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The Masterpieces Decree included the Golden Book of the Chapel of Venerable as valuable heritage in 2008.
The motivation reads:
The Chapel of the Most Holy Sacrament in the Antwerp Our Lady's Cathedral, also known as the Chapel of Venerable, was founded before 1475 and is thus one of the oldest existing religious societies in Antwerp. Like many institutions, the chapel preserves a Golden Book signed by illustrious visitors. The first part of it, a hefty volume of 323 pages, was put into use in 1631 and is illustrated with dozens of beautiful full-page miniatures, drawings, portraits, and coats of arms (commissioned by Pieter Hannecaert, illustrations attributed to important 17th-century painters: Frans Francken II, Abraham van Diepenbeeck (associate of Rubens), and an as yet unidentified hand). The Golden Book also contains a wealth of historical data that are of great importance for the history of religious life in Antwerp.
The initiator is thus Peter Hennecaert, alderman of Antwerp and relative to Pieter Paul Rubens: he married Catharina Fourment in 1627, sister of Rubens' second wife Helena Fourment. (1)
The inscription reads:
Behold the Lamb of God
To the brotherhood of the Most Holy Sacrament in the cathedral church of the Holy Virgin Mary in Antwerp,
Peter Hannecaert of Antwerp has ensured
at his own expense that this book is adorned and dedicated with devout affection
In the year 1631
- P. Génard, De testamenten van Rubens, De Vlaamsche school : tijdschrift voor kunsten, letteren, oudheidkunde en kunstnijverheid, 1863, deel 8 p 143
