mostaert, discovery of america

1Mostaert The Discovery of America

MostaertThe Discovery of America

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MostaertThe Discovery of America

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6

oil on panel, 34 x 60 in. (86.5 x 152.5 cm.)

Jan Mostaert(Haarlem active 1472/3 - 1555/6)

The Discovery of America


Provenance

(Probably) Nicolaes Suiker, grandson of the artist, by 1600.Exalto, Gorinchem, 1900.C.F.L. de Wild, Gorinchem.Private collection, Culembourg.Van Stolk, Scheveningen, 1909.J.B. van Stolk Museum, Haarlem, by 1912.Sale; Frederik Muller & Co., Amsterdam, 8-9 May 1928, lot 371, from where purchased by Dr. N. Beets.with N. Beets, Amsterdam.with Jacques Goudstikker, Amsterdam, 1931.Looted by the Nazi authorities, 13 July 1940.Recovered by the Allies, 1945.Restituted in February 2006 to the heir of Jacques Goudstikker.

Literature

K. Van Mander, Het Schilderboeck, Haarlem and Alkmaar, 1604, folio 229, verso.E. Weiss, “Ein neues Bild Jan Monstaerts”, Zeitschrift für bildenden Kunst, no. 20, 1909, p. 18, no. 41; and pp. 215-17.ed. M. Nijhoff, Catalogue du Musée van Stolk, 1912, p. 136, no. 408.M.J. Friedländer, From Van Eyck to Breughel, New York, 1916, p. 145.M. Conway, The Van Eycks and their Followers, London, 1921, p. 442.International Studio, vol. XCIII, no. 384, May 1929, p. 33.E. Michel, “Un tableau colonial de Jan Mostaert”, Revue belge d’archéologie et d’histoire de l’art, vol. I, 1931, pp. 133-41.G. Glück, Aus drei Jahrhunderte europaïscher Malerei in Gesammelte Aufsätze, Vienna, 1933, p. 320.G.J. Hoogewerff, De Noord-Nederlandsche schilderkunst, vol. II, 1937, pp. 493-5, fig. 243.R. van Luttervelt, “Jan Mostaerts West-Indisch Landschap”, Nederlands Kunsthistorish Jaarboek, vol. 2, 1948-9, pp. 105-17.O. Kurz, “Recent Research”, The Burlington Magazine, vol. XCII, 1950, p. 239.H. van de Waal, Drie Euwen Vaderlandsche Geschied-uitbeelding: een iconologische studie, 1500-1800, The Hague, 1952, p. 91, note 8, fig. 35.G.J. Hoogewerff, Het landschap van Bosch tot Rubens, Amsterdam, 1954, pp. 60-1.

