3.1 From Antwerp to Rome: Miel’s Artistic Training and Early Works
Despite the contemporary biographies written by Giovanni Battista Passeri and Filippo Baldinucci and the studies produced in the 20th century, there are still holes in the information on crucial aspects of Miel’s career.1 This includes information about his early education and training in Belgium. According to Baldinucci, Miel was born in 1599,2 in Beveren-Waes (now Beveren), a few kilometres from Antwerp, a fact later attested to by the artist himself in the Liber Confraternitatis of the Confraternita di San Giuliano dei Fiamminghi in Rome.3 At some point the young Miel moved to Antwerp, but we do not know exactly when. We also have very little information about his training and the early works that he produced in that city.
In the absence of artworks from this period, his biographers are the only source of information available to us, but they are not wholly reliable. Baldinucci states that Miel was trained by Gérard Seghers (1591–1651), whereas Passeri mentions Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641).4 If Miel did study with Seghers, then it can only have been for a few years, because Seghers left Antwerp for Rome in 1611, when Miel was only twelve years old. In addition, Miel’s first documented works show no stylistic links with the work of Seghers or of Van Dyck. Rather, it would seem that Miel’s early work followed in the wake of the Dutch painter Pieter van Laer, who was in Rome from at least 1625 until 1639.5
In my opinion, the only work that can help us to examine Miel’s artistic formation before his arrival in Italy is the small copper of The Assumption of the Virgin [2] in the Musée des Beaux Arts of Dunkerque. Thomas Kren was the first to publish this painting, linking it to the engraving made for the Messale Romanum printed in Rome in 1662, and arguing that it was made around the same time.6 The work on copper, however, does not show any trace of Roman artistic language, nor does it include any reference to the work of Andrea Sacchi, who was a constant source for Miel following their first encounter around 1640. This leads me to suggest that the painting of the Assumption must predate his acquaintance with Sacchi. In addition, an examination of it reveals certain weaknesses in the handling of the figures, which also appear out of proportion, suggesting that this is an immature work. It is, however, clearly a work by Miel, shown by a comparison between it and an etching of the same subject that is signed ‘I. Miel fe’ [3].
The Assumption on copper resembles celebrated examples by Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) that were widely disseminated through engravings, such as those of Rubens’s altarpiece of The Assumption of the Virgin in Antwerp Cathedral produced by Schelte Adamsz Bolswert (1586–1659) [4] and Cornelis Galle II (1615–1678). The similarities between Miel’s painting and Rubens’s altarpiece further support the argument that Miel probably produced his Assumption while he was still in Flanders or shortly after his arrival in Rome. Furthermore, similarities between the painting on copper and the signed etching suggest that they may date to around the same period. Given the higher quality of the etching in comparison to the painting, it is possible to suppose that Miel’s early training in Antwerp was in the field of engraving.7 Indeed, the few known signed etchings by Miel suggest that he practiced this technique for a while before turning to painting.
The fact that the painting on copper and the signed etching, both depicting the subject of the Assumption, date to early in Miel’s career is important for another reason. As will be seen below, from the early biographies onwards Miel has been considered first and foremost as a genre painter, who in order to ennoble his work decided to dedicate himself to history painting. I propose instead that Miel practiced both forms from the start and that he simply ended up working in the genre that allowed him to stand out in the competitive Roman art market.
2
Jan Miel
The assumption of the Virgin Mary, c. 1630
Duinkerken, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dunkerque
3
Guillaume Vallet after Jan Miel
The assumption of Mary, c. 1662
Whereabouts unknown
4
Schelte Adamsz. Bolswert after Peter Paul Rubens
The assumption of the Virgin Mary, after 1611
London (England), British Museum, inv./cat.nr. 1891,0414.729
Notes
1 Passeri 1772, p. 224–228; Baldinucci 1767–1774, vol. 17, p. 33–41. Only one monograph has been devoted to Miel: Kren 1978. Among the mixed bibliography on Miel (which is oriented more towards his bambocciate than his history paintings), the following essays are particularly important to our understanding of Miel as a figure: van Puyvelde 1950, p. 132–138; Bodart 1970, vol. 1, p. 384–419; Di Macco/Spantigati/Romano 1981, p. 323–328; Trezzani 1983B, p. 91–114.
2 Baldinucci, who is generally well informed about Miel’s career, is the only source that reports his date of birth: Baldinucci 1767–1774, vol. 17, p. 33. This information is controversial and needs further documentary evidence, because if Miel was really born in 1599, then his public debut in the church of San Martino ai Monti in Rome in 1651 occurred when he was 52 years old. For the dating of the fresco in San Martino ai Monti: Sutherland Harris 1964, p. 117–118.
3 ‘Ick Jan Miele van Beveren ben gecomen in deze broederscap den eersten dach van het jaar 1647’: Rome, Archivio della Confraternita di San Giuliano dei Fiamminghi, I.2.a, fol. 9r; already cited in Hoogewerff 1913, vol. 2, p. 141.
4 Baldinucci 1767–1774, vol. 17, p. 33; Passeri 1772, p. 224. On Seghers: Bodart 1970, vol. 1, p. 66–68; Bodart 1973, p. 80–82.
5 As will be explained below, Miel and Van Laer are documented as having attended together a meeting at the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. Several essays have been dedicated to Pieter van Laer since the end of the 19th century, the most comprehensive of which is Trezzani 1983A, p. 38–76.
6 Kren 1978, vol. 2, p. 127 cat. A100.
7 Miel designed and carried out about fifteen etchings: Bartsch 1876, vol. 1, p. 339–344; Dutuit 1882, p. 184–188.