- Museum number
- 1895,0915.1058
- Description
-
Design for the title-page to Frans van den Haer's 'Annales Ducum Brabantiae', 1623; an architectural plinth with face left vacant for the title, surmounted by a female figure (History) holding a torch above a globe, to her right a putto holding a serpent biting its tail (Eternity), behind another putto blowing a trumpet of Fame, to left and right of the plinth are a female figure with a caduceus (Peace) and a Roman soldier (War), below are a crowned woman with a lion (Belgium) and a river god (War). before 5.iv.1622
Pen and brown ink, with grey-brown wash, indented for transfer
- Production date
- 1622
- Dimensions
-
Height: 288 millimetres
-
Width: 176 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- This drawing is among several designs that Rubens produced for inclusion in illustrated volumes that were printed in Antwerp by the Plantin Press (for others see for instance, 1900,0824.137 and 1891,0511.31). The present drawing served as the modello for the title page of Franciscus Haraeus’ Annales Ducum Brabantie which was published in 1622. It was attributed to the hand of the engraver by Van de Velde and Judson (no.51b), but Christopher White (1983, p.60) maintains the attribution to Rubens. The complex iconography includes depictions of History with book and torch, War and Peace and at the bottom, Belgia with a Belgian lion and a River God that might symbolise the River Scheldt. The engraving was subsequently engraved by Cornelis Galle I who received payment of 75fl on 5 April 1622 for his work, which provides a terminus ante quem for Rubens’ drawings. Rubens also designed the title page for the second volume of Haraeus’ work, the design for which is now in the Royal Collection at Windsor (inv. RCIN 906413) and subsequently engraved by Lucas Vosterman.
Lit: J. Rowlands, 'Rubens: Drawings and Sketches', exhibition catalogue, London, British Museum, 1977, no.215; J.R. Judson & C. Van Der Velde, ‘Corpus Rubenianum XXI: Book Illustrations and Title Pages (London, 1978), no. 51b; J. Held, 'Rubens: Selected Drawings', New York, 1986, no.152; F. Stampfle, 'Netherlandish Drawings of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries and Flemish Drawings of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries in the Pierpont Morgan Library', 1991, p.103, under Maerten de Vos; C. White, 'Review: Book Illustrations and Title-Pages. Corpus Rubenianum Part XXI,', Master Drawings, Vol. 21, 1983, pp.59-62.
Entry from J. Rowlands, 'Rubens: Drawings and Sketches', exhibition catalogue, London, British Museum, 1977:
Above the central plinth vacant for the title is seated a female figure representing History. To her right a putto holds a serpent biting its tail, a symbol of Eternity. Behind him is a putto blowing a trumpet of Fame. War and Peace stand on either side of the plinth. As Held has pointed out Peace burning the armour of War occurs later in the 'Conclusion of Peace' in the Médicis Cycle and in the Whitehall Ceiling. Below Peace is seated Belgia with the lion of Belgium, and below War, a river-god, probably intended to symbolise the River Scheldt. This design, executed before 5 April 1622, was engraved in reverse by Cornelis Galle I (see 1858,0417.1223) as the title-page for the first volume of Frans van den Haer, 'Annales Ducum Brabantiae', 1623.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1977 BM, Rubens drawings and sketches, no.215
1977 May-Jul, Plantin-Moretus, 'Rubens', no. 17b
- Associated titles
Associated Title: Annales Ducum Brabantiae
- Acquisition date
- 1895
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1895,0915.1058