LOW COUNTRIES, ENGRAVERS OF THE. 



' introduced a painter fitting at bis cafcl, painting the por- 

 traits of certain celebrated fiinplctons of the day ; in tlie 

 upper part fits Jupiter on his throne, furrounded by all the 

 gods, protedting the arts and fciences ; a very capital and 

 rare print 



From Raphael d' Urhlno. — " The Transfiauration," from 

 the celebrated picture in tlie Vatican ; " The Conteft be- 

 tween the Romans and Pyrrlins," known under the appel- 

 lation of " The Battle of the Elephants," both of large 

 folio fize. A large print, executed on three feparate plates, 

 of " The Viftory of Conftantine over the Emperor Max- 

 entius, at Ponte-MoUe." Cert left this plate unfini(hed at 

 his death, but it was afterwards completed by Ph. Tho- 

 mafiin. 



SulijeCis fr'.m various ether Itnllnn Mnjlers. — "Mount Par- 

 nallus," a folio print, from Fohdore ; " The Adoration of 

 the Shcpher<]s," in larj;e folio, from the fame malier ; 

 " A Repofe during the Flight into Egypt," in folio, after 

 B. Biifaro ; an unfmifhed print, in folio, ot " The Apo- 

 thcofis of St. Jerom," from the fame maftcr ; " The Vifi- 

 tation of St. Elizabeth," a large folio print, from Marc of 

 t)ieni;a ; " The Adoration of the Shepherds," a folio print, 

 from the fame matter ; another of " 'I'he Adora ion ot the 

 Shepherds," from Paris Romano ; '\ The Virgin fitting 

 near a Fountain, with the Holy Infant, and St. John," in 

 tfolio, from F. Baroccio ; a folio print of the " Baptifin of 

 our Saviour," after F. Salviati ; " The Marriage of Cana," 

 from J.orenzo Sabbatini, in folio; "The Lall Supper," 

 after L.^Agrefti Forlivetano (there are impreffions of this 

 plate both wi'h and without the mark of Cort), in large 

 folio ; " St. Stephen ftoned," in large folio, from Marcel- 

 lus Venuftus ; " St. Jerome before a Crucifix," after Riccio 

 da Sienna, m folio ; " St. Jerom, attended by two Angels," 

 from Jacobus Parmcnfis, in folio ; " The Girdle of St. 

 Francis," after Caracci, in large folio ; a quarto print of 

 " The Marriage of St. Catherine ;" a folio print of " St. 

 Margaret of Cortona," from Tempelta ; " A Dance of 

 Dryades," in folio, from Maitre Rous, of Florence ; "The 

 three Dellinies," from Julio Romano, in folio ; and " The 

 Tombs of the Dukes of Mantua," in large folio, after 

 Michael Angelo. » 



Of Philip de Sorge, Sericcus, or Sytius, very little is 

 known. Strutt fpeaks of the few prints which we (hall 

 venture to alcribe to him, as being the production of two 

 artifls : Roll and Huber«are more probably in the right, in 

 afcribing them to one. Sericcus Ihidied under Cornelius 

 Cort, and afterwards fettled at Rome, where it is probable, 

 from the icarcity of his works, he died at an early period 

 of life ; but neither the lime of his dcccale, nor that of his 

 birth, have been mentioned. 



His ilyle of engraving, evidently formed upon tlist which 

 we may term the Italian Ityle of Cort, is open, vigorous, 

 and free ; but his knowledge of the figure was inferior to 

 tliat of his matter, and his chiarofcuro, though not dif- 

 ■tordaut, not very forcible. 



We are acquainted with no other of his works than a fet 

 of twenty-eight half-length figures of the popes in chrono- 

 logic lucceflion, from the year 204 to 1568, the year in 

 which they were publilhed"; they are in fmall foho, and ex- 

 ecuted with the graver only, in a ItifT, flight manner. Pope 

 Pius V. furrounded with emblematical figures, defigned by 

 Sericcus himfelf, and engraved in a Ityle fuperior to the 

 former. " Judith beheading Holofernes," in folio, after 

 Julio Clovio ; " The Angel warning St. Jofeph to depart 

 into Egypt," from C. Cort, of the fame fize as the ori- 

 ginal ; " St. Francis receiving the Siigmatics," in large 

 &I10 ; " St. Jerome before a Crucifi.'i in the Defart," fup- 



pofed to be from Mutian, in large folio ; " The Virgin and 

 Infant Chrift," known by the appellation of " The Virgin 

 of Silence," infcribed " Dormiente puero Jefu divina Mens 

 vigilat," with the name of Philip Sericcus, dated 1566, in 

 large folio ; a large folio print of " Our Saviour on the 

 Ci'ofs," with the Virgin and St. John the Evangclilt, on 

 either fide at the foot of the crofs, after Michael Angelo; 

