Nicolaes Lachtropius & the Golden Spiral

Still Life with Flowers, Nicolaes Lachtropius, 1667   (Geometry: DS, 2022)

 

"In the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, this flower still life is one of the paintings made by Nicolaes Lachtropius. This painter was active from 1656-1700 in Amsterdam, and Alphen aan den Rijn. The description says “On a marble plinth a vase with a bouquet of roses and poppies. Between the flowers some butterflies, on the [edge of the] plinth a snail.” This oil-painting is signed “N. Lachtropius Anº 1667.″

The snail is very naturalistically painted, and is a dextral specimen of Cepaea nemoralis (L., 1758)."

- Via this page from a wonderful blog by a Dutch Malacologist entitled "Hunting for Snails" which charts the extensive history of snail images going back as far as the Roman Empire. In other words, it is the PERFECT blog! It was also one of my early influences when charting the course of this "golden" journey (so, Bram, I thank you).

 

"According to the RKD he was a flower still life painter who followed Otto Marseus van Schrieck.. He worked in Amsterdam, The Hague and in Leiden and was last registered in Alphen aan den Rijn."

- The sum total of Wiki's entry for Nicoleas Lachtropius.

 

 ***

 

Well, three's the charm (as I've said in the past) and, between the time I uploaded the image (above) and finished this third attempt at the accompanying text, I made another possible discovery. That is, it seems that several Dutch artists from this period (17th century)- and each of them (historically) in contact with the other - were not using the Golden Rectangle Spiral (GRS) as I had first concluded, but were utilizing the Golden Triangle Spiral (GTS) which I had neglected to substantially test because, at the time, I did not have an accurate GTS template.* Afterwards, when I finally did, I did a quick analysis but, after much labor with the GRS, I almost didn't want to know. Anyway, the "big reveal" will take place later in the finished series. This post exists just to give you an idea of what I'm aiming for, and to show another way in which the GTS can be utilized. See the (Botticelli spiral). (Don't worry, there won't be a quiz.)

That being said, the image above has been modified from the original: I gave it more space at the top.** But, don't be alarmed. Below is the actual .jpg of Nicolaes Lachtropius's painting from the museum's collection. And, as you see, there is no deception; the GTS still stands and in a very similar relationship. In fact, it's a gem. It connects almost every major element of the painting - excluding one red poppy (possibly an imitation) and a yellow snail - and it even curls through the artist's decorative signature. And, yet, it is the presence of the lowly snail which - if my hypothesis  is correct - gives the game away... and is the key to the artist's ulterior motive. Its ornate shell is, in fact, the symbol of the artist's modus operandi: "I have followed the spiral" or, what Albrecht Dürer referred to - two hundred years previously and in the "craftsmen language" - as the "Schneckenlinie" (the "snail-line"). (Via Dürer's Wiki entry.) (And, yes, I'll be discussing Dürer later, too.)

Inset right is a reduced version of the spiral (in the original painting). Note that it's innermost coil no longer winds around the pale pink rose but wraps around the small inset bud.

Which is the beauty of the Golden Spiral. You can size it and shift it, but the porportions, and its relationship to the image and design stays the same. Apparently, when the design is Golden, it's always Golden and the gold is found evenly distributed throughout the painting.

And, yet, it must be said, one might not find Lachtropius's design particularly harmonious or pleasing to the eye. Instead it might seem oddly unsettling, although intriguing (and somewhat kinetic)... but, if we can agree the artist did utilize the spiral, we might still question: why?

First of all, try not to see this as a contrived, mechanical design. It isn't. But, it might be in code... a code which impresses upon certain viewers - those in "the know" (specifically other artists) - the expertise of the artist in achieving an almost arcane and "sacred" harmony with a secret, embedded spiral.

Can we test this?

Well, maybe if we knew more about Nicoleas Lachtropius (1630-1711) and the other artists involved we could hazard an educated guess. And, as it happens, we have been given one small clue in the scant information available to us: Lachtropius was a follower of Otto van Shrieck, whose work has been described as: "... dark studies of plants, often with lizards at the base and insects on the leaves and branches. According to the Netherlands Institute for Art History, his followers were Willem van Aelst, Anthonie van Borssom, Elias van den Broeck, J Falk, Carl Wilhelm de Hamilton, Trajan Hughes, Nicolaes Lachtropius, Jacob Marrel, Abraham Mignon, Rachel Ruysch, Christiaen Striep, Isac Vromans, Matthias Withoos, and Pieter Withoos."
 

