1 Abraham Bosse, Frontispiece to: Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (London: 1651). Detail. The battle scene, an image correlated to temporal power, responds to a disputatio, associated with ecclesiastical power 17
2 Alexandre Joos (engraver), Doctoral procession on the Grote Markt of Louvain in 1660, published in: Edward Van Evens, Louvain monumental (Louvain: 1860), no. 110. Copy of a seventeenth-century engraving, 17.5 × 25.5 cm. Louvain, M – Museum, inv. LP/608 25
3 and 4 “The doctorate ceremony” (Promotio doctorum) and “Invitation to the doctorate ceremony” (Invitatio solemnis promovendorum). Published in: Crispijn De Passe the Elder and Jan Janszoon of Arnhem, Academia, sive Speculum vitae scolasticae (Utrecht: 1612). Engravings with etching, 9.7 × 13.2 cm. Paris, BnF, Prints, inv. 4-KA-7, p. 8v and 7v 26
5 Hendrick van der Burgh, The conferring of a degree at the University of Leiden, ca. 1650. Oil on canvas, 71.5 × 59 cm. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv. SK-A-2720 27
6 a. Anon., Poem and chronogram in honor of Jacques de Bryarde and his son Charles, Ghent: 1644. Framing painted with gouache. Belgian private collection. b. Anon., Poem in honor of Adrien Michaux on the occasion of his licentiatus degree in medicine, 1697. Broadside printed on satin with gouache painting. Louvain, KU Leuven, Art Collection. c. Anon., Academic coat of arms of Joannes Franciscus Jos. Cornelius van Wynghen J.U.L. die 31 jan. 1785. Louvain, KU Leuven, Hollands college 30–32
7 Jacques Callot, The Triumph of the Virgin, 1625. Etching, 55.8 × 36.8 cm. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv. RP-P-OB-56.828 59
8a–b Anon., “Seven figures” and “Man sitting on a bench,” in the Dong Qichang Album, after 1658. Water-based pigment on silk, 37 × 30.1 cm. New York City, American Museum of Natural History 63
9 Cornelis Boel after Otto Vaenius, emblem 50: “Festina lente,” in Amorum emblemata (Antwerp: 1608), 99 88
10 Anon. (Jan Ciermans?), engraving for the second theorem of: Theoremata mathematica scientiae staticae, Louvain, 1624. See cat. 63. Ghent, UGent, inv. Res. 1449 88
11 Théodore Galle after Peter Paul Rubens, “Putti dissecting an eyeball,” illustration for book I of Opticorum libri sex by François de Aguilón (Antwerp: 1613). Engraving, 10 × 14.4 cm. Ghent, UGent, inv. BIB.MA.000101 91
12 Cornelis Galle the Younger after Abraham van Diepenbeeck, “Problema Austriacum plus ultra quadratura circuli,” title page to: Grégoire de Saint-Vincent, Opus geometricum quadraturae circuli et sectionum coni (Antwerp: 1647). Detail. See cat. 10. Amsterdam, Rijskmuseum, inv. RP-P-OB-7067 94
13 Otto Vaenius, “Mobile fit fixum,” in Emblemata, sive symbola a principibus, viris ecclesiasticis, ac militaribus aliisque usurpanda (Brussels: 1624) 94
14a–b Raphael, Justice (ceiling tondo) and The Cardinal Virtues (lunette from the south wall). Stanza della Segnatura, 1508–1511. Fresco, width at the base: 660 cm, and diameter of the tondo: 180 cm. Vatican, Palazzi Pontifici 112
15 and 16 Cornelis Galle the Elder, “Castitas minimè sterilis,” and “Belgica Festum S. Ignatij mense Iulio suum vindicate,” illustrations for: Imago primi saeculi Societatis Iesu: a provincia Flandro-Belgica eiusdem Societatis repraesentata (Antwerp: 1640), 184 and 937. Engraving, 10.4 × 13.9 cm. Ghent, UGent, inv. BIB.HIST.008839 117
17–19 Theodoor van Thulden after Peter-Paul Rubens, “Templum Iani,” “Porticus Caesareo Austriaca,” and detail of the “Porticus Caesareo Austriaca,” in Pompa introitus Ferdinandi Austriaci Hispaniarum Infantis…, ed. Caspar Gevartius (Antwerp: 1641), pl. 30, pl. 16 and pl. 22. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv. RP-P-OB-70.270, RP-P-OB-81.206, and RP-P-OB-70.262 121–122