 and a large foho print, vvhicii is attributed to Soyc, although 

 it bears the name of Cort, reprefenting " Prometheus chained 

 to a Rock," from Titian's pifture in the royal palace at 

 Madrid. 



John Ditmer, or Ditmar, was a native of the Low 

 Countries, and born in the year 1538, or thereabouts. By 

 this engraver we have a niiddling-fized .upright plate, 

 nearly fquare, reprefenting a figure of Chrill leated on the 

 clouds, with the fymbolical animals, feen in vificn by the 

 prophet Ezekiel, and which arc the ufual attendants on the 

 evangclills, and angels bearing the crofs, crown of thorns, 

 &c. It is execute'd in a ilyle greatly refemi.ling thai of 

 Cort, but coarfer, and by no means fo well drawn as the 

 works of that matter generally are. This print is after 

 Michael Coxie, and is dated in the year 1574, nor are we 

 able to fpecify more of the works of this engraver, who 

 was apparently inftrufted in his art by Cornelius Cort. 



Gerard de Jode was born ^t Antwerp in the year 1521, 

 and died in the fame city A.D. 1591. He was celebrated 

 both as an engraver and geometrician, and was the fon of 

 Cornelius de Jode, a well-known geogiapher. Part of hi? 

 youth was paffed in the fervice of the emperor Charles V., 

 after which he gave up his attention entirely to the arts and 

 fciences. He engraved fome geographical, and a great num- 

 ber of hiftorical, plates, in the ityle of his contemporaries 

 a!id countrymen, Wierix and the CoUaerts, and Papillon f«ys 

 that he executed fome meritorious ensjraviii'rs on \\ ood. 



He likewife eftablifned at Antwerp a jirintfeller's fliop, 

 which, after his death, was carried on by his widow. Being 

 hereditarily known as a geographer, in which fcience he ex- 

 celled, he was much encouraged by Ortelins, w ho was fur- 

 named the Ptolemy of his age, and of whom we have fpoken 

 under the article English Engraving. The principal works 

 of Gerard de Jode, are a fet of twenty-nine, of the por- 

 traits of the popes, in 410. publidied in the year 1585. A 

 Roman triumph, on twelve plate>-, -after Hemlkerck, in 410. 

 A let of thirteen, intitled " Memorabilium, novi Tcltamcnti, 

 templo Gellorum Icones tredecim elegantifiimi ac ornatif- 

 fimi. Antwerpia excudebat Gerard de Jode," in folio, with 

 architectural back-ground, and a very large and well en- 

 graved print, executed on three plates of " The Crucifixion," 

 after Michael Angelo. 



Peter de Jode, the elder, was born at Antwerp A. D. 

 1570, and died in the fame city in 1634. He was the ion 

 of the preceding artift, who mltrufted him in the knowledge 

 of geometry and drawing, but he ftudied engraving under 

 Henry Goltzius, and afterwards travelled to Italy and to 

 Paris, to improve his conneiitions and complete his profef- 

 fional itudies. In Paris he remained forfre time, and with 

 the affidance of his ion, executed leveral plates there, which 

 were publiihed by A. Bonenfant. He returned to Antwerp 

 a few years after the commencement of the fucceeding cen- 

 tury, where he remained till the time of his death. 



The engravings of the elder Peter poflefs great merit. 

 He was an excellent draftfman ; his chiaro-fcuro is not in- 

 ferior to that of the age in which he lived ; and in his ma- 

 nual execution he ufed the gnver alone, in a manner evidently 

 founded on the neater ftyle of Goltzius, but not with equal 

 freedom, nor equal power of expreffing the variety of inb- 



llaiiccc 



