The following article appeared in the publication Master Drawings, New York City, 1994. There may be a connection between this publication and the Cooper-Hewitt Museum of Designs, which is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. Ms. van Ysselt has provided incorrect dates for the lifetime of Apollonius, which should be 3 BCE-97 CE. Johannes Stradanus was the artistic pseudonym for Flemish writer Jan Van der Straeten, who published a book titled Vie d'Apollonius de Tyane in Brussels around 1588, at the same time that these Stradanus drawings were prepared. Thus, the drawings could have been intended to illustrate the biography; or the book published by Jan Van der Straeten was itself the "folio" that contained these drawings and may be what is now in the possession of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum. This information is presently unknown.
Robertino Solàrion, Dallas, 6 February 2003
Pour une traduction française par Polo Delsalles, Montréal, cliquez ici.
Among the collection of pen sketches by the Flemish artist Johannes Stradanus (Bruges 1523 - Florence 1605) at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York, is a hitherto unpublished series of small drawings -- all executed in pen and brown ink with gray-brown wash and numbered from one to ten.[1] According to their captions, written in the artist's own handwriting, the drawings represent scenes from the life of the Greek philosopher Apollonius of Tyana as recorded by Flavius Philostratus the Elder.
Apollonius (ca. 40 A.D. - ca. 120 A.D.) came from the town of Tyana in Cappadocia.[2] Today he is regarded as an eclectic philosopher, virtually unknown during his lifetime and remembered only in a few cities in Northern Syria and Asia Minor as a beneficent magician and an Asclepian doctor. Acting on the instructions of the Roman empress Julia Domna, the Greek sophist Flavius Philostratus the Elder wrote an elaborate biography that was completed shortly after 217 A.D. In Philostratus' largely fabricated account, Apollonius is glorified as a universally acclaimed, influential, and even semi-divine Neo-Pythagorean philosopher who wrought spectacular miracles, made prophecies, and exorcised demons. Philostratus relates how Apollonius, accompanied by his disciples, traveled extensively in the Mediterranean region and the Middle East; in Egypt he visited the Gymnosophists and in India the Brahmans, who initiated him into their supreme wisdom. When he died an old man, his body and soul ascended to heaven.
Philostratus' biography acquired considerable fame in the early fourth century. In 302 the Greek sophist Sossianus Hierocles published an anti-Christian treatise in which he compared the Apollonius conjured up by Philostratus with Christ, rating the philosopher's supernatural powers higher than those of the founder of Christianity. Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea fiercely attacked these views in the apologia Contra Hierocles of about 303, in which he defended the divine origin of the miracles performed by Christ and condemned Apollonius as a magician inspired by evil powers. Thenceforth, the figure of Apollonius as Christ's rival was firmly lodged in the polemic writings of the Church Fathers and upholders of Hellenism.
The editio princeps of Philostratus' Life of Apollonius was printed in 1501-1504 in Venice. The first Italian editions -- by Francesco Baldelli, Lodovico Dolce, and Giovambernardo Gualandi -- all appeared in 1549. Stradanus probably consulted one of these Italian editions for his source of inspiration. Since the story is little known, the episodes depicted in Stradanus' drawings are described below. For the identification of the illustrations, I referred to F.C. Conybeare's edition of 1912.[3]
The first drawing in Stradanus' series represents The Birth of Apollonius in Tyana in Cappadocia (Book I, Chapters 4-5; Fig. 1, top).[4] The pregnant mother of Apollonius sleeps in a meadow where she had been picking flowers in accordance with instructions conveyed to her in a dream. Swans dance around her in a circle. Abruptly woken by their screaming, she gives premature birth to her son in the background. The birth is accompanied by a bolt of lightning -- a portent that Apollonius would perform great deeds and acquire divine status. Below on the same sheet of paper is shown Apollonius Admiring the Reliefs in the Temple of Taxila (Book II, Chapter 20; Fig. 1).[5] Near the royal city of Taxila in India, Apollonius and his companions admire the interior of a temple whose walls are covered with large bronze reliefs. These records show how Alexander the Great, after his crushing defeat of King Porus of India, reinstated the king and presented him with India as a gift.
