ligious paintings on organ cases, the surviving frag-
ments of stained glass, stone carvings, and wall and
ceiling paintings-Saenredam's paintings remind
viewers of the repressed history of these buildings.
They also visualize inconsistencies betvyeen civic
and religious functions: the walking church can be
imagined as a completely different space than the
preaching church, and the church as a space for
the enjoyment of art,funeral memorials, and music
certainly contradicts the ideal ofa church focused
solely on the Word of God. The inconsistencies
Saenredamt realism reveal that there is no one true
church to be seen. This imagery appealed to a di-
verse range of patrons. Some were Roman Catholic,
some were Calvinist; many had civic or antiquarian
interests.62 In Paul Ricoeur's teÍms, these paintings
do the duty of memory, which is to do justice, not
just to one's own view; but to the views of others
we11.63 The accuracy with which Saenredam docu-
mented the churches reveals that they were shared
and contradictory sites. The truth claims made by
Saenredam's self-reflexive realism did not necessar-
ily create consensus about objective verifiable facts,
but raised matters of widespread interest about the
collective and divergent histories and functions of
these important buildings.
Visible and lnvisible Ghurch
For Saenredam, the preaching church must have
had its limitations as a subject to paint, as most of
his pictures focus on aspects ofthe public church.6a
The artist Emanuel de Witte, by contrast, made a
specialty of sermon paintings. De Witte's paint-
ings differ from the rather didactic images of the
preaching church examined above (figs. zz and
z4). Notably, they do not make obvious moves
so to resolve the contradictions between visible and
invisible church or to demonstrate how civic
and religious interests succeeded in ordering the
&emeente.Instead of anidealized vision of church
as it should be, De Witte seems to have painted
the church as it sometimes was. In the process,
he demonstrates how Calvinist conceptions of
church offered complex insights into the nature of
the visible world, making the preaching church an
intriguing subject for painters.
De Witte's,4 Sermon in the Oude Kerk in Detft
of165r is typical ofhis approach to the preach-
of ing church (fig. z8).The painting takes an oblique
view from the margins of the assembly. Afrieze
ofdiverse figures occupies the narrow space in
the foreground. The wooden partition that sets
them apart from the rest ofthe congregation is
the boundary of the baptismal enclosure, and the
heads of a few church council members within rise
as above its wall. The minister is central. In a device
frequently used by De Witte, the preacher's profile
and pointing finger are silhouetted against the
churcht whitewash. The white wall here func-
tions as a ground for preaching, highlighting the
new kind of visual experience of worship that the
The Contradictions of Church
g* Emanuel de Witte. A Sermon in the aude Kerk in Delft, 1651 . O I on pane , 60.5 x 4.1 cm. By kind perm ssron of the
Trustees of the Wa lace Co lection, London.

