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Two Drawings of the Ftes at Binche for Charles V and Philip (II) 1549

Author(s): Albert Van de PutReviewed work(s):Source: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 3, No. 1/2 (Oct., 1939 - Jan.,1940), pp. 49-55Published by: The Warburg InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/750190.

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TWO DRAWINGS OF THE FtTES AT BINCHEFOR CHARLES V AND PHILIP (II) i549By Albert Van de Puts a reprisal for the burning of the royal hunting-box of Folembrayin Picardy by an imperial force in 1554, the wrecking of QueenMary of Hungary's palace of Binche, on the Hainault frontier, was nodoubt bound to follow. The affair cost each side several buildings andthe aggressor,at least, much architecture,the retaliationby Henri II deprivingBelgium of possibly its most significant group of early Renaissance con-structions. Knowledge of the domestic work of Jacques Dubrceucq ofMons became virtually a matter of records.The principal Italianizer of the Southern Netherlands, the sculptor-architect Dubroeucq (1500/I10-1584), had returned from Rome to hisbirthplace in 1535, produced the choir-stalls and screen of Sainte-Waudrubetween 1536 and 1548, and was by 1545 the Regent's architect. AmongDubrceucq's edifices that were ruined in 1554 Hedickel enumerates thecastle of Boussu, rebuilt for the Count, Jean de Hennin, 1539-1544; thepalace of Binche erected 1545-1549 upon the site of an old palace of theCounts of Hainault, in a domain given to the Regent by her brother theEmperor; her hunting-lodge and farm of Mariemont (1546), and the oldtown hall of Beaumont (1548-1549). When it is added that nothing remainsof Dubroeucq's edifice of Binche but some sub-structures of the rebuildingafter the raid of 1554, finally demolished in 1704, and that its graphic recordsconsist of a rough plan (given by Hedicke) and an old view (not reproducedin his work), the importance of two coloured drawings of palatial scenes that

turn out to have for their background the palace, and in one instance itsprincipal apartment, is clear. The drawings are here reproduced bycourtesy of their owner, Major Cyril Drummond, from his collection atCadland. Both compositions depict events that took place during therenowned fetes held at Binche between the 22nd and the 3oth August 1549,in the course of Prince Philip (II) of Spain's inaugural progress through theLow Countries, as they are described in the book of the tour written by aSpanish eye-witness, Juan Cristoval Calvete de Estrella.2 At the palacelately completed by Dubroeucq, Mary of Hungary entertained on thisoccasion, besides the Prince, her nephew, the Emperor Charles V, hisfather, and the widow of Francis I, her sister Eleanor, a resident in Belgium1 R. Hedicke, Jacques Dubroeucq on Mons.Ein niederldndischer eisteraus derFriihzeitdesitalienischenEinflusses, Strasbourg, I904. AFrench translation : "Jacques Dubrceucq deMons. Traduit de l'Allemand par E. Dony,"Bruxelles, I9I12, was also issued as theAnnales,vol. XL, of the Mons Cercle arch0o-logique. Caps. VII, VIII, and the docu-ments, pp. 256-280 of the original work;or in the Belgian ed. pp. 398-434, relateto Dubrceucq's work at Binche. The spell-ing of the name of the artist with a diphthong

has been adopted here.2 J. C. Calvete de Estrella, El felicissimoviaje d'el... Principe Don Phelippe... desdeEspania(etc.), Anvers (M. Nucio), I552.A reprint by the " Sociedad Espaniola deBibliofilos " appeared in Madrid, I930, in2 vols. Little is known of Calvete, who wasstill in the Low Countries in 1555 and mayperhaps have returned to Spain whenCharles V made his lastjourney thither in1556; cf. D. Miguel Artigas in the prefaceto the I930 reprint, op. cit.49

