Hieronymus van Winghe and Collecting Prints from the Southern Netherlands in the early Seventeenth Century
Hieronymus Van Winghe, a canon at the cathedral in Tournai, came from a learned family and actively gathered texts and images that reflect a wide range of interests. Although few of the prints he collected are still preserved, records of his purchases via the Plantin-Moretus Press of Antwerp provide significant data as to how and what he collected. For, not only do they point to his reliance on the Galle family of print publishers for many of his acquisitions, but they also reveal numerous prints that he purchased at the end of his life. These last records provide valuable insights into not only Van Winghe’s own preferences, but also a glimpse of the general market for prints by artists from the Southern Netherlands in the early 17th century.