|
International Art Treasures Web Magazine November 2004 |
|
Copyright Rubens
The Art of the Great Image Maker
|
 Title: The Descent from the Cross, 1620 This engraving by Lucas Vorsterman is undoubtedly the best known of the many prints based on The Descent from the Cross. Artist: Lucas Vorsterman (Antwerp 1595-1675) Medium: Engraving Second State (5) Permanent Collection: Antwerp, Municipal Print Room, inv. IV / V31 Image Courtesy: Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec |
Reproduction rights over their artwork has long been an
artist's bane. Peter Paul Rubens had this problem. Unauthorized prints were taken to the artist's dismay without his permission and moreover without paying a cent to the creator.
|
Peter Paul Rubens is the greatest artist of the Baroque period. His legacy is owed to his talent, his incredible work ethic and his decision to pursue prints or recreations of his works on paper using artists in his studio to ensure he received the royalties due and also the quality of the reproductions did not suffer. This was a foreboding task in the 17th Century.
Title: Madonna and Child Sleeping, c. 1616
This charming, intimate painting is also known by
its early title, Silence. It was originally part of the funerary monument of P.
H. Ausloos in the church of Saint Nicholas, in Brussels, where it has been
replaced by a copy. A devotional work, it shows the clear influence of Raphael's
Madonnas. Prints on themes of this sort were both popular and lucrative, which
explains why Rubens chose this work as the basis for an engraving by Vorsterman.
Artist: Peter Paul Rubens (Siegen 1577 - Antwerp 1640)
Medium: Oil on Panel
Permanent Collection: Antwerp, KBC Bank, NV, Rocoxhuis, inv. 77.2
Image Courtesy: Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec
| Rubens learned early in his career that
his works were being copied, and through his sheer
determination of will and tremendous efforts, he obtained
copyright or exclusive rights from the States General of
the Dutch United Provinces, England, France and Spain.
The process spanned years beginning in 1608 and
continuing until he obtained his seven-year privilege
from the Dutch leaders on February 24, 1620.
Once this goal was achieved he then embarked on an engraving project, personally overseeing the execution of nearly 100 plates by such notable engravers as Lucas Vorsterman and Christoffel Jegher. An added benefit from the creation of these engraving plates was to spread the scope of Ruben's influence. |
|
The Engravers
 Title: Susanna and the Elders, 1620 Based on a painting that has been lost Rubens considered this engraving to be Vorsterman's finest work. Two lascivious old men spy on Susanna, a married woman, while she is bathing. When she refuses to consent to their indecent demands, they threaten to accuse her of adultery, a crime punishable by death. Artist: Lucas Vorsterman (Antwerp 1595-1675) First State (2) Permanent Collection: Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, inv. 10151 Image Courtesy: Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec |
It is believed that Lucas Vorsterman engraved at
least fourteen prints for Peter Paul Rubens during his two years
working under the Flemish Master's direction. Vorsterman was considered to be the finest engraver that ever worked for Rubens. Unfortunately the two artists quarreled and they ceased working together as a result during 1622. Vorsterman felt both unappreciated and underpaid. The violent argument between the two men allegedly included an attempt on Rubens life. Lucas Vorsterman's decision to apply for his own privilege or copyright for his prints added to the ill feelings. The two would reconcile in the later part of the 1630s and work together again. |
Title: Lot and his Daughters Leaving Sodom, 1620
Based on a painting formerly owned by Montreal businessman and engineer James Ross (1848-1913), which now hangs in the
J. & M. Ringling Museum in Sarasota, Florida.
Artist: Lucas Vorsterman (Antwerp 1595-1675)
First State (2)
Medium: Engraving
Permanent Collection: Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, inv. 10124
Image Courtesy: Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec
| Few woodcuts are included in Ruben's printmaking. Christoffel Jegher created the nine that are known. Woodcutting wasn't popular, but the benefit was additional impressions could be taken from a wood block as opposed to a copper plate. Christoffel Jegher specialized in woodcutting, which is a relief printing technique. His works were superior to others created at the time. |
|
Rubens directed Jegher to replace cross-hatching with parallel hatching. In certain works Jegher would trim all the ridges in the wood to add to the legibility of the print, allowing the main subjects to stand out from the background.
Title: The Rest on the Flight into Egypt,
First State (4)
On the Reverse Title: Hercules Overcoming Envy,
First State (2)
Jegher printed this first-state proof of The Rest on the Flight into Egypt on the back of an earlier Hercules proof.
Artist: Christoffel Jegher, (Antwerp 1596-1652/1653)
Medium: Woodcut
Permanent Collection:
Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, inv. 11136-1 and
11139
Image Courtesy: Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec
The Rest on the Flight into Egypt is based on a Ruben's work that is in the permanent collection of the Prado. The artist created a new drawing in preparation for the engraving. This drawing is in the Muzeum Narodowe Poznan. Copyright Rubens features all four states of this particular engraving completed by Jegher.
