I have a love-hate relationship with museum-houses. On the positive side, they are stunningly elaborate, masterpiece-filled, lovingly preserved time machines that evoke the days of yore. On the negative side, their grandeur, opulence and contained artwork provoke a crippling case of real estate envy.
Luckily/unluckily for me, Antwerp is chock-full of museum-houses.
Museum Rockoxhuis is a 17th century beauty with a courtyard garden and pieces by Rubens, Jordaens, Breughel (the younger) and Van Dyck. The museum is the former abode of Nicolaas Rockox, who was born into a wealthy bourgeois family. He held numerous key civic positions and, like any good socialite, married a wealthy spouse with a powerful lineage. Rockox is credited with launching Rubens’s career by commissioning major works such as the Adoration of the Magi for the Antwerp Town Hall and the triptych Christ and St. Thomas.
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