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15 Pieter van der Borcht, The Sea Chariot of Neptune, 1599, engraving, Print Collection, Plantin-Moretus Museum, Antwerp. The Sea Chariot of Neptune (Currus Triumphalis Neptuni), depicts a triumphal chariot with the sea gods Neptune and Amphitrite; it was built in honour of the Joyous Entry of the Archdukes Albrecht and Isabella in 1599. In accordance with Greek mythology, Neptune’s chariot is drawn by two hippocampi, mythological sea-horses with lower bodies like fish tails; the reins are held by two putti seated astride the sea-horses. The chariot is accompanied by mermaids who are combing their hair and looking in a mirror. Tritons, mythological sea creatures with the head and torso of a man and the tail of a fish, carry victory banners and blow on a conch horn. Neptune and Amphitrite are seated on a throne under a baldachin borne by two dolphins. Dangling from the side of the baldachin are fish, the booty of the sea. The Sea Chariot was a feature of Antwerp’s annual Ommegang from 1599 on. The theme of Neptune’s chariot was one that the Antwerp painter Frans Francken the Younger (1581-1642) often returned to. (18)
16 Pieter van der Borcht, after a design by Maerten de Vos, Triumphal Chariot, 1595, copperplate, Antwerp Royal Museum of Fine Arts. Depicted is the triumphal chariot of Antverpia, which appeared in the Joyous Entry of Archduke Ernest into Antwerp in 1594. It was this chariot (currus triumphalis) that the new governor’s procession encountered first on its formal entry into the city. Seated on top is the figure of Antverpia, in her hand a laurel wreath that she offers to the governor. The welcoming of a new governor had been the task of Antverpia since the entry of Prince Philip in 1549. Here, she is accompanied by a number of allegorical figures. To her right are Religio (Religion), with book and crucifix, Obedientia (Obedience), with a silver yoke, and Reverentia (Deference), with a veil. On the other side are Fidelitas (Loyalty), with a shield bearing the depiction of a dog, Benevolentia (Benevolence), with a heart held by two hands and within a laurel wreath, and Beneficii recordatio (Reminder of Benefaction). To the front of the chariot are two laurel-wreathed figures in Roman dress, who symbolise the city’s guardian deities (Penates Publici). Above their wreathed profiles is Antwerp’s emblem, the turreted walls with two hands. The personifications on the triumphal chariot are an expression of the city’s attitude towards the new governor. Along the front of the chariot is a text in which Antverpia declares her confidence in the times ahead under Ernest’s governorship. (19)
Page 1 and 2: RUBENS REVEALED VICTORY ON A ROLL O
Page 3 and 4: Bredael give a detailed picture of
Page 5 and 6: HISTORICAL CONTEXT: THE VICTORY AT
Page 7 and 8: 3 Cornelis Galle the Younger, after
Page 9 and 10: 5 17th-century Matchlock Musket, Vl
Page 11 and 12: 7 Commemorative coin marking the vi
Page 13 and 14: and five of the six portraits have
Page 15 and 16: 11 Text of The Song of Kallo. The j
Page 17 and 18: The scene to the right symbolises P
Page 19: 14 Wierix ( attributed to), The Tri
Page 23 and 24: 18 Rubens Chariot, print, 1840, Pri
Page 25 and 26: 19 Peter Paul Rubens, The Triumphal
Page 27 and 28: victory on and around the waters of
Page 29 and 30: THE ANTWERP OMMEGANG The Ommegang h
Page 31 and 32: 22 Alexander van Bredael, Tradition
Page 33 and 34: Scale models of Ommegang figures As
Page 35: Colophon Exhibition Organisation: T

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