Interview by the FelixArchief in Antwerp about my article in HistoriANT (9-2021): https://felixarchief.antwerpen.be/nieuwspagina/blijde-intrede-1635
Book project:
Step by Step: Visualizing and Asserting Power in Early Modern Joyous Entries and Festivities in the Netherlands, 1500–1750
To celebrate the 385th anniversary of the Joyous Entry of Cardinal-Infant Ferdinand of Spain into Antwerp in 1635, which had been largely designed by Peter Paul Rubens, a conference was organized to present and discuss the current research on these lavish festivities held in the early modern Netherlands. Postponed due to the Covid19-pandemic the event took place virtually in December 2020 hosted by the Rubenianum in Antwerp (https://www.rubenianum.be/en/activity/step-step). Focusing on these ephemeral, spectacular, and artistically ingenious events that shaped and transformed the cities of Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent or The Hague, the presented papers highlighted in many different ways how power was asserted and negotiated between the ruler and the ruled during such entries. Additional focus was given to the theme of interdisciplinarity in the organization and execution of these events as well as in the modern scholarship needed to gain a deeper understanding of the multifaceted entities that those festivities constituted.
The organizers of the conference aim at publishing the papers held at the conference and would like to invite submissions for further essays for the edited volume. The large audience emphasized that these early modern spectacles are of great interest for current research in the fields of historiography, art history, musicology, theatre studies, or research on literature, among others. Therefore, we would like to invite additional contributors for this volume which wants to bring together current research on early modern Joyous Entries of the Netherlands (1500–1750) from different areas of study. Additionally, we would like to encourage the submission of abstracts that focus on other festivities in the Low Countries that are connected to the Joyous Entry tradition, among them burial processions, religious processions (i. e. ommegangen), weddings, or stately entries of foreign dignitaries. Essays could deal with single festivities, or even single ephemeral structures, comparative analyses, or utilize a distinctive interdisciplinary approach.
Please submit your abstract that includes a title for your essay and has a maximum length of 500 words as well as your CV no later than June 1, 2021 to Sabrina Lind (sabrina.lind@UGent.be) and Ivo Raband (ivo.raband@uni-hamburg.de) via email. The language of the publication will be English. We will respond within a month and inform you if your essay has been accepted for the volume. Finalized essays will be due April 30, 2022. We especially encourage submissions by researchers at PhD and Postdoc level. Please note that the editors will not be able to contribute to any costs (e. g. image fees) and that we ask you to find external funding if necessary. We also plan to have a workshop with the contributors of the volume at the Rubenianum in Antwerp in the early summer of 2022 to discuss the essays before their final editing. The manuscript will then be submitted for review to the European Festival Studies 1450–1700 Series at Brepols publishers (General Editors Margaret Shewring, Marie-Claude Canova-Green, and Margaret M. McGowan).
Timetable:
Submission Deadline for Abstracts: 01.06.2021
Response by the Editors Regarding the Acceptance of Abstracts: 30.06.2021
Submission Deadline for Essays: 30.04.2022
Possible Workshop with the Authors: 2022 (dates tbc)
Submission of the Finalized Essays: 31.10.2022
Submission of the Manuscript: Spring 2022 (dates tbc)
Panel at the HNA Conference 2022:
ANKK Sponsored Session
SESSION ORGANIZERS
Madeline Delbé, Bonn University
Sabrina Lind, Ghent University
RESPONDENT
Birgit Ulrike Münch, Bonn University
Netherlandish Mobility in Times of Crisis (1500–1700)
Pandemics, wars, economic declines, religious or political persecution, natural catastrophes,
famine – crises such as these are not limited to our present days but have always had an impact on the life and work of different social groups, amongst them artists. In line with the increasing number of debates and projects on the mobility of artists in (art) historical
research, this session considers an aspect of artists’ mobility that has not yet been
comprehensively investigated: mobility through crisis. As is often the case, the
particularities of our own historical moment encourage us to renew our attention to related
circumstances in the past.
This session aims to provide a forum for inquiries into the life and work of artists and other
actors in the Northern and Southern Netherlands in the period from 1500 until 1700 whose
mobility was directly affected by different kinds of crisis. By addressing upheavals such as
the Iconoclastic Fury (1566), the Fall of Antwerp (1585), military training and war
preparation, as well as the Disaster Year (1672), it focuses both the ways in which crises did
– or at times did not – affect artists’ private, social, and professional lives. Hence, it faces
different crises, taking into account factors that either promoted migration or the lingering
and coping with the changed circumstances that impaired the artists’ working conditions in
one way or another. Since the latter were determined not only by the crisis itself but also by
patrons and guilds, the mobility of the artists will also be analyzed in regard to their
entanglement with various actors, reacting to the crises individually. By doing so, this panel
aims to foster a discussion on this specific kind of artists’ mobility and, consequently, to
inviting further research on single case studies as well as on methodological issues and
theoretical questions.
