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Lot Essay
Born in Douai on 3 March 1577, Nicolas Trigault entered the Society of Jesus at Tournai on 9 November 1594. After thirteen years of training he was allowed to become a missionary. He embarked for the Far East in March 1607 and reached Macao in 1610. From there he entered China, reaching Peking shortly after the death of the first European to have been admitted at the Imperial Court, Father Matteo Ricci. He learned from his predecessor how to dress like a Chinese scholar and gained access into the higher ranks of Chinese society. Father Ricci followed the example set by Saint Francis Xavier in Japan, adopting a costume which could command respect among the locals. Saint Francis Xavier had realized that the rather brutal approach adopted by missionaries in India towards newly colonized populations was far too abrupt when converting the more sophisticated Asian societies. In Japan, the Saint swapped his Jesuit robes to the ones of a military dignitary, a daimo. Ricci had first come to China dressed as a Buddhist monk, but on discovering that monks were discredited at court, he changed his attire to that of a scholar coming from Europe. Such a method of infiltration was called by the Jesuits the process of 'inculturation'.
The prestige acquired by Matteo Ricci gave hope to the twenty Jesuits residing in China that the Catholic Faith might one day be officially recognised. Ricci's death was a blow to the little community and hardly two years after his arrival in China Trigault was asked to return to Europe to secure the future of the mission. In Rome he would negotiate with General Aquaviva, and later General Vitelleschi, the creation of China as an independent Jesuit province. He would try to recruit more missionaries from Europe and to convince King Philip III of Spain to allow Jesuit missionaries of various nationalities and not solely from Portugal to leave for China. Trigault would travel to Augsburg and Antwerp to publish the three works he brought back from China among which was Ricci's Commentaries, a full mission which he accomplished superbly.
Trigault reached Rome in 1614. His return journey took only two years. He had not used the traditional maritime route but travelled by land from India to the Mediterranean in an attempt to reopen a road which the development of Islam had closed. He had much success in Rome where he obtained from Pope Paul V the gift of a library which is still at the Jesuit House in Petang: Trigault had all the books bound and stamped with the arms of the Borghese Pope. More importantly, China was declared a separate province and the new missionaries were granted the unheard of privilege of saying Mass in Chinese. In Madrid, however, Trigault failed to reassure the united Spanish and Portuguese crowns that his mission, although not entirely Portuguese, was no threat to the colonial interests of those nations. Trigault then travelled to Germany where his fundraising activities were the most successful. He received support from the Duke of Bavaria and the Archduke of Austria. He assembled a large collection of precious clocks and a kunstkammer, which he hoped to present as diplomatic gifts to the Emperor. Unfortunately the death in 1620 of Emperor Wanli, the last of the dynasty, put an end to the hopes of official recognition of the Church in China.
It was in Milan that Trigault joined Johan Shreck, who was appointed by Rome. Both travelled to Germany, and it was through Shreck that Trigault met Rubens. Shreck was a close friend of Jean Faber, the Pope's physician. In 1606 Jean Faber had been Rubens's doctor. Letters between Rubens and Faber dated 1609 and 1611 survive. Rubens portrayed both fathers in the same Chinese costume, although Shreck had never been to China. Felice Stampfle reconstructed in great detail the likely itinerary of the two men in the Netherlands and convincingly established that the date of 17 January on this drawing can be completed with the year 1617, F. Stampfle, op. cit.
Rubens's interest in the two missionaries was not limited to their exotic attire. The inscription reveals the wider range of the painter's enquiries. Trigault was a learned man who mastered Chinese and wrote treatises in that language. He answered to the name of Chi-Ni-Ko in the Far East. Johan Shreck was a noted scientist and friend of Galileo. Rubens's contacts with the Jesuits were numerous and a reflection of his natural inclination towards intellectual concerns. His first commission from the Order dated back to his Italian years, when he painted major altarpieces for Jesuit churches in Mantua (1604-1605) and in Genoa (1606). He provided the Order with book illustrations, frontispieces and even architectural plans for their new house in Antwerp. In 1609, to commemorate the Beatification of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Rubens supplied drawings to be engraved for the Vita Ignatii. Saint Ignatius was one of the most dynamic and influential figures of the Counter-Reformation. Rubens in his own way was equally influential and was a well known courtier and diplomat. It was therefore not surprising that he would be fascinated by what the two fathers told him of their mission.
