Vondel, Joost van den

VONDEL, JOOST VAN DEN. - Dutch national poet, b. in Cologne to Flemish parents on 17 Nov. 1587, d. in Amsterdam on 5 Feb. 1679.

A prolific dramatist (26 tragedies) and a robust lyric poet, he excelled in all literary genres, though the erotic genre is absent from his work. His prose is also fine (introductions to the dramas, a version of the Aeneid). Having converted to Catholicism at the age of 52, he placed his art at the service of the Church, whose dogmas and glories he sang. A humanist through his enormous erudition, he follows in the wake of the Renaissance in the form of his poetic works.

After his conversion, poetry and faith went hand in hand in him; but this did not prevent him from taking an interest, as before, in historical events and in the facts of life. His adherence to Catholicism could in no way benefit him in an age when Catholics were despised, barely tolerated in the country, confused with the Spaniards and therefore treated as enemies of the fatherland. V. had to face slander and malicious gossip; never weary of the struggle, he remained always ready to sing the mysteries and splendors of his new faith and celebrated Hugo Grotius, Urban VIII, Mary Stuart, Christina of Sweden. He regarded art not as play or pastime, but as a duty: to be a poet was a sublime vocation. His love for Rome did not in any way diminish his admiration for national heroes. V. truly represents the public conscience of the Holland of the 18th century. Tyranny in all its forms (that of the Protestant pastors) was hateful to him; peace and liberty made him eloquent. The dramas Joseph in Dothan (1640), Peter and Paul (1641), Lucifer (1654) and Adam in Exile (1664) are masterpieces performed even in our own day. The poetic language flows through them harmoniously and laden with brilliant images. But that for which V. won the esteem of posterity is his manly energy, the probity and integrity of his character.

The end of his life was not happy. Because of the debts of his only son, the poet, after the death of his wife, found himself reduced to poverty. He found comfort in his daughter, who had also converted. In 1657 V., already in his seventies, was taken on as a modest clerk at the Monte di Pietà; eleven years later the city, in recognition of his merits toward the nation, placed him on retirement, keeping his salary for him. This sad period was not, however, the least fertile: V. sought spiritual relief in translating the Psalms. He was buried in the Nieuwe Kerk, in the center of Amsterdam. In the park that bears his name a monument was erected to him, and the "Vondel Museum" represents a center for the study of his works. Every year at the national theater of the capital the drama Gisbrecht van Aemstel (1637) is performed, which celebrates the city to which the poet had given his heart.

Felice Rutten