Lambert Wyts

Lambert Wyts or Lambert Wijts (1542 – ?) was a Flemish courtier, draughtsman and diarist. Born into a prominent family in the County of Flanders he became a courtier in the service of the Habsburg dynasty. In this role, he made three diplomatic trips respectively to Spain, Turkey and the Holy Roman Empire. He kept a diary of his travels which contribute to the understanding of contemporary circumstances in those countries. In particular, his diary regarding his trip to Turkey, with its drawings of events and local people and their dress, is of importance in this regard. In the past he has been mixed up with a contemporary Fleming from Mechelen by the name Lambert de Vos, a trained artist who traveled at the same time to Turkey where he made various drawings of local costumes and sights.

Lambert was one of fifteen children. His brother Paul (died in 1600) became lord of Wytsvliet after the death of their father while his brother Jan (born in 1528) became lord of Wildenburg after the death of their father. Their sister Cecile (died in 1602) took the title 'de la Boucharderie' and married François de Croix in 1554.

He included in his diary water color drawings of the Sultan, the reception of the ambassadors and various costumes and customs of the peoples living in Constantinople. These drawings call to mind the 'Turkish costume books', a genre in Western art that became popular from the 16th century. The Flemish painter Pieter Coecke van Aelst's widow Mayken Verhulst published in 1553 a nearly five-metre-long monumental frieze entitled Ces Moeurs et fachons de faire de Turcz (Customs and Fashions of the Turks). It records van Aelst's impressions collected during his journey to Constantinople which he made in 1533 as part of the retinue of the Habsburg diplomat Cornelis de Schepper. The French geographer and courtier Nicolas de Nicolay followed with his Quatre premiers livres des navigations (Four first book of travels) published in 1567, which recorded de Nicolay's observations about the Ottoman court and peoples collected during his 1551 mission to Constantinople. The text was illustrated with 60 images engraved after original drawings by de Nicolay.

About 120 costume books or portions of them are currently known in manuscript, in addition to a large number of prints. These depictions familiarized Europeans with the exotic ways of the Turks and gave them clues to how Ottoman society worked. Not only did they serve as guides for diplomats and other visitors to the Sultan’s court, but they also satisfied the curiosity and quelled the fear that westerners felt for the Ottomans. These costume books were also meant to entertain the European audiences for which they were intended. Amateur and professional artists aimed to satisfy the demand for such representations. Another Fleming who created a costume book is Lambert de Vos, a trained artist from Mechelen who traveled to and resided in Constantinople in 1572, the same year as Wyts. Wyts has sometimes been confused with Lambert de Vos. In the beginning, most artists were European but from the 18th century such costume books were also produced by local artists in response to the demand for such illustrated publications. In other remarks in his account on his trip to Turkey, Wyts notes that Constantinople is a city with residents of various backgrounds such as Greek, Turks and Jews. Their mission completed, the imperial envoys and Wyts left Constantinople on 24 August 1572. He was sick during the first days of the return trip, which ended in Bratislava, where he remained for a while and witnessed the crowning of Rudolf II as king of Hungary.

The part of his book on his voyage to Turkey has various appendices which deal with matters such as the crowning of Rudolf II, the life and teachings of Muhammed, Muslim laws and the Turkish customs, ceremonies, superstitions and justice system, the Turkish manner of taking baths and also the 73 drawings he had made of civil and military costumes including the portrait of the Sultan.

Voyage to Germany He commences his account of his trip through Germany with a long description of Vienna. He set out on 16 April 1573 and traveled via Linz, Salzburg, Munich, Augsburg, Ulm, Speyer, Worms, Frankfurt, Mainz, Koblenz, Cologne and Aachen. A few days out, he ran into Count Paul de Salm, grand sommelier of the duke of Lorraine. He was invited to join de Salm's party on its return to Lorraine. He separated from de Salm on 8 May in Neuhaus. From Aachen on he traveled on via Maastricht, Antwerp, Brussels, Leuven, Namur and finally Dinant where he met his mother in her home on 2 June 1575. This is where his book ends.