Bicentenary at Tournai: Collection of the Great Seminary (1808-2008)

As places of learning, intended for the formation of clergy, Great Seminaries were also known for their cultural heritage. That is, if history had not been too unkind. And in the case of Tournai, it hasn’t.

On 10 November 2008 the Great Seminary is celebrating its 200^th year in the same premises since 1808. It was founded thanks to an obstinate bishop, François-Joseph Hirn, originally from Alsace, and with a little help of Napoleon Bonaparte.

The premises had then seen at least 3 previous owners, and 2 centuries of construction and restauration. At the end of the 16^th century, the Jesuits organised a college and a noviciate in them. When the order was abolished in 1773, the buildings remained empty. A few years later, the canons regular were the new owners, until they had to vacate in 1794 and give way to an administrative office under the French republic.

The Great Seminary today can take pride in a library of more than 100,000 volumes, comprising medieval manuscripts and archival documents, incunables, etchings, and many precious bindings. And one of its abbots in the 20^th century took care to establish a small museum for several artefacts, including oil panels.

The collections mostly have religious provenances. A few go back to the Jesuits and the canons regulars, but most were the scattered holdings of other abolished religious institutions in and around Tournai. For these artefacts, the foundation of the Great Seminary, not long after the abolishment of religious orders in general, proved fortuitous.

The bicentenary has occasioned a new and richly illustrated monograph about the building, the garden, and its collections, which have also been catalogued with text and image. The project has benefited from a close collaboration with the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage at Brussels (IRPA-KIK).

The notes on manuscript, etchings, bindings and rare book holdings have been authored by P. Bogaert osb, Annie De Coster, J.-B. Lebigue, J. Leclercq-Marx, E. Livens, L.Reynhout, F. Tixier, Dominique Vanwijnsberghe, Renaud Adam, Ph. Desmette, and A. Delvingt.

Details: Séminaire de Tournai, Rue des Jésuites 28, 7500 Tournai (Doornik). Press release to be obtained by Monique Maillard-Luypaert, curator of the Great Seminary Library. On 15 and 16 November 2008, Mrs Maillard will be present at a cultural event called Tournai La Page (Halle aux draps, Tournai).

Book: Monique Maillard-Luypaert, et al., Séminaire de Tournai. Histoire – Bâtiments – Collections. Leuven, Peeters Publishers, 2008 (forthcoming). 360 p. 251 illustrations. ISBN 978-904292169-6. Price: 75 €.

Photo credit: M.Maillard-Luypaert

Stradanus exhibition: a son of Bruges hailed back in his birth town

If having Honorary Tuscans were a practice in Florence in the early 17th century, Johannes Stradanus (Brugge, 1523- Florence 1605) would have been a serious candidate. He was born here, but died as a Florentine.

Today the draughtsman is celebrated in birth town Brugge (Bruges) with an exhibition: "Johannes Stradanus, hofkunstenaar van de Medici" (Court Artist of the Medici).

Stradanus received training as an artist at Antwerp, and he was found registered there as a member of its famous St Luke's Guild in 1545. Around that time he travelled to Italy to confront his own draughtsman skill with Italian art.

His encounter with a fellow countryman who had been put in charge of the de Medici tapestry production, which aimed at taking the wind out of the sails of Flemish tapestry making, proved decisive. A full career ensued: Stradanus became a commissioned designer for media as varied as tapestries, paintings, single pieces, altar pieces or murals -Francesco de Medici's Studiolo in Palazzo Vecchio for instance, prints, and of course the drawings.

But drawing for prints took center stage in Stradanus' output as of 1576, which explains why the core of the exhibition consists of 122 prints and drawings, placed together in a complementary way. There are borrowings from the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, the Royal Library at Brussels and Windsor Castle. The richness of detail warrants that the spectator gives this enough viewing time.

Perhaps most famous, and documenting craftsmanship in the arts and science in the Late Renaissance, is the series "Nova Reperta" from 1588-1589, consisting of 19 prints. To depict themes such as the invention of oil paint, and the determination of longitude at sea, Stradanus consulted a fair amount of reading material, the literature of his day. But while glorifying discovery, it was not beneath him to color historical fact with his own glasses.