Thc TransÍbrnation of Public Space

Calvinist service afforded. The pastor faces the
members of the congregation gathered in front
of the pulpit, including the group of magistrates
who occupy the prominent heerenbanck at the far
left. Because of the painting's oblique angle' the
preacher does not address directly the marginal
figures in the foreground. Nor does he engage with
the viewers of the painting itself; who are situated
at an even further remove, as if standing behind
these subsidiary congregants.
This curiously oblique perspective also does not
elucidate the architectural and communal restruc-
turing of the church. Approaching the sacral cen-
ter from behind, the painting's beholder is located
in the interstices of ecclesiastical space. Many of
the staffage frgures who populate this liminal area
cannot see or be seen by the preacher or by church
and civic officials. Evading these relations of
surveillance, they are not fully assimilated into the
spatial logic of the re-formed church' The painting
thus sets up an interesting dynamic. The Nieuwe-
zijds-kapel painting (frg. zz) employed a Perspec-
tive from the margins in order to establish the
viewer's elevated status in relation to the church
assembly. With its stiff arrangement of figures in
their prescribed places, uniform use oflight and
shade, and predictable view up the nave from west
to east, this painting bestows a somewhat static
qualiry on the church.In the De Witte painting,
by contrast, the viewer seems to stand as a by-
stander rather than as a member of the gemeente.lt
takes some time to decipher the layout of the space
from this oblique angle. As observer rather than
full participant, the beholder is not fu1ly drawn
into the architectural framework of the preaching
church. The play of sunlight on the white surfaces
of columns, walls, collars, and cuffs commands as
much attention as the inaudible message delivered
by the preacher.
The church depicted here is not a"Gteat
Vessel," an empty container for the \Mord, nor is it
a hierarchically ordered gemeente united through
uniform apprehension of the In fact,
message'
it is quite difficút to gauge the attentiveness of
the group De Witte depicts. Some sit, while
others stand or appear to be walking. A few seem
to look at the preacher, but many glance in
different directions. This is the sort of scene that
Swillens no doubt had in mind when disparaging
Saenredamt successors for their depiction of "the
swarming about of numerous church-goers and
the motley character of their dresses."6s The overall
impression is that the assembled group does not
fully comprehend the seriousness of being in
church and attending to the sermon. As noted
above, the public functions ofthe church could
distract from worship, and orthodox Calvinists
did complain of distracted and disorderly conduct
in services. Foreign visitors to the Dutch churches
also often commented, with some surprise,
on the disruptive and inattentive behavior of
Reformed congregations. A British gentleman
who visited the tomb ofWilliam of Orange in
Delft's Nieuwe Kerk during a worship service
made this complaint: "I could not but have my
indignation moved to see the congregation with
their hats on and moving or talking without the
least respect."66
This type of behavior could be attributed in
part to the temporal overlap of the secular walking
church with the religious preaching church. More-
over, the people who regularly gathered at Sunday
services were not necessarily devout members of
the gemeente.T,he lidmaten, or fiilmembers of the
Reformed Church, never formed a strong majoriry
of the population in the seventeenth century.
.I-}le
Contradictions of Church
Religious historians have speculated that the
church had difficulty winning new conveÍts partly
because its rigorous disciplinary stÍuctures may not
have appealed to many potential members.6T
The church also recognized a group called
lieJhebbers.lhis term encompassed those who
were sympathetic to the faith, regularly attending
seÍmons, but were not full members and there-
fore did not take communion or submit to church
discipline. The remarks of a seventeenth-century
Calvinist about the identity of the lie.fhebber,
sympathizer, are illuminating: "It often appears
that among the persons who call themselves
liefi e b b ers lurk Catholics, Mennonites, Libertines,
and atheists."68 The category of lieJhebber thus made
the Reformed Church surprisingly accommodating
of those whom it officially excluded as heretics and
members of false religions. When we account for
the large number of liefhebbers in attendance at
any given service as well as curious sightseers and
foreign tourists such as the British gentleman in
Delft, De Witte's picture of the church begins to
seem more in keeping with the contingent event
that was church than the static vision of ordered
worship conveyed by the Nieuwezijds-kapel
painting.6e With De Witte, we may glimpse po-
tential disparities betvyeen the inner convictions
churchgoers and the official doctrines of
the church.
If they did not adhere to doctrines, why did so
many non-Calvinists attend Reformed services?
One attraction may have been the political advan-
tages that the category of lieJhebber afforded. As
noted above, political offices in principle only were
open to those affiliated with the official church.
LieJhebber status allowed the non-Reformed to
claim a connection to the established church and
therefore participate in civic politics. Of course,
'Ihe -franstbrmation of Public Space
was a small, male, elite group who took advantage
of the churcht two tiers of affiliation for political
purposes. However, because the Reformed Church
was the republic's only public church, some form
of affiliation was socially advantageous for a wide
range of citizens.
Church leaders such as Gisbertus Voetius
noted that more women than men attended
sermons. His intuition was astute; Íecent histori-
cal research indicates that two-thirds of Reformed
or Church members were women.7o This is intriguing,
since women were arguably most disempoweÍed
by the church. As Judith Pollman has discovered,
the majority of these female members were
unmarried women and widows. Lacking male
protection and support, they may have found in
church membership away to combat the r,ulner-
ability of their social position and to publicly
assert their private morals, honor, and virtue to
the broader community. The church also proúded
care and financial support for widows, the eldedy,
and the impoveiished. And church discipline
had its advantages, for it could pÍotect women
from abuse.71
Other social benefits for women include the
emphasis that this cerebral religion placed on
of education andliteracy.T2 In many of De Witte's
sermon paintings, the women on the margins of
the gemeente read small books. As in the painting
of the Nieuwezijds-kapel, the visual representation
oftexts could serve to link inner personal belief
with outward public participation in worship. It
also depicts the Protestant ideal ofthe availability
of the Word to all, regardless of gender and social
status. The spread of elementary education to
boys and girls of all social groups, together with
the ability of print technologies to disseminate
it identical information to a wide readership, were
apparatuses used by Protestants in their efforts to
enforce widespread uniformity of be1ief.73 In this
way, a common print culture was mobilized in
attempts to foster a common religious culture.
However, the wide dissemination of print
concurrently created possibilities for distinctive
and potentially divergent uses and interpretations.
The disciplines imposed by this text-based religion
could be met with ways of reading or engaging
with the text that did not conform to doctrines. As
I have argued elsewhere, there was much arxiety
about the misinterpretation of printed material
in the Dutch Republic, especially if the readers
in question weÍe women, children, or members of
the lower classes.Ta Given this context, the read-
ing women and girls in De Witte's paintings are
enigmatic. The small books they hold are illegible:
they may be Protestant religious texts, but this
cannot be discerned for certain. It is impossible
to see whether absorption in a book signifies an
attentive or inattentive response to the sermon.
Access to the Word in inexpensive printed format
may have served to draw readers into the flock, or
it may have allowed them to cultivate contradic-
tory convictions on the fringes.The interest ofthis
painting is generated in part by what it cannot de-
pict-private thoughts about invisible truths. The
content of the picture thus confronts the formal
limitations of art, specifically its inability to show
the inner spiritual realm. Pointing beyond itself, art
can geneÍate thinl«ng about abstract thoughts,but
it cannot picture them.
De Witte's sermon paintings mesh with the
insights of religious historians whose research
reveals that not every sympathizer or member was
fully compliant with the church's teachings. There
seemed to be manywho, in spite of doubt or con-
flicting convictions, struck up beneficial affiliations
with the official church. Negotiating within the
imposed structures of the church, they were able
to preserve differing inner beliefs, trading exter-
nal submission for a range of social benefits. De
Wittet somewhat ambiguous pictures ofworship
services accordingly give a richer picture of eatly
modern subjectivity than the rather top-down
model of discipline and compliance conveyed by
the painting of the Nieuwezijds-kapel (fr,g. zz).In
reality,the Reformed Church was never the pure
church that many of its leaders sought to create.
The category of lieJhebberwas one of the compro-
mises made in response to the needs of its various
constituents. Ifit had hardened its confessional
boundaries and excluded all those who refused
to join as fuIl confessing members, the church
would have risked becoming a small and poten-
tially inconsequential or ganization By remaining
somewhat open and flexible, it was able to draw
more people into its sphere of influence. Coercion
and subversion were not opposed in the church;
rather, the church itself was formed in the dynamic
exchange between the institution and its partici-
pants.The result is the rather contradictory sPace
that De Witte depicts, where those who did not
fully acquiesce to the hierarchies of the Reformed
architectural structure could potentially maintain
their differences at the margins.
The disparity between inner conviction and
outward piety is in fact a theme in Calvins writ-
ings about the nature of the church. Calvin was
acutely awarc that even the purest preaching of the
Word did not uniformly transform the hearts of
churchgoers, and that church membership was no
guarantee of salvation. In Calvids vier.v, only God
could see into the human heart, and only God
knew those whom he had predestined to be among
the elect.'According to the secret predestination
The Contradictions oiChurch
 discerned through human understanding: "the
of God, there are many sheep without the pale of
experience of every day teaches us how far lGod's]
the church and many wolves within'"7s For Calvin,
secret judgments transcend all our apprehen-
there were two churches: one visible and earthly,
sions. For those who seemed the most abandoned'
the other invisible and spiritual' The úsible church
and were generally considered past all hope, are
is what De Witte paints: the gathering of people
recalled by his goodness into the right way;while
for worship in the church building' The invisible
some, who seemed to stand better than others,
church, on the other hand, is the true church: it is
the society of the elect, known only to God' The fall into perdition."Te When De Witte's enigmatic
images of the preaching church arc rcad together
invisible church transcends the earthly realm, for
it encompasses all of God's predestined chosen with this Calvinist understanding of church, the
ones, living and dead, from all places and times'76 difficulty ofjudging whether congregants truly
attend to the sermon or fit into the church's hierar-
This notion of an abstract, immaterial, perfect,
chies is quite significant.
permanent church betrays dissatisfaction with the
Indeed, seventeenth-cenfliry Dutch preach-
actual material church on earth, for the concept
ers did not profess to attach much importance
to
of the invisible church resolves the imperfections
social repute as a sign of religious status' As Wil-
of the visible church, with its diverse and inscru-
lem Têellinck admonished his readers,'A nominal
table membership. It articulates a utoPian vision of
church: timeless, placeless, and pure, the invisible
Christian is not only he who has fallen into false
doctrines or gives himself over to a sinful life' You
church was a perfectly unifred, exclusive group of
can be a member of the Reformed Church, live a
true believers.
respectable life, unbesmirched by any heresies; you
Although membership in the úsible and
can forgo all contact with worldly people and dili-
invisible church may have overlapped, these two
churches never completely coincided, for the elect gently perform spiritual practices every day-and

and the reprobate together gathered in the úsible

still not have anlthing more than the aPpearance
church. If anlthing, the elect were in a minority
of godliness."So Church leaders fully expected to

there. Calvin likens them to "a few grains of wheat

covered with a heap of chaff."17 Itwas beyond
human apprehension to discern which church
members concurrenÚ belonged to the true fellow-
ship of the invisible church. Many who appeared
to be Christians actually were playing a deceptive
role: "In this church are included many hlpocrites,
who have nothing of Christ but the name and
find evil hiding in the church' Looking over their
flock, they assumed that even the most respectable
could be dissimulators and hlpocrites, wearing the
self-interested facade of godliness'
Likewise, the church on earth was not de-
scribed as a unified and coherent social entity'
Voetius draws an interesting analogy between the
visible church and other kinds of public civic gath-

app ear ance; many persons ambitious, avaricious, erings. People assemble in the church'iust as in

envious, slanderous, and dissolute in their lives'"78

this or that city, people from various nations come

A dissolute life was not necessarily the mark of together to attend market days or public theater

the reprobate. Repeatedly, Calvin notes that God's plays, without coming together in that place as one

