De Zeventiende Eeuw. Jaargang 15

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René van Stipriaan's concept of the ludic in seventeenthcentury Dutch farces and its application to contemporary Dutch painting
Wayne Franits

René van Stipriaan's recent study, Leugens en vermaak; Boccaccio's novellen in de kluchtcultuur van de Nederlandse Renaissance can be considered a major contribution to our understanding of the origins of early seventeenth-century Dutch farces, their literary properties and status within contemporary culture, and perhaps most significantly, their meaning for contemporary audiences.¹ Through detailed analyses of three farces, namely, W.D. Hooft's Andrea de Piere of 1628, A. Bormeester's Doeden of 1643 and J. Noozeman's Hans van Tongen of 1644, Van Stipriaan establishes the thematic origins of the genre in Boccaccio's celebrated novellas of the Decameron. Like their illustrious sources, all three farces (and by implication, many other contemporary ones) have plots that revolve around deception and manipulation.

Van Stipriaan places early seventeenth-century farces firmly within the context of flourishing ludic culture in the Netherlands. As products of ludic culture, farces offered contemporary elite audiences entertainment in the form of complex plots revolving around themes of deceit, ambiguity, fiction and illusion. The pleasures of unraveling a farce's witty language, subtle deceptions and manipulations sharpened the audience members' capacity for discernment. Moreover, since farces were performed at the conclusion of the main performance of a tragedy or tragi-comedy, they also served to dispel any feelings of melancholia prompted by the preceding play.

Van Stipriaan's hypotheses have far-reaching consequences for longstanding theories concerning the meaning of early seventeenth-century Dutch farces. Scholars have long argued that the primary function of farces was a moral or didactic one, in other words, to educate the audience about human foibles and trangressions.² To the contrary Van Stipriaan argues that morality is at best a secondary feature in them. Farces demand a perspicacious audience, one of sufficient acumen and sophistication to recognize and unravel the deceptions, illusions, and ambiguities that they contain. And equally importantly, farces employ characters whose social class or vocations are quite disparate from those of the audience, thereby creating an atmosphere of safe, social distance that enables this audience to sharpen their wits in an entertaining and non-offensive manner. Given the primarily ludic purpose and function of farces then, their capacity to furnish moral lessons is not at all crucial.

Van Stipriaan also offers insights into how other contemporary meta-literary phe-

1 R. van Stipriaan, Leugens en vermaak; Boccaccio's novellen in de kluchtcultuur van de Nederlandse renaissance, Amsterdam 1996.

2 See some of the examples of earlier scholarship cited by ibidem, p. 171-174.

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nomena that share characteristics with the farce can signify in accordance with this ludic paradigm. Chief among them are seventeenth-century Dutch genre paintings.³ For obvious reasons, he could not address the functional parallels between painting and the farce in any great detail. Nevertheless, his study contains a wealth of valuable insights, insights that warrant further attention. For instance, he argues that the qualities of ambiguity, deception and veiling that are so central to the farce are likewise present in contemporary genre paintings. These qualities manifest themselves in genre paintings' veiled and enigmatic meanings, their thematized ambiguity, and the prominent roleplaying of figures depicted therein. In fact, ambiguity in genre painting extends to its very surface, to its masterful yet ultimately fictive display of a trompe-l'oeil reality. Moreover, Van Stipriaan observes that like farces, genre paintings often involve the presentation of protagonists from whom elite viewers would perceive a social distance, one which serves to confirm the elevated status of the latter. Therefore, it is scarcely credible to claim that such images express a categorical condemnation of activities involved therein. As is the case with farces, the primary purpose of genre painting does not lie in imparting moral lessons to contemporary viewers. Rather, it is a ludic one that serves to sharpen the wit through means of entertainment.

