A painter, a collector, and a horseshoe crab Connoisseurs of art and nature in early modern Antwerp

Abstract

This article discusses the horseshoe crab in collections and paintings in early modern Antwerp. Such a crab is depicted in at least three paintings by the Antwerp artist Frans Francken the Younger – among the earliest European depictions of this animal and the first in the medium of oil paint. It is suggested that the crab depicted by Francken was probably in the collection of his acquaintance, the notary Gilles de Kimpe, one of the city’s most avid collectors. Early modern Antwerp supported a lively collecting culture and people like Francken and De Kimpe were fascinated by the variety and abundance of nature. In their own ways, through ownership, observation, and depiction, they were connoisseurs of art and nature, this connoisseurship alluding to questions pertaining to the recognition of curious and exotic specimens, such as the horseshoe crab.