BEELDEN IN VEELVOUD

LEID S KUNSTHISTORISCH JAARBOEK
BEELDEN IN
VEELVOUD
E VERMENIGVULDIGING VAN HET BEEL
IN PRENTKUNST EN O GRAF
PRIMAVERA PERS
tm tr
•
-
• '
t?
•

LE1DS KUNSTHISTORISCH JAARBOEK • 12
Beelden in veelvoud
De vermenigvuldiging van het beeld inprentkunst
en fotografie
Redactie
NKLKK BARTKI.INGS
ANTON W. A. BOSCHLOO
BRAM DE KLERCK
HANS UOOSEBOOM
Primavera Pers • Leiden • 2002

Dcz.e uitgave is tot stand gekomen dankzij de
financiële bijdragen van:
-Fonds 1818
- De Gijselaar-Hintzenfonds
-M. A. O.C. Gravin van Bylandl Stichting
- Dr. Hendrik Muller's Vaderlandsch Fonds
-J. F,. Jurriaansc Stichting
© De auteurs; Stichting Leids Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek,
Primavers Pers, Leiden
Alle rechten voorbehouden. Niets uit deze uitgave rnag
worden verveelvoudigd, opgenomen in
geautomatiseerde gegevensbestanden, of openbaar
gemaakt, in enige vorm of op enige wijze, hetzij
elektronisch, mechanisch, door fotokopieën, opnamen,
of enige andere manier, zonder voorafgaande
schriftelijke toestemming van de uitgever.
Voor zover het maken van kopieën uit deze uitgave is
toegestaan op grond van Artikel ree Auteurswet 1972;°
het Besluit van zo juni 1974, St.b. 351, zoals gewijzigd bij
Besluit van 23 augustus 1985, St.b. 471 en Artikel 17
Auteurswet 1912, dient men daarvoor wettelijk
verschuldigde vergoedingen te voldoen aan de Stichting
Reprorecht (Postbus 882,1180 A\ Amstelveen). Voor
het overnemen van gedcclre(n) uit deze uitgave m
bloemlezingen, readers en andere compilatiewerken
(artikel 16, Auteurswet 1912), dient men zich tot de
uitgever te wenden.
All rights reserved. No part of this publïcation may be
reproduced, stored in a retricval system of any nature, or
transmitted in any form hy any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, rccording or othcrwise,
without the prior written permission of the publisher
(copyright bolder), application for which should be
addresscd ro the publisher.
Red act ie-adres:
Universiteir Leiden
Kunsthistorisch Instituut
Stichting Leids Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek
Postbus 9515
NL-13OORA Leiden
Vormgeving binnenwerk: Titus Schulz
Ontwerp omslag: Peter Koch
Druk: AD Druk, Zeist
Afwerking: Van Waarden, Zaandam
Herkomst afbeeldingen op her omslag:
Voorzijde;
Alexis Gaudin et Frère (uitgever), HolLinde N. 28, Paklis
de Guillaume U a. La Hayc (met het standbeeld van
Willem van Oranje), 1858, stereofoto, gealbuminiseerde
zoutdruk, 8,4x 16,7 crn, Rijksmuseum / Rijksprentenkabinet,
Amstetdam (RP-F-FI2O9O); Firma Remondini,
Juventus, ets en gravure, ingekleurd, 5,25 x 77,5 cm.
Rijksmuseum / Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam
(RP-P-2OOO-75); Postzegel 3 cent Willem m, 1893;
Schotel, circa 1735, diameter 22,9 cm, Chinees porselein,
versierd in onderglazuur blauw, Groninger Museum,
Groningen; Crispijn de Passé naar Maarten de Vos.
l.uitspelende jongeman met Venus en Cupido, gravure, 9,1
x 15 cm (Hollsteïnxv, nr. 8>i.[3l), De achtergrond
wordt gevormd door een onversneden suffragia-vel van
F. J. van Tctroode, kopergravure en boekdruk, 40,6 x 26
cm, Museum Catharijncconvent, Utrecht (BMH g6Ö2>.
Achterzijde:
Firma Remondini, Aetas virilis, ets en gravure,
ingekleurd, 52,5 x 77,5 cm, Rijksprentenkabinet,
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam (RP-P-2OOO74); Schotel van
chocoladekop-en-schotel, circa 1745, diameter schotel 13,7
cm, Chinees porselein, versierd in ernailkleuren,
Museum Sypestein, Loosdrcchr; Zonder titel, circa
1850, patroon coll. Landwehr-Vogels, StadsarchicfTiel;
Postzegel 60 cent Nederland, 2000.

7 Voorwoord
9 Inleiding
17 Het gedrukte beeld als historische bron
Enkele methodologische bedenkingen
JAN VAN DER STOCK
35 Tn het kiel water van de schilderkunst?
De functie en de status van de prentkunst in het denken en schrijven over kunst
vanaf de zestiende tot het midden van de achttiende eeuw
NF.LKE BARTELINGS
65 Michelangelo aan de Rijn
Reprodiictiegrafiek naar Michelangelo in het Leidse Prentenkabinet
JEF SCHAEPS
109 'Veri disegni e gloriosc memorie'
Ceremoniële prenten tijdens de Sede vacante in Barok Rome
MINOU SCITRAVEN
127 Papier in de Nederlanden
THEO LAURENTIUS
137 De tegenstelling, de traditie en de paradox
Relaties tussen tekst en beeld in twee reproducties van Crispijn de Passé de oude
ELMER KOLFIN
159 Het gebruik van prenten op Nederlands volks aardewerk, circa 1580-1650
FRANS LAUREN'IIUS
167 Prenten op porselein
CHRISTIAAN J. A. JÖRG
177 Bidden voor een 'goede gestchcnissc van de ziel
Suffragia in de Noordelijke Nederlanden
EVELYNE VERHEGGEN
205 De Remondini en hun publiek
ANTON W. A. BOSCHLOO
229 'The most amusing studies'
Thomas Rowlandson en Nederland
PAUL KNOLLE EN HARRIET STROOMBERG

