17. Abraham van Diepenbeeck

’s-Hertogenbosch 1596 – 1675 Antwerp

Family Group in an Interior

After training as a stained-glass artist, Abraham van Diepenbeeck left ’s-Hertogenbosch to seek his fortune in Antwerp, where he became a member of the Guild of St Luke in 1622-1623.1 He was soon commissioned to make stained-glass windows for the churches and monasteries in the city.2 At the end of the 1620’s he spent some time in the workshop of Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), after which he also devoted himself to history painting.3 Van Diepenbeeck designed biblical and mythological scenes for tapestries as well, but above all for engravings. We know of almost five hundred prints after his designs (book illustrations, portraits, title pages etc.), and prelinary studies for these make up the lion’s share of Van Diepenbeeck’s extensive drawn oeuvre.4

This drawing appears to be a design for a painted family portrait, a genre for which Van Diepenbeeck seemed to have had little enthusiasm.5 For these kinds of portraits the Antwerp middle classes approached artists like Cornelis de Vos (cat. 44) and Gonzales Coques (cat. 14), who had almost cornered this market with their inventive compositions. The family of six appears at ease, grouped in a manner that is strongly reminiscent of De Vos’s work.6 The boy in the centre holds a perch with bells for a bird to land on.7 The girl on his right offers her sister what may be a flower, a symbol of youth and blossoming. However, we do not know their identities or even if the painting was actually executed.

Van Diepenbeeck may have shown this fairly detailed preliminary study to a client, but it likely remained in his workshop to serve as a guide for the artist or an assistant. The notes on the upper right may be indications of the required measurements for the final painting and the squaring of the sheet was intended for the transfer of the composition to a larger size.8 It is not clear why the artist drew two squaring grids, one in red chalk and the other in pencil. Van Diepenbeeck appears to have used double squaring on other occasions, including when he transferred the drawn design for a more detailed modello.9

MvS

1He was enrolled in the Antwerp Guild of St Luke as a stained-glass artist (gelaesschryver) under the name Abram van Dipendael, see Hans Vlieghe, ‘Abraham van Diepenbeeck (1596-1675)’, in Paul Huys Janssen (ed.), Meesters van het Zuiden. Barokschilders rondom Rubens, exh. cat. ’s-Hertogenbosch (Noordbrabants Museum) 2000, p. 53.

2‘Tot de eerste aan hem verleende opdrachten behoren de tussen 1622 en 1625 voor de Geschoeide Carmelieten of ‘Lievevrouwebroeders’ ontworpen en vervaardigde taferelen uit het leven van Maria en de vier in 1624 uitgevoerde stadswapens voor de ramen van de Vierschaar.’ (The first commissions granted to him between 1622 and 1625 included scenes from the life of the Virgin designed and executed for the Calced Carmelites or ‘Lievevrouwebroeders’ and the four coats of arms for the windows of the court of justice made in 1624), see Vlieghe 2000, p. 53.

3Hans Vlieghe, ‘Abraham van Diepenbeeck (1596-1675)’, in Paul Huys Janssen (ed.), Meesters van het Zuiden. Barokschilders rondom Rubens, exh. cat. ’s-Hertogenbosch (Noordbrabants Museum) 2000, p. 57.

4He also made designs for three-dimensional objects, see Stefaan Hautekeete (ed.), From Floris to Rubens. Master Drawings from a Belgian Private Collection, exh. cat. Antwerp (Royal Museum for Fine Arts of Belgium) and Maastricht (Bonnefantenmuseum) 2016, no. 76.

5His portraits were more often executed in prints.

6See Katlijne Van der Stichelen (ed.), Hoofd en Bijzaak. Portretkunst in Vlaanderen van 1420 tot nu, Zwolle (Waanders) 2008, p. 133.

7This attribute frequently returns in portraits of families and children, for example: Peter Paul Rubens, Portrait of Albert and Nicolaas Rubens, Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna, and Justus van Egmont, Portrait of Maria-Aldegonda, Jan-Cornelis and Alexander Goubau, private collection, Vorselaar.

8Exh. cat. London/Paris/Bern/Brussels 1972, no. 24.

9See Stefaan Hautekeete (ed.), From Floris to Rubens: Master Drawings from a Belgian Private Collection, exh. cat. Antwerp (Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium) and Maastricht (Bonnefantenmuseum) 2016, under no. 77, (fig. 3).