Pieter Pourbus et al

Sibylla Sambetha
Hans Memling
1480

To underline my credentials as a Culture Vulture, to the Groeninge Museum on Friday 13^th October [ouch!] to see Pieter Pourbus en de Vergeten Meesters on its first day. Proved to be an incredibly interesting exhibition and one with a grand ambition; to change the perception of the world towards Bruggean art in the sixteenth century. Following the previous century of internationally-acclaimed Flemish Primitives like beloved Hans Memling, Jan Van Eyck and Gerard David, when Flemish art was at the cultural peak in Western Europe in terms of reputation and achievement,  there was little art of note in Flanders, and in Brugge in particular, during the 16^th century to see.

There are several reasons for the virtual omission of Flemish art from international note and the subsequent contemporary re-discovery of Pourbus and the other forgotten masters. The sixteenth century witnessed the economic decline of Bruges and the fading of its long Golden Age. The degradation of Brugean access to the sea, its consequent decline in trade with the attendant loss of banking supremacy and the inevitable shift of economic supremacy to Antwerp, all set in the 

 The Money Changer and His Wife
by Marinus van Reymerswaele, 1541

turbulent context of religious iconoclasm and political upheaval in the Netherlands, hugely reduced the status and importance of Bruges in the sixteenth century. In fact, real poverty among the many, existed alongside continuing wealth among aristocrats and merchants; the overall cultural and economic decline was slow and artists still prospered from commissions for at least half a century longer. Art production continued; artists grew and prospered; those who had geld, still bought art. Humanism was the predominant philosophy among the well-to-do and helped to consolidate the perceived social and emotional value of producing and owning, art in living The Good Life.

Self-portrait by Pieter 1 Claeissens 1560
pictured, not as an artist, but as a good,
solid citizen of Brugge

It was in this climate that Pieter Pourbus and the family Claeissens prospered but it has taken art scholarship during the last twenty years to discover the extent and quality of the work produced, particularly by the Claeissens family. In fact, Lancelot Blondeel, father-in-law of Pourbus and his mentor, first embraced the innovations of Renaissance art, fitting  them into the Bruges’ tradition together with Pourbus. After Pourbus’s death, Pieter 11,[son of the original Pieter Claeissens] and Antonius Claeissens became the pre-eminent painters in Brugge while brother Gillis was famous for his superb portraits.

This exhibition contains an extensive display of sixteenth century Flemish art and a thrilling narrative identifying the Pourbus and Claeissens families as exceptional artistic dynasties. Definitely worth a second visit for me!  



Detail, showing the lovely face
the Madonna from the triptych below









 Van Belle-Triptych: Madonna of the Seven Sorrows
Pieter Pourbus 1556

 

I was particularly moved by this triptych; the donors had lost their five

year old son who is pictured behind his father, Joos Van Belle, in the left panel. But, especially thrilling to anyone interested in historical continuity, the preparatory drawing and two draft designs for the medallions have survived. The preparatory drawing is a vidimus, a contract signed by both patron and artist and is contained in an

endearingly scruffy little notebook included in the exhibition.

Above, Portrait of a 56 Year Old Man
by Frans 11 Pourbus [grandson of Pieter]
1591
 

As a footnote really, I must record my amazement at the real 'forgotten' nature of some of the Claeissens family. No body of work was attributed to Pieter 1 before 2000. His highly gifted son, Gillis, despite being a painter of renown in his day, remained in comparative obscurity until 2007 when The Triptych of Claeys van de Kerehove in Budapest was attributed to him.  In 2015 research definitively showed that the anonymous Monogrammist G/EC was Gillis leading to his identification as the artist of  Portrait of Joris van Brakele . Subsequent to that discovery, there is now an oeuvre of fine portraits attributed to Gillis Egidius Claeissens.[1536-1605] Below his

 Portrait of an Unknown Nobleman in Armour      

 

and a tiny view [far below owing to the unstable nature of the technical aspect of this blog!] of Joris van Brakele, the 2015 definitive portrait attribution to Gillis Claeissens which has been pivotal in enabling
the identification of a large oeuvre of his work.









The Elegance of Swans

 

Having somehow lost this week’s blog which may indeed be lurking somewhere, unacknowledged, in an anonymous file but beyond present recall, I have decided that I won’t re-write it. Too onerous so, apart from mentioning that I attended two concerts on Saturday and Sunday, each totally unlike the other, one of Celtic and Sephardic folk music; the second, for piano and oboe of music by Schumann, Brahms and Poulenc, I shall write no more save to say how differently marvellous each was; how gifted the performers were; and how gratified the audience.

Swanning around at the Beguinage. 

I have instead decided to write about the swans on Brugge’s canals, something I have intended to do for ages. They are one of the impossible-to-miss sights of the town and add greatly to its beauty and appeal. They are irresistibly photogenic and superficially friendly; that is to say, one might assume they are friendly but the best advice is to steer clear of contact and indulge in aesthetic appreciation only! Swans-on-water supply one of the most stereotypical views of Brugge but never fail to charm and delight. I know that I derive an enormous amount of pleasure from just seeing them, sometimes unexpectedly; mostly in the usual places: on the canal at the Ezelpoort and at the Beguinage which is probably the Swan HQ here.

The beheading of Pieter Lanchals in the Markt, Brugge
in 1488.
Copper engraving in 1736 by N.Heylbrouck

I  have tried to find the definitive explanation for their presence here, but the legend has small variations. It is certainly connected to the Emperor Maximilian of Austria who had suzerainty over Brugge in the fifteenth century. His adored wife, Mary of Burgundy, was here in March 1482, to ride and to indulge in her passion for falconry when she fell from her horse, broke her neck, and died. Maximilian did not feel the same about Brugge after that trauma and at some later point, decided to raise the taxes in the town; there may have been a connection between the two events. The townspeople were somewhat intransigent about his demands which were considered excessive, and when they resisted he sent his bailiff and minister, Sir Pieter Lanchals to enforce the new regime; Lanchals and the other noblemen with him were promptly imprisoned and when Maximilian himself came to Brugge, the rebellious citizens imprisoned him too in the Craenenburg in the Markt, [now the site of the Grand Cafe Craenenburg] Maximilian was no doubt permitted to watch the torture and decapitation of Lanchals and his fellow nobles, in the Markt. With ultimate disrespect, Lanchals’ head was put on a spike and displayed at the Gentpoort for communal abuse. Maximilian was forced to restore various privileges and reduce the taxes for the aggrieved citizenry, before fleeing back to Austria, quietly plotting his revenge.


 Mary of Burgundy, remembered in Bruggge

Maximilian returned with a large army which proceeded to plunder the city, and he ordered that swans must be kept on the canals of Brugge in perpetuity, in memory of his good friend and tax collector, Pieter Lanchals, who had had swans pictured on his escutcheon to commemorate his name, Lanchals, which meant Long Neck. The threat from Maximilian for non-compliance was that he would flood the town, letting in the North Sea to drown the place. And so, five hundred plus years later, the swans’ descendants swim serenely on, delighting all who live here and those who visit. Pieter did not die in vain; indeed, his legacy lives on, both on the canals and in commerce.

For the swan theme remains popular in Brugge as in the Bistro 't Zwaantje on Gentpoortvest and the Hotel die Swaene,
Steenhouwersdijk, as well as in motifs on private buildings such as the stately procession of swans swimming across the façade of the house [above] , in Carmersstraat.


Hotel die Swaene