Research presentation, Rubenianum, 13 January 2014 The Forgotten Archduke: Ernest of Austria and the Spanish Netherlands 0 INTRODUCTION/BIO Archduke Ernest of Austria (fig. 1), born in 1553, belonged to the Habsburg elite of the late sixteenth century: he was the second son of Emperor Maximilian II and Maria of Spain, brother of Rudolf II and nephew of King Philip II of Spain. When he was 10 years old, he and Rudolf were sent to the Spanish court for their education, trained there to become the new rulers of the global Habsburg Empire.1 They returned eight years later in 1571, and while it was destined for Rudolf to become Emperor, as he did in 1575, Ernest was chosen as the Habsburg candidate for the elected throne of Poland‐Lithuania in 1572.2 After losing the election to Henri de Valois, he was appointed Governor of Lower Austria in 1576. After losing the Polish election yet again in 1587 he became Governor of Inner Austria as well, residing in Vienna. But in 1593, Ernest’s life was destined to change fundamentally. When Philip II needed a successor for Peter Ernest, Duke of Mansfeld, as Governor General of the Netherlands, he decided in the summer of 1593 to give this position to Ernest and planned that he marry his daughter, Isabella Clara Eugenia. 3 However, to the great loss of the Habsburg house and their ambitious dynastic‐political plans Ernest died unexpectedly on 20 February 1595 in the Brussels palace, after living and reigning there for only 13 months. His younger brother Albrecht (1559–1621) was then chosen to inherit Ernest’s position in the Low Countries, to marry Isabella, and to end the conflict with the provinces in revolt. My PhD‐research on Archduke Ernest of Austria, which I started in late 2012, consists of three parts which together are giving a new insight on Ernest and his role in art history of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century (fig. 2). First, I focus on the Joyous Entries held for Ernest’s arrival as the new Governor in Brussels and Antwerp, second, the collection of the Archduke in the Coudenberg Palace and third, Ernest’s funeral monument in the Cathedral of Brussels. 1 See on the time of the brothers in Spain Mayer‐Löwenschwerdt 1927. See on Ernest’s candidature Bues 1984, chapter II. 3 See Khevenhüller 1971, p. 209. 2 1 JOYOUS ENTRY Archduke Ernest embarked in October 1593 from Vienna and travelled via Prague, where he stayed nearly six weeks, Nuremberg, Frankfurt and Luxembourg, arriving in the Netherlands in late January 1594. He arrived in Brussels at the Leuven Gate, which we see here (fig. 3), on 30 January 1594 and was welcomed with the traditional blijde intrede, Joyous Entry, staged by the city.4 The second Entry, into Antwerp, followed on 14 June. For both events festival books with Latin texts and engravings were commissioned by the two cities’ magistrates (fig 4). 5 Every action, tableau vivant and triumphal arch was described and depicted to commemorate these presentations of civic identity and local heritage dating back to the fourteenth century. In Brussels the Archduke was presented with ephemeral structures designed as a salute to the Habsburg dynasty, making clear to the new sovereign in which tradition they expected him to reign: the great dynasty of Burgundy. The tableaux vivants and triumphal arches staged in the city’s streets presented Ernest with his lineage of royal and imperial ancestry. Starting with Rudolf I (1218‐1291, elected 1273 as the first Habsburg King of the Romans) (fig. 5) the Archduke passed more ephemeral structures (fig. 6). The biggest was the double arch for Maximilian I and Mary of Burgundy (fig. 7), because through their marriage in 1477 and Mary’s death in 1482 Burgundy became a hereditary part of the Habsburg Empire. Further into the city Charles V, the last Emperor who resided in the Low Countries, was shown accompanied by the seven Electors. The following stages presented Ernest’s father Maximilian II and finally the reigning emperor, Ernest’s brother Rudolf II. The end of the book includes an engraving made from four pieces of paper designed to fold out. It shows the group of horsemen accompanying the Archduke entering the Coudenberg Palace through the sculpture‐adorned metal gates Charles V commissioned (fig. 8‐11). Special emphasis should be given to the two feather‐adorned camels described as “CAMELI DUO” (fig. 12) and shown on the first print’s right side.6 They must be understood as a visual statement to show the audience that the Archduke belonged to the global network of Habsburg dynastic courts. 