MUSEUM VLEESHUIS
ANTWERP
The place of Antwerp in the development of tin-glazed tiles is a pivotal one. For a perfect introduction, start your exploration of Antwerp and its tiles with a visit to the Museum Vleeshuis. This former Butcher's Hall, built by the Corporation of the Butchers, is a beautiful structure set in the middle of the old city.
This 16th century building was started by Herman de Waghemakere between 1501 and 1504 and later finished by his son Domien de Waghemakere before his death around 1542. It is in gothic style, tall and with its brick construction layered with sandstone, (called pork layers) is most impressive. An hexagonal tower is located at each corner. These towers cry out for flags and pennants flapping in a brisk breeze from the Scheldt.
Back to the tiles. A masterpiece of Antwerp tile creation which has come down to us is housed here. "The conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus" a polychrome tile tableau, dated 1547, is 7 tiles high by 14 wide. Full of action and colour, framed by trees, with a city and mountains in the background, we have horses rearing, terrified soldiers trying to escape and in the centre, the fallen figures of Saul and his horse, felled by the bolt of light from the sky, the Lord and angels aloft, looking down from great puffy clouds. The picture was based on an engraving (1545) by Enea Vico, an Italian Mannerist, who in his turn based his engraving on a painting by Francesco de' Rossi, called Salviati, another Italian. Thus does art flow from country to country, changing and adapting as it goes.
The tile tableau was found on the grounds of a house which stood on the site of the workshop "Den Salm" (The Salmon), formerly run by Guido Andries. The latter died in 1541 so the "Conversion" was produced after his death. The workshop at this later date was being run by Franchois (Frans) Frans, who, after the death of Guido Andries, married his widow and carried on the workshop.
If Antwerp held a pivotal position in the development of Dutch tiles, Guido Andries played a key role in that development. I have gathered my information on Guido Andries from several English language publications, with a side foray to German ones and an Italian encyclopedia for good measure, but my most detailed source has been the article "Guido Di Savino alias Guido Andries" by Frans Caignie. [Please see the Bibliography Section for details of these publications] The translations from Dutch or German to English for my requirements are my own and so any mistakes of fact that I may have made when using these sources are mine and not mistakes of the authors. I also have to thank Frans Caignie and his wife, Hedwig, for taking me to the Museum and introducing me to Tony Ooost, scientific assisant of the museum, who showed me the 16th century Antwerp tiles and also introducing me to Antwerp in the short time we had. Not the least of their kind actions was to introduce me also to the great Belgian beer! You must bear in mind that it was a very hot summer!
The earliest source so far, of information on Guido Andries was "Li tre libri dell'arte del vasaio" [Three books of the Potters Art], three separate sections in one, written by Cipriano Piccolpasso in 1558. The author discussed all aspects of pottery-making and mentioned that Guido di Savino introduced majolica to Antwerp where his sons still continued his work. This work was cited in an article by Alexandre Pinchart in 1882. This places Guido in Antwerp and sets a much earlier date for the beginning of the Antwerp pottery industry than had formerly been assumed. Various writers and archival records have added to the history of Guido Andries and pottery industry in Antwerp. These can be briefly summarized.
Originally named Guido di Savino, the potter lived in Castel Durante in the county of Urbino in Italy. The town of Castel Durante was later named Urbania in honour of Pope Urbanus VIII who had been born there. Castel Durante was an important centre for pottery, due to an abundance of good clay, so it is useful to be able to locate it now on modern maps as Urbania, southwest of the city of Urbino. Italian majolica was very popular at that time and Italian potters were moving north to use their skills in this art and to profit from this trend.
Guido moved to Antwerp and is recorded as working there by 1508. In 1512 he married Margaretha Bolleghem/Bollekens and took on the first name of his father-in-law, Andries Bollekens. He was then known as Guido Andries. After his marriage, he and his wife bought a house, "De Groote Aren" (The Great Eagle) in 1512, indicating that Margaretha probably brought a good dowry to the marriage and/or their business flourished very quickly. In 1520 the couple bought the property "Den Salm" located in the Cammerstrate (Cammer means beer brewer in old Dutch), in the present day transformed into Kammerstraat (derived from Kam. meaning comb). This was a more luxurious establishment. The property remained as the business location for Guido's descendants for many years.
Margaretha died in 1529. Her brothers and sisters laid claim to her estate, leading to the supposition that she was probably childless. In 1531, Guido married Anna van Dueren. They had seven children, six sons and one daughter. The date of their wedding was regarded as a reasonable one, as Joris, the third son, was born in 1535. Another important date in Guido's life was calculated by the method of working backwards from one known fact. This was the estimate of his birthdate as being 1480, give or take a year or so. In 1510 a lawsuit was instituted dealing with an apprentice of Guido's who left his employment halfway through a three year contract. The apprentice lost the case. I wonder why he risked this outcome. A better job prospect? Or did he set up in business on his own? The fact that Guido already had one or more apprentices shows that he had been well established by this time, and setting his age as probably around 30 when he was first known as a potter back at least in 1508, he was likely to have been born in the year as noted above. Scholars have had a fascinating time piecing all this together giving us intriguing glimpses into both the lives of the people involved and the social conditions of the times.
Antwerp potters did not only make tiles. The majolica/faience techniques were applied to jars, plates and other vessels and colours were blue, orange, yellow and green and later manganese (purple). Faience products at the beginning were usually regarded as luxury items.
Antwerp tiles were used largely for floors and pavements. Some tiles were used for outside wall-plaques bearing house names and/or family shields. The Museum Vleeshuis has at least three of these: "The Red Rose"- three orange/red roses on a green field; "In St. Anna"- St. Anne, Mary and the Child; and an illustration of the fox and the stork from Aesop's Fables. I think the idea of having my house name and/or number on a tiled wall plaque is a delightful one. They would certainly look much more enticing than our normal practice of plain numbers. Lucky are those talented enough to design and make their own tiles. Is anyone making their own house name wall plaques? Besides many tiles or tile fragments which because of their colours or designs have been designated as products of Antwerp, there are several works which can be attributed to the workshop "Den Salm" and which were either made by Guido Andries or made under his supervision or by his successors. These have been listed as follows:
