Beschrijving

In 1881 the newly founded Museum Plantin-Moretus in Antwerp acquired a miniature portrait of printer Christophe Plantin. Following the renovation and reopening of the museum in 2016, the portrait received a prominent place in the Biblia Regia room. It has long been assumed that the portrait was painted in the late 16th-century, the painter remains unknown. This contribution will argue that the miniature was in fact created by Jan Maurits Quinkhard in the middle of the 18th century and that it was part of the Panpoëticon Batavûm, a large and important early modern collection of portraits of literary figures from the Low Countries. In that sense the miniature stands testament to the continuing reverence for the accomplishments of Christophe Plantin.