Your Humble Servant: Agents in Early Modern Europe

Your Humble Servant A8ents in Earry Modern Europe Edited by HANS COOLS, MARIKA KEBLUSEK & BADELOCH NOLDUS

liJ

Uitgeverij Verloren, Hilversum, 2006

This book is published under the auspices of the Royal Netherlands Institute at Rome

Contents

KN II\ONINKLlJK NEDERLANDS INSTlTUUT ROME

UniversitatsBibliothek Freiburg i. Br. ........ .. ,-~.,-

~,.

Acknowledgements

7

Introduction Profiling the Early Modern Agent Marika Keblusek

9

A Ogestion ofAttribution Art Agents and the Shaping of the Arundel Collection David Howarth ,

Between Courts The ColonnaAgents in Italy and Iberia, 1555-1600 Thomas] ames Dandelet Francesco Feroni (1614/16-1696) Broker in Cereals, Slaves and Works ofArt Hans Cools

US Freiburg 1111111111111111111111111111111111111111

156734

On the cover: Cbrnelis Norbertus Gysbrechts, Trompe l'a::il with Letters and Notebooks, 1665. photo: Musee des Beaux-Arts, Rouen / BridgemanArt Library, London.

© Uitgeverij Verloren, Postbus 1741, 1200 BS Hilversum www.verloren.nl Typography Rombus, Hilversum Printing Wilco, Amersfoort Binding Van Waarden, Zaandam No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permissionfrom the pub lisher.

17

Loyalty and Betrayal Artist-Agents Michelle Blon and Pieter Isaacsz, and Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna Badeloch Noldus Political Brokerage in the Dutch Republic The Patronage Networks ofWilliam Frederick ofNassau-Dietz (1613-1664) Geert H. ] anssen Art and Information Brokerage in the Career ofDon Giovanni de' Medici Brendan Doolry Book Agents Intermediaries in the Early Modern World of Books Marika Keblusek

39

51

65

81

97

6

CONTENTS

The Art of the Dealer Marketing Paintings in Early Modern Antwerp Filip Vermc:Ylen

Acl<now ledgem.en ts

International Business Communication Patterns in the Dutch Commercial System, 1500-1800 Jan WiUem Veluwenkamp

129

Sending a Letter Between Amsterdam and Stockholm A Matter ofTrust and Precautions Heiko Droste

135

Bibliography

149

Picture Credits

159

Index of Personal Names

160

Index of Geographical Names List of Contributors

166

The essays in this volume are based on papers delivered at the three-day seminar "Agency in Early Modern Europe", held at the Royal Netherlands Institute at Rome in February 2004. We would like to thank director Marjan Schwegman and the staff of the Institute for their tremendous hospitality and generous financial support, without which both conference and book could not have been realised. Also, thanks to Peter Mason, Janet Mente and Anne Goldgar for their help with English translations and corrections. The seminar was organised as part of the research project "Double Agents: Cultural and political Brokerage in Early Modern Europe", financed by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), the Royal Netherlands Institute at Rome, and Leiden University, where it is carried out. Our thanks go to these institutions for their beliefin this project. Marika Keblusek Hans Cools Badeloch Noldus

MARIKA KEBLUSEK

Introduction PROFILING THE EARLY MODERN AGENT

More than twenty years ago, Edward Goldberg tried in his Patterns in Late Medici Art Patrona8e (1983) to define the early modern agent. Writing about the various groups of people who were, in one way or another, involved in the building of the Medici art collections, Goldberg distinguished among different networks of individuals responsible for separate parts of the collecting process. First, there was the Florentine home base with the collector at its centre and his entourage of secretaries, bankers and other administrative personnel gathered around him. Secondly, there was the group of "agents of various descriptions" stationed all over Europe, most often clustering around other Medici representatives. Goldberg tried to place the agents abroad in different groups, depending on their social status, hierarchy and role within various networks. He had to conclude, however, that "these people were so varied that we do well to view the word' agent' as little more than a term of convenience, denoting anyone who was recognized as in some way in the service of the Medici.'" Instead of giving up on the early modern agent - as Goldberg here seems to have done - the following essays make clear that we should understand the term as a reference to a function rather than to a profession. This function could be performed in various professional spheres but always defined itself through practices of mediation and representation. Indeed, this sense of the term agrees with its usage in early modern times - for example in English, French, Dutch or German - when an agent was described as someone who did "the actual work (... ), one who acts for another, a deputy, steward, .' factor, substitute, representative, or emissary."2 Whilst (re)defining agents in terms of . their role and function, it is necessary to take a closer look at characteristics that may have bound these men. Can we indeed talk about the early modern agent or does a careful analysis of the way varying roles were fulfilled indicate we should persist in thinking about (sub )categories within the agency system? The crucial figure of the agent within the early modern distribution system of information, power, services and products has not gone unnoticed by historians. Often 1 Goldberg 1983, p. 25. 2 oxford En8 {ish Dictionary [OED J, citing as sources Marlowe's Massacre in Paris (1593) and Shakespeare's I Henry IV (1596). The OED defines agency as "the faculty of an agent or of acting (.. ;) the establishment for the purpose of doing business for another, usually at a distance". c£ Grimm 1998, tracing the origin of the term 'agent' as a political or commercial intermediary to 1546 and 1598 respectively.

