Plate 36: Triumphal arch, surmounted with a portrait bust of Ferdinand, flanked by sculptures of Apollo and Diana; ornamented with allegorical scenes below; from Guillielmus Becanus's 'Serenissimi Principis Ferdinandi, Hispaniarum Infantis...'
Publisher Johannes Meursius Flemish
Not on view
On January 28, 1635, the city of Ghent celebrated the entry of Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Spain, the recently appointed governor of the Southern Netherlands. A group of Flemish artists were commissioned to create paintings for the decoration of two triumphal arches erected in the city's main square for the occasion. Though the majority of these canvases are now lost, the engravings in Guillielmus Becanus's 'Serenissimi Principis Ferdinandi, Hispaniarum Infantis, S.R.E. Cardinalis, Triumphalis Introitus in Flandriae Metropolim Gandavum', Antwerp [1636], illustrate what the series looked like. The Metropolitan Museum of Art owns 34 plates from the set of 42.
Triumphal arch surmounted with a portrait bust of Ferdinand, flanked by a sculpture of Apollo at left and Diana at right. Below is a scene depicting Heracles overcoming the Cretan bull.
Inscription on bottom right in pen and ink lists this as plate 42, but it is actually plate 36. Can just make out the number 36 beneath the ink.
Corners trimmed at top left and top right.
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