Pieter van der Borcht (I) - Peasant Fair

Pieter van der Borcht (I) or Peter van der Borcht (c. 1530–1608) 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, draughtsman and

etcher Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

. He is regarded as one of the most gifted botanical painters of the 16th century.Thomas Gloning, Lydia Kaiser und Ans Schapendonk, ''Rembert Dodoens und sein Cruyde Boeck (1563)'' in: 'Rembert Dodoens, Cruyde Boeck, Antwerpen 1563', UB Marburg, Marburg, 2005, p. 1-73 Pieter van der Borcht the Elder also introduced new themes such as the 'monkey scene' (also called '

singerie ''Singerie'' is the name given to a visual arts genre depicting monkeys imitating human behavior, often fashionably attired, intended as a diverting sight, always with a gentle cast of mild satire. The term is derived from the French word for "M ...

') into Northern art.

Life

He 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 ...

. There are indications that Pieter van der Borcht was the son of Jacques van der Borcht. Jacques van der Borcht was an artist who was regarded in 1562 as the dean of the Mechelen

Guild of Saint Luke The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Evangelist Luke, the patron saint of artists, who was ide ...

.Pieter van der Borcht
at Mechelen MAPT Pieter van der Borcht is recorded in 1564 as working from Mechelen for

Christopher Plantin Christophe Plantin ( nl, Christoffel Plantijn; – 1 July 1589) was a French Renaissance humanist and book printer and publisher who resided and worked in Antwerp. Life Plantin was born in France, probably in Saint-Avertin, near the city of ...

, who operated a famous book printing and publishing enterprise in Antwerp.Pieter van der Borcht
at the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary instit ...

He supplied Plantin with the drawings for the engravings for many scientific publications by Plantin such as the works of

Rembert Dodoens Rembert Dodoens (born Rembert Van Joenckema, 29 June 1517 – 10 March 1585) was a Flemish physician and botanist, also known under his Latinized name Rembertus Dodonaeus. He has been called the father of botany. Life Dodoens was born Rember ...

Carolus Clusius Charles de l'Écluse, L'Escluse, or Carolus Clusius (19 February 1526 – 4 April 1609), seigneur de Watènes, was an Artois doctor and pioneering botanist, perhaps the most influential of all 16th-century scientific horticulturists. Life Clu ...

and

Matthias de l'Obel Mathias de l'Obel, Mathias de Lobel or Matthaeus Lobelius (1538 – 3 March 1616) was a Flemish physician and plant enthusiast who was born in Lille, Flanders, in what is now Hauts-de-France, France, and died at Highgate, London, England. H ...

Pieter van der Borcht (I) - The Tooth Puller

While van der Borcht was still living in Mechelen in 1572, the city, which had risen against the Spanish occupiers was retaken and sacked by Spanish troops under the Duke of Alva. The plundering of the city lasted for three days. Van der Borcht and his family were able to flee to Antwerp. Here Plantin gave them free lodgings in his own house. A letter of Plantin testifies to the fact that the departure from Mechelen of the van der Borcht family must have been very sudden, as on their arrival in Antwerp both parents were sick and their children naked. Van der Borcht did not leave Antwerp, where he became a full-time assistant of Plantin. He illustrated many liturgical books published by Plantin, mainly for the Spanish market. He probably became a member of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1580 and was its dean from 1589 to 1592. Some art historians have questioned that the ‘Pieter Verborcht, painter’ who became a master in the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp in 1580 and served as its dean in 1591 and 1592 was the same as Pieter van der Borcht (I) since it was unlikely that a non-citizen would be allowed to hold this position in the Guild at that time.Jetty E. van der Sterre. "Borcht, Pieter van der." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 17 Sep. 2014 Pieter had a son also called Pieter van der Borcht, who became an artist. It is not clear whether he is one of the painters active under that name in Brussels.

Work

Pieter van der Borcht (I) - Drawing of a plant

The subjects of his work are

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

and religious themes.Pieter van der Borcht (I)
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 ...

