Sinne- en minnebeelden. Deel 3. Apparaat

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VI Summary

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Jacob Cats, Sinne- en minnebeelden. A scholarly edition

Jacob Cats (1577-1660) made his debut with Silenus Alcibiadis, sive Proteus, which was published in 1618. The book was later entitled Proteus ofte minne-beelden verandert in sinne-beelden or, for short, Sinne- en minnebeelden. Cats was inspired by his immediate surroundings, but always kept a close eye on the books in his personal library. More than once he played a game with recognizable, everyday images, as well as derivations from the literary and visual traditions. In those cases, the question arises which of those representations were new and which traditional, and in the last case: how Cats treated them.

The first volume of this book contains an integral edition of Proteus ofte minne-beelden verandert in sinne-beelden (1627). Corrupt text places have been located and resolved, and all these adjustments have been accounted for. Volume ii, the commentary, contains explanatory annotations, followed by a general commentary with not only a characterization of all the emblems and the preliminaries, but also information about sources, the literary and cultural historical background, and a discussion of the prints, related to Cats's specific interpretation of the material involved. Moreover all Latin and French passages are given in Dutch translation. The introductory chapters deal with the genesis and printing history of the emblem-book, the composition of the emblems, and with the way in which Cats used and processed his (mediating) sources. A characterization of the collection and remarks on editorial principles conclude the introduction.

The third volume opens with a survey of all Dutch editions of Sinne- en minnebeelden, followed by all the comparative illustrations discussed. It also contains several appendices which present an overview of the deviations from the editio princeps (1618), a list of text corrections, the seventeenth-century English translations of the love poems, and the text variations found in Jacob Cats's Klagende maeghden from 1633.

Cats called emblematic literature to be a ‘maniere van schrijven’ (a genus scribendi) and so considered it a distinct artistic category. The genre was characterized by the interaction between representation and explanation, by the process of concealed revealing, which should result, after combining and reasoning, in a clear insight into human behaviour. The emblem offers the reader an image, an imitation of actual or conceivable reality. It points towards an underlying truth or lesson in life and offers standards for behaviour. This merging of word and image, this complementarity between the two sister arts, effected one of the purposes of art: the highly appreciated combination of education and entertainment.

Cats aimed at a relatively wide audience. Different age categories can be distinguished: the young adolescent lovers in their premarital lives, the sensible, middle-aged in their family and social lives, as well as the serious elderly, who primarily concerned themselves with good advice and religious contemplation. The pedagogic, philosophical and devotional thoughts are offered in clear and unequivocal terms, because Cats aimed for comprehensibility (perspicuitas). One hardly ever comes upon complicated combinations of signifiers within the picturae or lexicographical and grammatical difficulties. The reader, including the less-educated reader, will have little trouble in understanding the res picta and the res significans.

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This does not imply that Cats only caters for a broad public. The first editions of the Sinne- en minnebeelden contain allusions which suggest a reader with a higher-than-average frame of reference. Moreover they were expensively produced and thus particularly accesible to a well-to-do public. The multilingual collection could be enjoyed, in different ways, by readers with divergent levels of erudition. This is true of the three languages, of the separate parts within the three sections, as it is of the references and allusions within each of the sections.

Cats's passim purpose with these emblems goes beyond playful amusement, which distinguishes them from the amorous collections of authors such as Heinsius, Vaenius and Hooft. Silenus Alcibiadis, with its more than 300 pages, and humanist, biblical and Christian content had a wider scope. With its structure of interwoven sections, the amorous branch was inextricably wound up with the didactic and religious literature. This in fact meant the unmasking of the emblemata amatoria as an independent genre. The structure of three-in-one yielded much enthusiasm at the time.

Cats invites the reader to see, to consider what is going on. This seeing goes beyond the illustration but mainly refers to the insight which was gained by carefully considering the reflections offered. According to several classical, medieval and Renaissance writers, entities that forged a unity between word and image - this definitely points towards emblems - could function as useful memory tools. Cats's language, which is closely related to everyday speech, as well as his recognizable and remarkable subject matter, must have encouraged the memorization of the lessons and thoughts that were put forward. The alexandrine, Cats's preferred verse, was thought to be especially effective mnemonically. Moreover Cats's interpretations stick in memory thanks to the prints designed by Adriaen van de Venne. In this way, the emblems meet the demands of the art of memory, the ars memoria.

