During the 17th century the international art market linked in a very narrow net merchants from Flanders and Netherlands to Italy, as well as the whole Europe and other far regions in the world too. Within this extended net, I focused my investigation on some relationships between Flanders and Sicily. These relationships - which I am studing for the international project “Art Market in Europe 1300-1800” promoted by the University of Lille 3 and the Duke University -  involved the cities of Antwerp, Amsterdam and Messina in Sicily, and other Italian and European cities as well, above all Leghorn, Venice, Naples [1] .

As already stated by art and economics historians, during the 17th century there was a surplus of art works production in the Flanders and, mainly from Antwerp, this surplus was sold and shipped to the rest of Europe and also to New Spain. The most important art dealers in Antwerp were Crisostomo van Immerseel, Matthis Musson and Marcus Forchoudt, who shipped Flemish paintings, tapestries, prints and other art works all around Europe and, from Cadiz and Seville, to New Spain.

Among the countries to which these art objects were sent – even if in a low quantity compared with the rest of Europe – there was Italy. In the mid of the century, the Anversois firm of Matthijs Musson had their agents, the brothers Sebastian and Filip De Pret, in Messina and some documents attest the shipments of paintings and other art works precisely from Antwerp to the Sicilian town. The research I conducted in the Archivio di Stato di Messina allowed me to found the names of De Pret’s brothers in a document – called alberano or alborano – in which they, toghether with others, claimed a credit towards the heritage of another merchant  [2] .

 As I could discover through documents in the archives of Messina, Florence and Leghorn, this group of merchants were connected with the international market of art and other goods which linked Messina with – above all – Leghorn, Naples, Venice, and the Netherlands. Among the merchants mentioned in the Messinese document are listed as attorneys the names of Gio. Battista van den Broech (elsewhere Vallembrot, Vandambro, Van der Brach), Carlo Bathin (elsewhere Battichisi or Bacchini or Batlin) and Enrico Lenaerts the Younger, is that the merchants involved in the shipments of the paintings of Rembrandt and the tapestries of Rubens ordered by the Messinese collector Antonio Ruffo.

The presence of Flemish and other art dealers in Messina during the 17th century is related to the importance that the port of the Sicilian city had in modern era, at least until the dramatic rebellion against Spain (who reigned over Sicily), which lasted 4 years, from 1674 to 1678 (fig. 1).

The welfare of Messina is witnesses by the several art collections created during the 17th century. The main of them, and one of the most important in the whole South Italy, belonged to prince Antonio Ruffo who formed it between 1646 and 1678, when he died. The Ruffo collection was famous for its rich sets of tapestries, silvers and, above all, the almost 400 paintings. The painting gallery was up to date with the most relevant Roman and Neapolitan collections; for the purchases in these cities, Ruffo could rely on his agents and relatives: his brother Flavio, the painters and dealers Abraham Brueghel and Cornelis de Wael in Rome and the nephews fra’ Tommaso Ruffo and Fabrizio Ruffo in Naples. But the art works collected by Ruffo came also from the Netherlands, as the set of the History of Achille tapestry by Rubens, the Satyr and the Peasant by Jordaens (fig. 2 - Munich, Alte Pinakothek) and the three paintings by Rembrandt Aristotle with a Bust of Homer (fig. 3), Alessandro Magno and Homer proceeding from Amsterdam [3] . The letters published by Vincenzo Ruffo in 1916 reveal when and who dealt with the purchase of the Rembrandt’s paintings.

