Boetius à Bolswert
Encyclopedia
Boetius à Bolswert (c.1585, – late 1633) was a renowned copper-plate engraving engraver of Friesland
origin. In his time the paintings of Peter Paul Rubens called forth new endeavours by engravers to imitate or reproduce the breadth, density of mass and dynamic illumination of those works. Boetius Bolswert was an important figure in this movement, not least because he was the elder brother and instructor of the engraver Schelte à Bolswert
, whose reproductions of Rubens's landscapes were most highly esteemed in their own right.
, Friesland, was confirmed by Cornelis de Bie
in his Het Gulden Cabinet
. Boetius came early in life to Holland, where he appears around 1610; he was then dwelling in Amsterdam
, and sometimes also in Utrecht
.
In 1610 he produced his four scenes of the Horrors of the Spanish War, after designs by David Vinckboons
. Reproductions of large landscapes by Vinckboons and Gillis van Coninxloo
III were among his early successes, employing a dense and diffuse technique, in a genre to which he later made transforming contributions. In 1615 and 1616 he was licensed by the Dutch States-General to engrave from the portraits of Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt
, such as the portraits of Elizabeth and Frederik of Bohemia. In 1618 he depicted the ceremonial funeral-bed of the newly-deceased Philipp Wilhelm, Prince of Orange.
However Bolswert's most notable collaboration in this period was with Abraham Bloemaert
, after whom he produced various series. It is thought they worked closely, for Bolswert carefully imitated aspects of his graphic style, and has been described as his pupil. His 1611 series Pastorals using Bloemaert models shows the early fruits of that influence. Their collaboration in various works from 1612 on the theme of Saints and Hermits culminated in 1619 in Antwerp in the Sylva Anachoretica Ægypti Et Palæstinæ (The Hermit Woodland of Egypt and Palestine), a quarto (230mm) volume depicting imaginary portraits of 25 male and 25 female hermits of antiquity, with facing descriptive Latin texts, printed by Hendrick Aertssens. Dutch and French editions were reprinted in the same year. This was apparently commissioned by the Jesuit Heribert van Rosweijde
(1569–1629), (founder of the project for the Acta Sanctorum
taken up by the Bollandists), rector of the Jesuit college at Antwerp. Rosweyde dedicated the Bolswert work to his benefactor, Abbot Antoine de Wynghe of the monastery of Liessies
, Département Nord, France. It was evidently a companion-book to Rosweyde's major Latin work Lives of the Fathers (biographies of early Church hermits) of 1615, a compilation from which was produced at Antwerp in 1619 by Jan van Gorcum.
At Antwerp between September 1620 and September 1621, Boetius Bolswert was admitted as free Master in the Guild of St Luke. Slightly before this, in January 1620, he became (as a good Roman Catholic and bachelor) a member of the Jesuit Sodality of Adult Bachelorhood; in September 1620 we find him in the office of Consultor within it, and in September 1622 as Assistant to the Prefects. Antwerp was then a leading centre of Counter-Reformation
artistic and literary activity.
In 1624 he collaborated with the Brussels
Jesuit Father Herman Hugo (1588–1629) in the production of 'the 17th century's most popular devotional book,' Pia Desideria - a work indicating three paths to salvation, through purification, illumination and union, an Emblem book
which ran through many editions and versions. It consisted of a series of 45 emblems by Bolswert with accompanying verses by Hugo, subjects for meditation on the theme of spiritual love. Hugo had been teacher at the Jesuit College in Antwerp and rector of the Jesuit College in Brussels, and became army chaplain to Ambrogio Spinola in Spain. The 45 plates were reproduced in the last three volumes of the Emblems of Francis Quarles
first published in 1635.
In 1627 Bolswert was in Brussels
: from this city he gave, under the date of 1 May 1627 the dedication of his book, Duyfkens ende Willemynkens Pelgrimagie (Duyfkens and Willemynkens Pilgrimage). This little book (illustrated with his own engravings), which reveals him also to have been a writer, is seen in the later editions of 1631, 1638 and 1641, and in new (and re-cut) editions thereafter: it was a much-read Catholic devotional book and was translated into French. It described an allegorical voyage to Jerusalem by two sisters. Now some of the descriptions and narratives in it seem frankly ridiculous.
In 1639 Aertssens printed Bolswert's plates for the retelling of the mediaeval story of The Miracle of Amsterdam by Leonard Marius (Goesanus) (1588–1652), Roman Catholic priest at the Begijnhof. Some of the 16 full-page engraved plates are based on illustration designs attributed to Rubens.
