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The Portraits of Menno Simons
by Irvin B. Horst. Translated from Dutch into English by Jo and Herman Tann
TO VIEW A LARGER IMAGE OF MENNO, CLICK ON EACH THUMBNAIL IMAGEEighty years ago G.J. Boekenoogen of the Netherlands, identified 63 known portraits of Menno Simons. Two of them had been, according to him, incorrectly identified as portraits of Menno. Later research reveals that his own no. 1 portrait, a rendition from the 16th century hanging in the Mennonite Church in Utrecht, is not a picture of Menno either [see Doopsgezinde Bijdragen 6 (1980) 206]. Nevertheless, Boekenoogen’s list of the 60 remaining portraits still gives an almost complete survey of all the portraits from that period till 1917--about 300 years.
After 1916, artists and sponsors, especially in the United States and Canada, were inspired anew by Menno Simons. A total count of the portraits of Menno from the beginning to the present would probably number 100.
1. Tom (Oliver Wendel) Shenk. Oil painting, 1975. Commissioned by Myron S. Augsburger for Eastern Mennonite Seminary in Harrisonburg, VA, where the picture is now hanging. This portrait is strongly influenced by that of Jacobus Burghart (No. 12).
More important than the number is the question about the interest in the subject. Doubtless, most of the portraits were commissioned. It is probable that Jan Luyken was asked to make a full-page portrait for the 1681 edition of the Opera Omnia Theologica, containing theological works of Menno Simons. Another portrait, the woodcut of Warren Rohrer, was commissioned for the occasion of the 400th anniversary of Menno’s death in 1961.
Yet, it is also clear that the artists took personal interest in their projects. Menno’s facial features on the portrait by Jan Luyken show the influence of the work of Jan van de Velde, although the central placement of the Bible in Luyken’s portrait is his own personal inspiration. Warren Rohrer called the portrait he made a "personal statement--a symbol of Menno Simon’s contribution rather than a literal photograph or picture." 4
2. Anonymous (Reinier Vinkeles?). Engraving circa 1800, influenced by Van Sichem.
The portraits, we can assume, have symbolic meaning. But symbolic of what? To be able to answer this question, we have to go back to the personal vision of the author or to the impressions of the viewer. We can say that Luyken has pictured Menno as a powerful preacher whose heart was influenced by the biblical message. Jacobus Burghart, whose 1683 engraving has been copied many times, shows Menno as a pietist. Artists render a depiction of the spiritual climate of their time. It is therefore no wonder that Arend Hendriks emphasized the psychological side of Menno. In 1961 Warren Rohrer utilized an expressionistic interpretation. This portrait, more than any other one, is found in contemporary journals.
M ore important than the quantity of portraits, is the artistic quality. It is somewhat ironic to speak about this in connection with the portraits of a leader of persecuted disciples of Christ who were called "Anabaptists." The portraits, however, are from a later period when Menno’s followers had already adjusted themselves to the world. They no longer disapproved of the prevailing culture or of wealth. Boekenoogen pointed out that most of the portraits were created by experienced artists. Christoffel van Sichem, who made the oldest known portrait, about 1610, was a well-known and capable portraitist. He was Roman Catholic, which is probably why he made a ridiculous presentation of Menno. Jan van de Velde, Jan Luyken and Romeyn de Hooghe all mastered the art of etching on a copper plate. Jacobus Burghart is rather unknown, but his portrait is the best from an artistic viewpoint. The decorations along the borders make Menno appear to be a nobleman or German priest. In general, the portraits are highly subjective interpretations of Menno. Some are even romantic. The portrait by Arend Hendriks is on the one hand very cleverly made, but on the other hand may be a too-worldly interpretation. It reveals clearly the emptiness of certain aspects of the 19th century. It was the beginning of a new understanding of Menno.
3. Rev. G.J.W. den Herder. Linoleum cut, circa 1934. This portrait was sold to raise money to help the members of the Bruderhof to escape Nazi Germany through the Netherlands to England. Based on the engraving of Van Sichem.
On the contrary, the 1975 portrait by Tom Shenk represents a return to the old Burghart tradition. We are still waiting for a portrait where Menno is presented above all as a dynamic leader of the Mennonite Brotherhood, who did not want to be a ruler, but a servant. All of the portraits numbered 1-20 were identified by Boekenoogen, except for numbers 3 and 4. These two, in addition to numbers 21-24, were created after Boekenoogen’s article was published in 1916. The most recent interpretation reviewed in this article is Tom Shenk’s 1975 oil painting. [End of text. More photos follow]
4. Jan van de Velde. Engraving, c. 1630. Until now known as the second oldest portrait.
5. Meinte Walta. Poster, 1961. Made for a 1961 exhibition in Witmarsum commemorating the 400th anniversary of Menno’s death. Based on the engraving of Van Sichem.