The second sheet in the Cooper-Hewitt, like the others that make up this series, also has two scenes, one on top of the other (Fig. 2). The uppermost scene, Apollonius Meeting the Messenger of the Brahmans (Book III, Chapters 11-13),[6] depicts the philosopher and his disciples in India, where they encounter the Brahmans' messenger -- a dark young man with a luminous spot on his forehead and a golden anchor in his hand. The castle in the background is the Brahmans' fortress, where Apollonius would later stay. Below this sketch is represented Apollonius Ridding the People of Ephesus of a Plague (Book IV, Chapter 10).[7] Acting on the instructions of Apollonius, seen on the left with his disciples, Ephesian citizens in the theater of their city stone a blind old beggar, who subsequently turns out to be a plague demon that changes into a large, ferocious dog.
The third sheet illustrates two miracles that Philostratus attributed to Apollonius (Fig. 3). The first, Apollonius Curing a Young Athenian Possessed of a Demon (Book IV, Chapter 20),[8] shows the demon -- in accordance with the orders of the enthroned Apollonius -- toppling a statue from its plinth as visible proof of his having left the young man's body. In the lower scene, Apollonius Raising a Girl from the Dead in Rome (Book IV, Chapter 45),[9] the mystic lays his hands on a girl who died shortly before her wedding, bringing her back to life.
The Greek philosopher's purported ability to divine the future is treated in the fourth sheet (Fig. 4). In Apollonius Predicting the Year of the Three Emperors in Syracuse (Book V, Chapter 13),[10] a woman has just given birth to a three-headed son, which Apollonius, in the right background, interprets to his disciples as a sign that three Roman emperors -- Galba, Otho, and Vitellius -- will all come to power and die in the same year. Below this scene, Stradanus illustrated Apollonius Predicting the Acquittal of a Man Condemned to Death in Alexandria (Book V, Chapter 24).[11] In the foreground, Apollonius foretells that Pharion, one of twelve convicted criminals, will be released just before his execution. His prediction is about to be fulfilled eight: eight of the prisoners have already been beheaded when a messenger on horseback rides up to the scaffold with orders to free Pharion, who has been found innocent.
The fifth sheet illustrates two further adventures of Apollonius during his travels (Fig. 5). The uppermost sketch shows Apollonius Meeting the Animals and Natives of Ethiopia (Book VI, Chapters 24-26).[12] On their way to the sources and waterfalls of the Nile, Apollonius and his companions encounter wild animals who allow them to pass unharmed. They also come across pygmies, elephant hunters, cannibals, and sciapods -- naked creatures that used their large feet as sunshades.[13] Apollonius Quelling the Ghost of a Satyr in Ethiopia (Book VI, Chapter 27),[14] shown below, recounts the pursuit of the ghost of a murderous, lustful satyr by women armed with bows and arrows. On the right, Apollonius offers a pitcher of wine to the satyr, who later falls into a drunken slumber in a cave in the background.
Two sketches from the series can be linked with two drawings worked up in detail and in a larger format, the subjects of which were hitherto unidentified. One is in the Courtauld Institute of London (Fig. 6),[15] the other in the Print Room of Leiden University (Fig. 7).[16] A comparison of the sketches with the finished drawings reveals some differences in the compositions. In the Cooper-Hewitt sketch of Apollonius Predicting the Acquittal of a Man Condemned to Death in Alexandria (Fig. 4, bottom), the successive episodes of the story are depicted simultaneously. Apollonius, in the right foreground, points at the passing prisoners and utters his prediction, behind him, a few of his followers and a mounted guard can be discerned. The climax is enacted in the background, the mounted courier has reached the scaffold where the death sentence has already been carried out on some of the prisoners, under the eyes of a monarch behind a window decorated with a tapestry. Stradanus noted below that the event took place during the reign of the emperor Domitian, a detail not mentioned in the literary source.
The composition of the finished drawing in London (Fig. 6) is in reverse of the sketch. Here, Stradanus confined himself to the moment when Apollonius exhorts a guard on horseback to hold back Pharion, presumably the prisoner in the back row who looks over his shoulder. On the scaffold, the executioner awaits the arrival of the procession, the messenger on horseback is missing in this version. Compared with the sketch, the drawing shows the moment of the prediction more clearly, with the main group facing forward and the mounted guard placed in the foreground.
