Bildnis eines unbekannten Herrn (Jan Curtius ?)

After the Fall of Antwerp in 1585, print production

in the city continued to be lively and productive.

Among the leading makers of prints were the

Wierixes, three brothers and a nephew,1 their

combined output totaling more than 2,000 prints.

Johannes Wierix (1549–1620) was the most prolific

draftsman of the four. With some rare exceptions,

he generally worked with pen and ink on parchment,

creating precious artworks for the market

[40–44]. As in the present sheet, he achieved tonal

values by a system of dots; short, parallel lines; and

crosshatching—all gaining depth and luminosity

by the costly support. The technical mastery of

the pen—with no trace of underdrawing—is paired

with a fine feel for the decorative, here exhibited

in the collar, its meandering folds appearing like

frozen waves. Such detail, translating the pictorial

language of engraving into a unique work of art,

appealed to the sophisticated tastes of the artist’s

urban clientele.2

This drawing also exhibits similarities to

engravings by the Wierixes. Similar strapwork

surrounding an oval frame is found in the series

Rulers of the Netherlands, made around 1599–1604 by

Antonius II.3 As in those examples, the rectangular

cartouche below the medallion of our drawing was

probably meant for a poem or dedication, and the

sitter’s name written into the band encompassing

the portrait. Alas, these elements remain empty

in the present sheet, leaving the sitter’s identity

unknown (fig. 1).4 The only inscription consists of

the year, 1613, and the name of the artist. Its odd

placement below the image5 almost invites us to consider

Wierix himself the subject of the portrait, were

F[ecit] (he made it) not written next to the date.6

Another curious feature consists of the

diminutive insects and objects hidden among

the strapwork. Such imagery is unusual—even

“anomalous”7—among portraits drawn or engraved

by the Wierix family. Why did the artist merge

conventions of portraiture with the miniaturist tradition

of devotional illuminations? Could the snails,

as symbols of circumspection and self-knowledge;8

the butterflies heading toward the flame, as tokens

of self-sacrificing love;9 and the overall subtext of

Vanitas and hope for resurrection10 allude to the

sitter, who coolly gazes at us from his oval frame?

In any case, the beautiful and highly individual

sheet deserves pride of place alongside the portrait

drawings of the artist’s Northern Netherlandish

colleagues.

 

1. Besides Johannes, the eldest of the three, there were

Hieronymus (1553–1619), Antonius II (c. 1555/59–1604), and the

latter’s son Antonius III (1596–1624).

2. Van Ruyven-Zeman 2004, 237–39.

3. Van Ruyven-Zeman and Leesberg (NHD) 2004, 67, 154–56,

nos. 2010–13, 2066.

4. His former identification as Jean de Curtius (1551–1628)

has been refuted; see Van Ruyven-Zeman 2004, 254n28. His

physiognomy disagrees with Johannes’s portrait of the latter in

1607 (Van Ruyven-Zeman and Leesberg [NHD] 2004, 67, 227,

no. 2075), in addition to looking considerably younger.

5. Johannes Wierix usually placed his monogram or

signature above the portrait, as, for instance, in Portrait of

Dirk Wttenbroeck, 1577, engraving, Van Ruyven-Zeman and

Leesberg (NHD) 2004, 68, 90, no. 2163.

6. Although we lack any portrait of Johannes Wierix for direct

comparison, the sitter clearly looks younger than sixty-four, the

artist’s approximate age in 1613.

7. Van Ruyven-Zeman and Leesberg (NHD) 2004, 12, 241.

8. Bevers in Mai and Vlieghe 1992, 512; see also Filedt Kok 1996,

163, with earlier literature.

9. Bevers in Mai and Vlieghe 1992, 512.

10. Cf. a blank page with marginalia from Johannes Wierix

including, among other motifs, butterflies and snails: Passion

Circle, c. 1590, pen and ink on vellum, bound volume of sixteen

drawings, 8 x 9.5 cm, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore,

W.722, fol. 6r; Tilghman 2010–11, 125, fig. 1. Cf. Tilghman 2010–11,

127–28, on the role of drawn detail in activating the beholder’s

imagination; see also the framework in a print by Antonius II

featuring snails and butterflies: Christ Appearing to Saint Peter

after the Resurrection, c. 1584, engraving, Van Ruyven-Zeman

and Leesberg (NHD) 2004, 12, 204.

 

Emily J. Peters, Laura M. Ritter (Hg.), AK Tales of the City. Drawing in the Netherlands from Bosch to Bruegel, Cleveland Museum of Art 9.10.2022 - 8.1.2023, New Haven 2022, Kat. Nr. 64