Anton van den Wyngaerde (
Span.
Johan Baptist Spanoghe (1798, Madras – 22 April 1838, Pekalongan, Java) was a Dutch botanical collector of Belgian parentage.
A native of Madras, then part of British India, in 1816 he became a civil servant with the Dutch East Indies governm ...
: ''Antonio de las Viñas''; 1525 – 7 May 1571) was a prolific
Flemish
Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...
topographical artist who made
panoramic sketches and paintings of towns in the southern
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, northern
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, and
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
. He is best known for the many panoramas of cities in Spain that he drew while employed by
Philip II Philip II may refer to:
* Philip II of Macedon (382–336 BC)
* Philip II (emperor) (238–249), Roman emperor
* Philip II, Prince of Taranto (1329–1374)
* Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (1342–1404)
* Philip II, Duke of Savoy (1438-1497)
* Philip ...
. After his death, his works were dispersed into different collections, and their importance neglected. Their historical and artistic value have been recently rediscovered.
Life
Van den Wyngaerde was born probably around 1525 in
Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, . His father may also have been an artist, as an "Anton van den Wyngaerde" was registered in 1510 in the painter's guild.
![Wyngaerde London - London Bridge](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Wyngaerde_London_-_London_Bridge.jpg)
Van den Wyngaerde's first known work, from around 1544, was a topographical view of
Dordrecht
Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a city and municipality in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the province's fifth-largest city after R ...
. As he was trained in the
Antwerp school, he created his views using observations from nature. A large view of
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
in 14 sheets is dated to 1544, including a plan of
Whitehall Palace
The Palace of Whitehall (also spelt White Hall) at Westminster was the main residence of the English monarchs from 1530 until 1698, when most of its structures, except notably Inigo Jones's Banqueting House of 1622, were destroyed by fire. Hen ...
, which he redrew for
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
.
![Wyngaerde_Palace_of_Whitehall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Wyngaerde_Palace_of_Whitehall.jpg)
Between 1552 and 1553 van den Wyngaerde created views of
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
,
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...
,
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
, and
Ancona
Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic S ...
.
Four of van den Wyngaerde's panoramas of Rome were discovered in the Sutherland Collection in the
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...
of
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
. They appear to be copies, and may have been done by apprentices rather than by the artist himself. One original by van den Wyngaerde was found later, in four separate leaves, more clearly and carefully drawn.
They must have been executed no later than September 1557, as one of them shows the
Pons Aemilius still complete, while it
was damaged by a flood of the
Tiber
The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by the Riv ...
on 18/27 September 1557, and was not repaired in stone until 1575.
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
Saint Quentin ( la, Quintinus; died 287 AD) also known as Quentin of Amiens, was an early Christian saint.
Hagiography
Martyrdom
The legend of his life has him as a Roman citizen who was martyred in Gaul. He is said to have been the son of a ...
and
Ham
Ham is pork from a leg cut of pork, cut that has been food preservation, preserved by wet or dry Curing (food preservation), curing, with or without smoking (cooking), smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. Lo ...
. He also drew views of
Sluis
Sluis (; zea, label=Zeelandic, Sluus ; french: Écluse) is a town and municipality located in the west of Zeelandic Flanders, in the south-western Dutch province of Zeeland.
The current incarnation of the municipality has existed since 1 January ...
,
Dunkirk
Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.[Mechelen
Mechelen (; french: Malines ; traditional English name: MechlinMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical contex ...]
, and
Bruges
Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...
; a view of
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
is dated 1558.
![Alcázar y Casa de Campo (fragmento)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Alc%C3%A1zar_y_Casa_de_Campo_%28fragmento%29.jpg)
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
Mary I of England
Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. Sh ...
. These views included
Dover
Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...
and London, as well as the palaces of
Greenwich
Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross.
Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...
,
Hampton Court
Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chief ...
,
Oatlands, and
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
. The original of the Panorama of London is in that part of the Sutherland Collection in the
Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...
, Oxford, and measures 10 feet by 17 inches, in seven sheets.
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.
He decorated the walls of the
El Pardo Palace with several city views, and he painted scenery for theatre productions at the royal court. Van den Wyngaerde made at least sixty-two views of cities and towns, including
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
,
València
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area also ...
,
Zaragoza
Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...
,
Granada
Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...
,
Córdoba,
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
,
Toledo,
Burgos
Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos.
Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of t ...
and
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
. Van den Wyngaerde's picture of
Cadiz before it was sacked by the English in 1596 is the only reliable view from that time. He drew the first known detailed picture of
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
.
His main task was to make paintings of the many cities in Philip's kingdom on the walls of the
Royal Palace of Madrid
The Royal Palace of Madrid ( es, Palacio Real de Madrid) is the official residence of the Spanish royal family at the city of Madrid, although now used only for state ceremonies.
The palace has of floor space and contains 3,418 rooms. It is the ...
.
These were lost in a fire of 1727 that destroyed the palace, but many of his preparatory drawings survived.
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." His last dated work was a panorama of
Zamora in Spain from 1570.
He died in Madrid in 1571. He received little recognition during or after his life, and his work was rediscovered only in the late 1800s.
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
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
tradition, dominated by churches and palaces. The drawings show the cities as they were during the Golden Age of Philip II with what appears to be photographic accuracy. However, there is no trace in his pictures of the squalor of street life that prevailed in all cities of that time.
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. 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.
In a 1563 ''View of Valencia'', the city seems to be viewed from the north, but the
cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...
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.
Gallery
File:VistaSegovia1562.jpg, Segovia
Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia.
Segovia is in the Inner Plateau (''Meseta central''), near the northern slopes of th ...
, 1562
File:L'Albufera de València, 1563, Anton van den Wyngaerde.jpg, Albufera
The Albufera, La Albufera or L'Albufera de València (, meaning "lagoon" in Valencian, from Arabic ''al-buhayra'', "small sea"), is a freshwater lagoon and estuary on the Gulf of Valencia coast of the Valencian Community in eastern Spain. It ...
in Valencia, 1563
File:València el 1563, per Anton van den Wyngaerde.jpg, Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
, 1563
File:Wyngaerde Barcelona 1563.jpg, Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
, 1563
File:Tarragona, 1563, Anton van den Wyngaerde.jpg, Tarragona
Tarragona (, ; Phoenician: ''Tarqon''; la, Tarraco) is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the fifth century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tar ...
, 1563
File:Vista de Zaragoza (1563).JPG, Zaragoza
Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...
, 1563
File:Monestir de la Saïdia a la vista de València el 1563, per Anton van den Wyngaerde.jpg, Monestir de la Saïdia in the view of Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
, 1563
File:Anthonis van den Wijngaerde (1565) Alcalá de Henares.png, Alcalá de Henares
Alcalá de Henares () is a Spanish city in the Community of Madrid. Straddling the Henares River, it is located to the northeast of the centre of Madrid. , it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated Municipalities ...
, 1565
File:Vista de Córdoba (1567). Anton van den Wyngaerde.jpg, Córdoba, 1567
File:Gibraltar en 1567 (detalle de la 'Vista panorámica de la bahía de Gibraltar hacia la ciudad con la costa africana en el fondo' de Anton van Den Wyngaerde conservado en el Ashmolean Museum de Oxford).jpg, Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
, 1567
File:Salamanca - Anton Van den Wyngaerde.jpg, Salamanca
Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritag ...
, 1570
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
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Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Van den Wyngaerde, Anton
1572 deaths
Flemish artists
Draughtsmen from Antwerp
Year of birth unknown
1525 births