Hardcover,658 pages, full-color, 321 images ISBN 9789004311862. Of more than forty churches that fortified Antwerp as the bulwark of the Counter Reformation in the Netherlands, only St. Jacob?s stands now with its art and archives intact. Parish church of the city?s elite, it is filled with masterpieces, including the altarpiece that Rubens painted for his own burial chapel. Works of architecture, painting, sculpture, and hundreds of sacred objects, documented by the archives, enable a reconstruction of the integral role that art played in the transformation of a whole society over the span of two centuries, from 1585 to the 1790s. It is a history of real people and organizations, who used art for religion, politics, and social purpose, joined together in a church that embodied a diverse community.Chapter 1: St. Jacob?s Parish and Construction of the Church: 1491-1780 Chapter 2: Ornament for the Church: 1585-1656 Chapter 3: Circa 1660: Crisis and Ornament: The Creation of a New Interior for the Parish Church Chapter 4: Sacraments in the Parish Chapter 5: The Blessed Sacrament Chapel and the Marriage Chapel Chapter 6: The Lady Chapel in Search of an Image Chapter 7: St. Jacob's New Collegiate Chapter of Canons and Their Choir Chapter 8: Private Chapels in the Church Chapter 9: St. Jacob?s Counter Reformation Confraternities Chapter 10: Death in the Church Chapter 11: Church Against State in the Time of Enlightenment and Revolution Conclusion Appendix 1: Documentation of Private Chapels in St. Jacob's Appendix 2: Foundation, Membership, and Location of Brotherhoods at St. Jacob?s in Chronological Order