The exhibition also has sculpture, for instance by fellow émigré Giambologna, paintings by Italian artists such as Vasari, who counted on Stradanus as a close collaborator, and three Italian tapestries.

Details: Johannes Stradanus, hofkunstenaar van de Medici, exhibition, Groeningemuseum, Dijver 12, 8000 Brugge. From 9 October 2008 until 4 January 2009. The Groeningemuseum is part of the 1 Euro Museum initiative. Youngsters under the age of 26 pay an entrance fee of 1 Euro.

Photo credit: courtesy of Groeningemuseum. The Hunt for Wild Cats, borrowing from Palazzo Pitti, Florence, after a carton by Stradanus.

Catalogues:
Exhibition manual: Sandra Janssens, Stradanus 1523-1605. Hofkunstenaar van de Medici. No ISBN. Depot D/2008/0546/1. 63 p. Text, color illustrations. Price: 6 Euro.
Scientific study: Stradanus (1523-1605), Court Artist of de Medici. Contributors: Alessandra Baroni Vennucci, Alessandro Cecchi, Albert Elen, Sandra Janssens, Marjolein Leesberg, Lucia Meoni, Manfred Sellink, Gert Jan van der Sman. Brepols, 2008. ISBN 2-503-52996-7. Price: 60 Euro.

Two new exhibitions at Antwerp and Brussels (9 October 2008)

On Thursday 9 October 2008, book lovers in Belgium have what in French is called an embarras du choix: two exhibitions will then be inaugurated, one at Antwerp, the other at Brussels.

The Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience (formerly Stadsbibliotheek or SBA) at Antwerp plays host to an exhibition that was produced in France by the Médiathèque de Strasbourg: Meesters van licht en schaduw. Boekillustraties uit de vijftiende eeuw (Masters of light and shadow. Book illustrations from the 15th century).

Forty-five incunables are shown, illustrating the techniques available to printers in the 15th century.

Three contemporary artists, Pierre Gaucher, Charles Kalt, and Caroline Schwoebel, were asked to produce works in juxtapostition to these book illustrations.

A special event is taking place on 18 October 2008 at 4 pm: a concert of classical music with texts inspired by the poems of Hadewych, and music from the Rhineland from the 15th and 16th centuries.

Details:
Nottebohmzaal, Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience
H.Conscienceplein 4, Antwerpen
From 10 October 2008 until 9 November 2008.
The Bibliotheca Wittockiana has a new reason to celebrate: this museum of private origin, dedicated to the binding, is celebrating its 25th anniversary with an exhibition "A Life, A Collection. 25 Years of Shared Passion".

The passion in question is that of founder Michel Wittock, who started off as a private collector to create a museum later. Although Wittock has handed the helm of the institution to his son Charly a few years ago, he personally selected 250 bindings from a total of about 5,000 holdings.

The selection is set to illustrate some chapters of Wittock's collecting. An evolution of style periods will show what kept the founder in thrall over the past 25 years.

On Thursday 9 October 2008, H.R.H. Princess Mathilde will inaugurate the exhibition.

Details:
Bibliotheca Wittockiana
Rue du Bemel/Bemelstraat 23, 1150 Brussels
From 10 October until 28 February 2009.

Fortsas and perfume: Journées de Mariemont (4&5 October 2008)

The Royal Museum of Mariemont (Musée royal de Mariemont) at Morlanwelz –56 km south of Brussels and 28 km east of Mons – has an attractive roster of activities year-round, as can be inferred from its information bulletin called Bulletin d’information trimestriel (published every three months, free on request).

If anything in this country comes close to the J. Paul Getty Museum, it's Mariemont. The name (‘Mary’s hill’) refers to Charles V’s sister, Mary of Hungary, who built a castle in 1546. The ancient history of this noble abode stopped with a fire in 1794.

In the 19^th C, a family of industrialists called Warocqué, owners of coal mines in the immediate vicinity, built a new stately home amid facilities for their workers. One of the most prolific collectors of this family was Raoul Warocqué, whose collection became the basis of a state-owned museum.

