Wings over Delft (17 page)

ABOUT
WINGS OVER DELFT
…

A
lthough Louise Eeden, her family and Pieter are characters of my own creating, some of the people and events in the book are factual, and I have as far as possible tried to place her story in a credible historical and geographical setting.

The modern visitor to the little Dutch town of Delft will be able to see the Markt, and imagine looking down into it from the
Master’s
studio. The Nieuwe Kerk has a new spire, but the tower of the Oude Kirke really does tilt as it did in Louise’s day. One can see the Begijnhof gate – where the beggar sat – and look up at the stone watchman and his dog on the Oosterport where Mr Midas perched. Both no doubt have suffered from three and a half
centuries
of pottery fumes. The high walls that surrounded Delft in Louise’s day have long since been dismantled, letting in both the light and the air that she craved.

Brewing was once the main industry in Delft. When this declined, the industrious inhabitants turned to pottery making, producing cups and jugs, plates and tiles painted in blue on white. Often the designs were local scenes – even today windmills decorate modern
souvenirs
. There were, however, artist-craftsmen who were copying Chinese designs of great beauty and delicacy. In the story, Louise’s father wanted, above all, to spend time on this sort of work. All artists had to belong to the Guild of St Luke – the guild of artists and craftsmen – before they could sell their work or teach. In
addition
to potters, the Guild included tapestry and glass makers,
booksellers, and of course, painters. Membership was not cheap. When Louise’s father offered to help Pieter with the price of membership of the Guild, it was not only a token of approval, but an offer to advance his career.

This was a time of unprecedented artistic activity, not just in Delft, but in Holland as a whole. Wealth was pouring into the
country
from colonies in Indonesia and the Far East. One of the ways of dispersing one’s wealth, and showing one’s good taste, was to commission a work of art. A betrothal would provide an excuse for a portrait of one, or even both partners. In Amsterdam, Rembrandt was at the height of his artistic powers – even if his finances were shaky – but there were at least two artists in Delft that Mr Eeden could have chosen for Louise’s portrait. One was the young
Johannes
Vermeer, who had just joined the Guild, and the other was Carel Fabritius, who features in the book as Mr Eeden’s ruggedly handsome neighbour. There is a striking self-portrait of Fabritius in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam on which I have based my
description
of him. The suggestion that he had a roving eye is my own addition. Mr Midas, as I call his goldfinch, was real, and if you are ever in the Mauritshuis in The Hague, just a few miles west of Delft, you can see what he looked like from the portrait that Fabritius painted of him. Here it hangs almost side by side with Vermeer’s famous ‘View of Delft’.

There seems to be no doubt that Vermeer used a
camera obscura
to achieve his wonderful likenesses. Other artists, such as
Rembrandt
and Rubens, however, did not use optical aids. I felt that it was more in character for Master Haitink to work by eye rather than
by using optics. As far as possible I have tried to be accurate when giving details of painting methods, and compounding colours.

Despite the strictures of Calvinism, the Dutch were tolerant both of other religions and of freethinkers. In many cities, Catholics were allowed to worship, provided they did so in secrecy.
Carefully
constructed hidden churches were built in attics. Access had to be down alleyways off the main thoroughfares. It is, however, almost certain that there was no hidden Catholic church in Delft in 1654. Vermeer, who converted to Catholicism on his marriage in 1653, had to go elsewhere for his conversion. The church that I made up for Delft is a scaled down version of the delightful little attic church, now the Amstelkring Museum in Amsterdam. This is open to the public, and you can see the priest’s quarters as they were in the seventeenth century. Not far from this is Rembrandt’s house, which also provided material, both for Louise’s father’s visit to the great artist, and to furnish Master Haitink’s collection of
curiosities
at the back of his studio.

Just north from the Rembrandt House was the Jewish quarter where Louise’s father went to visit Spinoza. Benedict Spinoza was to become one of the great philosophers of all time, but in 1654 he was quite young and making a living out of grinding lenses. (At the time of our story he was called Baruch, but later changed his name to Benedict.) By leaning on the fact that most ideas exist in the mind long before they can be put down on paper, I have anticipated ideas that would later form part of his philosophy. Spinoza died in 1677 aged only forty-four years; it is thought that the glass dust he had
inhaled
during his years as a lens grinder contributed to his early death.

