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The Small Landscape Prints and the Depiction of the Countryside in Early Modem Antwerp

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Local Terrains: The Small Landscape Prints and the Depiction of the Countryside in Early Modem Antwerp Alexandra Kirkman Onuf Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2006 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 3213572 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ® UMI UMI Microform 3213572 Copyright 2006 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ©2006 Alexandra Kirkman Onuf All Rights Reserved Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT Local Terrains: The Small Landscape Prints and the Depiction of the Countryside in Early Modem Antwerp Alexandra Kirkman Onuf This dissertation reexamines the Small Landscape prints, two series of views of the local landscape around Antwerp published by Hieronymus Cock in the middle of the sixteenth century. Previously, art historical scholarship has focused on the anonymous designer of the compositions. In this study, greater attention is paid to the publisher Hieronymus Cock, who played a determining role in the production of the prints. Cock’s emphasis on landscape prints indicates how radical and prescient his commercial aspirations for printmaking were. A close examination of Cock’s potential audience for the Small Landscapes reveals that the prints had cultural as well as aesthetic value for their purchasers. As Antwerp’s urban citizens increasingly turned to the countryside as a place for both economic investment and spiritual refreshment, the prints helped to define urban understandings of and attitudes toward the local landscape. By situating the prints within this cultural context, the significance of the local landscape - imagined, represented, and real - comes into focus. The Small Landscapes resurfaced in the seventeenth century as new publishers eagerly reissued them. An assessment of the later edition of the Small Landscapes reveals not only the complex publication history of the prints, but also their changing cultural meaning in the seventeenth century. The Eighty Years’ War between Spain and Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the rebel Northern Provinces devastated the Brabantine countryside. In the aftermath of this destruction and wastage, the Small Landscapes developed new visual and cultural resonances. Indeed, in the fourth and final edition of the prints, published in Antwerp in the 1630s or 40s, the plates were substantially altered to reflect contemporary artistic tastes and larger socio-cultural trends. In the seventeenth century the Small Landscapes also exerted a powerful influence on other artists. An examination of their artistic afterlife clarifies the importance of the prints for the development of a distinctly vernacular landscape idiom both in the Southern and Northern Netherlands, shedding light on the continuing centrality of the local, both as an historical concern and as a category of artistic representation. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Table of Contents List of Illustrations ................................................................................................................................... iii List of Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................xix Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................................... xx Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter One: Hieronymus Cock and the Market for Landscape Prints .................................. 13 Hieronymus Cock’s Role in the Small Landscapes ........................................................20 Cock’s Development of the Genre of Landscape ........................................................... 34 Cock’s Audiences and the Market for Prints ....................................................................56 Chapter Two: Real Land: The Appeal of the Small Landscapes at Mid-Century ...............76 Antwerp’s Hinterlands Described ........................................................................................79 Real Land: Urban Ties to Rural Property ..........................................................................83 The Speelhuis Phenomenon ...................................................................................................95 The Praise of the Country House and the Country Life ...............................................109 The Landjuweel of 1561: Propaganda and the Popular Perception of Country Life ........................................................................... 129 Rural Countryside as Cultural Ideal ...................................................................................145 Chapter Three: The Small Landscapes Revisited: Later Edition of the Prints in Seventeenth-Century Antwerp ..................................................148 Antwerp, Crisis and Recovery ............................................................................................150 Philips Galle’s 1601 edition .................................................................................................155 The Third Edition of the Small Landscapes ..................................................................175 The Fourth Edition of the Small Landscapes ..................................................................180 Print Publishers and the Persistence of the Small Landscapes .................................205 Chapter Four: The Afterlife of the Small Landscapes ...............................................................207 Hans van Luyck and the Persistence of Printed Local Landscapes ........................ 210 “In Pictorum Gratiam:” The Small Landscapes as M odels for Painters in Antwerp .........................................................................................................222 Jacob Grimmer........................................................................................................................ 223 Abel Grimmer..........................................................................................................................226 i Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Pieter Brueghel the Younger............................................................................................... 237 Jan Brueghel and Joos de Momper ................................................................................... 242 The Small Landscapes R enew ed .......................................................................................247 Epilogue: Claes Visscher and the Small Landscapes in the Northern Netherlands 250 B ibliography...........................................................................................................................................265 Appendix I: Grouping of the 1559 and 1561 Small Landscapes series...............................304 Appendix II: Comparison of Martial’s Epigram X 47, Lucas d’Heere’s translation of Martial, and Christophe Plantin’s Sonnet ...........................308 Appendix III: Concordance of editions of the Small Landscapes ...................................... 310 Illustrations .............................................................................................................................................312 ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. List of Illustrations Figure 1.1Title-page to 1559 series ofSmall Landscapes , published by Hieronymus Cock Figure 1.2van Doetecums after the Master of the Small Landscapes, Farms with Draw Well. 1559. etching and engraving (NHD 118) Figure 1.3van Doetecums after the Master of the Small Landscapes. Farms behind Stand of Trees. 1559. etching and engraving (NHD 160) Figure 1.4van Doetecums after the Master of the Small Landscapes, Farm with Woodcutters. 1559. etching and engraving (NHD 161) Figure 1.5van Doetecums after the Master of the Small Landscapes, Country Village with Post Mill. 1559. etching and engraving (NHD 154) Figure 1.6van Doetecums after the Master of the Small Landscapes, Road with Bam and Cottages. 1559, etching and engraving (NHD 150) Figure 1.7van Doetecums after the Master of the Small Landscapes. Village Street with Hay Cart. 1559. etching and engraving
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