April 11 – Rotterdam-Delft, the Netherlands. Today we are docked in Rotterdam but we are heading to the city of Delft the place from which Delft Ware gets its name. Some of our shipmates are going to the sole remaining Delft Ware factory we are just going to spend our time in Delft City.
It was a short ride out of Rotterdam to Delft. When we alit from the bus the first thing we saw was a big blue heart. It's constructed like a stained glass lamp shade or window but the blue panes take the shape of a large, plump heart. Even on a cloudy day like today it seems to glow.
It was a short walk to the Market Square. Here you find the City Hall and the New Church. Again 'New' is a relative term. In this case the 'new' church was constructed in the 1300s. The tower dominates the building. It's the second tallest church tower in the Netherlands but at the moment it's dominated by the scaffolding around the entire tower above the entrance. It's a shame because it's an impressive sight since it's at least two and a half times taller that the church building.
A short block off the Market Square is the Old Saint Lucas Gilde (Guild of St. Luke) House that now houses the Delft Vermeer Center. This is not an art museum but is a place dedicated to understanding and appreciating the life and art of Johannes Vermeer. Since it just opened for the day and was completely empty we decided to see it first. Downstairs they have reproductions of all his paintings with signs showing where they are displayed and a small explanation of the composition.
Upstairs is a room set up as Vermeer's studio. They have some of the props that appear in his paintings as well as the window he used to get the light he wanted. There were tools and raw ingredients for mixing paint. Back then the best artists made their own paint as commercial oil paint was not available.
To demonstrate the thought that went into a single composition they had actual size reproductions of some of his best paintings. Around the reproduction they had enlarged some elements of the painting and had notes to explain the symbolism. Many of his paintings had to do with love although that is often not readily discernable at first glance.
I'll give you an example. His painting 'A Girl Asleep' shows a young woman leaning on a table apparently asleep. Here's the explanation. In the open door Vermeer had originally painted a dog, the sign of loyalty or watchfulness, however in the end he painted over the dog. The glass of wine on the table is half full, a warning against intemperate drinking and an allusion to Aphrodite, Greek goddess of fertility, sensual love and beauty. The woman herself is wearing nice clothing and she's wearing earrings. Is she waiting for her lover? Is he late and she's fallen asleep? There are two wine jugs, one is standing upright the other, wrapped in cloth, has fallen over. Is she sleeping off a hangover? Hard to see in front of the fruit bowl is a fallen roemer, this is a man's drinking glass and it's empty. Does this indicate that their relationship is 'empty' and shallow? Perhaps it symbolized not only the end of drinking together but also being together. The bowl of apples symbolizes temptation and evil as in the 'apple' that Satan gave to Eve. In the upper left corner there's a part of a painting by van Everdingen. This painting was in the house of Vermeer's mother-in-law and is in several of his paintings. The part you can see is the leg of Cupid. This confirms the paintings theme of love, but what kind of love? There were more interpretive sections but I'm stopping here. Art has much in common with church architecture, but I don't know enough about art to see the implications in the painting.
When we left the Vermeer Center it was raining a bit and since it was just a short way to the New Church we decided to head in there. The church is probably best known as the burial site for all the members of the House of Orange-Nassau since William of Orange was buried there in 1621 after being executed. His name is the reason that the one of the colors of the Dutch flag is orange. The entire country is in love with the color. You see a lot of orange in Texas because, with white, it's the colors of the UT, Austin Longhorns, but you see more of it here.
William originally served the Habsburgs as a member of the court of Margaret of Parma, governor of the Spanish Netherlands. He became disenchanted with the centralization of power in Spain and when Spanish inquisitors came to repress the Dutch Protestants he joined forces with the Dutch rebels and led them on several successful campaigns against the Spanish. He was assassinated in Delft while eating dinner with a friend at home. Up to this point the Nassau family had always been buried in Breda but William became the first of his family line to be buried in Delft. Since then all the monarchs and most of the other members of the Orange-Nassau family have been buried in the crypt in the New Church. It's private so you can't go down to it however a beautiful monument to William of Orange is in the main church. It's often referred to as his tomb, but he lies in peace in the crypt below.
The monument has many parts and could easily be called an allegory. William is picture in it twice. First he is seated on a chair between the first two columns of the monument dressed in his armor, holding a stick in one hand and with his helmet at his feet. At the front corners of the monument you have bronzes of Justice and her scales on the right and Liberty on the left with her scepter and what looks like a golden cowboy hat in her left hand. On the turned up brim is written Avrea Libertas (Golden Liberty). I can't explain the resemblance to a cowboy hat unless the Dutch had such a hat at the time. I know the PA Dutch (mostly Germans) have a wide brimmed hat somewhat like it but the brim is usually flat. The rear corners are Religion with her Bible in her right hand and the model of a church in her left and Prudence with one arm akimbo and holding a stick in her right hand. Over each of the corner bronzes is a dark marble obelisk resting on four skulls. The canopy is held up by multiple dark marble columns and in the front on the canopy is William's coat-of-arms.
