In Bruges, everything that could go wrong went wrong. Painter Pieter Pourbus escaped by marrying conveniently. (And being stone-faced.)

The (in Flanders) famous portrait painter Pieter Pourbus is from Gouda. You have never heard of him. Soon you will. Museum Gouda is bringing the first Pieter Pourbus exhibition to the Netherlands from 17 February 2018 to 17 June 2018.

In preparation for this, you should first visit the Groeninge Museum in Bruges. The unabashedly burgundy World Heritage City is hosting the exhibition Pieter Pourbus and the Forgotten Masters until 21 January.

Restaurant Pieter Pourbus

Pieter Pourbus (Gouda, 1523 – Bruges, 1584) was a man of renown. He grew up in Gouda and made his mark in painting in Bruges. Pourbus was with Pieter Paul Rubens one of the very best portraitists in Flanders, with great influence on his contemporaries. Gouda has the Pieter Pourbusstraat. Bruges, of course, has a Pieter Pourbusstraat and also a Restaurant Pieter Pourbus ('Enjoying in Hartje Brugge.'). Then it does stop there. Then again, it is not as if Bruges residents have Pieter Pourbus at heart.

Pieter Pourbus, progenitor of the Pourbus family of painters, is considered the interpreter of the swan song of the Bruges School: 'the last der Flemish Primitives'.

The Athens of the North

Bruges, once the Athens of the North, fell into disaster and continuous decay in the 15th century, as if a curse had been placed on the Flemish city. Recession struck. The waterway to the North Sea silted up so that the port became worthless. Moreover, Bruges aldermen had the bright idea of imprisoning the Habsburg Emperor Maximilian I in 1488 and executing some persons from his entourage.

Not so convenient. It's like throwing Lionel Messi in the dungeon during the Champions League and hoping for better times. For four months, the emperor remained imprisoned. On terms he was released, upon which his father Frederick III immediately marched to Bruges with an army.

 Smart marriage

The 16th became a century of severe poverty for Bruges. The rich elite thinned out and fewer and fewer young artists settled in the city. Most art commissions went to Antwerp and Ghent. Rich patrons in Bruges were as numerous as billionaires in Emmeloord.

Pieter Pourbus was the artistic exception. He was a master painter. What helped him advance was that he married cleverly. A strategy he may have copied from the Habsburgs - who were constantly expanding their empire by doing so.

Securing contracts

In 1543, Pourbus married the daughter of the renowned artist Lancelot Blondeel. Under the experienced eye of this Bruges master, Pourbus developed into a great talent and managed to win many important commissions. From the burial chapel of Margaret of Austria, the 'Last Judgement' and the 'Annunciation' to portraits of prominent Bruges families.

Pieter Pourbus the cartographer

Remarkably, portrait painter Pourbus gained most prestige in Bruges, especially as a cartographer. He was commissioned to plan 'water works' and fortifications, in connection with the problematic water management in Bruges and its surroundings. Pourbus painted maps. In 1562, he made a huge map of Bruges, which is also on display at the exhibition in the Groeninge Museum.

Frans Pourbus to Antwerp

Pieter I Claeissens and his sons Gillis, Pieter II and Antonius are the Forgotten Masters of the exhibition. Recent research reconstructed their centuries-long unknown oeuvre. In Bruges, you will be introduced to their extensive collection of paintings. Frans I, the son of Pieter Pourbus, bridges the gap to Antwerp. He leaves for the art metropolis at a young age. Son Frans the Second is apprenticed to grandfather Pieter Pourbus for portraiture.

He eventually creates the state portraits for Archduke Albert of Austria and the (later) governess Isabella of Spain, daughter of King Philip II. Thus, Bruges' 'dilapidated' painting becomes the basis for his international fame.

'Problem solver' Alva

But Antwerp too did not escape calamity in the 16th century. 'Problem solver' Alva came to the Netherlands a year after the Iconoclasm (1566) to put things in order. This ended the prosperity of the southern Netherlands. For Flanders, the battle between Spain and the Netherlands ended disastrously. The Protestant inhabitants were given four years to return to the Catholic Church or leave. The population of Antwerp (previously 85,000) shrank to 40,000. Many Protestant entrepreneurs fled to cities such as Leiden, Haarlem and Amsterdam. Antwerp's Golden Age as a port, trading and art city came to an end. The Dutch economy grew explosively, mainly due to the flow of skilled southern immigrants.

Tourism Flanders strikes back

Pieter Pourbus returns to the Netherlands, Gouda, on 20 February 2018. That is, his paintings. And Tourism Flanders is striking back hard over the next two years. From 2018 to 2020, VisitFlanders is organising a series of events to attract visitors from all over the world to Flanders to get to know the Flemish Masters.

In 2018, 'Antwerp Baroque City' is all about Rubens. The icing on the cake is the reopening of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp in 2019.

In the same year, Bruegel's 450th birthday will be commemorated across Flanders. In 2020, the meticulously restored Mystic Lamb by Jan and Hubert van Eyck returns to St Bavo's Cathedral in Ghent.