secret knowledge of the human heart cannot be

citizenship or being cilled burghers of the same

The Transformation oi Public Space

status."81 A congregation does not gather in unify;
it is as varied as a theater audience or a market
crowd. If the early modern Protestant church can
be understood as a precursor ofthe public sphere,
then Calvinist comprehensions of church contrib-
ute to our understandin g of early modern ways of
defining this important form of public assembly.
The church was not a fixed and stable entity whose
membership was based on an a priori shared sense
of identiry affiliation, or even belief, It was a con-
tingent event: a series of dynamic interactions and
performances that occurred in public space. More-
oveq it was a space with porous boundaries. Open
to the foreigner and the unbeliever, it was based on
the premise that those who appeared to be outsid-
ers might in fact be true members, while those
who seemed to belong perhaps did not. This new
kind of community was structured around skepti-
cism and doubt; people came together with the
understanding that their fellows were stÍangers,
who could never be fully known or understood.s2
Collective identity was not complacently assumed,
but subjected to constant scrutiny.The diverse
people who gathered in this public site of assembly
were not absorbed by one common identiry united
in mind and spirit. While the preaching and
publication of the Word certainly had the Poten-
tial to generate a public of like-minded listeners
and readers, this was only accomplished in tension
with the presupposition that communication does
not guaÍantee community.The institution may
have imposed orthodory of doctrine and behavior,
but the writings of church leaders reveal that this
imposition was met with a range of responses from
the people who made up the visible church.
As a result, the public visible church bred
uncertainry for you could not trust in its outward
appearance. A perfectly unified and closed fellow-
ship of believers did exist, but this utopian com-
munity of the invisible church was imperceptible
and immaterial. As Calvin declared, "we assert that
the Church can indeed exist without visible form
and that, even should it have a visible form, that
appeaÍance is no guarantor ofits truth-va1ue."83
While the visible church represented God's church
on earth, it was always only an imperfect repre-
sentation rather than a transpaÍent conveyor of
truth. The dissimulation of a fluid and inscrutable
membership with diverse opinions and beliefs was
assumed, and formed the imperfect basis fot any
notion of communify on earth.
If the visible church was not a sure conduit to
truth, communiry or salvation, what was its im-
portance? Perhaps awareness of this difficulty led
Calvin to stress repeatedly that church attendance
was absolutely vital to the Christian life. In order
to convey the benefits of church membership, he
employed a gendered metaphoÍ: "But as our pÍes-
ent design is to treat of the úsible Church, we may
learn even from the title of mother, how useful and
even necessary it is for us to know her."8'It was
necessary to know this visible mother church be-
cause the faithful were "nourished at her breast": "I
shall begin with the Church, in whose bosom it is
God's will that all his children should be collected,
not only to be nourished by her assistance and
ministry during their infancy and childhood, but
also to be governed by her maternal care, till they
attain a mature age, and at length reach the end of
their faith."ss While church membership did not
bring with it the assurance of salvation, to be cut
offfrom the church's spiritual guidance was in fact
fatally dangerous for the sou1.86
De Wittet Serm.on in the Oude Kerk, Delft (fig.
z9) is a painting that seems to probe rather insis-
tently at Calviris definition of the visible church.
Thc Contraclictions of Church
Gathered in the foreground at the margins of the of breast-feeding with the depiction of people

genxeente are a nursing woman, three children at different life stages in a manner that certainly
of various ages, an old and a young woman, as calls up Calvins metaphor of the visible church.

well as a soldier and his youthful attendant. The The nursing woman apPeaÍs along with two other
nursing mother is a repeated frgure in church favored motifs of the church interior painter: the
interior paintings; as we saw in the previous painted picture curtain and the illusionistic frame.
chapter, De Witte with the multiple pos-
played The curtain appears to hang in front ofthe painted
sible meanings of this richly ambiguous motif. In scene and the 6.ctive frame;its brass rod throws

this painting, he combines the enigmatic imagery a shadow across both.This shadow flattens the

ã9 Ernanue de Wltte, A
1
Sermon in the Oude Kerk,
1

Delft, 1651-52. Ot on oak.

cradled, 73.2 x 59.5 cm.
Nationa Gallery oÍ Canada,
Ottawa / Musée des beaux'
arts du Canada, Ottawa.
Purchased 1 983 w th the
ass stance of a grant from
the Government oÍ Canada
under the terrns of the
Cultural Property ExPort and
lmport Act. Photo @ NGC /
I'/BAC,

The tansformation of Public Space

Ê
painting, indicating that the frame, the foreground
column, and the background walls and windows of
the depicted church are all painted on a uniformly
flat panel. Vision thus vacillates between surface
and depth. The viewer sees both the skillfully
wrought artifice of a three-dimensional church and
the reality of paint on a two-dimensional surface.
Ironically playrng with the notion of revelation,
this painted curtain is drawn aside to reveal illu-
sion rather than truth.S7
Oscar Wilde's axiom, "The mystery of the
wodd is the visible, not the invisible," helps us
to see the interest ofsuch paintings.The opened
curtain makes the church visible, in the process
uncovering a double fiction.This is not the actual
church; it is a visual representation of the worldly
visible church, which is itself illusory. By insis-
tently drawing attention to surfaces, this painting
Íesonates with Calvins dictum that external ap-
peaÍances were not guarantors of truth.The visible
church was apparently a suggestive subject for the
post-Reformation Dutch painter, who worked in
a context where trust in the capacity of visual ap-
pearances to convey unambiguous meanings was
actively debated. Any visual representation of the
visible church consequently stimulates awaÍeness
ofthe fraught practice ofinterpreting the undeci-
pherable visible world.
De Witte's paintings of the preaching church
were classified in seventeenth-century inventories
as "sermons."88 Presumably this was because of
their content.Yet one could also argue that the
pictuÍes themselves functioned as sermons, en-
couraging inner contemplation of religious issues.
In his biography of De Witte, Arnold Houbraken
states that the artist was a difficult man who used
to argue about religion. Contrasting the chaos
of his character with the calm of his paintings,
-
Houbraken departs from the well-worn biographi-
cal formula in which artistic life and work are
made to conform, and personalities are derived
from paintings.se Yet if Houbraken was familiar
with De Witte's oeuvre, perhaps his anecdotes
about the artist were more formulaic than they ini-
tially for the paintings themselves could be
seem,
described as arguments about religion. De Witte's
sermon paintings are not sermons in the sense of
didactic communications of familiar doctrines and
accepted moral codes of behaúor. Perhaps they
are better understood as counteÍsermons, for these
works do not urge their viewers to merely accept
what they aÍe sure of or to possess meanings that
are already known. By inserting themselves into
the gap between the visible material world and the
invisible inner realm, these paintings prompted
viewers to do the slow work of interpretation.
Their open-ended ambiguities seem deliberate,
for they serve to call attention to the difficulties
of moving from visible appearances to invisible
truths. This may have served as an efrective mar-
keting strategy, broadening the appeal ofreligious
subject matter beyond the Calvinist minority. In-
tricate and thought-provoking, De Wittet sermon
paintings leave room for acceptance, dissention,
and discussion of the imposed religious and social
order. They have the potential to generate a public
made up of viewers willing to ponder and debate
the subtleties of the Calvinist Church, an entiry
that even Calvin called "the Church which we do
not fully comprehend."'n
Haunted by the Holy
If one pauses along Amsterdamt Kalverstraat, a
busy shopping street, and looks above the store
facades just across from the intersection ofthe
street called Heilige Weg, there is an empty stone
The Contradictions of Church

