When we think of calligraphy our thoughts probably go to the East, to China and Iran in particular. I was fascinated by these art forms and wanted to delve into this material more closely. As someone trained in early modern Dutch art, I wondered whether something similar was going on in early modern Europe, and specifically in the Low Countries. And that indeed turned out to be the case. Dutch calligraphy flourished between c. 1590-1650 – and over this period, at least 25 expert calligraphers have been documented and over 50 sophisticated printed manuals devoted to calligraphy have survived.[1]
This corpus of calligraphy is important material for my PhD project, which explores the early modern scholarly debates about the origins of language and the visual print culture they inspired. As part of my research, I examine visual art that comments on the nature of writing and the invention of script. In Netherlandish calligraphy, one can find numerous reflections relating to this topic. To learn more about the art of writing in the Low Countries, I spent the second semester of the academic year 2021-2022 in Amsterdam, as a visiting scholar at the Allard Pierson Museum. Arguably, this museum holds the most complete collection of Netherlandish writing manuals from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and it was a real pleasure to be able to study these printed treasures in depth. In this short piece, I’d like to highlight some of the most important characteristics of early modern Netherlandish calligraphy, to call attention to some of the greatest artists, and introduce this wonderful set of art works to a broader audience.
To start at the beginning, the word ‘calligraphy’ derives from the ancient Greek graphein (to write, to draw lines) and kallos (beautiful). Calligraphy, thus, deals with a form of writing where not merely communicative, but aesthetic values are central. According to scholar Albertine Gaur:
To create, or better, to achieve, true calligraphy several elements have to combine: the attitude of society to writing, the importance of the texts, definite (often mathematically based) rules about the correct interaction between lines and space and their relationship to each other, mastery and understanding of the script, the writing materials and the tools used for writing.[2]
Only three civilisations have produced what we refer to as calligraphy: the Arabs (including those who used the Arabic script), the Chinese (and those who used the Chinese script), and the ‘West’, based on the Roman alphabet, Roman laws and the Christian Church. To get a better idea of what Netherlandish calligraphy is about, let’s start with a concrete example: David Roelands’s ‘Elephant’, one of the most cherished calligraphic drawings of the period. When scrutinising this calligraphic print, pay attention to the drawn lines on the paper surface and their fluid versatility (Fig. 1). The calligrapher’s line forms letters, pictorial representations, and abstract doodles. Notice that the calligraphic elephant is formed by one continuous line; in his use of the pen, Roelands succeeded in vividly suggesting the contours and texture of the elephant’s body.
Roelands’s work is multi-layered and polyvocal. The central element of this page is the text written in the Flemish ‘hand’, or writing style, in the left top (starting with ‘Gulianue’). It recounts the story of Julian, mayor of Rome (he served for three consecutive terms) who allegedly claimed to have met an elephant who could write the Greek alphabet, and to have witnessed how his four-legged friend demonstrated this skill. Below the description of this anecdote (starting with ‘Ick selver’), Roelands recounts in Dutch of the elephant’s writing in a different, cursive form. This tale is surrounded by calligraphic decorative motifs which depict the elephant itself. And at the feet of the calligraphic elephant, we observe the Greek text written by the elephant in Greek capitals.
Roelands’s sheet was part of a so-called ‘example book’, which presented a collection of printed writing specimens to be drawn over and over to train the hand. The most important samples of calligraphy in the early modern Low Countries were engraved after they were drawn. Calligraphy was a time-consuming art, and the calligraphers who aimed to make a name for themselves hired graphic artists to make prints and immortalise their work (Fig. 2). This turn to the medium of print not only firmly established calligraphers’ reputations, but further, secured their legacies until the present day. Few original calligraphic drawings from the past centuries have survived, yet owing to the existence of some printed copies, we can still enjoy the richness and elaborate skill of some of the best writing masters of their time.
Who were these calligraphers? Essentially, they were schoolmasters who taught at ‘French schools’, schools that prepared young boys for a future in diplomacy or commerce. Mathematics and writing were the foundational pillars of the curriculum, so it was crucial for these teachers to show their craftmanship in writing. Aside from publications of their works, writing competitions were regularly held among the finest writers, all competed for the ‘crowned pen’. The most celebrated edition of the contest for this ‘Plume Couronnée’ was that one held in Rotterdam on January 3rd, 1590, which was described by the painter and art theorist Karel van Mander in his Schilder-boeck (1604).[3] Aside from ‘professional’ calligraphers, there were also many amateur-calligraphers who trained their writing hands. Particularly practiced in elite circles, a refined handwriting signified a calligrapher’s belonging to a higher social status. I would like to pick out three individuals who can be identified as master calligraphers in the early modern Low Countries.
