visitors' guide (PDF, 3,42 MB)

The Golden Cabinet 

ROYAL MUSEUM AT THE ROCKOX HOUSE

From 2 February 2013, the Rockox House collection will be enhanced by the presence of top 

pieces from the Antwerp Royal Museum of Fine Arts, which is closed for renovation and 

rebuilding. This is being taken as an occasion to transform the Keizerstraat residence of Nicolaas 

Rockox (1560–1640), burgomaster of Antwerp and patron, into a ‘Golden Cabinet’, in order to 

give a notion of how a rich Antwerp art collection of the Golden Century must have appeared. 

The fact that the two museums have joined forces is no coincidence, since both are the result of 

avid collection over time.

Royal Museum of Fine Arts, 

Antwerp 

The Royal Museum has its roots in the art 

collection of the Guild of St. Luke, an artists’ 

association that went back to the fourteenth 

century. In 1663, David Teniers II, a former 

dean of the guild, established the Antwerp 

Academy, and it was to the Academy that, on 

the dissolution of the guilds at the end of the 

eighteenth century, the Guild of St. Luke’s rich 

collection of works of art passed. Under the 

French occupation, the monastic orders were 

abolished and the Academy was transferred 

to the empty buildings of the monastery of 

the Recollects in Antwerp. The Church of the 

Recollects was fitted out as a Museum of Fine 

Arts, and was also used as a store for the works 

of art stolen from churches and monasteries 

by French troops and returned to Antwerp 

around 1815. The collection of the Museum of 

Fine Arts was subsequently enriched through 

important donations and legacies. In 1890, the 

museum moved to the city’s newly laid out Zuid 

(South) quarter. Now, a hundred and twenty 

years later, this temple of the arts is temporarily 

closing its doors in order to secure the future of 

the building and the collection. 

Nicolaas Rockox. Who was he? 

Nicolaas Rockox (Antwerp, 1560–1640) was 

born into a wealthy, bourgeois family and studied 

law at Leuven, Paris and Douai. During the 

first half of the seventeenth century, he played 

a highly important part in the political, artistic 

and social life of his city, occupying several positions 

of responsibility, among them as alderman 

and burgomaster. He married Adriana Perez, 

scion of an old and wealthy merchant family of 

Spanish origin, but the couple remained childless. 

He also gained an exceptional reputation 

as a patron, antiquarian, humanist and numismatist, 

Moreover, he was instrumental in the 

success enjoyed by Rubens during the second 

decade of the seventeenth century, commissioning 

a number of important works from 

this great master of the Baroque. One of the 

works that, as burgomaster, he commissioned 

Rubens to paint was the Adoration of the Magi 

(Prado, Madrid) for the Antwerp Town Hall. 

In his capacity of Master of the Arquebusiers’ 

Guild, he also commissioned Rubens to paint 

the famous Deposition for the guild’s altar 

in Antwerp’s cathedral. His private commissions 

to Rubens included his tomb memorial, 

the triptych Christ and St. Thomas (Antwerp 

Royal Museum of Fine Arts). The memory of 

this important, seventeenth-century patrician is 

kept alive today in the evocation of his burgomaster’s 

residence in Antwerp. The house was 

restored in the 1970s at the instigation of KBC 

and has been open to the public since 1977. 

The Golden Cabinet 

The name given to this joint project, ‘The 

Golden Cabinet’, refers to the title of the 

famous work Het Gulden Cabinet van de 

Edel Vry Schilderconst by Cornelis de Bie 

(1627–1715), a rhetorician from the Southern 

Netherlands; in three volumes, it is a collection 

of biographies of painters from those parts and 

includes engraved portraits of them. For our 

‘Golden Cabinet’ in the Rockox House, we have 

assembled top works from the art of Western 

Europe from the fourteenth to and including 

the seventeenth century. A painted ‘Art Gallery’ 

by Frans Francken II (1581–1642), which is from 

the collection of the Royal Museum, forms the 

point of departure of this project. Francken 

invented this genre and Rockox commissioned 

a painting of his own art gallery from him; a 

beautiful impression, it now hangs in the Alte 

Pinakothek in Munich. 

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T h e G o l d e n C a b i n e t 

R o y a l M u s e u m a t t h e R o c k o x H o u s e 

Rooms 1 and 2 

A late-mediaeval cabinet 

The Royal Museum has a unique collection of late-mediaeval art, the most important pieces of 

which will be exhibited alternately in these rooms. That collection is also a tribute to Florent 

Joseph, knight of Ertborn (Antwerp 1784 – The Hague 1840), who, just as Nicolaas Rockox, was 

a former burgomaster of Antwerp and a keen-eyed collector. Rockox collected both Renaissance 

art and the contemporary art of his time. Van Ertborn concentrated on late-mediaeval art and in 

1840 donated no less than 141 items from his collection to the Royal Museum. 

The Middle Ages extended over long period of nearly 1 000 years, from the Fall of the Western 

Roman Empire (A.D. 476) to the Renaissance (ca. 1400/1500). The era was dominated by the 

teachings of the Christian Church and by a social order of great contradictions, represented by, 

on the one hand, the nobility and the humanists, and, on the other, the servile peasant classes. 

This picture was reflected to the full in the art of the time. During the Middle Ages, the greater 

part of the iconography of the pictorial arts consisted of religious subjects and portraits. First to 

herald the Renaissance were Italian artists, with their addition of a three-dimensional effect in 

their painting, and their introduction of expression in the figuration. 

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Jean-Baptist Greuze (Tournus 1725 – Paris 1805) 

Portrait of Florent Joseph, Knight of Ertborn 

Antwerp, private collection 

(until the end of 2013) 

This brilliant portrait – characteristic of the artist’s work 

– shows Florent van Ertborn at the age of twenty, and 

was painted towards the end of Greuze’s life. Greuze was 

a successful French painter of bourgeois portraits, religious 

scenes and genre pieces. The style he worked in was 

chiefly Rococo, though it became more moralising after 

his two years in Italy. 

Jozef Geefs (Antwerp 1808 – Brussels 1885) 

Portrait Bust of Florent van Ertborn 

1849 

Antwerp Royal Museum of Fine Arts inv. 1067 

In 1849, the Antwerp city council commissioned the sculptor 

Jozef Geefs to make this bust of the patron for the 

Royal Museum. Geefs was a student of and later a lecturer 

in sculpture and anatomy at the Antwerp Royal Academy 

of Fine Arts, of which he became director in 1876. 

Simone Martini (Siena 1284 – Avignon 1344) 

Orsini Polyptych 

Ca. 1335 

Antwerp Royal Museum of Fine Arts inv. 257-260 

These four scenes with a gold background were originally 

part of a six-scene portable altar. The panels with the archangel 

Gabriel and Mary probably formed the front of the 

double-sided doors of the polyptych. At some time in the 

past both these panels were split. The Carrying of the Cross 

and The Laying in the Tomb, which were originally on the 

inner faces of the double-sided panels, are now housed 

in respectively the Louvre, Paris, and the Gemäldegalerie, 

Berlin. The remaining two panels depicting The Crucifixion 

and The Deposition, shown here on the right, must have 

originally formed the two central panels. Martini painted 

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the altar for Cardinal Napoleone Orsini (1263–1342), 

who was active at Avignon as a diplomat during the pontificates 

of Popes Clement V and John XXII. The cardinal is 

depicted below in The Deposition. The panels discussed 

here are masterpieces of early Sienese painting and were 

purchased by van Ertborn in 1826 from the Chartreuse de 

Champmol, close by Dijon. 

Antonello da Messina (Messina 1430 – 1479) 

Calvary 

Dated and signed 1475 / Antonellus messaneus / me.pinxit. 


The crucified Christ is flanked by the good and the bad 

thief. On the ground below, Mary and John mourn. The 

skull in the foreground is a reference to Adam, who was 

believed to be buried at Golgotha. The painting contains 

many symbols of death and redemption. Among them, the 

owl refers to sinners who turn away from the true faith; 

the snake curling through the skull is symbolic of death 

and the devil. In this masterpiece, the Sicilian artist unites 

the northern technique of painting in oils and the Flemish 

sense of detail with the southern attention to synthesis and 

composition. Da Messina, an Italian Renaissance painter, 

stayed in Flanders from 1457 to 1460. The painting was 

purchased in 1826 by professor Van Rotterdam from the 

Ghent Maelscamp van Balsberge family and sold by him to 

Florent van Ertborn. 

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Jean Fouquet (Tours 1420 – 1471) 

Madonna surrounded by Seraphim and Cherubim 


This famous ‘Madonna’ is a part of a diptych that also 

features a portrait of Etienne Chevalier with St. Stephen 

(Gemäldegalerie, Berlin). Until the French Revolution, the 

diptych hung above the tomb of Chevalier’s wife in the 

Church of Notre Dame de Melun. The contrast of the red 

and blue of the Seraphim and Cherubim with the milkwhite 

skin of the Madonna and Child creates an illusory 

effect. Maria is said to have the features of Agnes Sorel, 

the mistress of the French king Charles VII. The historian 

Johan Huizinga felt that the painting reflected ‘decadent 

godlessness’ and ‘blasphemous candour’. The surrealists, 

on the other hand, elevated the ‘fashion doll … with 

spherical breasts’ to a world-renowned icon. Fouquet is 

the figurehead of the French school of painting, and his 

style is reminiscent of the paintings of the van Eyck brothers 

and of the Florentine Renaissance painting that he had 

become acquainted with in Italy. 

Jan van Eyck (Maaseik ca.1390 – Bruges 1441) 

Saint Barbara of Nicodemia 

Signed and dated on the original frame: 

IOH[ANN]ES DE EYCK ME FECIT 1437 


Together with Rogier van der Weyden, Jan van Eyck is one 

of the giants among the Flemish Primitives. Barbara was 

the only daughter of a pagan Syrian noble who confined 

her to a tower to prevent anyone looking on her. He was 

angered by her conversion to Christianity and had her 

tortured, but to no avail; during the night, her injuries 

healed miraculously. Ultimately, he beheaded her, upon 

which the earth began to quake and he was struck by 

lightning. Here, Barbara is modestly leafing through a 

prayer-book, her left hand holding a palm branch. Behind 

her rises a Gothic church tower. Van Eyck seized upon the 

subject to depict a contemporary construction site. Art 

biographer Van Mander describes the work as ‘under- 

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painting’. It is the oldest surviving, uncompleted panel 

in the painting of The Netherlands and has been in the 

collections of Lucas de Heere (sixteenth-century Flemish 

painter and writer), Johannes Enschede, J. Cornelis Ploos 

van Amstel and Florent van Ertborn. 

Jan van Eyck (Maaseik ca.1390 – Bruges 1441) 

Madonna at the Fountain 

Signed and dated on the original frame: ALS (ICH) XAN en 

IOH[ANN]ES DE EYCK ME FECIT ET [COM]PLEVIT ANO 1439 


(from May 2013) 

In an enclosed garden (hortus conclusus) with luxuriant 

vegetation, Mary with the Christ Child stands in front of a 

richly brocaded fabric held up by two angels. Mother and 

child display their affection for each other: Christ is caressing 

Mary’s neck with his right hand, while she looks lovingly at 

him. It was in Mary that the faithful in late mediaeval times 

sought refuge, as a child does with its mother. Between 

approximately 1516/1523, this gem was probably in the 

possession of Margaret of Austria. In 1838, van Ertborn 

bought it from the priest of the village of Dikkelvenne. 

Rogier van der Weyden 

(Doornik 1399/1400 – Brussels 1464) 

Philippe de Croy 

Ca 1460 


(September 2013 to January 2014: Huntington L.A.) 

This portrait forms the right-hand panel of a diptych 

whose left-hand panel is now in San Marino, California. 

Between his folded hands, the young man holds a rosary 

with a small cross. Two inscriptions and a blazon on the 

back of the work identify the figure as Philippe de Croy 

(1434–1482), a rising star at the court of Philip the Good. 

He was for a time High Bailiff of Hainaut and after the 

death of his father in 1473 became Count of Chimay. 

Following the death of his mother in 1461, he inherited 

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the title of Lord of Quiévrain, whereupon he relinquished 

his title of Lord of Sempy to his brother. Because this 

last title is mentioned on the painting, the work must 

date from before 1461. The painting was bought by van 

Ertborn in 1825 from a castle in the environs of Namur. 


Atelier of Rogier van der Weyden 


Annunciation 


In the bedroom of a middle-class home, Mary kneels 

before a bench on which she is resting an open breviary. 

