In 1659, for taxing purposes, Jordaens’s housing complex was valued at 13 hearths, say 13 workers’ houses. It was also estimated to have an annual rental value of 450 guilders, which – if it were happening today ‑ would amount to up to 36 000 euros.

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If they got the opportunity to create large artefacts for important clients (and get paid), successful masters could acquire a fortune. The evidence is right in front of you.

Around the corner to the right, at 13 Hoogstraat (literally: High Street), we find the birthplace of Jordaens, called ‘the Paradise’. The plaque reads: born May 19, 1593. He lived there at least until 1634.

After he had married Catherine at the age of 25 (May 15, 1616) he also let his father-in-law and teacher Adam Van Noort live in his house. Not long after his marriage, Jordaens acquired the back quarters at Hoogstraat and Reyndersstraat. About twenty years later, in 1639, the artist bought the current house number Hoogstraat 43. He merged the buildings and – just like Rubens did, turned the complex into a baroque city palace.

From this entrance, you can still see the original structure. To the left, you notice the brick part of the oldest annex (1618). To the right, is the rear side of the building on Hoogstraat. The part in front of you, facing north, would be perfect for plain natural lighting.

The simple design of the windows make the gate, the balcony and the decorated pediment stand out even more. Jordaens’s original paintings of the ceilings, depicting the twelve scenes of the Zodiac, can now be seen in Paris, in the library of the French Senate. A locally well known private collection, the Phoebus Foundation, possesses a similar mythological thematic series about Amor and Psyché.

To your left again: this baroque façade from 1640 more or less mirrors the west façade, but it gets more sunlight! The memorial stone at the entrance outlines the later history of the building. But on the whole, what you see here, is authentic.

The history of these dwellings rises from the shadows of the past like a story of today about land rights, servitudes, or common walls with the houses next door. This was especially important; a building permit meant you had a good relationship with the neighbours.

Jordaens’s real estate wealth was also the result of an inheritance from his father-in-law; eight houses had been divided between Adam Van Noort’s daughters.
But also in his profession, Jordaens had no reason to complain. Even more so after Rubens’ death (1640). We quote an English source from that time:
“So as Jordaens remaynes [as] prime painter here”.

Jordaens was also successful abroad. First, he worked for wealthy merchants in Amsterdam, then he became responsible for the decorations of their town hall on Dam Square, where they can still be admired today. He received 3000 guilders for three paintings (stretching from 1661 to 1666). Previously, he had already painted ‘The triumph of Frederik Hendrik’. This was the deceased stadtholder of Orange-Nassau in Holland. We don’t know how much Jordaens received for that work. But it is a massive painting, which today still hangs in the royal residence of Huis Ten Bosch, in The Hague. Jordaens complained that he couldn’t oversee his own work as a whole with it’s dimensions of 7,3 metres by 7,5 metres! His studio was too small for that.

And so, over a period of time, Jordaens came to belong to the 400 richest citizens of Antwerp.

What did he look like? Let’s greet him at his statue.

Route South: continue in Reyndersstraat, turn left into Hoogstraat, beyond number 43, you reach the small park called Oever (Riverside).