COBERGHER, Wenceslas

Cobergher’s surviving paintings reveal him as an adaptable artist, who was rapidly able to comply with the varying patterns of taste of the towns in which he worked.

The Saint Augustine Church at the Kammenstraat in Antwerp was once the convent church of the Augustinian friars. The church was the first major building project of the later Augustinian monastery. It was built between 1615 and 1618 under the leadership of Wenceslas Cobergher, court architect of the archdukes Albert and Isabella. The style is described as Early Baroque, but especially in the fa�ade there are still clear characteristics of the local Renaissance traditions. This screen fa�ade conceals a three-aisled nave without a transept and with a relatively large choir.

In the fa�ade of this church Cobergher made a remarkable compromise with local tradition. He was able to link the top gable of the two storeys of the fa�ade with elegant volutes. The church is not free-standing and perhaps because of this the fa�ade is only three bays wide instead of five, as in the Gesù-type fa�ades. This gives the church a vertical appearance, so that it also looks more organically linked into the seventeenth-century Antwerp street scene, which was dominated by narrow pointed elevations.

The photo shows the fa�ade of the Augustinian church.

The Saint Augustine Church at the Kammenstraat in Antwerp was once the convent church of the Augustinian friars. The church was the first major building project of the later Augustinian monastery. It was built between 1615 and 1618 under the leadership of Wenceslas Cobergher, court architect of the archdukes Albert and Isabella. The style is described as Early Baroque, but especially in the fa�ade there are still clear characteristics of the local Renaissance traditions. This screen fa�ade conceals a three-aisled nave without a transept and with a relatively large choir.

In the fa�ade of this church Cobergher made a remarkable compromise with local tradition. He was able to link the top gable of the two storeys of the fa�ade with elegant volutes. The church is not free-standing and perhaps because of this the fa�ade is only three bays wide instead of five, as in the Gesù-type fa�ades. This gives the church a vertical appearance, so that it also looks more organically linked into the seventeenth-century Antwerp street scene, which was dominated by narrow pointed elevations.

The photo shows the fa�ade of the Augustinian church.

The Saint Augustine Church at the Kammenstraat in Antwerp was once the convent church of the Augustinian friars. The church was the first major building project of the later Augustinian monastery. It was built between 1615 and 1618 under the leadership of Wenceslas Cobergher, court architect of the archdukes Albert and Isabella. The style is described as Early Baroque, but especially in the fa�ade there are still clear characteristics of the local Renaissance traditions. This screen fa�ade conceals a three-aisled nave without a transept and with a relatively large choir.

In the fa�ade of this church Cobergher made a remarkable compromise with local tradition. He was able to link the top gable of the two storeys of the fa�ade with elegant volutes. The church is not free-standing and perhaps because of this the fa�ade is only three bays wide instead of five, as in the Gesù-type fa�ades. This gives the church a vertical appearance, so that it also looks more organically linked into the seventeenth-century Antwerp street scene, which was dominated by narrow pointed elevations.

The photo shows the fa�ade of the Augustinian church.

The fa�ade of this church designed by Cobergher on the orders of Albert and Isabella has a Roman origin. It is relatively low and compressed because the architect made the western entrance open into a round church and so the view of the great dome crowning it was left free. The choice of a round church is a rarity for the Low Countries, it is connected with the specific site of the building: the round church had to crown the top of a hill. In plan and elevation the architecture of Scherpenheuvel is the result of Cobergher’s thorough familiarity with the Roman church architecture of the later sixteenth century.

The town hall of Ath is one of the remarkable buildings designed by Cobergher. Here the relationship with Roman palazzo design is striking, because the fa�ade is executed in a combination of brick and stone reminiscent of rusticated stone, and also because the central bay with the monumental entrance is accented by flanking half-columns with capitals, demonstrating a correct application of the Vitruvian orders.

The Saint Augustine Church at the Kammenstraat in Antwerp was once the convent church of the Augustinian friars. The church was the first major building project of the later Augustinian monastery. It was built between 1615 and 1618 under the leadership of Wenceslas Cobergher, court architect of the archdukes Albert and Isabella. The style is described as Early Baroque, but especially in the fa�ade there are still clear characteristics of the local Renaissance traditions. This screen fa�ade conceals a three-aisled nave without a transept and with a relatively large choir.

In the interior Antwerp’s greatest painters, Rubens, Van Dyck and Jordaens made an altarpiece especially for this church. In 2006, the interior was converted into a modern concert hall, and the paintings are currently in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp.

The photo shows the interior transformed into a concert hall.

This painting was executed after Cobergher’s return to the Netherlands from Italy. It shows that in Rome he clearly studied Federico Barocci’s mysteriously charged light effects, emotionally eloquent facial expressions and a suggestion of depth calculated to produce a dramatic effect.

This painting was executed after Cobergher’s return to the Netherlands from Italy. It shows that in Rome he clearly studied Federico Barocci’s mysteriously charged light effects, emotionally eloquent facial expressions and a suggestion of depth calculated to produce a dramatic effect.