A: Brussel, Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest, Belgium
In 1660 David Teniers the Younger, court painter in Archduke Leopold William's court in Brussels, issued the Theatrum Pictorium, a catalogue of 243 Italian paintings belonging to his patron, Hapsburg Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, cousin of King Philip IV of Spain, and Governor of the Southern Netherlands (comprising most of modern Belgium). Containing the engraved reproductions of 243 paintings, this was the first published illustrated catalogue of an art collection.
"Teniers employed a team of 12 engravers for reproducing the 243 paintings in the Theatrum. He produced small copies in oil of each of the chosen paintings, issuing these as models to his engravers and 120 of which were auctioned by the estate of John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough in 1886.[3] Teniers’ painted copies measuring approximately 17 x 25 cm are now spread among various collections. The Courtauld Institute of ArtGallery holds 14 of these works, the largest group in any public collection.[4] Of the 12 engravers, the five who contributed most were Jan van Troyen with 56, Lucas Vorsterman the Younger with 52, Pieter van Lisebetten 40, Theodoor van Kessel 27, and Coryn or Quirin Boel 25.[5] Johannes Popels contributed five engravings" (Wikipedia article on Theatrum pictorium, accessed 8-2019).
Remarkably Teniers had the first edition printed in Dutch, French, Spanish and Latin, and the work later went through five more editions: 1673 (4 languages), 1684 (Latin), c. 1700 (Latin) and 1755 (French).
During the single decade of his governorship (1646-56) Leopold Wilhelm formed one of the greatest art collections of his age, and Teniers effectively became its curator. Leopold Wilhelm’s collection came to number approximately 1,300 works, including paintings by Holbein, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Van Eyck, Raphael, Giorgione, Veronese and more than 15 works by Titian. This collection now forms the heart of Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum.
van Claerbergen (ed) David Teniers and the Theatre of Painting (2006).