RKD STUDIES

Guilliam Aertssen (1579-1638 or after)

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Marks:
• Drawn mark: ‘G’ above ‘A’, as shown on the 1617 petition
• Chiselled monogram: large, incised into the panel’s reverse; used in the late sixteenth century
• Written monogram: large, drawn in red crayon, in use 1598–1621/22
• Punch 1: small rhomboid shield or escutcheon with monogram; in use 1598-1600 (16 mm high)
• Punch 2: monogram punch, in use from c. 1618/20 onwards (20 mm high)

Notes:
Aertssen’s marks are with 110 impressions among the most frequently recorded. The written monogram used at the start of his career may have been adopted as a “house mark” from his father, the joiner Cornelis Aertssen (b. 1540).¹ Guilliam Aertssen’s second punch appears most often.

Mark on 1617 petition

Chiselled monogram

Punch 1

Written monogram

Punch 2

Hans van Beemen (alias Hans van Herentals) (d. 1624)

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Marks:
• Drawn mark: circle with a simple cross on top, as shown on the 1617 petition
• Written mark: red crayon, circle with a simple cross on top
• Punch (attributed): VHB monogram in ligature and in serifs (c. 17 mm wide); tentatively attributed

Notes: 
The written monogram as found on four paintings in the Winter Room at Rosenborg Castle, Copenhagen, corresponds closely with the drawn monogram accompanying Hans van Beemen’s name in the 1617 petition. Davies/Moortgat 2022 suggest that the punched monogram VHB also belonged to Hans van Beemen.²

Mark on 1617 petition

Written mark (visible under UV-light)

François de Bout (I) (b. 1611)

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Marks:
• Punch: monogram ‘F/DB’, in serifs (c. 16 mm high), in use between 1637-1652

Notes:
De Bout’s mark is recorded on 68 panels. Several copies after Rubens’ compositions appear to have been made on panels by De Bout, including Farmer’s dancing (after 1630-1635), Meleager gives the head of the Calydonian boar to Atalanta (after 1635), and Garden of Love (after 1637). Another Rubens copy, Landscape with Rest on the Flight to Egypt and several saints (after 1630-1635) shows De Bout’s punch superimposed on that of Panel maker of the Six-pointed star [1], perhaps indicating that De Bout took over this master’s stock upon his departure to the North. His nephew, Francois de Bout (II), was also active as a panel maker in Antwerp from c. 1655-56 and may have continued the use of the FDB punch

Punch

Melchior de Bout (active 1625-1658)

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Marks:
• Punch: monogram ‘MB’ in ligature with the ‘B’ mirrored, a square punch (c. 13 mm)

Notes:
His punch appears often close to the panel’s edge and pressed into the still-wet priming, indicating that De Bout primed his panels on both sides. Melchior de Bout exported these to Paris.³ Both French and Flemish artists active in Paris acquired and used his panels, including Lubin Baugin (ca. 1610/1612-1663), Paul Liégeois (active 1650-1670), Jean-Baptiste Garnier (active 1748-1759), Willem Kalf (1619-1693), Willem van Aelst (1627-1683) and Sébastien Stoskopff (1597-1657). His panels are never recorded with the Antwerp brand.

Punch

Hans Claessens (d. 1622/1623)

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Marks:
• Drawn mark: fleur-de-lys, as shown on the 1617 petition
• Punch: fleur-de-lys motif (c. 13 mm high)

Notes: 
No mark recorded by Hans Claessens in Van Damme 1990. Since then, the mark has been recorded four times, reflecting Claessens’s short period of activity (c. seven years). One example occurs in combination with a branded letter ‘A’ on the reverse of Cornelis de Vos, A Young Girl holding a Chaffinch (c. 1622).