30 Niche commemorating the Hellige Stede or Holy Place.
Kalverstraat, Amsterdam. Author photo.
niche inscribed with the text "1345 Gedachtenis
ter Heilige Stede" G:+S L memory of the Holy
Place; fig. 3o). The Heilige Weg (Holy Way) was
the old pilgrimage route to the Holy Place. This
niche is all that remains to mark a site that once
was centÍal to the identity of Amsterdam. The
Nieuwezijds-kapel was demolished in r9o8, amid
much protest from the city's Roman Catholic
community well as those who fought to preseÍve
as
the building for its historical importance.
While the building itself is gone, the sacred
status ofthe site has been preserved. Indeed,
veneration of the Holy Place never abated, in
spite of the ban that the States of Holland placed
on all pilgrimage practices in ry87 and in the face
of repeated attempts by Amsterdanis Reformed
Church leaders to redefine the church and eradi-
cate all practices that revived memories of the
Amsterdam miracle.el Throughout the seventeenth
century pilgrims and worshipers continued to visit
the chapel for prayer.lndividuals and small gÍoups
secretly performed the buildingt sacred status by
executing triple circuits around its exterior. While
clandestine, these practices were quite widely
noted. As Jan ten Hoorn observes in a printed
Thc Translormrtion of Public Space
travel guide of ú89,"Since the miracles, of which
there should have occurred at least ten in this city
according to the writings of the Roman members,
many devout pilgrimages are still performed daily
around this chapel, especially by night and at odd
hours."e2 In addition to these everyday devotional
practices, there was an annual event, also covert yet
conspicuous: a silent procession that departed from
the Holy Place and traversed the new and old
sides of the city. The route apparently was revived
in 165r after being recovered from the memory of
a ninefy-one-year-o1d woman. This annual proces-
sion, called the Stille Omgang,or Silent Circuit,
became more open after r886,and the assertion
of this traditional event may have been a trigger
in the decision to destroy the chapel. Even with-
out the chapel, the Stille Omgang continues: one
can still participate in it today. Conservative and
intransigent, part of the poweÍ of sacred space is its
resistance to change.e3
For Amsterdanis sizable seventeenth-century
Roman Catholic population, who had lost their
churches and their traditional place in the ciry its
history, and its political life, this site was a conduit,
not just to the divine, but also to Amsterdam's
illustrious Roman Catholic past. This is what the
Catholic priest Leonardus Marius asserts in his
bookÁmsterdanc\ Glory and Origin of r639.ea In
contrast to Calvinist ciüc histories such as A-p-
zingt and Dapper's, Marius emphatically lays
claim to a specifrcally Roman Catholic counter-
history of Amsterdam, linking the cityt rise to
power with medieval veneration of the Amster-
dam miracle. The book validates the identity of
the cify's seventeenth-century Roman Catholic
population by connecting them to those who had
founded and built the city and made it prosper.e5
In opposition to the insistent Calvinist redefinition

of space, Marius makes room for Roman Catholics
urban
to reclaim their historical connection to the
is to
fabric. He states that the purpose of his book
"the
remind Amsterdanis citizens and residents of
God per-
great works and displays of wonder that
fo.*"d in their city, which are not only preserved
in
on paper or parchment, but engraved in stone
their chapel at the Holy Place'"e6 This forms
an
arresting contrast with the painting of the
Nieu-
wezijds-kapel (frg. zz),which asserts an orthodox
the
Calvinist vision of a space reoriented around
that
primacy of the Text. Instead, Marius claims
the sacred'
religious architecture itself channels
By connecting the chapel to Amsterdam's origins'
Marius writes a founding narrative that addresses
sense
the wounds inflicted on the city's historical
triumph
of community and continuiry by the
of Calvinism.
The Calvinist alteration of this space' which
the
comes across so confrdently in works like
Nieuwezijds-kapel painting, is, according to
Marius, a futile kind of labor' In this contest
between remembrance and forgetting, memory
is
today
the more powerful force: "'Tis true that men
and men
seek to drown this glorious memory,
would that the Holy Place be called the new
side's
defeated
traditional powers were never completely
by the new order.
never
Indeed, the history of the Holy Place has
down
been resolved.When the chapel was torn
Roman
at the beginning of the twentieth century'
of the
Catholic dissenters mobilized the stereotype
it' this
Calvinist iconoclast. As one protester put
of
murder of an artistic masterpiece was the legacy
the Reformation: "Calvinism and aÍt ate still
forces
served a
at enmity with each other'"es This rhetoric
arg-res' the
purpose in its context, but, as this book
never
relationship between Calvinism and art was
The
drawn along clear-cut lines of antagonism'
buildings mayhavebeen cleansed and appropri-
ated for preaching, but overlapping and potentially
conflicting definitions and social functions of
church'
the church-as preaching church, public
walking church, visible church, invisible church'
within the
and holy place-persisted and coexisted
open
altered architecture, making it a surprisingly
these multi-
and plural space.The contradictions of
faceted spaces emerge in the works of the painters
of the
who undertook the artistic representation
visible Calvinist church interior'

chapel . . . but it is futile, the roots have grown

so

d"ef ,nd are set fast in the hearts ofthe people

and in the books of so many writers, that
the at-

tempt to pul1 them out is a labor lost'"e7 Stones'

a
hearts, and Roman Catholic books preserve Past
insists
that cannot be uprooted, and Marius's book
on the perseverance of a deep collective memory'
Like the Stitte Omgang and persistent pilgrim-
age practices, the book performs an act
of public
mourning for the unresolved history of the church'
In the process, one ofthe central contradictions
of the Dutch Gothic churches is revealed: their