A striking difference between the Cooper-Hewitt sketch of Apollonius Meeting the Animals and Natives of Ethiopia (Fig. 5, top) and the finished drawing in Leiden (Fig. 7) is the placement of the philosopher and his companions in the exotic landscape. In the sketch, they walk toward the left, while in the Leiden drawing, the travelers repose in the shade of a small tree. According to the barely legible caption, Apollonius is the figure facing left. The other motifs, only vaguely indicated in the sketch, also occur in the drawing: the wild animals consisting of two lions, a panther or leopard, a fox, and a bear; the three waterfalls of the Nile cascading from the mountains; and the legendary sciapods sitting on the riverbank in front of their caves. Farther away are natives wielding sticks and other fleeing figures, probably the cannibals and pygmies that populated Ethiopia, according to Philostratus. In the left background, near a grove of palm trees, hunters armed with bows and arrows chase two elephants. Finally, in the distance, Apollonius and his disciples are setting forth to admire the waterfalls.
These differences in composition suggest that the two Cooper-Hewitt pen sketches -- and by inference the other eight as well -- were preliminary studies for full worked-up drawings, and not ricordi, which would have served as the artist's personal records of the composition of his definitive drawings. Stradanus evidently jotted down his initial ideas for the illustrations immediately after reading the stones, numbering and inscribing these rapid sketches. He indicated the subjects, iconographical peculiarities, and sometimes the principal figure in the crowded compositions with the name, Apolinio. These notes later served as aides mémoires for the detailed drawings.That the illustrations were probably done with a series of engravings in mind is borne out by the technique of the two finished drawings -- the same technique as that employed by Stradanus' numerous surviving designs for engravings. Characteristic of these are the painstaking details executed in pen, the shaded areas in wash, and the highlights in white body color -- all intended to assist the engraver.[17] Moreover, the drawing in London once had a Flemish inscription by Stradanus at the bottom, most of which was later cut off; two fragments were pasted on the verso of the sheet. Similar inscriptions are often encountered on Stradanus' designs for engravings; they were instructions for the Flemish publishers in Antwerp who had the drawings engraved and issued. The artist's experimentation to determine the most effective disposition of the figures for Apollonius Predicting the Acquittal of a Man Condemned to Death in Alexandria (Fig. 4, bottom, and Fig. 6) suggests that he envisaged a mirror-image transposition of the composition, as is customary in engraving. However, no engravings are known that may have belonged to a series designed by Stradanus and based on the life of Apollonius of Tyana. This reduces the likelihood that such a series was ever published.
In every aspect the illustrations tally with Stradanus' oeuvre during the last period of his long life. A major undertaking in these latter years was the production of designs for a series of sixty-one engravings of exotic hunting scenes, published between 1596 and 1602 by Philip Galle in Antwerp under the title Venatiónes Feranum, Avium, Piscium. Pugnae Bestiariorum ... .[18] As Welmoet Bok-van Kammen demonstrated in her examination of these celebrated hunting scenes, the subjects of seven of the engravings are based on Philostratus' biography of Apollonius of Tyana.[19] In fact, the compositions of two of these engravings are very close to those of the sketches discussed here (Fig. 5, top and bottom): Apollonius' encounter with the animals and natives in Ethiopia (Fig. 8),[20] and the pursuit of the ghost of the wicked satyr (Fig. 9).[21]
Thematic and stylistic correspondences suggest that the two pen sketches were probably done in the same period as the engravings.[22] A number of designs for the late hunting scenes bear the date 1596,[23] lending support to the assumption that the illustrations of the Life of Apollonius of Tyana date from about that time.
Scenes based on Philostratus' Life of Apollonius of Tyana are practically unknown in art.[24] In his choice of such an obscure subject, the artist may have been influenced by Luigi Alamanni (1558-1603), a Florentine man of letters who played an important role in Stradanus' career by giving him commissions and advice.[25] A prominent poet and scholar, Alamanni possessed a profound knowledge of classical literature and was a member of the Accademia degli Alterati, a society dedicated to the study of Italian literature, notably Dante's Divina Commedia. His interests ranged from theology and philosophy to cosmography, astronomy, and mathematics; he was particularly engrossed in the topographical and mathematical problems raised by Dante's Inferno and the discovery of America by the Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci.