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Franz Halsmuseum der Stadt Haarlem, The Hague, 1955, p. 19, no. 679, illustrated no. 15.H. Baudet, Het paradijs op aarde: gedachten over de verhouding van de Europese tot de buiten-Europese mens, Assen, 1959, p. 36.R. van Luttervelt, Holland’s Musea: Hoogtepunten der oude schilderkunst uit de collectives van het Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen Rotterdam, Frans Hals Museum Haarlem, Mauritshuis Den Haag, The Hague, 1960, pp. 75, 312, illustrated p. 275.E.K.J. Reznicek, “Jan Mostaert…Episode uit de verovering van Amerika”, Openbaar Kunstbezit IV, 1960, no. 19a.L. van Puyvelde, La peinture flamande au siècle de Bosch et Breughel, Paris, 1962, p. 303.H. Baard, Frans Halsmuseum Haarlem: Nederlandse schilderkunst, Munich & Ahrbeck-Hannover, 1967, p. 20, illustrated.H. Franz, Niederländische Landschaftsmalerei im Zeitalter des Manierismus, Graz, 1969, p. 54.E. Larsen, “Once More Jan Mostaert’s West-Indian Landscape”, Mélanges d’archéologie et d’histoire de l’art offerts au professeur Jacques Lavalleye, Louvain, 1970, pp. 127-37.M.J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting: Lucas van Leyden and Other Dutch Masters of His Time, vol. X, 1973, pp. 13, 71, no. 25, illustrated pl. 17.H. Honour, The New Golden Land: European Images of America from the Discoveries to the Present Time, New York, 1975, pp. 21-4, illustrated pp. 23, 24.J. Snyder, “Jan Mostaert’s West Indies Landscape”, in F. Chiappelli ed., First Images of America: The impact of the New World on the Old, Berkeley and London, 1976, vol. I, pp. 495-502.H. Honour, L’Amerique vue par l’Europe, exhibition catalogue, Grand Palais, Paris, 1976, pp. 12-14, illustrated p. 13, no. 6*.J.H. Perry, “Depicting a New World”, in S. Hindman ed., The Early Illustrated Book: Essays in Honor of Lessing J. Rosenwald, Washington D.C., 1982, p. 144.C.D. Cuttler, “Errata in Netherlandish Art: Jan Mostaert’s ‘New World’ Landscape”, Simiolus, vol. 19, 1989, pp. 191-7, illustrated no. 1.Rijksdienst Beeldende Kunst (The Netherlandish Office for Fine Arts), Old master paintings: An illustrated summary catalogue, Zwolle and The Hague, 1992, p. 217, no. 1851, illustrated.J. Schmidt, “‘O fortunate land!’ Karel van Mander, a West Indies landscape and the Dutch discovery of America”, New West Indian Guide, 69, 1995, pp. 5-44.J. Snyder, “Jan Mostaert”, in The Dictionary of Art, 1996, p. 201.ed. H. Miedema, Karel van Mander. The Lives of the Illustrious Netherlandish and German Painters, vol. III, 1996, p. 200, fig. 148.J. Snyder, revised by L. Silver and H. Luttikhuizen, Northern Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, the Graphic Arts from 1350 to 1575, Upper Saddle River, N.J., 1985, pp. 417-20, illustrated no. 17.11.N. Kohler, P. Biesbor, Painting in Haarlem 1500-1850: The collection of the Frans Hals Museum, 2006, pp. 559-61, no. 335.Ed. P.C. Sutton, Reclaimed: Paintings from the collection of Jacques Goudstikker, exhibition catalogue, New


Haven, 2008, no. 10, pp. 112-16.Ed. I. Katzew, Contested Visions in the Spanish Colonial World, exhibition catalogue, Los Angeles, 2011, no. 80.P. Mason, “America as Amalgam; Old world elements in the making of Jan Mostaert’s so-called West Indian Landscape”, International journal of the classical tradition (forthcoming publication).

