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Haarlem Guild of St. Luke

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This article is about a local Guild of St. Luke. For the main articles on this subject, seeGuildorGuild of Saint Luke.
Maarten van Heemskerckpainted this altarpiece,Saint Luke painting the Virginbefore he left Haarlem for Italy in 1532.

TheHaarlem Guild of Saint Lukewas first a Christian, and later a cityGuildfor various trades falling under the patron saintsLuke the EvangelistandSaint Eligius.

History

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Doorway to the original monastery of the Carmelites and the Vrouwebroerskerk. Called theGuldenbergspoortjeorGolden mountain gatein theGrote Houtstraat.

During the lifetime ofGeertgen tot Sint Jans,there was probably a painter's guild inHaarlem,but all records of such an organization have been lost. If one existed, it would probably have been associated with theJanskerk (Haarlem),where Geertgen was active as a respected painter. The earliest mention of the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke is from 1496, when the heirs ofJoost Huge Alboutsdr,who had been the former owner of the location of the altar in theSint-Bavokerk,ceded all altar rights which up to then had been for the Ascension of the Virgin, to theGuild of St. Luke and St. Eligius.[1]This is possibly also the year that the Guild switched its altar from the Janskerk to the Bavokerk. The guild was for painters and gold- and silversmiths, with St. Luke being the patron saint of the painters, and St. Eligius being the patron saint for the smiths.

Earliest charter

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The earliest charter for the guild no longer exists, but the earliest one still in the archives is from 1514. That charter remained in effect until thebeeldenstorm,whereupon the guild altar found temporary housing in the Vrouwenbroerskerk, since the Bavokerk had become Protestant and all the guilds had left the church.[1]The Vrouwenbroerskerk was the church of theCarmelites,whose monastery is gone, but whose archives survive today. Of the original complex, only the entrance gate still stands on theGrote Houtstraat.These archives recorded that a kessophel (chasuble) was donated to this altar in 1575 by Elisabeth van Dorp.[1]After Haarlem lost theSiege of Haarlemin 1573, it became a Catholic enclave that officially fell under the rule ofPhilip II of Spain.It wasn't until 1577 that the local bishopGodfried van Mierloset his seal to theSatisfactie van Haarlemwherein he promised to swear allegiance toWillem the Silentrather than Philip II, on the condition that the Catholics would keep the same rights as Protestants. Though Haarlem, like Amsterdam with itsAlteratie,reverted the Catholic rights of thisSatisfactiea year later, it was this special Catholic-friendly reputation that attracted many from the south that added to the city's wealth in its golden age.

In 1576, a decision was made on September 28 to make a devotional piece for St. Eligius, since only St. Luke was now represented.[1]This referred tothe paintingbyMartin van Heemskerck,which does not display St. Eligius, but showsSt. Luke painting the Virgin.This painting was quite large, and though it shows a pottery (faience) baker as St. Luke and sculptures and woodcarvings abound in it, there is no sign of any smith work in it. The signedpaperattached at the bottom of the painting is recorded byKarel van Manderand states that Heemskerck painted it for his colleagues in the guild.[2]Heemskerk had painted this before he traveled to Italy, and when he came back he became charter master of the guild from 1550-1552. Apparently the smiths were dissatisfied with their representation in the running of the guild, and this caused a guild dispute, because the goldsmiths broke away into their own guild in 1576, only to return in the charter of 1590.[1]

Charter of 1590

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After theSiege of Antwerpin 1585, many families fled north and since Antwerp was a major center for painting, the Haarlem market was flooded with professional painters who competed with Haarlem's own craftsmen. To protect the market, a new charter was issued in 1590. That this was necessary is evidenced by the fact that new charters were issued soon after thebeeldenstormin most Dutch cities that had converted to Protestantism and were embroiled in theEighty Years' War.