The winged archangel Gabriel breaks her concentration 

and brings the Divine message. In the left foreground is a 

vase with white lilies, the symbol of Mary’s virginity. This is 

a painting with the precision of a miniature. The composition 

is akin to two other, larger-scale ‘Annunciations’ by 

van der Weyden: a first (ca. 1455) on the left-hand panel of 

the Columba altarpiece in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich 

and the second (1465/70) that the artist painted for Ferry 

de Clugny and which is in the Metropolitan Museum in 

New York. 

(from July 2013) 

Attributed to Rogier van der Weyden 


Portrait of a Tournament Judge 


The man depicted here holding a large arrow in his hand 

is thought by some to be Jean Lefèvre de Saint-Remy, the 

first King-of-Arms of the Order of the Golden Fleece. The 

same man appears in three of van der Weyden’s other 

works. The persons portrayed on other fifteenth-century 

portraits also hold an arrow, which was the attribute of 

the tournament judge. 

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Anonymous, Augsburg (late sixteenth century) 

Wall clock 

Rockox House inv. 79.4 

The clock has just a single hand and strikes the hours. The 

mechanism is controlled by a foliot device (tumbler) and 

is of Augsburg origin. The engravings with astronomy as 

the motif betray an Antwerp influence. The clock has a 

homely feel. 

Hans Memling (Seligenstad 1423/43 – Bruges 1494) 

Man with a Roman Coin 

Ca. 1473 


(from May to September 2013) 

This middle-aged man regards us with a somewhat 

dreamy expression. He is holding a Roman coin in his 

hand, a sestertius of Emperor Nero. Below middle are 

two laurel leaves which were probably continued onto the 

original frame, which is now lost. A vista draws our eye to 

a rider in an idyllic landscape with a palm tree and with 

swans in a lake. Memling was one of the first artists to 

use the landscape as background for a portrait. It is not 

known for certain who the person portrayed here is, but it 

is thought to be the Venetian humanist Bernardo Bembo 

(1433–1519), who had an important collection of paintings 

and antique coins. Van Ertborn bought the painting 

in 1826 at the auction held by baron Vivant Denon, the 

man who co-ordinated the art transports of Napoleon. 

Nicolaas Rockox, too, had a sestertius (bronze) of Emperor 

Nero in his collection. It is likely that Memling was 

an apprentice to van der Weyden. In any case, he was 

enrolled in the Guild of St. Luke in Bruges in 1476 and set 

the art of portrait painting on a new path. 

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Master of Frankfurt (Antwerp 1460 – 1515/25) 

The Painter and His Wife 


The Master of Frankfurt was the first major painter active 

in Antwerp. His real name remains unknown. The invented 

name given him concerns two paintings from his hand 

(from 1503 and 1506 respectively), which are to be found 

in the German town of Frankfurt. This small painting is 

said to be a self-portrait of the artist in the company of his 

wife. On the original frame can be seen the date 1496 and 

the ages of the two persons, thirty-six and twenty-seven. 

Depicted above is the coat-of-arms of Antwerp’s Guild of 

St. Luke. The banderole bears the motto of the Violieren, 

the guild’s chamber of rhetoric, ‘Wt lonsten versaemt’ 

(united in friendship). This artist’s portrait is one of the 

earliest of its kind in The Netherlands and was mentioned 

in an inventory of the possessions of Margaret of Austria 

from 1516. 

Master of Frankfurt (Antwerp 1460 – 1515/25) 

Festival of the Archers 


From the fourteenth century on, many Flemish and Brabant 

towns had guilds of archers that practised with arms. The 

archers also organised competitions and drinking sprees 

with their brother-archers from other towns. This painting 

of an archers’ festival was commissioned by the Antwerp 

Guild of the Old Arbalest. In the middle of the festivities 

is a man enthroned under a baldachin: he is the winner of 

the tournament. The gilded key above his head indicates 

a free banquet. Two jesters are morris-dancing to the 

beat of a black drummer. A gate proves to be no obstacle 

to certain individuals looking to join the exclusive party. 

This mysterious painting has at least yielded up its many 

meanings. A man in the garden stares straight out at us; 

it is the artist depicted on the dual portrait in this room. 

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Anonymous, ca. 1520/30 

Halberd 


The halberd is a multi-functional pole weapon. It consists 

of wooden shaft, two metres or more in length, with an 

iron thrusting blade having an axe on one side and a hook 

on the other. The axe was razor-sharp and could seriously 

mutilate opponents. During a battle, the halberd could 

be used as a striking and thrusting weapon, and its hook 

could serve to pull a rider from his horse. It was used from 

the Middle Ages into the sixteenth century as a rank-andfile 

weapon. It was supplanted by the pike and chiefly by 

the emerging firearms, and thereafter served only as a 

ceremonial weapon, borne as a sign of rank by sergeants 

or in parades. 

Cologne Master of St. Veronica (fifteenth century) 

The Man of Sorrows with the Virgin 

and St. Catherine of Alexandria 

Ca. 1400 – 1420 


Christ is flanked by the Virgin and St. Catherine holding 

the instruments of her torture, the wheel and the sword. 

This panel was probably initially the central piece of a 

small domestic triptych. Christ is depicted as the Man of 

Sorrows with the crown of thorns on his head. He shows 

us his wounds (ostentatio vulnerum) and reminds us that it 

is through his gory sacrifice that we are redeemed. 

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The Master of the Antwerp Adoration 

(Southern Netherlands, ca. 1500 – 1530) 

Adoration of the Magi 

Ca. 1519? 



The Master of the Antwerp Adoration was an anonymous 

painter who is thought to have worked at Antwerp 

during the first decade of the sixteenth century. It was the 

triptych exhibited here that gave the master his invented 

name. However, the refinement of the work is substantially 

greater than that of what the so-called ‘Antwerp 

Mannerists’ produced, and it is therefore not impossible 

that the painter was active in Bruges or Ghent. The central 

panel has a depiction of the Adoration of the Magi, a theme 

that was highly marketable. On the side panels are, left, 

St. George with the dragon and, right, St. Margaret of 

Antioch, together with the kneeling commissioner of the 

work. In various places in the painting, the underpainting 

is visible to the naked eye. 

(until May 2013) 

Anonymous (ca. 1515) 

Antwerp altarpiece, Adoration of the Magi 


Here the event of the adoration is not depicted as taking 

place in a stable with a crib, ox and ass, as folk devotion 

would wish it, but in a house, as indicated in the gospel 

(Matt. 2,11: ’And entering into the house ...’). Identifying 

marks are to be seen on the altarpiece: two small hands 

on the right-hand side of the box, a small hand on the 

side of the right-hand panel (identifying marks of the 

frame-maker) and a further small hand on the head of 

each figure (identifying marks of the sculptor). Altarpiece 

production was regulated by the Antwerp ordinances of 

1470, 1472 and 1493, which allocated production to five 

crafts. The beeldsnydere (sculptor) carved the figures and 

the wings; the metselsnydere (specialist woodcarver) did 

the decorative carving; the decorator and the gilder took 

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care of the polychromy; and the backmaker (box-maker) 

made the altarpiece box, with the painter decorating the 

wings. This specialisation enhanced productivity and quality, 

which last was endorsed by the identifying marks: 

the small hand for the wood and the castle for the polychromy. 

Each figure is cut from a separate block of wood 

and the carving is of good Antwerp quality. Pictured on 

the wing panels are, left, St. Hadrian (martyr, † 304) and, 

right, St. Clara († 1253), a disciple of St. Francis. It was 

probably at the request of the buyer that the saints were 

depicted on these panels. They were the patron saints 

either of a married couple or a foundation. The altarpiece 

probably functioned as a domestic altarpiece or as a devotional 

altarpiece in a side chapel of a church. 

Anonymous Brabant Master (early sixteenth century) 

Enclosed Garden 


This ‘Enclosed Garden’ consists of a shallow box, a sort of 

puppet theatre, decorated with floral elements and holding 

various polychromed figures. The garden is enclosed 

by painted side panels with religious depictions. Such 

‘Gardens’ were generally commissioned by convents of 

nuns and were fabricated jointly by box-makers, painters, 

sculptors and decorators. At the bottom is a reed 

fence with a gate, an allusion to the Enclosed Garden of 

the Song of Songs and to Mary’s virginity. It is the Virgin 

within an aureole that forms the central figure. Below, 

Adam and Eve are being expelled from paradise. The 

paintings on the left-hand panel depict the Ascension and 

the Descent into Hell, those on the right-hand panel the 

marvel of Pentecost and the Noli me tangere (Do not touch 

me). The side panels are of German origin and certainly a 

half-century older than the sculptures. 

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Joachim Beuckelaer (Antwerp 1533 – 1575) 

Woman Selling Vegetables 

Signed with monogram and dated 1567 


In Rockox’s time, the kitchen chimney stood here. Together 

with the well, it was a seventeenth-century kitchen’s most 

important utility. A painting could often be hung on the 

chimney in the kitchen of a patrician house as a reference 

to the area’s function. A ‘Joachim Beuckelaer’ would 

certainly have been in its place here. The vegetable seller 

offers a wide selection of vegetables and fruit, and her 

companion deals in game. Duck with fruit was very much 

a favourite dish in patrician cuisine. 

Initially, Joachim Beuckelaer painted religious themes, 

later using the religious context to enhance the attraction 

of his market pieces and still lifes. Together with his uncle, 

the Amsterdam painter Pieter Aertsen (Amsterdam 1508– 

1575), he was an initiator of the independent market and 

still-life themes in painting. Their paintings were often 

also allegorical depictions. 

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Corridor 1 

Sebastiaan Vrancx (Antwerp 1573 – 1647) 

Winter Pleasures 

Monogram S.V. under the sleigh in the foreground 


Young and old are having fun skating on a frozen river. 

Some of them are in carnival costume, such as the girl 

in the right foreground, who is wearing a Twelfth Night 

crown on her head and holding under her arm the Twelfth 

Night cake in which she has found the bean, allowing her 

to rule for the whole day. 

Louis de Caullery (Caullery 1579/1581 – Antwerp 1621) 

Shrove Tuesday on the Ice 


Masked skaters throng a heavily frozen canal in the centre 

of a model Renaissance town. On the banks, a varied 

crowd of people congregate around the different amusements, 

which include an open-air theatre and a tumbling 

acrobat. 

Pieter Neefs I (Antwerp ca. 1578 – after 1656) 

and Frans Francken III (Antwerp 1606 – 1667) 

Church Interior 

Signed PEETER NEEFFS 


Pieter Neefs I was the paramount Flemish painter of church 

interiors. A fixed source of inspiration was the interior of 

the Church of Our Lady in Antwerp, the biggest church in 

The Netherlands. However, the church’s impressive pillar 

architecture is not reproduced parrot-fashion, but varied 

in accordance with the desired surface division. Frans 

Francken III has painted tiny figures in the empty interior. 

The two painters co-operated on a number of paintings. 

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Paul Vredeman de Vries (Amsterdam 1567 – 1617) 

and Sebastiaan Vrancx (Antwerp 1573 – 1647) 

Palaces 


A porticoed terrace leads to an impressive gatehouse. 

The floor is laid with multi-coloured marble. To the right, 

behind a garden with a fountain, rises a palace, certain 

elements of which are reminiscent of the Antwerp town 

hall. Elegant figures painted by Sebastiaan Vrancx people 

this architectural piece. This imagined scene certainly 

answers to the urban development aspirations entertained 

by the burghers of Antwerp. Peter Paul Rubens attempted 

to stimulate those architectural ambitions further with the 

publication of Palazzi di Genova (1622). 

Sebastiaan Vrancx (Antwerp 1573 – 1647) 

Landscape with Travellers Attacked by Robbers 


Vrancx painted mainly scenes of battle, plundering and 

robbery, and kermissen (fairs). He also added his figures 

to landscapes by Joos de Momper II and Jan Brueghel I. 

Besides being a painter, Vrancx was also active successively 

as warden, dean, leader of the fencers, captain of 

the civil guard. As agent of De Violieren (a chamber of 

rhetoric), he wrote a good fourteen tragi-comedies. 

Mattheus Adolfsz. Molanus 

(Frankenthal between 1590/95 – Middelburg 1645) 

Landscape 


Little is known about Molanus. In 1626, he was registered 

in Middelburg as dean of the Guild of St. Luke. Moreover, 

he was influenced by Gillis van Coninxloo III and Jan Brueghel 

I. He painted chiefly landscapes and more particularly 

winter landscapes, which earned him the sobriquet ‘Snow 

Brueghel’. Village scenes also feature in his work. 

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Willem van Nieulandt II (Antwerp 1584 – Amsterdam 1635) 

Landscape 


(to July 2013) 

Willem van Nieulandt II was a painter, engraver and writer 

from Antwerp. His father, Adrien van Nieulandt the elder, 

a merchant, moved with his family to Amsterdam for both 

economic and religious reasons. 

