Crucified Cherubs
HAEFTEN, Benedictus van.
Regia via crucis. Antwerp, Balthasar Moretus, ex Officina Plantiniana, 1635.
8vo, pp. [2], v–xl, 404, [26], [2, blank]; without the half-title; title-page copper-engraved after Rubens, 38 full-page emblematic engravings, woodcut initials and tail-pieces, woodcut Plantin device to Dd7v; small wormtrack to lower outer corners of F2–G4 and M1–8, and to upper outer corners of H6–I2, rust-stain to R5–6, a few small spots, but a very good copy; bound in contemporary vellum over boards, yapp fore-edges with remains of ties, edges stained red, later manuscript lettering to spine with red paper shelf-label at foot; slightly dust-stained, small losses to front endpapers; inscriptions to front endpapers, bookseller’s label of C.J. Stewart on the Strand, bookplate of Ramsgate Abbey and red ink stamp ‘Liber reservatus'.
First edition of a significant Counter-Reformation devotional emblem book based on the Stations of the Cross, with a title-page designed by Peter Paul Rubens.
Haeften (1588–1648) was provost of the Benedictine abbey of Affligem (Flanders), and played an important role in the reform of the Benedictine Order. Regia via crucis was his most significant work, running to over forty editions, including translations into Dutch, French, Spanish, and other languages. The emblems are accompanied by a lengthy guided meditation, rather than a verse explanation, though there is still a two-line Latin verse beneath each. The work was intended ‘to provide the (Catholic) reader with a good understanding of the significance of the Stations of the Cross, to inspire imitation of Christ’s example, and thereby to become acquainted with the way to the Kingdom of God. The rather abstract spiritual journey that the human soul had to make towards this goal is made more concrete by the … selection of such principal figures as the Virgins Anima – the personification of the human soul – and Staurophila – a Greek name that literally means the one who adores the cross. Their experiences in the imitation of Christ and the resulting lessons of life were nothing else but allegorical examples that were to lead every reader to the just and good. The engraved illustrations are very important in this regard as they support the meaning of the text in a simple and clear emblematic manner’ (Imhof, pp. 118–119).
Haeften commissioned Rubens to design the title-page, which was engraved in 1634 by Cornelis Galle at the artist’s request. When shown the initial design, Haeften protested that St Teresa of Avila, shown on the right, was insufficiently dressed, and she was duly clothed more fully. The thirty-eight engravings within the text were executed in the atelier of the Galle family. In the same year as the publication of the Regia via crucis, Haeften commissioned Rubens to paint a large altarpiece of Christ carrying the cross for the main altar of the abbey church of Affligem.
STCV 6843143; Landwehr, Emblem and fable books printed in the Low Countries 271; Praz, p. 361. See Imhof (editor), The Illustration of books published by the Moretuses (1997).