Jan Luyken. Etching 1681. This portrait appears in the collected works of Menno Simons, Opera Omnia Theologica (Amsterdam, 1681). Luyken is further known through his 104 etches in the second printing of the Martyrs’ Mirror (Ams6terdam, 1685).
7. Warren Rohrer. Woodcut, 1961. Commissioned by Eastern Mennonite College, Harrisonburg, VA. The work of Rohrer is to be found in important American museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He graduated from EMC, and in 1984 was chosen as "alumnus of the year."
8. Clement Nachtegaal. Engraving, c. 1730. Also influenced by Burghart. Instead of the usual representation, signed with K.T., we have here a portrait which is signed with M.D.
9. Christoffel van Sichem. Engraving circa 1608. This is considered to be the oldest portrait of Menno Simons, who died in 1561. Van Sichem was Roman Catholic; some people see in the brim of the hat the ears of a donkey, meant to ridicule Menno and his followers. This engraving appeared separately on a small folio page and later in Het Toneel der Hooft-Ketteren (Middleburg, 1677).
10. Jan van de Velde. Engraving before 1636. This a completely new portrait, based on the earlier representation.
11. Jan van de Velde. Engraving. Published by Corn. Koning in Haarlem. This is probably a new portrait, because Menno is wearing a skull-cap that shows his ears and a little bit of a hair lock on his forehead. His date of death is added on the bottom right-hand side.
12. Jacobus Burghart. Engraving, 1683. This portrait appeared two years after the etching of Jan Luyken. It has served as an example for several later portraits of Menno. It is noteworthy enough to be the only portrait signed by Burghart. It was later reproduced by the Mennonite Church in Hamburg, where the original was probably created. Even though a similarity exists between the portraits of Luyken and Burghart, the differences, above all when comparing the beards, show that Burghart probably was not familiar with the earlier portraits.
13. Anonymous. This engraving appeared in Alte und Neue Schwarm-Geister-Bruth (Frankfurt a.M., 1702).
14. Josef Keller. Engraving, c. 1830. This portrait shows features of Van de Velde’s work and of No. 13.
15. Jan Casper Philips. Engraving, 1743. Based on the portrait of Jan van de Velde.
16. L.E.F. Garreau. Engraving, 1788. Influenced by Burghart.
17. Jacobus Buys, designer; Reinier Vinkeles, engraver, 1792. Influenced by the portrait by Jan Luyken.
18. Reinier Vinkeles. Engraving, circa 1800. Also influenced by Burghart.
19. C. Hotze. Litho, c. 1856. Influenced by Burghart.
20. Romeyn de Hooghe. Etching, 1701. Found in the Dutch translation of the German, Gottfried Arnold’s, Historie der Kerken en Ketteren (Amsterdam, 1701). This portrait is a free imitation of the portrait by Josef Keller (No. 14).
21. Johannes Philippus Lange. Engraving, 1837. Influenced by Burghart. Published in A.M. Cramer, The Life and the Accomplishments of Menno Simons (Amsterdam, 1837).
22. Alexander Harder. Oil painting, 1935. Harder, born in Russia in 1901, was a German Mennonite. In his portrait are recurring artistic themes of Jan Luyken (No. 6). and Jacobus Burghart (12). The picture is hanging in the Mennonite Historical Library and Archives, North Newton, Kansas.
23. Dirk Sluyter according to H. Thepass. Engraving, c. 1828. This picture of the interior of the so-called Menno Simons’ little church in Witmarsum, shows a reproduction of a picture by Willem Bartel van der Kooi that is now hanging in the new church building of the Doopsgezinde (Mennonite) Congregation in Witmarsum. The Menno Simons little church stood on the place where the Menno Simons monument is now standing. According to tradition, Menno met his followers on the farm that was located at this place,. At the bottom left of the engraving is the exterior of the Menno Simons’ littler church, and at the bottom right is a portrait of Menno. The four-line stanza that was originally seen on a stone in the front wall of the Menno Simons little church is now standing at the entrance to the Menno Simons monument.
24. Arend Hendriks. Engraving, 1948. Hendriks was commissioned to give a psychological interpretation in which other portraits were to be worked in. This portrait has been imitated numerous times in North America.
This article was originally published in Doopsgezinde Bijdragen, LIII (1916) 3-106. It was translated by Jo and Herman Tann (1996) by permission of the author, and edited by Leonard Gross and the editor, John E. Sharp. FOR PERMISSION TO USE PHOTOS CONTACT JOHN E. SHARP.
Last updated 17 December 2002