1.
Justus van Egmont
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Justus van Egmont or Joost van Egmont was a painter and a tapestry designer. After training in Antwerp and working in Rubens workshop he left for France where he was a court painter and he later returned to Flanders where he worked in Antwerp and Brussels. He is mainly known for his paintings, although he also painted some history subjects. Justus van Egmont was born in Leiden as the son of Dirk Joostzone van Egmont, a carpenter, after becoming widowed his mother took her family, which included two daughters from her first marriage, back to her native Antwerp when Justus was 14 years old. In Antwerp Justus became an apprentice of the painter Gaspar van den Hoecke in 1615, three years later, he made a will. From the latest the year 1625 and to about 1628 he worked in the workshop of Rubens where he was involved in the series of paintings on The life of Maria de Medici and he became a master of the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke in 1628. While living in Antwerp he had a relationship with Emerentia Bosschaert who bore him three sons out of wedlock, Joost, Konstantijn en Theodoor who were born between 1623 and 1627. Their relationship was later regularized and the couple would have more children including sons Bonaventura and Philippe, van Egmont’s children trained as painters and are believed to have worked in the workshop of their father at one time or the other. However, none of them would achieve their father’s success, some time between 1628 and 1630 van Egmont moved to Paris, where he had previously helped with matters relating to the delivery of, and payment for, Rubens The life of Maria de Medici cycle. It is likely that Rubens had introduced van Egmont to some influential potential patrons at the French court, the first record of van Egmont in France dates to 1633 when his son Philippe is baptized in Paris. In Paris van Egmont established a friendship with fellow Flemish painter Philippe de Champaigne. Van Egmont worked as a designer in the Paris workshop of Simon Vouet. He is mentioned as a painter for the House of Orléans from 1935. He was able to establish himself as a portrait painter for the royal family. He achieved commercial success in the 1640s and had a business in prints for which he obtained a royal privilege. Aside from providing a source of income, the prints also helped to spread his reputation. He further received in 1642 an important commission for the altarpiece for the Bundeskapelle in Brunnen in Switzerland, in 1648 van Egmont was involved in the establishment of the Parisian Académie de peinture et de sculpture and he was one of its first 12 members. In January 1649 he was in Brussels where he painted a Portrait of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, then the Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, the portrait is now in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
2.
Antwerp
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Antwerp is a city in Belgium, the capital of Antwerp province in the region of Flanders. With a population of 510,610, it is the most populous city proper in Belgium and its metropolitan area houses around 1,200,000 people, which is second behind Brussels. Antwerp is on the River Scheldt, linked to the North Sea by the Westerschelde estuary, the Port of Antwerp is one of the biggest in the world, ranking second in Europe and within the top 20 globally. Antwerp has long been an important city in the Low Countries, the inhabitants of Antwerp are nicknamed Sinjoren, after the Spanish honorific señor or French seigneur, lord, referring to the Spanish noblemen who ruled the city in the 17th century. The city hosted the 1920 Summer Olympics, according to folklore, notably celebrated by a statue in front of the town hall, the city got its name from a legend about a giant called Antigoon who lived near the Scheldt river. He exacted a toll from passing boatmen, and for those who refused, he severed one of their hands, eventually the giant was killed by a young hero named Silvius Brabo, who cut off the giants own hand and flung it into the river. Hence the name Antwerpen, from Dutch hand werpen, akin to Old English hand and wearpan, a longstanding theory is that the name originated in the Gallo-Roman period and comes from the Latin antverpia. Antverpia would come from Ante Verpia, indicating land that forms by deposition in the curve of a river. Note that the river Scheldt, before a period between 600 and 750, followed a different track. This must have coincided roughly with the current ringway south of the city, however, many historians think it unlikely that there was a large settlement which would be named Antverpia, but more something like an outpost with a river crossing. However, John Lothrop Motley argues, and so do a lot of Dutch etymologists and historians, aan t werp is also possible. This warp is a hill or a river deposit, high enough to remain dry at high tide. Another word for werp is pol hence polders, historical Antwerp allegedly had its origins in a Gallo-Roman vicus. Excavations carried out in the oldest section near the Scheldt, 1952–1961, produced pottery shards, the earliest mention of Antwerp dates from the 4th century. In the 4th century, Antwerp was first named, having been settled by the Germanic Franks, the name was reputed to have been derived from anda and werpum. The Merovingian Antwerp was evangelized by Saint Amand in the 7th century, at the end of the 10th century, the Scheldt became the boundary of the Holy Roman Empire. Antwerp became a margraviate in 980, by the German emperor Otto I, in the 11th century Godfrey of Bouillon was for some years known as the marquis of Antwerp. In the 12th century, Norbert of Xanten established a community of his Premonstratensian canons at St. Michaels Abbey at Caloes
3.
