Museum Plantijn Moretus

Unesco World Heritage

Museum Plantijn-Moretus

Discover the home and workshop of the Plantin-Moretus publishing family, a unique historical experience in a UNESCO world heritage site. The history of books, book printing and entrepreneurship resonates in the creaking oak floorboards. See the world's oldest printing presses, and so much more.

Museum Plantijn-Moretus

The museum tells the story of three hundred years of family history and entrepreneurship with two of the oldest printing presses in the world as well as family portraits by the painter Peter Paul Rubens who was a family friend, and the original Garamond type that is now a font on everyone's computer. The Plantin-Moretus Museum holds a tremendously varied collection. All the items in its collections are related in some way to the business and family life of Christopher Plantin and his successors, the Moretuses. It includes printing plates, presses, moulds, type cases, stamps and dies, furniture, paintings, prints and drawings, etc. The company and family archives, which have been recognised as Memory of the World by UNESCO, can be consulted in the reading room. The library, meanwhile, holds a collection of more than 25,000 works which were printed before 1800 and around 650 manuscripts. Rubens and Tuymans lie side by side in the depot of the Prints & Drawings Room. The Plantin-Moretus family owned a magnificent collection of prints by the some of the best woodcarvers and copper engravers who worked for their publishing house. The museum has continued this tradition, collecting masterpieces by well-known artists and young graphic talent past and present. The collection of the museum’s Prints & Drawings Room provides an excellent overview of old and modern Flemish masters, from Rubens to Ensor and Jordaens to Paul Joostens and René de Coninck.

The Death of Seneca, Peter Paul Rubens

Seneca lived in Rome in the first century CE and was an advisor of Emperor Nero. When the latter suspected that Seneca was conspiring against him, he ordered him to commit suicide. A Stoic and a philosopher, Seneca advocated in favour of consistency and equanimity. He applied these principles right up to the very end, consoling his family and friends in the run-up to his death. Rubens portrays the philosopher shortly before his death. For Balthasar I Moretus, Justus Lipsius and many humanists of that era, Seneca was a beacon of inspiration from antiquity. The museum archives inform us that Balthasar I Moretus commissioned a series of portraits from his childhood friend Peter Paul Rubens in 1613, including this one of Seneca. Moretus and many other humanists considered Seneca’s philosophical works and plays tremendously important as they believed that their own ideas and principles were articulated in Seneca's Stoic philosophy. Of all the portraits by Rubens in the Plantin House, this truly is a masterpiece.

Portret van stervende Seneca in bloot bovenlijf

Collectie stad Antwerpen, Museum Plantin-Moretus

Portret van een Ethiopische koning die een gouden kistje draagt

Collectie stad Antwerpen, Museum Plantin-Moretus

The Ethiopian King, Peter Paul Rubens

The story of the three kings is strongly intertwined with the history of the Moretus family. Jan Moerentorf gave his name a Latin twist as humanists do, renaming himself Moretus and looking to the rex Morus, or Ethiopian king, for inspiration. His coat of arms featured the Latin motto ratione recta or guided by reason, like the Magi. Jan I Moretus named his three eldest sons after Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar, the three kings. These names appear frequently throughout the family history. The name Balthasar, after the Ethiopian king, proved especially successful among managers of the Plantin printing company. Between 1630 and 1633, Balthasar I Moretus commissioned a series of paintings from his friend Peter Paul Rubens, including portraits of The Three Magi. The Ethiopian king is portrayed with a turban which frames his dark face. In his hands he carries the box of myrrh.
The Three Magi remained in the house until 1658. We have no idea when they were sold. After 1881, the group of portraits was separated, and Caspar and Melchior ended up in collections in the United States. The Ethiopian king remained in Europe. In 2000, the City of Antwerp was able to re-acquire it for the Museum Plantin-Moretus. Today the Ethiopian king hangs in the large salon with the family portraits, near the many Balthasars who took their names from this king.

Seneca, Opera, quae extant omnia, Ed. Justus Lipsius, 1632

In 1605, Jan I Moretus published the first edition of the collected works of the Roman philosopher Seneca, the life's work of the humanist Justus Lipsius, who was also a family friend. Only the best quality illustrations and design were deemed good enough for luxurious editions like this masterpiece. For the 1615 edition, Balthasar I Moretus decided to commission illustrations from Rubens. In his preface, Balthasar I provided additional information about the new illustrations. Rubens created The Portrait of Seneca after a marble bust that he had brought back from Rome, and which was part of his magnificent art collection. For the illustration of The Death of Seneca, Rubens drew inspiration from the Dying Seneca in the collection of Cardinal Borghese in Rome.
You can find this beautiful book in Room 3, the room with the family portraits. The book on display is the 1632 edition. The bust that served as a model for this portrait can also be seen in Room 11, in the painting The Four Philosophers, an anonymous copy after Rubens. Rubens placed the bust in the top right corner.

Collectie stad Antwerpen, Museum Plantin-Moretus

De Aanbidding der Wijzen op een zwart wit prent

Collectie stad Antwerpen, Museum Plantin-Moretus

The Adoration of the Magi, Peter Paul Rubens and Theodoor Galle, Missale Romanum, 1613, Plantijn-Moretus

After Balthasar I and his brother Jan II Moretus became the managers of the Plantin publishing house, they decided to rework the illustrations in the liturgical works they published.
In 1613, the brothers published a new edition of the Missale Romanum. To make this work even more prestigious and because some of the illustrations were no longer deemed adequate, they commissioned two new illustrations from their friend Rubens, namely The Adoration of the Magi and The Ascension of Christ. Rubens also designed the two new frames on the facing page. The engraving and printing was done in the workshop of Theodoor Galle.
From 1613, Rubens regularly created designs for the Moretuses. He mainly worked for the Plantin printing house, rarely offering his services to other publishers. Thanks to the friendship between Balthasar I and Rubens, the new Baroque book reached all corners of the world.
You can find this book in Room 31, the room with religious works, where one of the two coloured images are displayed. These are regularly alternated to protect them from light.

Labor et Constantia, Theodoor Boeyermans

In 2019, the Museum Plantin-Moretus acquired an oil sketch on canvas by an anonymous painter. The work was later attributed to 17th-century Antwerp artist Theodoor Boeyermans. The iconography refers to the motto of the Plantin-Moretus printing and publishing house, i.e., Labore (Hercules pulling the press on the right) and Constantia (seated at his feet compass in hand). This is a glorification of the Officina Plantiniana, the home of the Plantin-Moretus family. The painter used an allegory, a popular painting genre in the 16th and 17th centuries, in which Greek or Roman gods embody abstract concepts. Perhaps this design by Boeyermans emphasises the role of the Moretuses in the history of the publishing-printing business.