251 Al die cdclvrouwen en goudsmidsdochters
Negentiende-eeuwse kruissteekpatronen naar contemporaine schilderijen
RUTH KRUL
275 Met kunst gcïllnstrcerd
De kunstreproductie in de eerste helft van de negentiende eeuw in Nederland
ANKEMlhK OUXVKRKEHK
295 'Une industrie toute entière'
Over de serie Hollande (1858) en de ontwikkeling van de stereofotografie in
Europa in de tweede helft van de jaren vijftig van de negentiende eeuw
MATTIE BOOM
317 Fotografie in oplage
JAN VAN DIJK EN INGEBORG LEIJERZAPF
339 'Photogrammen in roode omslagen'
Adolphe Eraun dr Cie in het Rijksmuseum
SASKIA ASSER EN ROBERT VERHOOGT
371 Een koningin voor iedereen
Verschijningsvormen en verspreiding van de portretten van Wilhelmina
in het jaar van haar inhuldiging
HANS ROOSEBOOM
389 De dokter en het meisje
Klasse en sekse in de medische foto's van Louis Heijermans
MARGA ALTENA
409 Een foto als voertuig van de macht
Gebruik en hergebruik van Chas Gerretsensportret vanAugusto Pinochet
VERONICA HEKKING
427 'Spiritus et materïa unum'
De postzegel als tijdsbeeld
PAUL HEFTING
453 Kandinsky's completion of Eeonardo's Deluge
PAUL VAN DEN AKKER
471 Register
480 Colofon

Kandinsky's completion of
Leonardo's Deluge
PAUL VAN DEN AKKER
It would seem that storrns raged as furiously in the art of the early twentieth
century as they did in that of the early sixteenth. Storms, the Deluge
and the Last Judgemcnt were the central rhemes that inspired Wassily
Kandinsky (1866-1944)to niake his fitst altnost completely abstract paintings,
a development that occurred herween 1910 and 1913. Four centuries
earlier the same themes had been depictcd by his famous predeccssor
Leonardo da Vind (1452-1519) in an equally fascinating series of drawings.
It is assumed that these were also produccd during the first years of the second
decade of a century.1 Yet iconography and date are nor the only similarities
between the deluges of both artists. There is also a striking visual resemblance
(figs. i and 2). At first sight abstract patterns seem to prcvail over
rccognizable, narradve motifs. Upon closer inspection, however, out of the
chaos of forms-and of colours too, in Kandinsky's case —weseeanumber
of figurative clements cmerging.
The question is whether Kandinsky could have seen Leonardo's drawings,
which had already belonged to the Windsor collection for a very long time.
During the period around 1900-13 the drawings were ncvcr cxhibitcd outside
England and Kandinksy never visited this country. As a matter of fact
it seems unlikely that Kandinksy, who was famous for his non-figurativc
art, drew inspiration from Leonardo's work. Did nor the latter's figurative
illusions belong to an art-historical period which in Kandinsky's time,
wirh the rise of abstract art and not least with Kandinsky's own work, was
assumed to have come co an end once and for all?
Similarities in art are seldom coincidences. Even though it is unlikely that
Kandinsky ever saw Leonardo's original drawings, hè must have known
them, as we will see later, from reproducdons. And even though hè seldom
mentions Leonardo's name in his writings, when hè does so, it is positively.
In Uber das Geïsüge in der Kunst (1912) hè called him 'der grosse, viclscitigc
Meister' and his admiration for Leonardo fits in, as we will see, with the
reevaluation of this artist that had been going on since the middle of the
ninetcenth century.2
KANDINSKY S COMPLETION OF LEONARDO S DELUGE 453

