Rubens as a Teacher: “He may teach his art to his students and others to his liking”

On 4 January 1611, Rubens officially became the owner of De Wapper, a property in Antwerp that included a house and bleaching fields. By 1618, the artist had developed De Wapper into a large estate on which he spent “some thousands of florins.” ¹ Most prominent was the studio building that resembled an Italian palazzo. ² This was connected to the existing house with a portico, as we know from a 1684 engraving by Jacobus Harrewijn after J. van Croes (Fig. 1). The original contract between the then owner, Amsterdam merchant and jeweler Hans Thijsz. I (1566-1611) and Nicolaes Coop, who acted on behalf of Rubens in Antwerp, had been signed the previous November 1, when Rubens made a down payment on the property. ³ To sweeten the purchase, Rubens promised a painting, which has been tentatively identified with his Judith with the Head of Holofernes in Braunschweig. ⁴ This shows that Rubens liked to barter with his own paintings, since, as he once wrote, “they cost him nothing.” ⁵ The contract concerning De Wapper and the parties involved has become better known thanks to one of the last articles that John Michael Montias published, in 2001. ⁶ Fig. 1 Jacobus Harrewijn after J. van Croes, <italic>View of Rubens' House</italic>, 1684, engraving. Private Collection. A sketch of View of Rubens’ House with ornate gates, statues, and a grand building facade. https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781003697855/cf00d316-4c4f-41b8-a0f7-d2f2cb7200f3/content/pg247_Image_62.tif"/>