‘Het witte spook van Mesdag’. De bruid van Matthijs Maris opnieuw bezien

Abstract

(1867- ´68) by Matthijs Maris in The Mesdag Collecion is without doubt one of his most intriguing early works. Though he defensively described it as only a which he could not bring to a satisfying end, Maris considered this fairly large piece as quite important. Regardless of its condition, it formed a blatant statement next to another painting by his hand in Mesdags collection: The Kitchen Maid. In early seventies Maris sold this much acclaimed, more narratively accessible painting to his Paris dealer Goupil & Cie., but soon afterwards dismissed it as a potboiler. Much later, when living in London, he said: connection is there between of girl in & keukenprinces? The one may be bad, but is myself, other model. What he aspired to was an art less realistic than Dutch contemporary art at that time: an art which would convey a conception or a deeper thought, in his own words - a goal most probably inspired and encouraged by fierce theoretical discussion on originality and individualism in those days. Maris shared Carel Vosmaer´s claim that artists should prioritize therir own feelings and ideas; good art always rested on a transformation of reality, mediated by imagination. Though critic H.L. Berckenhoff real in 1888 as a scene of Gretchen (Margareta) from Goethes famous Faust, iconography has been much debated and has long been considered a mystery, due to a lack of narrative or visual evidence and of clear statements by artist himself. Maris neutrally spoke of it in terms of the young lady in white, the ghost of Mesdag, or more Whistlerian as a sketch of a girl in white. never confirmed Berckenhoff´s interpretation, though he clearly deployed Gretchen or Margareta-motive for several other paintings from early seventies, such as He is Coming! (Cardiff) or Spinner (Otterlo). In one of most thorough studies on Maris' iconography until now (Patterns in Life and Work of Matthijs Maris', Simiolus 1978-79), authors Braakhuis and Van der Vliet follow Berckenhoff´s interpretation of and, for first time, present a number of arguments, some more convincing than others, that link this Gretchen-motive to other Maris paintings in which females in historical costume play a part. Decisive for them is Maris' autobiographic stance concerning his own work. always bitterly proclaimed that he was exploited and artistically corrupted by dealers, above all by Daniel Cottier who convinced him to leave Paris and work for him in London. Maris therefore strongly identified himself with deceived Gretchen, as he later did with Tennyson´s Lady of Shalott, that other female martyr who fell victim to her own ideals. As tempting as their conclusions may sound, most of Maris' so called Gretchens, including in De Mesdag Collectie barely support such a specific narrative reading, because lack usual ingredients (mis-en-scene, attributes, etc) one normally finds in such Faustian scenes. Most of all, in Bride´s case, stiff and rigorous stylisation of protagonist renders painting more resistant to such intertextual iconographic interpretation. Moreover, there is another source mentioned in Maris' letters, that to some extent accounts for inconsistencies that arise when equating with Gretchen. Maris mentions an opera-play Maris he enjoyed, which he attended with friends in The Hague around 1860 : this was comic opera Dame Blanche by Francois-Adrien Boieldieu, bases on a text by Eugene Scribe. It was this title, La Dame Blanche, Maris literally uses when referring to Bride, after Dutch dealer and printer W.J.G. Meurs had asked him for suitable works from which to make reproductive prints. Reading story, which was situated in 18th century Scotland, one finds convincing clues to identify The Bride with this veiled woman in white which alternatively functions as a statue and as a ghost in story. If painting would be better off with another title is, however, likewise questionable. In sixties Maris was first of all experimenting with a more idealistic way of painting, to convey, in case of Bride, a more general concept of purity and uncorrupted piety, as Fred Leeman rightly suggested. For that reason he could still be looking for things he read or saw, using it as a starting point, s he was probably less interested in person or fictitious character than in allegorical meaning this image could conduct.