Cornelis van Haarlem - Monk with a Beguine [1591]

Cornelis van Haarlem - Monk with a Beguine [1591], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

A monk squeezes a beguine’s (a member of several lay sisterhoods founded in the Netherlands in the 13th century) breast. The explanation most often given of this picture is that it is a 16th-century satire on the dissolute lives of those living in cloisters: monks and nuns were frequently accused of drunkenness, gluttony, avarice and licentious behaviour. The wine and the fruit would therefore allude to an immoral life. In old museum catalogues, however, the subject of this painting is described as 'the miracle of Haarlem.’ 

According to the legend, a Haarlem nun was accused of having concealed a pregnancy and birth. lt was believed that her motherhood could be detected by squeezing her breast: if milk was expressed, the accusation was true. The painting depicts the moment when a monk 'experienced in the medical sciences' squeezes the nun's breast. This is when the miracle occurred: it was not milk, but wine that flowed from her breast. This proved the nun's piety and innocence. In this case the wine and fruit symbolise a virginal life. Which explanation is the correct one remains the question.

[Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem - Oil on canvas, 116 x 103 cm]

Cornelis van Haarlem - The Fall of Man [1592]

Cornelis van Haarlem - The Fall of Man [1592], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Having created Adam and Eve, God gave them Paradise in which to live. It was a delightful garden full of plants and animals. Adam and Eve could eat from any tree in the garden. Only the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge was forbidden. In the foreground, on the left, God (in the form of a cloud) indicates the tree concerned. The serpent, the most cunning animal in Paradise, persuaded Eve to bite the fruit. Eve, in turn, seduced Adam to try a piece. This was the first sin man ever committed against God. When God found out what they had done he expelled Adam and Eve from Paradise. Cornelis van Haarlem painted the Fall of Man in a larger than life format in 1592. His patron was the city of Haarlem.

Before the Fall humans and animals lived together peacefully in Paradise. Van Haarlem surrounded Adam and Eve with no less than 21 animals, from a tiny butterfly to a large lion. Some animals are also significant as symbols. They refer to the various human temperaments. The ape next to Adam refers to the 'sanguine' (hot-blooded, lustful) temperament, which it was thought to be particularly typical of men. The cat, lovingly cradled by the ape, symbolises the choleric (cruel, nasty) temperament, to which women have tended ever since the Eve. Other animals have double meanings too: the owl in the tree represents foolishness (animals that could not see in daylight were thought to be stupid). The fluttering butterfly next to Adam suggests his frivolity.

[Oil on canvas, 273 x 220 cm]