454
Paul van den Akker

SOQ^VNOHT s AHSNIQNVS
•suoiaEpiinoa. p|[os S3T saidsap spjBD jo ssnoq E aijij
§UIsdB[IO3 Xjp B tpTAV JDJSBSIp Slip oUÏJEduiOD 'SSUUlEaJSO J3UIJOJ J [B JO 33UE
sip pDaDipsad put asijdojd B jo 3|oa sqa psadops 3q '(uon
sSusp;^ 'JsadBip pjiip stp u| 'ipods pmamds '
B Aq p33Ejd3a 3q usip pjiiOM J.T atip pue 'ujsi|BU3:)Eui Xq SEA\i SB
'3-injTEj 03 p3iuoop XjqEaiAsuT SEM. sXïp SILJ jo 3jni|nD Dip acip
u j UT ui Xü|dpmoqs SÏSHJÏ; put; JJB ujgpouj
jo au3iudo[9A3p sqa inoqï SB3pi sii| oj paa^jgj Xpsop SEM
UIJO1S E JO 33U3TJ3dx3 3^4 35[OA3 pjHOM 1BI]3 3-TE UB JO 3Z>TOU_D S(A3jSUTptTE^J
'OUST J3A\.SUE3qj_^3ZIU§O33JOapU|LU3I[a JOJ SlIllpOU pUE S3/3 3lp JOj §UILj3
-3LUOS p3J3gO A[UO JjJOM 3qi JBtja 'J3aE| 31OJA\g SE 'U3l|3 3SED 3^4 }T SJ
^-sSnpp 3iji jo Xjoas sip 03
33U3J3J3J XuE ptOAE Ol SE OS '/yj UOtflSOrflUO^ '3pU [BJ1H3U E JOJ p3ldo U3L]1
3TJ[ 'SEAUED 3oJE] 3lp JUl^d Oï S/Ep 39JI[a JO OM1 UIITJ 5[OOa X|UO II '31OJM J|3S
-UIIU3USE :3S-inODJO J3J3EUIE SE MO[|O-f p|nOM JS3J 3l|J pUB S3Lll| pUB SJT1OJOD
JO 333-9:3 [EUOUOUJ3 3lp UO X|3ATSnpX3 3JBJ3U33UO3 O3 J3IIJEJ p3p[33p 3JJ
•Xjois sip qaiA\d sqa SJBTDOSSB oa psoaoj 3q pynoAv JSMSIA sip SSRED
-3q 'oUU3BJ3SIp 3q X[UO p|HOA\1 3DUIS 'saU3UI3p 3A)aBjn3lJ jno §U1AB3|
Xq p3A3ii|DE sq AJUO p|no3 |BO§ stqa 3Eip A\3Uïj 3ij puy '3§npp E oj suonoura
jE[iujis §ui5[OA3 'jpOA\B UB sq pssasui pjnou,s :nq 'sgnpp 3i[]
jo Xiois 3i|4 XEjjJod X||EJ3ai[ aou pjnoijs §unured siq
§UOaA\3 UO SBM. 3LJ IBq] LUTq OJ p3JJ1133O XjU3ppllS 31 UIBA UI
E pUE JE3X B .I31J13 3tig '§U]JUTBd 3§JB| B O1U1 (f '
'J3||EUIS B 3aB|SUEJ3 O3 pappop 3q
ij -SunuiBd siqi jo stssuaS snouoqB| XHEHTUT aqa jo
UB 3AB§ 3L[ q31l|A\T (U3ZUO|\Jj S^ïjSUIpUE^f p3UIB3UOD OS|E
Xq p3i|ST|qnd Xpnis srq j_ -£161-1061 tyswpuvy UT a] jo uononpoid
-3J E
UB^ JA UOUKOdwO^ p33Tlp0.ld 3q SE JE3X 9UJES 3^3 UJ
•3sodjnd uo STU^ pip ïpiiBjg ^[uiqj
oj psuipüi asoui|E ST suo puB imop-spisdn p33npo.id3J SEAV //\
-tUO^ t'?\SBJ^ J3§UO| OU UEO 3M. 3Tiq §Uiqj3UJOS 33S ||ps UB3 3A\R S3S1UI
-oad >|Ooq siqi jo spp 3qj jBqj saii_ui| 3qa pai|3B3.T X|njj SAEIJ SA^ 'p3pn[3uo3
>[OOq Siq '((UOTÏTSOduiO^)M S/^SUTpIIE^ l{31^, U3A3AVOq 3npJA DpSllJE XlIE UI
§UTi|3E[ SEA\3 M3IA Siq UT 3SUods3J B SBM 31 ïX^SUTplIB^ §UIpTlpLIT 'SJSUJB
ISTUOTSSaidxg 3LJ3 JO 5JJOM 3qj UI UISILlOISSSjduiy JSUre§E LIO113B3J |BDIJO1SILJ
3jqiniA3ur HE psunu^ps jpuBjg 'ÏJB asTAgqsiog .10 'XaEuopn|OA3jjo 3|dLUEX3
|E3idXi E SBM ai uiiq JOJ 'SUOUBAJSSSJ suaos qiTA\s pyp sq 'uauuaq^ pun
>[ooq jBpidod siij jo uontpa qainoj 3qa ui iz6i UT ai pspnpui apuEjg
usq^ -asnjasip ps>[OAoad OSJE 'sSnpp sqa jo guisip 3qa uo psssq
o (i -§u) /yj uonisoduio^ sijj[ -uBiupEUi E jo ^JOA\a SB ai p3qn3sop
J3M3IA3J 3UO 'U3q3UH]AJ §UU§IUI3J3AJ3pSlirr>[ D113f\ 3qa 4E p3a]qiqXO SBM ƒƒ
UOtJtSofóuO^ STIJ OTÓT UI U3q^ 'S3UTJD 3l[a UIOJJ [|B 3AOqE '31UODJ3M
E p3AI3D3J OS[B >[JOM SIl] 'SUIJOaS Xq pSJldsiIT ASï[UTpïIF)J SEA\O
WIV S ASSN IttNV^ï
'UI3 É'OZ
'IDUI/Y Ep OpJÏUO3-J
3i[j^'ui3 oo£ x S6i
'SEAUED UO JIO
'£161 7/1 uonisoduw^
'Aï|SUTpUE^J lijISSBM 'J

j. Wassily Kandinsky
Deluge (smdy for
Composition VI),
circa 1912, palnrlng
on glass, dimensions
and location
unknown.
Kandinsky wanted his abstract paintings ro have a similar emotional effect
to that of the purifying cosmic catastrophes hè anticipated, and hc uscd an
asyetunfamiliar, veiled languageof forms to evoke the newworld that was
yet tobecreated.5 He wasdelighted then with thepoem 'An Kandinsky' by
the Dutch symbolist poet Albert Verwey, which is like a version in words
of the experience hc wanted his art to evoke. In the German translation
made by Karl Wolfskehl for Kandinsky, the poem opens with the words
'Seele nun sieh gleich dem leuchtenden Morgen' (Look my soul: like the
morning light). Among othcr things the soul sees 'The essence of all that is
iiquid orvapour or mass', 'Cuttinglines thattear through the void', 'Circu-
lar movement that sin^s in the air' and 'Eddics and swirlins of colours and
o o
lines'.6 In Verwey's terms at any rate Kandinsky seemed to have reached his
goal and the poem was given an honoured place in Waldcn's study mentionedabove.
Does the omission or disguising of all figurative elements mean that
Kandinsky's formal idiom was in fact the product of a visionary mind that
could see what nobody had secn bcforc? In the art-historical literature on
Kandinsky much attention is paid to the visual sources which inspired his
development towards abstraction. Some authors have pointed out iconographical
and stylistic similaritics bctwecn motifsin Kandinsky's work and
Ülustrations in theosophical writings from the beginning of the twentieth
century such as those of Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater with which
Kandinsky was familiar.7 Others have pointed to connections with images
456
Paul van den Akker

ftom Russian folk art and ethnographicobjects,8 and with the works of Jugendstil
and Symbolist artists living and exhibiting in Munich, the city to
which Kandinsky had moved in 1896 from his native country Russia at the
age of thirty-six and whcrc hè had received his first training as an artist.9
Strangely however, the name of Leonardo da Vinci is never mcntioned.
MEREZHKOVSKY
Kandinsky was not the first to believe m a future Apocalypse and an inevitable,
cultural revolution. In the nineteenth century more and more
writers had discusscd these themes, convinced as they were that the course
of human history was an evolution through a number of major clearly
dcfined periods and that man wouid eventually reach a spiritual level. In
keeping with Hegcl's ideas on the progress of human culture, philosophers
and historians proclaimed that the spiritual epoch had already dawned or
else was just round the corner. At the end of the century this belief in a spiritual
progress had also become widespread among artists and poets.
His years in Munich and his stay in Paris in igoó-'oy gave Kandinsky every
opportunity to become acquainted with such eschatological and messianistic
ideas. He also came into contact with notions of the role of the artist
and poet as advocate and preachcr of the coming era. Just as his writer
friends chose an Expressionist style of poetry to give voice to the new era,
so hè and other artists became increasingly persuadcd that the artist's solution
was to paint in a more abstract style, leaving out or disguising figurative
forms.10 Kandinsky drew inspiration for this dcveloprnent not only
from the Russian and French symbolist poets and writers, hut also from
the theosophical ideas and the mystical writings of Joséphin Péladan, the
spokesman of the Rosicrucians.11
In Munich hè maintained close relations with the Russian Symbolists and
would thereforc have known of their admiration for Leonardo, whom they
hailed as a forerunner who had played a vital role in one of the great cultural
revolutions. According to them, Leonardo was a seer of great genius, a mysticand
a pioneer of what was then the new, modern mode of thought.12
Among the Russian symbolists, it was Dmitry Merezhkovsky who was
most eloquent in his admiration for Leonardo. In 1901 hè even wrote a historical
novel about this Renaissance artist, The Rebirth ofthegods: Leonardo
da. Vind.13 Merezhkovsky moreover srood out among the Russian symbolists
with his conviction that history had always been characterized by greac
upheavals and that the last of these was about to break out, leading to a
third, new epoch.14 It was within the framework of this vison of history
that hè presentcd Leonardo as a figure viewed by his contemporaries as an
Antichrist.
In his novel Merezhkovsky presents Leonardo's apprentice, Giovanni Bcl-
KAND1NSKY S COMPLETION OF LEONARDO S DELUGE 457