The Contradictions of Church

with the irnage of Christ.
6O. Hesel,,4rsrÉ etits, z:887.
6í. Besençon, Farl:idtle n Imtge, t1o.
62. Hopkins, rVtolat ( Cun's
lll'titi,'. rr1-ro. See tlre d:-.rr.-i,,rr
of Cnsa in Koerner, ilÍorrcrtt ( Sclf
Portroitm c, esp. chap. 6.
63. Rotnur.r, Signifi,ing Norhing, zt-27.k
i- inteLe-r:r g to ,,te tlr!t Iire i(nil.cilrr-
to face the vierver more lrontally than
does the epitaph, rvhich is rendered
perspective. In this rvar; De Witte
to rckr,,,rr1<dgc tl < iruiill lr, ir4nr'.-
,,-Chri.r i,on' rr J,'ff.er. rhe icon in
C. 'Inlr f,\I l, t hi' orr rl rerli'rii p.rirrtir,g.
NÍrny thanks to William Diebolcl lor
pointing this out to nle.
64. Npers,,4rt of' Desis'ibing 6t,.
65. "En tot het schiideren van I(erkjes,
u,aar in niernrnt heni gelijk rvas."
Houbraken, Dr Grootu Sthoutburgh, rzz3.
See also Horn's discussion
Ret,isited, rg8.
66. Vil1e,'I"s a m en - s2re e ;Ã i
deÁrúi.teún.e,4. On these issrLes, see the
inrportant contributions of Brtsatt, Ár tif rc
mtl lllusi.on, zzo, :58; Slui jter, De LoJ'd,t'
SthilderkunsÍ,9-r3; and P Tar-lor, "Concept
of 'Houding,"':ro-3:.
67. IIontlas, "'Perspectives,"' r9.
6a. Ibid., z5-z8.
69. Ruurs, "Functions of Architectural
Painting,".l5.Sce also the discussion of
thi-s painting irnd its piltrician o\rneÍs
bv Visser, "Establishing the ReÍbrmecl
Church."
?O. Belting, "In Search of Christ's Bodl;"
458; and Stoichiti, Selflxcore Imtge,4E.
7 í . Parr»'-de Yeen, De Begrippett "Sthilder,"
72. Stoichitá, SelfrÁ'rtre Innge, 6o-ú.
73. Hoogstraten, quoted in BrLtsttt.Ártf
and ll/usion, r73.
74. Nlontias,,4r tis t: atttl Ár t i.t nt.;, zt},
3r8. See also Bok, "Socienl Culture, and
Collccting," ro6.
75. Bv 166o, the Amsterdlm market lor
p:rintings rvas dcclining drlsticellr;
possible that De Wittc rvirs struggline to
Notes to Pages 58-73
find a rvealthl patron t-or his rvorks. On the 83. As Latour argues, iconoclasm is
art market, see Bok, "Rise of Âr.nsterdlm," :r motivated âct of destflrction, while
249. iconocl:rsh cirn be simrútaneously
destructir.e and constructive. See "What Is
76. "Notable Works of Art."
Dit/etÍia/ Iconoclash?" r,1 15.
77. Â skillfLrllv intuitir.e painter, De
Witte tenclcd to relu the rules of linear
Ghapter 3
perspectiye in falor of a nrore optic:rl
rpprorch, rvhich relied on the use oflight, í . fhis account is based on the earlicsr
shade, coLor, and brushstroke to produce a
knnrrn rer-ion ot'thi. (\enl, \vrittcrl
br.Albrecht, count of Hoiland in rj78.
creclible illusion. Thercforc, this error must
For a detailed historv ofthe chapel, see
har-c bccn obyious to him, ancl he does
ir:r N{argrr- anrl Caspcrs, -Belriraa r t? I nit s e n
coYer up the problem at the base oi thc
seems in Nederldnd, r34 5o. NÍarqrv is also the
column rvith the r.r.rotiÍ oithe dogs. See
author of the entÍ\ on the Heiligc Stede il
Lieàtke, Árth itecturd/ Paint ittg t9, 7 6-78;
the Nleertens lnstitute database on Dutch
and Gilt:rij, "Pcrspectives," r5. Perhaps it
pilgrimage sites. Sec "Databank Bedevaart
rv:rs tl.ic rvant ofa burer thrt discouraged
en Bedevaartplaatsen in Nederland,"
De Witte fiom makins the elIort to Íullv
Nleertens Institutc, http:./,/rmurmeertens.
correct this error.
knawnVbedeyaart/ (accessed N'Iirrch z6,
28. See tlte di-.rr..iorr ot :r
f(r.pc,ri\c zoro).
Rotnran, Signifi,ing Nothing, .tr .t,+. As
Bruno Latour argues, the moÍe thrt the 2. The chapel rves besun in 1346 irnd
hand of the artist càn be sccn. the rveaker completed in 13,17 It rvas damagecl br: fire
in Goldn,4ge tnaq.. ilaim t,, ,,ffer obje. rir e or and rebuilt in r.1zr and ag;rir.t in r452, lr.hen
t1r<
rcligious truths. See "Whrt Is Iconoclashi" it u-as enlargecl. See "Databank Bedevaart
rô. en Beder.aartplaatsen."
r tgh e B e n' efrà n de
79. De \\ritte possibh-is making a
3. "Dat hier cloor clesc plaets seer r.ermaert
distinction bem.een huisschilders tnd gelvorden zijnde, cn het volck, geduurlr'ck
kun-rtsthi/ders, or housepàinters and artistic
oock r-an r.crre gelegen plaetsen t'zamen
komende, niet el1een bedevaerten en
painters. Atter.npts to di11êrentietc benveen
pirintcrs increâsinglr'rvere made in the gebeden, maar voornar.neiijck gout, en
rij ckdommen heru-acLts brengende. "
course of the se\enteenth centurl,, ancl
senrd to elevate the status of the 'lrtist. Dapper, Histori.tc/:t i:);rhriji itt.4, t9t.
Depper notcs tirrrt ire is clrarring this
See Paurr.-rle Yeen, De Begt iplen "Sthi\tler."
r6.
information Íion r. previous civic historv
bvJohannes Polt,inus.
80. Kloek. Ct:i1:.ri1,1.'';,,rr?. /-b. ro rr:
4. "lIirer zekcr, drt zoo het eerste
rld Dr.l. "D. OLrJc K.r(. 1o.
u.e1
mirrkel, als irl t1e nar.olgencle, beuzclingen
81 . The vault paintir.rg oi a kog3esthip also
gerveest zijn, en br.dc Roomsgezinden
appears in De \\ritte's lrt.teri.or oJ Íhc Outle
1-cÍzicrt, om daer gelt u\-t te smede, blijkt
Kerk i.n Ám.;ttrldz (Instituut Collectie
aen al de omstàndigheden." Ibid., j93.
Nederlend) of r659, a painting quite simiier
tu the Itrbo uumpo-itiu'r. T1r< rt,oo p,rirling 5. Ibid.,387
also depicts a ceiling painting, possiblr.of 6. LeÍêbvre, Pra duction of Spte, u
5.1--55. On
an angel, rvl.rich is just r.isible in the nn,e the aiteration ofsacred space in the eulv
it of the church. modern period, sec elso Coster rnd Spicer,
"Introduction."
82. The r,ault painring rves in the
Buitenlandr.aardcrskapel and has 7. Lefebvre, Production {Sptce, 266.
bccn datcd to crl. r,+73. See K1oek,
8. Dirk.e .l,ecul.rre- rhrr rhc p.rintinq
G etL e lji i h i / d er i nge n, 8-to, : o-:r.'ft e
is br.Johannes Coesen.irans. See "De
koggesthip :vas rn importânt civic svmbol; Nieurvezijds Kapel te Amstcrdam," 55,
58.
ir rp1,cr'cd ,,n rhc orfici,rl re,.l' oi
so it is 9. OÍten in reÍêrence to the u,ell-knorvn
Amsterdem and u.rs incorporirted in the
ston' of Zeruis rnd Parrhasius, found in
dcc,,r.rtirc prugrJrn- uf irilp,'rtent i:\ ii
Plin:,, Ntturalis Historio, 9:3o9 to.
buildings.
 í O. Su.i1lens, "Paintings," rz.
1 1. Lefebvre, ProtlutÍiott o-f Sptu, 3o6.
12. Anrpzing, Be:thr1,t,ittgt
enda LaJ
collaboration lvith Âmpzing
Saenredar.r.r's
is discusscd in Schrvartz and Bok, Pirlrr
Sttnrethn, chap.3. Besides the rvorks of
Ampzing, Saenredarn also orvned a copl of
Dapper's Historisthe Butht'ifuing der Stadt
Ánrlerdtm and a number of other Dutch
histories. Seln, "De Bibliotheek," r.1-24.
í 3. While Ampzing's approach rvas
deciciedlr.Calvinist, he also u.ls informed
bv humanism, especiallv its ideels of cir.ic
urrin. Ott Àmpz'nu.t. r lri.rorirr..ee
Nicrop, "Horv to Honour One's Ci§:"
Tlre imporr.Lnce of gerrcrlt'ng cir ic
through thc construal of Hlarlem's
historv in the early ser.enteenth century
is eremined bv Spaans, llaar.letn nt de
Re lonnatie.
14. Samuel Ampzing, cited and trlnslated
in Schrvartz and Bok, Piarer S unreddnt,
u58, no.3r in ctrtalog.
í 5. Ibid., no. :7 in catalog. I have altered
thcir translation slightlv
í 6. Boer et eL., De Bat,o te Boe *, h.
17. The use of these terms bv reformers
is explored bv Brink, "Geen Kerk in het
Nieulr.e Testament. " Earlr' translations of
the Dutch Bible were based on Luther's
Gerrnan Bib1c.
í8. This is h-om a letter rvritren b\. a
Delft preacher in r57u. Cited in Pettegree,
"Coming to Tenns u.ith \rictort,," 16z.
í 9. Schrvartz and Bok, Pi.eter Soenredun,
o1..\ rhororrqh rn.rh.i' of rhe irteriur
ofthe St. Bar.okerk can be ibund in
N{ochizuki, "Reformation of Der.otional
Art."
2O. Srvigchem, Brourver, antl Os, Een Huis
t,oor het [Iroortl, t3.
21 . Randall, Bai lding Codes, q. Sec
Su.igchem, Brouu.er, rnd Os, Een Huis
toor het lloord, for speciÊcs ofthc f)utch
transformation ofthe church building into
a "house for the \\'orcl." On the church
ascommunal architecture, sce Koerner,
ReJoruation of'the Irua,qe, 4oz.
22. Srvigchem, Brornver, and. Os, Een Huis
t,oor hel I,í1oord, 73.
23. Koerner, Rrprnotion oJ-the Intage,
43; Nliles,1za3r ds ltsight, ro6; Randa11,
Building Codes, 4 For priman'sources
thilt .liscuss this concept, see Beardslee,
Rt: fornt d D o gt n a/lis, r35-39.
24. Calr.in, In st i tute s, 2.277.
25. Schrvartz and Bok, Pitter Stenrerlnnt,
258.
26. Srvigchem, Brout e r, tnà
Os, Ecn Huis
toor het llloord, 23.
27. The church "beclme the quintessential
modern nonplace, the cverlrvhere and
not,hcre of iniormation trlnsÍêr." Koerner,
"ReÍbrming tl.re Assemblr;" 4o4. See also
Koerner, Ãafàrrrttion oJ'tfu lrutge, 377-78;
urin and Randa11, Bz ilding Cod*, 26.
28. NÍi1es,laa.g; ds Insig'ht, ro7; Koerner,
"Reforming thc A-ssem§11.,",16,1.
29. Â detailed studr.ofthe soci:r1 position
of Dutch preechers is Groenhuis, Dr
Predi/:antun. C)n the hierarchicâ1 structure
of the Calvinist church, see E.re , Hlor
Ágainst the Idols, esp.316 17.
30. "Ende men moet wel rveten Llxtc en
predikatie van den predikstoel meeÍ queets
krn doen dan hondert blaurl,e boekjes."
C jted in Groenhuis, Da Predil:ttnten,3r.
31. C. Parker, Ihe Refornttion oJ'
Cornntuttitlt, r6. The aristocrrtizatior.r oÍ the
church councils is discussed in Deursen,
Baliatten en Slijkgettzert 84. See also
S§,igchcm, "Een Gottl Rcginent," c1-tt.
32. "\roorts is dese kerck rondt-om
l11er u,egen met bàncken en gestoelten
\oô \'ui,r d< ) [.rgi-rrrer. Cor .i-t.rie er
menichte virn pârticlllieren al vn'dicht
beset." Blerswijck, Besthr1,r,ingc der Strdt
De lft, n7. See also Bengs, Chtrth Árt and
ÁrthiÍetture. 18.
33. Ozinga, Dr ProtaÍontscAe Kerkntbouv-,
3. Weelthr. and sociallr.promir.ient people
prid tLr rl-c prir ileqe oirer.r'nirrg cerrri.r
l1(\!...rild rhrrc rrcr< dillêrenr prri<
options ranging Írom one to Íl.e guilders
per u.eek. See NÍochizuki, "Quanderr',"
z6o; Bangs, Churh Árt and,lrihittturt, L8;
and Su.igchcm, "Een g'oed reginent," tt.
34. On the functions of sun.eillance, see
thc classic studl br. Foucauk, Di.stip/i ne
tnd Pu nish; also Kocrner, Rrfà nration of
the Inagc,.1:9. Gorski connects Fbuclult's
theories rvith thc disciplinlrl rnechanisms
of C alr.irrism. S ec Dis cip lin t r), Re.L o / u t i on,
rE.
35. Certeau, Ilriting oJ'Histortt, r27-3a.
Certcau's insights mesh u.ith the theories
of Lcfrhr rc rc{rrdi:rg rlre -l^ifr tion
.rbsolute to rbstract space.
36. Schilling, "Confessional Europe,"
644. This is aiso discusscd b1' Gorski,
D i s iip I i tn 11, Ret, o ltt io n, t8.
37. Gelderen, Pr li.ritl Thougbt, 2661
Schilling, "Coniessional Europe,"
6-55i
C,'-U. D"rali,r.r,r Â,. âr'r,. rir.
38. For r ariotr. qcnilcred -rrting
ârràlrgements in Cah'inist churches, see
Sri.igchem, Broul.er, and Os, En HLrk
.roor heÍ l'íloortl, zz3.
39. See Dirksc, "De Nieurvezijds Kapel
tc Amsterdam,",59-6o, and Ziip, De
P'. tt,..r,tt. K ../ :,1., :(t,t. 3r. Thi- i.
nllu-iblc. ,r. tl^e Llcvicç or purrr:r irrg
flra,n\ cnrerir- :r . hurcl' during rr 'crm,,rr
rl.o rr.t- emp)ulrJ hr chtr-crr ' rterior'
painters likc De \\ritte. I do har-c some
1ç.çp1 11inn. ,rh.,rt thi. beirrq .r porrr,r't.
horvever, ibr the mcn depicted clo not havc
distinctir.e teatures.
4O. There \vere some Íêmale deacols,
or de,Lc^ne..c.. hur rlri. rrrt. qrritc
unusuel. See Baar, "'Let 1'our \Vomen
Keep Si1ent,"'389-9o. See also Geudeke,
"NÍannenba-stion of \rrouwenbolrverk?" ;r.
41. Koerner, "Icon ls Iconoclash,".133.
42. See Schilling's importirnt critique of
il.rim- :b,,rrt rlrc Reutrbli. : Je "r;r ir.
"oe
Religiort, Politics, Ctt/ture, esp. joZ 32;.
43. Schilling aÍglres thrt politics in the
Dutch Republic were sti11 \'er1, much based
on the traditions of a prestige socien,. Ibid.,
339-+t.
44.The date ofthe painting is dcbated,
ranging ti-om 16:8 to 16;5. Schu.mtz rnd
Bok argue Íbr the earlicr date. See their
.tn.rlr.i.,,f rhc.< imrtEe. in
i:np^1 r1'11
P,.r1 Sr. -1..,/o,., ot_t,6. Orr lb< rari.,u_
public functions oithe churches, see
Srvigchem, 'Een g.oed re,qintenz, "5-6; and
Srvigchern, Brout e r, :.nd Os, E,:n Hui.t
íúor het l.l/aard, r59.
Notes to Pâgcs 7j 8j
 E I

