No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Seize your chances: that is the message of a 1610 engraving by Theodore Galle . As Time flies off, Opportunity threatens to follow. But the young men are alert and grab her by the hair to secure their portion of her prosperity, represented here by a cornucopia, crown and chain of jewels (fig. 1). 1 Faith lauds the youngsters for their initiative. In 1604 Karel van Mander had been keen to pass on the same moral message to young painters: "Time and propitious moment, / Once flown / Are never to be had again." 2 Making the most of your opportunities was thus a mentality to be imprinted on artistic newcomers for the rest of their working lives.But where were you supposed to find such opportunities? Leave it to chance? Or try to make your own luck? Artists throughout the centuries clearly recognised that if you want to succeed, you need to minimise the element of chance by engineering as many promising situations for yourself as possible. The articles in this theme issue of Oud Holland reveal a remarkable consistency in their identification of the required approach, one that is in keeping, moreover, with modern theories on the achievement of success.The contributors examine the relationships between chance, success and strategic choices in the careers of Dutch artists between 1600 and 1920. The focus of those choices is on mobility: prolonged travel or permanent relocation to other locales that differ socially and sometimes even culturally from the artist's place of origin to such a degree that he or she is viewed there as an outsider. 3 The destination might be a different country, but also another city in the Low Countries. Thinking about chance has a long and varied history, which we explore here briefly. It was not until the eighteenth century, however, that the Dutch word 'toeval' came into common use to designate "an event or circumstance that was not anticipated or desired in advance, an unpredictable, unforeseen occurrence." 4 Chance and strategic choices might appear mutually exclusive, but this is not always the case, as we will see: prompted by chance, artists sometimes made strategic choices with the aim of achieving success. The latter, like chance, is viewed academically as an elusive phenomenon, one that is frequently mentioned in art-historical studies but the definition of which remains vague. The articles in this issue are based on the network scientist Albert-László Barabási's definition: "success is the rewards from the communities we belong to." 5 These rewards can vary, but what Barabási means by them is mostly fame and money. If success is "a collective measure, capturing how people respond to our performance", understanding it requires not only the study of the performance itself, but also that of the community to which the performance was directed and the community's response to it. 6 In other words, it requires the study of "social and professional networks that generate collective responses to individual performances." 7 This principle gives rise to five constants in the reasons underlying...

Success attracts, also in art history. In recent decades it has become, almost imperceptibly, one of the biggest themes in the study of seventeenth-century Dutch art. The socioeconomic success of artists has been examined from a variety of perspectives, with a focus on product and process innovation, networking and mobility. 1 However, little consideration has been given so far to the fact that chance could also be a factor in the achievement or otherwise of success on the art market. Its capricious, contingent and elusive nature sets chance at odds with the scholarly quest to uncover patterns. Nevertheless, the most important texts in early-modern Dutch art literature make remarkably frequent reference to the role played by chance in artists' lives. Chance was evidently something of which artists were supposed to take account. Examining the relationship between chance and success in some of these texts offers an insight, therefore, into a contemporary perspective on this elusive phenomenon, which was held out unambiguously as a powerful existential force, with which artists were obliged to deal.The texts analysed for the purposes of this study are the biographies of antique, Italian and Netherlandish painters by Karel van Mander, published in his Schilder-boeck (1604); Arnold Houbraken's Groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen (1718-1721); and Johan van Gool's Nieuwe schouburg der Nederlantsche kunstschilders en schilderessen (1750-1752). 2 Samuel van Hoogstraten's more theoretical Inleyding tot de hooge schole der schilderkonst (1678) includes a chapter on how painters were advised to deal with chance, and so this publication is also discussed. 3 To highlight the way themes and motifs were repeated and expanded upon, these texts are discussed here in chronological order. The point of departure in each instance is the explicit use by the authors of terms referring to chance.