affio [sic], as an admirer and witness of hls master's deviant and revolutionary
ideas. The sixth chapter is entirely devoted ro h is diary in which hè
jotted down Leonardo's pieces of artistic wisdom, and his recommendations
and formulas. In one of his more extensive notes hè relatcs
Leonardo's explanation of how one should depict the Delugc. In the
English translation of 1931 this note reads as follows:
'Discoursing of how an artist ought to compose the ideas for pictures,
the master told us, by wayof an example, of a representation of the delugc
that hè had conceived: 'Abysses and maelstroms, lit up by lighcnings.
Branches of enonnous oaks, with people clinging to them, carried
along by a waterspout. Waters, strewn with fragments of household
furniture, upon which people seek to save themselves. Hcrds of
quadrupeds, surrounded by water, on high table-lands, — some with
their Icgs on the backs of others, crushing and trampling one another. A
horde of people, defending, with arms in. hand, the last patch ofground
from fcral beasts. Some are wringing their hands, gnawing them so that
the blood runs; others stuff their ears so as not to hear the rumble of the
thunder-sbocks; or else, not content with having shut their eyes, place
one hand atop the other, pressing them to their eyelids, in order not to
see their impending death. Some commk suïcide, suffocating, strangling
themselves, impaling themselves upon swords, casting themselves
into the raging deep from cliffs; and mothers, cursing God, seize their
children to smash their heads against stones. Decomposed corpscs float
up to the surfacc, colliding with and striking one another, and rebounding
like little balls inflated with air. Birds perch on them; or,
sinking down from exhaustion, descend on the living men and animals,
finding no other place to rest.'15
Kandinsky himself refers to a German transiation in U b er das Geestige.16
Although hè does not mention the passage about the deluge, hè can hardly
not have known it. Given Kandinsky's belief in past and future cultural
revolutions, this passage must have sounded like a call to arms.
Merczhkovsky's novel may have inspired Kandinsky to deal with the theme
of the deluge, or at any rate stimulatcd his interest in it.17 Yet to what extent
was the novel helpful to him in finding a suitable formal idiom? His
earlier, paraphrased description of the origins of Composïtion VI proved
that in around 1913 Kandinsky had already experienced a great deal of
difficulty in depicting the story of the deluge. In the earlier littie painting
on glass based on the same subject (fig. 3) hè stïll included 'various figurativeforms,
partlycheerfulones (Igotalotof pleasureout ofcombining the
serious forms with cheerful external images): naked figurcs, arks, animals,
palm trees, lightning flashed, rain, etc.'.18 But with regard to more serious
forms of art — hè had made the glass painting more for his own pleasure
/icS Paul van den Akker

(zum meinen Vergnügen}- Kandinsky had learned in Munich that the figurative
belonged to che past, rather than to modern art. In this regard then
the novel could not have been of much direct use.
Nevertheless the homage paid to Leonardo by Merczhkovsky and many
other Russian and European Symbolists may weli have arouscd Kandinsky's
curiosity about Leonardo's own texts and drawings of the delugc.19
While we do not know which publications and reproductions hè consulted,
we can discern a few likely candidates.
TKXTS BY AND ABOUT LEONARDO
Since the middle of the nineteenth century a new historica] and aesthetic
image had emerged of Leonardo as aseer of genius, a sort of mystical magician.
Initially an invention of French authors, the 'new' Leonardo also
made an appearance in the works of English and German writers from the
late i86os onwards. Tn England Walter Pater in particular represemed chc
new Europe-widc interpretation of Leonardo. In his famous and influential
essay of 1869 hè dcscribed Da Vinci's art from a modern aesthetic point
of view and the person of the artist in a historical, if somewhat unconvcntional
fashion. According to Pater, Leonardo's artistry, which hè found
both rnysterious and modern, could only have originated from chc brain of
a profane genius far ahead of his time.20 Pater saw him as the personification
of the greac upheaval that supposedly occurred in around 1500; hè
was 'the sorcerer or magician, possessed of curious secrets and a hidden
knowledge, living in a world of which hè alonc possessed the key'.21 This
was the Leonardo for whom the Symbolists feit such admiracion.
The veritable deluge of works on Leonardo all elaborated on this interpretation.
Among them was a book of 1892 by Gabriel Séailles, that received
great acclaim at the time, Léonard de Vind; l'artiste et ie savant. Essai de biographie
psychologique. Séailles devoted a large part of the chapter, 'Le savanc
et l'artiste: la science dans l'art. — Les procédés et les ceuvres' to Leonatdo's
own remarks on the depiction of a deluge and the accompanying "Windsor
drawings.
Séailles accounted for the rnysterious power of the lacter by referring to
Leonardo's exceptional combinacion of true obsetvation of nature and understanding
of the spirit (I'esprit) that was present in all creation. He saw
these drawings as outstanding examples of Leonardo's genius. Like Walter
Pater, hè mentioned Leonardo's exceptional fascination with the movements
of water, which hè had observed so intensely that his drawings of
eddying whirlpools and rolling, buffeting and breaking wavcs suggest that
Leonardo had done his deluge from direcc experience. Rather than a trueto-Ufe
rendering, realistic chough the details are, one of the deluge drawings
reminded him of the vision of a poet such as Dante.
KANDINSKY S COMPLETION OF LEONARDO S DELUGE 459