4 The publications on Ernest’s Joyous Entries into Brussels and Antwerp include Coremans 1847, Diels 1994, Thøfner 2007 and Raband 2014a and 2014b. 5 The festival books are Anonymous 1594 and Bochius 1595. 6 On the theme of exotica in the context of Ernest of Austria see Raband 2014b. When Ernest entered Antwerp in June 1594 (fig. 13) he was also presented with triumphal arches commissioned by the city and the different European merchant groups residing in the city (fig. 14).7 Furthermore there were the traditional ommegangen wagons (fig. 15) which were used in Antwerp’s biannual religious processions as movable pieces and in the Entries as immovable decorations showing the giant Druon Antigoon8, the elephant, the sea monster, and the ship. The aforementioned camels, now part of the Brussels menagerie, were brought along as well and are depicted in the last print called “LUDI EQUESTRES APPARATISSIMI” (Fig. 16‐17). Instead of being presented as a part of the Archducal procession group they were used to stage a representation of Africa 9 in the company of 40 African men dancing and singing around them, followed by an African “king” carried on a sedan. The Ernest‐Entries were of high relevance and interest for the Habsburg dynasty. His arrival and entries were the direct follow up to the Entries staged by the revolting Northern Provinces. The one held in Brussels for Archduke Mathias of Austria in 1578 and in Antwerp for the Duc d’Anjou in 1582. Margit Thøfner, who did research on these Entries as Common Art, also the name of her book, calls the Ernest‐Entries therefor the “Ceremonies of Purification”10, used to reinforce Habsburg supremacy on the Netherlands after Antwerp was sieged by the Duke of Parma, Alessandro Farnese, in 1585. My aim is to give new insight on how these ceremonies were also used by the new sovereign for his self‐presentation and to negotiate with the cities. Additionally I want to present a closer look at the engravings from both books to ask why the use of narrative structures in the festival books increased within the second half of the sixteenth century. 2 COLLECTION So far for historians and historians of art the person of the Archduke and his collection has belonged to a number of smaller investigations.11 My research wants to shed 7 This included the merchant communities from Spain, Portugal, Genoa, Milan, Florence, Lucca, and a gallery commissioned by the Fuggers of Augsburg, see Bochius 1595, 63‐68, 72‐78, 90‐93, 95‐100, 101‐103, 104‐105 and 124‐127. 8 On the role of Antigoon in the Antwerp Joyous Entries see Göttler 2014. 9 It remains uncertain if this play included a depiction of all four parts of the world because the scenes shown here have no corresponding text within the book. 10 Thofner, pp.169. 11. See Coremans 1847, Strachwitz 1969, Bues 1984 and Diels 1994. new light on the Archduke as a member of the Habsburg dynasty and investigates the strategies of (self‐)representation through the collection. There are today two sources giving us insight of the archducal collection and Ernest’s collecting ambitions, both manuscripts are kept in the Royal Archive in Brussels. The first source on Ernest’s collection is the account book (“Kassabuch”) kept by Ernest’s private secretary, Blasius Hütter, between 1589 and 1595 which was first published in 2010 in the Jahrbuch of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna.12 Hütter listed all income and expenses of the archducal household up to the day of Ernest’s death, including as the last account the payments for prayers at the Brussels Cathedral.13 The second source is the still unpublished inventory of the Archduke’s personal belongings. 14 It was drawn up the first time only four days after Ernest’s death on 24 February 1595 and consists of 51 folio pages (Fig. 18). Later in 1595 the inventory was copied to become a shipping list because all objects, including clothes, silverware, books, and art works were transported to Vienna. Especially the art works were of great interest to Ernest’s brother Rudolf, who absorbed them into his own collection in Prague. These two manuscripts present normative data and help to define a concept of the Archduke’s buying ambitions and to locate him within early modern material and visual culture. First, the account book tells when, where, from whom and for how many florins Ernest bought objects and if he kept them for himself or sent them as presents to Madrid, Graz or Prague. Second, the inventory gives a full list of the owned objects arranged by groups, not rooms, starting with his fur coats and clothing. So far I have focused on the art collection of Ernest because it interlinks this part of my research with the Joyous Entry into Antwerp because what the Antwerp festival book