From 1587 on, Alamanni regularly commissioned designs from Stradanus for engravings representing a variety of his favorite literary and scientific subjects.[26] He supplied detailed iconographic instructions, often with references to literary sources, and composed Latin captions for the engravings. Alamanni evidently collaborated on the series of exotic hunting scenes. On the verso of two sheets related to this project, also preserved in the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, are notations in Alamanni's handwriting that describe a hunt scene with references to classical sources, as well as a crude sketch, both of which serve as instructions for the drawing that Stradanus made on the recto.[27] Alamanni's involvement in the late hunting scenes in the capacity of an iconographic advisor and the fact that seven subjects from this series come from Philostratus' account of Apollonius are strong indications that Alamanni was the instigator of, and perhaps even commissioned, Stradanus' illustrations representing the remarkable life of the Greek philosopher from Tyana.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I would like to thank Herman Th. Colenbrander for his assistance in preparing this article and Ruth Koenig for translating the text.
FOOTNOTES
1. See the two articles by M.N. Benisovich: "The Drawings of Stradanus (Jan van der Straeten) in the Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration, New York," Art Bulletin, 38, 1956, pp. 249-51 (the series is referred to on p. 251 as " ... four others from the Story of St. Apolline ... "); and "Les Sessins de Stradanus", Il Vasari, 21, 1963, pp. 139-43.
In my opinion, the many pages covered with sketches and inscriptions were originally bound in sketchbooks, in which from around 1580 onward Stradanus kept his primi pensieri -- preliminary designs for engravings in most cases.
2. For a recent critical study on this philosopher, see M. Dzielska, Apollonius of Tyana in Legend and History (Problemi e ricerche di storia antica 10), Rome, 1986, with bibliography.
3. Philostratus. The Life of Apollonius of Tyana (The Loeb Classical Library), with an English translation by F.C. Conybeare, London and New York, 1912. For the editio princeps of the Life, see Dzielska, 1986, p. 195. The first Italian editions are: F. Baldelli, Della vita de Apollonio Tianeo, Florence, 1549; L. Dolce, La vita del gran philosopho Apollonio Tianeo, Venice, 1549; G. Gualandi, Della vita del mirabile Apollonio Tyaneo, Venice, 1549. Stradanus probably used Baldelli's version, which was published in Florence, and, being divided into chapters, easier to read than the other two editions.
4. Inv. no. 1901-39-2021 verso, top. Numbered at lower left, 1.; inscribed below, La Tyana cita greca posta ne confini capodotia. The drawings in the series measure between 144 and 149 by 101 and 103 mm. (sheet).
5. Inv. no. 1901-39-2021 verso, bottom. Traces of numbering at lower left, 2.; traces of an inscription at lower right.
6. Inv. no. 1901-39-2021 recto, top. Numbered lower left, 3.; inscribed at upper center, nebie monticelle i.e. castelle below figures, giovani indiani and Apoline; below, mandam oratori [crossed out] i. Appoli[n]o ariviorono a u[n]a castelle dove abitorono bracomani. The words crossed out refer to the scene at the bottom.
7. Inv. no. 1901-39-2021 recto, bottom. Numbered at lower left, 4.; inscribed at upper center, teatro; at lower left, Apolonio; below that, mandorno oratori a Apolonio / Indiani monte [?] [crossed out] / nel [?] tempio Efesi una grava pestilensa. The words crossed out refer to the scene at the top.
8. Inv. no. 1901-39-2022 recto, top. Numbered at lower left, 5.; inscribed at upper right, Apolonio; below, u[n]e giovani spiritate in atene in gretia.
9. Inv. no. 1901-39-2022 recto, bottom. Numbered at lower center, 6.; inscribed at lower center, Apolonio; below, U[n]o sapiento a Roma apolionifecce resusitare damma / una fansula.
10. Inv. no. 1901-39-2022 verso, top. Numbered at lower center, 7.; inscribed at upper right, filostrate; below, una dona parton un figliol co[n] 3. capi. The designation of Apollonius as "filostrate" is evidently erroneous.
11. Inv. no 1901-39-2022 verso, bottom. Numbered at lower left, 8.; inscribed at lower center, filostrate; below, allexdria in egete / imp [?] domitianus giustitia. The designation of Apollonius as "filostrate" is evidently erroneous.
