Isaac Abrahamszoon Massa (baptized October 7, 1586, in Haarlem, died 1643)[1] was a Dutch grain trader, traveller and envoy to Russia. He wrote memoirs related to the Time of Troubles and created some of the earliest maps of Eastern Europe and Siberia. Due to Massa's experience in and knowledge of Russia, he was valued by the Dutch States-General as a counterweight to growing English influence in Russia in the early seventeenth century.[2] The Isaac Massa Foundation was established in his honor in Groningen. It aims to stimulate scientific and cultural contacts between the Russian Federation and the Netherlands.
Isaac Massa was born into a wealthy silk merchant's family; his father Abraham Massa had relocated the family from Liège to Haarlem before Isaac was born. His ancestors could have been French Huguenots who fled their homeland in the beginning of the Reformation.[3] The family surname was also known as Massart,Massaert, suggesting French origins, which is where most Huguenots started. Under religious persecution, they generally relocated to Protestant countries, such as England and those of northern Europe.
In 1601 Massa left Haarlem for Moscow to assist the family trade.[4] Massa was witness to the second half of Boris Godunov's reign, during which a civil war broke out, now known as the Time of Troubles. He survived the capture of Moscow by False Dmitriy I and left Russia in 1609, before the fall of Tsar Vasily Shuysky.
Massa compiled an account of the 1601–1609 events (Dutch: Een cort Verhael van Begin en Oorspronk deser tegenwoordighe Oorloogen en troeblen in Moscovia totten jare 1610), which he presented to StadtholderMaurice. It was reproduced in print in the nineteenth century.[3] In 1612–1613 Massa published two articles on Russian events and the geography of the Land of Samoyeds,[5] accompanied by a map of Russia, which were published in an almanac edited by Hessel Gerritsz. His notes on his various travels have been published in conjunction with maps made by the explorer Henry Hudson.[6]
These articles were translated and reproduced anonymously in European languages, because the author's name was removed in early Dutch reissues. The most complete translations were published in Russian in 1937 (reissued in 1997) and in English in 1982. Massa's writing was based on an underlying religious concept of punishment for sins being indispensable. He believed that Godunov, False Dimitri, and the nation itself paid for their mortal sins. (Massa believed that Godunov killed FeodorI and the real Tsarevich Dimitri). Russian sources consider him the least biased of contemporary Western witnesses, and very well informed. (His contemporary, Jacob De la Gardie, characterized Massa as "extremely artful in learning other people's secrets").[7]
Massa is credited with five published maps of Russia and its provinces, the last ones compiled around 1633, and two maps of Moscow city, including the schematic account of the 1606 battle between Vasily Shuysky and Ivan Bolotnikov's armies.[8] Retrieving original maps of the city could have been dangerous for Massa himself and fatal for his Russian sources.[9] Massa's rendition of the Siberian coast represented an advance in geography; for decades it was the only map of this region. It was subsequently copied by Gerardus Mercator and Jodocus Hondius, Jan Janssonius and Willem Blaeu.[10]
In 1614 Massa returned to Moscow, this time accompanied by his brothers, as an envoy of States-General of the Netherlands to obtain an exclusive trade agreement similar to the recent Dutch-Ottoman treaty, and to investigate the trade routes into Persia. Not only had the Dutch been keen to purchase grains but also Persian silks. These had, equally so, been exported via Archangelsk. At the time Russian people showed great interest in artillery compounds such as lead and gunpowder.
An average of thirty ships sailed each year to Archangelsk, a harbour near the White Sea– unfortunately during 1619 a fire broke out and destroyed the city completely, thereby ruining Massa's inventory. Additionally, upon his return Massa's ship encountered a heavy storm near Lapland.[11]
In April 1622 he married Beatrix van der Laen, the daughter of a Remonstrantburgomaster. When Hals had a child baptized, Massa was a witness.[12] In 1623–24 Massa was called upon by the Dutch Parliament (Staten-Generaal) to become an agent for Moscovia. However, his appointment proved to be a controversial one and drew serious opposition. He then made successful efforts to gain the interest of Gustaf II Adolf of Sweden to pursue trading grains with Russia.[13] While nourishing the relationships between Russia and Sweden, he was knighted by the Swedish King in 1625 for his arduous efforts. One year later, in 1626, he attempted to gain exclusive rights on the trading of grains out of Russia.
