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| Ferdinand Bol Young man in feathered cap ca. 1647 oil on canvas Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
In 1651 the English writer Jeremy Taylor published a book called Holy Dying in which he shared his conviction that most people contrive to believe in a too-optimistic picture of life on earth. What Taylor saw instead was vileness carried to a grotesque (or baroque) extreme – "But if we could from one of the battlements of Heaven espy how many men and women at this time lie fainting and dying for want of bread, how many young men are hewn down by the sword of war, how many poor orphans are now weeping over the graves of their father, by whose life they were enabled to eat; if we could but hear how many mariners and passengers are at this present in a storm, and shriek out because their keel dashes against a rock, or bulges under them; how many people there are that weep with want, and are mad with oppression, or are desperate by a too quick sense of constant infelicity; in all reason we should be glad to be out of the noise and participation of so many evils and constant calamities."
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| Jan Gerrit van Bronchorst Young man playing a Theorbo ca. 1642-45 oil on canvas Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
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| Nicolaes Maes Portrait of a woman 1667 oil on canvas Museo-Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
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| Nicolaes Maes Portrait of a man ca. 1666-67 oil on canvas Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
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| Jacob Jordaens Holy Family with Angel ca. 1625-29 oil on canvas Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
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| Frans Hals Family group in a landscape ca. 1645-48 oil on canvas Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
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| Antoine Le Nain The young musicians ca. 1640 oil on copper Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
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| Matthias Stom Supper at Emmaus ca. 1633-39 oil on canvas Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
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| Jacques Linard Chinese bowl with flowers 1640 oil on canvas Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
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| Louise Moillon Still life with fruits 1637 oil on canvas Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
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| Sébastien Bourdon Holy Familiy with St Elizabeth and St John the Baptist 1660s oil on canvas Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
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| Peter Paul Rubens Portrait of young woman with Rosary ca. 1609-10 oil on panel Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
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| Francisco de Zurbarán St Casilda ca. 1630-35 oil on canvas Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
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| David Teniers Presentation of the Captain General's Baton to Antonio de Moncada in 1410 oil on copper 1664 Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
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| David Teniers and Jan van Kessel Submission of the Sicilian rebels to Antonio de Moncada in 1411 oil on copper 1663 Museo Thyssen-Bronemisza, Madrid |
"When I have just reason to think my superiours would have it thus, this is Musique to my soul ; When I heare them say they would have it thus, this is Rhetorique to my soule ; When I see their Laws enjoyne it to be thus, this is Logick to my soul ; but when I see them actually, really, clearely, constantly do thus, this is a Demonstration to my soule, and Demonstration is the powerfullest proofe. The eloquence of inferiours is in words, the eloquence of superiours is in action."
This text is from Sermon XVII by John Donne, published in 1640. Samuel Taylor Coleridge annotated his copy of Donne's Sermons in the early 19th century, and wrote about this passage – "A just representation, I doubt not, of the general feeling & principle of the time Donne wrote. Men regarded the gradations of society as God's Ordinances, and had the elevation of self-approving Conscience in every feeling and exhibition of respect for those ranks superior to themselves. What a contrast with the present times! Mem. What a beautiful sentence. The eloquence of Inferiors is in words, the Eloquence of Superiors is in action!!"
– from Coleridge on the Seventeenth Century, edited by Roberta Florence Brinkley (Duke, 1955)
I am grateful for the excellent reproductions from Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid.