Jacob van Werden
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Jacob van Werden | |
|---|---|
| Died | Before 20 August 1669 |
| Spouse | Marie Granvelle |
| Engineering career | |
| Discipline | Draughtsman, cartography, military engineering and archery |
| Institutions | Spanish army |
Jacob van Werden or Jacques van Weerden (fl, 1643 – before 20 August 1669), was a Flemish draughtsman, cartographer, military engineer and archer who was active in the Habsburg Netherlands.[1] His drawings were used as designs for prints executed by various printmakers. He worked on maps, topographical views, historical scenes, portraits and book illustrations.[2][3] He had a career as a military engineer and a member of the guard of the Spanish King.[1] He advised on various military engineering projects and was an engineer of the army of the Spanish army under Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria at the siege of Landrecies in 1648.[4]
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Very little is known about the life of the artist. He was active from about 1643 to 1669.[5] He seems to have originally been based in Brussels where he married Marie Granvelle on 9 January 1635.[6] He is known to have provided designs for the Plantin Press during the years 1648 to 1658 when the Press was run by Balthasar II Moretus.[2][5] He may at the time have been living in Antwerp as the Flemish missionary François de Rougemont writes about meeting van Werden and his wife in Antwerp, likely in the house of Balthasar II Moretus.[5] While working for the Plantin Press, he was also fulfilling commissions for the Chifflet family, a family of scientists and writers originally from the County of Burgundy who had established themselves in Antwerp. He provided designs for various prints included in their works, which were then published by the Plantin Press. Some of his original drawings are kept in the Plantin Moretus Museum, which is located at the site of the Plantin Press.[7]
According to some sources he had a military career as an archer and member of the guard of the French King but this seems unlikely as his work and activities show a strong connection and loyalty to the Spanish rulers of the Habsburg Netherlands.[2][4] Various prints made after his drawings mention that the designer was 'I. van Werden Archer et garde de corps de S. M.e'. This is most likely a reference to van Werden being an archer and guard of "his majesty" the Spanish King, a role that he may have been appointed to by the governor-general of the Habsburg Netherlands.[1] He is also referred to as "Archer et garde du corps de Philippe IV", which makes clear that he was in the employ of the Spanish king Philip IV and not the French king.[8]
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He worked on various official commissions relating to defensive works in cities throughout the Habsburg Netherlands. On 9 July 1643 he was sent by the general camp master Andrea Cantelmo to inspect the border locations. On 5 March 1644, he and the engineers Brunetty and Crespu measured the works carried out at the citadel of Namur. On 25 May 1644 he sent a letter with his opinion on the defensive flooding works for Brussels proposed by Michael van Langren. He is quoted on 28 March 1648 in a report of the Finance Council which proposes to increase his wages to 300 pounds a year as he is one of the first engineers of the country for drawing plans and maps. Until 1646, he received 15 écus per month from the artillery fund. In 1646 he became an engineer with an annual pay of 550 pounds. On 24 January 24, 1656, he is sent to Ath with Hendrik Janssens to report on and plan the necessary fortification works. In 1658 he is recorded criticizing the fortification works for Brussels proposed by van Langren. The following year he signs a map of the Sonian Forest, which was engraved and included in Antonius Sanderus' Regiae domus Belgicae, of which two handwritten copies are executed around 1750.[1]
On 5 July 1660 he co-signed a critique of Michael van Langren's defensive works for Ostend, and approved a counterproposal by the engineers Jan Heymans-Coeck, Hendrik Janssens and Pieter Mercx. He also imitated the French engineer-geographer Sébastien Pontault de Beaulieu and illustrated sieges and battles won by the King of Spain, but of a quality inferior to the maps of his French counterpart. The engraved map of the siege of Cambrai in 1649 that was engraved by Lucas Vorsterman the Younger is an example of his work in this area. In the same vein, he would have made a view of the Castle of Ittre engraved later by Jacobus Harrewijn.[1]
Van Weerden died before 20 August 1669. His son Jacob Frans had like his father a career as military engineer and map maker.[1]