20 David Teniers II, Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in his painting gallery in Brussels, ca. 1647–1651. Oil on copper, 104.8 × 130.4 cm. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, inv. P01813 129
21 Esmé de Boulonnois after F.A. Marienhof, “Serenissimo Principi Leopoldo Guilielmo pacis ac tranquillitatis publicae auctori.” Published in P.D.F., À son Altesse Leopolde Guillaume […] panegirique … (s.l.: ca. 1651), 24.5 × 37.5 cm. Brussels, KBr, RB, inv. VH 26.867 C 143
22 Anon., “Timore Domini concessa divinitus Israeli sapientia, felicitas, gloria …” Frontispiece to a theatre play given to Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (Antwerp: 1648), 20.5 × 15 cm. Louvain, KU Leuven, Tabularium, inv. A 16018 no. 5 146
23 Cornelis Galle the Elder, “B. Franciscus Borgia stemma suum virtute nobilitat,” in Imago primi saeculi Societatis Iesu, a provincia Flandro-Belgica eiusdem Societatis repraesentata, ed. Jean de Tollenaer et al. (Antwerp: 1640), 722. Engraving, 10.4 × 13.9 cm. Ghent, UGent, inv. BIB.HIST.008839 149
24 Lucas Faydherbe, Altar of the Sedes Sapientiae, ca. 1651–1658. Marble. Louvain, St. Peter’s Church, Northern transept (KIK-IRPA no. 63210). Photograph taken in 1900 (altar destroyed in 1944) 161
25 Anon., Emperors Justinian I and Constantine I present a model of the church and of the city to the Virgin Mary with Child, 944. Istanbul, former Basilica Hagia Sophia of Constantinople, Southwestern entrance mosaic 170
26 Giotto di Bondone, Enrico Scrovegni offers his chapel to the three Marys, detail from the Last Judgement fresco, ca. 1305. Padua, Scrovegni Chapel, west wall 171
27 Attributed to Jean Lepautre, Al Gran Scaramuzza, 1657. Engraving and etching, 76.4 × 41.3 cm. London, British Museum, inv. 1873,0510.3653 176
28 Giotto di Bondone and workshop, The Stefaneschi Triptych (verso), ca. 1320. Tempera on panel, central panel: 178 × 89 cm. Rome, Pinacoteca Vaticana, inv. 40120 181
29 Detail of ill. 28 182
30a–c Mises en abyme of thesis broadsides. Details of cat. 20, 26 and 29 184
31a–d Advert for Droste Cocoa Powder (1904), tin box for Royal Baking Powder, advert for La vache qui rit by Benjamin Rabier (1926) and old advert of the American brand Quaker Oats 187
32 Frank Stella, Gran Cairo, 1962. Alkyd on canvas, 217.3 × 217.3 cm. New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, inv. 63.34 190
33a–b Jean Frosne, Nous allons à l’an pire, almanac for 1653 published by Pierre Saincton (upper part and detail). Engraving, 58.4 × 41.6 cm. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Prints, inv. Reserve QB-201 (28)–Fol. 196
34 After Pierre Brebiette, Almanahz nouveaux, ca. 1640. Engraving. Paris, BnF, Prints, inv. RESERVE QB-201 (33)–FOL, p. 14, Hennin, 2875 197
35 Michel Natalis after Cornelis Schut, Thesis of Georg Nicolaus and Wolffgang Andreas, barons of Rosenberg, 1643. See cat. 23.2. Detail 201
36 Paulus Pontius after Abraham van Diepenbeeck, Thesis of Claudius, Count of Collalto, 1645. See cat. 9.3. Detail 202
37 Charles-Nicolas II Cochin, Theological thesis defense of the Abbot de Ventadour, Paris, 1738. Pen and ink, graphite on paper, 24.7 × 35.3 cm. London, The Courtauld (Samuel Courtauld Trust), inv. D.1955.WF.4621 209
38 Iohann Daniel Herz, Emperor Charles IV of Bohemia attends a thesis defense in philosophy, 1745. Engraving, 104.6 × 87.1 cm. Kremsmünster, Stiftsammlungen Benediktinerstift 210