ZOETIGHEID (n. f.)

DOLCEZZA (ita.) · DOUCEUR (fra.) · SWEETNESS (eng.) · WEICHHEIT (deu.)
TERM USED IN EARLY TRANSLATIONS
/ · SUAVIS (lat.) · SWEET (eng.) · SWEETNESS (eng.)

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3 quotations

Quotation

Wanneer ons gesicht eenighe fraeye Schilderijen, Statuen ofte oock eenighe andere gheestige handt-wercken ontmoetende, seght Dionysius Halicarnass. {de comp. Nominum}, de soetigheyt en schoonheyd die daer in te vinden is ghewer word, het houdt sich dan volkomelick vergenoegt sonder iet meer te begheeren.

[Suggested translation, Marije Osnabrugge:] When our gaze [NDR: sight/view], while meeting some charming Paintings, Statues or also some other witty craftwork, says Dionysius Halicarnass. {…}, becomes aware of the sweetness and beauty that can be found in it, it is then completely satisfied without longing for anything else.

Conceptual field(s)

CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → beauté, grâce et perfection

Quotation

[Suggested translation, Marije Osnabrugge:] As the Athenians thought to have great reason to honour and serve their patron god Minerva above all the other Gods and Godesses, as such they thought it well to erect a beautiful statue for her on an elevated base; they commissioned two of the very best Artists, Alcamenes and Phidias¸to do this; and they meanwhile let it be known that the statue that was to be judged the best in everyone’s judgement, would be paid for with a nice sum of money, so the Artists eagerly went to work, driven by the hope for great profit and greater honour that appeared would follow from it. Alcamenes was completely inexperienced in the Mathematical Arts, and thought that he had acquitted himself farily well, when his statue appeared beautiful to those who were standing close. Phidias on the other hand had decided, according to the knowledge that he had from the Geometrical and the Optical sciences, that the whole appearance of the statue would change following the situation of the envisioned height, (…) as such saw the tides change within a matter of hours; because as the sweetness that one could perceive up close in the lovely statue of Alcamenes, disappeared because of the height and changed into a certain hardness, as such the crooked deformity of Phidias’ statue was softened miraculously by the forshorthening of the heightened location, and the difference in craftsmanship between the two artists was so remarkably large, that the one received the deserved praise, the other, on the other hand, was brought to shame with his work, see […]

In recounting the story of the competition between Alcamenes and Phidias for the commission of a statue of Minerva, Junius explains the importance of knowledge (kennis) of mathematics, geometry and optics for an artist. In the case of the two sculptors, Phidias’ knowledge makes the difference in the effect that the statue has on the beholders. In the Dutch edition, JUnius is much more explicit than in the English and Latin edition in his analysis of why Phidias’ sculpture was more successful in the end. He explains and identifies the foreshortening as the decisive factor. [MO]

hardheid

Conceptual field(s)

EFFET PICTURAL → perspective

Quotation

Volght dan hier uyt, dat de tafereelen die de lieffelicke soetigheyd van allerley gheschilderde wercken overtreffen; tafereelen, die ’s menschen begrijp en Konst te boven gaen; tafereelen , die gheseyt worden door een onuytsprekelicke, onnaedoenelicke, boven naturelicke, goddelicke Konst-grepe suyverlick ghedaen te sijn, yet in sich moet hebben ’t welck uyt d’arbeydsaeme moeyelickheyd der Konst-regulen niet en kan ghehaelt worden; maer dat hy de vrye gheesten der kloeck-moedigher Konstenaeren aenghemerckt hebbende hoe sich de nature in sulcken grooten verscheydenheyd der dinghen al spelende plaght te verlusten, even het selvighe in ’t naevolghen der nature betrachten.

[Suggested translation, Marije Osnabrugge:] From this it follows, that the paintings that surpass the lovely sweetness of all sorts of painted works, that far surpass human understanding and Art; paintings that are said to be purely produced by an unmentionable, inimitable, supernatural, divine Artistic Act, have to contain something in them, which cannot be obtained from the diligent difficulty of the Art-rules; but that, having observed the free spirit of the brave Artists how nature tends to playfully adorn in such a wide variety of things, attemps to obtain the same in the imitation of nature.

Conceptual field(s)

CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → beauté, grâce et perfection