PAUL BEGHEYN S.J.

An unknown letter of Daniel Seghers from 1660 regarding sketches by

Only few texts survived from the Flemish flower painter and Jesuit brother Daniel Seghers (1590-1661). The most important is his Catalogue van de bloem-stukken, die ik selfs met mijn hand heb geschildert en voor wie (Catalogue of the flower pieces, which I have painted with my own hand, and for whom), which he composed – probably from memory – shortly before his death. This inventory of eight pages with 239 paintings, however, is not always presented in chronological order, and it is certainly not complete. The editor of Seghers’ manuscript, Walter Couvreur, was able to add more paintings, as was the most recent author on the painter, Marie-Louise Hairs.1 Additionally, four letters of Daniel Seghers were known. With this article, an unknown fijifth letter from 1660 is presented, which gives important clues about the early appreciation of works by Peter Paul Rubens.

The four known letters The fijirst letter dates from 27 December 1631. Seghers wrote from Antwerp to Michel Routart (c. 1580-1653), confijidant of Ambrogio Spinola (1569-1630) and ecretarys to Her Majesty Isabella in , about an unfijinished painting he had sent to him, in which flies and other little creatures were still lacking.2 The second (now lost) was written by Daniel Seghers, probably around 1650, to an unknown person, and deals with relics of Saint Laurent given by Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg (1620-1688).3 The third was sent by Daniel Seghers on 24 February 1652 to his nephew Dominicus Bocx (1614-1674), son of his sister Catharina Seghers (d. 1647) and Henricus Bocx (d. 1678). Dominicus Bocx was a Cistercian monk in the abbey of Saint Bernard at Hemiksem, south of Antwerp.4 This letter refers to the gift of one pallet with the coat of arms of William II and two laurel branches, fijive paintbrush holders, and one painter’s stick, all in gold,made by Hans Coenraadt van Brechtel (1608-1675). It was given to Daniel Seghers by Amalia van Solms (1602-1675) in 1649, in appreciation of the painting he made for her.5 The letter was part of a collection of documents kept in the Jesuit Onze-Lieve-Vrouwe-College in Antwerp at the end of the nineteenth century, and was published by the Belgian Jesuit Frans Kieckens (1841-1907) in an article that has been almost forgotten.6 The collection contains handwritten documents as well as letters and poems about Daniel Seghers by the priest and composer Jan Albert Ban (ca. 1597-1644), Dominicus Bocx, his cousin and fellow Jesuit Jacob de Cater (1593-1657), the poet and diplomat Constantij n Huygens (1596-1687), the painter Florent du Rieu (fl. 1620-1658), and the writers (1587-1679) and Jan Vos (ca. 1610-1667).7 In the fourth surviving letter, from 3 March 1658, Seghers wrote to Huygens about his serious illness, which deteriorated in the following months.8 After a period of recovery in Ghent he returned to the professed house at Antwerp, where he died on 2 November 1661.

Rubens’ oil sketches The new letter, presented here, is kept in the archives of the Flemish Jesuits (of the ‘old Society’, before 1773) in the Rij ksarchief in Antwerpen (see appendix). In a clear handwriting

101 Oud Holland 2019 - 2/3 volume 132 Daniel Seghers writes from Ghent to his fellow Jesuit Louis de Camargo in Antwerp, where he was sent by his religious superiors in the fall of 1660.9 All winter long he stayed in bed sufffering from a persistent and fatiguing diarrhea. Twenty years after the death of Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), Seghers estimated an unspecifijied number of sketches by Rubens at 200 patacons (silver coins) a piece, and supposed that their price will go up when they get older. The works may be oil sketches since Seghers thought that they will fijit to hang next to the confessional in the chapel of Saint Ignatius, like his flower paintings in the chapel of Our Lady.10 He wrote also about his health situation and his fellow Jesuits who were kind to him. Daniel Seghers’ writing is in particular important for research on Rubens, because it is an early testimony to the appreciation of his oil sketches. Rubens himself regarded his oil sketches exclusively as preparatory works for his paintings and as a workshop fund. This was expressed in his last will and in his disposition about what to do with his sketches left in his ‘cantoor’ after his death. A large number of pupils’ works and copies was listed in the inventory compiled after the artist’s death and apparently sold shortly thereafter.11 Rubens’ own drawings and sketches were not among them, as we learn from an entry in the inventory of the estate drawn up in 1645 by the notary Toussaint Guyot. In one testament Rubens had decreed that the drawings – those he had collected and made – should be kept either for one of his sons, in case he would become a painter, or for a daughter, in case she would marry a famous painter.12 These designs were supposed to remain together until the youngest of his children had turned eighteen. Only if none of his sons had become a painter and none of his daughters had married one, they should be sold. The proceeds subsequently had to be divided into three equal parts between Rubens’ children from his fijirst and second marriage and his second wife Helena Fourment. It must have been this collection of drawings that was sold in 1657 for the amount of 6,557 guilders.13 In the event, the terms attached to the bequest to keep Rubens’ drawings col- lection in the family for a possible future workshop were not met. The importance for Rubens’ sketches and preliminary designs can also be witnessed in the contract of 1620 for the 39 ceiling paintings for the Antwerp Jesuit church, which states that the paintings should be executed within nine months by “Van Dyck or some other pupil” after Rubens’ own designs (‘teekeninge’).14 The sketches were supposed to go to the Jesuits afterwards, unless Rubens supplied an additional painting for one of the side altars. Rubens decided to keep the oil sketches and delivered the altarpiece.15 The Jesuits seem to have made a diffferent arrangement when ordering the pictures for their high altar. Unfortunately, this contract has not been preserved. However, it is certain that Rubens also handed over the sketches submitted for approval to the Jesuits. It is these paintings that Daniel Seghers refers to in his letter. The sketches for The miracles of St. Francis Xavier (fijig. 1) and The miracles of St. Ignatius of Loyola (fijig. 2), which were carried out by employees of Rubens’ workshop, were handed over to the Jesuit fathers together with the fijinished paintings, probably in 1618.16 As if by a miracle, the sketches and the paintings made according to them escaped the fijire of the church one hundred years later in 1718. They were acquired by Maria Theresia after the dissolution of the Jesuit Order in 1773 for the imperial collection in Vienna. Until then, the paintings and sketches had been exhibited both in the Jesuit Church. There they were presented on the columns that framed the entrance to the choir of the church, as can be seen in two painted views by two contemporary architectural painters. One painting is an interior view of the church by Anton Günther Gheringh, dated 1665, which is today in Vienna (fijig. 3).17 The other picture is by Wilhelm Schubert von Ehrenberg and was probably painted in 1670 (fijig. 4).18 The fact that Rubens’ sketches found this honourable place at the choir of the church was useful for visitors who were interested in art, as the two altarpieces were exhibited alternately in the church year.19 The sketch of the altarpiece that was then shown illus- trated the diffference between the initial design and the fijinal execution, while the other

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