jean bastiaensen

Finding Clara: Establishing the Biographical Details

of Clara Peeters (ca. 1587–after 1636)

clara peeters has triumphed. after four cen- her as a particularly talented artist whose work was un-
turies, she has taken centre stage once more. An exhi- surpassed by any other representative of her genre.5
bition dedicated to her work, organised by the Prado Hymans’s belated yet justified praise for Clara was
Museum, has recently been shown both there and at thanks to a passionate young art historian from The
the Rockoxhuis in Antwerp,1 and her work also played Hague, Abraham Bredius (1855–1946). In 1883 Bredius
an important role in the exhibition ‘Slow Food: Still had corresponded with the Antwerp archivist and biog-
Lifes of the Golden Age’, held at the Mauritshuis in rapher Frans Jozef Van den Branden (1837–1922) about
The Hague.2 The reaction to these exhibitions con- Clara Peeters. Van den Branden had just published his
firmed public appreciation of her work, and made it authoritative work, Geschiedenis der Antwerpsche Schil-
clear that she has been relegated to the shadows for far derschool (‘History of the Antwerp School of Painting’),
too long. This highly talented, pioneering still-life art- in which he mentioned the painter Catharina Peeters
ist experienced great success during her lifetime, and – the sister of the painter Bonaventura Peeters – stat-
was much imitated, indicating a life of status and pros- ing that she painted mostly still lifes. He asserted that
perity, although we do not know this for sure, her life Catharina was the creator of the paintings on display
story up until now having been pieced together from in the Prado:
suppositions, hypotheses and unreliable evidence. In-
This museum in Madrid holds her wonderfully painted
deed, the book that accompanied the exhibitions in
Dead Birds and Table Supplies, Salad, Figs, Raisins, and Almonds
Antwerp and Madrid was restricted to a bare minimum next to a vase of flowers, Fish etc.6
of biographical information.3 Clara Peeters deserves
better than that; she deserves an identity. And it is in In a letter dated 19 April 1883, Bredius replied to Van
the service of this cause that I have undertaken my den Branden, saying:
own research, the early results of which are outlined
I regret having to shatter your conjecture regarding Clara
as follows.
Peeters, but the pieces in Madrid actually bear the mark
At the start of the nineteenth century, Clara Peeters
‘Clara Peeters 1611’. Catharina and Clara are therefore two
was on the verge of sinking into obscurity for good, separate painters.7
having been frequently confused with another Antwerp
painter, Catharina Peeters.4 The world was not con- Bredius was the first to make this distinction: Clara was
cerned with Clara Peeters. She continued to remain in not Catharina Peeters. In 1902, Bredius urged the Royal
the shadows until 1894, when Henri Hymans described Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp to purchase a painting

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 by Clara Peeters, which they did in 1905 – a still life of she had discovered the real Clara Peeters. In 1956, she
fish by her, purchased from a painter in Nieuwkerke wrote:
(Flanders).8
We have found the registration for her christening, born to
re-examining earlier hypotheses Jan Peeters, in the registry of christenings in the Church of
St Walburga in Antwerp, dated 15 May 1594.13
Despite his enthusiasm, however, Bredius also made
mistakes. For example, in his descriptions of a Haar-
lem inventory from 1643, he was perhaps overly hasty With this statement, Greindl established the notion
to ascribe a painting of fruit (‘fruitage’) painted by that Clara Peeters had been a child prodigy, since she
a young unmarried woman from Brabant to Clara was already painting by 1607. In the first ever mono-
Peeters. 9 Furthermore, he postulated that Peeters graph on Peeters, written by Pamela Hibbs Decoteau,
had been born in Antwerp in around 1589, based on 1594 was considered to be the most plausible year of
a notarised deed he had discovered. The document birth.14 There is quite a lot of information available
showed that Peeters had resided in both Amsterdam about this particular Clara, but nothing that refers
(1612) and The Hague (1617). Bredius published his to her being an artist. It is interesting to note that
findings in 1933, and he has unfortunately been cit- her surname is written as ‘Peeters’, and often as ‘de
ed by numerous authors since then, 1589, 1612, and Peeters’. This Clara was a member of the illustrious
1617 having long been seen as crucial turning points de Peeters, or de Pieters, family. Her father, Jan de
in the artist’s life. In 2003, however, Bredius’s find- Pieters (died 1606), had received His Majesty’s import
ings were amended: the Clara Peeters recorded in duties (Licenten) in the Netherlands; her mother was
1612 and 1617 appears, instead, to have been a prosti- Isabeau (Elisabeth) Cleuterincx (died 1622), and both
tute.10 The source of Bredius’s conjecture was a deed parents’ headstones had been located in Antwerp’s
signed by Amsterdam notary public Fredrick van now-lost Church of St Walburga.15 Influential family
Banchem.11 This states that Clara Pieters from Ant- members lived in Mechelen, Antwerp, or held impor-
werp appeared before him on 19 May 1617, at which tant posts in North Brabant, including the nobleman
time she was living in Red Star house (‘daer de Roode Cornelis de Peeters, steward of Wouw, who lived in the
Star vuijt hangt’) in The Hague. At the time of her castle there.16 This Clara was wealthy, with familial ties
statement she was 28 years old, so would have been to Spain. Her godmother was Clara (de) Robelledo [sic]
born in around 1589. This probably relates to the Clara and her guardian was Charles de Robelledo [sic].17 Her
Peeters who was christened in Antwerp’s Cathedral of sister Barbara married Antonio Pérez de Ayala. Clara
Our Lady on 19 March 1589, daughter of a carpenter, was still unmarried in 1621, but did marry at some point
Geeraerdt Peeters, and Magdalena Bossche.12 At the before 1625.18 Her surname of Peeters was explicitly cor-
request of Pieter Hendricxz Grol, Clara was asked rected to de Peeters in 1621, which is a spelling that,
whether or not she had ever been sexually intimate in my opinion, she would have also used on her paint-
with him. She stated that she had never met him. In ings as a self-aware artist. But there is no evidence of
a separate statement she stated that five years earlier this. She lived in Ghent in late 1621.19 In 1642, she is
(1612) she had stayed in Amsterdam in the home of mentioned as ‘jouffrouw’ Clara de Pieters, wife of Jan
Lijsbet Kerckers, near Kalverstraat. While there, she vander Mandele.20 She was survived by seven children,
had had sexual intercourse with Arent Elbertsz while and probably died in Ghent.21
sitting on a chair (‘op een stoel vleeschelick bekent There is also a third document that is often con-
heeft’), and in the heat of the moment, the chair had nected to Clara Peeters. It concerns a so-called late
broken. Clara remembered it well because Elbertsz marriage in the Church of St Walburga on 31 May
had given her 8 stivers to have the chair repaired, but 1639. According to a deed executed in 1642 before
it wound up costing her 12 stivers. It is clear that this the Antwerp aldermen, this Clara was the daughter
Clara is not the artist in question! of a carpenter, Geeraerdt Peeters, and Magdalena
A second misunderstanding came from Baroness vander Haegen, residing in ‘het Hoeffyser’, next to
Edith Greindl (1905–2004), who was convinced that the Hessenhuis.22 Clara’s husband is named as ‘master