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50 ALBERT VAN DE PUTsince 1547. The first composition shows the Emperor, his son and the twoQueens presiding at a masque played in a grandiose Renaissance apartmentthat is in fact Dubrceucq's Great Hall on the upper floor of the palace(P1.8a); the other, the entertainment of the "Enchanted Chamber" (P1.8b)probably designed by him, that came as a finale to the Regent's hospitality.As will be seen, the correspondence between these compositions-thefirst more especially-and Calvete's narrative is not entirely complete.As might be expected of one who set out to chronicle the events of a weekcrowded with pageantry, tournaments and chivalro-dramatic interludes,Calvete's background is not always clearly described and he could omit tomention, for example, such a feature as the gallery in the Great Hall whichthe artist, on the other hand, is less likely to have invented. The latterin turn has his reticences. Whereas the distinguished cortZege f grandeesand knights that joined Philip in his progressfrom Spain (begun NovemberI548) by Genoa, Munich and Heidelberg, reaching Brusselsat the beginningof April, were entertained, whether as actors or spectators, at Binche, mostof the courtiers have to be imagined in the same drawing as lining the unseenside of the hall. Other discrepancies in detail between the drawings,Calvete's descriptions and the extracts from the building accounts quotedby Hedicke, will be noticed below. They go to negative the suppositionthat Calvete's text served as a guide to the artist; and Binche was a ruin-with (says Brant6me) Henri Deux's Souvenez-vouseFolembray,olle Mariescratched on its walls-two years after the appearance of the former's Elfelicissimo viajed'el... PrincipeDon Phelippe,at Antwerp in 1552.In regard to the interior seen in the first composition, the Hall cannothave existed in any Belgian palace of the old Burgundian period, whetherin the 'Rihour' at Lille, the 'Keizershof' (of Margaret of York and, later,Maximilian I), or as part of the 'H6tel de Savoie' (of Margaret of Savoy,d. 153o) at Mechlin. Similarly, the points which serve to identify it asthe upper 'Grande Salle' of Dubroeucq at Binche formally preclude itsconsideration as a hall in one of the lesser known palaces of the BelgianRenaissance, such as that of Turnhout, or of the old ducal palace at Brussels,destroyed by fire in the early seventeenth century; or even Dubroeucq'shall at Boussu,which is recordedas circular in plan, with a statue of Herculesby Rosso for its chief ornamental feature. The palaces Dubrceucq designedfor Brussels and Ghent were never carried out.

A Masque n the "GrandeSalle d'enhault"of the Palaceof Binche(I549)This took place on the 28th of August.1 The male personages beneaththe canopy are Charles V and, on his extreme left, Philip. They bothwear the Fleece and both are in black, Philip with red hose. For Charlesat his post-MUihlbergperiod, as for Philip, aged twenty-two, with the sparsebeard seen also in the Buckingham Palace three-quarter length,2 aboutI548, the characterization is less than ordinary. Better realized and withmarked individuality of pose are the figures of the Emperor's two sisters.1 Calvete de Estrella, op. cit., p. 199.2 Exposition de la Toison d'Or. Bruges, 1907, Catalogue, No. io4; repr. Chefs-d'(Euvre, 1908, pl. XXXV.

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TWO DRAWINGS OF THE FETES AT BINCHE 51The Regent, Mary of Hungary (1501-1558), between Charles and Philip,appears, as in her portraits in widow's garb (1526-), with a bonnet, thewhite ends of which hang down in front (cf. Gallery of Budapest; ArtsDecoratifs, Paris; the Cardon portrait, etc.)' On the extreme left isEleanor (1498-1558), widow of Francis I, to whose figure in black or darkbrown with grey skirt and white wimple the artist has succeeded in givinga resemblance to her aunt, Margaret of Savoy (d. 1530) in the Carvalhoand other likenesses taken during her widowhood (1504-).2 Nor is thisperhaps quite accounted for by the existence of such a picture of Eleanoras the crayon of the Clouet school at Chantilly, which shows her wearingthe same variety of headdress.3The masque acted before Charles, Philip and the Queens on thisoccasion had 28 players. Allowing for the inclusion of the halberdiers onthe left, as well as the omission of certain drummers who heralded theentrance of different groups of the masque players, the composition agreesas to the number of actors with what Calvete describes. According toCalvete4 it consisted of some four or five episodes, of which the artist hasselected from the second, fourth and fifth the elements of a tableau that isalso a climax. Next, and taken in the order of the narrative, the picturesupposesthat episodes (i) and (iii) have been already acted, while perhaps (ii)may be described as having just terminated. In (i) a quadrille was dancedby four knights and as many dames, the former of whom were later (iii)engaged in combat with as many newcomers. The second episode (ii)takes place in the foreground : a "German" dance by two pairs of players,the males wearing old men's masks, long coats, hats of gold cloth, andunarmed. If the men correspond fairly well with what Calvete particu-larizes here, as much cannot be claimed for theirs partners in purple gownsnear the centre front of the composition, who are stated to have been dressedlike the first four, i. e., the female partners in the quadrille (i), here seenescorted out of the Hall in the left middle distance. However this may be,it is the fourth episode and its sequel that supply the main action represented.In (iv) eight savages entered in armour covered with cloth of gold of greenand yellow with escamas or scales, and feathers in their casques. Theeffect in the drawing is of pale green tights with blue "engrailed" stripesforming scales, and yellow knee-bands. These fought the two groups offour knights each who had entered in episodes (i) and (ii); the combat isseen-with the savages forming the near rank-in the right middle distance,and its upshot-the carrying off of the four dames from the knights whohad in (iii) disputed for their possession-balances the composition on theleft. Here something of a discrepancyshould be noticed as between drawingand narrative. According to Calvete an abduction of the dames by thesavages themselves was attempted during the combat of the knights withone another; whereas he describes the decisive coup of the kind as madelater by esquires (escuderos, . e. of the savages). The artist has depicted

