Rubens and the Dominican Church in Antwerp

Adam Sammut, PhD (1990, University of York) is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Department of History of Art at the University of York. He has published articles on Dutch and Flemish art in Review of Scottish Culture, Dutch Crossing and Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek.

Acknowledgements

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Abbreviations



Introduction



Part I: The Fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary Cycle, 1568–1671

1 Guns and Rosaries: The Ecclesia Laicorum as a Realm of Memory

 1 Iconoclasm and the Revolt

 2 Places and Realms of Memory

 3 The Art of Memory and the Art of Preaching

 4 The Enemy Within

 5 Conclusion



2 The Mystery Machine: The Cycle as a Proponent of Piety and Peace

 1 Antwerp and the Archdukes

 2 Joannes Boucquet, ‘A Highly Distinguished Prior’

 3 The Rosary Brotherhood

 4 Peace and Pictura Sacra

 5 Conclusion



Part II: Caravaggio’s Rosary Madonna, c.1603–51

3 ‘Outstandingly Great Art yet Not High in Price’: The Rosary Madonna as a Sacred Commodity

 1 Made in Rome

 2 The Entombment

 3 The Death of the Virgin

 4 ‘A Very Dear Friend of Caravaggio’s’

 5 Conclusion



4 Four Liefhebbers and a Funeral: Procuring The Rosary Madonna for Profit, Fame and Love

 1 Love Actualised

 2 Friends with Benefits

 3 The Gift Economy

 4 Two Become One

 5 The Art-Lover Formerly Known as Prince

 6 The Godly Feast

 7 The Art of the Deal

 8 Conclusion



Part III: Rubens’s Wrath of Christ High Altarpiece, 1618–42

5 Apocalypse Later: Michaël Ophovius and the Ecclesia Fratrum

 1 The Archaeology of the Choir

 2 Unemotional Rescue

 3 Back to Basics

 4 ‘The Hangman’s Noose for the Bishop’s Mitre’

 5 ‘Tears of Blood’

 6 Hero-Worship

 7 Rubens and ’s-Hertogenbosch

 8 Heart of Glass

 9 Conclusion



Conclusion



Figures

References 447

Index 515