ABSTRACT
Postmodernism as it developed was a useful ally in making reinterpretations because it broke down the supposed unity, and fragmentation was seen as the new order of our interpretations of the world. At first, 'visuality' appears to be a gift for anyone trying to research 'ways of seeing' in a remote period, since it recognizes that there is no single way of seeing. 'A good deal of visual theory', Michael Podro wrote some years ago, 'simply fails to say anything about the visual arts.' A London correspondent of Ortelius in 1591 reports that Goltzius when in Italy recently bought antique coins – 'many things' – for 'Marcus of Bruges'. The Schilder-boeck was published ten years after Captain Thomas Lee was painted, the nexus of associations was highly relevant to Gheeraerdts's understanding of virtuosity and the artist's ambitions. With Gheeraerdts's insight and craft, the imagining of Captain Thomas Lee becomes possible.
