Article
An Iconographical Riddle: Gerbrandt van den Eeckhout's Royal Repast in the Liechtenstein Princely Collections
Art Bulletin
(2014)
Abstract
Gerbrandt van den Eeckhout's Royal Repast has been interpreted as King David mourning the death of his son by Bathsheba and as an allegory of Winter. Both explanations, however, overlook many puzzling elements, such as the setting within a cave, the unusual gifts presented to the king, and the presence of four winged figures in the background, one of whom is a haloed black boy. An alchemical interpretation brings these elements together within a coherent iconographical framework. In this context, the king serves as an allegorical pivot, complementing and magnifying the figures and objects placed around him. Eeckhout's iconography comes from popular alchemical emblem books and from medieval sources that were reprinted in the seventeenth century in response to a renewed fascination with early alchemical imagery. The Royal Repast not only reflects the seventeenth-century perception of alchemy as a force for the public good, but also demonstrates that the history of chemistry is a relatively unexplored area for art-historical research in Dutch seventeenth-century painting.
Keywords
- Gerbrandt van den Eeckhout,
- Royal Repast,
- Dutch seventeenth-century painting
Publication Date
August 14, 2014
DOI
10.1080/00043079.1989.10788530
Citation Information
Petra T. Chu and Laurinda S. Dixon. "An Iconographical Riddle: Gerbrandt van den Eeckhout's Royal Repast in the Liechtenstein Princely Collections" Art Bulletin Vol. 71 Iss. 4 (2014) p. 610 - 627 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/petra_chu/13/