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 1a. Clara Peeters, Still life with
Flowers, Gilt Goblets, Coins
and Shells, 1612. Oil on oak
panel, 59.5 x 49 cm. Karlsruhe,
Staatliche Kunsthalle, inv. 2222

1a

Henrick Joosten’.23 The parish records show that this panels made by Lambrecht Steens,25 and copper bearing
Clara was christened in the Cathedral of Our Lady Pieter Stas’s mark) indicate that Antwerp was where
(North) on 28 May 1620. She was just 19 when she she was working at the time. The pre-1635 mention
married, and is therefore far too young to be Clara of a pastry banquet painting (‘schilderij van suijcker
Peeters the artist. banquet’) painted in 1608 by Claer Pieters from Ant-
None of these three documents, therefore, has any werp (‘van een Vrou Claer Pieters in 1608 geschildert
bearing on the life of the painter Clara Peeters, and van Antwerpen’) supports this theory.26
all guesses at her year of birth are incorrect. The most My working method therefore consisted of inves-
recent biography wisely sticks to an estimate of some- tigating each and every Clara Peeters who might have
time between 1588 and 1590.24 lived in Antwerp during the painter’s active period
(1607–21). It soon became clear that there were many
returning to the sources more candidates than the three already known. By
The only reliable starting point for an investigation delving deeper into their lives, one by one, I hoped to
into the life of Clara Peeters is the city of Antwerp. The discover the true Clara (figs. 1a-1c).
Antwerp supports for her paintings in 1611 (one panel There were several women christened with the
made by local panel-maker Guilliam Aertssen, several name Clara Peeters, and the name also appears quite

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 1b. Clara Peeters, Still life with
Flowers, Gilt Goblet, Almonds,
Dried Fruits, Sweets, Biscuits,
Wine and a Pewter Flagon, 1611.
Oil on oak panel, 52 x 73 cm.
Madrid, Museo Nacional
del Prado, p-1620

1c. Clara Peeters, Still life with

Cheeses, Almonds and Pretzels,
c. 1612–15. Oil on oak panel,
34.5 x 49.5 cm. The Hague,
Mauritshuis, inv. 1203

1b

frequently in the marriage registers between 1608 and tigation began with all of the Claras who had married
1618; Clara was a popular Christian name in the cities. men with the surname Peeters.
However, none of these individuals appeared to have One of these was the wealthy Clara Loemans, wife
been a painter, and the names of their spouses (Josuwe of the clothier Everaert Peeters.28 She had been chris-
Vos, Bernaert Grau, Gielis Kempener, Jan Winters and tened in the Church of St Walburga on 17 August 1589
so on) gave no indication either. At first glance, this as the daughter of a second-hand clothes dealer and
appeared to be where my search ended, yet there was auctioneer. She appears as Clara Peeters in 1607.29 Her
something that others before me had missed. brother Artus Loemans was an art aficionado and mem-
It had always been assumed that Peeters was Clara’s ber of the Guild of Saint Luke. Another of her brothers,
surname. But, was this her maiden name? In Antwerp, cloak maker Hans Loemans, owned many paintings,
women were sometimes registered with their husband’s but none of these related to Clara Peeters.30
surnames, especially in the parish records. For example, I also located a Clara van Schelvergem, who had
Elisabeth de Jode, wife of Jan Brueghel the Elder, was married the cobbler Hans Peeters.31 She was a strong
recorded as Lisken Brueghels in the Antwerp parish woman who prevented her husband from selling their
records when she became godmother to her nephew home, the Sevilla, on the Meir in 1623. 32 When
Gerard Brueghel in 1599.27 Therefore, my second inves- their daughter Anna Peeters was christened in 1614,

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 Clara Ykens, either the sister- or mother-in-law of
Osias Beert, was her godmother.33
All in all, I identified seventeen Claras living in
Antwerp between 1607 and 1621, whose husbands’ last
name was Peeters. But of all these candidates, there was
just one who matched the required profile: a woman
who had grown up in a painter’s studio, who had lived
and worked in Antwerp, who before 1611 (judging from
the bridal knife she painted) had married a man who
could support her career, and who belonged to an ar-
tistic milieu that would have made it possible for her
to sell her art. Her name was Clara Lamberts, who had
married the painter Henrick II Peeters in 1605. Could
this be the woman that people had been searching for
all this time?

an entourage of painters
My hypothesis is that the painter Clara Peeters was 1c

not born in Antwerp as Clara Peeters but in the city of

Mechelen as Clara Lamberts, at some point between
1581 and 1589. Clara Lamberts was the daughter of the style that they painted in. However, we can assume
the painter Nicasius Lamberts and Clara Moreels, with that Nicasius’s apprentice Joris Paludanus painted still
painters on both sides of the family. Her grandfather lifes. A chimney piece with small birds by Joris Pallu-
Peter Lambe(e)rts had been a member of the Mechelen daen is listed in a 1623 estate inventory from the Musica
Guild of Saint Luke in 1544. 34 His wife, Katharina house near the Sint Jorispoort in Antwerp.40 It could
Verhaghen, had left him a young widower with three have been a still life of dead game birds.
small children.35 In order to keep all of his painting The artists on Clara’s mother’s side of the family
supplies he bought out his children in 1550. His paint- (fig. 2) painted in a different style. Her mother, Clara
ing patterns and other possessions were valued at 150 Moreels, was born in around 1560 to Gielis Moreels, the
guilders. He had a sister and a rentcharge in Putte, official city messenger of Mechelen for the city of Ant-
near Mechelen. A painter named Peeter Lambierts is werp. She may have been christened in Antwerp’s Ca-
recorded as living with his wife Margriete Vervaren in thedral of Our Lady on 2 September 1560, on the same
Antwerp in 1573.36 In 1578 a Peeter Lambert was liv- day as Maria, the daughter of painter Bartholomeus de
ing in Mechelen in the Eenbempt, where he rented a Momper. Gielis Moreels (born in around 1529) lived
house from his neighbour Jaecques van Willebeecke.37 in Mechelen in his own property in the Koestraat
One thing we can be sure of is that Clara’s grandfather, (now Frederik de Merodestraat).41 In his position as an
Peeter Lamberts, died before June 1589. official messenger, he came into contact with many of
His son, Nicasius Lamberts ‘Peeterssone’, prob- Antwerp’s key cultural figures, including the painter
ably from a second marriage, was born in Mechelen. Huybrecht Beeda (1584), the glass painter Rombout
We can deduce that he trained as a painter in his fa- vander Veken (1585) and the printer Jan I Moretus (to
ther’s studio. Nicasius Lamberts was admitted to the whom he delivered a copy of Consiliorum part 3, by the
Mechelen Guild of Saint Luke on 27 December 1581.38 German humanist Martinus Uranius, in 1608).42
On 20 February 1585, he took on Joris Paludanus (van Gielis Moreels was also the father of the painter
den Broecke) as an apprentice, followed by Roelant Maurus I Moreels (born in around 1560), who has now
Yssewolfs (Yseweel) on 5 April 1587.39 been forgotten, despite significant fame as a painter in
There are no available works attributed to Peeter his own time. Maurus I Moreels, who was Clara’s un-
or Nicasius Lamberts, so it is impossible to identify cle, became a member of the Mechelen Guild of Saint