Warocqué’s collection comprised old archeological finds from the region, as well as artefacts from Egypt, the Far East (China, Japan), and the Greek and Roman period, and porcelain from Tournai, now placed in juxtaposition with contemporary ceramics. There is also the arboretum around the museum, dotted with statues, such as Rodin’s Burghers of Calais.

Raoul Warocqué was a bibliophile collector, and Mariemont houses a library of rare printed books, bindings, artist books and original editions, ranging in date from the 15^th until the 21^st century. It also comprises almost 10,000 autograph letters, medals and prints, among others nearly 600 by Félicien Rops.

This year, the Museum opens house on Saturday and Sunday 4 & 5 October 2008 to present the collections from an olfactory standpoint. Les parfums de Mariemont is the organizing theme.

The museum is currently hosting an international exhibition (until 30 November 2008) related to perfume in Antiquity: Parfums de l’Antiquité. La rose et l’encens en Méditerranée. The exhibition shows artefacts from numerous institutions abroad, and has a catalogue that promises new scientific findings.

But back to the Activity Days, which can count on the collaboration of three curators with ties to rare book holdings: Bertrand Federinov, Claude Sorgeloos, and Frédéric Van de Vijver.

Bertrand Federinov is director of the Rare Books Department at Mariemont. Frédéric Van de Vijver is librarian at Mariemont. Both serve as guides on visits to the collection.

Federinov hosts a visit entitled ‘Sentir les livres. Approche olfactive des collections de la Réserve Précieuse.’ (Sunday, 5 October, 3 p.m.) Recently, Federinov compiled a catalogue of imprints from Mons from the Mariemont holdings: Quatre siècles d’imprimerie à Mons. Catalogue des éditions montoises (1580-1815) du Musée royal de Mariemont (monograph no. 12 of Musée royal de Mariemont, no ISBN, legal depot no. D/2004/0451/102).

Van de Vijver hosts two kinds of tours to the holdings. One is ‘Galanterie et raffinement capiteux des livres de la marquise de Pompadour, la comtesse du Barry, Marie Leszcynska et Madame Victoire’ (Saturday, 4 October at 2 p.m., repeated on Sunday at 11 a.m.) and the other is ‘Encens et souffre entremêlées aux parfums libertins dans les salons du Siècle des Lumières. L’encyclopédie de Diderot et d’Alembert, un diffuseur de savoir et d’idées révolutionnaires.’ (Saturday, 4 October at 5 p.m.)

Claude Sorgeloos, director of the Rare Books Department at Belgium’s Royal Library, will guide a tour to the exhibition ‘Renier Chalon, alias Fortsas.’ He will approach it with ‘L’odeur facétieuse du cochon.’ (Saturday 4 October, 4 p.m.)

Sorgeloos is one of the curators of the Fortsas exhibition, which has been running at Mariemont from 5 July 2008 onwards, and which is closing 5 October 2008. So the weekend at Mariemont is the last chance to see it.

Subtitle to the exhibition ‘Renier Chalon, alias Fortsas’ is: ‘Le canular en Belgique: toute une tradition!’ (the hoax in Belgium: an entire tradition). The museum’s website refers to a recent hoax called ‘Bye Bye Belgium’, presented about a year ago by the news department of the state-owned French speaking television network, which caused quite a stir in prime time.

Renier Chalon (1802-1889) was an avid collector of coins and rare books. He was born in Mons, but a quiet administrative career brought him to Brussels, where he was at leisure to pursue his numismatist and bibliophile predilections, as well as his passion for pranks.

Chalon fathered a hoax known under the name of Fortsas, short for a soi-disant Comte de Fortsas, and an equally fictitious sale of the library of this elusive count, which, with catalogue and all, was promised to be held at Binche, on 10 August 1840. Book collectors from all over Europe descended there in vain.

A few other blogs have recently referred to Fortsas, here and here, both without mention of the exhibition at Mariemont, which is said to paint a far more complex picture of Chalon, and which provides a Belgian history of the prank from the 19^th century until this day.