oÍthodox Cllckml.t, Áníi t{o t u n' behlvior are explorctl in Petteqree,

45. Dcursen, "Kerk ol P;rrochie)" -53j-36' J. J.
"Cominq to Terns l'ith Victor\'," r7'l-79'
'fhis e-spcciirlll u'ls the case in strongLr' Slcnrcdam otrled both oi these rvorks'
"De Bibliotheek," 15 For an rnllr'sis 67. Schutte. "De Publieke Kerk," 36;
Rom'ln Cltholic centcrs such ls fltrccht' Se1m,
of thc organ clebate , see Root'eu, "Hu\.{ens Deursen, "f)rttch ReÍbrmecl Parish," r13'
The Nicus'czijds kapel printinq i-r driterl
cotrtÍil Câlckmàn" r7o-73. }'ollman, "\\'irmen ,rnd Religion," 163'
'r,;-. -, \\\'.'.rll .L"rrrrle rl'.Lt iIi- rr't- ALso

commissioncd bv church u'lrdens' thet' 54. Sce Sclrrrrrrz ,rrrJ B"k. /'l'r"' 68. Qrotcrl in R. KrrPlrrn,
rvcre Cth'inist rncmbers oithe church' Stim'etltrnt. rr9, and cirtdog no 38' "Confêssionrlism and Its Limits," 68 On
Lii :, r1' ,\ I,,. \r,uli .rr-,, di-. tr"e' 11 i' p,rir,rirrq /iefl:ebhtrs, see Duke, Rafàrztttion drul
46. I-lrrris, Bu.í.lt/ing e

