Drunken Masterpieces: Snijders & Rockoxhuis

If you lived in Antwerp between 1570 and 1650, it would have been a time of great prosperity; a current of vibrant creative energy would have streamed through its streets like the Schelde River. If you strolled the Wapper like hundreds of locals and visitors do every day in Antwerp today, they would not have found a handful of shiny cafes, an antiquarian used book store and a Sports Direct… nor the glass visitor center for the Wapper’s most famous building, the Rubenshuis. Instead, at least starting from 1610, you would have found the Rubenshuis as an operating workshop for the master himself. Beyond the Baroque façade, Rubens and his assistants would have been hard at work producing the works that would one day grace the altars of some of the world’s most beautiful churches and later hang on the walls of the world’s great museums. 

But living in those times also would have been fraught with danger and upheaval. Antwerp was caught in the middle of the Eighty Years War, the battle between Catholicism and Protestantism. The Spanish branch of the Habsburg empire took umbrage at the Dutch revolts (some lead by William of Orange) and razed the city in its wrath (known as the Spanish Fury of 1576). This eventually resulted in Antwerp’s capitulation to the Spanish in 1585.

One of the men who contributed to the resistance against the Spanish empire by being part of Antwerp’s civic guard was Nicholaas Rockox. After the surrender in 1585, Rockox would decide to stay in Antwerp and in 1588 became its mayor. He would later become a friend and patron to Peter Paul Rubens. 

His former home along with the adjacent home of his neighbor, painter Frans Snijders, became an art museum, one of several former palatial homes around Antwerp which house Flemish and Dutch art, e.g. Museum Mayer Van Den Bergh. In Antwerp, you aren’t just limited to the Royal Museum of Art if you want to enjoy the classics.

The Museum

As I walked around the museum in the final days of 2023, it was natural to look at the paintings with the self-reflections that are plentiful at this time of year.

Cleanse the negative

As we look back on 2023, there are probably a lot of things to complain about. Not getting enough fitness, drinking too much, spending frivolously on frivolousness, lack of decent hamburgers in Belgium… These things may have you…

And at times you may just want to…

Or…

Pick yourself up (or hope your wife can do it for you)

The above moods may bring you down… like literally falling to the ground kind of down; particularly those who are down because of drinking too much. If you are lucky, you have a loved one ready to pick your ass up. Otherwise, time to put on your big boy britches and do it yourself.

Here we have two examples of this as a guide:

1. Top: Flemish Fair by Hans Bol
2. Bottom: Village Feast with Antwerp on the Horizon by Lucas van Helmont

The Flemish masters thought it preferable to have a woman to help. And now that you have a clear step-by-step visual guide on how to get up, it is time to look ahead to 2024 with one final warning.

Don’t get too big for your britches

Putting on big boy britches comes with a warning sticker. Don’t get too big for them. It can be you didn’t really learn anything from 2023 and are still eating or drinking too much. But what is worse is that you get too cocky and start doing cocky things. Like take for example charging a tax for passing through your neighborhood. A guy named Antigoon thought this was a good idea with all the ships sailing down the Schelde River. If the ships couldn’t pay, Antigoon cut off their hands and gave the city its name (Hand Twerpen = Hand throwing). In retrospect, some good came out of that for Antigoon. Today his likeness is often paraded around Belgium in the form of a giant as in Alexander Van Bredael’s Parade on the Meir in Antwerp, and he even has his own beer.

Before you follow in Antigoon’s footsteps in 2024, there is a price for making it on a beer. There is always someone waiting to bring your ego down a notch. Antigoon found that out the hard way. (Mental note for your 2024: think of the things you enjoy doing with your hand before you act rashly.)

Think of the good things

I have always been a casual fan of board games, but those rare moments of enjoyment were usually relegated to the occasional family or friend get together. Then my daughter started buying them for me as gifts for Christmas and my birthday. Suddenly I discovered that board games have evolved a lot over the years. They weren’t simply card games where you forget to yell Uno! and then have to draw two damn cards. No, they have become quite more sophisticated. And this has led to the aforementioned frivolous spending (see Mansions of Madness, Memoir 44, Gloomhaven, Time of Legends: Joan of Arc, and…), but we’ve already cleansed the negative thoughts, so let’s please move on. I am not alone though. Games have always been a way to pass the time and here we find two examples on display in a classy art museum. Maybe I was not so frivolous after all.

1. Top: Evening Banquet with Company Playing Tric-Trac by William Anthonis
2. Bottom: Monkeys Playing Cards by David Teniers the Younger

One of the best things about 2023 was discovering this common interest with my daughter, although she has characteristics of paralysis by analysis and I am a sore loser, so we do better at cooperative games.

Go for a hike

Hopefully when you look back at 2023, you were able to do the things you love, such as getting off your butt and going outdoors. For me, 2023 had no shortage of great hikes. I was blessed, and 2024 portends to be just as amazing. In this painting by Joos de Momper, The Journey of Tobias, I can easily look at Tobias with his backpack and see myself in the Swiss Alps. However, at the end of his journey, Tobias had to fight off the demon Asmodeus to win the heart of Sarah, but thankfully had the help of the Archangel Raphael. My hikes can be intense, but I can do without the demons at the end. Pizza and beer, yes. Demons from Hell, no. Even for love.

Final Words

In one small but rich museum, 2023 flashed before my eyes and brought a positive outlook for 2024. Art museums should move you in some way; or why spend the ten euros and deal with the hassle of getting a token to use for the backpack lockers because you don’t carry coins like me? Looked at the right way, these paintings do more than capture an image or tell a story; they teach us about ourselves. I for one came away with many new lessons to enrich my life. It is ok to fall down on occasion. And it is understandable if you want to urinate or defecate on bodies celestial and terrestial, as long as you learn from your lessons. So, in 2024 I am going to think twice about charging the old lady who lives across from me a tax every time she walks by my door. And I am certainly going to avoid playing any of my board games with monkeys. This is what happens when they start drinking.

Whatever you aspire to in 2024, I wish resounding success to everyone reading or just stopping by to look at the pictures. Happy Holidays!