1 L. Roblot-Delondre, Portraits d'Infantes.XVI siecle, 1913, pls. 20-23.2 M. Bruchet, Marguerite d'Autriche, du-chesse de Savoie, 1927, p. 286, with repro-

ductions. For the Carvalho portrait, Chefs-d'(Euvre, I908, pl. XIX.3 Roblot-Delondre, op. cit., pl. 14.4 Calvete de Estrella, op. cit. (1552), p. 199.

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52 ALBERT VAN DE PUTthe abduction by figures with crests and one of them, a sword, the exactcounterpartsof the savages seen fighting on the right. Calvete may be saidto revel in sumptuary details, so that it will be necessary to summarizehere what he and the drawings each record. As in legendary or allegoricaltapestry compositions of the period the women's dress was retrospectivein style. Calvete remarks upon their very peculiar and ancient headgear,tall and pointed, covered with jewelled white veils that floated behind;their skirts a la antiguaof crimson satin with broad stripes of brocadoelo;gowns with plieguesentornoflounces? round them), short in front and broadat the back, with trains. Brocado, igured silk, the raised pattern in goldor silver thread, or tela de oro,cloth of gold of various hues, are the most-mentioned fabrics. All the dresses except those of the savages are tingedwith gold; the drawing also shows the red skirtbelow the overtgown and thehenninheaddress. The respective groups of four knights, combined to formthe further row of combatants, wore, the first (and nearest) of them, leathernjerkins, over their armour long brocadoloaks lined with cloth of gold, withdeep trippets trimmed with black and white velvet, and helms with tallfeathers; the other, leathern jerkins, capes of gold cloth and large colouredplumes. In the drawing the further four knights are in green with redslashes and green capes. Calvete credits the eight savages with casqueshaving crests with very small feathers; not so the drawing.The architecture of the Hall next requires comment. Calvete mentionstwo such apartments-a large one upon the ground floor of the building,hung with tapestries of Roman histories, and another on the upper floor,entered from a spacious corridor with pictures, having windows looking onto the courtyard. It measured Ioo feet in length by 45 in breadth, or aboutthe size of the Great Hall of Hampton Court ( o6 x 40 feet). From thispoint the essentials of Calvete's descriptionx of the GrandeSalle d'enHault(as the accounts term it) may be resumed thus:A very spacious hall, entered by a door half-way along the corridor,with pillars and architrave of grey marble, and two other similar doors.In the opposite wall, large windows overlooking a garden. Over (sobre)the windows, three pictures: Prometheus fastened to Mount Caucasus,an eagle devouring his liver; Sisyphus scaling the rock; Tantalus withthe water and apples eluding him.21 The "fiestas de Bins" occupy Calvete,1552 ed., pp. I82-205v and reprint, II,1-69, respectively. Passagesquoted in trans-lation here will be found in either editionas follows (reprint references in brackets) :the palace, pp. I82v-I85v (II, pp. 3-I1);entrance and paintings, p. I82v (3) ;tapestries, pp. I82v-183v (3-4); fireplaces,p. I83v (5); Apollo and Marsyas, dais,balustrade, p. 183v (6); tapestry of 'Pride,'etc., vaulting, pp. 183v-I84 (6). The datafrom the building accounts here given inbrackets below the extracts from Calvete,are printed by Hedicke, op. cit., fromp. 261; Belgian ed., p. 407 : docts. 24,

32, chimneys, terms; 34, panelling, trophies;63, balusters.2 The Prado Gallery Nos. 465 and 466are copies; cf. Crowe and Cavalcaselle, TheLife and Times of Titian, 2. ed., II, 187;repr. Klassiker erKunst Titian,1904, p. I04-Of heroic size, the originals, in height about7 ft. 9 in. (Sisyphus) and 8 ft. 3 in. ("Pro-metheus"), were commissionedby Charles Vat Augsbourg in I547-8. Sefior P. Beroqui,"Tiziano en el Museo del Prado," in Boletinde la Soc. Espafiolade Excursiones,XXXIV,1926, P. 247, taxed Calvete with a crassmythological error in identifying the figureof Tityus as Prometheus.