'Penetrating to the heart of nature deeper than nature itself- that is his
dream. It is the ambition of a cold-blooded Prometheus, who instead of
insultingjupiter, studies hisworkson hisbehalf to discover their secret.
As an artist all hè asks of knowledgc is the power to create, to give life.'22
Séallles' interpretation of Leonardo's drawings as the expression of a visionary
dream would probably have appealed to Kandinsky. The samc goes
for Eugène Müntz's ideas in hïs Leonard de Vind; l'artiste, lepemeur, Ie savantof
1899. Müntz saw Leonardo's texts on storms and the deluge - to
which hè however devoted less attcntion than Séaiiles — as proof of an exceptional
poctic genius. Da Vinci might have been inspired by Petrarch
and his texts also vied with Virgil's dcscriptions of nature in his Georgics;
'lóth century Italian literature has produced nothing better in the field of
descriptive poetry, the recording of landscapes, or of chc phenomena of the
atmosphere and of light'.23 According to Müncz, these poetic descriptions
'of the Zephyr and the storm' (de Zéphyr et de l'ouragan) demonstrated Leonardo's
ability to go to the heart of divine nature (l'essence divïne); they also
cestified to his sense of his affinity with God, who both creates and destroys.
The prevailing image of Leonardo was thus expanded by Séaiiles and
Müntz and this formed the framcwork for their analysis of his writings
about and drawings of the deluge and storms. Moreover they could draw
on recent editions of Leonardo's texts. The fashionable interpretation of
Da Vinci's work had also created a dcmand for biiingual publications of his
writings. There were successive editions in the i88os in Germany, England
and France, all of them including the texts on the Deluge and on storms.24
The extract in Merezhkovskv's later novel, the note that is in Beltraffio's diary,
is just a very concise summary.
Leonardo's original instructions for illustrating a storm and the Deluge are
too numerous anddetailcd to quote here in full, so I will confine myself to
itemizing the most salient motifs not mentioncd in Merezhkovsky's novel
— the downfaü of cities whose walls and high buildings are shattered by the
forces of nature; ships that capsize or are wreckcd by the fury of the waves;
forests on fire; landslides; broken boulders that fall into the torrents,
blocking thevalleys andcausing chcswollen rivers to break their banks;eddying
whhipools; heavy downpours of rain in the atmosphere; waves
brcaking against each other or against cliffs or rebounding off various drifting
objects only to surge up as foam into the air before falling back; a sky
full of scactered clouds and of the dust thrown up by horses as they panic
and bolt and by the broken pieces of rocks and buildings, rendering the
motion of the wind and currcnts of air visible.25
Reading Ober das Geistige in der Kunst, one can hcar the echoes of Leonardo's
account of the down fall of cities. If Kandinksy did indeed consult
a translation of Da Vinci's Trattato della Pittura, it may have been the
460 Paul van den Akker

German version by Heinrich Ludwig of 1882. Yet I thmk that more recent,
French verslons of the beginning of the twcntieth century would have appcalcd
to him more. They were edited by the abovc-mentioned Joséphin
Péladan who, like many other contemporary mystics and symbolists, had
an exceptional aesthetic and historical admiration for Leonardo. He had
shown this already in his earlier texts on art and mystical writings, in which
hè also appearedas an advocate of the Ordre de la Rose + Croix+ Catholique,
proposing Leonardo as its patron saint.26 Péladan was no stranger to Kandinsky
who mentioned him in Ober das Geïsüge and who had paraphrased
a statement by Péladan, 'Artist, thouartking' (Artiste, tuesroï) from atext
of 1894 in which hè also rcferred to Leonardo.27
Péladan followed up his small anthology of 1907 of Leonardo's texts including
the passages on the depiction of the deltige and storms, by editing
the first annotated French translatïons of Leonardo's treatise on painting
and his discussion on landscape painting, that hè thought was a separate
treatise.28 This was, incidentally, the year that Kandinskydecidcd to abandon
the depiction of fairytale themes and turn instead to deluge and
storms.
The tone of Pcladan's introduction to Leonardo's treatise on landscape
painting not only resembles that of Kandinsky's writings; it also comains
similar aesthctic judgements. According to Péladan, no-one had summed
up 'the l aws of the pure landscape' (les lois du paysage pur) as wel! as Leonardo
had done in his treatise on landscape (includïng scènes of the deluge
and storms), thus giving voice to 'clemental life and all that is cosmic' (la
vie élémentaire et l'aspect cosmique). According to him Leonardo's treatise
taught us to reaüze the mystery and divinity of natura! phenomena. In his
short account of the aesthetics of landscape painting, hè thcn stressed that
a landscape should always be imbued with a soul, praising the classical
painters for this quality. In his view, they 'had such a deep understanding
of nature, that they have given ït a soul and a person, pcopling it with invisible
beings'.29 What rcally martered for Péladan was that each type of
landscape gave rise to a different kind of emotion depcnding on the light,
the colour range and the artist's sensïbility.30 Leonardo's text also demonstratcd
how wrong it was to think that landscape was an easier genre than
Tables et [...] histoires'. Kandinsky having toïled on his Composition VI
would have applaucled this. And in his description of ïts creation Kandinsky
too emphasized that making art is a matter of an effective organïzation
of colours and tones rather than figurative representatïon.
REPRODUCTIONS
As said above. Kandinsky's curiosity must have concerned Leonardo's
drawings just as much as his texts. Péladan's edïtions were nor much help
KANDINSKY'S COMPLETION OF LEONARDO'S DELUGE A_6l