There is much merit to Van Stipriaan's hypotheses; in fact several of them have been corroborated by recent research conducted on seventeenth-century Dutch genre paintings by art historians.⁴ Other aspects of his hypotheses, however, must be more closely investigated. Perhaps the most expeditious manner in which to analyze Van Stipriaan's theories in more detail as well as the relationship of the farce to Dutch genre painting in general is to utilize some specific examples of the latter. This discussion is best framed around paintings of prostitution for prostitutes frequently appear in early seventeenth-century Dutch farces as well as in contemporary genre paintings. More specifically, I will focus on the work of the Utrecht Caravaggisti, who as a group, surely rank among the most prolific painters of the subject of prostitution.⁵

Although the Utrecht Carvaggisti's depictions of prostitution are numerous, like all Dutch seventeenth-century paintings, they are conventional.⁶ What is meant by the term ‘conventional’ is that the Caravaggisti depicted only a limited number of themes associated with prostitution, ones which they repeated with tremendous frequency. Among the most popular were fanciful ‘portrait-like’ depictions of individual prostitutes (for example, Fig.

3 For the following discussion, see ibidem, p. 29, 50, 161, 214, passim.

4 See the discussion below.

5 For the Utrecht Caravaggisti, see A. von Schneider, Caravaggio und die Niederländer, 2nd ed., Amsterdam 1967; L. Slatkes and A. Blankert, Nieuw licht op de Gouden Eeuw; Hendrick ter Brugghen en tijdgenoten, Utrecht [ex. cat.] 1986; P. Huys Janssen, Schilders in Utrecht 1600-1700, Utrecht 1990, p. 23-28, 41-47; J. Spicer and L. Federle Orr, Masters of Light; Dutch Painters in Utrecht During the Golden Age, San Francisco [ex. cat.] 1997, passim; D.Weller, Sinners & Saints, Darkness and Light; Caravaggio and His Dutch and Flemish Followers, Raleigh [ex. cat.] 1998.

6 For conventions in seventeenth-century Dutch art, see E.J. Sluijter, ‘Didactic and Disguised Meanings? Several Seventeenth-Century Texts on Painting and the Iconological Approach to Dutch Paintings of This Period (1988)’, in: W. Franits (ed.), Looking at Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art; Realism Reconsidered, Cambridge 1997, p. 86, passim; L.O. Goedde, Tempest and Shipwreck in Dutch and Flemish Art: Convention, Rhetoric, and Interpretation, University Park 1989, p. 1-21, 101-108, 163-206; E.J. Sluijter, ‘Over fijnschilders en “betekenis”; naar aanleiding van Peter Hecht, De Hollandse fijnschilders’, in: Oud Holland 105 (1991), p. 50-63; W.E. Franits, Paragons of Virtue; Women and Domesticity in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art, Cambridge 1993, p. 13-16.

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Fig. 1 Gerrit van Honthorst, The Guitar Player, canvas, 82 × 68 cm, Paris, Musée du Louvre (Photo: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris).

1);⁷ representations of a prostitute, with or without a procuress, interacting with an individual client (for example, Fig. 2);⁸ and larger-scale brothels, a theme typically involving four or more figures in various, disreputable activities (for example, Fig. 3).⁹

7 For Fig. 1, see H. Braun, Gerard und Willem van Honthorst, Ph.D. diss., Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, 1966, cat. nr. 56; P. van der Ploeg and C.Vermeeren, Vorstelijk verzameld; de kunstcollectie van Frederik Hendrik en Amalia, The Hague [ex. cat.] 1997-1998, cat. nr. 10b. The author of this catalogue entry is unsure of the painting's subject although it is noted that several motifs in it, for example, the woman's outfit and feather on her head, lend the picture an overall air of ‘zinneprikkelende frivoliteit’. In my opinion, ‘zinneprikkelende frivoliteit’ is fundamental to Van Honthorst's painting and its pendant (ibidem, cat. no. 10a), for their costumes strongly suggest that Van Honthorst has depicted them as prostitutes. In this capacity they can said to be fanciful portraits of prostitutes, perhaps inspired by courtesan portraiture in sixteenth-century Venice; see A. Kettering, The Dutch Arcadia; Pastoral Art and Its Audience in the Golden Age, Montclair 1983, p. 53-55. There is every indication that actual portraits of prostitutes - as opposed to fanciful portraits of them - were in existence in the seventeenth century; see for example the frontispiece to C. van de Passe, Le miroir des plus belles courtisannes de ce temps, n.p. 1631, which depicts clients at brothels selecting their whores (who are dressed far more decorously than those in Caravaggisti paintings) with the assistance of portraits. (The frontispiece is illustrated and discussed by S. Slive, Frans Hals, London 1970-1974, vol. 1, p. 91-92.) Portraits of prostitutes are also mentioned by A. Roos, Den Amsteldamsen Diogenes, of philosophische bloemhof, Utrecht 1684, p. 164 nr. 13, who notes that ‘[...] 't selve al gemeen en by vele bekend is’.

