Matthijs Roelandts, Joris Leemans and Lanceloot Lefebure: new data on Baroque tapestry in Brussels

SINCE THE 1990S, there has been much interest in seventeenthcentury Brussels tapestry.1 Unsurprisingly, much attention has been paid to the many series designed by artists such as Peter Paul Rubens, 2 Jacob Jordaens, 3 Charles Poerson 4 and Charles Le Brun. 5 However, less-renowned artists and series have also been included in this renewal of interest, 6 as well as workshop managers, their entrepreneurial strategies and the organisation of tapestry production.7 These studies shed new light on the complex dynamics that shaped the industry and blur the traditional distinction between the 'fine' and 'decorative' arts.But our understanding of seventeenth-century Brussels tapestry remains fragmentary.Basic biographical information on tapissiers is often missing, and critical attention is mostly focused on the handful of well-known painters who were involved, at the expense of a substantial number of lesser-known artists and series.The story of Constantine and The inclinations of Man series, produced by the obscure workshop managers Matthijs Roelandts and Joris Leemans, are a case in point.Editions and tapestries of both sets have rarely received scholarly attention and at best are loosely linked to the Brussels tapestry designer Antoon Sallaert (1594-1650).8 Newly discovered archival documents now allow us to identify Roelandts and Leemans as significant tapestry producers and to attribute their Constantine and Inclinations series to Lanceloot Lefebure (Lefebvre, Lefèvre), a Brussels-based painter who, in 1650, at the age of sixty-five, was praised by the Brussels tapissiers for his designs but has since been overlooked.Biographical and genealogical data on Roelandts and Leemans, who frequently collaborated, is scarce.9 Roelandts's life has traditionally been summarised in no more than four dates.In 1648 he was granted tax relief from the Brussels city administration on the grounds of being an important tapestry producer; in 1657 he was one of the co-founders of the Brussels tapissierspand (the building where tapestries were sold); in 1661 he was dean of the tapestry guild; and in 1663 he died.Leemans's life is even more obscure.A native of Enghien, he became a citizen of Brussels in 1638 and was dean of the tapestry guild in 1665.It has been claimed that he died between 19th February and 29th August 1671.10 After his death, the workshop was continued by, successively, his widow, Elisabeth Segers, and by Jacob van der Borcht (c.1650-c.1710),who is believed to have been Segers's cousin.11 New evidence allows us to fill the gaps in Roelandts's and Leemans's biographies.Roelandts was born to Catharina de Ridder and Maarten Roelandts 12 and was baptised on 31st March 1602. 13His father (born 1570) 14 was appointed as 'segelaer' (keeper of the seal) in 1622, 15 and in this capacity he had to oversee the quality control of all tapestries that were marketed in Brussels.Maarten appears to have died between 1622 and 1633.16 Matthijs Roelandts married Johanna de Pot in 1627, 17 and their first child, Willem, was born a year later.18 Willem died in infancy, for a second son bearing the same name was baptised in 1630.19 A third son, Bernardus (born 1633), 20 was the godson of Bernardus Leyniers, a member of the Leyniers dynasty, which was omnipresent in the Brussels tapestry industry in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.21 In 1634 Roelandts's first daughter, Johanna Maria, was born.22 Her godmother was Johanna Bexij, the wife of the eminent tapestry producer Jan II This article originated within the Research Group PALET: Schilderkunst in Interdisciplinair Perspectief chaired by Katlijne van der Stighelen (University of Leuven).We would like to thank Guy Delmarcel for his remarks and suggestions.1 For a recent concise survey of seventeenth-century Brussels (and Flemish) tapestry, see T.P. Campbell: 'New Centers of Production and the Recovery of the Netherlandish Tapestry Industry, 1600-1620', in idem, ed.: exh.cat.

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