Theatrum Pictorium, or Theatre of Painting, is a short-hand name of a book published in the 1660s by David Teniers the Younger for his employer, the Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria. It catalogs 243 Italian paintings in the Archduke's collection of over 1300 paintings. The paintings are reproduced by engravings made by various engravers after reduced-size copies (modelli) created by Teniers. David Teniers' brother Abraham Teniers was involved in organizing the publication of the work.[1] A second edition with page numbers was published in 1673.
Modello for the frontispiece for the Theatrum Pictorium, by Teniers
Before moving back to Vienna in 1656, Archduke Leopold Wilhelm kept his art collection in his palace in Brussels. Teniers depicted the galleries in which the collection was displayed in various compositions which are now spread across various collections.[2]
Gallery of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in Brussels (I)
At the end of his governorship in 1656, the Archduke and his collection relocated to the Stallburg. This archducal collection now forms the heart of Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum.
During his tenure as keeper of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm's collection, Teniers undertook the preparation and publication of the first ever illustrated catalog of old master paintings.[3] His brother Abraham Teniers was involved in organizing the publication of the work.[1] The first official publication of the work in bound book format was published by Hendrick Aertssens in Brussels in 1660 (although the title page states the date as 1658).
The title page of the book refers to it as 'Hoc Amphiteatrum Picturarum' ('This amphitheatre of pictures').[4] The publication is now often referred to as Theatrum pictorium ('Theatre of Paintings').[1] The cover of the Theatrum pictorium shows a bust portrait of the Archduke with a dedication to the Archduke as well as introductions in Latin, French, Spanish and Dutch. The title page clarifies that Teniers funded the publication project out of his own pocket.[5] The Theatrum pictorium was published in four languages (Latin, French, Dutch, and Spanish) and further editions appeared in 1673 and 1688 and in the 18th century. The last edition was published in 1755.[6][7]
Teniers used full colour in the modelli, rather than grisaille. This could mean that he intended these reproductions to function as independent records of some of these Italian paintings in the Archduke's collection. From the many modelli, which have been preserved, it is obvious that Teniers's copies constitute a true record of the originals even while he left out details and painted them in his typical fluid and transparent manner. The engraving of the catalog by engravers who worked after the modelli, not the originals, was started by 1656.[5] In the 17th century there existed no efficient method for inverting images. As a result, most of the prints in the catalog are reverse images of the originals.[6] Each print gives the name of the author of the original work on the left hand side (indicated by the letter 'p' for 'pinxit', Latin for 'painted by') and the engraver of the print on the right hand side (indicated by the letter 's' for 'sculpsit', Latin for 'engraved by'). Some editions also indicated the original dimensions of the paintings.[7]
The publication comprised 243 engravings of important Italian paintings in the art collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm. While the project was initially planned to include the entire collection of the Archduke, the Archduke returned to Vienna before the project was completed. As a result, ultimately only a series of 246 plates was produced, of which 243 depicted about half of the Italian paintings then owned by the Archduke).
Teniers made a list of the painters in the collection as part of the forward to his 1673 catalog:
Of all the painters, Michaelina Wautier (who was not an Italian painter) and Madonna Fitta de Milano are the only women whose work is documented in the Archduke's collection.
Teniers's modelli and the Theatrum pictorium serve as a record for some important paintings the whereabouts of which are currently unknown. For instance, the modelli in the Metropolitan Museum of Art of the Old Age in Search of Youth attributed by Teniers to Correggio and the Adam and Eve after Padovanino are the most important records of these lost paintings.[5]
The Theatrum Pictorium had an important impact on the manner in which collections were organised, appreciated and published and continued to be used as a reference book during the 18th century.[3]
The works listed in the Theatrum pictorium that survive are generally in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, while the modelli or small models for the engravings have been lost or are in other collections. The engravings and the modelli were inscribed with the dimensions of the original paintings, though their characteristics were often adjusted to take advantage of the maximum illustration possibilities of the album page size. The dimensions were in the form "4 alta 3 lata", which means 4 palm-widths high and 3 palm-widths wide, such as the case with the engraving after Bassano'sBoy with a Flute:
Example of a painting by Francesco Bassano the Younger in the Kunsthistorisches Museum
Example of a modello by David Teniers the Younger after Bassano, also in the Kunsthistorisches Museum
Example of an engraving from the first, 1660, edition of the Theatrum Pictorium by Jan van Troyen after the Bassano painting
List of engravings (matched to painting or modello)
^ abErnst Vegelin van Claerbergen (editor), David Teniers and the Theatre of Painting, Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery, 2006
^Th. van Lerius, Biographies d'Artistes Anversois at P. Kockx, Antwerp, 1880, p. 96. Full title is SERENISS. PRINCIPI / LEOPOLDO GVILLIEL: / Archiduci Austr. etc. / Dno. suo clement: / HOC AMPHITHEATRVM / PICTVRARVM / ex suæ Serent: archetypis / delineatum sua manu / dedicauit / Ao. MDXLVIII / Underneath this: Dauid Teniers suæ Ser: Pictor domest: Underneath this are some further verses as follows: / Palladis ingenium est Leopoldo fortiter Ille et / Suauiter hinc armis, artibus inde vacat. / Arma aliàs : nunc artifices circum ordine formas / Ponitc; et hsec Illi nempe corona placet. / Arte alij vultus, médius non-pingitur vllâ; / Obsequio tantum seruiit ista manus. (in French)
^ abcCharles Sterling, Fifteenth- to Eighteenth-century European Paintings: France, Central Europe, the Netherlands, Spain, and Great Britain, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1998, p. 129-137
Complete set of images from the 1660s version with associated metadata listing titles (not in the 1673 book), original artist names (note that the engravings reflect the period attributions by Teniers, while some paintings have since been reattributed), page numbers, and engravers in the Slovak National Gallery
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Example of a painting by Francesco Bassano the Younger in the Kunsthistorisches Museum
Example of a modello by David Teniers the Younger after Bassano, also in the Kunsthistorisches Museum
Example of an engraving from the first, 1660, edition of the Theatrum Pictorium by Jan van Troyen after the Bassano painting
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Media related to Theatrum Pictorium at Wikimedia Commons