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Brueghel’s painting juxtaposes the hardness of armour with the tenderness of the kiss which a nymph gives to a cupid, an allegorical representation of the contrasts of War and Peace. Through actual examples of the objects pictured in Brueghel’s Touch this room will outline the archducal armoury, the point of departure for a development of the themes of War and Peace as described above. |
The Stuffed horse of Archduke Albert introduces the visitor to the archducal armour shown in Rubens’ Portrait of Archduke Albert on Horseback (copy) (Ghent): Albert’s Parade Armour (Brussels, Koninklijk Museum van het Leger en de Krijgsgeschiedenis), his Barding (Brussels, Koninklijk Museum van het Leger en de Krijgsgeschiedenis), and his Sword (Brussels, Sint-Michielskathedraal). The Night-time assault on Ardres in 1596 by the tapisser Martin Reynbouts shows the Archduke on the field of battle (Madrid, Palacio Real).
The ‘war room’ is in turn divided into two sides which represent the two opposing forces on the field of battle. Albert’s Portrait as a general hangs on one side of the room (Brugse Vrije). Beside him the Portrait of general Spinola (Ooidank), who completed the siege of Ostend. Around the picture of the general are grouped gifts which they received or distributed on the occasion of their victories.
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The space between the two portraits represents the battlefield of the Netherlands. Both sides are taken up by two tapestries showing a victory of the generals: the Battle of Nieuwport for Maurice by Maximilian van der Gucht (Brussels, KMKG). In the middle of the room an old map of the Low Countries with a key explains the course of the war to the visitor. A model of Ostend and the related plans reconstruct the siege of this new Troy (Florence, Museo di San Marco). Military handbooks and sketches show the seventeenth-century way of waging war. Memorial medals show the propaganda activities carried out off the battlefield. The parade neckguards with Ostend and Nieuwport and the matching hinges are the link between both sides (Brussels, KMKG en Madrid, Real Armerķa). |
The ‘peace room’ gives extensive attention to the Twelve Years Truce, which fixed the division between North and South and laid the foundations for the different development of the two nations.
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The Republic was increasingly a trading nation, while the Southern Netherlands saw a revival of craftsmanship. From 1609 the ways of the two areas parted for a long time to come. |
This section evokes the different meaning of the Truce for the two nations, with their different developments, but the retention of some forms of co-operation. Allegories show the perception of the Truce in both countries: Hendrik De Clerck’s Allegory of the Twelve Years Truce (St. Petersburg, Hermitage), Abraham Janssens’ The Origin of the Horn of Plenty (Seattle, Seattle Art Museum), Adriaan van de Venne’s Allegory of the Twelve Years Truce (Paris, Louvre).
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