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 Peter Lamberts
Margriete Vervaeren Kathelijne Verhaghen
(ca. 1520)

Gielis Moreels
3 children
(1529)

Pauwelijn Lamberts Nicasius Lamberts Clara Moreels

Maurus I Moreels Jenneken Stevens
(1571) (ca. 1555) (ca. 1560)

Catharina Bouschier Arnout Moreels Maurus II Moreels

Thomas Lamberts Jacques Lamberts

(1590) (1592-1612)

1604 1605 1618

Maria Lamberts
Laureys II vander Veken Agneete Lamberts Clara Lamberts Henrick II Peeters Marten van Brabant
(1594)

Gielis Peeters Clara Peeters

several children Maria Anna van Delft
(1608) (1611)

Luke on 28 December 1580. He married Janneken Ste- 3.5-metre Adoration of the Magi in the Church of Saint
vens, sister of the renowned Prague court painter Peter Catherine in Mechelen.46
Stevens. Maurus is supposed to have spent some time If Clara Lamberts was Clara Peeters, the artists on
in Prague painting. Nicasius Lamberts was godfather her mother’s side of the family apparently had little
to one of their children and present at the christening infuence on her work.
in June 1588 at St Rumbold’s Cathedral in Mechelen.
Maurus I Moreels bought the ‘Gulden Helm’ house in clara’s immediate family
the Katelijnestraat in Mechelen in 1587, and died there In August 1587, Nicasius ‘Lambert’ and Clerken (Clara)
in 1631.43 ‘Morels’ had a child christened in the St Rumbold’s
His son Maurus II Moreels (born in around 1585), Cathedral in Mechelen. The child’s first name is no long-
Clara’s cousin, also stayed in Prague until 1616. He er legible.47 This could have been Clara Lamberts. Wit-
painted religious and historical tableaux. In 1628, nesses to the christening were the painter Guillame van
he received slightly more than 39 guilders for 99 can- Recht and Maeken van Oppen, who probably belonged
vas paintings that were shipped to Seville.44 They were to the van Ophem family of painters in Mechelen.
destined for the commercial house owned by Chrisos- Daughter Agneete Lamberts, who appears to have
tomus van Immerseel, who shipped them from Spain to been a few years older than Clara, married the landscape
the New World. Between 1628 and 1630, Maurus deliv- painter Laureys II vander Veken in Antwerp’s St James’
ered several other pieces, including a Last Judgement, a Church in February 1604. As a master’s son, Laureys
Battle of Pavia (‘eenen Slach van Pavien’) and more than II became the freemaster of the Antwerp Guild of
70 watercolour paintings, including 22 hermits and 9 Saint Luke in 1604. The couple lived in Mechelen for
hunting tableaux.45 His only preserved piece is a 4.8 by a while, but eventually returned to Antwerp in 1617.48

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 2. Genealogy with indication of
Clara’s painting relatives

Pieter II Stevens
(ca. 1567)

1616

Lysken Mannaerts

Frans Lamberts
(1596)
had provided him with a certificate of good behaviour.52
These were the painter Loys vanden Eenhne and the
1627 writer Joos de Prince.53 The two men stated that Nicasi-
Margriete Rombout Lamberti
vander Hagen (1597) us was of good moral character and that they had spent
time in Mechelen and Antwerp, eating, drinking and
1662 conversing with him.
jhr. Nicasius Lamberti jhr. Jan Baptista
(1628-1693) Lamberti (1630-1681) Nicasius took on several apprentices at his Antwerp
studio: Maximiliaen Gobbaert in 1594, an unnamed
jhr. Ignatius Lamberti
apprentice in 1604, Hans Vervoort in 1605, and Hans
(† 1681) Wichters in 1607. Nothing is known about the styles
in which they painted, but Clara certainly grew up in
their company.
After Agneete and Clara, another five children
They had several children, including Jan and Clara van- were born to Nicasius Lamberts and Clara Moreels
der Veken; the painter Maurus Moreels was godfather at in Antwerp. All were christened in St James’ Church.
the christening of the latter in 1617.49 Laureys II vander The spelling of the family name varies. The witnesses
Veken is known as the monogrammist LVDV. One of present at these christenings give us an idea of the fam-
his oil paintings of a landscape (‘Een Lantschapken van ily’s social circle.
Laureys vander Veken gemaect olieverve zonder lyste’)
wound up in an Antwerp collection in 1619,50 while one 14 December 1590
of his landscapes with the Good Samaritan (oil on cop- Thomas Lambert. Probably died young. Witnesses
per, 21 x 27 cm), is now in Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum. to the christening were Joris Hermans and Maria
Clara spent the first year or so of her life in Mechel- van Halmael.
en. However, in 1589 Nicasius Lamberts moved his
home and studio to Antwerp, somewhere in the St 27 July 1592
James parish. He is not registered as a property owner, Jacobus Lambrechs. Witnesses to the christening
so he most likely rented the house. His apprentices were Jaques vanden Wyer and Maria Stockarts. The
followed and went on to become masters in Antwerp: godfather came from Mechelen and was already
Roelant Yseweel in 1596 and Joris Paludanus in 1601. working as a painter in Antwerp in 1563. He was
Nicasius Lamberts became a freemaster of the Ant- also a merchant of paintings, a dean, master dean,
werp Guild of Saint Luke in 1589. At the same time, his alderman and treasurer for the Antwerp Guild of
name appears in the guild’s busboek as a member of the Saint Luke. Jacobus (Jacques) Lamberts never mar-
treasury for mutual assistance.51 He became a burgess ried and died in Antwerp on 1 December 1612. He
of the city on 2 June 1589. Three days prior, two men was buried in the Dominican Church in Antwerp.