There is some debate as to whether works executed under the name Pieter van der Borcht were made by a single artist or several artists with the same name. The attributed works include a large number of drawings, engravings, etchings and woodcuts that were mostly used as book illustrations. The themes of these works include biblical and mythological subjects, genre scenes, pictures depicting the months and botanical illustrations. So either the artist was extremely productive and versatile, or anywhere from two to four artists active during that same time cooperated with him in this production. The first published work of art attributed to Pieter van der Borcht (I) was printed in 1552 by

Jacob van Liesvelt Jacob van Liesvelt or Jacob van Liesveldt ( Antwerp, c. 1489, – Antwerp, 28 November 1545), was a Flemish printer, publisher and bookseller.Hans van Liesvelt II in a book written by Frans Vervoort entitled ''Dat vyants net, der booser wercken raet, visioenen ende met alder sijnder verholender stricken''. The book contains 17 woodcut illustrations. The final illustration is an image of the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

holding the symbol of the city of Mechelen and was signed "Fecit Petrus van der Boercht 1552".Andrew Pettegree, Malcolm Walsby, ''Netherlandish Books (NB) (2 Vols): Books Published in the Low Countries and Dutch Books Printed Abroad Before 1601'', BRILL, 2010, p. 1341 In 1564 Pieter van der Borcht made the drawings but not the woodcuts for an emblem book (the ''Emblemata of

Sambucus ''Sambucus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Adoxaceae. The various species are commonly called elder or elderberry. The genus was formerly placed in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae, but was reclassified as Adoxaceae due to ge ...

'') for Plantin. This was followed by a commission in 1565 to make 60 drawings of plants for a herbarium written by Rembert Dodoens, the ''Frumentorum, leguminum, palustrium et aquatilium herbarum historia''. Both author and publisher were very happy with the quality of van der Borcht's drawings and he became the regular illustrator for Plantin's numerous botanical books. Van der Borcht made drawings for Clusius' ''Rariorum aliquot stirpium per Hispanias observatarum historia'' (1567)(one of the earliest books on

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

), which were cut by Gerard van Kampen. The originals of these drawings are contained in the ''Libri picturati A. 16-31'' held by the

Jagiellonian Library Jagiellonian Library ( pl, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, popular nickname ''Jagiellonka'') is the library of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and with almost 6.7 million volumes, one of the largest libraries in Poland, serving as a public libra ...

of the

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

(originally in the former Preussischer Staatsbibliothek of Berlin). The 1.400 drawings are of very high quality. Van der Borcht made more than 3,180 botanical watercolours for Plantin. These drawings were the basis for woodcuts made by three of Plantin’s regular woodcutters known by name: Arnold Nicolaï, and later Gerard van Kampen and Cornelis Muller. Pieter van der Borcht (I) - The Nursery

Pieter van der Borcht later began to engrave his own work. He was one of the first to work in the new medium of copperplate engraving and etching that came into use after 1564. This medium finally replaced woodcuts in most of Plantin's publications. Pieter van der Borcht also designed a number of official printer's marks of Plantin. He may have been responsible for a number of engravings of peasant weddings, country fairs and feasts after the work of contemporary Flemish painters such as Pieter Bruegel the Elder, as well as of mythological and historical subjects. Pieter van der Borcht the Elder contributed to the spread of the genre of the 'monkey scene', also called '

' (a word, which in French means a 'comical grimace, behaviour or trick'). Comical scenes with monkeys appearing in human attire and a human environment are a pictorial genre that was initiated in Flemish art in the 16th century and was subsequently further developed in the 17th century. Pieter van der Borcht introduced the singerie as an independent theme around 1575 in a series of prints, which are strongly embedded in the artistic tradition of Pieter Bruegel the Elder. These prints were widely disseminated and the theme was then picked up by other Flemish artists in particular by those in Antwerp such as

Frans Francken the Younger Frans Francken the Younger (1581 in Antwerp, 1581 – 6 May 1642, in Antwerp) was a Flemish painter who created altarpieces and furniture panels and gained his reputation chiefly through his small and delicate cabinet pictures with historical, m ...