does not tell are the presents Ernest received during his entry from the city’s magistrate. These can be found in the account book, listed for 5 July on folio 147v as “Den 5. dito, wie die Herrn von Antorff irer fr. dr. 6 taffeln von den 12 monatts zeiten und ein camer tapezerey von acht stuckhen verehrt haben.”15 The presents thus included eight Burgundian tapestries and the six paintings of the “Months of the Year” (Fig. 19) made by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in 1565 as a commissioned work for the Antwerp banker Niclaes 12. Archives Génerales du Royaume, Manuscrits divers 2924, Brussels, see Haupt and Wied 2010, 156. Haupt and Wied showed that the handwriting changed after the Archduke’s death and assume that Hütter was no longer in charge of the book. The new writer listed all the outstanding payments for older commissions, starting fol. 174. See Haupt and Wied 2010, p. 157. 14. Pap., A. R. A. B., Pap. d’État et de l’Aud., T098, nr 1196. The inventory was copied in June of the same year (T098, nr 1197), now with a more orderly arrangement and more pieces listed. 15 Haupt and Wied 2010, p. 226. 13 Jonghelinck.16 The paintings were specifically bought by the aldermen of Antwerp from the Antwerp art dealer Juan von Wükh, also known as Hande van Wijk. He came into the possession of the paintings after the collection of Jonghelinck was dismantled after his death in 1570 to pay his debts to Antwerp and the Spanish Crown.17 We can only hypothesize why the magistrates chose to buy these paintings for Ernest and what message they wanted to be understood by the new owner and thus the visitors of the archducal collection. Pieter Bruegel was by this time, the 1590’s, famous for his artworks and through his family the name “Brueg(h)el” had become a trademark for highly appreciated Flemish paintings. Further, the topic of the painting series itself was a traditional motif in the Flemish “Bildgedächtnis”, pictorial memory. Through the paintings the Archduke was presented not only with something specific to Antwerp, one of the most important art centres in Northern Europe, but also with a prospective view of all the Netherlands. Seeing the country in the changing seasons, the viewer surveys aerial views of Flemish landscapes in all their different aspects. I argue that the received Bruegel cycle worked as an “igniter” or catalyst that thoroughly changed Ernest’s buying and collecting ambitions. In fact, Ernest never showed interest in painted nature scenes before he moved to Brussels. After receiving the Bruegel paintings Ernest’s immediately bought the remaining Bruegel’s kept by Juan von Wükh,”The Children’s Games”, “The Peasant’s Wedding” and “The Conversion of St. Paul”. In the last eight months of his lifetime he then kept buying Flemish paintings or glass works showing “The cycle of the year” or other landscape scenes. When Ernest died he owned not only Bruegel’s “Months of the Year”, “The Peasant Wedding” and “The Children’s Games”18 but also a “Cycle of the Year” by Abel Grimmer consisting of 12 paintings19; 2 night scenes by Gillis Mostaert20; 5 paintings by Lucas van 16 The paintings are today in the Metropolitan Museum New York, the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna and in the Lobkowicz Colection in the Prague castle. Buchanan 1990 gives an overview of the collection of Jonghelinck and describes the paintings’ original context. James J. Bloom shows convincingly in his on‐going research on the social life around tapestries and easel paintings that the Bruegel paintings seemed to substitute for larger tapestries and also evoked a highly established interaction between the art on the wall and the social interaction in the room. 17 See Buchanan 1990, p. 541. 18 Both in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna. 19 Now thought to be lost, but maybe similar to existing paintings of the same motif in the Royal Museum of Art Antwerp. 20 The identification is unclear due to the fact that most of his paintings included night‐ and moon‐scenes. They might be identical with the two Mostaert paintings in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna which are traceable to Vienna since at least 1618 and thus could have been shipped there together with the rest of Ernest’s collection in 1598. Anther possible painting is the one in the Louvre. Valckenborgh, including a view of Linz (Fig. xx) and a “Cycle of the Year” in four parts21; 2 paintings by Tobias Verhaecht, one mentioned only as “landscape” and another showing the “Tower of Babylon”22; 3 flower paintings by Joris Hoefnagel23 and 4 maps of Mechelen, Burgundy and the four parts of the world (fig. 20). Why Ernest bought those paintings and what visual statement he wanted to present within the palace rooms is one of the questions I will discuss in my research. 