Exhibited

Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Tentoonstelling van Oude kunst: Vereniging van Handelaaren in Oude Kunst in Nederland, July – 1 September 1929, no. 101.London, Royal Academy, Exhibition of Dutch Art, 1450-1900, 4 January - 9 March 1929, no. 19.Rotterdam, Boymans Museum, Jeroen Bosch, Noord-Nederlandsche Primitieven, 10 July - 15 October 1936, no. 45, illustrated no. 27.Rotterdam, Kunstkring, Catalogus der Tentoonstelling van Schilderijen en Antiquiteiten geexposeerd door den Kunsthandel J. Goudstikker N.V. Amsterdam in den zalen van der Rotteramsche Kunstkring, 17 December 1936 – 10 January 1937, no. 39.The Hague, Herwonnen Kunstbezit, tentoonstelling van uit Duitschoand teruggekeerde Nederlandsche Kunstschatten, 1-30 October, 1946, no. 7.Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum, Zomertentoonstelling, 30 July – 20 September 1948, no. 17.On loan to the Frans Hals Museum (inv. no. 679) from the Instituut Collectie Nederland, 1948 – 2006.Brussels, Palais des Beaux Arts, L’Europe Humaniste, 15 December 1954 – 28 February 1955, no. 52.Ghent, Keizer Karel V en zijn tijd, 3 April – 30 June, 1955, no. 85.Zurich, Kunsthaus, Unbekannte Schönheit, 9 June – 1 August 1956, no. 183, illustrated no. 11.Brussels, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, De Century van Bruegel. De schilderkunst in België in de 16de century, 27 September – 24 November 1963, no. 177.Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art, 7 December 1975 – 15 February 1976; Cleveland, Museum of Art, 28 April – 8 August 1976; and Paris, Grand Palais, 17 September 1976 – 3 January 1977, The European Vision of America: A Special Exhibition to Honor the Bicentennial of the United States, 1975-76, pp. 5, 20; no. 6.Greenwich C.T., Bruce Museum, 10 May – 7 September 2008; New York, Jewish Museum, 12 March – 2 August 2009; San Antonio, TX, McNay Art Museum, 7 October 2009 – 10 January 2010; West Palm Beach, FL, Norton Museum, 13 February – 2 May 2010; and San Francisco, Contemporary Jewish Museum, 30 October 2010 – 8 March 2011, Reclaimed: Paintings from the Collection of Jacques Goudstikker, no. 10.Los Angeles, LACMA, Contested Visions in the Spanish Colonial World, 6 November 2011 – 29 January 2012, no. 80.

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The present painting is widely regarded as the earliest contemporary depiction

of America in Western Art. It is, therefore, of exceptional historical significance.

The painting represents a small company of European invaders in sixteenth-

century military costume, advancing in combat against a much larger population

of indigenous warriors who defend themselves with bows and arrows. Additional

natives hurl stones down on the Europeans from the rocky precipices above. It

is clear that the better-equipped European soldiers will emerge victorious, and a

number of the natives have already fallen in battle while others have turned to

flee.

The painting was first recognised as a work by the Haarlem-born painter Jan

Mostaert by Friedländer and Weiss, after the latter identified it in 1909 in a private

collection in Scheveningen. Weiss relates the composition to van Mander’s

record of a work by Mostaert in the Haarlem residence of Nicholaes Suiker (or

Suycker), the artist’s grandson, some time before 1604. Van Mander’s description

of “een Landtschap, wesende een West-Indien, met veel naecht volck, met een

bootsighe Clip en vreemt gebouw van huysen en hutten: Doch is onvoldaen

gelaten” could well fit the present painting. Van Mander somewhat perplexingly

describes the painting as incomplete, and may be referring to the absence of the

light surface glazes and detail Mostaert favoured at the time. Weiss further relates

the small figures to a type found in many works by Mostaert. Ultimately, the

landscape, with its elevated vantage point and brown-green-blue colour scheme,

is derived from the tradition of Joachim Patinir and Herri met de Bles. It is

similar to that in Mostaert’s Banishment of Hagar, another typical example of

early sixteenth-century Flemish “world landscapes” (1525, Thyssen-Bornemisza

Museum, Madrid). The composition, with lines of figures converging at a central

point, is a prototype that was also used by Pieter Brueghel the Elder in his

Triumph of Death (c. 1562, Museo del Prado, Madrid).

Discovery of America

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The date given to the present work has varied due to differing interpretations of the

subject matter. It has been suggested that the banner flying above the European army

once bore the red cross of Saint Andrew, the symbol of the Spanish conquistadores

(see Snyder, 1976, p. 501, note 2, and a discussion by Larsen). Michel (1931) speculated

that it is meant to represent an episode in the 1521-3 conquest of Mexico by Hernán

Cortes. If true, this would presumably indicate a date of execution around 1523-25.