Willem learned his trade from Jacob Savery in Amsterdam. 

In 1601 he went to Rome where he first lived and worked 

with his uncle Willem (I), before becoming a student of Paul 

Bril. He specialised in painting landscapes, often featuring 

ruins of monuments, triumphal arches and temples. He 

also Italianised his name to Guglielmo Terranova. 

He returned to Amsterdam, and married in 1606. Then 

he moved back to Antwerp, where he became a master 

in the local Guild of St Luke. In 1629 he returned again to 

Amsterdam. One of his children, Constancia, married the 

artist Adriaen van Utrecht. In 1635, in his role as writer 

he published his Egyptian tragedy. This painting probably 

depicts the Campo Vaccino in Rome, with the remains of 

the Roman Forum which lay under the ruins until 1800. 

Willem van Nieulandt II (Antwerp 1584 – Amsterdam 1635) 

View of the Campo Vaccino in Rome 

Signed and dated G.V. Nievland-1611 


(from July 2013) 

This painting depicts the Campo Vaccino in Rome, seen 

from the Capitol. ‘Campo Vaccino’ is a nickname given in 

the sixteenth century to the ruins of the Forum Romanum, 

which over the centuries had become covered with rubble 

and earth and on which cows grazed. Excavations began 

only in 1800. To the left is the Santa Maria del Popolo. In 

the distance stands the triumphal arch of Septimus Severus, 

the bottom half of which still lies buried under the sand. 

Taking up the right-hand side of the picture are the ruins 

of the temples of Romulus and of Antonius and Faustina. 

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Room 3 

De Cleyn Salette 

The Renaissance Art Gallery 

The inventory of the contents of Rockox’s house, drawn up in December 1640 after his death, tells us 

about the wall covering of the following rooms in his house: the Cleyn Salette (Small Parlour), the Groot 

Salet (Big Parlour) and the room or study behind it, which were hung with gilt leather. The notary 

who drew up the inventory of Rockox’s possessions even listed the ground colour of the gilt leather in 

each of these rooms: black in the Cleyn Salette, red in the Groot Salet and green in the study. We have 

reproduced these colours. The chimney walls are hung with paper with the respective ground colour and 

a motif that alludes to gilt leather. 

In Rockox’s time, the Cleyn Salette was a reception room, a room with grandeur and that today exudes 

a Renaissance atmosphere. The Renaissance was a key period in history and was symbolic in many ways 

of the broadening of horizons. Not only were new continents and their cultures being discovered, but 

science flourished and there was a fresh and detailed study of classical antiquity. The most important 

development, though, was perhaps the introduction of printing during this period. With the advent of 

humanism, the individual came to stand central. Subtle criticism of society was also expressed. In the 

pictorial arts, we see a realism that is stripped of idealism. The naked figure came into its own, the process 

of secularisation gradually revealed itself in iconography and religion was targeted. The landscape and 

the still life – mainly of decorative importance in religious scenes during the Middle Ages – developed to 

become themes in their own right in painting. 

17



Quinten Massijs I (Leuven 1456 – Antwerp 1530) 

Holy Virgin with the Child Jesus 


Massijs was one of the trailblazers of Renaissance painting 

and was a founder of the Antwerp School. Before 

he began to paint he was a decorative ironsmith. Where 

Massijs had his training is not known. He grew up in 

Leuven and in 1491 was entered as a free master in the 

registers of the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke. Initially, he 

leant towards the style of the Flemish Primitives, as this 

tondo reveals. After 1500, he concentrated on the Renaissance 

ideal of beauty. This painter’s famous diptych Mary 

and Jesus (Antwerp, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, exhibited 

in Leuven, Museum M) was among the works Rockox had 

in his art gallery. 

Copy after Quinten Massijs I 

(Leuven 1456 – Antwerp 1530) 

Portrait of Peter Gillis 


The Antwerp town clerk Pieter Gillis or Aegidius (1486– 

1533) was a notable humanist. He published poetry and 

produced publications of classical works, of Thomas 

More’s Utopia and of letters of Erasmus. His house was an 

international meeting-place for scholars, diplomats, artists 

and art lovers. As a seventeen-year-old proof-reader at 

the printer Dirk Martens, he got to know Erasmus. In 

1517, he and Erasmus commissioned their portraits from 

Quinten Massijs as presents for their friend Thomas More. 

The painter depicted them in an extended study. In the 

left-hand portrait, Erasmus is seen writing. In the righthand 

portrait, Gillis is pointing to one of his friend’s books 

and holding a letter from Thomas More in his left hand. 

This painting is a copy of the original (Salisbury, Collection 

of Lord Radnor). 

18

Quinten Massijs I (Leuven 1456 – Antwerp 1530) 

St. Christopher 

Ca. 1490 


The thirteenth-century Legenda Aurea tells of the heathen 

giant Christopher who, longing to be in the employ of 

the world’s most powerful ruler, entered the service of 

a Christian prince. One day, though, the prince crossed 

himself to ward off evil, prompting Christopher to take 

service with the Devil, who was evidently more powerful. 

However, Satan in turn appeared to be fearful of a cross 

along the roadside. Christopher resolved to get to know 

this supreme lord of the cross. A hermit told him that he 

could serve that lord by carrying people over deep water 

and that this lord would presently make himself known. 

After a long time, a child appeared who wished to be 

taken across the water. The water rose up and the child 

became as heavy as lead. With difficulty, Christopher 

reached the other bank, having not only carried the Christ 

child, but also the weight that He bore on his shoulders. 

Massijs uses the theme to paint a beautiful river landscape 

with a sunset. 

Joachim Patinir (Bouvignes? 1475/80 – Antwerp 1515/24) 

St. Christopher Carrying the Child Jesus 


Joachim Patinir came from the region of Dinant and probably 

gained his training in Gerard David’s atelier at Bruges. 

Later, he became a member of the Antwerp Guild of St. 

Luke. In the sixteenth century, many painters specialised 

in a particular genre. Patinir was the first real landscape 

painter in The Netherlands, Albrecht Dürer calling him ‘der 

gut landschaft maler’, the first mention of the word ‘landscape’ 

in the German language. This mediaeval saint of 

intercession was depicted by numerous painters. In the 

early sixteenth century, much of the population believed 

that evil could be averted by looking on the likeness of 

the mythical Christopher. The giant served as the patron 

saint of travellers, ferrymen, mariners and seamen. It was 

19



believed that one could not die on the day that one had 

beheld his likeness. During the Late Middle Ages and Early 

Renaissance, life-size likenesses of him were to be seen in 

market-places and churches. 

Just as Massijs, Patinir has placed this saint in a dazzling 

landscape, but the religious scene is no longer dominant, 

but subordinated to the landscape. Patinir often painted 

in bird’s eye perspective, which allowed him to unfold the 

landscape in all its aspects right to the horizon and to 

reduce the religious element to a minimum. 

Joachim Patinir (Bouvignes? 1475/80 – Antwerp 1515/24) 

Landscape with the Flight into Egypt 

Signed Opus. Joachim D. Patinir 


Joseph, Mary and their child are fleeing in a notional landscape 

that brings together craggy rocks from the Land of 

Maas with picturesque Flemish farms and a misty Italian 

coastline. From the van Ertborn collection. 

Imitator of Joachim Patinir 

(Bouvignes? 1475/80 – Antwerp 1515/24) 

Lot and His Family Flee Sodom and Gomorrah 


Divine wrath has overwhelmed the corrupt city of Sodom 

and has devastated a rocky coastal landscape. An angel 

takes Lot and his family by the hand to flee the city in 

time. They are urged not to look back on the burning 

town, but Lot’s wife does so and is changed into a pillar 

of salt. (Genesis 11: 14–19). The Biblical theme presents 

the painter with a fine opportunity to depict an infernal 

landscape. 

20

Marinus van Reymerswale 

(Reimerswaal 1490/95 – Goes 1546/56) 

The City Tax Collector 


A city tax collector receives duties on beer, wine and fish, 

and writes down the receipts under the angry, suspicious 

eye of a trader. The strange headgear of the collector, 

decorated with a wispy red material, adds to the caricatural 

effect of the scene. Seen on the plank above is a round 

box with securities on it. Van Reymerswale made paintings 

of more tax collectors, lawyers and money-changers of this 

kind, some of which are actual portraits. In these works, 

the painter gives shape to the burgeoning capitalism of 

the Early Renaissance. From the van Ertborn collection. 

Attributed to Michiel Gast (Antwerp 1505/25-1577/97) 

King David in a Landscape 


A circular painting that has been attributed to the landscape 

painter Michiel Gast on the analogy of The Travellers 

to Emmaus in Utrecht’s Centraal Museum. This last painting 

is monogrammed and dated MG 1577. Both works are 

highly comparable in style and are the only known works 

that can be attributed to this master. Because King David 

is painted in a landscape, not on oak, it is assumed that it 

dates from Gast’s time in Rome (1538–1556). 

Anonymous, Southern Netherlands 

(first quarter of the sixteenth century) 

St. John on Patmos 

Antwerp Royal Museum of Fine Arts inv. 5042 

The evangelist John is seated with his eagle on the island 

of Patmos, which the painter situates in a broad waterway 

with a city in the background. John’s vision is depicted in 

the sky: the Madonna, set within a golden light, appears 

on a crescent moon with the seven-headed dragon of the 

Apocalypse. 

21



Anonymous, Southern Netherlands 

(first half of the sixteenth century) 

Ecce Homo 


(from April 2013) 

Ecce Homo are the words that the Roman governor Pontius 

Pilatus is said to have uttered when, after having Jesus 

scourged, he presented Him with His crown of thorns, 

scarlet robe and kingly attributes to the Jews. This figure 

of Christ is a copy after the Christ figure on an ‘Ecce Homo’ 

by Quinten Massijs I in the Palazzo Ducale at Mantua. 

From the van Ertborn collection. 

Catharina van Hemessen (Antwerp 1527/28 - 1560/80) 

The Lamentation of Christ 


Catharina, daughter of the painter Jan van Hemessen, is 

one of the very few female artists of the 16th century. 

She is represented in this room by the charming portrait 

of an unknown woman. Here she depicts - in a subtle 

way - the drama of the lamentation, depicting a weeping 

yet suppressed sorrow. John displays visible grief as he 

touches a handkerchief to his face, and Mary Magdalene 

lovingly holds the hand of Christ. She is recognisable by 

her symbol, the ointment jar standing in the foreground. 

In the background we recognise the New Jerusalem, 

pictured brightly lit. 

Round folding table 

Anonymous 

Ca. 1600 


22

Shells 

Nicolaas Rockox had a collection of shells. The inventory 

notes ‘twee caskens met diversche soorten van schelpen 

van allerhande couleuren’ (two casks of divers shells in all 

colours). They were brought by merchant ships from trips 

far abroad and in those times were costly trinkets. Silversmiths 

worked nautilus shells into cups. 

Lambert Lombard (Liège 1505/06 – 1566) 

The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes 


Born at Liège, Lambert Lombard had a great influence on 

the Antwerp School during the first half of the sixteenth 

century. His fascination for the culture of classical 

antiquity – he spent two years in Rome – prompted 

Frans Floris I and Willem Key to become his pupils. 

Frans Floris I in particular was to become the figurehead 

of Renaissance painting in Antwerp. The chief figures 

in this Bible event stand central in this depiction: Christ 

blesses the loaves and fishes and to his right are his 

disciples Peter and Andrew. The composition is built up 

in orderly fashion, with a high-set foreground and with a 

horizon line placed too high, indicating that Lombard had 

not yet mastered the rules of perspective. 

Jan Massijs (Antwerp 1509 – 1575) 

The Holy Family 

Signed and dated 1563 IOANNES MASSIJS PINGEBAT 


Little is known for certain about the life of Jan Massijs. 

The son of Quinten Massijs I was suspected of being 

sympathetic towards the sect leader Loy de Schaliedekker 

(Eligius Pruystinck) and had to leave The Netherlands 

in 1544. He certainly stayed for a while at Genoa, but his 

erotic, refined and manneristic style suggests that he was 

also familiar with the school of Fontainebleau. 

23



Cornelis van Cleve (Antwerp 1520 – after 1594) 



This central panel of a triptych originally graced the tomb 

of Lodewijk Clarys and his wife Marie le Batteur in the 

Antwerp cathedral. The art historian Max Friedländer 

attributed the painting to Cornelis van Cleve (son of 

the more famous Joos) and used it as the basis in reconstructing 

the oeuvre of the master. It could well be 

that this artist is the one that old sources mention as 

‘sotten Cleef’ (crazy Cleef) because of his mental illness. 