Massa promoted the idea of setting up a trading cartel similar to the English Muscovy Company, but internal problems in the Netherlands delayed consolidation of traders into 1628.[14] During his next voyage, in 1629, he travelled to Moscow to pave the way for his friend Elias Trip who by then had initiated a consortium. Massa indiscreetly advised Michael I of Russia and Michael's father, Filaret (the Patriarch of Moscow) of the internal affairs of the Dutch Republic. By doing so he attempted to tarnish the reputation of his competitors and personal opponents.[15]
Because of the ongoing war between Sweden and Poland no grain could be exported through the city of Dantzig.[16] One of his opponents, Klenck, himself a wealthy merchant trading in caviar, was given Russia's permission to export ten or twelve cargo loads of rye meal. Meanwhile, Trip feigned to act on behalf of the Swedish Monarchy.[17]
In 1630 the price of grain remained extremely high due to increasing competition. Albert Burgh tried to ensure a monopoly for the City of Amsterdam. At the same time, countries such as Sweden and England endeavoured to do the same. Russian merchants tried to curtail trading by limiting import and export exclusively via Archangelsk. For the next two decades Massa combined diplomatic service with his own business.
Frans Hals the Elder was a Dutch Golden Age painter, chiefly of individual and group portraits and of tronies, who lived and worked in Haarlem.
Samuel Blommaert was a Flemish/Dutch merchant and director of the Dutch West India Company from 1622 to 1629 and again from 1636 to 1642. In the latter period, he was a paid commissioner of Sweden in the Netherlands and he played a dubious but key role in Peter Minuit's expedition that led to the Swedish colonizing of New Sweden. For years Blommaert was involved in the copper trade and industry. In 1645 he was appointed for a third time as a manager of the WIC, being one of the main investors from the beginning.
Maarten van Heemskerck or Marten Jacobsz Heemskerk van Veen was a Dutch portrait and religious painter, who spent most of his career in Haarlem. He was a pupil of Jan van Scorel, and adopted his teacher's Italian-influenced style. He spent the years 1532–36 in Italy. He produced many designs for engravers, and is especially known for his depictions of the Wonders of the World.
Karel van Mander (I) or Carel van Mander I (May 1548 – 2 September 1606) was a Flemish painter, playwright, poet, art historian and art theoretician, who established himself in the Dutch Republic in the latter part of his life. He is mainly remembered as a biographer of Early Netherlandish painters and Northern Renaissance artists in his Schilder-boeck. As an artist and art theoretician he played a significant role in the spread and development of Northern Mannerism in the Dutch Republic.
The Frans Hals Museum is a museum in the North Holland city of Haarlem, the Netherlands, founded in 1862, known as the Art Museum of Haarlem. Its collection is based on the city's own rich collection, built up from the 16th century onwards. The museum owns hundreds of paintings, including more than a dozen by Frans Hals, to whom the museum owes its name. The Frans Hals Museum has two historic locations in Haarlem city centre: the main location on Groot Heiligland and Location Hal on Grote Markt, composed of the adjacent 17th-century Vleeshal and 19th-century Verweyhal. On Groot Heiligland is the 17th-century Oudemannenhuis with regent's rooms. It houses the famous paintings by Frans Hals and other ancient, modern and contemporary art, as well as the museum café. Location Hal regularly hosts exhibitions of modern and contemporary art.
Events from the year 1622 in art.