The explosion known as the Delft Thunderclap is a historical fact. I have borrowed from Dirck van Bleyswijck’s graphic account of the explosion, written in 1667, for my imaginary Dirck van Vliet to recall the event. I have also let him borrow Fabritius’s painting of the goldfinch. The captain of the watch, being a gentleman, would be a likely purchaser of such a picture. Bleyswijck records that over 200 houses were destroyed in the explosion in which the ‘huge strong trees in the Doelen were mostly chopped off level with the ground.’ He gives no count of the casualties, but among those who died was Carel Fabritius, the artist who had so beautifully painted the little goldfinch. He was only thirty-two years of age.

I have used many sources to help me with the writing of
Wings Over Delft
. PTA Swillens, in
Johannes Vermeer, Painter of Delft 1632–1675
, gives a wealth of information on the local history and on the painting techniques of the time.
Vermeer
, by John Nash,
published
by the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, is a more recent account, and is beautifully illustrated. Anyone interested in the optical
techniques
used by Vermeer, and by other artists over the years, should read David Hockney’s
Secret Knowledge
. In
Rembrandt’s Eyes
,
Simon
Schama provided a model for the Master in his wonderfully perceptive description of Rembrandt’s artistry. Norman Davies’s
Europe, A History
, never leaves my desk.

Aubrey Flegg

About the Author

AUBREY FLEGG was born in Dublin and spent his early childhood on a farm in County Sligo. His later schooldays were spent in England, but he returned to Dublin to study geology. After a period of research in Kenya he joined the Geological Survey of Ireland; he is now retired. Aubrey lives in Dublin with his wife, Jennifer; they have two children and three grandchildren.

As well as the
Louise
trilogy, he has published two other books for young people: the first,
Katie’s War
, is about the Civil War period in Ireland and won the IBBY Sweden Peter Pan Award 2000. His second book,
The Cinnamon Tree
, is a story of a young African girl who steps on a landmine.

Wings Over Delft
is the first book in the acclaimed
Louise
trilogy, followed by
The Rainbow Bridge
and
In the Claws of the Eagle. Wings Over Delft
won the Bisto Book of the Year Award 2004, Ireland’s most prestigious children’s
literature
prize, and the Reading Association of Ireland Award 2005. It was also chosen for inclusion in the White Ravens 2004 collection – a selection of
outstanding
international
books for children and young adults made by the
International
Youth Library in Munich.

Aubrey’s books have been translated into German, Swedish, Danish, Serbian and Slovene.

Other books in the Louise trilogy
…

THE RAINBOW BRIDGE

Book 2
: the
Louise
trilogy

France, 1792. Revolution is sweeping the country; King Louis has been deposed. Eighteen-year-old cadet Gaston Moreau leaves home to join the Hussars. Two years later, Gaston, now a Lieutenant, is hurrying to catch up with a French expeditionary force that is driving towards Amsterdam, when his column is halted. Fooled by his cadets into thinking that a lady is drowning in the canal, Gaston plunges into the icy water. What he rescues is not a flesh-and-blood woman, but the portrait of Louise Eeden …

IN THE CLAWS OF THE EAGLE

Book 3
: the
Louise
trilogy

Vienna, early twentieth century. Little Izaac Abrahams practises his violin to an audience of just one – the lady in the picture on the wall of his parents’ house. After the Anschluss, Izaac, now a famous violin virtuoso, is sent to Terezin concentration camp, and thence to Auschwitz. The portrait of Louise falls into the hands of SS officer Erich Hoffman and seems destined to join the collection being stolen from the private collection of Europe on the orders of Adolf Hitler. Can Louise save Izaac from the gas chamber and Erich from his Nazism? And what is to become of her?

Other Books by Aubrey Flegg

KATIE’S WAR

Winner Peter Pan Award (IBBY Sweden) When Katie’s father returns from the Great War, he is shell-shocked. Four years later he has almost recovered, but now Ireland is on the brink of civil war. There are divided loyalties in Katie’s family – how can Katie make a choice? Who is right?

THE CINNAMON TREE

When she steps on a landmine, Yola Abonda’s leg is shattered, and with it her dreams for the future. Who will want her now? Yola travels to Ireland for treatment and makes a special friend – Fintan. She returns home with a mission: to do all she can to end the menace of landmines.