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 3. Jan Lambert(s), Fruit still life,
1613 (location unknown).
Photograph. The Hague, rkd,
bd/0384-ons

10 February 1594 had two sons: Nicasius (born 1628) and Jan Baptista
Maria Lamberts. Witnesses to the christening Lamberti (born 1630).56
were Sixtus de Mens and Maria vanden Wouwer.
The godfather was an art collector. Upon his death There may also have been an older son, Jan. Indeed, there
in 1621, he left behind a banquet painting (‘een was a painter by the name of Jan Lambert(s) by whom a
schilderye Bancquet in vergulde lysten olieverwe’).54 single piece is known, an early Flemish sumptuous fruit
His daughter, Cornelia de Mens, was married to still life in the style of Osias Beert. The painting bears Jan
Pedro de San Juan, secretary to the Spanish king. Lambert’s signature and is dated 1613.57 If Clara Peeters
Maria Lamberts married Mertinus van Brabant in was indeed born Clara Lamberts, this artist takes on a
Antwerp’s St James’ Church on 1 December 1618.55 very significant meaning. The painting belonged to the
Witnesses at the wedding were her father Nicasius private collection of M. Van den Bossche in Brussels
Lamberts and Guillelmus van den Broecke, i.e. the before 1970, but all that remains today is a poor-quality
Mechelen painter Guilliam Paludanus, who settled black-and-white photograph (fig. 3).58 The table is heavily
in Haarlem. overcrowded and the execution is weaker than in Beert’s
paintings. A curtain rises up in the upper left corner,
3 March 1596 which can be found behind some of the laid tables in
Franscicus [sic] Lamberts. Probably died young. Beert’s work. In front of the curtain, we see a large pewter
Witnesses to the christening were Jacques Goij(en)s platter with green and red grapes. Expensive drinking ves-
and Franscinken Lambrechts. sels are set out in the back, from left to right: a cup screw
holding a rummer, a fluted glass, a stoneware jug and a
15 October 1597 nautilus cup. To the far right is a pewter platter with mul-
Rumoldus Lambrechts. Witnesses to the chris- berries, with a bowl of cherries in front of it.59 In the front,
tening were Cornelius Rombout and Tanneken we see a pewter platter with a bread roll, a knife with an
Goubecht. Rumoldus became a painter, taking ivory-and-gem-encrusted handle, a wanli porcelain bowl
on the name Rombout Lamberti. He first became filled with small wild strawberries, a small white butterfly,
freemaster of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in sweetbrier, three purple-leaved filbert nuts (lambertsnoten
1633/34. He married Margriete vander Hagen, the — possibly a play on the artist’s own name?), half an or-
sister of nobleman Henrick vander Hagen, in Ant- ange, cherries, a china plate with walnuts, pears and other
werp’s St James’ Church on 11 January 1627. They fruits, a pomegranate, and half a pear.

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 A 1627 inventory of the paintings left at the death drixs. The fact that Clara’s husband’s real name was
of the painter Herman II Saftleven in his home on Henrick Peeters is proven by their children’s christen-
Delftsevaart, near the Raambrug in Rotterdam, ing certificates and in other documents. The witnesses
confirms that a painter with the surname Lambert (Jan, at the wedding were Clara’s father, Nicasius Lamberts,
Rombout, Nicasius…?) worked in this genre. Among and Joannes de Clercq, who was probably the portrait
these was a banquet painting by Lambert (‘een bancket painter Hans de Clercq from Mechelen, who settled in
van Lambert’).60 This and a piece by Herman I Saftlev- Leeuwarden. By marrying a freemaster painter, Clara
en were assessed together at just 8 guilders. was probably not required to register with the Guild
of Saint Luke.
clara’s marriage There were two painters by the name of Henrick
As the bridal knife, which appears six times in her Peeters in Antwerp. Henrick I Peeters (born in around
works, suggests, Clara Peeters did not remain a spin- 1551) resided with Gillis Mostaert, serving as the latter’s
ster. Neither did Clara Lamberts. On the contrary, apprentice, for a year.61 He left Antwerp for Italy in 1572
she married a man who made it possible for her to to further perfect his painting skills. Henrick II Peeters
develop a career. Under the name Clara Lambrechts, was born in around 1573 since he became a painter’s
she married the painter Henrick Peeters in her lo- apprentice in Antwerp in 1588.62 He would have been
cal parish church (St James’ Church) in Antwerp on in his early thirties upon marrying. His master was the
27 June 1605 (fig. 4). The marriage was held with a painter Geraert Schooffs from Mechelen. Did that
matrimonial dispensation, or exemption from the re- Henrick come from Mechelen, like Clara’s family?
quired three marriage banns. Were there urgent cir- Or was he a part of the same family of painters that
cumstances requiring this? This kind of matrimonial included Bonaventura, Gillis and Jan Peeters? Their
dispensation was usually only granted in the case of sister, Catharina Peeters, was still being mistaken for
an advanced pregnancy or premature birth. However, Clara in the nineteenth century. He was certainly not
I could not find any record of a child’s christening a descendent of the Antwerp painter Marten Peeters.63
shortly after the wedding. Stillborn children and mis- Henrick II Peeters – hereafter simply referred to as
carriages were not registered, however, and it would Henrick Peeters – became freemaster of the Antwerp
be another two years before the bride became preg- Guild of Saint Luke in 1595/96. His name is recorded
nant (again?). If Clara was born in August 1587, then in the guild’s busboek in 1599.64 His apprentices included
she was married at the age of 17, which was common the still-unknown Gilliam Meesters (de Meester) in
at the time. 1599 and Gilis van Eertryck in 1604.
The clergyman who drew up the wedding certificate On 28 May 1599, Henrick Peeters was witness to
recorded the groom’s name backwards: Peeter Hen- a power of attorney deed between the painter Joris

4. Clara’s marriage certificate,

Antwerpen, St. James’s
Church, 27 June 1605: “Per
dispensa(tionem) Peeter Hendrixs
– Clara Lambrechts solemnizatum
27 juny testibus Joanne de Clercq et
Nicasio Lambrechts”. Antwerpen,
Stadsarchief, pr 216, fol. 62r 4

