The Congregation of the Alexians in Antwerp

General information
Original location Antwerpen, convent of the Alexian friars
Current location Belgium, Boechout, Friars Alexians, inv. no. B/S 46
Artist Anonymous (Antwerp painter)
Date 1st half of 17th century (1621?)
Material Oil on panel
Dimensions 157 x 212 cm
Visual elements
Short description St Mary (crowned) with child in the center, both with a rosary in their hand. On both sides portraits of the friars Alexians, displayed full length, kneeled, turned towards the Virgin (except two friars), 11 on the left side (seen from the viewer), 9 on the right. Deceased friars have been depicted with a small white cross above their heads. St Mary hands her rosary to Jan vander Linden. In the lower left corner a text field.
Coat of arms Bottom left, on top of the text field: semicircular shield - in silver a red(?) Jerusalem Cross (Knights of the Holy Sepulchre)
Text Bottom left: Nar dat ick broeder Ian vander Linden, // twelf iaer tprovinciaelschap bedinden, // soo krech ick consent, door mijn, lange beden // Ierusalem het heylich lant te betreden, // den derden paesdach gaf ick mij opten tocht // Sinte Catarina dach was de reijs volbrocht // int jaer sestien hondert drij en dertich, // Godt holp mij door sijn grati bermhertich
Depicted pilgrim (third row, fourth from the right - immediately on the viewer's left side of Mary)
Personal information
Name Jan van der Linden (identified in text)
Social status / profession Alexian friar; prior of the Alexian convent in Antwerp; Alexian provincial of Brabant (1622-1632); Knight of Jerusalem; Plague master (pestmeester) of Antwerp (1632)
Other known portraits Peter Paul Rubens (workshop or copy?), Single portrait of Jan vander Linden (Belgium, private collection)
Cornelis de Vos?, Single portrait of Jan vander Linden (Boechout, Friars Alexians)
Pilgrimages
Year of pilgrimage to Jerusalem 20 March 1633 - 25 November 1633
Attributes Jerusalem pilgrimage See coat of arms; Palm above the text field
Travel report Jan vander Linden, Heerlycke ende gheluckighe reyse naer het H. Landt ende de stadt van Jerusalem, beschreven ende bereyst door broeder Jan vander Linden, pater van de Celle-broeders tot Antwerpen in het jaer ons Heere 1633 tot stichtinge ende recreatie vande jonckheyt die geerne wat nieuws lesen (Antwerp 1634). According to this report, he travelled with Jacob Pussenius, the father confessor of his convent, over Paris to Genoa, where they boarded a ship to the Holy Land. Here they visited the holy places in and around Jerusalem.
Death
Date of death 26 February 1638
Location of grave Antwerp, Convent of the Alexians
Additional information
General remarks On the edge of the text panel can be read: F.A.F. 1621, which might allude to Vander Linden's election as prior of the convent. The painting might therefore be made on occasion of this event, in which case the references to the Jerusalem pilgrimage were added later (after 1633). This is, however, unsure.
Literature
  • Smeyers, Maurits, Werken van barmhartigheid. 650 jaar Alexianen in de Zuidelijke Nederlanden (Leuven 1985), pp. 287-290
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