21

Claes Moyaert (1591-1665)
The Catholic priest Leonard Marius (1588-1652). Painted in 1647. Panel, 122.5 × 89 cm.

Utrecht, Rijksmuseum Het Catharijneconvent, inv.nr. St. CC s.24. Purchased at sale Amsterdam (Sotheby Mak van Waay), December 13, 1982, lot 3593.

Although the Dutch Catholics were prohibited from practicing their religion in public, they made every attempt to keep the structure of the pre-Reformation church intact. This difficult task was not made any easier by the proximity of the southern Netherlands, with its flourishing Catholic life and promising career opportunities for ecclesiastics. The gifted preacher Marius nearly became court chaplain to Archduchess Isabella, daughter of Philip n, but was sent instead in 1630 to the hostile northern Netherlands as vicargeneral of the former bishopric of Haarlem. He was also rector of the Beguinage (Begijnhof) in Amsterdam, the nerve centre of Catholic life in the city. Marius was able to bring many an apostate back to the mother church. The most spectacular conversion in his period was that of Joost van den Vondel. Whether or not Marius or, as another version of the story goes, a Catholic widow deserves the credit is a moot point, but it is certain that the poet admired Marius, to whom he dedicated two poems.

As the leading Catholic painter of Amsterdam in this period, Claes Moyaert was the portraitist of preference to his co-re-ligionists. He painted Marius at least three times during his life, and once on his bier.

After Marius's death, this portrait was published by Dirk Matham in a engraving, with the following inscription by Vondel:

Thus did Marius edify the lettered and unschooled alike
By spoken words and written, with zeal inspired by God.
Now he speaks no more, now his golden pen lies still.
The liveliest image of him is what he left in print.

The verbal play between word and image, written and visual record, is a constant feature of poems of this kind – and also of many paintings. Moyaert too was looking for a means of showing Marius as a writer and speaker. The strongest impression is made on us, however, not by his spiritual gifts but by his striking personal appearance. The ebony frame is original. It is an early example of a frame with a concave profile.

NNBW, vol. 7, cols. 839-840. Vondel, vol. 5, p. 552. Dudok van Heel 1976. Exhib. cat. Prijst de lijst, p. 154.