8 For Fig. 2, see L.J. Slatkes, Dirck van Baburen c. 1595-1624); A Dutch Painter in Utrecht and Rome, 2nd ed., Utrecht 1969, cat. nr. A12; P. Sutton, Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting, Philadelphia [ex. cat.] 1984, cat. nr. 1; Spicer and Orr, Masters of Light (n. 5), cat. nr. 38. P. Sutton and T.E. Stebbins, Masterpiece Paintings from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, New York 1986, p. 46, have suggested that the elderly woman in Van Baburen's painting, customarily identified as a procuress, might in fact be a gypsy.

9 For Fig. 3, see H. Buijs and M. van Berge-Gerbaud, Tableaux flamands et hollandais du Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Paris [ex. cat.] 1991, cat. nr. 4; P. Huys Janssen, Jan van Bijlert 1597/98-1671; Catalogue Raisonné, Amsterdam and Philadelphia 1998, cat. nr. 138.

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If we examine these depictions of prostitutes from the perspective of Van Stipriaan's hypotheses concerning the functional parallels between paintings and farces, the following observations can be made. Van Stipriaan's assertion that genre paintings like farces often involve the presentation of protagonists from whom elite viewers would perceive a certain social distance is undoubtedly correct.¹⁰ And, as is the case with farces, one can argue that the primary purpose of genre paintings (at least those representing prostitutes) was likewise not to impart moral lessons to contemporary viewers. Unfortunately, scholars have traditionally placed images such as those illustrated in this essay within a Calvinistic context which necessitates predominantly moralizing readings.¹¹ If paintings of brothels were indeed intended to admonish viewers then we must conclude that artists figuratively operated ‘in league’ with Reformed ministers to produce effective didactic instruments for the moral improvement of their patrons. But if this were true then why did these very same preachers so strenuously object to what one of them, Willem Teellinck, termed ‘indecent or idolatrous paintings’?¹² The collective pastoral censure of lewd art militates against the longstanding view that brothel scenes primarily served to make Calvinist morals visible. In fact, it is fascinating that indecent or idolatrous paintings were invariably lumped together with all forms of ludic culture in stern pastoral condemnation, for example, dancing, gambling, drinking and attending the theatre.¹³ Therefore, it is scarcely credible to maintain that such images express a categorical condemnation of activities involved therein. Moreover, it seems inconceivable that elites, already deemed inherently honorable and virtuous in contemporary society by deference of their social standing, purchased paintings, or attended performances - or read the published versions of farces - out of some pressing need for moral edification.

If most depictions of prostitution are not primarily moralistic then how were they understood by well-to-do, seventeenth-century audiences? These pictures provocatively and palpably display sexy women and clients who most assuredly can be identified with a social class lower than that of the viewer. Moreover, they frequently include additional pictorial elements that serve as ingredients of seduction, among them, specific drinks

10 R. van Stipriaan, Leugens en vermaak (n. 1), p. 161-162. As idem, p. 287 n. 3, observes, this hypothesis was earlier proposed by P.Vandenbroeck, Over wilden en narren, boeren en bedelaars. Beeld van de andere, vertoog over het zelf, Antwerp [ex. cat.], 1987, p. 141-148.

11 For the following discussion, see W. Franits, ‘Emerging from the Shadows: Genre Painting by the Utrecht Caravaggisti and Its Contemporary Reception’, in:J. Spicer and L. Federle Orr (eds), Masters of Light; Dutch Painters in Utrecht During the Golden Age, San Francisco [ex. cat.] 1997, p. 114-120.

12 W.Teellinck, Noodwendigh vertoogh, aengaende den tegenwoordigen bedroef den staet van Gods volck, Middelburg 1627, p. 198. See also F.A. van Lieburg, De Nadere Reformatie in Utrecht ten tijde van Voetius; sporen in de gereformeerde kerkeraadsacta, Rotterdam 1989, p. 19-67.