12. Inv. no. 1901-39-2669 recto, top. Numbered at lower left, 9.; inscribed at center, nila; lower right, capo [?] capo co[n] i piedi; below, caccare elifanti e mangiare [illegible] pigmei e gente.
13. On sciapods, se R. Wittkower, "Marvels of the East: A Study in the History of Monsters", Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 5, 1942, pp. 159-97.
14. Inv. no. 1901-39-2669 recto, bottom. Numbered at lower left, 10.
15. Inv. no. 2540, as "A Procession of Captives". Pen and brown ink, green wash, white heightening, 186 X 266 mm. See Hand-list of the Drawings in the Witt Collection, London, 1956, p. 131. The drawing originally bore a Flemish caption by Stradanus at the bottom, most of which was later cropped. Two fragments of the caption, pasted on the verso at the lower left and right edges, read: Apolonio / van de [illegible]; and Apol[inio] sprack met de huverste / de tormenten 4 [illegible] los.
16. Inv. no. AW 695. Pen and brown ink, green wash, white heightening, laid down, 187 X 273 mm. See J. Bolten et al., Oude Tekeningen van het Prentenkabinet der Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden, exh. cat., Institut Néerlandais, Paris, and elsewhere, 1985, no 79, repr. as "Group of Men Disputing in Foreign Parts", without mention of the inscription Apolinius under the figure facing left.
17. Both drawings are brushed with green wash. This is an unusual departure for Stradanus, who usually applied to his designs for engravings a brown wash or, less often, blue. Designs for engravings by Stradanus in pen and brown ink, without wash, are also known.
18. See W. Bok-van Kammen, Stradanus and the Hunt, Ph.D. diss., Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 1977, pp. 15-16 (published Ann Arbor, 1983),
19. Bok-van Kammen, 1977, p. 59.
20. Bok-van Kammen, 1977, pp. 280-82.
21. Bok-van Kammen, 1977, pp. 381-83.
22. See Bok-van Kammen, 1977, pp. 282 and 383, where these drawings are discussed as preliminary studies for the hunt engravings. This is unlikely, however, given the striking differences in composition and the fact that the two sketches are numbered, like those from the scenes from the life of Apollonius so identified by the artist. The numerous pen drawings with designs for exotic hunt scenes, also in the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, are not numbered.
23. Bok-van Kammen, 1977, p. 36.
24. Apart from the illustrations by Stradanus, I am acquainted with only one painting pertaining to the life of Apollonius of Tyana. This is the Apollonius of Tyana Receiving from Iarchas, the Leader of the Brahmans, Seven Rings with the Names of the Seven Planets by the Venetian artist Pietro Liberi (1614-1687); see E. Herzog, "Zwei philostratische Bildthemen der venezianischen Malerei", Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz, 8, 1958, pp. 112-13, figs. 2, 3. Herzog suggested that Liberi had himself chosen the curious subject as a decoration for his palazzo in Venice because of its astrological theme, which, according to Herzog, expressed Liberi's belief in astrology and the salutory effect of amulets in the form of planetary rings.
25. For biographical data on Luigi Alamanni, see my article, "Calcio Fiorentino disegnato da Giovanni Stradano", Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz, 37, 1993.
26. See my unpublished graduate thesis, De Florentijnse literator Luigi Alamanni als opdrachtgever en iconografisch adviseur van de Vlaamse kunstenaar Johannes Stradanus, Utrecht University, 1976. One of Alamanni's commissions was for illustrations to Dante's Inferno, dated 1587-88, now in the Biblioteca Laurenziana in Florence (Cod. Med. Palat. 75). This commission is documented by a contract with Alamanni, written by Stradanus on one of the pages in the Cooper-Hewitt Museum (inv. no. 1901-39-2635 verso). See also M. Sellink, "Lucifer", Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum, 35, 1987, pp. 91-104.
27. Bok-van Kammen, 1977, pp. 64-65. The inscriptions and sketches by Alamanni are on the verso of Stradanus' drawings, The Emperor Commodus Killing an Escaped Tiger in the Arena with a Bow and Arrow and Stag Hunt with Bow and Arrow in Persia. Bok-van Kammen (p. 285, fig. 46, and p. 347) does not go into the attribution of the sketches drawn above Alamanni's notes. The inscription on Stradanus' drawing, The King of Persia's Hunt (p. 418), was also written by Alamanni, in my opinion.