manfred sellink philips galle - VU-DARE Home

torical survey on printmaking, improving on all previous
studies - and his relations with Pierre-jean Mariette, see
the interesting study Dittrich 1981. One would like to
have known Heïnecken s assessment of Philips Galle, espe­
cially as the Dresden printroom - together with Paris
(Bibliothèque Nationale),Veste Coburg, El Escorial and
the Albertma in Vienna - is still in the possession of one
of the major old collections of his work. Compare Hans
Vollmers reference to Heinecken inThieme/Becker, vol.
13, p. 105,
26. An twerps Stadsarchief, manuscript, inv, Pk
171-173, I kindly thank Chris Schuckman for drawing
my attention to this unpublished manuscript and for pro­
viding me with a transcription of the pages concerning
Philips Galle.
27 On p. 365 Galle is listed as one of the deans
of the guild of St. Luke, to which Van den Sanden adds:
"Tot aemnerking, dat veel oude meesters zijn achterge-
laeten in de levensheschryvmgen vind men Historische
Printen, fray gesneden in koperplaet door Philips Gallc,
Adriaen Collaert of in hun manier schoon dat dees
twee bovengemcldc Dekens ook niet bekend zijn bij den
Konstschrijver C. van Mander" ("Considering that many
old masters are known dirough their biographies, one can
find ancient prints, finely incised by Philips Galle,Adriaen
Collaert or in their manner even though these two
above deans were also not known to the art theoretician
Karel van Mander") On p. 693 Van den Sanden s bio­
graphical notes on Galle begin with the following awk­
ward and in part incomprehensible verses: "Hoe ver de
snelle Faem ging met haer Basluijt meldcn./ Gallc, die
met veel konst Cicraet, Portret en Belden/ In hout en
fijne p!aet,als 't leven,ten toonbrogt!/ Men voor Konstzael
en Konst sijn meesterwerken kogt s
' ("To what extent rapid
Fame carries with her lute, is shown by Galle, who art­
fully has brought jewellery, portraits and figure to life in
wood and copper, in times when his masterworks were
acquired for art collections on account of their skill(?)").
The jewellery'probably refers to the jewels engraved by
Johannes Collaert and published by Galle (see below),
while the portraits refer to the various portrait scries of
scholars (see chapter 2) .Apparently Van den Sanden, when
speaking of "wood and copper', considered Galle to have
been both a copperplate engraver as well as a wood­
cutter.
28. After having commented shortly on
Notes Chapter 1
150
Guicciardini, Le Comte and Descamps respectively, Van
den Sanden continues on p. 693 as follows: "Na desc
mogelijke onderzoekingen is het nog niet wel vast te
stellen, of er een Meester beeldhouwer [Van den Sanden
misunderstood Guicciardini s words], gebortig van
Haerlem, en in den zeiven tijd eener vermaerdsten
Plaetsnijders, gebortig van Antwerpen, bey de van dien
Naem, hebben geweest." ("After all possible inquiries it is
still impossible to ascertain if there has been a masterly
sculptor, born in Haarlem, or one of the most famous
engravers, born in Antwerp, both with the same name").
The author continues that - at least in his opinion -
Guicciardini has erred and that the true Philips Galle must
have been the engraver in Antwerp.
29. Van den Sanden does inform us on the fact
that in his days Galle s epitaph in the Antwerp cathedral
was still in situ; also see notes 12 and 34.
30. Bartsch 1803-21. Several perceptive remarks
on the peintre-graveur versus the reproductive engraver in
this period can be found, with further references, m
Gerdien Wuestman's study on prints by and after Nicolaes
Berchem; Wuestman 1996, esp. pp. 50-53. In his two-
volume Anleitung zur Kupferstichkunde Bartsch shows him­
self to be less relendess in his opinions on reproductive
engravers, including, for instance, Cornells Cort and
Cornells Galle the Younger; Bartsch 1821, pp. 176-177.
Philips Galle is not mentioned.
31. Galle s name does, of course, feature m sever­
al of the encyclopedic biographical, bibliographical and
historiographical books that from 18ÖÖ onwards were
issued in increasing numbers. Before 1850 one could, for
example, find scraps of information on Philips Galle in:
Collot d'Escury 1824-44, vol. 1, p. 93; De Wind 1835, pp.
190-191 and 548-549; Nagler 1835-52, vol. 4, p. 564;
Immerzeel 1842-43, vol, 1, p. 261 .After 1850 more accu­
rate and extensive information on the engraver and his
work soon became available, compare, for instance, such
studies as:Van derAa 1852-78, vol. 3, p. 8;Lc Blanc 1854-
90, vol. 2, p. 265; Kramm 1857-64, vol. 2, p. 531; Nagler
1858-79, vol. 4, pp. 887, 889 and 904.
32. These were respectively: the information on
Philips Galle in Dinaux 1851, the genealogical research
on the Galle family in Stein d'Altenstein 1853, the remarks
by Génard in his study on families of artists in Antwerp
(Génard 1859-60, pp, 194-196) and the scries of articles