ABSTRACT

This article examines how the relocation to America of an important collection of Flemish art in the mid-1790s (and its return to Antwerp some twenty years later) helped shape the owners’ identity, both in Belgium and America. Henri Joseph Stier (1743–1821), a direct descendant of Rubens, fled Antwerp with his family in June 1794, to avoid having the family’s priceless art collection fall into the hands of the French, who were impounding art treasures as military levy. After the family returned to Antwerp in 1803, the collection was left to the care of the Stiers’ youngest daughter, Rosalie Calvert, who had married an American plantation owner and remained in Maryland until her death in 1821. In 1816, Rosalie was finally able to send the collection back to Antwerp. Interestingly, this coincided with the return from France of many other Belgian paintings; a transfer in which Henri Stier and his son played important official roles, as art collectors and connoisseurs. The return of Belgian art treasures gave rise to a growing consciousness on the part of the Belgian people of their national culture and tradition.

摘要

本文探讨了 1790 年代中期重要的佛兰德艺术收藏品迁往美国（以及大约 20 年后返回安特卫普）如何帮助塑造比利时和美国所有者的身份。亨利·约瑟夫·斯蒂尔（Henri Joseph Stier，1743-1821 年）是鲁本斯的直系后裔，于 1794 年 6 月与家人逃离安特卫普，以避免家族无价的艺术收藏落入法国人手中，法国人扣押艺术珍品作为军事征税。1803 年全家返回安特卫普后，这些藏品由斯蒂尔斯最小的女儿罗莎莉·卡尔弗特 (Rosalie Calvert) 保管，她嫁给了一位美国种植园主，并一直留在马里兰州，直到 1821 年去世。 1816 年，罗莎莉终于能够将藏品送回安特卫普。有趣的是，与此同时，许多其他比利时绘画作品从法国返回；在这次转让中，亨利·斯蒂尔和他的儿子扮演了重要的官方角色，作为艺术收藏家和鉴赏家。比利时艺术珍品的回归促使比利时人民对其民族文化和传统的认识不断增强。