Behind the seated William is a carved black coffin shaped box with a pure white sculpture of William at rest with his head toward the seated William. His dog lies sleeping at his feet and his head is resting on two plump, tasseled pillows. He's dressed for sleep in his nightshirt, sleeping cap and slippers. The carving is a masterpiece. Even though it's stark white you can almost see him breathing, it's so lifelike. A really odd thing to say about a sculpture of a man in death.
The New Church is in the traditional cross form with a tall central nave and two shorter, smaller side aisles. The central nave has clerestory windows on the upper walls. The church is light inside because most of the windows are clear. There are old stained glass windows in the transept and above the altar in the apse. One window has been removed from its original place and hung in a backlit box at the left of the apse at the end of the left side aisle. It's a window dedicated to William of Orange. His likeness is in the center dressed in his armor, with his helmet and gauntlets on a table at his side. In his right hand is the same sort of stick he's holding in the seated statue on the monument. His left hand is resting on his sword. The corners of the window have scenes of the appearance of God in the Old Testament. From top left going clockwise; the Burning Bush in the desert, the Pillar of Smoke that led the Israelites in the desert, Noah's dove flying above the flood waters and Moses receiving the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. I haven't seen that particular motif before on a memorial window. Because it's Sunday there's someone playing the pipe organ. That's always a nice touch.
When we left the New Church we were heading to the Old Church and since it had stopped raining that worked out well as the Old Church is a bit of a walk through the old part of town. It was built in 1246 on a site that had been the location of previous churches for at least 200 years. There's also an organist at work here. The most unique things about it are, Vermeer is buried here and the fact that the tower leans due to construction errors in laying the foundation. Every few feet up the blocks on one side were made higher that the opposing side to account for the lean. The only parts of the tower that's truly vertical are the four turrets at the very top. Even the central spire between them leans toward the back of the church. The Old Church has the same basic layout as the New Church but the interior is much simpler. For one thing there's not huge monument to anyone in the apse, just a very simple altar. Along the sides of the side aisles there are burial chapels to various important people from the city. Some of the burials are under the floor of the church. Some of the cover stones are so deeply carved that they are dangerous to walk on. The chances of spraining an ankle are pretty good.
Of more contemporary interest is a display of art by the actress who played Anne Frank in the Dutch movie, Jip Wungaarden. One section of the paintings has a special meaning. The first and largest painting shows a Jewish man in his prayer shawl and hat floating over the scene and blowing on a shofar. Below him, in shades of red and orange are people lined up at a railroad track, waiting for transport to the camps. Most have their heads down and you can't see their faces but one man is looking up, off into the distance at a church steeple in a village. None of the buildings have any windows facing his way. He has a look of hope on his face as if he hopes that help will be arriving from the village or the church. We know that certain individuals and organizations helped hide Jews from being sent to the camps but the higher organizations management did precious little.
Next to this painting are smaller square paintings of individuals that would have been in that line. There's a woman, nicely dressed, a man in work clothes, a richly dressed lady, a man holding a book, Mary, Jesus, a lady in Spanish dress, a man in African dress (I guess representing the Ashkenazi and Sephardic lines of Judaism), a business woman and a musician. She's trying to emphasize the fact that those deportees headed for death were everyday people from all classes and had Mary and Jesus been alive in Poland or Germany at the time they would have been sent too. Nicely done.
Across the canal from the Old Church stands a large very ornate house. I had to go over and take a look. It's a gothic structure built in 1505 for Jan de Huyter a wealthy merchant. Above the door there are 8 small coats of arms and one large one. The 8 smaller coats of arms are family related; the large one belongs to the Dyke Conservancy Board of Delfland and was put there in 1652. It's at least two and a half times as wide as the usual large canal house.
Back at the Market Square D went to do some shopping while I participated in my favorite overseas pastime, people watching. Wasn't long before I saw a gem. Five young ladies, one in pink and four in green, each with a crown on her head walked into the square accompanied by an array of pink, gold, green and red balloons. They sat at the foot of the square's statue, pink in the middle with a crocheted poodle in her lap surrounded by the greens. A lady in regular clothes was following them and they posed for a picture for both the lady and me. Mine was completely candid of course. Without explanation they walked out of the square by way of the corner where we came in.
Later as we were pulling away in our bus, a whole group of costumed characters were heading into the square. One man was wearing a suit and top hat of Delft blue tile fabric. Another was wearing a derby hat and had a British flag jacket. One couple on stilts was dressed entirely in red and black. Others had on frilly dresses and wigs to match. None of the guides knew what was going on but the Dutch are known to go wacky occasionally.
Then it was back to Rotterdam to set sail for our next stop.
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