Vermeer's Delft: Stadts Doele en Anatomie

The Stads Doele (municipal shooting range) and Anatomiekamer (anatomy theater) in Delft are historical aspects of the city's rich cultural and scientific heritage (fig. 1). These institutions played significant roles in the civic and scientific life of Delft during the early modern period, reflecting broader trends in the Netherlands and Europe regarding civic defense and the study of medicine and anatomy.

Anatomiekamer (Anatomy Theater)

Encouraged by the city government, which desired to promote a healthy living environment in the city in the second half of the seventeenth century, physicians and surgeons, united in the medical-surgical guild, began to conduct research and experiments, and became the main practitioners of the natural sciences in Delft.

An important location for scientists and artists interested in scientific discovery in Delft was the Anatomiekamer (Anatomy Theater), which opened in 1614. In that year, the city government granted the surgeons' guild permission to set up the baptismal chapel of the Old Church for this purpose. At that time, the guild comprised thirteen surgeons who had acquired their skills through practical experience. This guild fell under the oversight of a select few university-trained physicians, numbering no more than three or four, who were appointed by the city or hospital.

Following the devastation caused by the infamous De Delftse Donderslag on the morning of October 12, 1654, which heavily damaged the existing building on Verwersdijk, the entire northeastern part of the city was subsequently reorganized. The Pesthuis (Pest House)^{On December 29, 1657, the regents of the Oude and Nieuwe Gasthuis (Old and New Hospitals) received a brand new Pesthuis (Pest House) from the city government. It was built on the eastern side of the city, at the location of the current Vondelstraat. The city mayors decided to turn necessity into a virtue and immediately relocated the Pesthuis outside the city. According to the latest medical insights, those suffering from such a highly contagious disease are better isolated.} on Verwersdijk was located outside the city. The vacated building of the former chapel of the Maria Magdalena convent, on the east side of the Verwersdijk across from the Oude Vercke Marckt and Diertien Huijsen, was renovated and partly made available to the surgeons' guild. ^{Before the Reformation, Mary Magdalen was one of a dozen convents and monasteries in Delft. During the plague years of 1557-58, it was put into service to supplement the nearby Old Gasthuis, or hospital, and became known as a plague house (pesthuis).}

The new premises of the Anatomiekamer was more expansive than its former location. Two separate sculptures by Pieter Rijckx on the themes of civic guards and anatomy were installed above gates of the two institutions, which were set next to each other (fig. 2). The city magistrate spared no expense in creating one of the finest monumental outdoor spaces of Delft.^{Kaldenbach, Kees. "Nieuwe Schutterij Doelen (New Shooting Range)." Vermeer. Accessed February 22, 2023. https://kalden.home.xs4all.nl/dart/d-b-schutterij.htm.} Attached to the Anatomiekamer was a library and a museum, which, like the one in Leiden, was essentially a Kunst und Wunderkammer (Cabinet of Curiosities)^{A Kunst und Wunderkammer, or Cabinet of Curiosities, was a collection or room in Renaissance and Baroque Europe filled with a wide array of objects showcasing the wonders of the natural world, art, and science. These precursors to modern museums contained natural wonders (Naturalia), man-made artworks (Artificialia), scientific instruments (Scientifica), exotic items from abroad (Exotica), and marvels of nature (Mirabilia). They served educational and entertainment purposes, displayed the collector's wealth and sophistication, and facilitated scientific research. Kunst und Wunderkammern played a crucial role in the development of science and museums, influencing the systematic study and classification of natural and man-made objects, and laying the groundwork for the establishment of modern museums for public education and enjoyment.} containing rarities, often with moral-philosophical implications.

Lectures were held in the Anatomiekamer on a weekly basis. Van Leeuwenhoek, often a guest at the guild, and the physician Reinier de Graaf, ^{de Graaf sent Leeuwenhoek's insect observations to the Royal Society.} Delft physician and anatomical researcher, were the most prominent. "Historically, many physicians, scientists, mathematicians, and lawyers living in Delft had studied at the University of Leiden. A prime example is Jacob Spoors (1595-1677), who would become a particularly important individual in Vermeer’s network of friends and colleagues interested in exploring the natural world through art, science, mathematics, and optical devices. Spoors began his professional career as a surgeon in his native Delft in 1614, the very year that the Anatomy Theater was founded."^{Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., "Exploring the physical and spiritual world," in Vermeer's Delft, edited by David de Haan, Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., Babs van Eijk, and Ingrid van der Vlis (Zwolle: Waanders Uitgevers, Museum Prinsenhof Delft, 2023), 23.}

The Physicians, surgeons, and artists who attending these gatherings, such as Jacob Spoors, Vermeer, and Anotie van Leeuwenhoek were also interested in scientific instruments that required lenses, like microscopes. Van Leeuwenhoek. can be recognized in a portrir of an anatomy lesson by Cornelis ’s-Gravesande (1631-1691), who is the only person in the painting who was not a doctor or a surgeon, but was nevertheless included owing to his status as a man of science. For thirty years from 1661, ’s-Gravesande was Delft’s city anatomist.

The Nieuwe Doelen (City Shooting Range)

The Delft Doelen,^{The term "doelen," from Middle Dutch "doelen" (to target-practice), equivalent to "doel" + "en."} refers to the practice of archery, located north the Anatomiekamer, was part of a network of Doelen (shooting ranges) found in many Dutch cities during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. These facilities served as headquarters for the schutterij (civic guard), a militia composed of citizen soldiers responsible for the defense of the city and maintaining public order. The Doelen provided space for military drills, shooting practice, and social gatherings of the city's militia members.^{In 1829-1831, it was remodeled into a theater, aconcert, adance hall, and a room for lectures with a coffee room, a landlord's house, and a director's office, by an unknown architect.} Demolished by De Delftse Donderslag, as well as the nearby quarantine hospital where plague victims were confined, the shooting range was restablised in two new buildings: The Oude Doelen, used for practicing with the crossbow, and the Nieuwe Doelen, used to practice with firearms. As a member of Delft's schutterij, ^{The schutterij was a militia that for centuries had been tasked with defending Delft against external threats and maintaining order within the city. In the seventeenth century, the Delft civic guard was divided into four standards (orange, blue, green and white), each of which represented part of the city.} Vermeer must have frequented the Doelen on a regular basis.

The Doelen, however, was not merely a shooting range, but major social network for artists such as Vermeer. Members were drawn from the richest and most influential families. Vermeer’s membership is testimony to the social status he had achieved by this point. In 1660, Leonaert Bramer, of the most respected painters of Delft and close friend of the Vermeer family, decorated a room in this new Nieuwe Doelen with frescos for a sum of one thousand guilders, a sum roughly the equivelant to the cost of a small house. Bramer was was not the only artist member of the civic guard. In the records for 1674, Vermeer is also listed as a member of the first company of the orange standard; it is possible he had been a member for some time. The inventory of his estate refers to "iron armour with helmet; a pike."