The Subjects
Landscape
Title: Landscape by Moonlight
Based on a painting in the Courtauld Institute, London
Both the Rubens painting and the Bolswert print deeply influenced major 18th-
and 19th-century English painters. Landscape by Moonlight became a conversation
piece, the subject of much discussion by the likes of Reynolds, Turner and
Constable. It is even said that Constable died with this print at his bedside.
Artist: Schelte Adams Bolswert (Bolsward 1584/1588 - Antwerp 1659)
Medium: Engraving
Fourth State (4)
Permanent Collection: Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, inv. 11026
Image Courtesy: Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec
Schelte Adams Bolswert was honored to create prints of Rubens' landscapes. In 1635 Rubens purchased a manor house, The Château de Steen, located between Brussels and Malines. It was there he found inspiration culminating in his landscapes paintings.
Violence and Sensuality
Title: Hippopotamus and Crocodile Hunt
Based on a painting in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich.
Delacroix's diary tells us that for
the murals of Saint Sulpice in Paris he drew inspiration from the belle
exagération of the horses and riders in Rubens' prints. He thoroughly
disliked sugary pictures and greatly admired the furious Hippopotamus
and Crocodile Hunt. In the upper area, the arm movement of the rider at
the left extends beyond the edge of the composition. This clever
technique intensifies the violence of the scene. The same stratagem is
used at the bottom of the etching, where the crocodile's jaws cast a
shadow into the margin. The caption provides the moral of the story:
"While the hippopotamus is viciously attacking its enemy the crocodile,
it succumbs, unaware, to the hand of man."
Artist: Pieter Claesz Soutman (Haarlem 1570/1590 - 1657)
Medium: Engraving and Etching
First State (4)
Permanent Collection: Antwerp, Municipal Print Room, inv. V / S.39
Image Courtesy: Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec
Often considered his most dynamic works, Rubens used his canvas to depict emotion and aggression from those involved in the activities.
Title: The Defeat of Sennacherib
Based on a painting in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich
Few artists have chosen to depict this biblical scene. The
story is that of the Assyrian king Sennacherib and his campaign in Palestine,
where the Assyrians failed to capture Jerusalem as a result of divine
intervention. Soutman's interpretation of Rubens' painting is quite loose. He
chose to render only the central area of the composition, focusing on the king
tumbling from his horse.
Artist: Pieter Claesz Soutman (Haarlem 1570/1590 - 1657)
Medium: Engraving and Etching
Second State (2)
Permanent Collection: Antwerp, Municipal Print Room, inv. IV / B.129
Image Courtesy: Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec
It is believed that many of these prints were created after Ruben's death. Evidence is found in the captions of Pieter Claesz Soutman, who credited himself with the concept. Rubens would not have tolerated such an act. He would never have allowed the act to be repeated. This leads to the suspicion that these particular prints were done without his knowledge or consent.
Title: Samson and Delilah
This print is based on a painting in the
National Gallery in London that once belonged to Nicolaas Rockox,
Rubens' friend and patron. It shows Delilah cutting the sleeping
Samson's hair, thus robbing him of his strength and enabling the
Philistines to overpower him.
Artist: Jacob Matham, (Haarlem 1571-16531)
Medium: Engraving
Second State (2)
Permanent Collection: Haarlem, Teylers Museum, inv. KG 16941
Image Courtesy: Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec
Title: L'Éducation de la
Vierge, 1845-1846
Artist: Théophile Hamel
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 43.5 x 36 cm
Permanent Collection: Musée des
beaux-arts de Montréal,
achat, legs Horsley et Annie Townsend (1982.8)
Image Courtesy: Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec
Canadian artist, Théophile Hamel, on a trip to Antwerp was moved by Rubens' The Education of the Virgin and created a replica, albeit of smaller dimensions. The painter is believed to be one of the few Quebecois artists of the period who had an opportunity to paint a copy from the Flemish Master.
 Title: The Drunken Silenus Artist: Jonas Suyderhoef (Haalem c. 1613-1686) Medium: Etching and Engraving First State (5) Permanent Collection: Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum inv. OB 60653 Image Courtesy: Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec |
|
Copyright Rubens: The Art of the Great Image Maker is a collaboration between Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen (Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp) and the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec. Their cooperation resulted in this fine exhibit of Rubens orchestrated prints.
Title: The Miracles of Saint Ignatius of Loyola
Based on a modello and a painting in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Artist: Marinus Robijn van der Goes (London 1599 - Antwerp 1639)
Medium: Engraving
Only State
Permanent Collection: Antwerp, Municipal Print Room, inv. V / G.17
Image Courtesy: Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec