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Boetius à Bolswert

January 19, 2024

Boetius à Bolswert (also Boetius Adamsz Bolswert, Bodius; c. 1585,[1] – late 1633)[2] was a Flemish engraver of Friesland origin.[3] 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.

Career edit

 
Pia Desideria's emblem XVII. Engraved by Boetius à Bolswert in 1624.
 
Saint Candida and Gelasia, from Sylva Anachoretica Ægypti Et Palæstinæ

The birthplace of the Bolswerts at the little town of Bolsward, Friesland, was confirmed by Cornelis de Bie in his Het Gulden Cabinet.[4] 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.[5] 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,[6] 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,[7] and has been described as his pupil. His 1611 series Pastorals using Bloemaert models[8] shows the early fruits of that influence. Their collaboration in various works from 1612 on the theme of Saints and Hermits[9] 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.[10] 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 Liessies Abbey, Département Nord, France. It was evidently a companion-book to Rosweyde's major Latin work Vitae Patrum, Lives of the Fathers (biographies of early Church hermits), of 1615,[11] a compilation from which was produced at Antwerp in 1619 by Jan van Gorcum.[12]

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.[13] Antwerp was then a leading centre of Counter-Reformation artistic and literary activity.[14]

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.[15] It consisted of a series of 45 emblems by Bolswert with accompanying verses by Hugo, subjects for meditation on the theme of spiritual love.[16] 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.[17] 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).[18] 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.[19]

In 1639 Aertssens printed Bolswert's plates for the retelling of the mediaeval story[20] of The Miracle of Amsterdam by Leonard Marius (Goesanus) (1588–1652), Roman Catholic priest at the Begijnhof.[21] Some of the 16 full-page engraved plates are based on illustration designs attributed to Rubens.[22]

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.[23] He died at Antwerp.

Notes and references edit

  1. ^ This date given in accord with the primary source for this article: elsewhere in Wikipedia given as 1580 (sources not cited).
  2. ^ Some authorities state Amsterdam.
  3. ^ The principal source for this article is 'Bolswert, Boetius Adams' in: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (Universal German Biography), Historical Commission, Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Volume 3 (1876), p. 111ff.
  4. ^ C. de Bie in his Gulden Cabinet (1661), p 476: Joachim von Sandrart (despite wrongly naming him 'Heinrich') also identifies him as a Frieslander.
  5. ^ Hollstein, Cat. nos. 314–317.
  6. ^ Grove Dictionary of Art.
  7. ^ Grove Dictionary of Art.
  8. ^ Hollstein, Cat. nos. 324–337.
  9. ^ Hollstein, Cat. nos. 96–119.
  10. ^ Sylva Anachoretica Ægypti Et Palæstinæ. Figuris Æneis Et Brevibus Vitarum Elogiis Expressa. Abrahamo Blommaert Inventore. Boetio à Bolswert Sculptore. Antverpiæ: Ex Typographiâ Henrici Ærtssii, Sumptibus Auctoris, M.DC.XIX. digitized (Internet Archive). See Royal Academy of Arts Inventory 03/2166, "The work is dedicated to Antonius De Winghe by 'I.R. S. I.' This acronym may have been intended for 'H.R. S.I.', i.e. Heribertus Rosweydus, Societatis Iesu (the dedication of the Dutch version is also signed 'H.R.')." – This from the Royal Academy of Arts online index page for this work, which is unstable; Hollstein 1949.
  11. ^ Vitae Patrum (Antwerpen, Off. Plantiniana 1615) digitized (Internet Archive): Dutch edition .'t Vaders boeck (Hieronymus Verdussen, Antwerpen 1617).
  12. ^ Marcel G. Roethlisberger, Abr. Bloemaert and his sons. Paintings and prints (2 vols.), (Doornspijk, The Netherlands, 1993): I, p. 171-83 and II, figs. 262–317.
  13. ^ Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie.
  14. ^ Karl Josef Höltgen, 'Francis Quarles and the Low Countries', in Bart Westerweel (Ed.), Anglo-Dutch Relations in the Field of the Emblem: Symbola et Emblemata Volume VII (Brill: Leiden, New York & Köln 1997), 123–148, at p. 131.
  15. ^ Pia Desideria Emblematis Elegiis et Affectibus SS Patrum Illustrata Authore Hermanno Hugone Societatis Jesu...Vulgavit Boetius a Bolswert Typii Henrici Aertesenii Antverpiae MCXXIIII digitized (Google).
  16. ^ Giovanni Careri, Bernini:Flights of Love, the Art of Devotion, translated by Linda Lappin (University of Chicago 1995), p. 53.
  17. ^ Höltgen, 'Francis Quarles and the Low Countries', p. 131.
  18. ^ Duyfkens ende Willemynkens Pelgrimagie tot haren Beminden binnen Jerusalem. Haerlieder tegenspoet, belet ende eynden. Beschreven ende met sin-spelende beelden wtghegheven door Boetius à Bolswert (Antwerp 1628) digitized (Google).
  19. ^ This opinion is expressed by the author of the article in the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie.
  20. ^ For this story, see Amsterdam Miracle at the Begijnhof site 2 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  21. ^ Leonard Marius, Amstelredams eer ende opcomen, door de denckwaerdighe miraklen aldaer geschied, aen ende door het H. Sacrament des Altaers. Anno 1345. Door Boetius A Bolswert. Antwerp, Hendrick Aertssens, MDCXXXVIIII digitized (Google).
  22. ^ Knüttel, Nederlandsche Bibliographie van Kerk-geschiedenis (Amsterdam, 1889), p. 88.
  23. ^ Allegemeine Deutsche Biographie.

Sources edit

  • 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).

External links edit

  • Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco – Bolswert online gallery[permanent dead link]
  • Horrors of the Spanish War (1610) after David Vinckboons (University of Liège collection).
  • National Portrait Gallery: Elizabeth of Bohemia 1615, after Miereveldt, by Boetius Bolswert
  • Bolswert eremites engravings with descriptions from the De Verda Collection
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Boëthius a Bolswert.

January 19, 2024
boetius, bolswert, also, boetius, adamsz, bolswert, bodius, 1585, late, 1633, flemish, engraver, friesland, origin, time, paintings, peter, paul, rubens, called, forth, endeavours, engravers, imitate, reproduce, breadth, density, mass, dynamic, illumination, t. Boetius a Bolswert also Boetius Adamsz Bolswert Bodius c 1585 1 late 1633 2 was a Flemish engraver of Friesland origin 3 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 a Bolswert whose reproductions of Rubens s landscapes were most highly esteemed in their own right Contents 1 Career 2 Notes and references 3 Sources 4 External linksCareer edit nbsp Pia Desideria s emblem XVII Engraved by Boetius a Bolswert in 1624 nbsp Saint Candida and Gelasia from Sylva Anachoretica AEgypti Et PalaestinaeThe birthplace of the Bolswerts at the little town of Bolsward Friesland was confirmed by Cornelis de Bie in his Het Gulden Cabinet 4 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 5 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 6 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 7 and has been described as his pupil His 1611 series Pastorals using Bloemaert models 8 shows the early fruits of that influence Their collaboration in various works from 1612 on the theme of Saints and Hermits 9 culminated in 1619 in Antwerp in the Sylva Anachoretica AEgypti Et Palaestinae 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 10 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 Liessies Abbey Departement Nord France It was evidently a companion book to Rosweyde s major Latin work Vitae Patrum Lives of the Fathers biographies of early Church hermits of 1615 11 a compilation from which was produced at Antwerp in 1619 by Jan van Gorcum 12 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 13 Antwerp was then a leading centre of Counter Reformation artistic and literary activity 14 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 15 It consisted of a series of 45 emblems by Bolswert with accompanying verses by Hugo subjects for meditation on the theme of spiritual love 16 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 17 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 18 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 19 In 1639 Aertssens printed Bolswert s plates for the retelling of the mediaeval story 20 of The Miracle of Amsterdam by Leonard Marius Goesanus 1588 1652 Roman Catholic priest at the Begijnhof 21 Some of the 16 full page engraved plates are based on illustration designs attributed to Rubens 22 Boetius a 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 23 He died at Antwerp Notes and references edit This date given in accord with the primary source for this article elsewhere in Wikipedia given as 1580 sources not cited Some authorities state Amsterdam The principal source for this article is Bolswert Boetius Adams in Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie Universal German Biography Historical Commission Bavarian Academy of Sciences Volume 3 1876 p 111ff C de Bie in his Gulden Cabinet 1661 p 476 Joachim von Sandrart despite wrongly naming him Heinrich also identifies him as a Frieslander Hollstein Cat nos 314 317 Grove Dictionary of Art Grove Dictionary of Art Hollstein Cat nos 324 337 Hollstein Cat nos 96 119 Sylva Anachoretica AEgypti Et Palaestinae Figuris AEneis Et Brevibus Vitarum Elogiis Expressa Abrahamo Blommaert Inventore Boetio a Bolswert Sculptore Antverpiae Ex Typographia Henrici AErtssii Sumptibus Auctoris M DC XIX digitized Internet Archive See Royal Academy of Arts Inventory 03 2166 The work is dedicated to Antonius De Winghe by I R S I This acronym may have been intended for H R S I i e Heribertus Rosweydus Societatis Iesu the dedication of the Dutch version is also signed H R This from the Royal Academy of Arts online index page for this work which is unstable Hollstein 1949 Vitae Patrum Antwerpen Off Plantiniana 1615 digitized Internet Archive Dutch edition t Vaders boeck Hieronymus Verdussen Antwerpen 1617 Marcel G Roethlisberger Abr Bloemaert and his sons Paintings and prints 2 vols Doornspijk The Netherlands 1993 I p 171 83 and II figs 262 317 Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie Karl Josef Holtgen Francis Quarles and the Low Countries in Bart Westerweel Ed Anglo Dutch Relations in the Field of the Emblem Symbola et Emblemata Volume VII Brill Leiden New York amp Koln 1997 123 148 at p 131 Pia Desideria Emblematis Elegiis et Affectibus SS Patrum Illustrata Authore Hermanno Hugone Societatis Jesu Vulgavit Boetius a Bolswert Typii Henrici Aertesenii Antverpiae MCXXIIII digitized Google Giovanni Careri Bernini Flights of Love the Art of Devotion translated by Linda Lappin University of Chicago 1995 p 53 Holtgen Francis Quarles and the Low Countries p 131 Duyfkens ende Willemynkens Pelgrimagie tot haren Beminden binnen Jerusalem Haerlieder tegenspoet belet ende eynden Beschreven ende met sin spelende beelden wtghegheven door Boetius a Bolswert Antwerp 1628 digitized Google This opinion is expressed by the author of the article in the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie For this story see Amsterdam Miracle at the Begijnhof site Archived 2 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine Leonard Marius Amstelredams eer ende opcomen door de denckwaerdighe miraklen aldaer geschied aen ende door het H Sacrament des Altaers Anno 1345 Door Boetius A Bolswert Antwerp Hendrick Aertssens MDCXXXVIIII digitized Google Knuttel Nederlandsche Bibliographie van Kerk geschiedenis Amsterdam 1889 p 88 Allegemeine Deutsche Biographie Sources editFriedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Hollstein Dutch and Flemish etchings engravings and woodcuts ca 1450 1700 1949 Ibid The new Hollstein Dutch amp 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 External links editFine Arts Museum of San Francisco Bolswert online gallery permanent dead link Horrors of the Spanish War 1610 after David Vinckboons University of Liege collection National Portrait Gallery Elizabeth of Bohemia 1615 after Miereveldt by Boetius Bolswert Bolswert eremites engravings with descriptions from the De Verda Collection nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Boethius a Bolswert Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Boetius a Bolswert amp oldid 1144648331, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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