RKD STUDIES

As mentioned, the RKDartists database contains 1,604 Northern and Southern Netherlandish artists who travelled to Italy in the early modern period.¹ Of most of these artists, we do not know at all which routes they took from their residences in the Low Countries to the sunny south. Their biographies show only that they were still in the Low Countries at one moment and turned up somewhere in Italy the next; in fact, of some artists we only know that they were present in Italy as 'fiamminghi', without knowing at all where they came from. In their records or profiles in RKDartists, in which a map is generated via the coordinates accompanying the geographical names, their wanderings can therefore only be followed piecemeal.

Of a few artists, however, we know exactly which route they travelled, either because artist biographers were well informed or because the artist in question had made a diary of his journey that has been preserved. This is the case, for instance, of the painter and topographical draughtsman Willem Schellinks (1623-1678), who travelled through France on his way to Italy in 1663 and returned to the Republic via Germany the following year. He made the journey as the companion of the young merchant's son Jacques Thierry (1646-1709), who took a Grand Tour at his father's expense. Together, they traversed Italy to its southernmost tip. Artist biographer Arnold Houbraken (1660-1719) used Schellink's diary, which he had borrowed from engraver Arnoud van Halen (1672-1732) for his description of the artist in 'De groote schouburgh' and made a ten-page summary of the trip.² The diary, which later ended up in the Royal Library in Copenhagen (copy at the RKD), lists all the towns and hamlets the Schellinks and his protégé passed through. These places are fully included in the artist's profile in RKDartists, where the map thus shows a fairly complete picture of the journey [2].³

Like Schellinks, travelling artists usually followed the trade routes [3] and often travelled in the company of clergy, scholars, merchants and, of course, other artists. They moved alternately by ship, both over sea and inland waterways, or by carriage, covered wagon, on horseback as well as on foot. Roughly speaking, there were three common routes from the Low Countries to Italy. The first was overseas, all the way around Spain and Portugal and then across the Mediterranean, as Hendrik Vroom (1562/3-1640) did, for example; we know this from the 'Schilder-boeck' of Karel van Mander I (1548-1606), who had recorded it from the artist's mouth [4].⁴ The second route led through France, often first by sea as far as Le Havre and then up the Seine, past Rouen and Paris, and then moving through France as far as possible along the Loire and crossing the Alps, or going further south along the Rhône as far as Marseille and then sailing across the Mediterranean to Italy. The third way to get to Italy was via the German Lands, along the Rhine, after which the Swiss Alps had to be crossed. Also popular was the detour via Vienna with its famous court, after which the eastern Alps were crossed before arriving in Venice. This was the route Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627-1678) took in the early 1650s. Many artists from the Low Countries chose an outward journey through Germany and a return journey through France, or vice versa.

All of these routes had great risks: at sea there was danger of shipwreck and piracy, on land there was danger of brigands. Crossing the Alps was a problem in itself that travellers could face in various ways.⁵ Much entertaining literature has been written about the misadventures and discomforts of the adventureous trip to Italy.⁶ Although there are regular reports of unfortunate events that the travelling artists in question did not or barely survive(d),⁷ many of those – drowning, a knife wound or disease – could actually happen anywhere, according to artist biographers Van Mander and Houbraken. Before travelling, it was customary to have a will drawn up – after all, anything could happen in a couple of years. They then took the plunge, driven by wanderlust, the urge to further educate themselves professionally, learn languages, see the remains of classical antiquity with their own eyes and gain life experience.⁸

The trip to Italy could usually be made within two months,⁹ but if an artist also needed to generate income along the way, the journey often took a bit longer. Jan van Bunnick (1654-1727), for example, who had left Utrecht for Germany in the Disaster Year of 1672, took at least three years before he reached Italy, as he found work en route for a longer period, first in Frankfurt and later in Speyer. After wandering around Italy and serving eight years with Count Francesco II d'Este in Modena, he travelled back home through France, armed with a travel pass from the count, exactly reversed to the journey of Willem Schellinks.

Not enough research has yet been done on the activity of female artists from the Low Countries,¹⁰ let alone their mobility, with a few exceptions.¹¹ There is reason to believe that female artists were less mobile than their male counterparts. Furthermore, in historical migration literature, it is a generally accepted fact that women who did migrate, usually covered shorter distances than men.¹² If a woman travelled, it was mostly in a family context, in the company of a husband or brother. Michaelina Wautiers (1604-1689) might have travelled to France, Italy and Spain with her brother Charles.¹³ Amsterdam-born Diana Glauber (1650-na 1721) is said to have travelled with her brothers Johannes and Johann Gottlieb to France and Italy in the 1670s.¹⁴ Interesting are the mentions of a certain Sara from Bruges, who is called Sara di Vanzi (c. 1602-1652) in the Roman records (also called Sara Fiammingo, Sara di Vanci or de Vannis) and who makes quite an independent impression.¹⁵ She traded in pigments and was active as an ‘afsetter’ (colourist); she also rented living accommodations to artists and was a washerwoman. In 1629-1630, she lived in Strada Paolina (Babuino), where the painters Hendrik van Houten (Enrico Favalde),¹⁶ Marcus Hendricksz. Wouters and Giovanni Gelton lived with her. Presumably by 1647-1648 she was living in Strada Margutta, again as a dealer in pigments ('colorara'), laundress and 'concubina' of the otherwise unknown painter Giovanni Baptista Basali. On 9 March 1652, she was buried in the parish of San Lorenzo in Lucina, piazza del Popolo, presumably aged about 52.

Many artists who travelled to Italy were still young and unmarried. Finding a life partner was a good reason to stay in Italy for good and start a family there. Some of them had painting daughters, like, for instance, Valerius van Diependale (1533/44-1599/1600) in Milan, father of Prudentia van Diependale (Profondovalle) (active c. 1590), and Nicolaes Régnier (1588-1667) in Venice, father of the painters Lucretia (born c. 1625) and Clorinda (c. 1627/9-c. 1715). The latter two married other painters, Lucretia to the Antwerp painter Daniël van Dyck (1614-c. 1662). Hopefully, more research will be done in the future on the work of these Italian paintresses, who were trained by their Flemish fathers. The then-famous miniaturist Maddalena Corvina (1607-1664) (Magdalena de Raeff) from Rome also had Netherlandish roots: her father was the apothecary Hendrik de Raeff (c. 1567/8-1649) from Delft, who was one of the discoverers the catacombs of Domitilla, south of Rome; his home in Rome was a meeting place for painters from the Low Countries.¹⁷ Maddalena's mother was Catarina Castelli, daughter of Frans van de Kasteele (Francesco da Castello) (c. 1540-1621) from Brussels, who taught his granddaughter miniature painting. Maddalena’s Netherlandish background seems to transpire in her work [5].

2
Map showing Willem Schellinks' mobility
Source: RKDartists, 2023-03-22

3
Late Medieval Land & Maritime Trade Routes
World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/image/9759/late-medieval-land--maritime-trade-routes/ (retrieved 2023-03-25)

4
Wanderings of Hendrick Vroom

5
Maddalena Corvina
Portrait of a young lady standing at a table, c. 1635-1645
Rome, art dealer Miriam di Penta Fine Arts