Friedländer (1973), who agreed with Weiss’ attribution to Mostaert, nevertheless

found it strange that the Mexicans should be represented “as naked savages”. He

went on to speculate about the original commission of the work, describing the

painting as “an uncompleted West Indian landscape with many nude figures, a curious

cliff, and exotic houses and huts…Testifying to the interest in the newly discovered

Western World, the picture points to the court of the Regent, where there was far

more concern and information about the deeds of the Spanish conquerors than

elsewhere in the Netherlands. Charles V had presented his aunt with marvellous

objects from the ‘Indies’. Among the Spanish and Portuguese merchants residing

mainly in Antwerp there must, of course, also have been a lively interest in the new

discoveries. Michel…believes that the conquest of Mexico by Cortes provided the

occasion for this scene, commissioned by Margaret in 1523. This would give a date

for the panel, as well as for Mostaert’s service at court”. Given that Mostaert was

named “peintre d’honneur” to Margaret of Austria (1480-1530) in a 1519 patent and

held the position until 1530, the present picture would most likely have been painted

some time in the 1520s, consistent with the date proposed by Michel. The unusual

and exotic landscape background, with thatched-roof dwellings, parrots, and even

a monkey perched on the tree stump in the lower right may have been based on

written descriptions or drawings by eye-witnesses. Such first-hand evidence would

have enabled Mostaert to paint a more accurate view of the local terrain and native

inhabitants. Cutler (1989) has cited as a possible source Jacopo de’Barbari’s woodcut

of The Battle of Men and Satyrs (c. 1497-1500). The Italian was a fellow court painter

during the Regency of Margaret of Austria.

12

Mostaert The Discovery of America

Jacopo de’Barbari (1460-1516)The Battle of Men and Satyrs (c. 1497-1500), woodcut, British Museum, London

13

Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Triumph of Death, c. 1562, oil on canvas, Museo del Prado, Madrid

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Though the early dating seems to be the most widely accepted one, there have been

various other theories. Van Luttervelt (1948-9) proposed that the place represented

might be present-day New Mexico or Arizona, in the Southwest United States. He was

supported by Snyder (1976 and 1996), who further suggested that it shows a battle

between Francesco Vasquez de Coronado and the Zuni Indians in New Mexico in

1540. (Of course, this fails to take into account the arrival of the invaders by sea, in

the ship just visible on the horizon: both New Mexico and Arizona are land-locked.)

Coronado sent a report to Charles V in 1541, detailing his unsuccessful quest for

Cíbola – the fabled ‘Seven Cities of gold’ – in which he describes a victorious battle.

If this is the event depicted, it would date the painting to around 1542. Van de Waal

(1952) proposed that it could represent Columbus’ landing on island of Goanin in

1492-3. Larsen (1970) suggested it might be the invasion of Brazil by the Portuguese

in the middle of the century. And Cuttler (1989) observed at left a fragment of a

classical pier, which, interpreted in combination with the primitive huts, could even

suggest a pastiche or imaginary view.

Zuni Cliff Dwellings, New Mexico

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It might be possible to reconcile the various features of the painting if we allow for

the possibility that it was painted as a more generally representative image of the

discovery and conquest of America by the Spaniards. If the picture were originally

commissioned by Margaret of Austria following Cortes’ invasion of Mexico in 1523,

this would account for the depiction of the Europeans arriving by ship. Perhaps

the painting remained unfinished after Margaret’s death, and after the Coronado

expedition to the American Southwest, Mostaert added elements of that narrative

as well, including the Zuni cliff dwellings and the legend of Coronado being helped

to his feet after the attack by natives throwing rocks. This would, moreover, both

explain the painting’s original commission and its descent in Mostaert’s own family.

Various scholars have acknowledged a potentially moralising message in the painting,

which is clearly the record of an assault by a superior military power on a native

population living in harmony with its surroundings. The domesticated cows and

sheep seen in the foreground attest to the existence of an established agricultural

community. Both Snyder and Honour (1975-6) relate how a majority of the

European nations were vehemently disapproving of Spanish atrocities to the native

people in the Americas. It might even be seen as a secular counterpart to Mostaert’s

painting of the Banishment from Eden (Clark Art Gallery, Williamstown MA). There

is surely also a nationalist undertone to a representation by a Netherlandish artist of

the Spanish as merciless and destructive invaders. While Charles V was sponsoring

expeditions to the New World, he was also ruling over the Seventeen Provinces of

the Netherlands at a time of violent struggle between the Catholic monarchy and

the Protestant Reformers.