Mariemont has published the following monograph on Chalon: Reinier Chalon alias Fortsas: un érudit malicieux au mitan du XIXe siècle (Monographies du Musée royal de Mariemont no. 16, publishing year: 2008). Authors: François de Callatay, Claude Sorgeloos. ISBN: 2-930469-19-6.

New University Library website and Piranesi exhibition, both at Gent

The University Library of the city of Ghent ("Gent") is as of today (25 September 2008) presenting a newly formatted website.

Noteworthy is the link called 'Schatkamer', where some of the collection's treasures are presented in digitized form, but the holdings are far richer than that.

Around its collection of etchings by the Italian architect Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778) now runs an exhibition, in part curated by the Department of Architecture of the university, with the help of the Royal Library at Brussels.

"Piranesi" opened on 20 September, and runs until 18 January 2009 at the Museum voor Schone Kunsten.

Hora est! The Fate of Jesuit Libraries in the Southern Netherlands (1773-1828)

In our previous post on current Ph.D research (6 June 2008), we were not yet able to provide the exact details for Bart op de Beeck, director at the Rare Books Department of Belgium's National Library. Here there are.

Op de Beeck will defend his Ph.D at the University of Leuven, Faculty of Arts, in Dutch. The title is: Jezuïetenbibliotheken in de Zuidelijke Nederlanden. De liquidatie 1773-1828.

Op de Beeck attempts the reconstruction of the libraries of one religious institutional order, from 1773 onwards, when the Jesuit order was abolished in the Southern Netherlands, and their book and manuscript holdings became subject to dispersal.

According to Op de Beeck, book catalogues of Jesuit libraries, monasteries and colleges from the 16-18th centuries hardly have been examined. His research attemps a reconstruction of three great Jesuit library holdings: at Brussels, Antwerp, and Louvain, and of two smaller ones, at Halle and Aalst.

Op de Beeck studied provenance markings on some 24,000 books. Many dispersed Jesuit holdings ended up at our National Library, but had never been the subject of extensive study.

Promotor is Dr. Jan Roegiers, former Head of the University Library at Leuven. The board of examiners among others counts professors Chris Coppens (Leuven), Pierre Delsaerdt (Antwerp), and Paul Hoftijzer (Leiden).

Venue: Thursday 25 September 2008, at 2 p.m. Promotiezaal van de Universiteitshal (Naamsestraat 22, 3000 Leuven).

Women Latinists of Renaissance England (Lecture at Leuven, 24 September 2008)

Neo-Latin scholars at the University of Leuven recently informed their fellow members at IANLS - International Association for Neo-Latin Studies - of a lecture, to be held at Leuven tomorrow, by Professor Brenda M. Hosington (University of Warwick): ' "Minerva and the Muses". Women Latinists of Renaissance England'.

This lecture both serves as the third Jozef IJsewijn lecture, and as the opening of the 2008-2009 Master in Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the University of Leuven.

Jozef IJsewijn (1932-1998) was professor of Neo-Latin at Leuven. In 1966, he founded the Seminarium Philologiae Humanisticae for the study of Neo-Latin language and literature, and somewhat later, a journal called Humanistica Lovaniensia.

Related to the journal, Leuven University Press publishes a publication series called Supplementa Humanistica Lovaniensia. Number 16 in this series was a volume of essays edited by Dirk Sacré and Gilbert Tournoy in honor of Jozef IJsewijn: Myricae. Essays on Neo-Latin Literature in Memory of Jozef IJsewijn (Leuven, 2000, ISBN 978-90586705-40).

The Master in Medieval and Renaissance Studies is an interdisciplinary, post-initial Master's degree ('Manama') on offer in English at the university of Leuven. Various research centers participate in it: the Seminarium Philologiae Humanisticae; Illuminare or the Center for the Study of Illumination; the 'Aristoteles Latinus' project; the De Wulf-Mansion Centre (philosophy); the Research Unit History of the Middle Ages, and the Institute for Medieval Studies.

Details Prof. Hosington's lecture: Lipsiuszaal, Faculty of Arts (Blijde-Inkomststraat 21, 3000 Leuven), 5 p.m. Lecture followed by a reception. Organisation: Seminarium Philologiae Humanisticae, KU Leuven.