At this point, I may as well mention that I've already found spirals in the paintings of two of the "followers" mentioned; three, including Lachtropius. (Follow the snail...) But, there's more. Van Shrieck and (at least) one of those artists belonged to a very unusual group: the Bentvueghels, of which Wiki informs us:

"The Bentvueghels (Dutch for "Birds of a Feather") were a society of mostly Dutch and Flemish artists active in Rome from about 1620 to 1720. They are also known as the Schildersbent ("painters' clique").

"The members, which included painters, etchers, sculptors and poets, all lived in different parts of the city (mostly the parishes of Santa Maria del Popolo and San Lorenzo in Lucina in the north of the city) and came together for social and intellectual reasons. The group was well known for its drunken, Bacchic initiation rituals (paid for by the initiate). These celebrations, sometimes lasting up to 24 hours, concluded with group marching to the church of Santa Costanza, known popularly at the time as the Temple of Bacchus. There they made libations to Bacchus before the porphyry sarcophagus of Constantina (now in the Vatican Museums), which was considered to be his tomb because of its Bacchic motifs. A list of its members may still be seen in one of this church's side chapels. This practice was finally banned by Pope Clement XI in 1720. Although predominantly made up of Flemish and Dutch artists, a few other members were admitted, including Joachim von Sandrart and Valentin de Boulogne."

Disappointingly, Lachtropius is not found in Wiki's list of group members, but, personally, I am not yet dissuaded. Interestingly, the Bentvueghels sound suspiciously like a proto-Masonic Lodge and, as it so happens, I've recently found evidence that, residing in the Netherlands during this period, were a group of French Huguenot refugees with Masonic ties. More importantly, the Bentvueghels were situated in Italy; a key destination in the "snail line."

But, I'm getting ahead of myself here. We can't really establish anything without keeping in mind that the presence of the spiral may be no more than a happy accident. In other words: a coincidence. The consensus of academic opinion is this: golden spirals were not known in the academic world until the modern age. This may be true... but it doesn't necessarily rule out the rest of the (non-academic) world. I'm referring to the art world specifically, which would also include artisans and architects. I am also referring to traditions which may have never entered the public domain at all. In other words, historians cannot possibly have an eye in every key-hole... and "Science," as we know it, sprung from fairly arcane roots. (Alchemy, Astrology, Herbology, etc.) Knowledge is a law into itself,  but it doesn't necessarily play favorites...  it needn't  always reveal itself along the pathways of the tried & true or "straight and narrow." It goes to those who have the audacity to ferret it out in unusual ways.

To further illustrate this point, the Dutch Golden Age occurred in what is known as the Baroque period, an era characterized by a profusion of complex swirly, curly ornamentation on everything from buildings to furniture, jewelry and so on. A quintessential example (found here) appears to your upper left. But if we take a closer look at a portion of this decorative flourish, what do we actually find? See below. Hmmm... possibly another "coincidence".

For my article regarding a few more Dutch artists from the Baroque period see: In the Company of Green Women (V): The Renaissance & Baroque Painters.

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*My reference for the GTS was D'arcy Thompson's drawing found in this pdf.; an article which, ironically, refutes the evidence of the Golden Ratio in artwork before the twentieth century.

**One disconcerting factor with many of the Dutch paintings - specifically the flower paintings I've analyzed - is that they tend to appear rather cramped... as if cropped to fit a frame... or as if the artists were extremely economical with their chosen ground. Sometimes, even the image area is lost in these weird crops. In all cases, a degree of elegance has been lost.

***There's a few more points to be addressed, The first concerns the described "marble plinth," which neither looks like marble nor a plinth, but a table which has been elaborately painted with more flowers. Before I had a good GTS, I analyzed this painting with a Golden Triangle arrangement that eventually became one of my templates (inset) and was surprised to find that it's large inverted triangle "coincidentally" aligned with a strange, triangular petal upon which an almost invisible word had been inscribed. I can't make it out, can you?

Also, you'll note that the large, upright Golden Triangle in the diagram seems to be pressing on the spindly stems of the (possibly faux) poppies. The reason I believe they're faux is due to those spindly stems (possibly wires) and the weird, satin-like sheen on their calyxes - one is white, the other black. I can't help but wonder what the significance of the poppies might be. Political? Religious? Or, esoteric?

 

Today's musical selection is a composition for the pipe organ written by Baroque composer, Jans Pieterszoon Sweelinck.