Anton van den Wyngaerde
Anton van den Wyngaerde | |
---|---|
Born | c. 1525 |
Died | 7 May 1571 (aged 45–46) |
Nationality | Flemish |
Known for | Sketching |
Notable work | Philip II of Spain |
Anton van den Wyngaerde (Span.: Antonio de las Viñas; c. 1525 – 7 May 1571) was a prolific Flemish topographical artist who made panoramic sketches and paintings of towns in the southern Netherlands, northern France, England, Italy, and Spain. He is best known for the many panoramas of cities in Spain that he drew while employed by Philip II. After his death, his works were dispersed into different collections, and their importance neglected. Their historical and artistic value have been recently rediscovered.[1]
Life
Van den Wyngaerde was born probably around 1525 in Antwerp. His father may also have been an artist, as an "Anton van den Wyngaerde" was registered in 1510 in the painter's guild.[a]
Van den Wyngaerde's first known work, from around 1544, was a topographical view of
Between 1552 and 1553 van den Wyngaerde created views of Rome, Genoa, Naples, and Ancona.[4] Four of van den Wyngaerde's panoramas of Rome were discovered in the Sutherland Collection in the
Van den Wyngaerde entered the service of Philip II of Spain, and during the 1557 Spanish campaign in northern France he documented the sieges of Saint Quentin and Ham. He also drew views of Sluis, Dunkirk, Mechelen, and Bruges; a view of Brussels is dated 1558.[4]
Between 1558 and 1559 he visited England, perhaps more than once, and made views of places that Philip II had visited in 1555 when he had travelled thence to wed
Around 1561 or 1562, Anton van den Wyngaerde travelled to Spain where Philip II commissioned him to document all the main towns, and also to decorate the royal palaces with pictures of the Netherlands, Spain, and Italy.[1] He decorated the walls of the
Van de Wyngaerde once said, "Among all the joys that the delightful and ingenious art of painting has to offer, there is not one that I hold in higher esteem than the representation of cities."[10] His last dated work was a panorama of Zamora in Spain from 1570.[11]
He died in Madrid in 1571.[1] He received little recognition during or after his life, and his work was rediscovered only in the late 1800s.[12]
Work
As a servant of the king, van den Wyngaerde's drawings presented the Spanish cities in their best possible light, but he succeeded in giving a vivid depiction of town life in his day. He showed the general prosperity of the Spanish cities, fast-growing although all were still walled cities in the
Van den Wyngaerde's city views, often from imaginary viewpoints, were made without falling back on surveys or plans but depended on the artist's visual memory and imagination.[14] His line drawings would be enhanced with watercolours in green, blue, red and brown to add detail and realism. He would add pictures of the surrounding countryside with figures of people to give a sense of scale, but the sense of realism was illusory, as close examination shows problems of scale and selective representation of features of interest.[15]
In a 1563 View of Valencia, the city seems to be viewed from the north, but the cathedral is depicted as it appears from the west, displaying the building to better advantage. The streets are made wider and straighter as though the city had been formally planned, the squares are made larger, and some of the towers are moved to different positions. Despite the appearance of detail and realism, the picture gives an idealized sense of the city's appearance rather than an accurate representation. Van den Wyngaerde's work was always more artistic than scientific.[16]
Gallery
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Segovia, 1562
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Albuferain Valencia, 1563
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Valencia, 1563
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Barcelona, 1563
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Tarragona, 1563
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Zaragoza, 1563
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Monestir de la Saïdia in the view of Valencia, 1563
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Alcalá de Henares, 1565
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Córdoba, 1567
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Gibraltar, 1567
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Salamanca, 1570
References
Notes
Citations
- ^ a b c Hillgarth 2000, p. 252.
- ^ a b Gregg 2009, p. 54.
- ^ Gregg 2009, p. 7.
- ^ a b Gregg 2009, p. 55-56.
- ^ Ashby 1905, p. 179.
- ^ Ashby 1905, p. 180-181.
- ^ a b c Kagan 2000, p. 199.
- ^ a b Cities of the Golden Age.
- ^ a b Hillgarth 2000, p. 253.
- ^ Kagan 2000, p. 13.
- ^ Ashby 1905, p. 182.
- ^ Hillgarth 2000, p. 254.
- ^ Kagan 2000, p. 200.
- ^ Gregg 2009, p. 29.
- ^ Gregg 2009, p. 54-55.
- ^ Kagan 2000, p. 14.
Sources
- Ashby, Th. Junior (1905). "Another Panorama of Rome by Anton van den Wyngaerde". Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire. 26. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
- Cities of the Golden Age: The Views of Anton Van den Wyngaerde: Book Description. ASIN 0520056108.
- Gregg, Ryan E. (2009). Panorama, Power, and History: Vasari and Stradano's City Views in the Palazzo Vecchio. ISBN 978-0-549-93737-1. Retrieved 2012-10-12.
- Hillgarth, Jocelyn N. (2000-09-20). The Mirror of Spain, 1500-1700: The Formation of a Myth. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-11092-6. Retrieved 2012-10-12.
- Kagan, Richard (2000-05-11). Urban Images of the Hispanic World, 1493-1793. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-08314-9. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
- "View of Rome, Seen from the Janiculum Hill - Anton van den Wyngaerde". Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
- Mitton, G.E.. (1908). Maps of Old London. Adam & Charles Black.
Further reading
- Kagan, Richard L. (1989-12-04). Cities of the Golden Age: The Views of Anton Van den Wyngaerde. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-05610-7. Retrieved 2012-10-13.