WINST (n. f.)

GEWINN (deu.) · PROFIT (eng.) · PROFIT (fra.)
TERM USED IN EARLY TRANSLATIONS
/ · GEWINN (deu.)

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Quotation

[Suggested translation, Marije Osnabrugge:] As the Athenians thought to have great reason to honour and serve their patron god Minerva above all the other Gods and Godesses, as such they thought it well to erect a beautiful statue for her on an elevated base; they commissioned two of the very best Artists, Alcamenes and Phidias¸to do this; and they meanwhile let it be known that the statue that was to be judged the best in everyone’s judgement, would be paid for with a nice sum of money, so the Artists eagerly went to work, driven by the hope for great profit and greater honour that appeared would follow from it. Alcamenes was completely inexperienced in the Mathematical Arts, and thought that he had acquitted himself farily well, when his statue appeared beautiful to those who were standing close. Phidias on the other hand had decided, according to the knowledge that he had from the Geometrical and the Optical sciences, that the whole appearance of the statue would change following the situation of the envisioned height, (…) as such saw the tides change within a matter of hours; because as the sweetness that one could perceive up close in the lovely statue of Alcamenes, disappeared because of the height and changed into a certain hardness, as such the crooked deformity of Phidias’ statue was softened miraculously by the forshorthening of the heightened location, and the difference in craftsmanship between the two artists was so remarkably large, that the one received the deserved praise, the other, on the other hand, was brought to shame with his work, see […]

In recounting the story of the competition between Alcamenes and Phidias for the commission of a statue of Minerva, Junius introduces the term profit (winst) to describe the motivation of both artist to win the competition, besides the great honour (eer) that would be bestowed upon them. In the Dutch edition, JUnius is much more explicit than in the English and Latin edition in his analysis of why Phidias’ sculpture was more successful in the end. He explains and identifies the foreshortening as the decisive factor. [MO]

Conceptual field(s)

SPECTATEUR → marché de l'art

Quotation

Nu gelijck de Schilder-Konst heeft toegenomen soo langh de mildtheyt ende rijcke belooningh der Grooten, de neerstigheydt der eergierige aenqueeckte om eenen onsterfelijcken naem te verkrijgen, wetende dat indien sy die konden bereycken het haer aen geen winste ontbreecken souden; {Soo langh de rijcke belooning duerde, was de Schilder-konst aen ’t bloeyen.} soo heeft sy in tegendeel wederom beginnen af te nemen soo dra de Gelt-Liefde, de Liefde tot de Konst, uyt de herten der mogende Coningen en Vorsten begonde te weeren, waer door aenstonts, de groote Meesters verminderden, en daer was by na niemant die de Konsten de handt boven ’t hooft hieldt;

[suggested translation, Marije Osnabrugge:] Since the Art of Painting has increased as long as the kindness and rich reward of the Great has stimulated the diligence of the ambitious [men] to receive an immortal name, knowing that if they would manage to get it they would not miss out on profit; {As long as the rich reward lasted, the Art of Painting was flourishing.} to the contrary, she has again started to decline as soon as the Love of Money, started to push the Love for the Art out of the hearts of powerful Kings and Rulers, because of which the great Masters diminished, and there was almost nobody who took care of the Arts;

Conceptual field(s)

SPECTATEUR → marché de l'art