On June 13, 1654 Cornelis Gijsbertsz van Goor in Amsterdam wrote to Giacomo di Battista in Messina about the shipment of some packages through a certain Ablin in Leghorn: on occasion of the sailing of the ship Bartolomeo to Naples, he gave to the captain a box containing the painting of Rembrandt [4] . Thanks to further letters, we know that this painting by Rembrandt was the Aristotle with the bust of Homer (New York, Metropolitan Museum) [5] . On July 30, 1661, another letter from Amsterdam tells that two other paintings of Rembrandt were shipped to Antonio Ruffo on board of the ship Gran Croenenburgh and that the purchase was ordered by Isaac Just through «Carlo Bacchini e Gio. Batt. Vandambro» who acted on behalf of Ruffo. Later, on November 1, 1662, «Giovanbatista Vallembrot», named «consul», was charged by Ruffo to deliver a letter in Amsterdam to Isaac Just to signifie his disappointing about the Alexander the Great painted by Rembrandt on four pieces of canvas roughly sewed togheter.

This story, already known in the artistic literature [6] , can be developed in relation to the dealers mentioned : Giacomo Ablin, Giacomo di Battista, «Carlo Bacchini e Gio. Battista Vandambro»  . To these names, we have to add Enrico Lenaerts the Younger who, in 1664 sold to Antonio Ruffo the Rubens tapestry with the History of Achille, through his agent in Amsterdam Cornelis Gijsbertsz van Goor [7] .

My researches in the archives of Messina, Florence and Leghorn, allowed me to discover that all of them were properly merchants and that they were directly involved in the international trade from Netherlands, which had in Messina one of the main port cities.

In many legal reports in the Archive of Leghorn, Giacomo Ablin is called dealer in Leghorn on behalf of «Ruggier Van Wert et Gio. Van Winckel fiamminghi»: for instance in 1658 he presents a report versus «Giacomo di Battista di Palermo or his heirs», who are debitors of Van Wert and Van Winckel and were represented by the firm Saminiati and Ambrogi, one of the most important firm of Luccheses merchants involved in the trade of silk from Lucca to Antwerp in the first half of 16^th century [8] . Presumibly this Giacomo di Battista is the same person to whom in 1654 Cornelis Gijsbertsz van Goor in Amsterdam addressed the letter mentioned above, regarding the shipment of the Aristotle with a Bust of Homer of Rembrant purchased by Ruffo. In the same letter written by Van Goor is mentioned Giacomo Ablin, to whom the box with the painting have been sent [9] . Ruggieri van Weert may be was the brother of Henrico van Weert, consul in Genoa from 1673 to 1685. Not certain is their relation with Jan van Weert, one of the creditor of the important Dutch art dealer Gerrit Uylenburgh, the son of Hendrick, art dealer and agent of Rembrandt. The relationship with Uylemburgh concerns also Van Goor, because Gerryt Uylemburgh borrowed money from Gijsbert van Goor, son of Cornelis [10] . The name of Giacomo Ablin is also listed in the action for the heritage of a Flemish dealer active in Leghorn, Pietro Schuijs, who died in 1656. It is interesting to notice that among the paintings listed in his inventory there was a big painting representing the City of Messina [11] . Pietro represented the firm of Henrico & Giacomo Schuijs (or Schuijt), whose head office was in Flanders (the city is not specified); in the documents are listed the dealers who were in business with them.  One of these was Giacomo Ablin, who had to receive some money due for some furniture («diversi mobili»). In that time, “mobili” was a very comprehensive word, which included also paintings. The list reports also other interesting names, as Cornelis Gijsbertsz van Goor and the firm of Isaac Gio. Nijs & Giacomo Moluiers. Isaac Jan Nijs was a dealer trading with Italy and the Levant. In the 1650s spent some time in Livorno, after which he lived in Amsterdam. He was one of Uylenburg's customer and worked with him importing art from Italy. He was born in Venice, the son of Daniel Nijs, a merchant and banker who himself had owned a large collection and sold art to various collectors like Lord Arundel [12] .

«Carlo Bacchini e Gio. Battista Vandambro», who acted as middlemen for the shipment of the painting  Alexander the Great by Rembrandt to the messinese collector Antonio Ruffo, as the letters of Cornelis Gijsbertsz van Goor already mentioned reported, are documented in other acts I discovered in the Archive of Messina and Leghorn, which clarify that they were properly a firm of silk merchants settled in Messina and in relationships with other Italian and European cities.