Jan Mostaert was born into a noble family in Haarlem, and from 1500 onwards

his name appears in the records of the Haarlem painters’ guild. According to van

Mander, he studied with Jacob Jansz. Van Haarlem. Between 1502 and 1507 he

employed apprentices of his own. Mostaert’s interest in the New World was fuelled

by reports of the Spanish explorations, which would have reached him at Margaret’s

court at Malines. He had evidently died by 1554 as his name is crossed out on the

membership rolls of the guild.


Banishment of Hagar, c. 1620, oil on panel, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid

18d i c k i n s o n

In addition to its art historical significance, this panel is historically important as

one of approximately 1400 works appropriated by the Nazis from the Amsterdam-

based art dealer Jacques Goudstikker during the Second World War. Goudstikker

was a contemporary of Duveen and was, like his English counterpart, the son of

an art dealer. When he joined the ranks of his father’s gallery in 1919, he made

it his mission to expand and diversify the business, in an effort to draw a more

international clientele. In this aim he achieved tremendous success: according to

Henk van Os, a former director of the Rijksmuseum, “Between the two wars Jacques

Goudstikker was the man who brought the Dutch patriciate of the era into contact

with prominent foreign art and in so doing greatly expanded their view of the art

world.” Goudstikker began printing sale catalogues in French, and made an effort

to include reproductions of artists’ signatures and dates, following the model of

museum catalogues. In 1927, Goudstikker relocated his gallery to a larger space on

the Herengracht in a mansion constructed in 1656 for the Dutch merchant Wuytiers.

There, and at his castle, Nijenrode, Goudstikker staged major exhibitions and

displayed his holdings in museum-like installations, with paintings hung alongside

furniture and decorative arts. He helped to guide the taste of J.W. Edwin vom Rath

and Detlen Van Hadeln, both of whom willed their considerable collections to the

Rijksmuseum. Goudstikker worked closely with academics as well as collectors, and

counted among his friends Wilhelm von Bode and Raimond von Marle. Tragically,

Goudstikker’s career was cut short by the advance of the Third Reich. Goudstikker,

who was Jewish, escaped the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands with his wife Desi


and infant son Edouard in May 1940 on a ship destined for South America, but

fell to his death one night through an open hatch while on the deck of the ship,

which had been darkened out of fear of attacks from the air. Back in Amsterdam,

Herman Göring wasted no time in establishing his henchman Alois Miedl in the

directorship of the Goudstikker gallery, and the two engineered a forced sale of the

gallery’s assets that allowed Göring to buy hundreds of artworks at a fraction of their

value. After the war, the Allies returned to the Netherlands more than 200 looted

Goudstikker paintings that had been in Göring’s collection. Most of these were later

hung in Dutch museums and government buildings after the Dutch Government

refused to restitute them to Desi, arguing that the sale of Jewish property to Göring

in the immediate aftermath of the Nazi invasion was voluntary -- even though

Desi had expressly refused to give her permission. The Dutch Government finally

reversed its position and restituted 200 paintings to Jacques Goudstikker’s heir

in 2006. The case hinged on an unprepossessing black notebook that was found

on Goudstikker’s body after his death: this was an inventory book, in which the

meticulous art dealer had itemized most of the works in his vast holdings, noting

the title, artist, dimensions, and date of purchase. The restituted pictures were the

subject of an exhibit in Goudstikker’s honour that originated at the Bruce Museum

in Greenwich, CT in 2008. The exhibit was also shown at the Jewish Museum in New

York, which organized a traveling exhibition that went to the McNay Art Museum in

San Antonio, Texas, the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida, and

the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, California.

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