3 FUNERAL MONUMENT Albrecht of Austria, Ernest’s successor as Governor General of the Netherlands and groom to Isabella of Spain, was only able to properly bury his brother on 15 March 1600, five years after Ernest’s death because of a difference of opinion with the Viennese court, which wanted to bury Ernest in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna.24 Albrecht on the other hand pursued the idea to establish Brussels and the Brussels cathedral as a new burial place of the Habsburg dynasty.25 After winning his dispute with Vienna and the burial of Ernest Albrecht commissioned a funeral monument for his older brother from the workshop of the Antwerp sculptor Robrecht de Nole (fig. 21).26 This monument still stands at its original place on the north side of the choir of the cathedral in Brussels, showing the sculpted Ernest resting on his left side in full armour crowned with the archducal crown, facing in the direction of the main altar.27 Ernest, here in the style of the demi‐gisant which originated in fourteenth century Spain and Italy, is lying on a black stone plate above a sarcophagus‐like base adorned with floral ornaments and Ernest’s coat of arms. Nine years after the establishing of Ernest’s monument Albrecht commissioned a second one from the De Nole workshop, now a monument to commemorate all Dukes of Brabant, today standing on the south side of the choir as a pendant to the Ernest monument. Resting on the same base as Ernest lies there a bronze lion, the heraldic animal 21 The painting of Linz is today in the Städel Museum Frankfurt; the “Cycle of the Year” is unknown and considered lost. 22 The “Tower of Babylon” seems to be identical with the one in the Frick Collection in New York. 23 Unidentified. 24 See Coremans 1847. 25 See Lauro 2007 on all burial places of the Habsburgs and Hawlik‐van de Water 1987on the Imperial Crypt in Vienna. 26 See on the funeral monument Lawrence 1981, cat. no. 349. On Robrecht de Nole Casteels 1961. 27 A full investigation on this monument is in progress by the author and will be part oft he aforementioned dissertation. of Brabant, holding a shield with the Brabantine coat of arms with his paw (fig. 22). As you can see on the image, the lion is facing away from the beholder and seems somewhat unfitting in the architecture. This refers to the fact that it was originally positioned elsewhere in the Cathedral, and was only later repositioned in the choir so both monuments were seen together. Interestingly both monuments seek their comparison elsewhere because throughout the sixteenth century no funeral monuments for the governors of the Netherlands or members of the Habsburg family have been build in the Low Countries, giving Albrecht the opportunity to have a monuments designed freely after his wishes without being bound to local traditions needed to be uphold. First there is the base of the monument with its flower ornaments executed on both sides because the monument was also visible from the ambulatory. I think that this design can be retraced to the monuments of Mary of Burgundy and Charles the Bold in Bruges (fig. 23), commissioned by Maxmilian I after the death of his wife in 1482 and Philip II in 1562 from the workshop of Jacques Jonghelinck28 after Charles V ordered the corpse to be moved from Nancy to Bruges in 1550.29 Albrecht was also inspired by the monuments in the Chartreuse de Champmol (fig. 24) where the Dukes of Burgundy Philip the Bold and John the Fearless were buried and commemorated. There we find the origin the of black stone plate the sculpture of the deceased was placed upon. The sculpture of Ernest, a so called demi‐gisant, was the first of this kind in the Netherlands. As seen in the other monuments, the medieval tradition was to position the deceased lying on his or her back on the base. This tradition was altered in fourteenth‐century Spain and Italy where the gisant was more and more moved from its horizontal form into a vertical one. Two of the most famous exemplars for demi‐gisants are the monuments for Ascanio Maria Sforza and Girolamo Basso della Rovere, both cardinals (fig. 24), who received monuments in the Roman church S. Maria sopra Minerva commissioned by Pope Julius II. della Rovere. Monuments Albrecht must have know from his time as cardinal, making the monument for his brother an art historical collage to present the time‐encompassing reign of the Habsburg dynasty. 28 29 See on Jonghelinck Smolderen 1996 and 2012. See on the Bruges monuments Marti 2008.