Dec 2023: New issue with the reliquary shrine of Saint Odilia (1292)

New issue: Oud Holland 136 (2023) 4

19 Dec 2023

In our final pages of the year we are pleased to feature three articles. The first offers an in-depth iconographic analysis of a reliquary shrine kept in Borgloon. Combining medieval and early modern sources with technical analysis of the wooden panels, Jeroen Reyniers meticulously reconstructs the original composition of the shrine to offer an insightful new reading of the vivid scenes from the life of Saint Odilia.

Also included in this issue is Carla van de Puttelaar and Fred Meijer's stylistic and comparative study of four portraits. Although these paintings had been modified over time, thanks to the findings of technical research the authors have identified the hand of the highly skilled portraitist Abraham de Vries (c. 1590-1649/1650), who was active in the Netherlands and France during the first half of the seventeenth century.

Lastly, in the final article, Lidwien Speleers sheds new light on a letter from François Oliviers to the stadholder’s secretary, Constantijn Huygens. This correspondence from 1649 provides fascinating details about the supply of prepared canvases. Notably, the canvases he references were intended for the famous painted decorations in the Oranjezaal of Huis ten Bosch Palace in The Hague.

Summaries of all three articles can be found below. For subscriptions, please visit our publisher's website.

Oud Holland wishes you a successful end of the year and a fresh start to 2024.

Jeroen Reyniers – The reliquary shrine of Saint Odilia in Borgloon (1292): An iconographical reconstruction – pp. 157-179

SUMMARY

A remarkable thirteenth-century reliquary shrine of Saint Odilia kept in the Church of Saint Odulphus in Borgloon (Belgium) – notably the oldest dated example of panel paintings in the Low Countries – has been the topic of several art historical studies. These studies attempt to unravel the iconography of the painted panels, indicating how they should be interpreted, and in which order. The difficulty of this, however, lies in the fact that the reliquary shrine has been fully overpainted but also dramatically modified in the seventeenth century to fit into a smaller location. In the process, the original roof panels were modified, with sawn-off elements lost to time. The reliquary shrine, commissioned by the Order of the Holy Cross in Huy (Belgium) in 1292, depicts multiple scenes, on all sides, that illustrate the life of Saint Odilia.
Scholars have regularly drawn on published legends of Odilia from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but no consensus on the source of the images has ever been reached. The current article, however, draws attention to a much earlier, fifteenth-century manuscript of the legend of Saint Odilia that is kept in the library of the University of Liège. The manuscript, written by Wolterus of Nijmegen in 1467 with references to an even older version from 1291, has rarely been associated with the reliquary shrine, but it is of vital importance for the analysis and interpretation of the paintings. In bringing this version of the legend of Saint Odilia together with recent material-technical research carried out at the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA) in Brussels, a new iconographic analysis and reconstruction of the reliquary shrine is presented here.
It can now be verified that each panel had to be read from left to right, beginning with the first roof scene with the arrival of the virgins in Rome originally positioned above the murder scene in Cologne. The second scene on the roof, where Saint Ursula receives the Pope's blessing, was placed above the excavation and translation of Odilia's relics. Additionally, the depiction of Saint Ursula with a banner can be seen as a highly unusual example of panel painting in the Low Countries, and it probably even shows the oldest depiction of the Pope in relation to the Saint Ursula cult. Finally, this study shows how the shrine was used: each pilgrim was given the opportunity to experience the legendary life of Saint Odilia in chronological order by walking around the reliquary shrine not once, but twice.

Carla van de Puttelaar & Fred G. Meijer – Under the skin: Portraits by Abraham de Vries (c. 1590-1649/50) recognised and revealed – pp. 180-194

SUMMARY

This article discusses four portraits by Abraham de Vries (c. 1590-1649/50), three of which were recently recognised as the artist's work, and all of which were subject to changes over time. The appearance of these portraits, as the authors came across them, prompted further investigation.
The first two are portraits of the same girl from c. 1629 that originally had virtually the same appearance, as technical research has revealed. The first was reduced in size, the second was overpainted substantially, particularly in the costume.
A portrait of a bearded man had been sold as a portrait of a rabbi by Simon Kick, but technical examination revealed that it was initially painted as a portrait of the French garden designer Jacques Boyceau, signed in monogram by De Vries and dated 1629 under a layer of overpaint. The original appearance of the portrait is known through a contemporary print. Interestingly, later changes appear to have been executed by De Vries himself, but the circumstances remain unclear. Additionally, a signed portrait of an unidentified sitter, also from 1629 and now in the Petit Palais in Paris, had received a different collar at some point in its history, which was cleaned off before its acquisition by the museum.
Similarities in handling and execution with other portraits by Abraham de Vries, for instance in the hair, collars and eyes, prove his authorship of the four portraits that are the focus of this article. They enrich the painter’s oeuvre and further confirm his excellent abilities as a portraitist in the first half of the seventeenth century.

Lidwien Speleers – Three documents concerning the Oranjezaal, Huis ten Bosch (1648-1652): A new find and two more precise datings – pp. 195-210

SUMMARY

Between 1648 and 1652, Amalia van Solms, widow of Stadholder Frederik Hendrik, had the central hall of her new country house in the Haagse Bos decorated from floor to ceiling with paintings. To perform the work, she hired twelve painters from both the Dutch Republic and the Southern Netherlands. The room at Huis ten Bosch Palace is known today as the Oranjezaal. A great deal is known about the production of the hall's decorations thanks to the well-preserved correspondence of the stadholder's secretary, Constantijn Huygens (1596-1687) and other contemporary documents. Several of the notes are not dated, however, which means the precise circumstances, sequence of activities and dating of some of the paintings has remained unclear. Fortunately, new archive documents turn up from time to time that can fill in the gaps.
This article presents one such find: a short letter from François Oliviers to Huygens. Although it has already been published by J.A. Worp in 1911-1917, the document has not previously been connected with the Oranjezaal. Oliviers was the 'primuerder', who supplied the prepared canvases for the ensemble. These were made to size, primed and sent out to the artists tasked with executing the paintings for the walls of the hall. Oliviers' letter accompanied a consignment of four such prepared canvases and several 'models'. While the letter is brief, it nonetheless provides all manner of fresh information, including confirmation of Oliviers' previously suspected place of residence, Haarlem.
Also, a more precise dating is proposed here for two already known but undated documents. One of these – a report from Huygens for Amalia – can be dated more accurately thanks to a letter from the painter Pieter Soutman to Huygens, published by K. Barrett in 2009. The other document proved harder to date. In this note, the painter and architect Jacob van Campen, who acted as designer and project manager for the Oranjezaal, lists the number of pieces still to be done. It is not clear, however, whether he is referring to paintings, as has long been thought, or possibly to design sketches. The more accurate dating offers a better insight into the decoration of the Oranjezaal and the discussions that lay behind it.