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 Paludanus and his wife Maria Cordier.65 One week lat- arche Simeon with a lump-sum payment and an annual
er he purchased a rentcharge from the couple for 30 rentcharge of 48 Carolus guilders,68 which had to be
Carolus guilders, levied on a home in the Schoytestraat paid annually at Christmas to the sellers Andries vander
in Antwerp.66 From this, it appeared that Henrick was Meulen, Lord of Ranst, and his wife Susanna Malapart.
already in contact with Joris Paludanus, an apprentice Henrick and Clara moved in around Christmastime.
of his future father-in-law, Nicasius Lamberts, before Situated along the north side of the street, the house
marrying Clara. On 28 April 1600, the painter Hen- had a kitchen, various upper-level rooms (oppercam-
rick Peeters sold this same rentcharge to the guard- ers) and attic spaces – perfect for setting up a painting
ians of Lasarus vander Borcht, son of the late Rombout studio – and a basement that ran under the street.69
Pauwelsz. vander Borcht and the late Clara Peeters.67 Unfortunately, the original home no longer exists. The
Was this Clara Peeters, who died before 1600, Hen- house currently forms part of the back of the AMI Café
rick’s aunt? And does this mean that there was a familial at Sint-Katelijnevest 59, some imagination is required
connection to the painter Lasarus vander Borcht (born to picture how it would have looked at the start of
in Antwerp in 1578)? the seventeenth century. The front part, on the cor-
Clara Lamberts fell pregnant in 1607. In that ner of Sint-Katelijnevest, was a separate house called
year, Clara Peeters created a painting with a pretzel in Ruben. There was a water pump on the street in front
the shape of a P, and another shaped like a heart – Still of the house that was the joint property of the Ruben
life with Confectionery, Rosemary, Wine, Jewels and Burn- and Simeon house owners, and which only they were
ing Candle (fig. 5). This painting is usually considered permitted to use. The houses in the Israelietenstraat
to depict a hidden marriage, but in that case, I would were named after the twelve tribes of Israel, hence the
expect to see two letters representing the surnames of name of the street. Just six houses beyond Henrick and
the bride and groom. The painting clearly alludes to a Clara’s house – Dan house – was the contemporary at-
happy event. On the table is a branch of rosemary from elier of the painter Gillis II Coignet. Years before that
which hang several jewels in the shape of a strawberry, (until 1584/85), Pieter II Brueghel worked in the same
and on the table is a ring. Strawberries were sometimes street in Sabulon house (between the Simeon and Dan
identified with fertility, because their surfaces appear houses) as the apprentice of Gillis II van Conincxloo.70
to be studded with seeds (they are actually achenes), The houses along the north side of the Israelietenstraat
and rosemary was sometimes carried in wedding pro- were clearly suitable for painting studios.
cessions and used to decorate wedding tables. The On 21 July 1610, Henrick Peeters loaned money
burning candle may allude to the hope for a healthy from Clara Moens (1567–1653), the entrepreneurial
child. Clara Peeters would have had to have painted this and wealthy widow of Jacques Goos, who had been
piece around the end of 1607. In this, her oldest-known one of the almoners of Antwerp.71 Henrick mortgaged
painting, the twenty-something artist had already be- his house for this at a new rentcharge of 48 guilders,
gun her practice of painting her reflection in the base to be paid to Clara Moens annually.72 Moens was a pi-
of a candlestick. ous, strong business woman.73 Her granddaughter, Anna
In 1608, Clara Lamberts gave birth to a son, who Goos, would marry Balthasar II Moretus in 1645, dur-
was christened Egidius (Gielis) Peeters in Antwerp’s ing her grandmother’s life.
Cathedral of Our Lady on 23 June 1608. The father is Clara Lamberts’s second child, a girl named Clara
listed as Henric Peeters. Clara’s elderly grandfather, Peeters, was christened in Antwerp’s Cathedral of Our
Gielis Moreels, after whom the child was named, is Lady on 17 December 1611. Her father, Nicasius Lam-
listed as godfather and present at the christening. The brechs [sic], was her godfather, and her godmother was
godmother is named as Clara Lamberts – probably Clara Moens, after whom she was named. The fact that
Clara’s mother, Clara Lamberts-Moreels. this woman is listed as her godmother alludes to the
Henrick Peeters purchased his own house on 19 familiar relationship between her and those with whom
November 1609, in the Israelietenstraat in Antwerp she was in a financial transaction just a year before.
– a small but busy street that opened out into the Ant- The next decade makes no mention of Henrick and
werp trade exchange (de beurs). He acquired the Patri- Clara in the archives, until Clara Moens reappears. On 3

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 5. Clara Peeters, Still life with
Confectionery, Rosemary, Wine,
Jewels and Burning Candle,
1607. Oil on panel, 24 x 37 cm.
Private collection, by courtesy
of Hoogsteder and Hoogsteder,
The Hague

August 1621, Henrick Peeters, painter, appeared before perhaps even Antwerp itself. In any case, this year was a
the aldermen of Antwerp, stating that he had trans- turning point for Clara Lamberts. Notably, 1621 is also
ferred the property rights to his home, den Patriarche the date on the last known painting by Clara Peeters –
Simeon, to Clara Moens.74 The fact that no sale price a Madonna with Child within a floral wreath (location
was paid is noteworthy. Clara Moens acquired the house unknown).
by taking over the mortgage on it, plus the arrears that We do know, however, that 1621 was not the year in
were still owing. This included an annual 48 guilders which Clara Lamberts died, as we see her appear again
and an equal amount to be paid to the Jan vander Biest in later documents.77 Perhaps the couple began to trav-
hospice in the Falconrui, Antwerp, which Moens prom- el. A Henrick Peeters and wife were registered in The
ised to meet.75 The 96 guilders that Henrick and Clara Hague in December 1622.78 They were not residents of
owed annually had obviously become too much. Had the city, and the man was employed as an art dealer. The
they lived in luxury but exhausted their finances? Clara Protestant legislators learned that Henrick had a num-
Peeters’s substantial and generally high-quality output ber of erotic paintings in his possession, depicting men
indicates that she must have been quite successful and and women in various sexual acts, which the legislators
in demand. But how lucrative was still-life painting? considered vile and scandalous, and to be rejected at
Her colleague, Osias Beert, died in 1623/24, leaving his all costs.79 Henrick was called before the president of
wife Magriete Ykens with six children and a mountain the Court of Holland by these prudish legislators (28
of debts. Five of their children were still alive in 1625 December 1622), at which point he apologised and said
and were on the brink of ruin.76 that the paintings had been painted in Prague and were
What happened to the house in the Israelietenstraat? to be shipped to Italy. He had not intended to display
Were Henrick and Clara Peeters-Lamberts able to live or sell them in The Hague, but this had come about
there as renters, perhaps in exchange for paintings? It when Christian, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
is doubtful, given their actual debt. Most likely, they (1599–1626), a general who fought against the Spanish
left their home and painting studio behind in 1621, and army in the Netherlands, had shown an interest in the

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 6. Clara’s last entry in Ghent,
4 August 1637 (transcription
in note 83). Antwerp City
Archives, SR 635, fol. 69r