10

MARIKA KEBLUSEK

these studies focus on the notion of patronage. 3 First defined by sociologists and anthropologists, the concept of patronage describes the principle underlying hierarchically asymmetric, personal transactions between two people (a patron and a client) that are governed by reciprocity. Agents (or brokers), occupying a strategic place in a network of social relations, often entered this relationship, providing links and bridging the (social) gap between patron and client. 4 The first historians to adopt this concept were those working on political and economic topics, and it is still in this particular area that luost patronage/ clientelism research is being carried out. 5 Others have used the patron-client relation to explore the social context of art, literature and science. 6 The general tendency, however, has been to focus on the role of patron and client, bypassing the activities of agents or brokers. Only a few scholars have acknowledged the crucial position of the agent, again mostly in political history, but they have conceni trated chiefly on his role in facilitating the use of power and on agency and brokerage as a technique of state building. 7 Recently, scholarly focus has shifted more towards an appreciation of agents as acK tive participants in the early modern process of cultural transfer. 8 Historians and art historians have tried to assess the importance of agents within the social context of art, literature and science; to reconstruct their position in the cultural and intellectual domain. 9 However, the agents' activities have been considered mostly from a disciplinary perspective, perceiving the agent priluarily in his isolated capacity as, for example, commercial intermediary, political representative or art dealer. A systematic and interdisciplinary analysis of the agent and the early modern agency system has not yet been undertaken.

Agents and Patrons

A first attempt to 'profile' the early modern agent, this book presents a kaleidoscopic tableau of agents wearing the professional cloak of secretaries, diplomats, clergymen, 'f merchants, banke~?, artists, librarians and soldiers, as well as providing essays on their logistical netW'- de'Medici, Giovan Carlo Giugni, Vicenzo 90 Goad, Thomas 27 Goldberg, Edward 9,22 Golius, Jacob 104

161

Gomez, Ruy 33 Gondi, Giovan Battista 41,43,44 Gonzaga - Carlo 85 - Vincenzo I 85 Gool, Johan van 118 Graffenthal, Eberhard von 142 Granvelle, Cardinal 36,38 Graswinckel, Theodorus (Dirck) 59 Greengrass, Mark 74 Grillo, Domenico 46,47 Grovestin, Oeno of>- Grovestins, Oene Grovestins, Oene 78 Guasconi, Giovacchino 106, 107 Gucht, Maximiliaan van der 56 Guerrini, Pietro 39 Guicciardini, Francesco 111 Gllidi, Camillo 84 Gustav II Adolf(King of Sweden) 138,145 Gllzman, Alonso Perez de 83 Gyldenklou, Anders 139 Haeck, Pieter 102 Haes, Antoni de 102 Hainhofer, Philipp 14 Hansma, Folpert 69,70,71 Hartlib, Samuel 97,98 Haubois, Comelis 74-76,78 Heerkes, Anne 71 Heinsius, Nicolaas 107 Henry IV (King ofFrance) 9,86 Hildebrand, Andreas Thomas 143, 147 Holbein, Hans 56 Holland, Claes van 110 Hottinga, Douwe van 71 Howard, Charles (Lord ofEffingham) 84 Howard, Thomas (md Earl of Arundel) >- Arundel, Earl of Huswedel, Barthold 143 Inthiema - Frederik van 70,75 - Frederik van, jr. 75 Isaacsz, Pieter 12,51,60-64 James VI (King ofScotland) 84,107 Janssonius, Johannes 99,100,102 Jones,Inigo 20,25 Jonker, J. 125,13 0 Jordaens, Jacob 56 Junius, Franciscus 100 Karl XI (King ofSweden) 141 Karl Gustav (Prince of Sweden) 147 Karl X Gustav (King of Sweden) 147 Keth, Gerrit 70 Kettering, Sharon 65,74

162

INDEX OF PERSONS

Killigrew, Thomas 23 Kleihe, Schweder Dietrich 148 Krol, Frederik 70 Kruse, JohannZacharias 138 Lanier, Nicolas 26 Laugier de Tassy, Jacques-Philippe 106 Leopold I (Holy Roman Emperor) 46 Leopoldo, Cardinal 1617-'75 ~ de'Medici, Leopoldo Lesger, Cre 124 Leyden, Lucas van 21 Lomellini, Ambrogio 46, 47 Lorraine, Dynasty 39 Louis XIII (King ofFrance) 94 Lueders, Johann Baptista 138 Lugt, Fritz 115 Lus, Isaac 88, 90 M