4-Jean Paul Richter,
77j

). Leonardo da Vinci,
Deluge, after 1513,
black chalk,
16.1 x 20.7 cm,
Windsor Castle,
Roval Librarv, no.
vures of Leonardo's drawings, among them some of chc deluge and storm
drawings (fig. 4). He secms to have aimed to reproduce them full-size and
co imitate theoriginal paper coiour. Ie was from Richter's bookthatMüncz
borrowed his illuscrations and Séailles and Péladan also rcfcrred to it in
their texts on the drawings in qucstion. Whatever text about Leonatdo
Kandinsky may have read, in his quest for reproductions hè was bound to
have come across Richtcr's publicarion. The list of subscribcrs in Richter's
book does nor include Kandinsky's name; other artists and che 'Royal Pinacoteca'
in Munich, Kandinsky's city of resïdence are however inclu-
ded.-54
Not all of Leonardo's Windsor drawings of deluge and storms were published
in Richter's book. Many years later, but still before Kandinsky embarked
on his deluge and storm paintings, the French publisher Edouard
Rouveyre changed all rhis. The appearance in 1901 of hïs 23-volume cdition,
Feuillets inédits, repwduits d'après les originaux conservés a la Bibliotbèque
du Chateau de Windsor, fuift lied a long-feit need for reproductions.
With its facsimiles of a great number of chc Windsor drawings arranged
according Co subject, it functioned as a mine of visual information. In his
preface Rouveyre strcssed that his book was intended for a broad public as
wcll as for scholars and artists. In mvview, it is in these Feuillets médïtsthat
KANDINSKY S C O M P L E T I O N OF LEONARDO S DELUGE 463

6. Wassily Kandinsky,
Improvhatlon Deluge
(Large Studyfor
Composilion VI),
1913, oilon canvas,
95 x 150 cm,
Stadtische Galerie
ini Lenbachhaus,
Munich.
we find the most likely candidate for Kandinsky's final vïsual source —
namely, the volume devoted to the deluge and storm drawïngs.35
The title of Rouveyre's volume is Études et dessins sur l'atmosphère. The term
'atmosphere' was already used in 1899 by Müntz to characterize Leonardo's
drawings of the deluge and storms and it was therefore also adoptcd by
Pcladan in 1910. Tt is remarkable that the same term often turns up in
Kandinsky's Überdas Geisiigewho uses it to refer to the invisible realm of
inner thoughts and emotions.36 As already said, Kandinsky thought hè
owed it to his own time and to posterity to depict this spiritual atmosphere
in a non-figurative way, thus abandoning the Renaissance tradition of
which Lconardo was such an outstanding representative. The important
thing to stress however is that: in comparison with his written texts, Leonardo's
own drawings seem to testify ro a quite different, almost non-Renaissance
approach towards the dcpiction of storms and the deluge (fig. 5).
It is as if decorative patterns prevail in them over narrative details, making
these drawings look like further evidence to support the notion that hè was
an avant-garde artist long before this term was devised. In 1903, for example,
Bernard Berenson dcscribed them as being full of'poetic force and
decorative beauty'.37 Kandinsky himsclf must have seen them as the expression
of a kindred artist, one who was concerned above all with the
composition of abstract patterns of repetitive and parallel curving Unes and
of overlapping or juxtaposed amorphous forms, rather than with creating
illusions. This must surely have been the decisive reason for him to embrace
Leonardo's drawings with such fervour.
464 Paul van den Akker

7- Detail of fig. i.
8. Detail of fig. 5.
Like his grcat predecessor, Kandinsky confronted the viewer in the first instance
with a composition compietely filled with abstract patterns, colours
and lines that overlap or clash with each other. AJthough depth is suggested,
it seems impossible to jndge the discance between the different
forms. Kandinsky's Improvisation Deluge from 1913 {fig. 6) is virtually a
colour translation of Leonardo's drawings of the deluge (fig. 2). It is as if in
the lighter parts of Composition VI (fig. i) hè had followed Leonardo's advicc
to depict mist and to make the air less dark at places where the sun's
KANDINSKY S COMl'LETION OP LEONARDO S DEIUGE 465

ays break through. Kandinsky himsclf distinguished three centres in this
composition, of which the middlc and most important one, 'floats in the
air rather and looks as though it is surrounded by vapours*.38 Some of the
waveüke patterns in this painting (fig. 7) resemble abstractions of Leonardo's
already fairly schematic clouds or waves (fig. 8). There are also striking
iconographical similarities. Kandinsky's compositions are full of reminiscences
of the kind of figurativc clcments that on closer inspection cmerge
out of Leonardo's drawings — thimderbolts, panic-stricken figures, trees
bendine o to the o°round
and devastated cities. And even the addition of the
recurrent motif of the boat with oars, which does not occur in the Biblc
story of the Delugc or in the Apocalypse, suggests that Kandinsky was following
Leonardo's recommendations.
The similarities bctween Kandinsky's and Leonardo's dcluges and storms
then are not merely iconographical, but above all visual. During the epoch
when Kandinsky was producinghis compositions, Leonardo wasvicwedas
a rich and prestigious source of inspiration for many; it was within this tradition
that Kandinsky followed the cxample of the 'grosse, vielseitige
Meister', as hè had called him. Like Merezhkovsky's Leonardo, hè acted as
the champion of new ideas that were quite unfamiliar to most of hts contemporaries.
And just as Da Vinci's drawings were treated by art historians
as a group, so Kandinsky presented his first seven Compositions as a coherent
series based on the theme of purifying catastrophes, completing the series
in 1913 with Composition Wand Composition VIL
Richter, Merezhkovsky and Péladan had all pointed out that Leonardo
must have planned a painting of the deluge and one of a storm. They also
added however that this project was never carried out, so that only Leonardo's
dcscriptions and drawings remain. Perhaps it was this remark that
prompted Kandinsky to recreate the storms that Leonardo had foreseen,
unleashing them fourcenturies later even more powerfully — and incolour.
(Translated by Donald Gardner)
466 Paul van den Akker

