From the Fondation’s website
Hieronymus Cock (1518-1570) was undoubtedly the greatest print publisher the Low Countries have ever known. His house ‘In the Four Winds’ in Antwerp specialized exclusively in the production of printed images, but on a scale never seen before. Cock not only managed to secure the services of the best engravers, he also had his prints – many hundreds – designed by the most ambitious and innovative artists of the day.
Hieronymus Cock played a crucial role in disseminating the art of the Italian Renaissance in the Low Countries and introducing new forms of ornamentation and architecture. It was Cock, too, who recognized the genius of the young Pieter Bruegel, with his art rooted in the Netherlandish tradition. Bruegel’s diabolical fantasies and his grand vision of the landscape were soon familiar throughout Europe thanks to the prints Cock published.
The exhibition, which was previously staged in Louvain, presents almost the entire range of prints a client could choose from ‘In the Four Winds’. Some of the rare design drawings have also been brought together for this occasion. The selection was made from the files in the Royal Library in Brussels, augmented by loans from other European collections.
Publication
Hieronymus Cock: The Renaissance in Print
Edited by Joris van Grieken, Ger Luijten, and Jan Van der Stock
416 p., 9 1/2 x 12 inch, 320 illustrations
Catalogue of an exhibition held in 2013 in Leuven (M) and in Paris (Institut Néerlandais)
ISBN: 9780300191844