‘Annunciations’ of this kind were frequently found in 

Antwerp art collections of the sixteenth and seventeenth 

centuries. 

Joachim Beuckelaer (Antwerp ca. 1533 – 1575) 

The Flight into Egypt 

Monogrammed JB on a barrel and dated 1563 


Laden with goods, market-sellers are moving to the bank 

of a river to be ferried across. Among them is Joseph, 

leading a donkey carrying Mary and the Infant Jesus. The 

Bible scene occupies an inconspicuous place in the scene 

of market bustle. In this painting, the landscape predominates 

over the Biblical theme. 

Joachim Beuckelaer (Antwerp ca. 1533 – 1575) 

Allegory of Imprudence 

Monogrammed JB and dated 1563 


This panel has often been interpreted as a depiction of 

the prodigal son, a tavern scene or even a brothel scene. 

The impudent behaviour of the young man in the foreground, 

the birdcage on the ceiling and the various victuals 

plainly indicate lust. The old man asleep in the background 

symbolises another vice, sloth. The work can be seen as an 

allegory of imprudence. The wanton young man risks 

24

eing burnt on the fire of his passion. The sleeper risks 

being burnt by the fire in the hearth. 

Lucas van Valckenborch 

(Leuven or Mechelen ca. 1535 – Frankfurt-am-Main 1597) 

and Georg Flegel 

(Olmütz 1563 – Frankfurt-am-Main 1638) 

Fish Market or Winter 

Ca. 1595 


Lucas van Valckenborch was not only a landscape painter, 

but also a portraitist and painter of market scenes. The still 

lifes in a great number of these pieces were executed by his 

assistant Georg Flegel. This snow-covered fish market was 

originally part of a series with the four seasons. People are 

skating on the thick ice in the background. Two muffledup 

well-to-do women are making their purchases and are 

dressed in the Brabant style of around 1580–1600. The 

fishmonger is chopping off pieces of salmon, while his 

wife is taking smoked fish from a hook. The foreground 

is the work of Flegel. Particularly to be noted are the fine 

metal shine of the brass bucket and the subtly painted 

water bucket. 

Paul Vredeman de Vries (Antwerp, 1567 – 1617) 

Daniel Demanding Justice for Suzannah 

monogrammed ‘PVR 1613’ 


Paul Vredeman de Vries was a son and pupil of Hans 

Vredeman de Vries and collaborated on his father’s 

masterpiece Architectura. At the end of the sixteenth 

century, Paul left with his father for Prague, where he 

designed the imperial art gallery of Rudolf II. Like his 

father, Paul was fascinated by perspective and played 

with space. In his paintings, too, architecture often 

dominates the foreground iconography. The Bible story 

referred to here concerns a legal case in which Susannah 

is falsely accused of adultery by two men whose 

25



amorous advances she has refused. A young man named 

Daniel ensures that the two men and not Susannah are 

condemned to death. 

Pieter Brueghel II (Brussels 1564 or 1565 – Antwerp 1638) 

Proverbs 

Signed P. Brueghel, 1595 


Little is known of Pieter Brueghel the Younger’s life. He 

was born in Brussels as the eldest son of the famous Pieter 

Brueghel the Elder. Because he was very young when his 

father died, he and his brother Jan I probably learnt the art 

of painting from their grandmother Mayken Verhulst. The 

art of Pieter II lay very much in the shadow of his father’s. 

He not only repeatedly copied many of his father’s works, 

but his father’s popular style is to be seen reflected in the 

paintings that came from his own inspiration. The Proverbs 

from the collection of the Rockox House is an excellent 

copy of the painting that Pieter Brueghel the Elder made 

in 1559 in Antwerp and that today hangs in Berlin. The 

more than one hundred proverbs can be split into two 

groups. The first illustrates the absurdity of human behaviour 

and turns the world on its head, as symbolised by the 

globe with the cross set underneath it. Sinfulness could 

arise from this foolishness, and this forms the subject of 

the second category, symbolised in its turn by the unfaithful 

wife wrapping her husband in a blue cloak (i.e. deceiving 

him). 

26

Jan Brueghel I (Brussels 1568 – Antwerp 1625) 

Flowers in a Vase 


The flowers in this vase are neatly arranged besides and 

above each other, no one intruding on the other. Brueghel 

could never have seen a sumptuous bouquet like this, as 

the fritillary, iris, peony, lily, tulip, narcissus, forget-me-not 

and rose bloom at different times. Brueghel himself was 

the central figure in the spread of floral still lifes in the 

Southern and Northern Netherlands shortly after 1605. 

His own writings indicate that he never allowed anyone 

else to work on his delicate bouquet pieces. Nevertheless, 

his son Jan worked in exactly the same style and it is not 

always easy to distinguish between the two. 

Osias Beert I (Antwerp ca. 1580 – 1624) 

Bouquet of Flowers 


In his early-seventeenth-century floral still lifes, Beert 

followed in the footsteps of Jan Brueghel I. No works 

of Beert are mentioned in the Rockox inventory, though 

paintings of representatives of the Brueghel dynasty are. 

Both Beert and the elder Jan Brueghel were masters in 

the creation of beautiful bouquets in which each flower 

is pictured at the most attractive moment of its existence 

and is a reflection of keen observation. Bouquets of this 

sort refer to the transience of existence on earth. 

27



Cornelis Hagaerts 

(Breda end sixteenth century – Antwerp 1642) 

Virginal 


Hagaerts is mentioned in 1626–27 as master of the Guild 

of St. Luke and was also a member of the joiners’ guild. 

His method of building the virginal was identical to that of 

the celebrated Ruckers family, for whom Hagaerts probably 

worked. The soundboard of the instrument is beautifully 

decorated with various flowers and birds. The Latin 

phrase ‘Sic Transit Gloria Mundi’, (thus passes the glory of 

the world) probably comes from the book De Imitatione 

Christi (The Imitation of Christ) by the mediaeval Augustinian 

monk Thomas à Kempis and is closely connected to 

the idea of vanitas that is also expressed in still lifes. 

Antwerp art cabinet with garden 

vista and flowers and fruit 

Mid-seventeenth century 


The cabinet is wholly veneered in ebony. Its exterior doors 

conceal drawers that held precious objects such as valuable 

documents, coins, diamonds, jewellery, embroidery 

and lace. Rare flower bulbs were also stored in such drawers. 

The centre of the cabinet holds a mirror chamber. Set 

centrally in the two doors are flowingly cut reliefs after 

compositions by Bernard Salomon: The Sacrifice of Abraham 

and Rebecca and Eliezer. Under the cornice is a depiction 

of Abraham and Sarah and The Banishing of Hagar. The 

exterior and interior of the doors, as well as the drawers, 

also carry incised floral motifs – spring and summer flowers. 

Coral 

Just as shells, coral was among the naturalia that were often 

on display in art cabinets. It was collected on account both 

of the exotic locations where it was found and its rarity. 

28

Jan Massijs (Antwerp 1509 – 1575) 

Judith 

Signed and dated IOANNES MASSIIS PING 1563. 


Judith is adorned with elegant jewels and a transparent 

veil. In her left hand, she holds the head of Holofernes, 

general of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Assyria, all the while 

discreetly averting her gaze. A sword is grasped in her 

right hand. She has enticed him, got him drunk and then 

struck his head off. By her action, the Jewish people were 

spared destruction. To the left is depicted the confusion 

that the entire event has sown among the enemy. The 

theme of strong women from the Old Testament – including 

Eve and Delilah, besides Judith – was very popular in 

Western European painting and literature. 

Jan van Hemessen (Hemiksem ca. 1500 – after 1575) 

Saint Jerome as a Monk 


Jan van Hemessen (Hemiksem ca. 1500 – after 1575) 

Saint Jerome as a Monk 


(until August 2013) 

The ‘St. Jerome as Monk’ from the Rockox House is the 

only work that we have here from Rockox’s original collection. 

Jerome was one of the four Latin Fathers of the 

Church. He is depicted on this panel as scholar studying 

in his cell. He retired to Bethlehem, where he translated 

the Old Testament from Hebrew to Latin and revised the 

Latin translation of the New Testament. He was chosen 

as the patron saint of humanism, as he was regarded as a 

symbol of contemplation. The window commands a view 

of Bethlehem, albeit that this Eastern town is represented 

in an Early Gothic, Flemish architectural style. The two 

camels in the foreground strike the only exotic note. 

29



Wall-cupboard 

Antwerp ca. 1600 


Displayed in this wall-cupboard is a selection of Chinese 

porcelain from the Rockox House. This type of Chinese 

porcelain was one of the most popular of export goods; it 

takes its name from the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty 

(1368–1644), Wan-li (1563–1620). The Dutch term for it, 

kraakporselein, derives from the type of Portuguese ship 

know as a carraca, which was used for the first imports 

into Europe of export porcelain at the end of the sixteenth 

century. 

Jean Clouet (Hainaut ca. 1480 – Paris 1541) 

The Dauphin François, son of François I 


The French Dauphin François was born in 1518 and died 

early in 1536. Court painter Jean Clouet probably painted 

him around 1522–1523, when the child was four or five 

years old. The royal status of the sitter is revealed by the 

costly clothing. His white undershirt is visible through the 

slashes in the low-cut doublet; on the shoulders are red 

velvet sleeves; and the black hat is trimmed with eiderdown. 

The face expresses will-power and royal dignity: 

royal children were given little time to be children. 

Attributed to Jan van Amstel 

(Amsterdam 1490/1510 – Antwerp 1537/1544) 

St. Christopher 


This painting depicts the St. Christopher legend as a drama. 

To the right, the saint regards the retreating army of Satan. 

To the left, he bears on his shoulders the Christ Child seated 

on a world globe. The first such globe dated from 1493 and 

was made by the Nuremberg dealer Martin Behaim, who 

often stayed at Antwerp. Several merchants and collectors 

in the city on the Scheldt had globes of this kind. 

30

Pieter Pourbus (Gouda 1523/24 – Bruges 1584) 

Portrait of Olivier Nieulant 

Monogrammed and dated P P An° DNI 1573 


The coat-of-arms above right enables us to identify the 

sitter as Olivier van Nieulant, alderman of Bruges, Clerk of 

the Court, and Grand Pensionary and Clerk of the Land 

of Waas. Given under the date is his age: 26 years and 

10 months. 

Catharina van Hemessen (Antwerp 1527/28 – 1560/80) 

Portrait of a Woman 

Monogrammed CJgF and CHF 

(according to the museum catalogue of 1920) 


Catharina van Hemessen was the second daughter of 

the painter Jan van Hemessen and was lady-in-waiting to 

Maria of Hungary at Brussels. Catharina painted chiefly 

religious scenes and female portraits. It is likely that the 

portrait here depicts a lady-in-waiting, elegantly dressed 

in a black bodice with red sleeves. From the van Ertborn 

collection. 

Hans Bol (Mechelen 1534 – Amsterdam 1593) 

Panoramic View of Antwerp and its Port 

Signed HBOL and dated 1583 


Hans Bol belonged to the Mechelen School of landscape 

painters. With the Spanish laying siege to Mechelen, he 

fled that town in 1572 and moved to Antwerp. When 

Antwerp, too, fell into the hands of Spanish troops in 

1584, Bol moved to the Northern Netherlands. He died in 

Amsterdam. This fine panorama of Antwerp is dominated 

by the tower of the Cathedral of Our Lady and the spire (now 

disappeared) of the church of the Abbey of St. Michael. 

Between these two buildings can be seen the tower of 

the Church of St. Andrew and, to the left, we catch a 

31



glimpse of the Church of St. Walburga (now demolished), 

that is partially concealed behind the Steen. This miniature 

dates from just prior to the Spanish incursion. There is no 

hint of the imminent calamity that is to strike Antwerp: 

there is a great bustle on the Scheldt, and shipping is 

moving easily. 

Lucas van Valckenborch 

(Leuven or Mechelen ca. 1535 – Frankfurt-am-Main 1597) 

River Landscape with Swineherds and Blast Furnace 

(Huy seen from Ahin) 


Lucas van Valckenborch belonged to a family of painters 

through three generations. He was active in Liège, 

Aachen, Antwerp, Brussels, Linz and Frankfurt. His Calvinist 

sympathies prompted him to travel to avoid persecution. 

He was court painter to Archduke Matthias, who 

was briefly Governor-General of the Spanish Netherlands 

(1578-81). This painting depicts the Maas valley with 

the town of Huy in the background, recognisable by the 

collegiate church, the Namur gate and the castle. To the 

right, a blast furnace bears witness to the long tradition of 

metallurgy in the region. In the foreground, a swineherd 

is using a stick to knock acorns down from an oak tree to 

feed his swine. 

