“Ay Rembrandt, paint Cornelis’s Voice”: The Waterlander Mennonites at the Church by the Tower

The Waterlanders had been present in Amsterdam since the sixteenth century. For a time, they gathered at a warehouse on present-day Spuistraat 50 known as the Kleine Spijker (meaning Little Warehouse – though spijker was also a word for nail). In 1604, they moved to a larger building behind the housefronts at present-day Singel 158.

Their worship place was called the Kerk bij de Toren [Church by the Tower] for its location next to the Jan Rodenpoortstoren. This hidden church, with its typical sober Mennonite interior, was also nicknamed the Grote [Big] Spijker.

The congregation that met at the Toren, like other Mennonite congregations in Amsterdam, counted a variety of notable artists, publishers, and poets amongst its congregants - including the esteemed poet and playwright Joost van den Vondel, who was a member and deacon there for several years before his conversion to Catholicism in later life, and the artist and art dealer Hendrick van Uylenburgh, who was Rembrandt’s art dealer in the 1630s.

Rembrandt, who enjoyed a diverse patron base from many different faith groups in Amsterdam, painted several portraits of church members from this congregation. In 1641, he painted the minister Cornelis Claesz. Anslo and his wife Aeltje Schouten posed in a moment of devotional reflection (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin).

Rembrandt also made a portrait print of Anslo posed as a scholar in his study, a favoured format for portraits of theologians and ministers. In one state of the print, there is a nail in the wall at the back right-hand side which has raised some speculation among scholars: could this “grote spijker” be a playful pun on the nickname used for Anslo’s congregation? Anslo is shown gesturing with his lips parted – a “speaking likeness” that emphasizes the importance of thoughtful speech in his role as a preacher. The print circulated with various appended laudatory poems. One, penned by Vondel, highlights the importance of hearing Anslo’s words to fully “see” him:

Ay, Rembrandt, paint Cornelis voice.

The visible part is the least of him;

The invisible is known only through the ears.

The one who wishes to see Anslo must hear him.

In 1668, the Toren merged with the Kerk bij’t Lam, thereafter holding services in both buildings. In 1812, the Toren was closed. At the Torensluis bridge today, there is no trace of either the Jan Roodenpoortstoren or the hidden church. Both have been demolished. There is, however, a large bronze statue of Multatuli (pen name for Eduard Douwes Dekker, himself the son of a Mennonite minister), who is famous for his social protest novel, Max Havelaar, about Dutch colonial exploits in Indonesia.