13 The Calvinist reaction to seventeenth-century Dutch theater has been well-studied; see: J. Wille, ‘De gereformeerden en het tooneel tot omstreeks 1620 (1931)’, in: Literair-Historische Opstellen, Zwolle 1963, p. 137-142; L.F. Groenendijk, ‘De Nadere Reformatie en “de scholen der ydelheyt” (I)’, in: Documentatieblad Nadere Reformatie 10 (1986), p. 77-93; Idem, ‘De Nadere Reformatie en het toneel’, in: De zeventiende eeuw 5 (1989), p. 141-153. For the Calvinist attitude to other aspects of culture in the Dutch Republic, see G. de Vries, ‘Zeventiende-eeuwse haarkloverijen’, in: Holland 4 (1973), p. 165-180; D.P. Pers, Suyp-stad of dronckaerts leven (1628), ed. J.E. Verlaan and E.K. Grootes, Culemborg 1978,p. 36-55; Van Lieburg, De Nadere Reformatie in Utrecht (n. 12), p. 9-67; C. Graafland, ‘De Nadere Reformatie en haar culturele context’, in: Met Het Woord in de tijd, The Hague 1985, p. 117-138; F.G. Naerebout, ‘“Snoode exercitien”; het zeventiende-eeuwse Nederlandse protestantisme en de dans’, in: Volkskundig Bulletin 16 (1990), p. 125-155; H. Roodenburg, Onder censuur; de kerkelijke tucht in de gereformeerde gemeente van Amsterdam 1578-1700, proefschrift (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) 1990, p. 321-382.

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Fig. 2 Dirck van Baburen, The Procuress, canvas 101,5 × 107,6 cm, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts (Photo: Museum).

and foods, especially oysters, a mollusk purported to be a potent aphrodisiac.¹⁴ Lastly, the consummate artistic illusion of the pictorial surface is inherently seductive. This is particularly true of the examples illustrated in this essay, examples that seductively play upon the pictorial palpability of the female anatomy. Consider, for example, the woman in Van Honthorst's Guitar Player (Fig. 1) whose breast, which would otherwise be exposed in her state of deshabilité, is playfully and tantalizingly hidden by her hand and the outer edge of the guitar; or the prostitute in Van Baburen's Procuress (Fig. 2), whose breast and nipple are crushed by her heavy bodice and lute; or Van Bijlert's Procuress (Fig. 3), in which a client fondles the breast of a prostitute who gazes at the viewer.

14 For the often erotic meaning of oysters in seventeenth-century Dutch art, see E. de Jongh et al., Tot lering en vermaak; betekenissen van Hollandse genrevoorstellingen uit de zeventiende eeuw, Amsterdam [ex. cat.] 1976, p. 204; L. de Girolami Cheney, ‘The Oyster in Dutch Genre Paintings: Moral or Erotic Symbolism?’, in: Artibus et historiae 15 (1987), p. 135-158; H. Perry Chapman et al., Jan Steen; Painter and Story Teller, Washington D.C. [ex. cat.] 1996, p. 126.

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Fig. 3 Jan van Bijlert, The Matchmaker, canvas, 103,5 × 154,5 cm, Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts (Photo: Copyright Studio Basset).

All of these factors, namely, the social distance of the viewer from the figures that are represented, the general lack of emphasis on didacticism, and, to the contrary, the visualization and at times the affirmation of erotic pleasure in paintings of prostitution, all suggest strongly that these pictures were purchased for their ludic value. What for a devout Calvinist would amount to a sort of pictorial anathema was for well-bred viewers, whose honor and virtue were inherent to their high station, an amusing and witty display of the dishonorable proclivities of their social inferiors.¹⁵ And part of the entertainment provided by the painting is the opportunity it affords the discriminating viewer to unravel precisely how the unwitting clients of the prostitutes are deceived. The painting by Van Bijlert (Fig. 3) is typical in this regard as we see a client who does not realize that he has been robbed (by a young child in the center of the canvas) because he is so preoccupied with the coins he has presumably laid on the table in payment for the services of a prostitute whom he fondles.

