Lucas and Cornelis de Wael: Flemish artists and dealers in Antwerp, Genoa and Rome in the seventeenth century

Abstract

Until now the lives and activities of Lucas and Cornelis de Wael have been largely discussed in relation to their friendship with Anthony Van Dyck, who stayed with them in Genoa periodically from 1621 to 1627. This dissertation seeks to rectify this one-sided approach by providing up-to-date biographies of both artists, considering both their artistic endeavours and their trading activities, and concluding with a catalogue of the works of each. Since the only monograph to date, written by Maurice Vaes, appeared in 1925, and other information is sporadically scattered throughout myriad sources from Antwerp, Genoa and Rome, this dissertation begins with a critical examination and appraisal of these. This is followed by a discussion of the commercial relationship between Antwerp and Genoa, particularly with regard to art works and luxury goods, and the art market in Genoa in the 16th and 17th centuries, until now largely ignored in works surveying this aspect of trading in major Italian cities. Lucas and Cornelis came from a family well connected with the artistic world in Antwerp but also one which had strong international trading connections. They chose Genoa as their Italian residence, most likely because, in contrast to Rome, which attracted scores of young Flemish and Dutch artists, there were relatively few competitors in the Ligurian capital. They quickly became established there and provided a home-from-home for both short and long-stay Flemish artists. After a brief period in Rome in the 1620s, they returned to Genoa. Lucas' stay there proved short, as he went back to Antwerp within a year of their return in 1627. Cornelis remained for another thirty years in Genoa, where he provided paintings, both commissioned and off the shelf, for prominent Genoese families, as well as further afield, and also established a business as a dealer in an astonishing variety of goods. Lucas, meanwhile, provided his contact in Antwerp for any such transactions. In addition to these activities both Lucas and Cornelis were respected members of society in their local communities in Antwerp and Genoa, and, in Cornelis' case, later in Rome, to which he moved in 1656-7 due to an outbreak of plague in Genoa, and where he continued to be active as an artist, dealer, and mainstay for visiting Flemish artists. All these aspects are reviewed in the second chapter, to which are affixed tables to show the intricate family relationships of the two brothers. The third chapter contains a survey of the marketing activities of Lucas and Cornelis derived from three sources: firstly, the records from 1630 to 1667 of the prominent Moretus publishing house in Antwerp, which relate to the transactions, principally in liturgical texts, of the brothers; secondly, the records from 1661 to 1667 of Matthijs Musson, an international art and cabinet dealer in Antwerp, and thirdly, Cornelis' activities in Genoa, which are garnered from the Genoese shipping registers. These underline the functioning of the network mentioned in the second chapter, the extent of goods traded by Lucas and Cornelis, and the range of clients and collectors of their works. In addition the contents of Cornelis' post mortem inventory of 1667 are reviewed, including both his own works and those by other artists. The relatively few works of Lucas, who, as mentioned in the text, stopped being active as an artist in the late 1620s, are discussed in the fourth chapter, followed by an explanatory catalogue of these, together with rejected attributions and untraced, or lost, works. This contrasts with the prolific number of works by Cornelis, to which our attention turns in the fifth chapter in an extensive examination of his artistic development. His paintings, drawings, and prints are considered, together with comparisons with works of contemporary artists and the mutual interplay of influences. The influence of Cornelis' own works on later artists is also brought into focus. This is followed by an explanatory catalogue of works known, with an emphasis on the links between painting, drawings and prints, where appropriate. As with Lucas, rejected attributions and untraced, or lost, works are also reviewed.