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拍品专文
This portrait of Jan Philips van Thielen records the personal and professional relationship between two leading Flemish artists of the 17th century. Erasmus Quellinus the Younger and van Thielen collaborated on about twenty pictures, usually floral garlands surrounding a figural composition or sculptural cartouche, van Thielen providing the still life element (for example, see fig. 1). They were related by marriage: Quellinus married Catharina de Hemelaer, whose sister was the wife of van Thielen.
This portrait was engraved by Richard Collin (fig. 2), and published in Het Gulden Cabinet vande Edel Vry Schilder-Const (The Golden Cabinet of the Noble Liberal Art of Painting), a book of artists’ biographies by Cornelis de Bie, published in 1662. The work became a key source of information on 17th century Netherlandish painters, following the lead of Karel van Mander, who had written the first Dutch-language anthology of such biographies, Het Schilder-boeck, in 1604. In Collin’s engraving, van Thielen is shown with a sword and baldric, which do not appear in this modello, in recognition of his title as Lord of Couwenberg, which he inherited from his father circa 1660, suggesting Quellinus’s portrait pre-dates his new title.
Het Gulden Cabinet, and its many engraved images, was developed from a work by Jan Meyssen, Images de divers hommes d’esprit sublime, published in 1649, which included engravings showing well-known artists, among others. Meyssen’s work, in turn, was derived from Sir Anthony van Dyck’s Iconography, his great group of portrait etchings. It is likely that this picture was created for de Bie’s publication, for which Quellinus made other half-length portraits of fellow artists, including that of his brother, Artus Quellinus I, the sculptor, Jan van Kessel I and Antoine van Leyen. Quellinus’s portrait of van Thielen can be seen in the context of a cultural practice in the southern Netherlands in the 17th century: with artists recording their fellow painters for posterity, an affrmation of friendship and their newfound artistic status.
Erasmus and Artus Quellinus belonged to a family of artists of great eminence in Antwerp. A recent exhibition at the Musée de Flandre in Cassel, Dans le sillage de Rubens: Erasmus II Quellinus (1607-1678), examined the importance of Quellinus – and his brother – in 17th century Antwerp. It was the first show dedicated to the artist, and demonstrated how successful a career he had. The long shadow cast by Rubens had meant that even his most prominent pupils and collaborators, such as Quellinus, remained relatively unknown. The Cassel exhibition demonstrated how, after working on major projects with Rubens in the 1630s, Quellinus went on to become one of the leading Flemish artists of his time.
This portrait was engraved by Richard Collin (fig. 2), and published in Het Gulden Cabinet vande Edel Vry Schilder-Const (The Golden Cabinet of the Noble Liberal Art of Painting), a book of artists’ biographies by Cornelis de Bie, published in 1662. The work became a key source of information on 17th century Netherlandish painters, following the lead of Karel van Mander, who had written the first Dutch-language anthology of such biographies, Het Schilder-boeck, in 1604. In Collin’s engraving, van Thielen is shown with a sword and baldric, which do not appear in this modello, in recognition of his title as Lord of Couwenberg, which he inherited from his father circa 1660, suggesting Quellinus’s portrait pre-dates his new title.
Het Gulden Cabinet, and its many engraved images, was developed from a work by Jan Meyssen, Images de divers hommes d’esprit sublime, published in 1649, which included engravings showing well-known artists, among others. Meyssen’s work, in turn, was derived from Sir Anthony van Dyck’s Iconography, his great group of portrait etchings. It is likely that this picture was created for de Bie’s publication, for which Quellinus made other half-length portraits of fellow artists, including that of his brother, Artus Quellinus I, the sculptor, Jan van Kessel I and Antoine van Leyen. Quellinus’s portrait of van Thielen can be seen in the context of a cultural practice in the southern Netherlands in the 17th century: with artists recording their fellow painters for posterity, an affrmation of friendship and their newfound artistic status.
Erasmus and Artus Quellinus belonged to a family of artists of great eminence in Antwerp. A recent exhibition at the Musée de Flandre in Cassel, Dans le sillage de Rubens: Erasmus II Quellinus (1607-1678), examined the importance of Quellinus – and his brother – in 17th century Antwerp. It was the first show dedicated to the artist, and demonstrated how successful a career he had. The long shadow cast by Rubens had meant that even his most prominent pupils and collaborators, such as Quellinus, remained relatively unknown. The Cassel exhibition demonstrated how, after working on major projects with Rubens in the 1630s, Quellinus went on to become one of the leading Flemish artists of his time.