Mark on 1617 petition

Punch

Michiel Claessens (d. 1636/37)

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Marks:
• Drawn mark: three-petalled clover leaf, as shown on the 1617 petition
• Punch 1: small three-petalled clover leaf (c. 12 mm high); the left stem curves slightly inward, and the corresponding petal is smaller than the two on the right and top, in use until c. 1615-1617
• Punch 2: symmetrical three-petalled clover leaf with both legs of the stem pointing slightly outward at the base (c. 13 mm high); introduced around 1615–1617

Notes:
Michiel Claessens punches are among the most frequently recorded panel maker’s marks. His early punch is found on paintings dated up to c. 1615-1617, including on the reverse of Frans Francken’s Collector’s Cabinet, before the new regulations came into effect.

Mark on 1617 petition

Punch 1

Punch 2

Guiliam Gabron (1586-1673/1674)

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Marks:
• Drawn mark: two capital ‘G’s, as shown on the 1617 petition
• Punch 1: two capital ‘G’s (in serifs) joined by a Celtic knot (c. 17 mm wide); recorded on panels dated 1614–1626
• Punch 2: simplified version of the first mark, with the two ‘G’s resembling ‘C’s and the Celtic knot reduced to five circles (c. 17 mm wide); recorded on panels dated 1626–1658

Notes:
On at least one occasion, Gabron punched his mark into the primed reverse of a panel, namely Rubens’ The assumption of the Virgin Mary [1], contrary to guild regulations.

Mark on 1617 petition

Punch 1

Punch 2

1
Gabron’s punch into the primed reverse of

Sanctus Gabron (active 1615-1618)

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Marks:
• Punch: monogram ‘SG’ in serifs (14 mm wide)

Notes:
The mark was first recorded in 2014 on A Barn Owl, a Sparrowhawk and a Dove. Three panels associated with Van Dyck’s workshop also bear the ‘SG’ monogram, including The apostle Matthias with brand no. 00 (1611-1620) and The apostle Paul with brand no. 3 (1615-1626).⁴

Punch

Ambrosius Engelants (active 1625-1627)

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Marks:
• Punch: monogram ‘AE’ in ligature (‘Æ’)( c. 12 mm high), executed in double-stroke lettering

Notes:
Engelants’s mark is rare in the recorded corpus; only ten panels are known. Of these, four panels are branded with iron no. 04 (1619–1635) and two panels with iron no. 08 (1615–1650).

Jan van Haecht II (c. 1561-1621/1627)

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Marks:
• Drawn mark: flat ‘X’ with a horizontal crossbar, as shown on the 1617 petition
• Written mark: three crossed lines resembling the petition mark, recorded in red crayon on a painting dated 1562, and in blue crayon on a painting dated c. 1610
• Punch 1 (attributed): small encircled “wheel with six spokes” (c. 10 mm in diameter), recorded nine times; earliest occurrence before 1598, latest after 1625
• Punch 2 (attributed): large “wheel with six spokes” (c. 20 mm in diameter), found on four panels; earliest occurrence before 1591/99, latest in the first quarter of the seventeenth century

Notes:
The mark in red crayon is recorded on Two Women Cooking by Pieter Aertsen, which bears the early date of 1562, one year after Van Haecht’s birth. The origin of this mark is unknown. Was it applied years after the painting’s creation in another context, such as restoration or sale by Van Haecht? Alternatively, could the panel have been produced by a family member active during that period, whose mark Van Haecht later adopted in his own production (as appears to have been the case with Guilliam Aertssen)?

In this Study, I tentatively attribute two punches depicting a wheel with six spokes to Van Haecht based on their similarity to the drawn monogram. Only four of the panels bearing these punches display an Antwerp brand (iron nos. 0, 1 and 3), one of these also carries the year letter ‘A’. One panel bearing punch 2, showing A Dutch Landscape, is hesitantly attributed to French painter Henri Nicolas van Gorp (1756–1819).

