35. Portrait miniatures

In 1562 Philip II founded a university at Douai in the French-speaking part of his realm, in order to try and stem the trek of Roman Catholic students to France, a dangerous country from the religious point of view. Although the university became very popular, its students moved on to France afterwards, notably to Paris and Orléans. It is unknown if Cornelius van Berchem followed this pattern, but he did study at Douai, as is evident from the life painting of his portrait in 1575. He was then 21 and, to judge from the scar underneath his right eye, well acquainted with the art of duelling, from which he had not escaped unscathed. The portrait was painted in an album amicorum that was slightly outside the accepted album tradition at the time. It did not belong to a student, culling contributions for his album during an academic trip around the famous European universities, but to a lecturer in law at Douai, who wanted to keep the memory of a number of his students alive by collecting their portraits and contributions. It was quite customary for students of noble families to have their contributions embellished by coats of arms painted by skilled painters at their own cost, but curiously enough the custom of having oneself portrayed was probably restricted to Douai. So far four albums are known with portraits painted at Douai. No fewer than three of these are in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek collections, including the most beautiful of all, the album amicorum of the Guelders nobleman Jacob van Bronckhorst van Batenburg (1553-1582), still clad in a richly tooled binding that was in all probability made at Douai. The album made for Franck can, alas, not claim such perfection, and is, in fact, incomplete. When it first appeared on the market, in 1982, there were still 39 painted portraits, but it fell into the hands of an Italian antiquarian bookseller, who tried to sell the portraits one by one. When the Koninklijke Bibliotheek acquired it in 1993 there were only 24 left. Nevertheless it remains a valuable item, also because the majority of the archives of Douai university have been lost and this kind of albums contains interesting information about the number and the origin of the students in the early period of this educational institution.

Literature

• Miniatura gotico rinascimentale. Torino 1984, no. 28-31 
• Alba amicorum. Vijf eeuwen vriendschap op papier gezet. Maarssen, 's-Gravenhage 1990, no. 7.