Portrait of Isaak Abrahamsz. Massa is a 1626 oil-on-canvas painting by the Dutch artist Frans Hals that is in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario. It depicts Isaac Massa, a prosperous merchant and a close friend of Hals. Massa was the subject of an earlier work by Hals – Isaak Abrahamsz Massa and Beatrix van der Lean – which also featured his wife. Massa would commission another portrait by Hals in 1635.
Vincent Laurensz van der Vinne was a Dutch Mennonite painter, linen-weaver, and writer.
Andrew Vinius of a Dutch family became a Russian statesman and a friend of Peter the Great. He taught the young Peter European languages. He was a member of Peter's close-knit group of friends who organized themselves into the Jolly Company and The All-Joking, All-Drunken Synod of Fools and Jesters.
Pieter Claesz Soutman was a Dutch Golden Age painter and printmaker from Haarlem.
Pieter Pietersz the Elder, also Pieter Pietersz. (I), (1540–1603) was a Dutch Renaissance painter.
Adriaen Matham was a Dutch Golden Age painter, engraver and art dealer. He was part of an embassy to the Saadi dynasty of Morocco and also made some engravings while there. He married three times, once in Amsterdam and later lived in The Hague in the 1650s before his death.
Pieter Isaacsz was a Danish court and portrait painter from Dutch origin who worked in a mannerist style on historical, biblical and mythological subjects. He was also a tapestry designer and art-dealer who spied for both the Netherlands, Denmark, and, eventually, for Sweden.
Abraham Goos was a Dutch cartographer, publisher, and engraver. He made globes, maps of North America, a comprehensive map of European coastlines, and the first printed Hebrew language map of The Holy Land.
Pieter Biesboer, is a Dutch art historian and prolific writer on 17th-century Dutch art. His specialty is art from Haarlem.
Boudewijn van Offenberg or Offenberch (1590–1653), was a Dutch Golden Age notary, merchant and member of the Haarlem schutterij.
Marriage Portrait of Isaac Massa and Beatrix van der Laen is a painting by the Dutch Golden Age painter Frans Hals, painted c. 1622 and now in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. The couple has been identified as Isaac Massa and his bride Beatrix van der Laen.
Haerlempjes refer to a specific genre of landscape painting that includes a view of Haarlem. It is used most often to refer to Jacob van Ruisdael's panoramic views of the city, but the term is derived from mentions in Haarlem archives as a type of painting included in household inventories. The diminutive suffix "pje" would denote a small, cabinet-sized painting, but even the largest landscapes may be referred to as Haerlempjes today.
Eduard Siegfried"Eddy"de Jongh is a Dutch art historian specialized in iconography. He was professor of art history with a teaching assignment in iconography at Utrecht University between 1976 and 1989.
Reyer or Reynier Pauw, was an influential Amsterdam regent of the Golden Age. Pauw was pensionary and eight times mayor of Amsterdam. He was involved in the Compagnie van Verre, the VOC, and the trial of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt.
Massa, Isaac (1982). A Short History of the Beginnings and Origins of These Present Wars in Moscow: Under the Reign of Various Sovereigns Down to the Year 1610 [original publication 1610]. University of Toronto Press. ISBN9780802024046.
Massa, Isaac (1997). O nachale voyn i smut v Moscovii (О начале войн и смут в Московии) (in Russian). Moskva: Fond Sergeja Dubova. ISBN5-89486-001-6.
Meiden, G.W. (1993) Isaac Massa and the beginning of the Dutch-Russian relations. In: Proceedings of the Conference on the relations between Russia and Netherlands from the 16th to the 20th Century, held at the Rijksmuseum. Amsterdam, June 1989.
↑ Wijnroks, E. (2000) Handel tussen Rusland en de Nederlanden, 1560–1640: een netwerkanalyse van de Antwerpse en Amsterdamse kooplieden, handelend op Rusland, p. 236.
↑ Raptschinsky, B. (1937) Uit de geschiedenis van den Amsterdamschen handel op Rusland in de XVIIe eeuw. Georg Everhard Kleinck. In: Jaarboek Amstelodamum[nl], p. 78.
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