Abraham van Diepenbeeck ('S-HERTOGENBOSCH 1596 - 1675 ANTWERPEN), A Design for the Print "Pax Optima Rerum"

Abraham van Diepenbeeck was born in ‘s-Hertogenbosch in 1596. He was first taught by his father, Jan Roelofsz. van Diepenbeeck, who was a glass painter. Little is known about his early life; he presumably left Den Bosch after the death of his father in 1620. Abraham was first recorded in 1622/3 as a gelaesschrijver (glass painter) in the Antwerp guild. It has been hotly debated whether or not he was also trained by Rubens, as this was mentioned by the artist biographer Arnold Houbraken in his 'Groote Schouburgh' (1718); there is however no evidence to support this assumption. Van Diepenbeeck did collaborate with Rubens on several projects, starting with the design of the title page of the second edition of the Vitae Patrum (1628), which Rubens tasked him to do in 1627. In the early 1630's van Diepenbeeck was in France, together with his fellow artist and compatriot Theodoor van Thulden; apparently they were on assignment for Rubens, to make drawn copies of the frescoes by Primaticcio and Nicolò dell' Abate in and around the Château de Fontainebleau.

By August 1633 van Diepenbeeck was back in Antwerp, as he signed a contract on the 25th to design and paint the windows in the choir of the church of the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwebroeders. Throughout the 1630s, Van Diepenbeeck produced numerous designs for devotional prints, book illustrations, and thesis prints. In 1636 he was registered as a poorter – citizen – of Antwerp. In 1637 he married Catharina Heuvick, with whom he had eight children. In 1638/9 he re-enrolled in the Antwerp guild of St Luke as a painter, having apparently grown tired of stained-glass painting. After Rubens' death in 1640 he received many commissions for altarpieces for local churches and monasteries, although he remained active as a designer of prints and title pages for books, especially for the Plantin Moretus press. Having become an established artist, van Diepenbeeck was appointed vice-dean of the guild of St Luke in 1641; the following year however he declined an offer to become dean. A dispute over the guild regulations led to his expulsion from the guild, and as his production of paintings gradually decreased (no dated paintings are known after 1655), the artist shifted his focus to the production of print and tapestry designs. In the late 1640's he travelled to England, where he worked for William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle; among other things he illustrated the latter’s book on horsemanship. After the death of his first wife, he remarried in Schelle (where he then lived) in 1652 to Anne van der Dort, with whom he had four more children. Only in 1672 was van Diepenbeeck re-admitted to the guild, registering his only documented pupil, Jan Pauwels.

Van Diepenbeeck - who was described by the art historian Frans Jozef van den Branden as Rubens' "most truthful follower" - was a prolific draughtsman who left us hundreds of drawings, including designs for prints, tapestries and book illustrations, as well as sketches for paintings and stained-glass windows. The present lively and animated work is a beautiful example of van Diepenbeeck’s draughtsmanship; quickly and effortlessly executed in flowing lines in pen and ink and then worked over with brush and wash, it clearly shows the influence of Rubens’ elegant baroque style. The drawing belonged to one of history's finest and most renowned collectors, Pierre Jean Mariette, who also owned a remarkable early wash drawing - a design for a print - by the artist, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Although apparently not indented for transfer to the engraver's plate, the subject, format and scale of the present work all indicate that it was made as a design for a print. In the foreground it shows Hermes holding up a sheet, presumably for one of the muses, in the presence of an assembly of Olympic gods. While the inscription on the sheet is illisible, it used to be interpreted as sheet music, the scene thus depicting an allegory of music; however, the drawing can be connected to an engraving made as an illustration for Joos Lambrecht's Vlaemsche vrede-vreucht naer een pijnelijcke droefheyt door den grouwelijcken oorlogh, nu verandert in een aengenaeme peys (1659) (see ill. 1), which allowed for the iconography to be definitively deciphered. The inscription on the print reads "PAX OPTIMA RERUM", as it refers to the peace declaration between the kings of Spain and France (made before all the gods in heaven), which was signed in 1659, ending the Franco-Spanish war (1635 - 1659). A first draft of the composition, also by van Diepenbeeck, is kept in the Royal Library, Brussels (inv. no. F 15185; see ill. 2).

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Abraham van Diepenbeeck ('S-HERTOGENBOSCH 1596 - 1675 ANTWERPEN)

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