Historiestukken in zilver: penningen van Johannes Lutma junior

Abstract

History in silver : medals by Johannes Lutma the Younger. In his theoretical discourse the seventeenth-century painter Joachim von Sandrart allocated a key role to the paragone : the interdependence of the different arts. He included several Dutch silversmiths in his pantheon as artists whose work engaged in a dialogue with the visual arts (note 3). This article focuses on Johannes Lutma the Younger (1624-1689), who like his father of the same name was one of the leading Amsterdam silversmiths, artists who wre given a category of their own in guild documents. Around 1668 Joost van den Vondel placed the work of the Lutmas literally within the context of sculpture and painting, singling the son out for particular praise for his history pieces (notes 2 and 6). Vondel's remarks can be assessed in detail with the aid of Lutma's medals. The one commemorating the Treaty of Westminster (c.1655) and the portrait of his father (1659) show the son in a dialogue with sculpture (figs. 16, 32 ). The same aspiration is evident in the portrait medals of Cornelis Witsen and Catharina Opcy (1669), for which the models were made around 1653 (figs. 37, 38). Painterly principles were deployed in the Breda peace medal (1669), the one marking the opening of the Stroobosser Canal (1654) and the marriage medals with the story of Isaac and Rebecca of around (figs. 20, 27, 39, 40). Lutma's dialogues with painting can be associated with fairly modern currents in the Netherlands of the 1650s. The Stroobosser medal, for instance, recalls the Arcadian Dutch landscapes of his contemporary Nicolaas Berchem, while the design and execution of the medal with Isaac and Rebecca has echoes of Rembrandt' s mid-century history painting. Since works by those artists are mentioned in Lutma' s probate inventory (note 94), he clearly held them in high regard, so it is only logical to place his inventions in those visual traditions. His creations are autonomous interpretations. The relationship between the marriage medal and a history painting of a decade later by Gerbrandt van den Eeckhout is of a fundamentally different nature 8fig. 46). Eeckhout based the central composition on Lutma' s medal, possibly at the request of an as yet unidentified couple. Since the context of most of the above medals is known it is possible to outline the world in which the younger Lutma' s work functioned. It emerges that the historical medals for the city of Amsterdam were intended for an international public. Other categories played a part in the private sphere of the Amsterdam burgomasters and their immediate circle. Pieter de Graeff and Cornelis Witsen awarded Lutma private commissions. Both men were deeply interested in medals and had costly collections with a strong international slant (notes 54, 111, 115, 116, 117; note 103). A precise and detailed picture is provided by an auction catalogue of an anonymous collector (notes 44, 85). In 1714 the collection contained no fewer than 1,106 modern medals in silver and gold, 519 of them Dutch and 587 European. Portrait and family medals were in a category of their own. This approach to collecting was international. In 1687, for instance, Pierre Bizot was able to write an illustrated survey of modern Dutch medals on the basis of French collections (notes 13, 14). The descriptions in the auction catalogue are so detailed that several specimens can be identified. Since the catalogue included almost all the Lutma medals discussed here it is possible to associate his creations with international movements. The composition and execution of the "Treaty of Westminster" ties in with contemporary Italian examples, the medal of Lutma's father reflects the Italian and French custom of honouring versatile artists with a portrait medal. Occasionally there is an immediate reaction. The Breda medal is treated as the pendant of an earlier english one commemorating the same peace (fig.25). The different ways in which the superiority of the Dutch Republic was stressed in this medal elicited very sharp comments in the French and English press (note 82). The resolutions and financial accounts of the city of Amsterdam provide an exceptional insight into the background to the making of medals, the editions, and the kind of sums involved (notes 17, 29, 57, 63, 68). The city council took the decision to have a medal made, acting on a proposal from the burgomasters. The treasurer (former burgomasters) composed the inscriptions, decided on the motto and supplied a design for the image. They also chose the artist and supervised the execution . Among those who oversaw the first medals was Cornelis de Graeff, the burgomaster largely responsible for the building of Amsterdam's new town hall, and in 1669 Nicolaas Pancras. They observed the international conventions as cited by Bizot in 1687. The inscription on the medal commemorates the event, while the motto and the image are an interpretation of it. Lutma had a fair amount of freedom in the execution. In 1649, for example, the city council approved two desings it had received (figs. 2, 3, 4, 5). It can be deduced that the burgomasters intended the medals for their official contacts from the fact that they ordered far more than the 49 they actually needed (160 in 1649/1650), and around 100 in 1655). The astronomical sums they set aside for these projects testify to the importance they attached to the execution. The wage Lutma was paid is only known approximately, but in 1669 it was woughly 45 guilders per medal. Sales and distribution were left to the medallist in order to keep costs down. That explains why there are also silver and bronze specimens of the Amsterdam peace medals, why the 1648 peace medal was already circulating among collectors before the official presentation in 1650 (fig.12), and why the design of a historical medal could be altered to make it suitable for other purposes. Famous medals like Lutma's were copied (figs.14, 15) and paraphrased (fig.43), so attributions have to be made with caution. They are only reliable if stylistic similarities are backed by the degree of finish and documentary evidence. The medals display all the tecniques current in the Netherlands in the seventeenth century. The embossed ones include Munster, the Stroobosser Canal and the marriage medal with Isaac and Rebecca. It was a method that permitted nuances to be made in the finishing stage. Dies were cut for the Westminster and portrait medals (fig.18), which were then struck in silver. The Breda medal was screw-pressed (figs.23, 24), making it a remarkably early example, internationally as well as nationally, of this tecnique being used for a large format. Taken together they show that Lutma had mastered a wide range of techniques, which he varied depending on the result he was after.