Pompa Introitus Honori Serenissimi Principis Ferdinandi Austriaci Hispaniarum Infantis S.R.E. Card. Belgarum Et Burgundionum Gubernatoris, Etc. A S.P.Q. Antverp. Decreta Et Adornata; Cum mox à nobilissimâ ad Norlingam partâ Victoriâ, Antverpiam Auspicatissimo Adventu suo bearet, XV. Kal. Maii, Ann. M.DC.XXXV. Arcus, Pegmata, Iconesq; à Pet. Paulo Rubenio, Equite, inventas & delineatas Inscriptionibus & Elogiis ornabat, libroq; Commentario illustrabat Casperius Gevartius I.C. & Archigrammatæus Antverpianus. Accessit Laurea Calloana, eodem Auctore descripta.
Antverpiæ,: Veneunt Exemplaria Apud Theod. A Tulden, Qui Iconum Tabulas ex Archetypis Rubenianis delineavit et sculpsit. Cum privilegio., (1641.)
Physical Description
[8], 189, [13] p., t.pl. frontis. (port.), [37] pl. (six dble.): illus.; 550 mm. (Broadsheet.)
General Note
The list, 'Tabularum Series', calls for a total of 39 plates - including the title-plate and the frontispiece portrait. The plates are not numbered, but each carries the number of the page next to which it is to be bound (viz. pp. 5, 7, 9, 11, 11, 15, 17, 19, 22, 25, 26, 33, 33, 43, 51, 65, 93, 94, 96, 99, 99, 108, 108, 117, 117, 143, 147, 147, 151, 155, 159, 159, 162, 162, 169, 172, 174). The six double plates face pages 11, 43, 51, 65, 172, 174.
Contents
[T.pl., dedic.] - Præfatio Ad Lectorem - Tabulæ Præliminaris, Sive Frontispicii Brevis Explicatio - [Frontis. (port.)] - [Text with pl.] - Index Rerum Memorabilium Et Observationum, Quæ In Hoc Opere Continentur - Tabularum Series - Omissa Quædam Suis Locis Interserenda - De Pompa Introitus ... Epigramma - Censura; [colophon].
Responsibility Note
The title-plate is signed as designed by Peter Paul Rubens; the frontispiece portrait, as drawn by T. van Thulden and engraved by I. Neeffs. Most other plates are signed as designed by Rubens and drawn, engraved and printed by T. a Thulden.
In-text illustrations are unsigned.
The printer is named in the colophon: 'Antverpiæ Excudebat Ioannes Meursius Typographus Iuratus, Anno Salutis M.DC.XLI.'
The work is dedicated by C. Gevartius to Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria.
References
J.R. Martin, The decorations for the Pompa Introitus Ferdinandi (1972) (= Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, XVI).
J. Landwehr, Splendid ceremonies: state entries and royal funerals in the Low Countries (1971).
Festivities : ceremonies and celebrations in western Europe 1500-1790 : an exhibition. Providence, Rhode Island: [Dept. of Art], Brown University, 1979. No. 43.
A survey was B. Holme, Princely feasts and festivals: five centuries (1988).
Summary Note
No publication-date is given on the title-plate. The Censura is dated 1638; the colophon and dedication, 1641.
Plates and text describe the arches, stages and decorations designed by Rubens for Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand's entry into Antwerp in 1635, as Regent of the Southern Netherlands. Rubens was assisted in devising the programme by Jan Caspar Gavaerts; who also provided the commentary for the present engravings by Theodoor van Thulden. In-text illustrations show chiefly Roman coins and medals.
Thulden's engravings capture something of the range and color of Rubens's work; but some critics have felt that they do not integrate as well with the text of the book as woodcuts (similar to those of his regular woodcutter Christopher Jegher) might have done.
Some of Rubens's preparatory sketches survive at Antwerp and in St. Petersburg.
Binding Note
19th-century half green calf, green papered boards; red morocco spine-label lettered 'Rubens' P.P. Pompa Ferdinandi Austriaci', spine lettered 'R.A.' and '1635'.