The present drawing belongs to a series of four. Three portray Father Trigault: one at Stockholm, the other, formerly belonging to Ludwig Burchard, sold at Christie's London, 7 July 1992, lot 258, and the present drawing. A fourth drawing, now in the Pierpont Morgan library, depicts another Jesuit, most probably Johan Shreck, wearing the same costume, F. Stampfle, op. cit. Another sheet, sold at Christie's London, 20 November 1983, lot 135, now in the Getty Museum, portrays a Korean man wearing a traditional costume; it has often been associated with these portraits, although distinctly different in technique if not in size.
Clare Stuart Wortley was the first to publish these five drawings in 1934, recognizing in all of them the hand of Rubens, although three bore an old attribution to van Dyck. The present drawing, one of these three, bears an inscription on the mount describing the sitter as 'A Siamese ambassador, an Armenian sketched from the life by van Dyck'. The confusion about the sitter dates back from before 1774, when Captain Baillie published an engraving after the Burchard drawing sold at Christie's. The caption on the print reads 'A siamese Priest. Arrived at the court of K. Charles 1st, as an attendant to the ambassador of his nation just as Rubens was preparing to leave England, however, that Eminent artist found time to make the above described drawing'. The idea of Siam most probably derives from a misreading of the word 'Sinenses', the latin for Chinese, which can be found in Rubens's inscription on the present drawing.
The series of drawings have been almost universally acknowledged as by Rubens. Most scholars have agreed on this: Wortley, Burchard, d'Hulst, Vlieghe, Goldner, Stampfle, Held. Opinions in favour of the old attribution to Van Dyck have occasionally been voiced. Anne-Marie Logan and Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann in 1978 expressed the view that the present sheet may be a copy by van Dyck after the Stockholm drawing which, however, lacks Rubens annotations. More recently in the Wellesley catalogue of 1993, Anne-Marie Logan has re-affirmed the attribution to Rubens, and states that the Stockholm version was most likely copied after it. In 1994, there was an opportunity for a comparison between the two drawings on the occasion of the exhibition of drawings from Stockhom, which confirmed the superior quality of the present sheet.
The present drawing is the only one of the series bearing Rubens inscriptions in two places. At the upper right corner, he described in Latin the costume that he had just drawn 'note that the dark colour is not peculiar to Chinese scholars but to the Fathers of the Society of the Jesuit, except for the blue facings, which are common to the rest. The Chinese, furthermore, do not use one color only in their clothing, but any color they like, except yellow, which is reserved for the King', translated by C. Wortley, op. cit. A second inscription at the lower left corner has been, until now, regarded as partly illegible. However, examination under the ultra-voilet has confirmed the identity of the sitter 'Tricau Soc. Jesu.' in what appears to be Rubens's handwriting, i.e. Nicolas Trigault S.J. (1577-1828). Had this inscription been more easily read, much speculation about the series would have been avoided.
The prestige acquired by Matteo Ricci gave hope to the twenty Jesuits residing in China that the Catholic Faith might one day be officially recognised. Ricci's death was a blow to the little community and hardly two years after his arrival in China Trigault was asked to return to Europe to secure the future of the mission. In Rome he would negotiate with General Aquaviva, and later General Vitelleschi, the creation of China as an independent Jesuit province. He would try to recruit more missionaries from Europe and to convince King Philip III of Spain to allow Jesuit missionaries of various nationalities and not solely from Portugal to leave for China. Trigault would travel to Augsburg and Antwerp to publish the three works he brought back from China among which was Ricci's Commentaries, a full mission which he accomplished superbly.
Trigault reached Rome in 1614. His return journey took only two years. He had not used the traditional maritime route but travelled by land from India to the Mediterranean in an attempt to reopen a road which the development of Islam had closed. He had much success in Rome where he obtained from Pope Paul V the gift of a library which is still at the Jesuit House in Petang: Trigault had all the books bound and stamped with the arms of the Borghese Pope. More importantly, China was declared a separate province and the new missionaries were granted the unheard of privilege of saying Mass in Chinese. In Madrid, however, Trigault failed to reassure the united Spanish and Portuguese crowns that his mission, although not entirely Portuguese, was no threat to the colonial interests of those nations. Trigault then travelled to Germany where his fundraising activities were the most successful. He received support from the Duke of Bavaria and the Archduke of Austria. He assembled a large collection of precious clocks and a kunstkammer, which he hoped to present as diplomatic gifts to the Emperor. Unfortunately the death in 1620 of Emperor Wanli, the last of the dynasty, put an end to the hopes of official recognition of the Church in China.
