print;
book-illustration
- Museum number
- 1884,0112.61
- Title
- Object: Templum Jani
- Description
-
Plate 30: The Temple of Janus; a two-tiered structure with dome and stage across front on which figures enact a tableau of war and peace; at centre is the representation of The Opening of the Temple Doors with subsidiary scenes depicted in the flanking porticos: in the portico at right are Tranquility, Security and Peace, who drops her cornucopia and throws her weight unsuccessfully into pushing closed the heavy door; in the doorway Furor, with bandaged eyes and brandishing a sword and torch bursts from the interior darkness; to the right are two caryatid terms of Repose and Concord; on the parapet above is an ornament with emblems of peace, including agricultural implements and produce, flowers and two turtle-doves; two female personifications of Abundance and Fertility flank the candelabrum dedicated to Felicitas Temporum above the right portico; opposite, on the lower stage at left is the Ferocity of War with a soldier pulling the hair of a woman beside the personification of Death; the personifications of Discord and Tisiphone, wrench open the temple door, overturning an urn of blood; at far left are caryatid terms of Discord and Strife; on the parapet above is the trophy of war consisting of arms and armour and two grisly heads; two female personfication of Poverty and Grief flank the candelabrum dedicated to Calamitas Publica; crowning the pediment is a double bust of the Roman god, Janus; after Peter Paul Rubens; illustration for Gaspar Gevaerts' "Pompa Introitus" (Antwerp, 1641)
Etching
- Production date
- 1635-1641 (c.)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 537 millimetres (plate-mark)
-
Height: 649 millimetres (sheet)
-
Width: 454 millimetres
-
Width: 543 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- One of a series of forty-three plates illustrating Gaspar Gevaerts' "Pompa Introitus"; for further comments see 1884,0112.31. The stage of the Temple of Janus, its dome reaching to nearly 19 metres in height and 15 metres in width, was erected along the procession route in the Melkmarkt, with the Cathedral rising behind it. In the ancient temple of Janus the doors were opened when Rome was at war and closed during times of peace. Rubens, in contrast, designed the doors of the temple in the painted tableau to be appear open, probably as an allusion to the misery in the city of Antwerp resulting from war. Rubens' initial conception for the temple, as recorded in the oil sketch in Leningrad, reveals considerable changes to design occurred in the final construction etched by Van Thulden. Initially it was distinctly smaller but with the delay in the date of Ferdinand's entry Rubens was able to expand the stage, lifting the dome and extending the wings. The responsibility for painting the wooden cut-outs for the temple went to Theodoor Rombouts, who collaborated with Jacob Jordaens and Jan Cossiers, among others.
Lit: John Rupert Martin, The Decorations for the Pompa Introitus Ferdinandi, Corpus Rubenianum XVI, London, 1972, pp. 162-172.
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated events
- Associated Event: Entry of Cardinal Infante Ferdinand of Austria into Antwerp 1635 (17 April)
- Associated titles
Associated Title: Pompa Introitus Honori Serenissimi Principis Ferdinandi (Antwerp, 1641)
- Acquisition date
- 1818
- Acquisition notes
- For comments see 1884,0112.31.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1884,0112.61