Boetius à Bolswert soon established his engraving press in Holland, but he maintained a more extensive publishing house in Belgium: he now took his subjects from Rubens and from other Flemish painters, and himself attempted work in the field of composition. He took as his starting-point the narrow manner of Philip Galle and similar engravers; in Antwerp, through the influence of the great Rubens (who, without himself being an engraver, influenced others to achieve greater solidity of mass or volumes in engraved representations), he brought his art to a larger and broader grasp of Form than had previously been achieved in that medium. He died at Antwerp.
Friesland
Friesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient region of Frisia.Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân...
origin. In his time the paintings of Peter Paul Rubens called forth new endeavours by engravers to imitate or reproduce the breadth, density of mass and dynamic illumination of those works. Boetius Bolswert was an important figure in this movement, not least because he was the elder brother and instructor of the engraver Schelte à Bolswert
Schelte a Bolswert
Schelte a Bolswert, a very distinguished engraver, was the younger brother of Boetius Adam a Bolswert, and was born at the town of Bolswert, in Friesland, in 1586. He settled with his brother at Antwerp, where he became one of the most celebrated engravers of his country. He died there in 1659...
, whose reproductions of Rubens's landscapes were most highly esteemed in their own right.
Career
The birthplace of the Bolswerts at the little town of BolswardBolsward
Bolsward is a city in Súdwest Fryslân in the province of Friesland, the Netherlands. Bolsward is just short of a population of 10,000.- History :The town is founded on three artificial dwelling hills, of which the first was built some time before Christ....
, Friesland, was confirmed by Cornelis de Bie
Cornelis de Bie
Cornelis de Bie was a Brabant rederijker, poet, jurist and minor politician from Lier.He is the author of about 64 works, mostly comedies...
in his Het Gulden Cabinet
Het Gulden Cabinet
The Golden Cabinet of the Noble Free Art of Painting, or Het Gulden Cabinet vande Edel Vry Schilder-Const, as it was originally known in Dutch, is a series of artist biographies and panegyrics with engraved portraits written by the 17th century notary and rederijker Cornelis de Bie...
. Boetius came early in life to Holland, where he appears around 1610; he was then dwelling in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, and sometimes also in Utrecht
Utrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...
.
In 1610 he produced his four scenes of the Horrors of the Spanish War, after designs by David Vinckboons
David Vinckboons
David Vinckboons was a Dutch Golden Age painter of Flemish origin.-Biography:Vinckboons was one of the most prolific and popular painters and print designers in the Netherlands...
. Reproductions of large landscapes by Vinckboons and Gillis van Coninxloo
Gillis van Coninxloo
Gillis van Coninxloo was a Dutch painter of forest landscapes, the most famous member of a large family of artists. He travelled through France, and lived in Germany for several years to avoid religious persecution....
III were among his early successes, employing a dense and diffuse technique, in a genre to which he later made transforming contributions. In 1615 and 1616 he was licensed by the Dutch States-General to engrave from the portraits of Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt
Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt
Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt, Mierveld or Mireveldt was a Dutch Golden Age painter.-Biography:He was the son of a goldsmith, who apprenticed him to the copperplate engraver Hieronymus Wierix...
, such as the portraits of Elizabeth and Frederik of Bohemia. In 1618 he depicted the ceremonial funeral-bed of the newly-deceased Philipp Wilhelm, Prince of Orange.
However Bolswert's most notable collaboration in this period was with Abraham Bloemaert
Abraham Bloemaert
Abraham Bloemaert was a Dutch painter and printmaker in etching and engraving. He was one of the "Haarlem Mannerists" from about 1585, but in the new century altered his style to fit new Baroque trends...
, after whom he produced various series. It is thought they worked closely, for Bolswert carefully imitated aspects of his graphic style, and has been described as his pupil. His 1611 series Pastorals using Bloemaert models shows the early fruits of that influence. Their collaboration in various works from 1612 on the theme of Saints and Hermits culminated in 1619 in Antwerp in the Sylva Anachoretica Ægypti Et Palæstinæ (The Hermit Woodland of Egypt and Palestine), a quarto (230mm) volume depicting imaginary portraits of 25 male and 25 female hermits of antiquity, with facing descriptive Latin texts, printed by Hendrick Aertssens. Dutch and French editions were reprinted in the same year. This was apparently commissioned by the Jesuit Heribert van Rosweijde
Heribert Rosweyde
Heribert Rosweyde was a Jesuit hagiographer. His work, quite unfinished, was taken up by Jean Bolland who systematized it, while broadening its perspective. This is the beginning of the association of the Bollandists.-Research:He entered the Society of Jesus in 1588...
