Nil volentibus arduum

[3] Until then, the Amsterdam scene had been in the grip of glassmaker (vitrier) and writer Jan Vos (1610/1611-1667), who among other points expressed with the adage Het zien gaat voor het zeggen (« La vision précède la parole », (seeing precedes speaking)) the idea that visual elements were more expressive than words.

[3] Vos was able to give himself over completely to his predilection for the visual thanks to his contacts in the Amsterdam government, who commissioned the stained-glass windows of the new Paleis op de Dam in 1655, as well as the large open-air living sculptures organized to greet important visitors.

But the popularity of Vos' work also rested on scenes of horror with elements like assassinations, hangings, dismemberment and other dark cruelties.

Emotion and violence habitually constituted ingredients in his pieces: not because they rejoiced in such spectacles, but because his objective was to show the dangers of intemperance.

[3] Member of the society were Andries Pels (1631-1681), Pieter Cornelis Verhoek, Gérard de Lairesse, Lodewijk Meyer and Johannes Bouwmeester.