Despite the many convincing correspondences that Van Stipriaan hypothesizes be-

15 From a Calvinist perspective what made art and for that matter, all forms of ludic culture, including the theatre, taverns, gambling, etc..., perilous was their power to deceive the participant. These activities may ostensibly seem enjoyable but in the end they deceive the hearts of those who indulge in them by stimulating the base passions - in the case of art and theater causing viewers to imitate the reprehensible behavior depicted therein - thereby driving them further away from true knowledge of God and salvation. Thus, ludic culture carried with it intrinsically powerful hazards, ones that endangered the salvation of individuals and threatened the very fabric of society. See R. van Stipriaan, Leugens en vermaak (n. 1), p. 174-176, passim.

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tween farces and paintings, the question nevertheless remains of the extent to which the qualities of deception, ambiguity, veiling, etc..., that were so pervasive in farces, are relevant in the pictures illustrated here (and, naturally, others representing the same subject as well). In connection with the stunning pictorial effects in the three examples just highlighted, one can certainly speak of the deceptiveness of the paintings' surface, that is, its presentation of a plausible yet ultimately fictitious reality, a quality fundamental to seventeenth-century Dutch art.¹⁶ Moreover, as Eric Jan Sluijter has pointed out, artists depicted alluring temptresses whose very seductiveness embodies the artistic techniques that engendered them.¹⁷

Beyond the deceptiveness of the pictorial surface the correspondences between farces and paintings - at least with respect to early seventeenth-century paintings - become more tenuous. The problem is fundamentally one of how farces signify versus how paintings signify. The ambiguity, masking of meaning, and deceptiveness of farces is communicated primarily through the gradual unfolding of the plot and especially the manipulative and deceitful language employed by the protagonists. It is communicated less through appearance though the appearances of characters in plays can obviously be quite deceitful. The viewers or readers of a farce, at least those with the capacity for discrimination, gradually discern the protagonists' true manipulative nature through their words and deeds. Versus farces, paintings only have recourse to visual phenomena, that is, appearances, to signify and unlike farces, narratives in paintings are entirely fixed and rigid, even if both the former and latter rely on stock character types.¹⁸ Therefore, the inherent degree of ambiguity and deceit in the visual arts in this early period is far less pronounced and far less sophisticated than that of farces. Although depictions of prostitution can be considered ambiguous or deceitful because of their frequent and clever juxtaposition of the nubile flesh of prostitutes versus the withered skin of the procuresses, I would still argue that in general, early seventeenth-century paintings tend to be more transparent than contemporary farces.¹⁹ There is little that is veiled or concealed in these artistic depictions. In depictions of prostitution what is striking is the incessant repetition of highly conventional motifs such as buxom whores, strong drink,

16 The quality of deceptiveness in seventeenth-century Dutch art in relation to contemporary art theory has been explored by E.J. Sluijter; see, for example, Idem, ‘Schilders van “cleyne, subtile ende curieuse dingen”; Leidse “fijnschilders” in contemporaine bronnen’, in: E.J. Sluijter et al., Leidse Fijnschilders; Van Gerrit Dou tot Frans van Mieris de Jonge 1630-1760, Leiden [ex. cat.] 1988, p. 19-24, passim; Idem, De lof der schilderkunst; over schilderijen van Gerrit Dou (1613-1675) en een traktaat van Philips Angel uit 1642, Hilversum 1993, p. 72-77, passim. See also the studies by Sluijter cited in n. 17 below. See also C. Brusati, Artifice & Illusion; The Art and Writing of Samuel van Hoogstraten, Chicago 1993, p. 158-159, passim.

17 See E.J. Sluijter, ‘“Een stuck waerin een juffr. voor de spiegel van Gerrit Douw”’, in: Antiek 23 (1988), p. 157-158; Idem, ‘Over fijnschilders en “betekenis”’ (n. 6), 60; Idem, ‘Didactic and Disguised Meanings?’ (n. 6), p. 85-86.

18 Of interest in this context are Dutch paintings depicting performances of early seventeenth-century farces; see P.J.J. van Thiel, ‘Moeyaert and Bredero: A Curious Case of Dutch Theatre as Depicted in Art’, in: Simiolus 6 (1972-1973), p. 29-49.

