Jacob de Punder or Jacques de Punder (1527 – c.1570), was a Flemish

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

painter mainly known for his portrait paintings.

Biography

Jacob de Punder was born in

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 ...

. The early Flemish biographer

Karel van Mander Karel van Mander (I) or Carel van Mander I (May 1548 – 2 September 1606) was a Flemish painter, poet, art historian and art theoretician, who established himself in the Dutch Republic in the latter part of his life. He is mainly remembe ...

states in the ''

Schilder-boeck or is a book written by the Flemish writer and painter Karel van Mander first published in 1604 in Haarlem in the Dutch Republic, where van Mander resided. The book is written in 17th-century Dutch and its title is commonly translated into Engl ...

'' (1604) that de Punder was in Mechelen the pupil of the painter Marcus Willems (1527-1561). Willems had been a disciple of

Michiel Coxie Michiel Coxie the Elder, Michiel Coxcie the Elder or Michiel van Coxcie, Latinised name ''Coxius''Michiel Coxie (I) ...

, one of the leading Romanist painters in Flanders who had helped introduce Italian Renaissance painting there. Willems married de Punder's sister Katharina.Jacques de Punder
in:

, ''Het

'', 1604 De Punder married Barbara (Barbel) Verhulst. She was the sister of Lysbeth Verhulst, the first wife of the painter and engraver

Hubert Goltzius Hubert Goltz or Goltzius (30 October 1526 – 24 March 1583) was a Renaissance painter, engraver, and printer from the Southern Netherlands. He is not to be confused with the much more famous Hendrik Goltzius, who was his cousin, once remove ...

.Jacques de Punder
at the

Netherlands Institute for Art History The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...

De Punder and Goltzius would occasionally collaborate on commissions. Jacob de Punder - Portrait of Viglius of Aytta

De Punder was in 1559 the master of a certain Willem de Vos in Mechelen. He worked in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

in 1570 before moving to Denmark, where he later died.

Work

Van Mander describes de Punder as a skilled portrait painter. Only three paintings are currently attributed to Jacob de Punder, all three portraits. The

Walters Art Museum The Walters Art Museum, located in Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is a public art museum founded and opened in 1934. It holds collections established during the mid-19th century. The museum's collection was amassed ...

holds a pair of portraits dated 1543: one a ''Portrait of Abbot Nicholas à Spira'' and the other a ''Portrait of

Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-da ...

''. On the backs of the panels are remnants of an

Annunciation The Annunciation (from Latin '), also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the biblical tale of the announcement by the ange ...

scene, with Gabriel on one panel and the Virgin on the other. The panels were originally part of an altarpiece, with the Annunciation forming a unified scene on the exterior of the wings when the altarpiece was closed. The panels flanked a lost central painting, perhaps a

Madonna and Child In art, a Madonna () is a representation of Mary, either alone or with her child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word is (archaic). The Madonna and Child type is very prevalent in ...

. The altarpiece was commissioned by Nicholas à Spira (1510-1568) who was the abbot of the abbey of the

Norbertine Order The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...

Grimbergen Grimbergen () is a municipality in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant, 10 km north of the capital Brussels. It comprises the towns of Beigem, Grimbergen, Humbeek, and Strombeek-Bever. In 2017, it had a population of 37,030 and an are ...

in Flanders. Depicting the saintly bishop Saint Nicholas together with his namesake the living abbot in similar ecclesiastical vestments confers dignity upon the latter. The altarpiece was placed in the abbey. While the abbey was destroyed in 1566 during the Iconoclastic fury of the

Beeldenstorm ''Beeldenstorm'' () in Dutch and ''Bildersturm'' in German (roughly translatable from both languages as 'attack on the images or statues') are terms used for outbreaks of destruction of religious images that occurred in Europe in the 16th centu ...

, the altarpiece survived. During the

anticlerical Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historical anti-clericalism has mainly been opposed to the influence of Roman Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, which seeks to ...

campaigns of the 1790s following the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, the altarpiece was apparently dismantled, possibly to separate the portraits from the central panel, which was very likely destroyed. The

Fries Museum The Fries Museum (Frisian Museum) is a museum in Leeuwarden, Netherlands. It has won the Global Fine Art Award which is sometimes nicknamed the Museum-Oscar. History (1881-2012) The museum was founded on 13 April 1881 by the "''Provincial Friesch ...

holds a ''Portrait of Viglius of Aytta'' dated 1564 which is attributed to de Punder. It depicts the Dutch statesman and jurist

Viglius Viglius (October 19, 1507, SwichumMay 5, 1577) was the name taken by Wigle Aytta van Zwichem, a Dutch statesman and jurist, a Frisian by birth. Biography He studied at various universities—Louvain, Dole and Bourges among others—devoting hi ...

as chancellor of the

Order of the Golden Fleece The Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece ( es, Insigne Orden del Toisón de Oro, german: Orden vom Goldenen Vlies) is a Catholic order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in 1430, to celebrate his marriage ...

. A ''Portrait of

Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy Emmanuel Philibert ( it, Emanuele Filiberto; pms, Emanuel Filibert; 8 July 1528 – 30 August 1580), known as ( pms, Testa 'd fer, links=no; "Ironhead", because of his military career), was Duke of Savoy from 1553 to 1580. He is remembered fo ...

'' by Jacob de Punder (referred to as 'Jaques Pindar') was in the collection of

John Lumley, 1st Baron Lumley John Lumley, 1st Baron Lumley, KB (c. 1533 – 1609) was an English aristocrat, who is remembered as one of the greatest collectors of art and books of his age. Early life John Lumley, born about 1533, was the grandson and heir of John, ...

according to the

Lumley inventories The Lumley inventories are a group of inventories documenting the extensive collections of paintings, books, sculptures, silver and furniture accumulated by John, 1st Baron Lumley (c.1533–1609). The most celebrated of these, a manuscript volum ...

. This painting is now untraced.Carel van Mander, ''The lives of the illustrious Netherlandish and German painters: Lives : fol. 211r36 - 236v36'', Davaco, 1996, p. 187

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Punder, Jacob de 1527 births 1570s deaths Flemish Renaissance painters Flemish portrait painters Artists from Mechelen Belgian expatriates in Denmark

Biography

Work

References

Further reading

External links