SPEAKERS
Suzanne Duff, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
Fine Tuning: The Antwerp Harpsichord Makers' Proposal to the Saint Luke's Guild During
the Turbulent Sixteenth Century
Artists living in Antwerp during the second half of the sixteenth century faced several
periods of socio-economic upheaval. Many emigrated after pivotal moments like the
Iconoclastic Fury (1566) and the Fall of Antwerp (1585). But some also chose to stay. After
1585 when the population dropped by half within four years, data suggests that artists left
the city in lower numbers than the rest of the population, aware of the professional
challenges they would face by relocating. My presentation will investigate how the
harpsichord makers negotiated with Antwerp's artists' guild, the Saint Luke's Guild, during
this period to not only survive in this challenging environment, but also prosper and even
increase their status.
Their success was predicated on an earlier effort, in 1557, to become an official subgroup
(natie) within the guild. I argue organizing the craft within the guild facilitated the formation
of a city-wide production network that made it possible to withstand future periods of
instability. The network divided labor across workshops allowing various skill levels to work
together to produce higher quantities of instruments for export while maintaining quality.
As part of the guild, they could also more easily collaborate with painters, and
standardizations developed toward efficiency and secure transportation led to a unique
local style that heightened recognition in a global marketplace.
Hans Ruckers (1533/40-1598) utilized this Antwerp network to found a dynasty that defined
Antwerp as a center for harpsichord production. Recognizing the possibilities of organizing
as a group within the guild, other crafts petitioned for a natie, including the embroiderers in
1586, whose profession flourished during the early seventeenth century. This case study
illustrates one example of how craftsmen in Antwerp during the sixteenth century turned to
the Saint Luke's Guild for order and protection and relied on that during times of crises.
Stefano Rinaldi, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Military Training and Artistic Exchange. Traveling from Tuscany to the Low Countries
during the Dutch Revolt
In Early Modern Europe, war, with all its horrors, was not usually the intended destination
of traveling artists. For a young engineer, however, an experience on the battlefield could
represent an important professional opportunity, granting first-hand knowledge of the most
advanced developments in military architecture and technology. Building on those
premises, the paper will frame the training and career mechanisms of Tuscan engineers at
the beginning of the 17th century as a vehicle of artistic exchange with the North. After a
first theoretical education, many young engineers would volunteer for a period of military
service in Flanders or Germany, before coming back to Tuscany to serve the Grand Dukes as
military or civilian architects and engineers.
The Florentine court architect Giulio Parigi (1571–1635) appears to have played a central
role in fostering this form of professional mobility through his informal school of
architecture, engineering, and landscape drawing. Attended by Tuscan artists and engineers
alongside young foreign aristocrats, this unofficial yet influential institution allowed its
pupils to integrate into an interdisciplinary and international network, helping advance their
later military career abroad. Given the close connection between engineering and art
(especially in the form of landscape drawing) in Parigi’s teaching, it will be argued that this
particular context helps explain the travels of artists like Remigio Cantagallina, Baccio del
Bianco or even Jacques Callot.
Rieke van Leeuwen, RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History, The Hague
Avoiding Disaster. Artists from the Dutch Republic on the Move in 1672–1679
In the Disaster Year 1672, the Dutch War began, which would last until 1679: the Republic of
the Seven United Netherlands was attacked by England, France and the Dioceses of Münster
and Cologne. The chaos was complete and public life was completely disrupted. In many
Dutch cities, artistic life almost came to a standstill and the already waning art market
collapsed. To create new opportunities, artists had to be resourceful. However, because no
one could predict how the situation would develop, there was a big gambling element in
this. Artists migrated on a large scale, within and outside the Republic, where they stayed
for short or longer periods, with varying degrees of success. The initiatives they took were usually focused on the short term - one step at a time - and related not only to unsafe situations, but also to finding clients.
Arnold Houbraken writes about Gerard Hoet I (1648-1733): "Finally came the disastrous
year of 1672, which stopped everything in its tracks, so that Hoet went to The Hague". By
coincidence he came into contact with a French (!) colonel, with whom he traveled to his
army camp in Rees near Cleves, to work for him there. Hoet found three young colleagues
from occupied Utrecht: Jan van Bunnik, Justus van Nijpoort and Andries de With. From there
the foursome fanned out in different directions: De With probably went back to Utrecht,
Hoet went to Paris for a short time and then settled in Utrecht, Jan van Bunnik did not
return home until 12 years later, after he had worked in Germany, Italy and France and
Justus van Nijpoort found employment in Slovenia, Austria and Bohemia, where he died 20
years later in Olomouc.
In this paper I will investigate patterns in the (foreign) mobility of Dutch artists triggered by
the Disaster Year. Is it true that artists from Utrecht became more adrift than artists from
other cities? Charles II of England and Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg made it clear that
Dutch artists were very welcome. But what about the opportunities for Dutch artists in
other regions, such as France or Scandinavia? And did Dutch artists still travel to Italy to
further their education, or was this luxury the first to be cut be cut back?
For more information about the HNA Conference 2022 and the registration please visit: https://hnanews.org/2022-hna-conference-registration-information-program/