Peter Paul Rubens
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Sir Peter Paul Rubens was a Flemish/Netherlandish draughtsman and painter. He is widely considered as the most notable artist of Flemish Baroque art school, the catalogue of his works by Michael Jaffé lists 1,403 pieces, excluding numerous copies made in his workshop. His commissioned works were mostly history paintings, which included religious and mythological subjects and he painted portraits, especially of friends, and self-portraits, and in later life painted several landscapes. Rubens designed tapestries and prints, as well as his own house and he also oversaw the ephemeral decorations of the royal entry into Antwerp by the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand in 1635. His drawings are mostly extremely forceful but not overly detailed and he also made great use of oil sketches as preparatory studies. For altarpieces he painted on slate to reduce reflection problems. Rubens was born in the city of Siegen to Jan Rubens and he was named in honour of Saint-Peter and Paul, because he was born on their solemnety. His father, a Calvinist, and mother fled Antwerp for Cologne in 1568, after increased religious turmoil and persecution of Protestants during the rule of the Spanish Netherlands by the Duke of Alba. Jan Rubens became the adviser of Anna of Saxony, the second wife of William I of Orange. Following Jan Rubens imprisonment for the affair, Peter Paul Rubens was born in 1577, the family returned to Cologne the next year. In 1589, two years after his fathers death, Rubens moved with his mother Maria Pypelincks to Antwerp, religion figured prominently in much of his work and Rubens later became one of the leading voices of the Catholic Counter-Reformation style of painting. In Antwerp, Rubens received a Renaissance humanist education, studying Latin, by fourteen he began his artistic apprenticeship with Tobias Verhaeght. Subsequently, he studied under two of the leading painters of the time, the late Mannerist artists Adam van Noort. Much of his earliest training involved copying earlier works, such as woodcuts by Hans Holbein the Younger. Rubens completed his education in 1598, at time he entered the Guild of St. Luke as an independent master. In 1600 Rubens travelled to Italy and he stopped first in Venice, where he saw paintings by Titian, Veronese, and Tintoretto, before settling in Mantua at the court of Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga. The colouring and compositions of Veronese and Tintoretto had an effect on Rubenss painting. With financial support from the Duke, Rubens travelled to Rome by way of Florence in 1601, there, he studied classical Greek and Roman art and copied works of the Italian masters
4.
Brugse Vrije
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The Brugse Vrije was a castellany in the county of Flanders, often called in English the Franc of Bruges. It included the area around Bruges, and was bordered by the North Sea, the Westerschelde, the city of Bruges was separated from the castellany in 1127. Since then the city and the Vrije were considered as separate customary law areas, the Brugse Vrije was a rich agricultural region. The Brugse Vrije sat in the meetings of the States of Flanders, the castellany of Bruges was founded at around the year 1000 under the rule of Count Baldwin IV of Flanders as part of the county of Flanders. The head of the castellany was a burgrave, who represented the Count of Flanders, the burgrave was replaced by a bailiff in the 12th century. The fief was first called the Castellany of Bruges, but later took on the name Brugse Vrije, in Middle Ages it was divided into Amts. The governing body of the Brugse Vrije was located at the Burg, initially the Vrije was seated next to the Steen, on the west side of the Burg. In the 15th century, the Vrije moved to the side, where it took over a portion of the counts former court. In 1434–1440 the Vrije added a tribunal to the side, facing towards Groenerei. In 1520–1525, the complex was extended along the row with a new tribunal, the aldermens chamber. The architect was Jan van de Poele, a gallery with high arches was built on the Burg-side in 1528–1532. In 1606–1607, a chapel was added next to the chamber and in 1664–1666 an orphan room. The still existing façades on the Groenerei side was built at this time, the now classified as heritage building still exists in this form and was used from 1795 to 1984 as a courthouse. Now the building on the Burg houses the city archives, with the room located in the chapel. Next to the old Court of Justice lies the renaissance hall
5.