.l1d ll)( .n''rr,'\el--is' .ib!,'rt or{.tl'' irl Ret,o//, ztlt; Spllns, "Cetholicism and
47. "Sondiqhen soori:Lniqc mcnschcn Inngt' 59-ú' 2r7-r9 Sce àlso llesistlncc," r6l.
N,:therlrrttlith
. . . nochtirns in de Kerck glen rvanrleLcn Át.t tn,.1 -tlrt l:i tcit u.e' t't'
Rmgs, C l:tn'th
69.In sotrc of his sermon paintings, Dc
of't s:rmensprcecken tnet rrndere tcnvi]1
55.,\ltena, Saetrrctllm Archacoloog," Witte includes the unusu,rl stailàge figure
Clodts \Voordt s'ort ghclesen: hct l'elck is "

cen sebreck r.rrn her'lighe eerbiedighertlt

I IJ. oil b'lrehetrded man rvho holds his hat in
56.'Ihe precise dimensions of the church iront of his i:rcc. rL motif that trlay ill'liclte
e n lieÍãe ontrent Coclts W(rorlt
ende
.t-ei(t L,,r trr\ t'Jct" .ltc rll /l1rrri"e are included in r\mPzing, B'rJthrvo
jnt' lr',\\ rriLl'\ \rlrü.trlelrde.l'<triie' trcre
'
LrJ 3oi-5, irnd àIl itccurlte qÍound not truh' co!!niz:1nt of Cal','inist u'orship
r';rn andere dic neerstigh tocluYsteren tndt:
pràctices end beliefs, Íbr the Cah'inists did
l. Honrlius, 1679, citcd in Sri'iuchem, plàn âpf elus t)etl\'ecn pa!!c's 5o-l antl .5o'1'
rnd Os, Ettt Htti';;:oot. /:tl On Sre nrecl,im's use of this inÍbrmltlon ,.o, ,..ro.." their hats during rvorship C)n
Brourver,
Calr-ins interdictions ebout ttn66l'31lng the
í1b0rd,59. and his rvorkinq rnethod, see Ruurs,
heacl and borviliq the knee in church, sce
48. Some sclentecnth-.entury church Stenrerltt4 3i-34' 87.
llle, tlltr Ágaittst tfu ldols, zr5'
phns spccificalll rle si.qntte the choir lnd 57. On the importrnce of personal and
() r \oçri'r" LIiljl cr'llccraillg\\Ômell
nlve ls u'alliiug church irl contritst to .r'lc. rir, \\:rlt, ".' r'ld tc'tim"rlir'''ec 7O.

Qi.,s'1 . 1/. '1. Hi ttl' F ,err"ti in tl-re chnrch, see Ltttin,Ánnd Mtn'ia tatt
tlrc tloopttritt lrea, u'hich is hbelcd ls the
r.l-49. On Slenred;im lnd x'itnessing, see Sthrrtrntttt, esp. 13o-14 Àiso Pollman'
pÍcLl.hi ns church. Su'igchem, Brouu'cr'
''\\',,r1rrr.rnd l{<l;-"'r,. lol-h;' I-- -b'
enrl Os. Erz Iltri: t'oor ht [lborl' 49' Brusrti. "Retbrming 1dols "
oJ'SfaL:e, 266' "Irain1ll1s-s," r:' 71. Pollmen, "Womcn lrlld Relieion,"
49. Lcfebvre, Prot{ttliott 58. Srvillens,
r67, r;:-74. I)isciL'1lnrn' 'action corúd be
50. Schu'irrtz ancl Bok, Pitkr Stenreitn4 59. See Nclson, Stoú I'ilà aJ'Pil?ftts' 7
taken irglilst abusive husbands as long
66. Thc l'e11 painting is inchrde tl in the 60. Barthes, "Rcalin' E1Icct," r4r-48' ts thet'Írere mcmbers of tht: r:hnrch'
etching (hg. :.1), but not iu Seenredarns e also Geuclcke, "NIànnenbx-§tion of
61. Sec LeÍebvre' Proltr'cíiott of Spttc' Se
site druuing (fig. :3).
chrp. \rrouu,enbolu'erki" 74-75.
_5.

5í. Ibid.,7r. 72. On the educiltionil opportunities thlt

62. Sclrrvrrtz ànd Bok, PiÍü Stl'nreLkllL
52. Constlntiin lluvsens cotrclemned 167. On the ecumenicàl implicrtions of the church oÍlêretl rvomen, see B:rirr""Let
this its i1\'i1i11 tbrm of church clecorirtion' Slenredàm's architecture, sec also Conncll' \bur Womerr Kcep Silcnt"'; lnd Invin'
Sec his Grlrrrtril o7'Angtbttr.lrk' p
()t lI trid ;'d n Sú Lrttrrtu rt'
"Rotranizittion." Ánn d
the rclisious contrldictions oithe grlve
63. Ricocur, Ilrr ntor!' HisÍotv' Fot getÍittg' 73. C)r, l)r,'re'r.t ,r r -e-,'ilrlrr i''
mirrkers, sec Dzrel"'Zcrkcn' Iipitrrte n cn
S9. cduc:rtiotr, sec l,ukc, Pilqqog1" Pr in tittg'
l'r'a,r1.qr,u'c rt. " .\1so Su'i gchc tlr' B rortrve
r,
nt.t P r o I e s tu n ti.: tt
,,,11. 6rlr trr" 1' ti''riru'
a t..

,rnrl Os. Errr -Élrrl: r.'ort. lttl I'Iioat.d' 267', xtà §{. ilqr 1ç,1, r1
t i ntl'lh lre'
of scrnrotts. both oi the intcrior ot thc St' 74. \rnnhrel cn. C o t tt Pr n t tt
"Pr$lic Pllces, Private Livcs," i L: í

Jlnson,
Otlilphusherk, AsscndclÍt Sec Schu'irrtz esp. :6-37, -5+--5iiOn the Íirnctions of
r,12.'lhe se fbrms of lune rtn. clccorirtiou
,rnd Bok, Piettr Strcttrtddnr, càtalog 1)os' c!ul\-modeÍll print cnlture, see Chrrrtiet'
remrined in the churchcs until r;9-5, rvhcn
19 rnd ::. Àiso S:t'tllens. Pi t Ítr Jt ttszoon Cttlttrrt/ LIss oj'Print, esp 183-239'
thet'l'etc removed i1l the name of the
politicrrL idcal of ecluillit- rrrther thin tbr Saenrcdtitt, 5o. 75. Crhirr, /'tvr.r,r ' :::8t
religiorL-r rcrrsons. 65. Srtilr.n'. P.'itrt:r j'. t;' 76. Ibic1.. u::7o.
53.'Ihc quote is tlorn ir 1579 letter rvritterl 66. Clited in Strien, "Britisir Tr'rvellers," 77 . Ibià., z:27t.
dç r i" 1p11' "r;tl
t.l.1ç,.1 l','1r.Lr'd<' -t'I r.+;. Qrick to julsc thc congÍcqà1rts, this 78. Ibkl., u::Eo.
Dellt. It is clted il Pettc{rce, ''Corning to qentlclnln obr-iouslr' clid not discer-n
Terms rvith \''icton," r79. Th c colltrover-c\- the potcntiâ1 distrlction'r oihis oun 79. Ibid., z:z8o-Er.
rbout the rtse of organs u'e-t taken ttP br' sightsceing activitic.q tluring the service' 80. "Een ntlm-christen ls nict al1een
Hrtlsens irl his Gl&rrl'il o/'()ngebrt-trk' Clh.i.nist complrrints .tbout disruptive hij de zich in du'rlicer veriooPt ofzich
This vieu'u'rrs chtlLenged llv the tnore overqceÍt tn een zondiq leven Je kunt

