Remigius van Rheni explained

Remigius van Rheni (1560, Brussels  - c.1620), was a Flemish Baroque painter.

Biography

According to Houbraken he was born in Brussels and was court painter to Count Hendrik of Wolfegg.[1] [2] He lived in the year 1600 at the Count's castle (Schloss Wolfegg), which was later burned by the Swiss.[2]

According to Cornelis de Bie in his Het Gulden Cabinet, which was probably Houbraken's source, his works could be seen in Germany and at the homes of leading gentlemen in the Netherlands.[3] He died there and later the castle was burned by the "Swetsche", or Swedish, not Swiss.[3]

In 1646 Swedish troops under Carl Gustaf Wrangel ransacked the castle near the end of the Thirty Years' War and laid fire to it. The then owner Maximilian Willibald of Waldburg-Wolfegg was short of funds, so the restoration of the castle was delayed until 1651, by which time all traces of Rheni's work was lost.

Notes and References

  1. Heinrich, Erbtruchsess of Waldburg, Count of Wolfegg (1568–1637), who married Maria Jacoba, Countess of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1577–1650)
  2. Remigius Rheni Biography in De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen (1718) by Arnold Houbraken, courtesy of the Digital library for Dutch literature
  3. https://books.google.com/books?id=3pFbAAAAQAAJ&q=rheni Het Gulden Cabinet, page 149 Remigius van Rheni