paintings, selecting thirteen of them for his own col- the godmother of her brother Rombout’s youngest son,
lection. The eleven remaining paintings were seized Johannes Baptista Lamberti, at his christening in the
by the magistrate, rolled up, folded together, bound cathedral. Her father, Nicasius Lamberts, died around
and then sealed with the Court’s seal, after which they 1633 (upon his death, the death dues were paid to the
were returned to Henrick Peeters’s wife (Clara?) due Guild of Saint Luke, in 1633/34); his wife died two years
to the indisposition or unwillingness of her husband, later.81 They were buried in their son’s tomb in Antwerp’s
in January 1623. Dominican Church. In 1637, a meagre posthumous fee
Whether this text concerns Clara and Henrick was owed to ‘Sieur Nicasius Lambrechts, painter’ by the
Peeters cannot be verified. However, it is known that heirs of the late lawyer Maximiliaen Martini.82
Clara Peeters gained fame as a painter in the northern
Netherlands. During her lifetime, a copy of one of her a last clue
fish still lifes – De Viskens naer Clara Pieters – was re- After the death of her parents, Clara herself was named
ported to be in the possession of Lucretia de Beauvois, in a notarised deed on 15 January 1636. Jouffrouwe
widow of the painter Herman II Saftleven († Rotter- Clara Lambrechts and her lawfully wedded husband
dam, 1627).80 This collection also included the Lambert Henrick Peeters transferred power of attorney for
banquet painting mentioned above. People obviously the inheritance from her late parents, master Nicasius
knew all too well that De Viskens was not an original Lambrechts and jouffrouwe Clara Moreels before no-
Clara Peeters, but rather a copy, which indicates the tary public Charles Caerdock (fig. 6).83 The preserved
popularity of her work. The copier could have been an copy of this deed shows that Henrick and Clara were
apprentice, or the less-talented painter Nicolas Cavé, residents of the city in which the notary public Caer-
who is known to have copied at least one of her paint- dock resided, which was Ghent. Clara was probably
ings. If Clara Peeters was in fact Clara Lamberts it forty-eight and her husband in his sixties at this point.
could also have been one of her painter relatives: her The Brabant painter had settled in Flanders.
brother Rombout Lamberts, her father Nicasius Lam- The couple gave power of attorney to notary public
berts, her husband Henrick Peeters... Her contacts in Loys vanden Berghe in Antwerp, who declared on 4
Mechelen, particularly her uncle and cousin Maurus I August 1637 that they had received a financial settle-
and II Moreels, could have contributed to the distribu- ment from her brother, master Rombout, and her sister
tion of her work. Maria Lambrechts, and stated that they were satisfied
Clara Lamberts appears in the parish records in with this settlement (‘daer mede sy hen hielden voor
Antwerp again on 1 April 1630, when she is named as wel content ende te vreden’). By this arrangement,

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 Clara and Henrick allowed themselves to be bought from the city of Condé in the north of France, Cavé
out, leaving Clara’s inheritance to her brother and sis- settled in Antwerp around the beginning of the sev-
ter. To date, 1637 is the last year in which we find any enteenth century. He married Josina de Witte, moving
trace of Henrick and Clara Peeters. Their deaths were into a home on Jodenstraat, just 500 metres from Clara
apparently not registered in Ghent, but several of the Lamberts’ house.89 They were blessed with seven chil-
parish registers start too late to provide any definitive dren. He became a member of the Antwerp Guild of
explanation for this. Nor are their names among the Saint Luke in 1619. According to a deed from 1630, he
member lists for the Ghent Guild of Saint Luke. was a painter and an organist.90 His brother Jean Cavee
Who were Clara’s heirs? Were her children still was a cantor. Nicolas Cavé was still listed as a painter
alive when she was living in Ghent? Clara Moens, in Antwerp in 1641.91 His death dues were paid in 1651.
who became godmother to her daughter in 1611,
drew up her last will in 1644, leaving gifts to several conclusion
of her godchildern.84 However, there is no mention of In the words of Seymour Slive, ‘not a single uncontested
her goddaughter Clara Peeters. Was this child no longer document has surfaced about [Clara Peeters’s] life’.92
alive, or had they perhaps lost touch over the years? The reason could be simple: her maiden name was not
Perhaps Clara’s sister’s children were still alive. Jan Peeters. My research into a female painter by the name
vander Veken, the son of her sister Agneete Lamberts, of Clara Peeters in Antwerp has proven fruitless, which
moved to Kortrijk in Flanders, where he was given a is surprising, given her activity in this city. And, since
position with the local mount of piety.85 He had two 1883, any investigations carried out by others have only
daughters. Maybe Clara was survived by her young- led to false clues.
est brother Rombout. Neither of his two sons, Nica- Those looking for explicit evidence that Clara
sius and Jan Baptista Lamberti, carried on the family Lamberts and the painter Clara Peeters were one and
painting legacy, but went on to become aldermen in the same will be asking too much. As yet, there is no
Antwerp. Nicasius Lamberti, a licentiate in laws and a evidence that Clara Lamberts could paint. What is
lawyer, acquired a great deal of property outside of the clearly demonstrable, though, is the fact that Clara
city, including the Groenhof, a stone court of pleasance Lamberts, born into a family of painters in Mechelen
in Kalmthout to the north of Antwerp. He died child- in or around 1587, grew up in Antwerp. The name Lam-
less shortly after he drew up a closed testament that he berts is linked to at least one still-life painting (by Jan
filed with notary public Dominicus van Avondt.86 Did Lamberts), and her father’s apprentice, Joris Paludanus,
the bequests to family members include those in the may have painted at least one still life. Clara married
Lamberts family? Unfortunately, the document has not the painter Henrick II Peeters in 1605, and from that
survived, so its contents remain a mystery. time on, Clara Lamberts could have been known as
His brother, Clara’s godson Jan Baptista Lamberti, Clara Peeters. She lived in Antwerp until 1621, and the
had two children. His only son Ignatius Lamberti died last clues to her life appeared in Ghent in 1637.
childless on 5 January 1681.87 The estate inventories for The hope is that this article prompts further re-
Nicasius and Jan Baptista, in which I hoped to discover search into the life of an exceptionally talented woman,
paintings by Clara Peeters, have not yet been found. whose works are gaining in fame, thanks to the efforts
Clara Peeters’s work lived on in lesser-quality cop- made by the Prado Museum in Madrid, and the Rock-
ies in Antwerp. Her only known copier was Niclaes oxhuis in Antwerp.
or Nicolas Cavé (also written as Cave, Cavée, Cavee,
Caver, Kave), with the emphasis on the last syllable. jean bastiaensen is an independent historical researcher specialising
One can scarcely call him her apprentice since only a in palaeography and genealogy from the Middle Ages up to 1650. He
employs his knowledge in these fields to verify and add to the biographies
single relevant painting is attributed to him. At most, of known artists. Bastiaensen has discovered relationships between
we can propose that he knew one of her pieces, perhaps numerous painters from the Jordaens dynasty, including the betrothal
owned it, and then copied it. His work first appeared of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, the location of his residence in Brussels,
unknown family networks in the Pieter Coecke van Aelst family, the
at an auction in Amsterdam in 1993: a falcon sitting on christening of Jan Brueghel the Elder, and the relationship between
the edge of a basket full of small dead birds.88 Coming Willem and Adriaen Thomasz Key.

bastiaensen. finding clara: establishing the biographical details of clara peeters 29