The first writing manual (Fig. 3) published in the Northern Netherlands was composed by Jodocus Hondius (1563-1612) and entitled Theatrum artis scribendi (Amsterdam, 1594). Hondius, a Fleming who migrated to Amsterdam after spending a brief period in London, published a compilation of writing specimens produced by some of the best calligraphers (eleven in total). Aside from Hondius himself, his sister and brother-in-law, it included contributions by the top three calligraphers who had participated in the 1590 edition of the competition for the crowned pen, and various works by an Italian, a Frenchman, two Britons, and a Fleming active in Germany. Following the format invented by Clément Perret (1551- before 1591), who had published an exquisite writing manual in Antwerp, 1569, Hondius made refined cartouches to decorate the calligraphy. The ‘cartouches’ were made of playful, curling strapwork, and carried little animals, masks, fruits and plants. By framing the writing specimens in these elegant and ornamental stylised representations, Hondius heightened the artistic value of the writings, elevating their status from mere notes to artworks.
The most celebrated figure of this period was Jan van den Velde the Elder (1568-1623). Born in Antwerp, Van den Velde left his birthplace to flee war in the Southern Netherlands, and settled in the nascent Dutch Republic. Van den Velde first became a teacher in Delft and then in Rotterdam and Haarlem. Scholars consider his Spieghel der Schrijfkonste (‘Mirror of the art of writing’, Rotterdam, 1605), containing over 50 samples written in different styles and languages, his absolute masterpiece.[4] His virtuosity is best appreciated by observing a demonstration of his calligraphic skills at the very beginning of the book: a perfect hand-drawn circle (Fig. 4).
The phenomenon of artists displaying their talent by drawing a circle without the aid of tools derives from an apocryphal story about the legendary Florentine painter Giotto, recounted by the Italian artist biographer and painter Giorgio Vasari. According to this story, Giotto would perform this skill in front of his pupils, drawing a perfect circle by hand, without a compass. The idea was that even an unskilled novice would immediately recognise the artistry of a master capable of drawing a smooth, curving line with high precision and dexterity. Yet, the scholar Ben Broos observed that perfect hand-drawn circles also inspired artists and not just calligraphers; even the painter Rembrandt included it in one of his self-portraits as display of his drawing skills (Fig. 5).[5]
Although Netherlandish calligraphy was dominated by male practitioners, we know of a female calligrapher who achieved the highest level in penmanship: Maria Strick (1577- after 1631). Her calligraphic specimens were printed and can still be admired today. Like other female artists, Strick gained access to this form of training through her father – a school rector in Rotterdam who employed Jan van den Velde as a teacher (Fig. 6). It was probably Van den Velde who trained Maria as a calligrapher, before she took over the directorship of the school. She married the shoemaker Hans Strick, who later became a calligraphy engraver and made prints of her works.
A portrait of Strick (etching) was included in several of her books (Fig. 7). It shows a confident woman. Despite her outstanding qualities as a calligrapher, we know from the surviving literature that some male colleagues criticised her harshly, and only accepted her talent and skill with reluctance. Therefore, it must be emphasised that, notwithstanding her success, she was an exception to the norm.
Although scholarship on early modern Netherlandish calligraphy has significantly improved our knowledge, there still is much to be discovered about these writing manuals. The place of calligraphy in larger narratives on the history of Netherlandish art is still under negotiation; writing masters are too often forgotten by art historians focussing on other areas of visual art. Yet these calligraphic works provide fascinating and novel cases studies for old questions. In this piece, I have dwelt upon two emerging areas of interest: inter-medial collaborations in artistic processes (the relation between drawing and print), and the position of women in the art world. David Roelands’s ‘elephant’, and Strick’s exquisite calligraphic works deserve to be known and studied by every student and scholar interested in the early modern Netherlands.
Niels Weijenberg is a postgraduate researcher in Art History at UoM.
[1] Excellent starting points to learn more about Netherlandish calligraphy are Ton Croiset van Uchelen, ‘Maria Strick, schoolmistress and calligrapher in early seventeenth-century Holland’, Quaerendo 39(2009)2, p. 83-132; and Caecilie Weissert, ‘Clément Perret’s Exercitatio alphabetica (1569): A calligraphic textbook and sample book on eloquence’, Netherlands Yearbook for History of Art 68(2019)1, p. 30-71.Ben Broos, ‘The ‘O’ of Rembrandt’, Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art 4(1971)3, pp. 150-184.
[2] Albertine Gaur, A History of Writing (London: British Library, 1987), p. 165
[3] Ton Croiset van Uchelen, Felix van Sambix (1553-1642): Schoolmeester en kalligraaf in Antwerpen en Delft (Amsterdam: De Buitenkant, 2022), pp. 18–22.
[4] Ton Croiset van Uchelen, Vive la Plume : Schrijfmeesters en Pennekunst in de Republiek (Amsterdam: De Buitenkant, 2005), p. 21-23; Walter Melion, ‘Memory and kinship of writing and picturing in the early seventeenth-century Netherlands’, Word & Image 8(1992)1, pp. 48-70, esp. p. 52.
[5] Ben Broos, ‘The ‘O’ of Rembrandt’, Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art 4(1971)3, p. 150-184.
Dispatches in Art History 