NOTES
r In about 1910 Leonardo's drawings were dated as
around 1510-13. Currenrly rhey are darcd as af ter
1513: C. Pedrctri, exh. cat. Zürich (Kunsthaus
Zürich), Leonardo dn Vind: Natur und Landschaft;
Naturstudien aus der Königlichen Bibliothek in
Windsor Caslle, Zürich 1983, p. 47-50, cat. nos.
30-508.
2 W. Kandinsky, Ober das Geistige in der Kunst,
Munich 1912, p. 85.
3 'Mït der "Komposition" Kandinskis sind wir nun
tatsachlich an den Grenzen angclangt, die der Titel
dieses Buches uns steekt: zu sehen vermogen wir
noch, aber nicht mehrzu erkennen.': P. Brandt,
Sehen und Erkennen; eine Anleïtung zu
vergleichender Kunstbetmchtimg, Stuttgart 1921,
p. vi-vi!,p, 333.
4 W. Kandinsky, 'Komposirion 6', in: Kandinsky
1901-1913, Berlin, p. xxxv-xxxviii.
5 See forinscance S. Ringbom, Thesoundingcasmos;
a stuely in the spirituatism of Kandinsky and the
genesis of abstract paiming, Hclsingfors 1970,
p. 162-185.
6 'Ursinn von Feuchtc und Dampf und Grund',
'Linien die schneïdend den Abgrund zerreisscn',
'Rïngclndes Weben das Lüfte dnrchzucki', 'Wirbel
und Wurl von Farb und Gezack': P. Wciss,
Kandinsky in Munich; theformatïveyears, Princeton
NJ 1979, p. 82-83,151,192, note 27.
7 See for insrance Ringbom, op. c/t. (note 5); idem,
'Transcending the visible: the generation of the
abstract pionecrs', exh. cat. Los Angeles (County
Museum of Art), Chicago (Museum of
Contemporary Art), The Hague (Haags
Gemeentemuseum), The spiritual in art; abstract
painting 1800-1985, New York 1986, p. 131-153; R.-C.
Washton Long, Kandinsky: the devdopment of an
abstract styie, Oxford 1980, esp. p. 13-41.
S Washton Long, op. dl. (note 7), p. 75-87; Eadem,
'Expressionism, abstraction, and the scarch for
Utopia in Germany', The spiritual in art, op. cit.
(note 7), p. 201-217; P- Weiss, Kandinsky and old
Russia; the artistas ethnographer and shaman, New
Haven, London 1995.
9 Weiss, of. cit. {note 6).
jo Weiss, op. cit. (note 6); R. Heller, 'Kandinsky and
Lraditions apocalyptic'. Art Journal (Spring 1983),
p. 19-26.
ii Washton Long, op, cit. (note 7), p. 13-41; John E.
Bowlt, 'Vasilii Kandinsky: the Russian connection',
in: J. E. Bowlt, R.-C. Washton Long (eds.), Thelife
of Vasilii Kandinsky in Russian art; a study of On the
spiritual in art, Newtonvillc Mass. 1980, p. 2-41;
Ringbom, op. cit. (note 5), chapter v; M. Dabrowski,
exh. cat, New York (The Museum of. Modern Art),
Los Angeles (Gounty Museum of Art), Kandinsky;
compositions, New York 1995, p. 17.
12 E. Hüttinger, 'Giorgione- und Lconardo Kult', in:
R. Baucr et al., Fin de siècle; zu Literdtur und Kunst
der Jahrhundertwende, Frankfurtam Main 1977,
p. 143-169; I. Gerards, E. van Uitcrt, 'JanToorop;
een "fabuleuze bevatrdijkheid": het symbolistische
scheppen', Jong Holland) (1:989), i, p. 8-9; R. A.
Turner, Inventing Leonardo, Berkeley, Los Angeles
1994, p. 100-149.
13 D. Merczhkovsky, Voskressie bogi: l.eonardo Da
Vind, 1901.
14 Ringbom, op. cit. (note 5), p. 175; Heller, op. cit.
(note 10), p. 22-23.
15 The English quotation is froni D. Merejcovski,
The romance ofl.eona.rdo da Vind (translated by
B. Guilbert Guerney), New York 1931, p. 172-173.
In the German translat-ion used by Kandinsky this
note read as follows: 'Er sprach davon, wie der
Kiinsrlcr die Kompositionen zu seinen Bildern
entwerfen soll, und führte uns als Beispiel die von
ihm geplante Darstellung der Sintfiuc an:
"Von Bliezen erleuchrete Wirbel und
Wassers c rudel. Von einer \Vasserhosc fortgerissenc
Aste rïesengrosser Eichen, an die sich Menschen
festldammern. Schwimmende Trümmer von
Hausgeraten, auf denen sich Menschen zu retten
stichen. Herdcn von Vierfüsslern aut hochcbenen,
von allen Seiren von Wasser bedroht; die Tierc
steigen aufeinander, crdrücken und zerstampfen
eïnander. Ein Hauren von Menschen, die den
Ictzten Elecken Erde mie Waffcn gegen Raubtiere
verteidigcn; die eincn ringen die Ha'nde und
heissen sie so, dass Blut m'esst, andere halten sich
die Ohren zu, um das Gedröhneder Donner nicht
zu horen, wahrend andere die Augc schliessen und
noch obendreln beide Ha'nde übercinanderlegen
und sie so gcgen die Augcnlider pressen, um den
nahcnden Tod nicht zu sehen. Andere begehen
Selbstmord: sie erdrosscln sich, erstcchen sich mit
den Schwettcrn, oder springen von den Klippen in
die Hut. Mütter crgreifen, Gott verfltichend, ihre
Kinder, und zerschcllcn ihre Köpfc an den Felsen.
Derwescnde Leichen schwimmen auf der
Oberflachc; sic stossen zusammen und prallen
voneinander ab, wie mie Luft gefüllte Balie. Vogel
lassen sich auf den Leichen nïeder, oder fallen
etschöpfe auf die noch lebenden Menschen und
KANDINSKY S COMPI. F.TION OF I. E ON AH DO S DELUCÏE 467

