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Activities for the Season 2006 - 2007On this page: The Plantin-Moretus Museum, Visit to Tefaf, The Judith Wade Lecture 2007 Tour of the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp on Sat. June 9th
Right: The façade of the Plantin Moretus museum in the Vrijdagmarkt. Once inside, our guide, Mr Alexander Moretus, a descendent of the family, quickly explained how the façade had been added in 1760 replacing the five small houses that had stood in front of the original workshops. He lead us through the small drawing room to the great drawing room and introduced us to 10 of his ancestors. Balthasar Moretus I had been a school friend of Peter Paul Rubens and enjoyed having his family painted. Balthasar's grandfather, Christopher Plantin, was no longer alive but a very fine portrait had been made of him in Leiden in 1584 and this Rubens copied.
Then, suddenly, we found ourselves in the exquisite inner courtyard – pure classic Flemish Renaissance looking today almost exactly as it did in 1639; now appreciated by tourists, then visited and admired by princes and prominent dignitaries. Right: The inner courtyard. The west wing is the oldest part of the complex and here were the correctors' room, with its high windows, Plantin's own office with safes and barred windows and the room said to have been used by Justus Lipsius who was a close family friend. When Plantin needed to leave Antwerp for religious and political reasons, Lipsius was able to bring him to Leiden as the young university's printer. In return Plantin and his son printed all of Lipsius's writings and young Balthasar (very bright though partially crippled) was his pupil, living in his house.
Right: The group in the inner courtyard. But in the second half of the sixteenth century religious intolerance was rife. Plantin had to appear to be a good catholic whilst being financed by (and printing for) the local Calvinists and the Huys der Liefde. His plan to publish the biggest and most scholarly polyglot edition of the Bible appealed to Phillip II enormously. It took five years and eight huge volumes but it secured for Plantin a monopoly on all the religious books for sale in Spain and the Spanish colonies.
It is upstairs that the true scope of the printing house becomes apparent; room after room is filled with the most superb collection of the work they produced. Right: Inspecting the Polyglot Bible. Two years ago the “house, workshop and museum complex” was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Now we know why. During a delicious lunch after the tour, we all agreed that it was a fascinating outing and were all grateful to our guide Mr. Alexander Moretus and Tessy Duncker of AXA Art for organising the day. Visit to TEFAFSaturday March 10th
Members made their own way to Maastricht and used entrance tickets, which had been mailed earlier by AXA Art. In the afternoon, they assembled at the AXA Art lounge in the fair for coffee and a short talk about the theme of the lounge, which involved conservation of modern design icons. AXA Art art historian Mr. Mathieu Brekelmans then led a tour around the fair, featuring some highlights. One notable example was Jaques-Louis David's "The Anger of Achilles", which had not been on public view for nearly one hundred years. Continuing the tour, Mr. Brekelmans gave a general overview of the fair, with DFAS The Hague attendees noting that he had a particular affection for The Romantic Period. To this, he cheerfully confessed. At the conclusion of the tour, we returned to the AXA Art lounge, where wine, water and juice were served, along with a refreshing fruit tart. Each participant was then given a ticket to collect the catalogue for the fair near the exit, which precluded toting the heavy book around the fair for the day. DFAS The Hague members who attended TEFAF felt the day was a success, with the exception that each needed to win the lottery to purchase some of the treasures viewed. Above: Mr. Mathieu Brekelmans, on left, with DFAS members The Judith Wade LectureJanuary 16thThe Judith Wade lecture, given in memory of one of our founding members, is always an important event in the DFAS calendar. The 7th lecture in this series was held at the Residence of the British Ambassador, who is also a Patron of DFAS. His Excellency Mr. Lyn Parker and his wife Mrs. Jane Parker were our charming and gracious hosts. Dr Bronwyn Ormsby, AXA Art Research Fellow at Tate in London, was invited to present Tate's current ground-breaking conservation project, which was inaugurated to explore and develop the ways in which artwork that incorporates modern paints, such as acrylics, can be preserved. AXA Art are sole sponsors of this project, which is known as the TATE AXA Art Modern Paints Project (TAAMPP) and will continue into 2009. Dr. Ormsby, using visual illustrations, gave a fascinating overview of acrylic paints and primers, new pigments and binders, novel techniques used by modern artists and the use of paints not intended for artwork, such as house paints and industrial coatings, giving us an impression of the difficulty faced in conserving modern art.
Following the lecture DFAS members, guests and visitors from had an opportunity to view the rooms of the Ambassador's residence and to study more traditional works of art whilst enjoying drinks and canapés provided by our generous hosts. Click here to see further photographs. |
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It was depressingly grey and wet
when we arrived at café Het Ogenblik in the ancient Grote Markt in
Antwerp but our host Mr Alexandre Moretus and Tessy Duncker of AXA
Art had organised the most delectable strawberry tarts and every
variety of coffee. Conversation flowed, spirits revived and soon we
were on our way, through the narrow streets, to the Vrijdagmarkt.
There we found the classic French 18th century exterior of this, one
of the greatest and oldest, printer-publisher houses of all times.
We moved on to the book shop.
Only the printed pages were sold; the binding was something that the
new owner organised. Noticeably prominent was the Index of Forbidden
Books, printed by Christopher Plantin on the order of the Spanish
Duke of Alva. The list included works by Erasmus. These were also
printed by Plantin.
The type store and the printing
room are in the original buildings built by Plantin in 1579. Ten
tons of lead type, a printing house's most valuable asset, line the
walls. By 1585 Plantin had over 90 different fonts, and even those
for Greek, Hebrew, Chaldea and Ethiopian. The printing presses in
the printing room contain some of the oldest in the world and two
were almost certainly used by Plantin himself. In 1575, the year
before the Spanish Fury hit Antwerp, he employed 32 printers, 20
typesetters, and 3 proofreaders. Not bad for a man who had lain
close to death for five months after an attack by drunken ruffians
in 1555, and was left with too weak an arm to continue working as a
book binder, his original profession.
It was when fighting and destruction broke out in Antwerp
in 1582 that Plantin moved to Leiden and set up the first scientific
printing house there. An astute business move but his heart was not
in it and he returned to a war-torn Antwerp. He died a sad but very
wealthy man, never knowing that ten generations of Moretuses would
continue his fine work for another two an a half centuries.
Members of DFAS The Hague enjoyed a lovely day
at TEFAF, The European Fine Arts Fair, in Maastricht. AXA Art
offered a superb package to DFAS The Hague members for the day.