As a writer of emblems, Cats creates visual demonstrations of abstract, ethical and religious ideas, on the basis of analogies with reality. Those ideas are reduced to their manifestations in recognizable acts and events from everyday life, and in behaviour found in animal life. Because of the threefold explanation, there had to be some ambiguity. By means of the ars combinatoria the interpretative process is started and meanings are found.

The way in which Cats dealt with pictorial elements and explanations from his predecessors was diverse: he copied, imitated, adapted and created for himself. The varietas as a form of novitas, and the ‘suspense’ of the emblem itself, can be found in the relation between the pictured elements and their applications. Sometimes he could borrow from a predecessor a particular metaphor already associated with an ethical meaning - in antiquity (by Plutarch for example) or the preceding century (as with Erasmus) -, but he still had to invent two other explanations all by himself. In this way he created something new, made of old and fresh components.

The emphasis is not primarily on Cats's own actions and experiences. Looking around and interpreting, he offers lessons based upon an experience of life and knowledge of the world which go beyond the individual and are generally applicable. In keeping with the ideas of the Renaissance, Cats takes up the position of the skilled craftsman, who not only knows his literature in the widest sense of the word, but also has an understanding of the visible world as purposefully arranged by God. It was the task of the poeta doctus to find a convincing and pleasing way to create a literary form for this knowledge and insight.

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It is remarkable that Cats mentioned only some of his sources and left out the majority. This edition shows that not only are several, apparently casual, references in poetry and prose taken from Erasmus's Parabolae, but that this was also the source for the inventio of several emblems. Despite the fact that there are at least 31 parallel text places, it is unlikely that Cats had a copy of Erasmus's compilation to hand. The general pattern of the derivations suggests that the similar comparisons and quotations come from one and the same source, the Polyanthea nova by Josephus Langius. Over 200 places in Proteus were traced in this huge collection of loci communes.

In addition to the Polyanthea nova, Cats borrowed from Lipsius's Politica and from books on marriage and engagement by Cypraeus, Arnisaeus and Robert. In this way he looked through Calvin's Institutio christianae religionis, and Vives's De officio mariti. It is typical of Cats to quote one source, and then look around for some extra quotations on the same page, or search for other applicable citations on pages nearby. Cats obviously did not feel the urge to perform a careful check of the citations he quoted from these mediating sources. This explains why mangled names or references were not removed, and wrongly attributed quotations were never corrected.

The Sinne- en minnebeelden was not assembled according to a fixed structure. Clear methods of (inevitable) succession do not emerge. Nor have the literary and emblematic derivations been arranged in a conscious order. Borrowings from (especially) Pliny, Plutarch, Cardanus, Lipsius, Martial and Seneca, and from emblematical writers like Camerarius, De Villava, Visscher and Heinsius are scattered throughout the collection.

Instead of imposing a well-organized, coherent order on the collection, Cats achieved a tight structure within the emblems themselves. The different parts of the individual emblem usually refer to each other, or constitute each others' pendants, and its significance always points towards a well-rounded theme. The reader of Proteus is not forced to read from beginning to end, but is offered a variety of themes. One could describe it as a kaleidoscopic collection of miscellanies (miscellanea).

In his debut one already hears the poet-teacher, acting out from a universalist poetics his role as educator. The search for essential human values was indicated in the subtitle of the first editions. Silenus Alcibiadis, sive Proteus, vitae humanae ideam, emblemate trifariam variato, oculis subiiciens: The Silenus of Alcibiades, or Proteus, who offers us, before our eyes, the understanding of human life in a threefold emblematic variation. The reference to Socrates - for he, after all, is the Silenus of Alcibiades - implied a familiarity with the role fulfilled by the philosopher in Plato's Symposium, with his searching for new insights, from the examination of recognizable and simple topics.

The complicated title also reveals Cats's intention of associating himself with his learned predecessors. Still this did not stop him from elaborating upon popular themes and motifs used in love emblems, which were enjoyed by a bigger and younger audience. By adding religious reflections, a nod to more serious and contemplative readers, Cats added a new facet to emblematics. In this way, the diverting and intelligently designed collection offers the reader the opportunity to amuse himself with lighthearted jests, to broaden his view intellectually, advance morally, and gain deeper religious understanding.

Translation Bertram Mourits

(My thanks to Michael Hoyle)