Peter Paul Rubens / Otto van Veen / Franciscus Haraeus - Princes of Brabant and the Low Countries - 1623

1623 FIRST EDITION ON THE HISTORY OF THE PRINCES OF BRABANT, BELGIUM AND THE NETHERLANDS by Franciscus Haraeus or Franciscus Verhaer (1555-1631), a historian and cartographer from the Low Countries. Three books in two volumes, with 46 full-page illustrations, 2 by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) and 44 copper engravings by Otto van Veen (1556-1629), height 335 x width 225 mm (13.2 by 8.9 inches), a small masterpiece of the Flemish Baroque. All the illustrations are intact, extremely detailed, the two volumes have period bindings and are in excellent condition. The books tells the history and events of the Low Countries and starts with the portrait of Pepijn van Landen also known as Pepin I of Landen (580-640), continues with Charles Martel (688-741), Charlemagne (748-814), and ends with Archduke Albert VII of Austria (1559-1621) and Queen Isabella Clara Eugenia (1566-1633) rulers of the Spanish Netherlands in the Low Countries and northern France. The work describes also the Dutch revolt against the Spanish kings including Philip II (1527-1598) and the birth and expansion of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. References; World Cat OCLC n°01746543 & 5149412; USTC n°1003299; Karen Lee Bowen and D. Imhof, De boekillustratie ten tijde van de Moretussen (Antwerp: Museum Plantin-Moretus, 1996) Reference: p. 131, 37a-c; Schneevoogt 1873 / Catalogue des estampes gravées d'après P.P.Rubens (197.25); Corpus Rubenianum XXI / Rubens. Book Illustrations and Title Pages (51-52); Hollstein / Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts c.1450-1700 (218.II and 383-417); Short Title Catalogus Vlaanderen n°6607784; Catalogue de l'oeuvre de Rubens en gravure et en photographie esposé au Musée des beaux-arts à Anvers. Max Rooses, Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Imprimerie Buschmann, 1890; Universitätsbibliothek Freiburg i. Br., H 7782,m-1/2; Julius S. Held, ed. Rubens and the Book: Title Pages by Peter Paul Rubens. Williamstown: Williams College, Chapin Library. 1977; Van der Aa, A.J. (1867). TWO VOLUMES AND COMPLETE FIRST EDITION.

The two elaborate frontispieces by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) are in the collection of the British Museum here; https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1858-0417-1222 and here https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1858-0417-1223

Haraeus' work is mainly based on the work of Van Meteren, Joachim Hopperus and Florentius van der Haer. The book is printed by Balthasar I Moretus (1574-1641) the head of the Officina Plantiniana, the printing company established by his grandfather Christophe Plantin in Antwerp in 1555. Impressive are the two illustrated titles engraved by Cornelis Galle the Elder (1576-1650) and Lucas Vorsterman the Elder (1595–1675) after drawings by Peter Paul Rubens, two elaborate frontispieces framed with architecture, decorations, gods and divinities, monsters and grotesque figures. The two volumes contains also 44 other copper engravings that reveal Van Veen's talent in combining the Flemish pictorial tradition with Italian Mannerism. This is a well illustrated history of the nobles who have reigned in the Brabant and Low Countries area in chronological order (1.385 pages). The story starts from Pepin I of Landen the Elder, was a Frankish official and the Mayor of the Merovingian kingdom of Austrasia and great part of Brabant from 623 to 633 and from 639 to 640. He was the progenitor of the Pepinid dynasty, which linked to that of the Arnulfings giving life to that of the Carolingians. He is revered as a saint by the Catholic Church. The Duke of Brabant (Hertog van Brabant) was the ruler of the Duchy of Brabant. The title was created by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1183. It developed from the Landgraviate of Brabant and formed the heart of the historic Low Countries, part of the Burgundian Netherlands from 1430 and of the Habsburg Netherlands from 1482, until it was partitioned after the Dutch revolt. The book ends with Albert VII or Albrecht VII, the ruling Archduke of Austria and his wife, Isabella Clara Eugenia, sovereigns of the Habsburg and Spanish Netherlands. There is an alphabetical index and register with all the sources and characters cited. Haraeus dedicated this work to Queen Isabella Clara Eugenia (1566-1633).

TITLE: Francisci Haraei Annales ducum seu principum Brabantiae totiusq Belgii. Tomi tres... (Franciscus Haraeus' Annals of the Dukes or Princes of Brabant and All of Belgium: Three Volumes...)
AUTHORS: Franciscus Haraeus or Franciscus Verhaer (1555-1631). Illustrations by Paul Rubens (1577-1640), Otto van Veen (1556-1629), Cornelis Galle the Elder (1576-1650) and Lucas Vorsterman the Elder (1595–1675)
PUBLISHER: Ex Officina Plantiniana Apud Balthasaris Moreti (Balthasar Moretus and the Plantinian Workshop)
DATE: MDCXXIII (1623), printed in Antwerp, text in Latin

DESCRIPTION: In Folio size, height 335 x width 225 mm (13.2 by 8.9 inches). Pages [36], 707, [116]; [8], 678, [117], the book contains also 45 full-page engravings by Paul Rubens and Otto van Veen, 3 books in 2 volumes, COMPLETE WORK. Elaborate frontispieces by Rubens and framed with architecture, decorations, gods and divinities, monsters and grotesque figures. Original antique binding of the period with small defects, but solid and clean vellum, well preserved, with titles on the spines. Text and illustrations are clean, intact and well engraved, rare small stains or defects. All in very good overall condition. COMPLETE FIRST EDITION.

AUTHOR: Franciscus Haraeus or Franciscus Verhaer; also known as Frans Verhaer), (1555-1631), was a theologian, historian, and cartographer from the Low Countries. He is best known for his history of the origins of the Dutch Revolt, written from a Catholic perspective but without polemical bias. He was one of the first cartographers to make thematic maps and globes. Around 1578, he was ordained a priest and continued his studies at the University of Douai, founded in 1559 by Philip II, which was a stronghold of the Catholic Counter-Reformation. Besides his teaching duties, Haraeus traveled extensively. He journeyed to Sweden, Germany, France, and Italy. Biographie Nationale de Belgique XXIX (Bruxelles, 1957) 648-65 (Raymond Bijl); E.O.G. Haitsma Mulier en A. van der Lem, Repertorium van geschiedschrijvers in Nederland 1500-1800 (Den Haag 1990) 171-172; "Franciscus Haraeus". Biographisch woordenboek der Nederlanden. Vol. 8. Haarlem. pp. 164–166.

ILLUSTRATOR: Otto van Veen (1556-1629), also known by his Latinized name Otto Venius or Octavius Vaenius, was a painter, draughtsman, and humanist active primarily in Antwerp and Brussels in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. He is known for running a large studio in Antwerp, producing several emblem books, and for being, from 1594 until 1598, Peter Paul Rubens' teacher. His role as a classically educated humanist artist (a pictor doctus), reflected in the Latin name by which he is often known, Octavius Vaenius, was influential on the young Rubens, who would take on that role himself.Jan Collaert II or Hans Collaert II (1561-1620) was a Flemish engraver and printmaker working in Antwerp around the turn of the 17th century. Jan Collaert was the son of Jan Collaert I the Elder and the brother of Adriaen Collaert. He trained under his brother Adriaen as well as with leading Antwerp engravers Philip Galle and Gerard de Jode.

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