It was in Milan that Trigault joined Johan Shreck, who was appointed by Rome. Both travelled to Germany, and it was through Shreck that Trigault met Rubens. Shreck was a close friend of Jean Faber, the Pope's physician. In 1606 Jean Faber had been Rubens's doctor. Letters between Rubens and Faber dated 1609 and 1611 survive. Rubens portrayed both fathers in the same Chinese costume, although Shreck had never been to China. Felice Stampfle reconstructed in great detail the likely itinerary of the two men in the Netherlands and convincingly established that the date of 17 January on this drawing can be completed with the year 1617, F. Stampfle, op. cit.
Rubens's interest in the two missionaries was not limited to their exotic attire. The inscription reveals the wider range of the painter's enquiries. Trigault was a learned man who mastered Chinese and wrote treatises in that language. He answered to the name of Chi-Ni-Ko in the Far East. Johan Shreck was a noted scientist and friend of Galileo. Rubens's contacts with the Jesuits were numerous and a reflection of his natural inclination towards intellectual concerns. His first commission from the Order dated back to his Italian years, when he painted major altarpieces for Jesuit churches in Mantua (1604-1605) and in Genoa (1606). He provided the Order with book illustrations, frontispieces and even architectural plans for their new house in Antwerp. In 1609, to commemorate the Beatification of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Rubens supplied drawings to be engraved for the Vita Ignatii. Saint Ignatius was one of the most dynamic and influential figures of the Counter-Reformation. Rubens in his own way was equally influential and was a well known courtier and diplomat. It was therefore not surprising that he would be fascinated by what the two fathers told him of their mission.
The present drawing belongs to a series of four. Three portray Father Trigault: one at Stockholm, the other, formerly belonging to Ludwig Burchard, sold at Christie's London, 7 July 1992, lot 258, and the present drawing. A fourth drawing, now in the Pierpont Morgan library, depicts another Jesuit, most probably Johan Shreck, wearing the same costume, F. Stampfle, op. cit. Another sheet, sold at Christie's London, 20 November 1983, lot 135, now in the Getty Museum, portrays a Korean man wearing a traditional costume; it has often been associated with these portraits, although distinctly different in technique if not in size.
Clare Stuart Wortley was the first to publish these five drawings in 1934, recognizing in all of them the hand of Rubens, although three bore an old attribution to van Dyck. The present drawing, one of these three, bears an inscription on the mount describing the sitter as 'A Siamese ambassador, an Armenian sketched from the life by van Dyck'. The confusion about the sitter dates back from before 1774, when Captain Baillie published an engraving after the Burchard drawing sold at Christie's. The caption on the print reads 'A siamese Priest. Arrived at the court of K. Charles 1st, as an attendant to the ambassador of his nation just as Rubens was preparing to leave England, however, that Eminent artist found time to make the above described drawing'. The idea of Siam most probably derives from a misreading of the word 'Sinenses', the latin for Chinese, which can be found in Rubens's inscription on the present drawing.
The series of drawings have been almost universally acknowledged as by Rubens. Most scholars have agreed on this: Wortley, Burchard, d'Hulst, Vlieghe, Goldner, Stampfle, Held. Opinions in favour of the old attribution to Van Dyck have occasionally been voiced. Anne-Marie Logan and Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann in 1978 expressed the view that the present sheet may be a copy by van Dyck after the Stockholm drawing which, however, lacks Rubens annotations. More recently in the Wellesley catalogue of 1993, Anne-Marie Logan has re-affirmed the attribution to Rubens, and states that the Stockholm version was most likely copied after it. In 1994, there was an opportunity for a comparison between the two drawings on the occasion of the exhibition of drawings from Stockhom, which confirmed the superior quality of the present sheet.
The present drawing is the only one of the series bearing Rubens inscriptions in two places. At the upper right corner, he described in Latin the costume that he had just drawn 'note that the dark colour is not peculiar to Chinese scholars but to the Fathers of the Society of the Jesuit, except for the blue facings, which are common to the rest. The Chinese, furthermore, do not use one color only in their clothing, but any color they like, except yellow, which is reserved for the King', translated by C. Wortley, op. cit. A second inscription at the lower left corner has been, until now, regarded as partly illegible. However, examination under the ultra-voilet has confirmed the identity of the sitter 'Tricau Soc. Jesu.' in what appears to be Rubens's handwriting, i.e. Nicolas Trigault S.J. (1577-1828). Had this inscription been more easily read, much speculation about the series would have been avoided.