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Drawings of the Fetes at Binche for Charles V and Philip (II) 1549.Cadland, Cyril Drummond Coll.

a-Masque in Dubrucq's Great Hall (p. 5o) b-The "Encha

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TWO DRAWINGS OF THE FETES AT BINCHE 53(The series of paintings by Titian, only two of which are shown inthe drawing, on the right wall, were in 1554 removed fromBinche on theapproach of the French. They were taken by Mary of Hungary to

Spain in 1566, and deposited in the Alcazar of Madrid, to be laterdestroyed in a fire.)On the other side, six tapestries, the subjects: Gluttony, Luxury,Anger, Envy, Avarice and Sloth.(Omitted in the drawings, these hangings appear to have belongedto a set of the "Seven Deadly Sins," of which the subject 'Pride' appearslater as forming the back of the throne).At the ends of the Hall, fireplace of 'jaspe' with 'medals' of whitemarble, one of Hadrian and one of Casar, with Latin distychs below.(These "manteaux de cheminees" were of stone of "Ransses," i. e.Rance. Dubrceucq was responsible for the "armoyries d'albastre etchappeaux de triomphes"' upon them, also for the fitting of alabasterand marble round the medallions).Above the medal of Hadrian, a picture of the Contest of Apolloand Marsyas at playing the viol.(The drawing unaccountably represents the medallion at that endof the Hall with an inscription referring it to Vespasian. Calvete,on the other hand, forgot to mention the gallery where the drawingshows this one of the Marsyas subjects.)At the opposite end, a picture of Marsyas flayed and attached to apine tree, over the Caesar medallion.At the end containing the fireplace already described was a high,wide dais of three steps surrounded by a baluster, from which theEmperor, Queens and Prince witnessed spectacles, etc.From that end a narrower dais ran along the window side of theHall, from which a royal banquet could be viewed.In the angle made by the two daises and the fireplace and windowwall, a hanging of 'Pride,' upon it (sic) a rich back-cloth of gold withfigures : Enceladus, Phaeton, Plegias, king of the Lapithxa. It had alsotwo shields with the arms of the King and Queen of Hungary.The ceiling and woodwork of this royal Hall are a vaulting of oakmarvellously contrived.(The panelling was executed by Philippe de Nivelle, "escrignier";the 1548 accounts record the payment to him of 944 1. t. " . . . pour...durant l'ann6e avoir lambrochyet la grande salle hault en la forme . . .que maistreJacques du Broeucq... luy en a baill6 le patron, si commede la haulteur d'une almarche avecq mollures, teste de lyons et chieures fenestres au lez du jardin . . . et despoulles representant les faitsd'armes entre les pilers oix sont les termes."2 The principal featuresof the wainscoting-mouldings, lion-heads and the trophies of armsbetween the pilasters 'where the terms are'-are sufficientlyplain in thedrawing.)

1 Hedicke, op. cit., p. 261, doct. 24. Thearms show (i) the imperial eagle and (ii)a shield which, if properly partitioned, hasdoubtfully correct tricks of the chargesborne by the contemporary Hapsburgs.2 Hedicke, op. cit., p. 264, doct. 34-

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54 ALBERT VAN DE PUTOne of the last of the Binche accounts which seems worth quoting inconnexion with this apartment is the payment to Michael van Coxcie inDecember 1549 for paintings, including four figures in fresco, and the

lansgheneckortier,also the landscape, together with the fireplaces,windows,and the designs for the same.' Here, as in other of the documents, variousqueries suggest themselves in regard to the details presented by the drawing,a discussionof which would carry us far beyond the limit set for the presentpaper. It may be noted, however, that Hedicke's uncertainty whetherthe vaulting of the Great Hall was contrived in the Gothic style or by meansof Renaissance coffering2 is fully resolved by this pictorial record of theinterior. His remark also that we do not know, and, as regards thepanelling, must proceed by analogy with the other parts of the edifice,receives its commentary. The drawing is decisive concerning the floorof the Hall which, unlike those of two other principal apartments of thepalace, there is no reason to suppose was elaborately decorated withmarquetry.3 Dubroeucq's panelling, executed by Ph. de Nivelles was,it would appear, visible on the night of the masque, whereas it must betaken as hidden by the tapestries of the 'Deadly Sins' when Calvete tookdown details of the Hall.