íaa Notes to Pages 83-94

 lirlmart zijn r';rn dc gereÍormccrded kerk,
Íàtsoenli.jk vrn ler.en, onbesmet r-an alle
ketterij;je kunt dle omgang met rvercldse
mensen vcrmiidercn en ijr.erig elke dag
ecesteli jke ocÍeningen r.errichten-en
toch niet meer hebben cl:Ln dc schijn der
godzelishied." Wiliern Teellinck. citecl in
Deursen, De HtrÍslry am hct Letvn, 285.
81."Zoo kunnen in de eene ofandere
stacl menschen yan alleriei nâtiên
biiu.onen der mlrkt dasen of r.an openb:rre
schourvspelen samenr'loeien, zondcr nog
op rlic phats écn burgerij sânlen te stellen
ofburger van clcnzelÍden stâat te \1-ordelr
genoe md." \roetivs, L'erAtn,!eling o---cr tle
Zichtbdre,
T.
82. C)n the importance of"srrlnser
sociabilit_r'''in the makins of a public,
sec IIichael \Varner, "Publics and
Countcrpublics," .19-9o.
83. C:Llr.in, as cited ir.i Randall, Buildin,q
Codes, 38.
84. Cr1r.in, Iz:-rriÍutrs, 2:27i.
85. Ibid.,:::7o.
a6. Ibic1.. z:z;.1.
87. On the functions of painted curtains in
Dutch art, sec Hollindcr, Ãzlrance .for t/:c
Àr. .. ..p. oq--^. The IJc \\ irre r',.ir ti rs i.r
the Wellace collectjon (Iig. r8) originallr.
had a lilrne rvith shutters. a der.ice thlt
enhancecl the pLeasurc of the illusjon
br. rrllorvir.is thc painting to be revcalecl.
Liedtkc, "Faith in Perspective," r3o 3r.
88. Liedtke, "Paintins ir-r Delft,"
autlicnces 1'or these paintines, see NIontils,
"'Perspectir.es,"' r91o. At lcast nro oi De
\\ritte's paintings incorporâted porrririts of
tlrc (-,,'ritti-r 1r, 11,'11. 11.ç6.q11e.
à church during a sermon. One h:rngs
the church mastcr's chlmber of the Oude
Kerk in Amsterclrrm.'Ile othcr is in thc
collection of Oldfbrm House Nlluseum in
Kaapstad, South Afric.r.
89. Houbraken, De GrooÍe Schottbrrrg/:,
r::z:; Horn, Goldex Áge Rer.i.iitud, r:+aa.
9O. Calvin, lzrlr ttÍrs, 2:273.
9í . Frijholl, "I\rnction of the Ilirecle,"
rr:. Sce also NIargn'and Casper-.,
Bedetmrt? Lto t:er t i n Nil er/t nd, 49.
92.'A;rngezicn de niirakelen, u'e1kc hier the Ênishccl rnonumcnt rnd thus mrght be
ter stedc ten getirlc van tien, rrrlgen-s het basccl onDc Kelser's model. Lokin, "Delti
schnr.e n der Roomsch gezinclen, geschicd Church Litcrior.",17.
zoutlen zijn, u.orden noch dagclijks
3. The dogs hn,e bccn interprerc(l
rondom deze Kapel, inzor.icierhcicl br. nircht
r,. srmbols of the Sprnish southenr
en on$'de, r'ce1e devootc Betielaertcn
Nctherlands rnd thc Unitecl Pror.inces,
gedacn."Hoorn, Rtls Boek, 7ç75.
eyenlr- natched dur:ing the Tu-clr.e Yerr
93. Sce Dirkse,"De Nieuu.c Zilcls Truce . I{ercs, Àruits t,tLt dtn tllle, 9q.
Kape1," u; Roodenbcru, "'Splencleur et
4. Tliis debate is rer.ierrecl br.Nlichelski,
tot het maeniÍicence,"' d Fri jho11, "Frmction
-5:5; an "Rembrar.rdt rrnd the Church Interiors,"
of the IIiracle," rr5. The procession takcs
csp. r83 86.
phcc annrLilh' in Nlrrrch.
5. Àlon.son, ?ir H1 o r.1)\ 17.
94. NIarins,,4rr.;teh'tdun: Eer. A usetul
6. De Keyscr died in róur bet-ore thc
strLclr- is Sterck, 11ct BrriTr. Ilerius and
completion of the tomb; his son Picter
the Amsterdem miracic are also cliscussetl
de Kevser 6nishcd the projcct. Beaufbrt,
in Long, H i : to ri stl: e Bcst/:r1,i, i tga, esp.
2ç1-26t-1. qy6-n.
HÍ l.ltrtsoletrm, r6; GorLt, Ifi.lhe/tntr t:an
Nrzrsar.ue,4.
95. Fri.ihoi{, "Ritua1 Action," 98.
7. RedcliIle,./aart e1, Tlyn a,s/1 Ho //dn d, p.
96. "Die gÍoote l\.erclicn, encle rvoncier
tevckcnen, clie Godt in haer stirdt
8. lbid., ar.
dede, oock nict op Prrmpier: alleen, ofie 9. I-lewellrn, Ârn;rt/ )./L,ntrments, zzo.
PeÍgementen, ntter \ooÍ haere Capcll íO. Bcenfort, lJet lltusoleuu;, 57-58;
op de hcvlige Stecle in steen hebben KLnt,,ti,rtr.z. (i,-.' 7i 6 ./i. . -1tr.
doen grlr.eren dese rvoorden." N{arius,
í 1. Kantorou'icz.I{ings Tto Bodit:, 8.
Ártstuh'eda ns Ecr, q7-q8.
Lleu'cllp e.rtcnds this àrqunert to all
97. "'t is \r,àer; lnen soeckt hor.dens- frrneral efiigies, rrrguing thàt the r.isual
d:regs dese edcl lr.iemoric nàernen te culture ofdcath olten is concenrccl u'ith
verdronckeren; en men rr-il 't in\oercn dat repl:rcine and thus mlintuining thc
de Hcrl'slre Stqt z.rl lecttr de nict,rrc memorl' oithe social bodr. ofthe
dcceased.
z.ijdts Capel . . . ln2lcr't is te vcrgheeÍs, dc See Funertl ,\IotutltLttlli, r1.
rvortelen zijn in de hlrten der menschen
12. Ãrerdt,Httnmn ContliÍion, t69
en inde boecken van soo veel schrijr.ers so 73.
diep geschoten, cnde so r.ast geset, clat het 1 3. Ror, tll Nede r/dn Jt.;th t
Lrtr.,,o/g
(t. I ;lvt.::;,,.Tl.. L..ri'r ir.cri1.-in.
soecken r-an ur-t tc roejen Vcrloren arbcit
77. On is." Ibid., is transcribed and trlnshtcd in Gout,
75.
IJ/i/he lttus lott Ntssozrta, 5.
98. "Calr.rnismc en cle krrnst toch nog
steeds â1s vijandige machten tegerrovcr 14. Krntororr.icz , King's Tuv Bolie.r, r-5; also
elklnder blijvcn stairn." Fr-om the Llerr.el1_rn, -Ê)rr,:rd I 1..Í on Lr Lrt t nÍ.t, j7, qz.
(nt(-inq
Krtholielte Illtt;tt'dtie oi.lulv ro, 19oE. Cited í5.lhcre is no erchiyal rccorcl ofthe date
in
in Stcrck, Dr 1* i/ige Sttde,89. Thc article u t]rc.,,r li.i..:,,,,brrr t1,..lrci.iul r,,
also situetes thc destnrction oi thc chaPel er:ect il monumcnt rvas rnarlc in 16o9 ancl
rvithin "allc kunst doodende go.oleen r.an thus ryls probablr'linked to the tr:Llce.
Hcnominq en Calr-inisme." 13ceuibrt, É1ri''1,L nr:o/ eu r n, ri.
í6. Rorverr,Prlzus of Oronrc, 4-q5.
*?:*p*er 4
í 7. [n iLct. beible 165o, political thcon-
1. Bor, Iirito/y dtr Nder/tntlÍstl:e
in the Netherlancls u,ls preclominrntlr.
aorbg/:ut,::-59-6o.
r,,,t.,rtl'i...l.OL.Lrcicl'..\ ..2.r.r. r. r1l
2. \'rn paintinu inclucles cletrrils
Basscn's trlulicr, "I-angrrege oi Ser-cnteenth
rrnci
such as the rnilitan. trophies atop the Centurv Republicanism," r7c1.
hroken pediments, rúich do not lppear on
1 8. Berulort, É1r t ).7 rn t so /t u ut, 3c1.
í9.lbid., rq..
20. LeÍêbr.rc, Prttltrc/iort of'Sloce, zzo.
Notes to Pages 94-ro6
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