Rubens and Moretus: Baroque Book Design in Antwerp
The Museum Plantin-Moretus in Antwerp presents an exhibition on Baroque book design, highlighting the collaboration between printer Balthasar Moretus and painter Peter Paul Rubens. Moretus, heir to the Officina Plantiniana founded by Christophe Plantin in 1555, secured a monopoly from the Spanish Crown for printing breviaries and theological works, amassing wealth that allowed him to finance luxury editions. Rubens, a childhood friend of Moretus, contributed illustrations for frontispieces, starting with the 1617 reprint of Giacomo Bosio's Crux Triumphans. Other collaborations include the De hierarchia Mariana by Bartolomeo de los Ríos, with engravings by Erasmus Quellinus, and the works of Justus Lipsius and Seneca. Rubens also painted portraits of the Moretus family and designed the printer's emblem, Labore et Constantia. The exhibition runs until January 6, 2019.
Key facts
- Exhibition at Museum Plantin-Moretus, Antwerp, until January 6, 2019.
- Focuses on Baroque book design and collaboration between Balthasar Moretus and Peter Paul Rubens.
- Moretus was the successor of the Officina Plantiniana, founded by Christophe Plantin in 1555.
- Moretus held a monopoly on printing religious texts for Spain, the Americas, and Flanders.
- Rubens illustrated frontispieces for books, including Crux Triumphans (1617) and De hierarchia Mariana.
- Rubens designed the printer's emblem Labore et Constantia.
- Engraver Cornelis Galle also collaborated on the editions.
- The exhibition documents the challenges of publishing during the Counter-Reformation.
Entities
Artists
- Peter Paul Rubens
- Balthasar Moretus
- Christophe Plantin
- Erasmus Quellinus
- Cornelis Galle
- Justus Lipsius
- Giacomo Bosio
- Bartolomeo de los Ríos
- Ferdinando d'Asburgo
- Urbano VIII
- Mathias Sarbievius
- Lucio Anneo Seneca
- Erasmo da Rotterdam
Institutions
- Museum Plantin-Moretus
- Officina Plantiniana
- Artribune
Locations
- Anversa
- Belgio
- Spagna
- Fiandre
- Touraine
- America