The "EnchantedChamber"CdmaraEncantada)At midnight, 30/31 August, following a ball, Calvete's minute account4of a spectacle to which the Regent conducted the Emperor, the Prince,her sister and the other guests, substantially corroborates the drawing exceptthat here the artist has certainly deferred to the representation of plural

action in one composition. Calvete makes it clear that the three tablesladen with sweetmeats respectively in dishes of porcelain, of glass, and(the third) of elaborate confectionsentirely of sugar, appeared and descendedone at a time between the pillars of the baldacchino, to be cleared of itscontents and then vanish from sight. He describes the third (here thetopmost) table and its freight-"It was a strange thing to see a mount of'a*ucar candi' cunningly wrought with five laurels, with gilt and platedleaves, full of sugar, fruits and banderolls with shields of arms of all thestates, of coloured silk. In the centre a live squirrel and silver chain, whichalso was taken by the ladies and all the rest, and the table disappeared inan instant." Compared with the coherent astronomical wonders seen inthe picture, the planets "in their chariots," hanging steel mirrors like halfglobes each with a 'P' within a crown (i. e. within the wreaths upon thearchitrave); the royal shields of Spain; the sky filled with stars,5near whichhung lamps burning perfumed oils and reflected in mirrors-Calvete'sdescription of what he saw is not a little involved. The Regent's largesse

1 Hedicke, op. cit., p. 264, doct. 35.2 Hedicke, op. cit., p. 164.3 Hedicke, op. cit., p. 261, docts. 26 (the"grande sallette" of the Imperial apartments"tenant la grande salle"); and no. 21 (the"sallette de Marie," i. e. the Regent);cf. p. I64, and in the Belgian ed., p. 258.

4 Calvete, op. cit., (1552), pp. 204v-206v.s The draughtsman was evidently ignorantof astrology; for he reproduces the signs ofthe Zodiac in a confused order, and representsone of the "planets in their chariots" asNeptune.

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TWO DRAWINGS OF THE FETES AT BINCHE 55had been heralded by a storm, thunder and lightning, during which theEmperor, the Queens and the Prince were standing at a barrier when thesky revolved and it hailed comfits, drops of "azuhar" of roses and perfume.A mountain and a rock set against a wall (also seen in this drawing) adornedwith coral sprigs, grass and flowers, spouted wines. As in the first picture,the artist has been at pains to characterize the personages. In the centre,seen in profile, are Charles and Queen Eleanor, here (facing threequartersleft) in a blue gown over a skirt of gold. Next her on the right is the Regent,Mary, garbed as before, in conversation with a man in black with a greyfur collar, whose profile appears to be that of the Count of Boussu, Jeande Hennin,' no distant neighbour of the Regent at Binche, also one ofDubroeucq'searly patrons. The personwith his back turned to the spectator,seen nearest the Emperor, on the left, appears to be Philip of Spain. Aprelate with red sleeves in the group on the far left, though not withoutresemblance to the Bishop of Arras, Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, whohad met the Prince at Namur, must be intended for the Cardinal-Bishopof Trent, CristoforoMadruzzo (cr. I543, d. 1578), who had attended Philipon his journey from Spain.

THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE DRAWINGS OF BINCHEBy A. E. Popham

he subjects and occasions of the two drawings have been establishedwith exactness.2 I cannot hope to establish their authorship byany such precise documentary evidence. It is true that Mr. Van de Putcalls attention to a passage in the accounts for the decoration of the Castleof Binche, where Michael van Coxcie is paid for paintings, etc., "et lesdessaings" and it is tempting to connect the present drawings with theseaccounts. Coxcie may, in the course of his official duties, have been calledon to produce drawings of this type and the subject might make it difficultto recognize in them the hand of the 'Flemish Raphael,' whose work,as we know it, consists almost entirely of religious or mythological paintingsand drawings. Nevertheless Coxcie's style as it appears in the series ofdesigns for prints of the loves of Jupiter in the British Museum,3 earlierin date though they clearly are, can hardly be reconciled with that of thedrawings under consideration.One would however suppose them to be the work of some painter likeCoxcie, who occupied an official position at the court either of the Queenof Hungary, of Charles V or of Philip II. The conscientious accuracy,with which the two scenes are shown to be represented, points to the1 The Count's sepulchral effigy, possiblyby Dubroeucq, in the church of Boussu, isrepr. Hedicke, op. cit., pl. XLII, cf. p. 152.2 The drawing of the masque measures39-7 X 37-7 cm., that of the "Chambreenchant&e" 40.9 x 38.5. Both are drawnin pen and ink and brown wash, with thecostumes and accessories coloured, and are

on paper with a water mark like BriquetI893. On the verso of the masque drawingare two pen and ink sketches of a fireplaceor portico seen foreshortenedfrom below.3 Catalogue of Drawings by Dutch and FlemishArtists in the British Museum, Vol. V, 1931,p. I2, Nos. I-Io.