Some guild membership grants after the Reformation

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Loss of the St. Luke relic

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In 1517 a relic of St. Luke had been donated for the altar by the painterBarthel Pons,who had gotten it from the cardinal Christoforo da Forli (with the additional title S. Maria Aracoeli). This relic was accompanied by an indulgence of 100 days to whoever would say their Paternoster and Ava maria at the altar. ApparentlyPieter Fransz de Grebbergave this relic to the Franciscan friar Joannes Cloribus van Brugge in 1627 for safekeeping.[1]In 1632 the St. Lucas guild masters were very upset about this andSalomon de Braytried to get it back, but to no avail. In 1641 they tried once again to get the relic back, but it seems to have disappeared.[7]

The failed Charter of 1631

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Transcription ofSalomon de Bray's proposed hierarchy of the guild in 1631.[8]

The immigration of Flemish painters after the fall of Antwerp in 1585 added a great deal to the painting community of Haarlem and artistically the city flourished, with an astounding production of oil paintings. Between 1605 and 1635 over 100,000 paintings were produced in Haarlem.[9]The competition for commissions was very high, however, and the 1590 charter was apparently not considered protective enough. In 1631 a new charter was released again, and this charter is so detailed that it tells us much more about the art of painting and art dealing than it does about the artists themselves. It was prepared by Salomon de Bray, and he described a hierarchy of guild members that apparently met with a lot of opposition. His first petition to pass this charter was denied with the remark that it was too long, and the second attempt was not passed at all.[1]Essentially the charter of 1590 held up until the guild was dissolved altogether in 1795 by Napoleonic decree.[7]

The Guild masters in 1631

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In the introduction to the charter of 1631, the guildmasters present their proposal of the charter to the city fathers. The signers of this proposal werePieter de Molijn,Outgert Ariss Akersloot,Willem Claesz Heda,Salomon de Bray,Cornelis Cornelisz,Cornelis Claesz van Wieringen,Floris van Dyck,and Isaak Halinck.[10]

Proposed guild hierarchy in the failed Charter of 1631[10]
St. Luke Guild Artists Painters: Masters.
Art dealers, students, boys
Craftsmen: Etchers, glass-cutters, sculptors, carvers, metal-workers.
Architects, surveyors, mathematicians, rare arts.
Dependents: Rough painters, plate-makers, mirror-makers, house-painters. Other arts:
Printers, pottery bakers, shriners, paint-mixers, engravers.
Lower handicrafts: Gold- & Silversmiths, book-binders, copper-, brass-, tin- and lead workers, plumbers, and roof tilers.
Glass-makers, embroiderers, carpet-makers, weavers, lantern-makers & solderers.

Legacy

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The Governors of the Haarlem Guild of St Luke in 1675. Salomon's sonJan de Braypainted himself second from the left.

Unfortunately the Haarlem St Lucasgilde archives fell into disarray between the period that the guilds were dissolved in Haarlem (1795) and 1860. Through the years historians have attempted to make lists of archival records, using the personal archives of the de Bray family (most notably from Salomon de Bray in the 1630s) and the van der Vinne family (most notablyVincent Laurensz van der Vinnefrom the 1650s) and thanks mostly to the efforts ofAdriaan van der Willigen Pz.in 1866 and 1870.[7]A recent inventory byHessel Miedemahas helped to give insight into the remains, while the Haarlem archives have been able to buy back lost records from enthusiastic researchers of the 19th century who never returned borrowed materials.

References

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  1. ^abcdefgSint Lucas Gilde te Haarlem in 1631.Medegedeeld door den Adj.-Archivaris van Haarlem C. J. Gonnet, 1877, North Holland Archives, Haarlem.
  2. ^"Ter eeren S. Lucas heeft hy't bedreven/Dus ghemeen ghesellen heeft hy mede bedacht."
  3. ^abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzaaabacadaeafagahaiajSee theRKDpage for this artist
  4. ^abcMiedema, page 1039
  5. ^Pupil of Salomon de Bray, Miedema, page 604
  6. ^abcMiedema, page 1036
  7. ^abcDe Geschiedenis van de St. Lucasgilden in Nederland, Amsterdam, byG.J. Hoogewerff,Kampen & zoon,1947
  8. ^The Haarlem archivist C.J. Gonnet published a book in 1877 on the Haarlem St. Lukasgilde archives. This was meant for historians wishing to do research on Haarlem painting, but who could not read the old handwriting.
  9. ^Museum exhibition: The Cradle of the Golden Age, November 2008,Frans Hals Museum
  10. ^abcharter 1631
  • De archiefbescheiden van het St. Lukasgilde te Haarlem 1497-1798,Hessel Miedema,1980,ISBN90-6469-584-9
  • North Holland Archives, Haarlem.
  • Les artistes de Harlem(archive.org),Commons, see p.42,compilation of guild membership by Adriaan van de Willigen Pz (1810-1876), 1870
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