manfred sellink philips galle - VU-DARE Home

pla cum accepero, quantum omni diligenria atque indu-
/stria consequi potero, virorum de boms artibus bene-
merentium farnae celebrita-/ tique consulam: ut qui ex
ingeniorum fmctibus editis notitiam sui ad absentes/
atque ad posteros propagaverunt, non tantum animorum
specimine, sed corpo-/ rum etiam Ipsa nota sintV Porro
singulorum quos nunc exhibemus elogia, Benedictus
Arias Montanus,/ (qui diseiplinarum omnium et nos-
trarum etiam artiuni,picturae et sculpturae/ peritos pluri-
mum diligit,) binis Distachis artifseiose complexus est,
quae non mi-/ nus varietate et elegantia, quam veritate
laudum Lectores iuvabunt. Namque/ ut effigies ipsae vari-
ae, certae onines tamcn sunt, ica Tctrastichorum sentenua
cum/ summa veritatis ohservatione eleganter distincta est.
Eius viri quamvis repu-/ gnantis efEgiem ex elegantl
Pulrbuisi Pictoris exemplari expressarn suo loco po-/
suimus, quern quo gradu inter doctos haberi oporteat,
opera ab ipso edlta et eden-./ da docebunt. Noluit ille qui-
dem nobis hac in parte suam operam aut sententiam/
adhibere, sed non potuit iuri meo detrahere, qui ex arte
picturam afFin-/ gere vel ipso non vacate poteram,
amicamque ac concivem meum/ Adr. lunium virum doc-
rissimum ad carmen addendum/ appclIarc.Valcte et nos­
trum studium, ut/ candidos animos decet, probate/
Antverpiae. vj. Cal.Mart./ CIC[in reverse].IC[in reverse].
LXXII"
"Philips Galle, painter and engraver, greets all those who
love the arts.
Everyone who loves scholarship and the liberal arts for
their own sakes - as he hates avarice spoiling mankind's
nature and even obscuring the arts -, who entirely lacks
jealousy and is led by an extraordinary inclination to
virtue, such a man simply has to esteem men who acquired
fame by their outstanding intellectual virtues.That is why,
although I have honoured and practised from my youth
up the art of painting as well as the art of engraving that
propagates the painting far and wide, I myselfhave admired
not only those men that excel most m my own arts, but
also those who, as I understood, were advantageous to the
knowledge of the humanities and other branches of learn­
ing. I have always loved and honoured the scholars who
were present - whenever there was a possibility to see and
speak them while I held those in reverence who were
not, or who had even passed away. I like to hear such men
being praised, continuously eulogizing them myself to the
best of my ability. In my opinion all those who have been
of benefit to life, especially m advancing the arts, are wor­
Appendix 2 B
224
thy of having their name commemorated with gratitude
by men who excel m talent and have a zeal for similar
arts.
This is the reason, therefore, that I have
engraved the portraits - drawn from life - of several men
who are illustrious in the liberal arts, both those who lived
shortly before our time, as well as those who still live,
highly praised for their talents and their learning, both
those whom I have seen and talked to and those whom I
have not yet seen. As the best possible decoration I have
hung dieir portraits, painted after the best and most reli­
able examples and brought together from everywhere, in
the workshop where I practise my art.
However, since I understand that I should do
the best I can to honour their fame and to help their
friends, relatives, pupils and fellow citizens, I have decid­
ed to share with those who love my own art as well as
other fine arts, the most exquisite and reliable portraits I
have been able to acquire, engraved m copper and faith­
fully rendered. For sure I would like to obtain more of
these portraits, both to take delight in them myself as well
as to take great pains to engrave and publish them, so that
they may become public knowledge.
But as I have come by some portraits that do
not truly represent the features of these men, and since I
am rather on the safe side and also of the opinion that it
is neither honourable nor fitting to my purpose to include
such portraits, we considered that [only] the following
[accurate portraits] must be shown now, and thereby tes­
tify our aim and zeal. Hereafter we will publish more
images in a second book, if only the good and studious
men or magistrates who possess portraits of such learned
men painted In remembrance of their names, send a copy,
made by a skilled artist - whether In colour or in black
and white only since it is the same to me -, or, in case
they own a sculpture or a medal, to hand it over to us in
Antwerp, addressed to the royal prototypograph
Christophe Plantin or to the geographer Abraham Ortels,
both well-known men.
After I have personally received from them
such images, I will, with all carefulness and assiduity, take
the best possible care of the fame and celebrity of the men
to whom the liberal arts owe much. It is my aim that those
scholars who have propagated their names to the people
who did not know them in person or who lived after they
did, will gam fame not only by the products of their minds,
but also by the very appearance of their features.
Moreover, on every person we now present
Benito Arias Montano (who very much appreciates the