Jeremias van Winghe 

(Brussels 1578 – Frankfurt-am-Main 1645) 

Still Life 

Private collection, on long-term loan to the Antwerp 

Royal Museum of Fine Arts inv. IB 07.005 

Like his father Joos before him, Jeremias van Winghe 

initially concentrated on pen drawings. Thereafter, he 

followed an apprenticeship with the painter Frans Badens 

at Amsterdam and spent a few years in Italy, before 

establishing himself in Frankfurt as a portrait painter. In 

1616, he married the daughter of a jeweller and became a 

dealer in precious stones and jewellery, returning to paint- 

32

ing in 1640. A few portraits, market scenes and still lifes 

from his hand are known. 

Osias Beert I (Antwerp ca. 1580 – 1624) 

Still Life of Three Wineglasses in a Niche 

Private collection, on long-term loan to the Antwerp 

Royal Museum of Fine Arts. inv. IB 07.001 

Osias Beert I, a painter of flowers and fruit, seldom signed 

his works. They are nevertheless easily recognisable 

through their transparent and descriptive brushwork. Hard 

reflections of light cause the showy glasses in this charming 

still life to sparkle like jewels. Together with Clara Peeters, 

Beert was among the pioneers of the Flemish still life. 

Clara Peeters (Antwerp? 1580/89 – ca. 1640) 

Still Life with Fish 

Ca. 1620 

Twice signed CLARA P. 


It appears that, after having added the first signature, 

the artist lowered the table, thereby largely effacing that 

signature. Central in this delicate still life are a carp and 

a pike in a terracotta colander. To the right lie smoked 

fish, shrimps and oysters; to the left, a few crayfish. Little 

is known of Clara Peeters’ life. She was probably trained 

by Osias Beert I. A number of still lifes by her from the 

1607 – 1621 period are known. 

33



Corridor 2 

‘Inventory of all the furniture and movable goods, 

papers, interest notes, documents and coins, 

paintings and other works of art found in the home of the late 

Mr Nicolaas Rockox, knight, former burgomaster of this city 

of Antwerp, who departed this world on the 

twelfth day of December in this year sixteen hundred and forty, 

described and inventoried’ 

Shortly after Nicolaas Rockox died, an inventory and description of the entire 

contents of his house was drawn up. That document is still providing us 

today with information about the lifestyle of a seventeenth-century patrician 

such as Rockox. 

34

Antoine Steenwinkel 

(Southern Netherlands? – Copenhagen 1688) 

Vanitas Portrait of the Painter 


The Danish caption Steenwinkel og hústrú (Steenwinkel 

and his wife) and Ipse pinxit have been painted over the 

craquelure and are thus of a later date. The mirror reflecting 

the sitter, a man with a broad-brimmed hat, is not 

held by a woman but by a young man. In front of the 

mirror, standing on a chest, are various vanitas symbols: 

an hour-glass, books and a skull. The foreground is taken 

up with a mysterious, open drawer. Steenwinkel creates a 

remarkable optical illusion here, the meaning of which is 

open to various interpretations. 

Imitator of Adriaen Brouwer 

(Oudenaarde ca 1605 – Antwerp 1638) 

A Dock-worker 


The high, sacklike headgear that can hang down to the 

shoulders suggests that the figure depicted is a porter of 

some sort. The elegant pose of the legs and the aristocratic 

stance with hand on hip contrast starkly with the 

slightly hazy expression of this dock-worker. 

35



Room 4 

Tgroot Saleth (the Big Parlour) 

The Baroque art gallery 

In 1603, Rockox purchased his house on the Keizerstraat. It was a double-fronted property and 

there was a small town garden to the rear. Rockox had it rebuilt in Flemish Renaissance style 

and added an art gallery and a study. The art gallery runs parallel to the covered colonnade and 

completely closes in the Renaissance inner courtyard. The Renaissance chimney piece in the art 

gallery immediately draws the attention and is now the only original chimney piece in the building. 

In 1608, Rubens returned from Italy, where he had stayed for nearly eight years and had immersed 

himself in the art and history of Roman antiquity and the work of the Italian masters, taking in, 

among others, the Venetian School with Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto. His art was influenced by 

the sculpture of Classical Antiquity and by Michelangelo and Caravaggio. It was in this way that 

Rubens gave shape to Baroque art in Northern Europe. With Jacques Jordaens and Anthony van 

Dyck in his wake, he ensured that the Baroque became a quality label for Antwerp. Rubens became 

court painter to the Archdukes Albrecht and Isabella, and was permitted to fulfil this task from 

Antwerp. Following his return from Italy, one of his major patrons was Nicolaas Rockox, who gave 

him important commissions for the Antwerp town hall, the cathedral, the Church of St. Charles 

Borromeo, the Church of the Recollects and for Rockox’s own house on the Keizerstraat. 

36

Nicolaas Rockox, a renowned art collector 

The inventory of the contents of Rockox’s house, drawn up after his death, reveals that 

he possessed eighty-two paintings, a collection in which the most important painters 

were represented: contemporary painters of his time, such as Rubens, van Dyck and 

Francken, members of the Brueghel dynasty and many others. Around 1630, a patrician 

would have had an average of fifteen paintings. He also boasted a collection of coins, 

more than eleven hundred of them, Greek and Roman from the fifth century B.C. to the 

second century A.D. He kept a catalogue of them, written in his own hand. Likewise 

gracing his house were antiquarian Troniën (busts) and sculptures, of which he also 

kept a listing, which included nineteen busts of statesmen, orators and mythological 

figures. After his death, his house was also found to contain two hundred and three 

books. We know from the archives of the Plantin Moretus Museum that, at that printers’ 

alone, over a period of thirty-one years, he bought a hundred and sixty-two books, the 

bestsellers of their time; these included a number of fine botanical publications, famous 

historical works and also religious books. 

37



Peter Paul Rubens (Siegen 1577 – Antwerp 1640) 

Venus Frigida 

Signed and dated on a stone to the left of Amor: 

P.P. Rubens F. 1614 


(from 15 September 2013 to and including 

15 April 2014 in the Prado, Madrid) 

Here, Rubens illustrates a line from the Roman dramatist 

Terence: ‘Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus would freeze’ 

or, in other words ‘Hunger and thirst cast a chill on love’. 

The artist took his inspiration for the freezing Venus 

from a Roman marble sculpture that he came across in 

the Palazzo Farnese during his stay in Rome. The original 

format of the painting was smaller and longitudinal 

(121 x 95 cm), the expansion to include the landscape 

probably being added after the death of the artist. In the 

late-seventeenth century, the work was in the possession 

of J.A.N. Peytier de Merchten, alderman of Antwerp 

(°1706). 

Jacques Jordaens (Antwerp 1593 – 1678) 

As the Old Sang, So the Young Pipe 

Signed and dated J. JORDE. FECIT 1638 


(from 15 September 2013 to and including 15 April 2014, 

in replacement of Venus Frigida) 

In this merry domestic scene, the grandparents are singing 

from a songbook, while the father blows his bagpipes. 

The young ones are doing their best, too. The baby girl 

on mother’s lap is blowing on the flute of her rattle and 

her brother is playing a recorder. In the cartouche above 

can be seen the proverb that appears in the Emblemata of 

Jacob Cats, Spiegel van den ouden en nieuwen tijdt (Mirror 

of Old and New Times,1632): the young imitate the old. 

The old man is probably Adam van Noort, master and 

father-in-law of Jordaens. Jordaens himself is probably the 

man playing the bagpipes. 

38

Anthony van Dyck (Antwerp 1599 – Blackfriars 1641) 

The Lamentation of Christ 


This canvas was painted in 1635 to a commission from 

the Italian abbot Cesare Alessandro Scaglia, Count of 

Verrua. Besides fulfilling various diplomatic missions, 

Scaglia was also a businessman and art dealer. As ambassador 

to London, he served the interests of the Spanish 

king Philip IV. In 1639, the acutely sick Scaglia came to 

Antwerp to see out his last years in the monastery of 

the Recollects. Anthony van Dyck was commissioned to 

paint a ‘Lamentation of Christ’ to hang above Scaglia’s 

tomb. The abbot possessed seven paintings by van Dyck 

and was portrayed by him several times. 


Meleager and Atalanta 


(until 27 January 2013 in the Royal Museums 

of Fine Art, Brussels, and from 1 March 

to 16 June 2013 in the Fridericianum of the 

Museumslandschaft Hessen, Kassel) 

In Homer’s Iliad, we read that the goddess Diana sent 

an enormous boar to Calydon, because the king of that 

country had failed to sacrifice to her. An attempt to hunt 

and kill the animal was made and the fierce Atalanta 

managed to wound it. Her admirer Meleager, son of a 

king, killed it and presented its head to her. However, his 

jealous uncles attempted to deprive her of the hunting 

trophy. Jordaens depicts the moment when the indignant 

Meleager draws his sword. In the story, he then kills his 

uncles and is subsequently cursed by his mother. He was 

to die a horrible death. 

39



Abraham Janssens I (Antwerp ca. 1567 – 1632) 

Concord, Charity and Sincerity Conquering Discord 

1622 


(until the end of June 2013, in replacement 

of Meleager and Atalanta) 

In her right arm, Concord holds a cornucopia holding fruit 

and ears of corn; in her left, a bundle of arrows, a symbol 

of unity in diversity. Charity binds the bundle together 

with a red ribbon. Beside her is a young boy with a burning 

heart. Sincerity, dressed in white, has already tied her 

white ribbon. In the background, grisly Discord looks on 

impotently. Copies of this work are in the Gemäldegalerie, 

Berlin, and the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Valenciennes. 


The Education of Jupiter 


Besides numerous paintings – both mythological and 

religious – and cartoons for tapestries, Jordaens left an 

oeuvre of more than 400 drawings. This particular work 

was probably painted around 1645. 

Jupiter, or Zeus, as he is known in Greek mythology, was 

the son of Cronus and Rhea. Cronus devoured his children 

at birth, but Rhea was able to save Jupiter by hiding him 

on Crete, where he was raised by nymphs. He was suckled 

by the goat Amalthea, depicted above right. Jupiter 

is depicted here with a lyre, an instrument that probably 

made its way into Greece from Asia Minor. The lyre and 

the associated cithara, which is bigger and more robust, 

were used chiefly to accompany singing or poetry recitation. 

40


Memorial Triptych of Nicolaas Rockox 

and his Wife Adriana Perez 


It was around 1613/15 that Rubens painted this triptych 

for Rockox (1560–1640) and his wife Adriana Perez (1568– 

1619), the two appearing on the side panels; painted on the 

reverse of these panels are the respective coats-of-arms of 

the couple. The scene on the central panel is generally entitled 

Doubting Thomas, albeit that the theme is conceived 

in a broader sense, so that what is pictured here is the 

belief in the Risen Christ. The triptych hung in Rockox’s 

memorial chapel, the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, 

behind the choir of the Church of the Recollects at 

Antwerp. The Rockox House is close to the Antwerp Royal 

Museum of Fine Arts and is therefore an ideal place for this 

masterpiece during the museum’s closure. 

Wine cooler, 17th century 

Rockox House, inv. 7764 

This vessel, fashioned from hammered red copper, used to 

be filled with ice to cool wine. Only the wealthy could afford 

to construct special ice cellars or ice houses where they could 

store ice collected during the winter for refreshment in the 

summer. Hence wine coolers became a symbol of wealth. 

Cornelis de Vos (Hulst 1584 – Antwerp 1651) 

Portrait of Abraham Grapheus 

Signed and dated C. DE Vos, F. Anno 1620 


Abraham de Graef or Grapheus made himself useful as 

a factotum with the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke. Maerten 

de Vos, Jacques Jordaens and Anthony van Dyck immortalised 

his weather-beaten face in several portraits. In this 

particular one, he is seen as an older man, hung about 

with an assortment of silver breastplates or breuken (ornamental 

chains with silver plates) featuring guild symbols. 

The goblet in Grapheus’ hand is likely to be the cup that 

41



prominent families presented to the guild in 1549. The 

chalice to the extreme right on the table – crowned with 

the figure of Pictura, the personification of the art of 

painting – was designed in 1612 by Sebastiaan Vrancx, 

but did not survive the French Revolution. 


Portrait of Marten Pepijn 

Legend: ME PICTOREM, PICTOR PINXIT D. ANT. VAN DYCK 

EQVES ILLVSTRIS en A° D. 1632 / AET. ME LVIII. 


The Antwerp painter Marten Pepijn (1575–1643) was a 

member of Antwerp’s Guild of Romanists. These painters 

worked in a somewhat dry, classical style, and were rapidly 

overshadowed by Rubens and the artists working with him. 