0647_017-031#.indd 29 30/11/17 12:41

 r e s u m e n : Este artículo es el primero que arroja algo de luz sobre la vida de la pintora de Amberes Clara Peeters. El análisis de la
literatura existente y de algunos documentos de archivo que no se habían estudiado hasta ahora han permitido descubrir que Clara
Peeters podría ser una mujer llamada Clara Lamberts que nació en Malinas en torno al año 1587 y que era hija y nieta de pintores.
Cuando se casó con el pintor Henrick Peeters II pasó a llamarse Clara Peeters. El autor ha encontrado pruebas que parecen indicar
que su estudio pudo estar en Amberes, donde pintó la mayoría de sus obras. Lo más probable es que Clara Peeters-Lamberts muriera
en Gante en una fecha posterior a 1636.
pa l a bra s clav e: Clara Peeters; bodegón; Lamberts; investigación archivística; Amberes; Prado

a b s t r ac t : This article is the first to shed light on the life of Antwerp painter Clara Peeters. Analysis of the existing literature and
studies of untapped archival pieces led to the discovery that Clara Peeters could be one Clara Lamberts, born into the third generation
of a family of painters in Mechelen around 1587, and later becoming the wife of the painter Henrick II Peeters. The author has found
possible evidence that her studio may have been in Antwerp, where she painted the majority of her works. Clara Peeters-Lamberts
most likely died in Ghent sometime after 1636.
k ey wo rd s : Clara Peeters; still-life; Lamberts; archival research; Antwerp; Prado

1. Antwerp, 16 June to 2 October 145r–v (2 August 1642). Notary public hellicht vanden huyse genaempt Se- 1604). Geldwezen (Finance), IV, Belas-
2016; Madrid, 25 October 2016 to 19 Gillis Hally, SAA, SR 672, 220v–221r villa gestaen ende gelegen opde Meire tingen op de huizen (Property Taxes),
February 2017. The curator of the ex- (5 August 1642). alhier als haren man heeft vercocht aen Series III, no. 1, 37r (1578).
hibition was Alejandro Vergara. 21. Stadsarchief Gent, Staten van Mr. Gillis Haccart.’ 42. SAM, Beleyden en Uytwinningen,
2. 9 March to 25 June 2017. Goed (Records of Goods), 153 (28 33. Cathedral of Our Lady in Ant- reg. 9, 33r, 55r; and Archive of the Ka-
3. Vergara 2016. January 1647). werp, 31 March 1614. The name Cla- pittel of St Rombout.
4. Kramm 1857–64. 22. SAA, SR 674, 29v–31r (17 April ra Ykens could be referring to her 43. SAM, SR 210, 122r–v (27 June
5. Hymans 1894, p. 192, and Hy- 1642). mother, Clara van Oost, widow of 1587) and SR 212, 103r (12 April 1590).
mans 1901, pp. 852–53. 23. ‘Clara Peeters hunne dochtere Franchoys Ykens. 44. Denucé 1934, p. 59.
6. Van den Branden 1883, p. 1050. met mr. Henrick Joosten haeren wet- 34. Stadsarchief Mechelen (SAM; 45. Denucé 1934, pp. 58–59, 64–65
7. Stadsarchief Antwerpen (SAA), tigen man ende momboir.’ Mechelen City Archives), Series I, and 68.
notes Frans Jozef Van den Branden. 24. Vergara 2016, pp. 13–47. no. 32, 14–15. 46. Neeffs 1873.
8. SAA, letter addressed to Frans 25. SAA, V 378 (26 September 1611) 35. SAM, Weeskamer (Board of 47. The certificate is only known
Jozef Van den Branden, dated 27 March as frame-maker Lambrecht Versteens- Orphanages), 5, 14v (24 March 1550): by a later transcription. The parish
1902. sen. He became freemaster in 1608. ‘vanden drye kinderen Peeter Lamberts records were heavily damaged.
9. Noord-Hollands Archief (Haar­ 26. SA Amsterdam, N 5075 (notary daer moeder aff was wylen Katharina 48. SAM, notary public Jan Har-
lem), notary public Barent Jans De- public Palm Mathijsz), 483, 563r–565v. Verhaghen [...] de vader is een scilder.’ linghen, 902, 571r.
teringh, no. 185, 19 February 1643: Text written by one of the assessors, 36. SAA, Cert. 35, 148 (9 December 49. Christening in Antwerp’s St
inventory of Bartholomeus van Gennip. probably the painter David Colijn 1573). Marriage in Mechelen (St John’s James’ Church on 31 December 1617.
10. Van der Willigen and Meijer or Dirck Pietersz. Bontepaerdt (not Church), 25 June 1564. The painter Maurus ‘Moriels’ was re-
2003, p. 159. The same conclusion was Bonefaert, as in Decoteau 1992, p. 8). 37. SAM, Geldwezen (Finance), presented by Rombout Lambrechts;
published almost simultaneously in Maybe before 1620. See Meijer 2017, IV, Belastingen op de huizen (Property the godmother was Clara ‘Moriels’.
Meijer 2003, p. 260. pp. 40, 194–95. The transcription on Taxes), Series III, no. 3, 37v (1578). This 50. Duverger 1985, p. 66: inventory
11. Stadsarchief Amsterdam (SA) p. 195 – geschildert tot – is not correct probably concerns the younger Peeter of the deceased Maria van de Putte.
N 5075, Notariaat (Public Notary’s and should be read as geschildert van. Lambeerts, who married Anneken 51. Koninklijke Academie voor
Office), 278, 330r–v, 331v (19 May 1617). 27. This habit was common but Mannaerts in 1575/76 (SAM, Weeska- Schone Kunsten van Antwerpen, Bus-
12. SAA, Alderman’s records (SR), does not occur in the public notary mer [Board of Orphanages], 9, 81v, 7 boek, pp. 30r (incorrectly added to 1585
416, 205r–v (24 January 1595). archives or the aldermen’s records. May 1576). by Abraham Grapheus) and 32v (period
13. Greindl 1956, p. 37. 28. SAA, SR 506, 210v–211v (20 38. SAM, Series I no. 32, 14–15, 31: from 15 July 1589 to 15 July 1590).
14. Hibbs Decoteau 1992. November 1613), SR 509, 76r–v (3 April ‘is tAntwerpen gaen woonen; woont 52. SAA, Cert. 50, 155r (30 May 1589).
15. Verzameling der Graf-…, 1865, 1614). tAntwerpen en heeft daer vryhydt 53. The painter is listed as Lowys
p. 356. 29. At the christening of Clara Be- aengenomen.’ vander Eenhen in the 1589 records for
16. Bakx et al. 2012, p. 166. rrewijns in Antwerp Cathedral of Our 39. SAM, Archief van het Schilders­ the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke.
17. SAA, SR 509, 340r–341r (4 June Lady, 6 May 1607. ambacht (Archive of Painters), nos. 3, 54. Duverger 1985, pp. 200–1.
1614) and SR 522, 13r–16r, 107r–108r (22 30. Duverger 1987, pp. 391–92. 22 and 34. 55. SAA, SR 555, 449r–450r (4 No-
and 30 January 1616). 31. SAA, SR 555, 473v–474r (14 De- 40. Duverger 1985, p. 256: ‘Twee vember 1622) mentions a Marten van
18. SAA, SR 549, 414v (8 October cember 1622). smalle systucxkens voor de schouwe: Brabant as Anna Tirtz’s widower. Is
1621). 32. SAA, PK 718, 207r–v (7 April een met Vogelkens van Joris Palludaen.’ this the same person? On 8 August
19. SAA, 7#10909 (1621–22). 1623) and PK 719, 2v (5 May 1623). Re- See also Van der Willigen and Meijer 1623, he acquired a rentcharge in the
20. Rijksarchief te Gent (RAG; Sta- cords of Requests (Rekwestboeken): ‘hoe 2003, p. 157. city of Mechelen (SAA, SR 559, 115v).
te Archive of Ghent), Oud Notariaat dat zy zuppliante met gout ende silver 41. SAM, Series I, no. 32, 189r: Gie- 56. Grandfather Nicasius Lamberts
(former public notary’s office), 684, heeft gecalengiert den coop vande lis Moreels audt LXXIIII Jaren (January was named godfather at Nicasius’s