Mark on 1617 petition

Written mark in red crayon (visible under UV light

Written mark in blue crayon

Punch 1 (attributed)

Punch 2 (attributed)

Peeter de Noble (d. 1663)

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Marks:
• Drawn monogram / house mark: ‘4’ above ‘NP’, as shown on the 1617 petition
• Punch: monogram ‘PD/N’ with a central cross between the ‘P’ and ‘D’, the descending stem resting on the diagonal stroke of the large ‘N’ below, in serifs (c. 15 mm high)

Notes:
The mark is currently recorded on three panels: A rocky landscape with riders near a bridge from the circle of Joos de Momper (II), Anthony van Dyck’s Portrait of an unknown Carmelite monk, and on an anonymous work depicting The Lamentation of Christ. The limited number of occurrences may reflect De Noble’s primary activity as a joiner.⁵ As with many marks shown in the 1617-petition, his ‘PD/N’ punch does not correspond precisely to the design of marks drawn by the scribe.

Mark on 1617 petition

Punch

Peeter Roybaert (active 1609-1620)

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Marks:
• Punch: complex monogram ‘4/B/PR’: cipher ‘4’ on top, vertical downward extension forming ‘B’, and below the letters ‘P–R’, in serifs (c. 16 mm high)⁶

Notes:
Recorded twice, on Anthony van Dyck’s Portrait of a woman with a big ruff and on Elegant, music-making company in a garden with a palace in the background attributed to Louis de Caullery, both in combination with iron no. 1 (1617–1626).

Punch

Reynier Roybaert (active 1625-1666)

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Marks:
• Punch: ‘4/B/RR’, with the second ‘R’ showing a modified diagonal tail (c. 16 mm high)

Notes:
Very similar to the mark used by his father, Peeter Roybaert, and probably adapted from his ‘4/B/PR’ punch by adding a tail to the ‘P’ to form an ‘R’. Currently recorded on six panels, in several cases the punch was struck multiple times on the reverse. All panels bear an Antwerp brand. Active in Amsterdam as panel maker from c. 1633; no mark is known from this period.

Punch

Lambrecht Steens (I) (d. 1638) and/or Lambrecht Steens II (d. 1651)

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Marks:
• Drawn mark: initials on a small shield, as shown on the 1617 petition
• Punch: monogram ‘LS’, in ligature and in serifs (17 mm high)

Notes:
Steens’ monogram appears on 105 recorded panels dating between 1615 and 1678, likely reflecting the continuous use of the punch over two or three generations. Several late panels dating from after the death of Steens (II), but still bearing the ‘LS’ punch, raise questions about their maker: did the family workshop continue issuing panels with this mark after his death, for example under Gaspar Steens (active 1650-1664), and/or his son Gaspar Steens (II) (active 1672-1696), or are these reused panels?⁷ The ‘LS’ mark is also once recorded punched into a primed reverse of a panel, used by Frans Francken (II) for The Lamentation of Christ (c. 1625).

Mark on 1617 petition

Punch

Franchoys van Thienen (active 1599-after 1617)

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Marks:
• Drawn mark: monogram ‘F.T.’, as shown on the 1617 petition
• Punch: monogram ‘F/VT’ with serifs; ‘F’ above ‘VT’, in serifs (c. 16 mm high)

Notes:
Only seven panels are currently known with this monogram, of which only two display Antwerp brands: Village lawyer’s office by a follower of Pieter Brueghel (II), and Young children at play in a landscape by Adriaen Brouwer and Joos van Craesbeeck. No archival records mention him after 1617, and the limited number of panels with this mark suggests a short career.

Mark on 1617 petition

Punch

Michiel Vrient (? -1637)

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Marks:
• Drawn mark: monogram ‘MV’, as shown on the 1617 petition
• Punch: capital letters ‘MV’ in ligature, in serifs (14 mm high)

Notes:
Supplied many panels to Rubens.⁸ Recorded on panels dated 1617–1637/38, with one exception: Bonaventura Peeters’ Mediterranean landscape at Sunset with a Crew caulking the Hull of a Merchant Vessel on the Shore and Figures in Caves above (1648), painted ten years after Vrient’s death.

Mark on 1617 petition

Punch

Nicolaes Vrient (active c. 1638-1677)

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Marks:
• Punch: capital letters ‘NV’ in ligature, in serifs (c. 14 mm high)

Notes:
Despite a long career, the ‘NV’ punch has been recorded on only 14 panels, several of which are small panels or sketches by or after Rubens.

Punch