Van Dyck painted this portrait during his second Antwerp 

period (1627–1632), when his style was highly atmospheric 

and refined. The portrait must have been painted in January 

or February 1632, since a letter indicates that the artist 

was already in London on 13 March of that year. 


Portrait of Gaspard Gevartius 

Ca. 1628 


Jan Gaspard Gevaerts or Gevartius (1593–1666) is looking 

out at the viewer from his study. He studied law at 

Leuven and was known as a philologist, neo-Latin poet 

and historiographer. Among his writings was an unpublished 

commentary on the Roman emperor and philosopher 

Marcus Aurelius, whose bust we see on the desk. 

Gevartius was town clerk of Antwerp from 1621 to 1662. 

In that position, he was responsible for the organisation 

of official ceremonies, such as the Joyous Entry of 

Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand in 1635, and was a close friend 

of Rubens. Moreover, he undertook the classical education 

of Rubens’ oldest son Albert and devised the Latin 

epitaph for the artist’s tomb in the Church of St. James. 

42

Willem Key (Breda ca. 1515 – Antwerp 1568) 

Portrait of a Lady 

Rockox House, inv. 78.1 

Key was able, as no other artist, to give Renaissance 

portraits a dignified radiance. Here, we are face to face 

with a distinguished lady, dressed in the Spanish fashion. 

She radiates a self-aware pride, is ostensibly inscrutable 

and commands respect, characteristics that are associated 

with the Renaissance individual of the mid-sixteenth 

century. Although we do not know the lady’s identity, we 

can deduce from her imposing demeanour and stylish 

clothes that she belonged to the wealthy burgher class. 

Joos de Momper II (Antwerp 1564 – 1635) 

The Journey of Tobias 


It is probable that De Momper went to Italy once he 

had been inducted as a free master in Antwerp in 1581. 

He must have returned by no later than 1590. His journey 

over the Alps inspired him and his landscape paintings 

after 1600 often feature rock formations, grottoes 

and mountains. This period was his most productive, 

but brought little innovation; the post-1600 landscapes 

remain appealing, but are always variations on the same 

theme. De Momper seldom signed or dated his work and 

the study of his art is thus based on a comparison of style 

and expertise. The landscape here serves as decor for the 

Biblical scene of Tobias’ journey. 

Mattheus Adolfsz. Molanus 

(Frankenthal 1590/95 – Middelburg 1645) 

Baptism of the Moorish Chamberlain 


Here, too, the landscape serves as background for a 

Biblical scene. 

43



Roelant Savery (Kortrijk, 1576 – Utrecht 1639) 

Zoo 

Rockox House inv 77.39 

The Emperor Rudolf II, for whom Savery worked in Prague, 

had a zoo and also built up a collection of exceptional 

stones, shells, mounted insects and other exotic rarities. 

Savery was invited to Prague as a landscape painter, 

because he leant towards the tradition of Pieter Brueghel 

The Elder. This outstanding painting by him depicts various 

wild animals. The four-legged strong among them, 

such as lions and leopards, eat the weaker ducks and deer. 

Frans Francken II (Antwerp 1581 – 1642) 

Worship of the Golden Calf 


Frans Francken II belonged to a family of artists that 

produced numerous painters. His paintings were chiefly 

of art galleries, but also included religious scenes, such 

as that depicted here. In the foreground, the Israelites 

are depositing their silver vessels and jewels at Aaron’s 

feet. In the distance, they are dancing around the column 

bearing the golden calf. Above left, Moses is descending 

from Mount Sinai in company with Joshua; in despair, he 

smashes the Tablets of the Law. 

Hans Bol (Mechelen 1534 – Amsterdam 1593) 

Flemish Kermis 


Besides landscapes, Bol also painted Biblical and mythological 

scenes and genre pieces in a Renaissance tradition. 

His work was influenced by that of Pieter Brueghel the 

Elder and displays an affinity with Jacob Grimmer and 

Joachim Patinir. The kermis (fair) was a Flemish feast that 

celebrated the patron saint of the parish, and everyone 

took part. The majority of the throng pictured here are 

hard-working peasants. They are amusing themselves, 

dancing and singing. Distancing themselves from the 

44

people, the rich burgesses and the nobility parade in their 

expensive attire. Although there were, during those times, 

as many holidays and days off as today (there was no 

working on Sundays and there were thirty or forty saint’s 

days on which no labour took place, either), free time was 

largely taken up by religious duties. 

Jerôme Duquesnoy II (Brussels 1602 – Ghent 1654) 

Cimon and Pero (‘Caritas Romana’) 


Duquesnoy was a Baroque sculptor and architect. This 

marble sculpture by him depicts a popular Roman legend. 

Cimon is incarcerated and sentenced to death by starvation. 

His daughter Pero visits him and succours him 

with the milk from her breast, which gives him renewed 

strength. On hearing the story, the town magistracy 

decide to release Cimon. Very quickly, Pero became the 

symbol of the loving devotion of a child to its parent. In 

1654, Duquesnoy was caught engaging in sodomy with 

two young assistants who were working with him on 

the mausoleum of Bishop Antoine Triest, and was subsequently 

strangled and burnt on the Korenmarkt in Ghent. 

Attributed to Artus Quellinus I (Antwerp 1609 – 1668) 

Aeneas Bearing His Father Anchises Away From 

the Burning Troy 


Quellinus was one of the most important sculptors of 

the seventeenth century; he was influenced in Rome by 

Duquesnoy and in Antwerp by Rubens. The wanderings 

of Aeneas – half god, and leader of the Trojans – are set 

out in detail in Homer’s Iliad and Virgil’s Aeneid. With his 

old father on his back, Aeneas flees from the burning Troy 

to build a new life elsewhere. Ultimately, he ends up in 

Latium, where his descendants Romulus and Remus were 

to lay the foundations of a new city, Rome. 

45



Attributed to Michiel Coignet (Antwerp 1618 – ca. 1663) 

Art cabinet with scenes from the Metamorphosis of Ovid 


Art cabinets or curiosa chests served to house small 

objects, such as jewellery, letters and coins. They were 

generally included in the inventory of the goods of a rich 

patrician. This example is ornamented with miniature 

paintings of scenes from the Metamorphosis of the Roman 

poet Ovid, such as the story of Meleager and Atalanta on 

the left-hand panel and the Sacrifice of Iphigenia on the 

right-hand panel. 

Attributed to Frans Francken II (Antwerp 1581 – 1642) 

Art cabinet painted with scenes from Genesis 

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. NM 4789 

Like their colleagues from Augsburg, Antwerp furniture 

makers crafted splendid art cabinets. Manufacture of 

these started already in the sixteenth century, but unlike 

German furniture, which was made exclusively in ebony 

and other expensive types of wood, the doors and drawers 

of the Antwerp cabinets were decorated differently, 

with small paintings or embroidery. In Antwerp, dozens of 

cabinet painters were working for the major art dealers of 

the time, such as Forchondt. 

Flemish bulbous-leg table, first quarter of the 

seventeenth century 


Displayed on this table are a number of seventeenthcentury 

rariora: 

46

Frederik Hildebrand (sixteenth century) 

Ceremonial goblet in vermeil, 

with mythological scenes in cartouches 


Attributed to Rombout de Raisier 

(Antwerp ca. 1573 – before 1638) 

The Van Nispen tazza 

1615 


This tazza (a saucer-shaped cup mounted on a foot), 

originally a drinking vessel, is a showpiece cup conceived 

for Balthasar van Nispen, Provost of the Brabant Mint. It is 

likely that Van Nispen himself had it made to commemorate 

the visit of the Archdukes Albrecht and Isabella. 

Another possibility is that the minters presented it to Van 

Nispen on the occasion of his marriage in 1621. 

The vessel is a fine specimen of silver-gilt (vermeil) work 

and shows the interior of a mint workshop, with minters at 

work in the foreground. Balthasar van Nispen is depicted 

in the middle. He is handing over what is presumably a 

coin to Archduke Albrecht and Archduchess Isabella. 

To the top of the scene are two putti with the crowned 

coat-of-arms of Spain. A banderole in Spanish carries the 

inscription ’I entrust the administration of justice to you to 

carry it out’. From the added engraved text, we know that 

this encounter took place on 26 August 1615. Depicted 

on the foot of the tazza are the coats-of-arms of Balthasar 

van Nispen, his wife and the Antwerp Mint, as well as 

emblems reminiscent of the minters’ craft. The coat-ofarms 

of Brabant is depicted on the stem. 

47



Jan Gaspard Gevartius (Antwerp 1593 – 1666) 

Pompa Introitus 

Antwerp, Johannes Meursius, 1642 


This book describes and illustrates the Joyous Entry of the 

Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand in 1635; it contains forty-three 

etched plates, most of which by Theodoor van Thulden 

to designs by Peter Paul Rubens. The Cardinal-Infante 

Ferdinand was cardinal and archbishop of Toledo and the 

brother of the Spanish King Philip IV, who named him as 

successor to the Archduchess Isabella who died in 1633. 

Under the direction of alderman Nicolaas Rockox, the 

city clerk Jan Gaspard Gevartius and Peter Paul Rubens, 

Antwerp prepared impressive street decorations to show 

itself at its best to the new prince. The city treasury was 

unable to finance the entire operation, estimated at 

36 000 guilders, and Rockox lent it 8 000 guilders. In 

addition, the duty on beer was increased to help defray 

the cost of these large-scale festivities. 

Antwerp jewel box with engraved silver foil 

Second half of the seventeenth century 


Twelve small plates in silver foil tell the story of Abraham 

and Joseph, the majority of them after drawings by Hans 

Hanssen (1605 – after 1630) and Christoffel van Sichem II 

(Basel 1571/91–1658). On the inside of the lid is the Allegory 

of Faith and Hope, after engravings by Jacob Matham 

(Haarlem, 1571–1631). 

48

Marten Rijckaert (Antwerp 1587 – 1631) 

Landscape 


Rijckaert was born and grew up in Antwerp. Like Rubens, 

he was a pupil of Tobias Verhaecht. He travelled to Italy 

and in 1611 became a member of the Antwerp Guild of 

St. Luke. His paintings bear the influence of Italian landscape 

painting and are notable for their rocky, wooded 

landscapes often featuring waterfalls, ruins and other 

conspicuous pieces of architecture. His work is comparable 

to that of Joos de Momper II. 

Adriaen Thomasz. Key (Antwerp 1534/54 – after 1589) 

The Last Supper 


This Last Supper is painted on the reverse of two wings of 

a triptych whose middle panel is now lost. Key painted the 

work in 1574 to a commission from the merchant Gillis 

de Smidt and his wife, Maria de Deckere. In the following 

year, the piece was set on the high altar of the Church 

of the Recollects in Antwerp, but was removed less than 

three years later under pressure from the Calvinists. 

Following the recapture of the city by the Catholics in 

1585, the altarpiece was restored to its original position. In 

1619, it was replaced by Rubens’s Coup de Lance, a painting 

paid for by Nicolaas Rockox. It is that link that justifies 

the exhibition of The Last Supper here. Altarpieces of these 

dimensions were not found in patrician residences. 

49





Signed and dated BRUEGHEL 1600 


The Magi, or three kings from the Orient, and their particularly 

numerous retinues visit the newly born Child Jesus 

in a tumbledown farm building in Bethlehem. The feel for 

detail in this small painting on copper is simply stunning. 

Two years earlier, Jan Brueghel I had painted two similar 

‘Adorations’ in a slightly larger format: the first in gouache 

on parchment (National Gallery, London), the second in oil 

on copper (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna). 


Travellers on the Way 

Monogrammed 


This painting bears witness to the technical skill of Jan 

Brueghel I. He represents an important link in the history 

of landscape painting. This work would have been painted 

around 1610 and exhibits a very refined technique in 

pushing the perspective of the panorama to the limit. To 

that end, he employed two colour zones: a brown in front 

of a blue. He depicts a number of his figures with their 

back to the viewer, and has them moving in the direction 

of a distant village, treatment that further underlines the 

perspective. 


Mary in Adoration Before the Sleeping Child Jesus 


This painting, done around 1616, is a reference to Rubens’s 

marital bliss. Here, as is so often the case with his religious 

paintings, we at once recognise members of Rubens’s 

immediate family. His first wife, Isabella Brant, was probably 

the model for the Virgin, and in the Child Jesus we 

distinguish the features of Nicolaas, his second son. 

