Album Amicorum of Nicolaas and Adriaan Rockox
This is an early example of a friendship book. The twenty costume drawings in watercolour reveal how extensive the network of Nicolaas Rockox and his younger brother Adriaan was in Antwerp. With coats of arms, pen drawings and fun aphorisms, a custom in student circles in those days.
Nicolaas Rockox (1560-1640) and others
Album Amicorum of Nicolaas and Adriaan Rockox
C. 1579-1636
Ink and watercolour drawings on paper
On display at the Snijders&Rockoxhuis (Antwerp)
Some traditions are much older than we think. As early as the 16th century, Nicolaas Rockox – the later mayor of Antwerp – and his brother, who was eight years younger, asked their friends to add a drawing to their album amicorum.
Passionate students
Over the next 57 years, the friendship book of the Rockox brothers grew into a valuable art object filled with page after page of dedications, aphorisms and illustrations by fellow students. The two travelled from university to university. Driven by their eagerness to learn and fleeing bubonic plague and war.
After Leuven and Paris, Nicholas ended up at the University of Douai (France) in 1579. There he shared this booklet for the first time. Even after his studies, he continued to ask friends in various Flemish cities for personal contributions. Between 1592 and 1596, Adriaan took it with him on his grand (study) tour of Flanders and abroad.
Elegant drawings
Unlike similar booklets of that era, this friendship book contains many high-quality illustrations that are meticulously coloured, and enriched with beautiful miniatures in gouache, as well as pencil, chalk, and ink drawings. Many illustrations feature the coats of arms of young noblemen combined with a dedication or motto. And apart from the occasional reference to ‘sweet love’, the tone is surprisingly wholesome.
Handed down
Because of the many images of stylishly dressed and coiffed men and women, one of the previous owners thought it was a book of costumes. Hence the partly erased word ‘Costumes’ on one of the front endpapers. An English owner added his own findings on the bundled tome. In the mid-19th century, someone gave it an upgrade, adding the present blue leather binding with gold lettering and borders.
Haphazard
In all likelihood, the page order is not chronological. It may have subsequently been changed. Watermarks from different regions indicate that the brothers sometimes used loose sheets of paper, which they added to the friendship book at a later date. This was definitely the case for the contributions of Justus Lipsius, Aubertus Miraeus and Nicolaas himself. Paper analyses reveal that although the pages appear to be haphazardly inserted, they do belong together.
Back home
After four centuries of peregrinations, the Album Amicorum resurfaced in 1958 at a New York antique dealer. He was able to unearth the link with the former mayor of Antwerp and sent it to the Royal Library of Belgium. Thanks to the librarian of the Antwerp city library and then-curator Frans Baudouin, the album amicorum found its way back to the Rubens House.