19 With respect to the contrast in appearance between old procuresses and young, nubile prostitutes, L. van de Pol, ‘Beeld en werkelijkheid van de prostitutie in de zeventiende eeuw’, in: G. Hekma and H. Roodenburg (eds), Soete minne en helsche boosheit; seksuele voorstellingen in Nederland 1300-1850, Nijmegen 1988, p. 124, states the following: ‘Maar die laatsten, de prostituées, worden tevens afgebeeld als zeer aantrekkelijke jonge vrouwen, vaak met losse haren en een diep decolleté, en bereid tot seks. [...] Alleen een lelijke, oude, grijnzende hoerenwaardin herinnert ons er dan aan dat deze schoonheid en charme te koop is, en wijst door haar afstotende uiterlijk op de vergankelijkheid van de schoonheid’.

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Fig. 4 Gerard Terborch, The Paternal Admonition, 71 × 73 cm, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum (Photo: Museum).

music-making, and highly specific foods, especially oysters.²⁰ The erotic meaning of these motifs in art and in life in general were scarcely ambiguous to seventeenth-century viewers. Thus, in some respects, early seventeenth-century depictions of brothels are as coarse and raucous as they were obvious.

However, as the century progressed, the manner in which brothel paintings - and other subjects as well - signify would gradually change in a direction that accords more fully with Van Stipriaan's concept of the ludic in farces. This can be demonstrated by briefly examining representations of brothels by one later seventeenth-century artist, Gerard Terborch, who was especially active during the 1650's and 60's. Among the many impressive aspects of Terborch's art are its uncanny narrative subtlety, its psychic nuance and tension created by scenes and situations left deliberately ambiguous. The quality of ambiguity in Terborch's oeuvre is perhaps best exemplified by his renowned painting, The Parental Admonition, known in two versions, in Amsterdam and Berlin (Fig. 4).²¹ The elegantly formal and decorous manner in which Terborch renders this scene has led to confusion about its subject that dates all the way back to Goethe.²² While this famous German poet was convinced that Terborch represented a domestic subject, later generations, particularly art historians in recent decades, have suggested that it may well rep-

20 See W. Franits, ‘Emerging from the Shadows’ (n. 11), p. 114-120. For oysters, see n. 14 above.

21 For these two paintings, see S.J. Gudlaugsson, Geraert ter Borch, The Hague 1959-1960, vol. 1, p. 96-98, vol. 2, cat. nr. 110.

22 For the earlier interpretations of the Berlin version of Terborch's Parental Admonition, an eighteenth-century engraving of which Goethe had seen, see J.P. Guépin, ‘De rug zonder ommezijde’, in: H.R. Hoetink et al., Gerard Ter Borch, Zwolle 1617, Deventer 1681, Th Hague [ex. cat.] 1974, p. 31-2; A. Kettering, ‘Terborch's Ladies in Satin’, in: W. Franits (ed.), Looking at Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art; Realism Reconsidered, Cambridge 1997, p. 98-100.

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Fig. 5 Gerard Terborch, The Gallant Military Man, canvas, 68 x 55,2 cm, Paris, Musée du Louvre (Photo: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris).

resent a brothel scene.²³ Recently, Alison Kettering has argued persuasively that this picture and related works by Terborch should be viewed in an ‘open-ended’, multivalent manner. Terborch accentuates their ambiguity and leaves it to the viewer to resolve what is depicted.²⁴

Even Terborch's unequivocal depictions of brothels, such as the so-called Gallant Military Man (Fig. 5), feature ambiguous if not deceitful components.²⁵ What for example are we to make of the woman in this painting who is being solicited by the soldier? Is she a prostitute or an innocent maiden? Her downcast glance and somewhat passive pose bespeak a certain modesty that may or may not be out of place here. Unlike the brazen prostitutes in paintings by the Utrecht Caravaggisti, but much like the wily prostitutes in farces whose appearances can initially deceive the audience, ambiguity and deceit reign in this seemingly unassuming figure and many others like her.²⁶

23 For example, Gudlaugsson, Geraert ter Borch (n. 21), p. 96-97; Guépin, ‘De rug zonder ommezijde’ (n. 22), p. 31; P. Sutton, Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting (n. 8), cat. nr. 9.

24 Kettering, ‘Terborch's Ladies in Satin’, (n. 22).

25 For Terborch's Gallant Military Man, see Gudlauggson, Geraert ter Borch (n. 21), vol. 2, cat. nr. 189; Sutton, Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting (n. 8), cat. nr. 15.