50

Daniel Seghers (Antwerp 1590 – 1661) 

and Cornelis Schut I (Antwerp 1597 – 1655) 

Madonna in a Floral Wreath 


The formula of a Madonna in a floral wreath was introduced 

into Flemish art by Jan Brueghel I and Peter Paul 

Rubens. After Brueghel, the Jesuit Daniel Seghers was 

without doubt the most important exponent of flower 

painting in the Southern Netherlands. This painter-priest 

kept a list totalling 239 pieces painted by him, several of 

them commissioned as diplomatic gifts. Seghers painted 

the piece here in co-operation with the history painter 

Cornelius Schut, who is known chiefly for his sumptuous, 

large-scale compositions. 

Morpho menelaus – the Menelaus Blue Morpho 

Butterflies and other naturalia were much sought after 

objects among the wealthy patricians. They evidenced 

travel to distant destinations and often decorated the art 

cabinets of the time. These morphos were highly attractive, 

with their beautiful iridescent blue wings whose 

colour changes with the light striking at different angles. 

51



Room 5 

The room behind the Great Parlour 

Study 

Next to the art gallery in Rockox’s time was a retreat, a studiolo, where there was place not 

only for paintings, but also curiosa and smaller objects – more particularly of study – and where 

the patrician could spend time in enquiry and contemplation. The inventory of Rockox’s house 

notes that this room behind the Great Parlour held twenty paintings, various shells, ten marble 

busts, five plaster busts and some figures in ebony, ivory and marble. There was also a portfolio 

containing prints of portraits and landscapes, though these were not further specified. The shells 

were curiosa from the South Seas; the names on the busts helped Rockox to give a face to 

Roman history; the plaster busts were probably casts of the marble busts in his collection, handy 

to take with him to show friends and fellow-collectors. The portrait prints (conterfeytsels) in 

the portfolio were probably a number of fine engravings of Rockox’s contemporaries from the 

Iconografie series by Anthony van Dyck. Rockox had a second study – his comptoir or office – 

on the first floor; it was here that he kept his coins and books. It was in fact not uncommon for 

a house to have several studies. 

52

Art cabinet 

Italy?, mid-seventeenth century 


Art cabinets were made to hold all kinds of trinket, including 

jewellery, coin collections, documents, letters, etc., and 

are symbolic, perhaps, of the numerous curiosa collected 

by patricians. The front of this piece of furniture is designed 

as an architectural trompe l’oeil. The doors enclose drawers, 

one of which conceals a further, secret drawer behind it. 

Joos de Momper II (Antwerp 1564 – 1635), 

Hendrick van Balen I (Antwerp 1573 – 1632), 


Minerva’s Visit to the Muses 

Signed BALE MOMPER BRVEGHEL 


Hendrick van Balen I painted the figures, Joos de Momper II 

the landscape and Jan Brueghel I the flowers. In the painting, 

we see the goddess Minerva (left) visiting the Muses 

on Mount Helicon, near the Gulf of Corinth. To the right 

rises the Hippocrene, a sacred spring that brought inspiration 

to anyone drinking from or bathing in it. According to 

the myth, it had been struck from the earth by the hoof of 

the horse Pegasus. A feature to note is the picture’s finely 

ornamented late-seventeenth-century frame. 

Roelant Savery (Kortrijk 1576 – Utrecht 1639) 

Horses and Cattle 


Savery painted chiefly landscapes in the Flemish trad ition 

of Gillis van Coninxloo II, in which animals and plants 

occupied a prominent place within a mythological, Biblical 

or moralising context. Sometime in 1603 or 1604, 

Roelant Savery went to Prague, where he was appointed 

court painter by Emperor Rudolf II, a Habsburg prince who 

invited several artists to his court in the city. In the scene 

here, all the creatures appear to be battling each other, 

53



both on the ground and in the air; people in the village to 

the right in the background are also joining in. 

Gonzales Coques (Antwerp 1614/18 – 1684) 

The Five Senses: smell, touch, taste, hearing and vision 


Coques is known mainly for his informal portraits of the 

middle-class. He was influenced by Anthony van Dyck, 

which earned him the sobriquet kleine van Dyck (the little 

van Dyck). It is said that these five small panels are portraits 

of artists. The man smelling the rolled-up tobacco leaf is 

possibly the sculptor Lucas Fayd’herbe (Mechelen 1617– 

1697), the man sharpening his pen the portrait painter 

Pieter Meert (1619–1669) and the man with a rummer 

of wine in his hand a self-portrait of Coques himself; 

the flower painter Jan Philip van Thielen (1618–1667) is 

seen singing and accompanying himself on the lute, and 

the man modelling a figure is possibly Artus Quellinus I 

(1609–1668). 


The Collection of Paintings ‘of Sebastian Leerse’ 


It was initially thought, on the basis of a family portrait by 

van Dyck in Kassel, that the persons depicted here could 

be identified as the Antwerp merchant Sebastian Leerse 

(°1594), his second wife and their son Jan Baptist. The 

similarities, however, are quite superficial; furthermore, no 

contemporary inventory of Leerse’s possessions exists that 

could establish a link. In this ‘Art Gallery’ painting, Francken 

has depicted works by or after Jan Massijs, Pieter Neefs I, 

Joos de Momper II, Daniel van Heil, Bonaventura Peeters I 

and himself. It was in this room that Rockox had his 

own art gallery, which was likewise painted by Francken. 

54


An Art Gallery 

Signed F. FRANCK and dated three times (!): 1618 and 1619 


Various objects lay or stand on the table in front of the 

wall: an album with a drawing by Frans Floris I, a Henri IV 

medallion, Greek and Roman coins, shells, a lacquered 

box, a Japanese clasp, a shark’s tooth and a sumptuous 

bouquet of flowers. Also to be seen is a ‘Landscape with 

Mill’ by Jan Brueghel I (now in Dresden) and the self-portrait 

by the miniaturist Simon Bening. Hanging on the wall are 

landscapes by Bril, Lytens, de Momper and Govaerts, as 

well as a few religious scenes, including a ‘Madonna in a 

Floral Wreath’ by Francken himself. To the right, men with 

ass’s ears are smashing up symbols of art and science. 

The outburst of iconoclasm was still fresh in the memory. 


The Prodigal Son 

Ca. 1618, possibly revised 1630 


The Biblical parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15, 11–32) 

tells how the younger of two sons demands his inheritance 

from his father. Taking that inheritance with him, the 

son departs to distant regions, where he squanders it all. 

Full of remorse, he ultimately returns to his father, who 

receives him forgivingly. The composition is a masterly exercise 

in balance, although Rubens has not simply painted a 

Flemish farm in full bustle. A number of animals suggest 

images of vice and allude to sinful behaviour. Rubens kept 

this masterpiece until his death. Subsequently, it belonged 

to, among others, the Antwerp art dealer Diego Duarte, 

Pieter van Aertselaer – in whose collection it was seen by 

Sir Joshua Reynolds – and Sir Thomas Lawrence. 

55




Christ on the Cross 

1628 


Rubens prepared this oil sketch in 1628 to serve as a 

design for an altarpiece commissioned by the Church of 

St. Michael, Ghent. In that year and 1629, however, he 

was abroad on a diplomatic mission in first Madrid and 

then London, where he helped to prepare the peace 

treaty between Spain and England, concluded on 15 

November 1630. Being consequently unable to undertake 

the commission, he asked Anthony van Dyck to do the 

work in his stead. The altarpiece is still on display in the 

Church of St. Michael. 

Pieter Claesz. Soutman? (Haarlem 1593/1601 – 1657) 

The Four Evangelists 

Private collection 

Because this oil sketch is very similar to sketches by 

Rubens, it is no wonder that it was previous ascribed to 

the master himself. It is not to be excluded that what we 

have here is a study by Pieter Claesz. Soutman, a painter 

of whose activity in Rubens’s atelier little is so far known. 

There is a similar, signed composition dated 1615 in the 

Nationalmuseum in Stockholm. 


Visit to the Farm 


A couple in bourgeois apparel and accompanied by a 

maid, is visiting a farm. A farming family is seated together 

in a room. A child is looking for a tip from the rich guests. 

Close to the fire, an infant is being nursed. As was 

customary with a maternity visit, the father of the newborn 

child is being offered a cinnamon loaf. Prints are pinned to 

the backrest of the bench and include a ‘Calvary’. To the 

rear hangs a cage holding a magpie. This finely worked 

56

grisaille is probably based on a lost composition by Pieter 

Brueghel I. 


Two Female Heads and the Torso of a Warrior 


(until 16 June 2013 in the Fridericianum – 

Museumslandschaft Hessen – in Kassel) 

Jordaens painted these studies around 1620/23. He used 

the torso of the man (left) for a warrior in a design for the 

tapestry Alexander at the Battle of Issus. The two female 

heads appear in mirror image in Homage to Ceres in the 

Prado, Madrid. 


Adoration of the Shepherds 


Jordaens portrayed the Adoration of the Shepherds several 

times and in different ways; numerous surviving drawings, 

sketches and paintings illustrate the theme. He 

often employed the same layouts and more than one 

work was done with atelier help. This method of working 

sometimes led to stereotyping and to works that 

are difficult to date and not always equally successful. 

Jordaens prepared this composition sketch for an altarpiece 

that comes from the chapel of the former episcopal 

palace and is now in the Antwerp Royal Museum of 

Fine Arts (inv. 221). 

57




The Ecstasy of St. Augustine 


Van Dyck made this sketch in underpainting for a large 

altarpiece in the Church of St. Augustine. The artist delivered 

the canvas in 1628. This work is on long-term loan in 

the Antwerp Royal Museum of Fine Arts. Brown sketching 

and a little, summary, nervous white highlighting are sufficient 

to suggest the relief of the composition. 


Two Studies of a Man’s Head 


(from June 2013) 

Van Dyck was an important portrait painter of the second 

quarter of the seventeenth century. A talent of his was to 

give particular character to his portraits. He spent some 

time in England and consequently exercised considerable 

influence on English portrait painting from the seventeenth 

to the nineteenth century. Van Dyck made this oil 

sketch during his first Antwerp period, probably around 

1618. It is the study for a man’s head that acted as a 

model for various depictions of St. Jerome. 

Jan Boeckhorst (Münster 1604 – Antwerp 1668) 

Apollo and Diana Slay the Children of Niobe 


Between 1664 and 1668, the Antwerp alderman and 

collector Antoon van Leyen commissioned Boeckhorst to 

prepare a series of eight studies of the life of Apollo as 

cartoons for tapestries. This oil sketch is one of those studies. 

Apollo and Diana slay the seven sons and daughters of 

Niobe with bow and arrow, an act of revenge for Niobe’s 

disdainful treatment of the goddess Leto, the mother of 

Apollo and Diana. The tapestries are currently distributed 

among the Patrimonio Nacional in Madrid, the Spanish 

embassy in London, and a Belgian private collection. 

58

Lucas Franchoys II (Mechelen 1616 – 1681) 

Adoration of the Shepherds 


Franchoys made various altarpieces for churches in 

Mechelen and was substantially influenced by Anthony 

van Dyck. He was the nephew of the sculptor Lucas 

Fayd’herbe. Franchoys painted this oil sketch in preparation 

for an altarpiece in the Church of the Recollects in Doornik. 

That work is dated 1650 and is currently in that town’s 

episcopal palace. Notable are the two female figures in 

grisaille who flank the scene and represent the theological 

virtues Caritas (Charity) and Fides (Faith). Apparently, 

the painter also produced the designs for the sculptures, 

pilasters and ornaments that were to frame his altarpiece. 

Gillis Claesz. de Hondecoeter 

(Antwerp 1575 – Amsterdam 1638) 

The Baptism of the Moorish Chamberlain 


De Hondecoeter was a pupil of Gillis van Coninxloo II 

(Antwerp 1544 – Amsterdam 1607). In the tradition of 

this last, this scene is set in a forest landscape. It was 

van Coninxloo II who, together with others in the midsixteenth 

century, developed the landscape into an independent 

genre, this painting being a fine example. The 

landscape is used as background, the trees serving as the 

wings of the setting, which is the story of the baptism of 

the Moorish chamberlain, a theme taken from the Acts 

of the Apostles (8: 26-40). Commanded by an angel, the 

deacon Philip is travelling from Jerusalem to Gaza. On the 

road, he falls in with the Moorish chamberlain returning 

from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The Moor has been 

reading the Book of Isaiah in his carriage, but does not 

understand the content. Philip offers to explain it to him 

and, using the Old Testament, he preaches the teaching 

of Christ. Arriving at a stream, the chamberlain requests 

baptism. 