Beveren
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Beveren is a municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of Beveren proper, Doel, Haasdonk, Kallo, Kieldrecht, Melsele, Verrebroek, the port of the Waasland is located in Beveren, on the left bank of the Schelde, facing the port of Antwerp on the other side of the river. In Roman times, the Beveren area was at the edge of the sea, the earliest inhabitants erected primitive dams, which were later reinforced and heightened by the religious communities that sprung up in the region. The invasions of the Normans in the 9th century prompted the Counts of Flanders, among the local nobility were the lords of Beveren, whose territory was eventually ceded to Louis I of Flanders in 1334. In 1570, a catastrophic tide flooded the area, for strategic reasons linked to the protection of Antwerp, the local authorities decided to dismantle the remaining dams. Five years later, the rights to the territory were sold, the area closest to the Scheldt was bought by an Antwerp merchant, and the rest went to the Duke of Aarschot. This state of affairs lasted until the French Revolution, when the territory was subdivided into the pre-merger communes, from the 17th century on, the territory had slowly been taken back from the sea, until 1846, when the last parcel of land was dammed up. Beveren was heavily impacted by the North Sea flood of 1953, in the 1960s an 1970s, the expansion of the port of Antwerp took place on Kallo’s territory. The village of Doel was reduced from the 900 residents of only 10 years ago to some 250 currently because of the expansion of the port. Vast industrial settlements came in its wake, including a power plant in Doel. The opening of the Liefkenshoek car tunnel under the Scheldt in 1991 further improved access to the left bank, despite all those developments, Beveren has managed to keep its green areas intact and still offers picturesque landscapes to visitors. During the second part of the 20th century, the castle was abandoned and reduced to ruins within a park, in the last few years, extensive restorations have been performed, and in a few years this castle will be restored to its former glory. The Haasdonk fort was built just before World War I for Antwerp’s protection, bunkers can still be seen nearby. Beveren has kept several centuries-old houses, manors, chapels and churches, the village of Doel houses a 17th-century windmill, one of the oldest in Flanders. The polders north of Beveren offer a unique landscape, reminiscent of the southern Netherlands, the Freethiel Like many other cities in Belgium, Beveren has a collection of giant puppets who take part in most of the local festivities. The two oldest ones were baptized in 1954, wilfried Van Moer, football player Kathleen Smet, triathlon athlete Dominique Cornu, road and track cyclist Julie Gould, British swimmer K. S. K. Beveren Asterix Kieldrecht Beveren travel guide from Wikivoyage Official website, in Dutch
6.
Great Council of Mechelen
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From the 15th century onwards, the Great Council of the Netherlands at Mechelen was the highest court in the Burgundian Netherlands. It was responsible for the Dutch-, French- and German-speaking areas, in Luxembourgish the phrase mir ginn op Mechelen still means playing ones last trump card. The Grote Raad first sat in the Schepenhuis in Mechelen then, from 1616, the medieval rulers were assisted by advisers. Together with the ruler they formed the Council of State, also called the consilium or curia, gradually the council became more specialised, with separate financial, judicial and political council emerging. In the Burgundian Netherlands, the councils initially travelled with the Duke, in 1473 Duke Charles the Bold decided to establish the council in a specific location, in Mechelen. The council took on the name of the Parliament of Mechelen, after Charles death in 1477, this parliament was abolished again by Charles daughter Mary of Burgundy on the occasion of the issuing of the Great Privilege. This was the result of the constant struggle between the centralisation of the rulers and the particularism of the states, the French king was also against a parliament in Mechelen, as it would become a rival of the Parliament of Paris. Nonetheless, under Philip the Fair, the Great Council was again established in Mechelen in 1504, this time permanently, in the 16th century the territorial powers of the Great council grew. Through the establishment of authority by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor over Tournai, Utrecht, Friesland, Overijssel and Guelders, in 1526 the construction of a new Seat for the Great Council started by the architect and Master Mason Rombout II Keldermans. This Brabantine Gothic project was abandoned in 1547 —with little more than the floor built. The council was losing power and influence, after the Eighty Years War, the Dutch Republic became independent. In the Northern Netherlands, the power was taken over by the provincial council. The Great Council of Mechelen remained active in the remaining Southern Netherlands, of which France annexed the province of Artois and parts of Flanders, Hainaut. This left the Great Council only Flanders, Mechelen, Namur, the Great Council was abolished during the French Revolution. During the first French invasion in 1792, the Council moved to Roermond, where it watched over the last unoccupied lands, the composition of the Great Council was noticeably stable throughout the centuries. Of the councillors, who wore red vestments, traditionally four were clerical, all councillors were appointed by the ruler from a list of candidates of the Council itself. They had to be licentiate or doctor in law at one of the universities in the rulers lands, the following people were council members, Jan I Carondelet Jan II Carondelet Nicolaas Everaerts, president. Jeroen van Busleyden Jean Alphonse, 1st Count de Coloma Viglius Christinaeus, filips Wielant Jean Thadee de Grouff Jean Joseph de Vreven Corneel Janssens Hujoel Claude Ignace de Febure Auguste de Steenhault François Alexander de Steenhault
7.