In the Archive of Leghorn I found a bill of lading dated Messina, March 28, 1658, produced by the firm of dealers «Gio Battista Van den Broech - Carlo Battichisi» (fig. 4). The cargo of the ship was a bale of operated silk, ordered by «Jo Druinesteijn di Venetia», and sent from Messina via Leghorn where was to be recovered by Cornelio Vannech [13] . The bill of lading is attached to a document, dated Leghorn, July 3rd, 1658, which gives us further information useful to shed some light on the network of Flemish dealers active in Italy. It is the legal report presented by Cornelio Vannech versus Giacomo Ablin who, at the moment the bale of silk arrived in Leghorn, sequestrated it because the buyer didn’t want to pay. Altought the bill of lading claimed that the buyer was Jo Druinesteijn of Venice, in the report is said that he acted as middleman for «Antonio Addelbauelt» of Lille. So we know that from Messina the silk had to arrive in Lille via Leghorn and Venice.

The firm Van den Broech - Carlo Bathin is also mentioned in the Libro di conti mercantili dell’anno 1660-1662 of the luccheses merchants Girolamo and Pompeo Parensi settled in Amsterdam, in relation with the commerce of silk again: «sete di conto dei signori Giovan Battista Vanderbroech, Carlo Bathin et Henrico Lenam [sic] il giovane di Messina … mandate a signori Francesco Viali e fratelli di Genova con due galee di quella repubblica» [14] .

Many Messineses' documents attest that the shipments from or to Messina passed via Leghorn. In the archive of this city I could find the names of Jacinto Simonelli (listed in the alberano) and clarify that he was an insurer [15] . As far as concerned Giovanni Arnolfini (in the alberano as well), he is mentioned among the buyers of some paintings (20 linens) shipped in 1659 by Musson from Antwerp to Messina via Leghorn, with the ship Saint Giobattista [16] . Giovanni Arnolfini was a Lucchese merchant who in the years 1655-1659 formed in Messina a firm with Orsuccio Orsucci, which traded in silk; among the participants of this company there was the Lucchese merchant settled in Palermo, Carlo Parensi. The firm of Parensi had the main company (the brothers Girolamo and Pompeo Parensi) in Amsterdam [17] . At the end of 17th century, the commerce of the silk managed by the Luccheses merchants faded and in Messina remained only two firms, the “Arnolfini-Micheli” in 1679-85 and “Bambacari-Fiorentini” in 1688-99.  The firm Bambacari was among the signers of the “alberano” previously mentioned.

The attorneys of the alberano, Gio. Battista van den Broech, Carlo Bathin & Enrico Lenaerts the Younger are the main characters of this group of merchants in Messina. As we have seen, each of them have been involved in the purchases and shipment of the paintings by Rembrandts and the tapestries by Rubens ordered by Antonio Ruffo. The only one already known in the artistic literature is Gio. Battista van den Broech: he is mentioned as a pupil and a relative of Jacob Jordaens and some documents dated 1641-42 register his name as a painter inscribed in the Anversoise guild of St. Luke [18] . The same name is in a Messinese contract dated 1653, between «Jo.n. Batt.am van der Brach» and Abraham Casembrot. Casembrot was a flemish painter who lived in Messina probably since the 1630’s, after a possible stay in Leghorn. Antonio Ruffo’s inventory lists ten landscapes by Abraham Casembrot (fig. 5) [19] . He was also author of prints: a set of prints with Views of the harbour of Messina formed an album that Casembrot dedicated to the important merchant, shipowner and collector Lucas van Uffel, who lived in Venice between 1616 and 1630 [20] . Lucas van Uffel was the son of Hans, an Anversois merchant who, in consequences of the religious troubles, was forced to move to Amsterdam in 1591. Lucas settled in Venice and here, with Jan van Mere, formed a very important firm of the international trade which allowed him to earn a lot of money and so to collect masterpieces of artists as Raffaello, Duquesnoy, Rubens. After his death, in 1639 his whole collection was auctioned in Amsterdam for 60.000 florins [21] .