26 Judging from the depiction of prostitutes in Van de Passe, Le miroir des plus belles courtisannes (n. 7), one might infer that in real life - as opposed to art - prostitutes routinely wore clothing that was ostensibly decorous. Thus the daring and revealing outfits that prostitutes sport in paintings by the Utrecht Caravaggisti are entirely fictitious. See n. 7 above. See also L. van de Pol, ‘Het Amsterdams hoerdom’; prostitutie in de zeventiende en achttiende eeuw, proefschrift, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, 1966, p. 307-317. Idem, p. 312-313, points out that the typical costs of a prostitute's clothing, as recorded in notarial documents, indicates that these women wore cheap imitations of garments worn by elites. S. Alpers, ‘Picturing Dutch Culture’, in: W. Franits (ed.), Looking at Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art; Realism Reconsidered, Cambridge 1997, p. 64, paraphrases a story from Anon., 't Amsterdamsch hoerdom, Amsterdam n.d. [1681], p. 31-32, in which a male visitor to a brothel is confused by an elegantly dressed woman wearing a wedding ring. When he asks his guide, the devil, why a man would take his wife to just such a place, the devil responds that this is not his wife but a whore.

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Lastly, the shift toward heightened yet refined ambiguity in later seventeenth-century Dutch genre painting calls into question its relationship with farces.²⁷ Van Stipriaan's hypotheses concerning the application of the ludic features of seventeenth-century Dutch farces to other meta-literary phenomena, especially art, are entirely plausible. However, it would seem that initially farces, and presumably other literary genres, surpassed genre painting in their ability to provide sophisticated entertainment. Paintings would in a sense only reach a similar level of achievement during the 1660's. Curiously, the end of that decade would witness the rise of the society Nil volentibus arduum.²⁸ This group's advocacy of virtue, didacticism and order in theatrical productions would, as Van Stipriaan has observed, deprive theatre of many of its earlier ludic subtleties.²⁹ Yet the only repurcussions that I can see for genre painting in the later seventeenth century are a continued decline in the production of the coarse imagery that earlier generations of elites so thoroughly enjoyed. After taking so long to ‘overtake’ the farce, painting of this period would remain richly ludic.

Abstract - This article examines René van Stipriaan's concept of the ludic in seventeenthcentury Dutch farces with reference to contemporary painting. In his recent study Leugens en vermaak, Van Stipriaan places farces within the context of flourishing ludic culture in the Dutch Republic and argues that they primarily offered audiences complex plots revolving around themes of deceit and ambiguity. Van Stipriaan also applies his hypotheses to other metaliterary phenomena, principally paintings. The article therefore explores the manner in which his notion of the ludic in farces is germane to Dutch genre painting of the early and later seventeenth century.

27 In this regard, it is important to note that there are always exceptions to the rule; for example, Van Honthorst's Merry Company (Florence, Uffizi) is among the most subtle of his representations of the theme of prostitution as it displays rather decorously dressed whores (see J.R. Judson, Gerrit van Honthorst: A Discussion of His Position in Dutch Art, The Hague 1959, cat. nr. 194). The viewer is only made aware of the true subject matter of the scene by the presence of a procuress. Conversely, it is well known that Jan Steen, an artistic contemporary of Terborch's, painted some extremely raucous and transparent images of prostitution; see, for example, his Brothel Scene (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum), illustrated and discussed in M. Westermann, The Amusements of Jan Steen; Comic Painting in the Seventeenth Century, Zwolle 1997, p. 111-112 and fig. 46.

28 For the society Nil volentibus arduum, see A. Pels, Gebruik én misbruik des tooneels, M.A. Schenkeveld-Van der Dussen (ed.), Culemborg 1978, ‘Inleiding’, p. 18-25; A.J.E. Harmsen, Onderwys in de tooneel-poëzy: de opvattingen over toneel van het Kunstgenootschap Nil Volentibus Arduum, proefschrift (Universiteit van Amsterdam) 1989. This group's insistence that theatrical productions serve didactic purposes implies that in earlier productions, these very same aspects were minimal and perhaps in some cases, nonexistent.

29 R. van Stipriaan, ‘Vrouwenzaken als motief en thema; over de bruikbaarheid van zeventiende-eeuws komisch toneel als sociaal document’, in: De nieuwe taalgids 87 (1994), p. 397.