Spanish Netherlands
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Spanish Netherlands, French, Pays-Bas espagnols) was the collective name of States of the Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries, held in personal union by the Spanish Crown from 1581 to 1714. This region comprised most of modern Belgium and Luxembourg, as well as parts of northern France, the Imperial fiefs of the former Burgundian Netherlands had been inherited by the Austrian House of Habsburg from the extinct House of Valois-Burgundy upon the death of Mary of Burgundy in 1482. The Seventeen Provinces formed the core of the Habsburg Netherlands which passed to the Spanish Habsburgs upon the abdication of Emperor Charles V in 1556. When part of the Netherlands separated to form the autonomous Dutch Republic in 1581 and his granddaughter Mary had confirmed a number of privileges to the States by the Great Privilege signed in 1477. After the government takeover by her husband Archduke Maximilian I of Austria, Maximilian prevailed with the support of Duke Albert III of Saxony and his son Philip the Handsome could assume the rule over the Habsburg Netherlands in 1493. The Habsburgs often used the term Burgundy to refer to their lands, actually until 1795. In 1522 Emperor Charles V concluded a treaty with his younger brother Archduke Ferdinand I of Habsburg, whereby the House of Habsburg split into an Austrian. By the Pragmatic Sanction of 1549, Charles declared the Seventeen Provinces a united, the Seventeen Provinces, de jure still fiefs of the Holy Roman Empire, from that time on de facto were ruled by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs as part of the Burgundian heritage. Philips despotism and his stern Counter-Reformation measures sparked the Dutch Revolt in the mainly Calvinist Netherlandish provinces, the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs could only retain the rule over the partly Catholic Southern Netherlands, completed after the Fall of Antwerp in 1585. Better times came, when in 1598 the Spanish Netherlands passed to Philips daughter Isabella Clara Eugenia, in the early 17th century, there was a flourishing court at Brussels. Among the artists who emerged from the court of the Archdukes, by the Treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659 the French annexed Artois and Cambrai, and Dunkirk was ceded to the English. By the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle and Nijmegen, further territory up to the current Franco-Belgian border was ceded, including Walloon Flanders, later, in the War of the Reunions and the Nine Years War, France annexed other parts of the region. During the War of the Spanish Succession, in 1706 the Habsburg Netherlands became an Anglo-Dutch condominium for the remainder of the conflict. By the peace treaties of Utrecht and Rastatt in 1713/14 ending the war, the Southern Netherlands fell back to the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy forming the Austrian Netherlands
8.
Virgin and Child (Rubens)
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The Virgin and Child is a painting by Rubens, commissioned in 1604 and completed between 1608 and 1621. It was seized by France in 1803 and is now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts Tours and it was commissioned by Anne Antheunis, widow of Alexander I Goubau, grand almoner of Antwerp, shortly after her husbands death. She intended is as an ex voto for their joint funeral monument, then in Italy, Rubens only began the work on his return to Flanders in 1608, including a posthumous portrait of Alexandre-Jean and one of Anne from life. It was complete by 1621, the date of Annes death