Casembrot was the Netherlandish consul in Messina between 1649 and 1658, year of his death. As consul he had to deal with the maritime commerce. A letter wrote to the Generale Estates in 1654, reveals that he was concerned also with the ship S. Bartolomeo which had on board the Rembrandt’s Aristotle, commissioned by Ruffo [22] .

At least since 1653, Casembrot was in relationship with Van den Broech, as attests the Messinese contract between «Jo.n. Batt.am van der Brach» and Abraham Casembrot mentioned above. Sebastiano Di Bella suggests that the contract could concerns questions related to the role of Casembrot as consul, role that in 1658 will be taken over by Van den Broech [23] . In the Ruffo collection there is a View of Messina which may be is that described in the inventory as «received from Gio Battista Van den Broech from the Abraham Casembrot's heritage», so likely sold to the collector by Van den Broech [24] . This can be another clue of the involvment of Van den Broech in the art market.

As Gijltaj reports, Van den Broech married the daughter of his partner Carlo Bathin: this information is confirmed by a letter of Abraham Brueghel dated 1664 published by Ruffo, in which it is said that Van den Broech married the daughter of «Carlo» [25] . In 1664, a year before Van den Broech’s death, Carlo Bathin was named vice-consul [26] .

So, the firm Van den Broech and Carlo Bathin was a protagonist in Messina and was in relationships with the international market, which ranged from the commerce of silk – doubtless the most preminent in the international route from Sicily – to the management in the shipments of other products among which  art works. In this case, the role of consul played by all of them was very important in the context of the international commerce. It is also interesting to notice that some of these consuls were painters: Casembrot, Van den Broech in Messina; in other cities we can mention Jacob Strijcker in Venice (1648), Johan van Dael in Leghorn, Jacomo van Drielenburgh in Malaga [27] .

Among the Messineses’ documents stands out the name of Hector van Achthoven. He is named by Susinno «the richest dealer in Messina» » and a very smart collector, who committed two portraits, for himself and his wife, to Anton van Dyck [28] . His role as a merchant involved in the international trade is revealed in the documents of the Flemish firm of Bernard van den Broecke & Joris Jansen, one of the main international company during the 1620’s and 1630’s, settled in Leghorn [29] . In their account book of 1629, which I could peruse in the Archive of Florence, results that Van Achtoven, in Palermo at that moment, bought some tapestries from Gaspar de Roomer & Jacomo van Raj in Naples, and this information is important as a direct clue of his involvement in the art market [30] . Van Achtoven is documented in Palermo in 1625-29, where he was in contact with painters and the consul: he acted as procurator of the consul Hendrick Dijck, who had to give some money to Anton van Dyck. Moreover, in 1642 he is in relationship with the painter and merchant from Antwerp Geronimo Gerardi, settled in Palermo, who, probably thanks to his relationships with Cornelis de Wael, was involved in the arriving of Mathias Stomer and his work for the Oratorio del Rosario in S. Domenico. His name is mentioned also in the document dated 1628 regarding the delivery from Genoa of the Van Dyck’s Madonna del Rosario in that Oratorio, in which were involved also the merchants Antonio Della Torre and Bartolomeo Rossetti. In 1638 Van Achtoven is «Consul general de las naciones flamenca y alemana enste Reyno» [31] . Since 1630 to 1662 at least, he is documented in Messina. As results from an interesting letter dated 1630, which I found among the documentation of the firm of Bernard van den Broecke & Joris Jansen of Leghorn, during that year the role of agent in Messina, both for this firm and for the company of Lucas van Uffel & Jan van Mere in Venice, passed from Rudolf Olofs to Hector van Achthoven, because he got married with a relative of Van Uffel, Maria. As results from many documents of the local archive, in Messina he acted as procurator and money lender.