VHP 000-000-000-447-L

The painting collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in Brussels c.1651

One of the most important sources of information about Leopold Wilhelm's collection is a series of 'picture gallery' paintings showing views of the archducal gallery and accurately (if not to scale) reproducing about 150 paintings. Many of the pictures in the Archduke's Inventory of 1659 can be recognized. The pictures include ones of Italian origin and many are identifiable as being from the 1st Duke of Hamilton's collection - the heart of which had been acquired by the 1st Duke only between 1636 and 1638. Quite how or when the paintings passed from the Hamilton Collection to the Archduke is as yet unknown. Many Hamilton possessions were sent to the 2nd Duke during his exile in the Low Countries, but so far nothing has been found in the Hamilton Archives to shed any light on what was presumably the sale of the paintings. All we know is that in the 2nd Duke's accounts for June 1649 there are the following two consecutive entries: 'for a waggen to Midlebrough 18/-; for diner, the arch ducks painter being there [Pounds] 30.' This is probably a reference to a meeting with David Teniers the Younger, Leopold Wilhelm's court painter who was charged with the care of the Archduke's collection. One of the servants with the 2nd Duke was Lewis Lewis, (one of the gentlemen of James, 3rd Marquis, later 1st Duke of Hamilton) and the man whose name appears on the back cover of Inventory M4/20.

The concept of the Gallery Picture stemmed from a tradition earlier in the century, developed in the Netherlands particularly in Antwerp, when natural and man-made objects and paintings in collections were presented in paintings as illustrated allegories of the triumph of knowledge and understanding. These pictures show imagined visitors viewing the collections and stressed the idea of collecting as a gentlemanly pursuit. Archduke Leopold Wilhelm commissioned views of his gallery of pictures placed in a room to suggest the location is the Coudenberg Palace, the Flemish court in Brussels. These pictures, illustrating the splendours of his collections with documentary accuracy, were then given as gifts to rival collectors in princely courts throughout Europe. The probable overall objective was to demonstrate Leopold Wilhelm's status as an eminent collector, rivalling Europe's finest princely collectors. For example, a gallery picture by Teniers was sent to Philip IV of Spain, showing various Spanish dignitaries visiting the Archduke's collection. The absence in Leopold's 1659 inventory of these commissioned views would suggest that they may all have been distributed throughout Europe by this date.