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 christening on 13 September 1628 (Ant- diversche oppercamers solders kelder 78. Nationaal Archief Den Haag, satisfactie hen gedaen by mr. Rombout
werp, Cathedral of Our Lady). onder den selven huyse ende tstrate Court of Holland, 280, fol. 200 (28 ende Jo(uffrouw)e Maria Lambrechts
57. Van der Willigen and Meijer regenback ende borneput inden sel- December 1622): ‘gecomen was een hennen Broeder ende suster swager
2003, pp. 128–29. ven kelder onder tstrate gronde ende van buyten die met schilderijen om ende swagerinne respective.’ Only
58. Rijksbureau voor Kunsthisto- allen den toebehoorten ghenaempt ginck ende datter onder waeren veel seven deeds from the Public No-
rische Documentatie (RKD) in The den Patriarche Simeon ghestaen ende schilderijen van conversatie van mans tary  Office of Charles Caerdock,
Hague has just this one photograph, ghelegen inde Israelsche strate.’ met vrouwen […] den voorn. persoon notary public in Ghent from 1607
acquired from the Museum Boymans 70. Rombouts and Van Lerius 1864, genaempt Sr. Henrick Peters aldaer to 1637, have been preserved in the
Van Beuningen in 1970. p. 303. Pieter II Brueghel was a relative ontboden, die onder anderen voor State Archives Ghent, former public
59. Description by Sam Segal (Segal of Gillis II van Conincxloo and is lis- excuse zeyde dat de voors. schilderijen notary’s office (Oud Notariaat) 133
collection in the RKD, The Hague). ted here as his cousin and apprentice: gemaect zynde binnen Praghe hier and 1689. The deed mentioned here is
60. Stadsarchief Rotterdam (SAR), ‘Peeter, syn cosyn ende cnecht.’ nyet en waeren gebracht omme te laten not one of these. We only know about
Weeskamer (Board of Orphanages), ar- 71. Was he the Jacques Goij(en)s zijen ofte te vercoopen…’ this text because it is repeated verba-
chive 16_1117. who had been godfather to Clara’s 79. Nationaal Archief, Court of tim in the previously mentioned deed
61. SAA, Cert. 34, 313v–314r (26 brother Frans Lamberts in 1596? Holland, 280, fol. 200–1 (28 December for the Antwerp aldermen.
June 1572). 72. SAA, SR 486, 12r (21 July 1610). 1622): ‘veel schilderijen van conversatie 84. SAA, N 1505, folio 3r–4v and
62. Rombouts and Van Lerius 1864, 73. Her mother was Anna Snellinck van mans met vrouwen op verscheyden 46r–v from 1644 II (14 April 1644, no-
p. 328. A Henrick Peeters, born in 1573, and came from Mechelen, just like the manieren zeer leelick ende schan- tary public Hendrick Fighé).
appears in Antwerp in 1598 as the only Snellinck family of painters. The hand- daleus die in aller manieren dienden 85. SAA, SR 601, 352r–v (3 Septem-
child of the late Jaspar Peeters and written genealogy of the Moens family geweert’. In the margin: ‘Schandaleuse ber 1630).
Marie Carteel (SAA, SR 429, 136r, 28 is preserved in the archives of the Mu- schilderyen.’ 86. Oud Gemeentearchief Kalmt­
November 1598). seum Plantin-Moretus in Antwerp. 80. SAR, Board of Orphanages hout, 6 G, 215 (20 July 1709).
63. SAA, SR 371, 98r–102v (19 No- 74. SAA, SR 549, 23r–v (3 August (Weeskamer) archive 16_1117. The in- 87. SAA, N 3729, 29r–v and 51r (no-
vember 1582) and SR 497, 513r–514v (2 1621): ‘omme ende mits den commer ventory was drawn up on 5 May 1627. tary public Joseph vander Cruijssen).
June 1612). nabescreven wten nabescreven huyse 81. Upon her death, the remainder 88. Schlichte Bergen Gallery, Am-
64. Koninklijke Academie voor gaende metten achterstelle daer af of the fees were paid in 1635/36. sterdam, 1993.
Schone Kunsten van Antwerpen, verloopen.’ 82. Duverger 1989, p. 65. 89. According to their daughter
Busboek, p. 41r (account from 12 May 75. SAA, 860#7776 (Godshuis Jan 83. Clara Lamberts last entry. SAA, Margareta’s christening certificate
1598 to 8 August 1599). vander Biest), account of 1621 by Peter SR 635, 69r (Ghent, 4 August 1637): (COL-South, 16 May 1624), they lived
65. SAA, N 4847, 93 (notary public de Schott. The annual interest had not ‘Compareerde Jo(uffrouw)e Clara Lam- in the Jodenstraat next to a certain
Pieter Wouters, 28 May 1599). been paid by Clara and Henrick since brechts mr. Nicasius dochter wylen Reynkens (‘iodestraet naest reynkens’).
66. SAA, SR 433, 94v (5 June 1599). 1616. Previous payments were irregular daer moeder aff was Jo(uffrouw)e 90. SAA, SR 602, 323r–v (5 Septem-
67. SAA, SR 437, 482r (28 April (SAA, 860#7775). Clara Moreels met Henrick Peeters ber 1630): ‘Nicolas Cavee organiste et
1600). 76. SAA, PK 721, 221r (10 April haren wettigen man ende momboir, pintre.’
68. SAA, SR 482, 37r–38v (19 No- 1625). beyde residerende binnen deser stede 91. SAA, SR 664, 289v–291v (3 De-
vember 1609). 77. According to Poul Gammelbo, my Not(ari)s bekent synde. Ende cember 1641): ‘Nicolas Caver schilder
69. SAA, SR 482, 37v (19 Novem- Clara Peeters died in The Hague in bekenden ende verclaerden dat sy alhier.’
ber 1609): ‘Een huys met coeckene 1621. See Gammelbo 1960, p. 180. midts den contentemente ende 92. Slive 1995, p. 281.

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