59



Hans Jordaens III (Antwerp 1595 – 1643) 

David meets Abigail 


The mountainous landscape is reminiscent of the work of 

Joos de Momper II. The story of David and Abigail is based 

on the writings of Samuel (25, 1-15). After Samuel’s death, 

David withdrew to the Desert of Maon, where a very 

wealthy man, Nabal, lived with his wife Abigail. Nabal, 

though, was surly and bad-tempered. David sent ten 

young men to greet him, wish him peace and to request 

hospitality. Nabal rejected them brutally, which angered 

David who thereupon set out with about 400 soldiers 

on a punitive expedition against Nabal. Abigail, being 

apprised of this, betook herself with her servants and a 

great quantity of bread, meat and figs to David without 

her husband’s knowledge. She prostrated herself before 

David, offered him her gifts and with great eloquence 

persuaded him to abandon his revenge. In the meantime, 

Nabal had been giving a great feast at which he had fallen 

into a drunken stupor. When he had sobered up, Abigail 

told him the truth of what she had done; dismayed, he 

expired. David then took Abigail to wife, to which she 

readily agreed. 

60

Attributed to Paul de Vos (Hulst 1595 – Antwerp 1678) 

Bird Concert 

Antwerp Royal Museum of Fine Arts inv. 428 

An owl as concertmaster holds a music book and conducts 

a throng of warbling, calling and screeching woodland 

and field birds, and waterfowl. A few exotic birds have 

joined the gaudy company: a toucan, an Amazon parrot 

and a red macaw. This is a depiction of one of Aesop’s 

fables, but there is also a link with a famous saying of the 

Dutch poet Jacob Cats: ’Elck vogeltge singt soo ’t gebeckt is’ 

(every bird sings with the beak it’s been given). The canvas 

is a copy of a composition by Frans Snijders in the Hermitage 

in St. Petersburg. Until recently, the work was thought 

to be by Jan Van Kessel I (Antwerp 1626–1679), who is 

known principally for his detailed, small-scale studies of 

insects, flowers and shells. The style is even more reminiscent 

of that of Snijders’ brother-in-law, Paul de Vos. 

Joannes Fijt (Antwerp 1611 – 1661) 

Bird Concert 


Fijt was a pupil of Frans Snijders and a noted painter of 

animals. In the seventeenth century, ‘Bird Concerts’ were 

a popular theme and often ironic allusions. The red macaw 

sets the beat with its upraised claw. Except for the Flemish 

jay, none of the birds depicted here – a hen, a parrot, a 

blue heron, a cockerel, a pigeon and a peacock – can sing. 

The score on the tree trunk is illegible. A parody, perhaps? 

61



Willem van Aelst (Delft 1627 – Amsterdam 1683/84) 

Fruit and Wineglass 

Signed and dated Guillme van Aelst 1659 


In this masterly still life, this Dutch painter of floral and 

hunting still lifes uses the glass rummer to reflect his 

image and the windows of his atelier. Green vine leaves 

fade to blue as time passes. From the collection of the 

Belgian physician and mineralogist François-Xavier de 

Burtin (1743–1818). 

Frans Snijders (Antwerp 1579 – 1657) 

Still Life 

1616 


The work of Frans Snijders consists largely of hunting 

scenes and still lifes, including monumental market scenes 

and displays of fruit. Not only are these paintings a feast 

for the eye, they are also an important source of information 

about the eating habits of the seventeenth-century 

citizen. Fruit was an important component of the daily 

diet of the wealthy patrician and was customarily served 

with game. The painting is dated 1616, midway into the 

Twelve-year Truce. This ravishing basket of fruit is a reference 

to the prosperity enjoyed during the temporary 

truce, during which the Scheldt was briefly reopened, to 

the benefit of the Antwerp economy. 

62

Peter Willebeeck (Antwerp before 1632 – after 1646) 

Still Life 


This work, too, is a fine example of the theme of transience. 

To illustrate transience or vanity, Willebeeck turned 

to everyday objects that refer to conceit or hollowness. 

The fallen rummer, tazza and Westerwald jug are empty, 

the lighted cigar is going out, the pipe has been finished 

and there is no further life in the shell. Here, Willebeeck is 

pointing chiefly to the transitoriness of luxuries, drink and 

the stupefying pleasure of tobacco. 

Five-door cupboard 

Antwerp, 1621. 


This skilfully carved cupboard, with fine cherub heads, 

lion muzzles and symmetrically carved decorative motifs 

on panels, holds: 

Venetian-type Glasses 

Antwerp (‘serpent’ glass), Liège (clear wine glass), 

mid-seventeenth century 


Venetian glassblowers gained fame when, around the 

mid-fifteenth century, they discovered how to produce 

colourless glass, which was often enhanced with decorative 

elements in enamel. Painted ‘Art Galleries’ and depictions 

of curiosa cabinets from the seventeenth century often 

feature a Venetian glass. Although it was intended to keep 

the secret of the technique of glass-blowing within the 

confines of Venice, more particularly within Murano itself, 

celebrated glassblowers were, from the second quarter of 

the sixteenth century on, lured to other European centres 

with promises of all sorts of privileges. Venetian-type 

glasses were blown at Antwerp, among other places. 

63



Porcelain plate with The Coup de Lance by Rubens 

Qing dynasty, Jingdezhen, ca. 1710 – 1720 


A Chinese painter from the porcelain town of Jingdezhen 

has placed Rubens’ print after his altarpiece The Coup de 

Lance in a colourful scene. ‘Jesuit porcelain’ of this kind 

was very popular in Europe at that time. This example 

illustrates that Rubensian imagery was very quickly reproduced 

in the so-called ‘applied arts’. A similar plate is in 

the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 

Coins 

Rockox possessed a considerable collection of coins, notable 

for their quality and chronological completeness. He 

drew up a catalogue in which he listed both his coin and 

antiquarian collection. The coin collection consisted chiefly 

of bronze, silver and gold pieces from the time of the 

Roman empire and the Roman Republic. It also included a 

smaller number of Greek pieces. It is not known just how 

many gold coins that Rockox had, as his catalogue notes 

that part of the collection was already in the possession 

of Gaston d’Orléans, the brother of Louis XIII. On the title 

page of his catalogue, Rockox himself noted a total of 

1 129 silver and bronze coins, 744 silver and 385 bronze. 

Laocoön 

Italy, early seventeenth century 


The original Laocoön group was sculpted in ca. 25 B.C. 

(School of Rhodos) and was excavated in Rome in 1506. 

Greek sculpture inspired the Renaissance ideal of beauty. 

The story of Laocoön takes place at the end of the Trojan 

War, in 1184 B.C. As a Trojan priest, he was charged with 

the cult of the god Poseidon, whom he angered by breaking 

his oath of celibacy. Laocoön also played a crucial role 

in the fall of Troy, warning – to no avail – of the wooden 

horse. Baroque painters took inspiration from the head, a 

brilliant depiction of human suffering. 

64

Lucas Fayd’herbe (Mechelen 1617 – 1697) 

Madonna and the Infant Jesus 


Fayd’herbe worked in Mechelen as an architect and sculptor. 

He was also for a time a pupil of Rubens, from whom 

he learnt chiefly the language of form of the Baroque, 

which he translated into sculpture. This ‘Madonna with the 

Infant Jesus’ was conceived at the high point of his career, 

ca. 1675. It radiates a Baroque expressiveness and displays 

commensurate attention to finely detailed finishing. 

Plaster Bust of Anachreon/Demosthenes 

Seventeenth century 

Plantin-Moretus Museum / Print Collection, Antwerp 

(until December 2013) 

The Anachreon/Demosthenes bust was one of Rockox’s 

star items. The work consists of two parts: the base with 

the inscription ‘Demosthenes’ and a portrait head. They 

were not originally part of the same work, but were probably 

fitted together in the sixteenth century. Subsequent 

research has shown Demosthenes (384–322 B.C.) to have 

had a different physiognomy. The Greek portrait looks 

more like the Ionian poet Anachreon (ca. 570 B.C.) than 

the Athenian orator Demosthenes. The original is in the 

Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Rockox had plaster casts 

made of this and other of his marble images. The plaster 

casts probably served to make the collection better known 

or to give his circle of humanists better access to them. 

65



Antwerp art cabinet 

First half of the seventeenth century 


This notable art cabinet is decorated with carefully embroidered 

depictions of fruit, flowers, trees and poultry on a 

light silk background. Various embroidery stitches beautify 

not only the external panels of the two interior doors, 

but also the inner side of the folding lid and the front 

panels of the drawers and portico. The interior panels of 

the doors bear, centred in an oval, depictions of a winged 

griffon jumping up against a parasol tree, all embroidered 

in gold and silver thread, as well as coloured silk thread. 

Adriaen Brouwer (Oudenaarde ca. 1605 – Antwerp 1638) 

Card Players and Carousers 

Antwerp Royal Museum of Fine Arts inv. 642 

After spending some time at Amsterdam and Haarlem, 

where he was allegedly apprenticed to Frans Hals, Brouwer 

became a free master at Antwerp around 1631/1632. The 

sixty or so paintings of his that we know of are among the 

pick of Flemish genre painting. His work gained a wide 

following and his name very rapidly became synonymous 

with inn scenes. Seventeenth-century inventories list 

many ‘brouwerkens’ or works of this nature. Card Players 

and Carousers is an early work from his brush; to an extent, 

it still owes a debt to Brueghel’s caricatural depictions, 

but nevertheless heralds the naturalness and subtlety of 

Brouwer’s later work, as exemplified in Old Man in an Inn, 

also in this exhibition. 

66

Adriaen Brouwer (Oudenaarde ca. 1605 – Antwerp 1638) 

Old Man in an Inn 

Collection of the Flemish Community, on long-term loan to the 

Antwerp Royal Museum of Fine Arts. inv. IB 08.004 

Adriaen Brouwer died at an early age, but rapidly became 

a cult figure. His paintings were highly prized, Rubens 

boasting seventeen of them. Old Man in an Inn is an 

impressively tranquil painting from the artist’s last years. 

In the background, an amorous couple is being observed 

from above. In the foreground, in a masterful depiction, 

an old citizen is drowsing. Note particularly the brushstrokes, 

as fine as hair, with which the crinkled ruff and 

the ravaged face are depicted. 

David Teniers II (Antwerp 1610 – 1690) 

Village Feast 


Teniers continued the tradition of the Brueghel dynasty 

and found his inspiration in rural life. This ‘Village Feast’ 

was painted around 1650 and depicts merry-making 

peasants, albeit in somewhat romantic and idyllic fashion. 

Teniers lived at a time when it was very common to 

burden audiences with moral lessons and particularly with 

references to the transience of earthly existence. A horse’s 

skull is depicted on a small lean-to at the side of the inn: 

in general, a skull is viewed as a symbol of transitoriness; 

a horse’s skull lacking the lower jaw indicates licentious 

merry-making, foolishness and stupidity. 

67



Flemish bulbous-leg table 

First quarter of the seventeenth century 


Writing cabinet 

Rhineland, second quarter of the seventeenth century 


This writing cabinet is inlaid with various kinds of wood 

and, like art cabinets, has secret drawers. 

68

Town Garden 

The inner courtyard is an evocation of an early seventeenth-century Renaissance town 

garden. No illustrations exist that could give us an idea of what Rockox’s garden looked 

like, but written sources suggest an attractive area of greenery. From his correspondence 

with the French humanist Nicolas Claude Fabri de Peiresc, we know that, in two successive 

years, Rockox was sent twelve plants from the distant Aix-en-Provence. In his library, he also 

had eight botanical books by the most renowned authors, including Dodoens and Clusius; 

botanical books were among the most expensive publications of that time. Rockox also had 

a copy of Le théâtre d’Agriculture, a book by the famous French landscape architect, Olivier 

de Serre, which includes various plans for town gardens, plans that served as a source of 

inspiration for the layout of the present Rockox House garden. 

Bust of Homer 

Italy, seventeenth century 


Rockox probably collected busts in order to gain a better 

understanding of Roman history. He kept a catalogue of 

the antiquarian items in his collection, listing nineteen 

busts of Roman heads of state, orators and mythological 

figures. This marble bust of Homer was never in his collection 

, but is representative of it. Homer lived in the ninth 

century B.C. and was a singer-poet, famous for his epics, 

The Iliad and The Odyssey. 

69

Colophon 

Texts 

Hildegard Van de Velde 

Nico Van Hout 

Translation 

KBC Language Services Department 

Design 

Anne Van den Berghe 

Photo credits 

KBC Erwin Donvil, Lucas-Art in Flanders vzw, 

Antwerp Royal Museum of Fine Arts 

Co-ordination 

Bert Peeters 

www.kmska.be 

www.rockoxhuis.be 

Publishers: VZW Museum Nicolaas Rockox, Keizerstraat 12, 2000 Antwerp 

and KMSKA, Lange Kievitstraat 111-113 bus 100, 2018 Antwerp

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