Jan Brueghel the Elder Jan Brueghel (also Bruegel or Breughel) the Elder (, ; ; 1568 – 13 January 1625) was a Flemish painter and draughtsman. He was the son of the eminent Flemish Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder. A close friend and frequent collaborato ...

and the Younger,

Sebastiaen Vrancx Sebastiaen Vrancx, Sebastiaan Vrancx or Sebastian Vranckx (; 22 January 1573 – 19 May 1647) was a Flemish Baroque painter, draughtsman and designer of prints who is mainly known for his battle scenes, a genre that he pioneered in Netherlandish ...

and

Jan van Kessel the Elder Jan van Kessel the Elder or Jan van Kessel (I) (baptized 5 April 1626, Antwerp – 17 April 1679, Antwerp) was a Flemish painter active in Antwerp in the mid 17th century. A versatile artist he practised in many genres including studies of i ...

David Teniers the Younger David Teniers the Younger or David Teniers II (bapt. 15 December 1610 – 25 April 1690) was a Flemish Baroque painter, printmaker, draughtsman, miniaturist painter, staffage painter, copyist and art curator. He was an extremely versatile arti ...

became the principal practitioner of the genre and developed it further with his younger brother

Abraham Teniers Abraham Teniers (1 March 1629 – 26 September 1670) was a Flemish painter and engraver who specialized in genre paintings of villages, inns and monkey scenes. He was a member of artist family Teniers which came to prominence in the 17th century ...

. Later in the 17th century

Nicolaes van Verendael Nicolaes van Verendael or Nicolaes van Veerendael (1640 in Antwerp – 1691 in Antwerp) was a Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Du ...

started to paint these ‘monkey scenes’ as well.Bert Schepers, ''Monkey Madness in Seventeenth-Century Antwerp'', in: The Rubenianum Quarterly, 2012 2, p. 5 Some historians question whether the Pieter van der Borcht responsible for this body of work should be identified with Pieter van der Borcht (I). Pieter van der Borcht (I) - Printers' Mark in the Book Dat Vyants net der booser wercken 1552

Pieter van der Borcht (I) - Printers' Mark in the Book Dat Vyants net der booser wercken 1552

A landscape painting attributed to Pieter van der Borcht (I) entitled ''The Rest on the Flight into Egypt'' is part of the collection of the Brighton and Hove Museums and Art Galleries in the United Kingdom.National Inventory of Continental European Paintings Brief Bio Peter van der Borcht
/ref>

Selected books illustrated by Pieter van der Borcht (I)

Below is a selection of the many books illustrated by Pieter van der Borcht for Plantin and other publishers such as

Jan Moretus Jan Moretus, also John Moerentorf or Joannes Moretus (2 May 1543 – 22 September 1610), was a Flemish printer who was an apprentice for Christophe Plantin, married his daughter, and later inherited the printing business on his father-in-law ...

: *Cruydeboek, Rembert Dodoens, 1563. *Emblemata cum aliquot nummis antiqui operis, Joannes Sambucus, 1564. *Aromatum et simplicium aliquot medicamentorum apud Indos cascentium Historia, Garcia ab Horto, 1567. *Centum Fabulae ex antiquis auctoribus delectae, 1567. *Horae Beatissimae Virginis Mariae, 1570. *Humanae Salutis Monumenta, Arius Montanus, 1571. *Missale Romanum ex decreto sacrosacti Concilii Tridentini restitutum, 1572. *Officium B. Mariae Virginis, 1573. *Missale Romanum, 1574. *Breviarium, 1575. *Rariorum aliquot stirpium per Hispanias observatarum historia, 1576 (Moretus). *Evangeliorum Domincalium Summaria, 1580. *Imagines et Figurae Bibliorum, 1581 (Moretus). *Bedieninghe der Anatomien, David van Mauden, 1583. *Biblia Sacra, 1583. Caladrius2

*Metamorphoses. Argumenta, P. Ovidii N, 1596 (Moretus). *Several other liturgical works, published by Plantin or Jan Moretus, until 1598.

References

External links

*
Pieter van der Borcht illustrations
{{DEFAULTSORT:Borcht, Pieter van der (I) 1535 births 1608 deaths Botanical illustrators Flemish engravers Flemish Renaissance painters Artists from Mechelen

Life

Work

Selected books illustrated by Pieter van der Borcht (I)

References

Further reading

External links