Tiere herab, da sie keinen andern Platz zum
Ausruhen finden können."' Alihough I have not
been ablc ro asccrcain the exact date of die first
edïtïon of this German translation, it must have
been published before 1910. The quotanon here is
from the unaltered 1912 edition: D. Mereschkowski,
Leonardo da Vind; historischer Roman
(übersetzt von A. Eliasberg), Mutiich 1922 (33. bis
37. Auflage), p. 169.
16 Kandinsky, op. cit. (note 2), p. 85.
17 According to Washton Long, op. cit. (note 7),
p. 95-90, Kandinsky was inspired to deal with this
theme by Steiner and by an article of Ivanov about
the païntings of Curlionis.
18 'Hier sind verschiedene gegensiandliche Formcn
gcgcben, die teilweise lustig sind {es machte mir
Spass, die ernsten Formcn mit lustigen ausseren
Ausdrücken zu vermengen): Akte, Arche, Tiere,
Palmen, Blitze, Regen usw.'; Kandinsky, op. cit.
(note 4), p. xxxv.
19 Odilon Redon, for example, also feit a gteat
admiration for Leonardo; Gerards and Van Uitert,
op. cit. (note 12), p. 8. For the relationship between
Redon and Kandinsky, sec Washton Long, op. cit.
(note 7), p. 45-46.
zo Turner, op. cit. (note 12), esp. p. 140 ff. and
K. Clark, Catalogus of the Leonardo drawings at
Windsor, 2 vols., Cambridge 1935, p. 14-15.
21 W. Pater, The Renaissance studies in art andpoetry,
I.ondon 1912, p. 97 (first edition: Studies in the
h/story of the Renaissance, London 1873).
22 'Aller dans Ie sens de la nature plus loin que Ia
nature mcmc, voila son rêve. C'est l'ambition d'un
Prométhée de sang-froïd qui, au lieu d'ïnsulter
Jupiter, étudie ses ceuvres ponr lui en de'robct Ie
secret. Artiste, il ne demande a la scïence que la
puissance de crécr, de donncr Ia vie': G. Séailles.
1452-1510: Léonard df Vind; l'artiste etlesavant;
essai de biographie psychologtqiie. Paris 1892,
p. 457-462.
23 'comme poésie descripnve, comme tendu des
paysages, oti des effets d'atmosphère et de lurnSère,
la littcrature italienne du xvie siècle n'a rien
produit de supérieur': L. Müntz, Léonard de Vind;
l'artiste, lepenseur, lesavant, Paris 1899, p. 286-88.
24 K. Trauman Steinitz, Leonardo Da Vincis Trattato
della Pittura = Treatise onpainting: a bibliography of
theprintededitions, 1651-1956[...], Copenhagen
1958.
25 Jcan Paul Richter, The literary works of Leonardo da
Vind, compiled and editedfrom the orïginal
manuscript!, 2 vols., London 1883, vol. I, p. 305-314.
26 The order was founded in 1890 after Péladan had
rctired from the Ordre de ia Rose + Croix -+•
468 Paul aul van oen Akkei
Kabbatistiqife, of which hc was the cofoundct in
1888; see G. Imanse, J. Steen, 'Achtergronden van
het Symbolisme', exh. cat. The Hague (Haags
Gemeentemuseum), Kunstenaren der idee.
Symbolistische tendenzen in Nederland,
ca. 1880-1930, The Hague 1978, p. 26-28; R. Pmcus-
Wittcn, Occult symbolism in France;Joséphin
Péladan and the salons de ia Rose+Croix, New York,
London 1976.
27 Kandinsky, op. cit. (note 2), p. 136. See also
Wasliton Long, op. cit. (note 7), p. 29-30,163-164.
28 J. Péladan (ed.), Léonard de Vind; ïextes choisis.
Pensees, théories, préceptes, fables etfacéties, Paris
1907; idem, Traite de lapeintare, traduit
mtégralementpour la premiere fois en francais [...]
parPéladan, Paris 1910; idem, Traite du paysage.
Iraduit pour L: première fois en francais [...] par
Péladan, Paris 1910.
29 'Les anciens sentalent si profondément la nature,
qu'ils l'ont animée, personifiée et peuplée d'êtres
invisibles': Péladan, Traite du paysage, op. cit. (note
28), p. 8.
30 'Tout paysage est susceptible de signifier le.s
gradations sentimentales, qui descendent de
l'allégresse la plus solairc au dcscspoir Ie plus
sombre: ce n'est qu'une qnestion de lumière, de
tonalitcs et de sensibilité chez l'artiste': Péladan.
Traite du paysage, op. cit. (note 28), p. 9.
31 Richter, op. cit. (note zj).
32 Ibidem, p. xiii-xïx.
33 For a discussion of Kandinsky's Composttions, see
Washton Long, op. cit. (note 7), p. 108-122 and
Dabrowski, op. cit. (note n). Kandinsky could also
have come across the term 'composition' in the text
editions by Péladan, who had translatcd the
sectïons concerned nnder the headingof'De la
Composition'. Dabrowski (p. 19-20) follows othet
authors in stating that the word 'Composition
tefcrs to the musical term. My interpretation does
not necessarily conflicf with this.
34 The list of subscribers includcs amongst othcrs the
name of the Dutch pain ter AlmaTadema; Richter,
op. cit. (note 25), p. vii-xn.
35 E. Ronveyre (ed.), Études et dessins sur l'atmosphère,
vol. 5 of Feuillets inédits, reproduit! d'apr'es les
originaux comervés a la B/blwThèqm' du Chateau de
Windsor, 23 vols., Paris 1901. Frorn the catalogue of
1899 by Müntz, op. cit. (note 23), p. 529-542, it can
be deduced that therewere 110 reptoductions of the
deluge and storm drawings prior to 1899, exccpt for
a few in Richter, op. cit. (note 25), ills. xxxiv,
xxxv, xxix (and related drawings, ills. xxxvixxxvni,
xi., i.xiv).They werc not included in the
reproductions published in 1879 on the occasion of

the Windsor drawing exhibirion (1878-1879) in the
Grosvenor Gallery (London), or in Leonardo da
Vinci, 60 Handzeichnungen, Dornach (Braun &
Cic; undated), or in tbc Vasari Society's
Reproductions published betwecn 1910-191). Even in
1911 reproductions could still only bc found in
Rouveyre's publicatioo as can be concludcd from
the fitst complete, hut not illusirated catalogue of
all the Windsor drawïngs published by W. von
SeidHtz, 'l discgni di Leonardo da Vinci a
Windsor', L'arte; rivista di storia dell'arte medioevale
e moderna e d'arte decorativa, xiv (1911), p. 269-2.89.
Berenson roo did not include reproductions in The
Drawings of the b'lorentine Painters, vol. 2, London
1903, p. 67. It was only at the beginning of the
1930$ that one comes across new reproductions, for
instance in A. E. Popham, Jtalian drawings
exhibïted at the Royal Academy, Burlington House,
London 1950, Oxford 1931, p. 18-28, and Clark, op.
cit. (note 20).
36 Kandinsky, op. cit. (note 2), for instance p. 43 and
p. 106-107.
37 Berenson, op. cit. (note 35), p. 165.
38 'Sie Ssr vielmchr in der Lufr schwebend und sieht
wie von Dampt umgeben aus': Kandinsk}', op. cit.
(note 4), p. xxxvii. For Leonardo's text, sec Richter,
op. cit. (note 25), p. 310-312.
KANDINSKY S COMPLF, TION OF LEONARDO S DEL U G F. 469