(Vol. vi., pp. 458. 590.)
In answer to the obliging notice which your correspondent CUTHBERT BEDE
(Vol. vi., p. 590.) has taken of my description of the Dutch allegorical
picture, I beg to say that I agree with him, and admit myself to be
mistaken in supposing the {47} middle picture described (Vol. vi., p. 458.)
to represent St. John Baptist. On examining it again, I have no doubt it is
intended to denote the Ascension of our Lord. The right hand is raised as
in the act of benediction, and, as far as I can make it out (for the paint
is here somewhat rubbed), the fingers are in the position of benediction
described by your correspondent. I do not, however, concur in his
suggestions as to the meaning of the figures on the frame of the picture;
which is not shaped as a _vesica piscis_, but is (as I described it) a
lozenge. The female figure, holding a flaming heart, is, I would say,
_certainly not_ the Virgin Mary.
The appearance of my account of this picture in your pages has been the
occasion of a very agreeable correspondence with the Editor of the
_Navorscher_ (the Dutch daughter of "N. & Q."). That gentleman has taken a
great interest in the subject, and has enabled me to decypher the mottoes
on the scrolls which run across the three pictures on the right-hand wall
of the room, which, in my former communication, I said I was unable to
read.
The scroll on the picture nearest the fireplace contains these words:
"Trouw moet blÿcken."
That on the second picture, noticed by CUTHBERT BEDE, is,
"Liefde boven al."
And the scroll on the third bears the inscription, as I stated in my former
communication,
"In Liefd' getrouwe;"
for so it ought to have been printed.
These, as the editor of the _Navorscher_ informs me, are the mottoes of
three Haarlem Societies of Rhetoricians called, 1. "De Pelicaen," whose
motto was, "_Trouw moet blÿcken_:" 2. "De Wyngaertrancken," whose motto
was, "_Liefde boven al_:" and, 3. "Witte Angiren," whose device was, "_In
Liefde getrouwe_."
I think you are entitled to have whatever information I may glean
respecting this picture, as you so kindly inserted my description of it in
your columns; and I have to thank you for procuring me the acquaintance and
correspondence of the editor of the _Navorscher_.