(1569–1629), (founder of the project for the Acta Sanctorum
Acta Sanctorum
Acta Sanctorum is an encyclopedic text in 68 folio volumes of documents examining the lives of Christian saints, in essence a critical hagiography, which is organised according to each saint's feast day. It begins with two January volumes, published in 1643, and ended with the Propylaeum to...
taken up by the Bollandists), rector of the Jesuit college at Antwerp. Rosweyde dedicated the Bolswert work to his benefactor, Abbot Antoine de Wynghe of the monastery of Liessies
Liessies
-References:*...
, Département Nord, France. It was evidently a companion-book to Rosweyde's major Latin work Lives of the Fathers (biographies of early Church hermits) of 1615, a compilation from which was produced at Antwerp in 1619 by Jan van Gorcum.
At Antwerp between September 1620 and September 1621, Boetius Bolswert was admitted as free Master in the Guild of St Luke. Slightly before this, in January 1620, he became (as a good Roman Catholic and bachelor) a member of the Jesuit Sodality of Adult Bachelorhood; in September 1620 we find him in the office of Consultor within it, and in September 1622 as Assistant to the Prefects. Antwerp was then a leading centre of Counter-Reformation
Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation was the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648 as a response to the Protestant Reformation.The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort, composed of four major elements:#Ecclesiastical or...
artistic and literary activity.
In 1624 he collaborated with the Brussels
Flemish people
The Flemings or Flemish are the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Belgium, where they are mostly found in the northern region of Flanders. They are one of two principal cultural-linguistic groups in Belgium, the other being the French-speaking Walloons...
Jesuit Father Herman Hugo (1588–1629) in the production of 'the 17th century's most popular devotional book,' Pia Desideria - a work indicating three paths to salvation, through purification, illumination and union, an Emblem book
Emblem book
Emblem books are a category of mainly didactic illustrated book printed in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries, typically containing a number of emblematic images with explanatory text....
which ran through many editions and versions. It consisted of a series of 45 emblems by Bolswert with accompanying verses by Hugo, subjects for meditation on the theme of spiritual love. Hugo had been teacher at the Jesuit College in Antwerp and rector of the Jesuit College in Brussels, and became army chaplain to Ambrogio Spinola in Spain. The 45 plates were reproduced in the last three volumes of the Emblems of Francis Quarles
Francis Quarles
Francis Quarles was an English poet most famous for his Emblem book aptly entitled Emblems.-Career:Francis was born in Romford, Essex, , and baptised there on 8 May 1592. He traced his ancestry to a family settled in England before the Norman Conquest with a long history in royal service...
first published in 1635.
In 1627 Bolswert was in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
: from this city he gave, under the date of 1 May 1627 the dedication of his book, Duyfkens ende Willemynkens Pelgrimagie (Duyfkens and Willemynkens Pilgrimage). This little book (illustrated with his own engravings), which reveals him also to have been a writer, is seen in the later editions of 1631, 1638 and 1641, and in new (and re-cut) editions thereafter: it was a much-read Catholic devotional book and was translated into French. It described an allegorical voyage to Jerusalem by two sisters. Now some of the descriptions and narratives in it seem frankly ridiculous.
In 1639 Aertssens printed Bolswert's plates for the retelling of the mediaeval story of The Miracle of Amsterdam by Leonard Marius (Goesanus) (1588–1652), Roman Catholic priest at the Begijnhof. Some of the 16 full-page engraved plates are based on illustration designs attributed to Rubens.
Boetius à Bolswert soon established his engraving press in Holland, but he maintained a more extensive publishing house in Belgium: he now took his subjects from Rubens and from other Flemish painters, and himself attempted work in the field of composition. He took as his starting-point the narrow manner of Philip Galle and similar engravers; in Antwerp, through the influence of the great Rubens (who, without himself being an engraver, influenced others to achieve greater solidity of mass or volumes in engraved representations), he brought his art to a larger and broader grasp of Form than had previously been achieved in that medium. He died at Antwerp.
Sources
- Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Hollstein, Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts ca. 1450-1700 (1949- )
- (Ibid.) The new Hollstein. Dutch & Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts 1450-1700 (1993- )
- Anne Gerard Christiaan de Vries, De Nederlandsche Emblemata. Geschiedenis en Bibliographic tot de 18' eeuw (Amsterdam, 1899).