LOW COUNTRIES, ENGRAVERS OF THE 



He appears to have lludied in the fcliool, and to have 

 contrafted the ftiffnefs of Jerome Wierix, but pofllfles not 

 liis corredlnefs. His principal engravings are the 



Portraits of Cornelius Cort, Henry de Clave, Giles Co- 

 ninxloo, and Hans Holbein, (all painters ;) John Bugen- 

 hagcn, Pliilip Melanfthon, John Wickliffc, John Knox, 

 John Calvin, and Jerome Savonarole, (celebrated reformers,) 

 all in 4to. 



Hijlorical, i^c. — " The Judgment of Solomon," and 

 " The Woman taken in Adultery," both after Carl von 

 Mander ; " A Flcinifli Recreation;" a fet of "five engrav- 

 iiigs, reprefentmg the celebration of St. John's day, at 

 Menlebeck, near Brufil-la, by healing the lick, both from 

 P. Breughel the droll ; ^nd " Mufarum Officia," or the 

 Mufcs giving a concert on mount Parnaffus, an agreeable 

 compofition, though the expreflion of the heads is rather 

 common, after Th. Zucckero, all of folio dimenfious. 



Henry Hondius the younger is, with better rcafon than 

 Henry the elder, believed to have been the fon of Jodocus, 

 and to have been born in London, — according to Huber, — 

 ;n 1580, which is unfortunately fonr years before, — ac- 

 cording to Strutt, — his father was married. He is fup- 

 pofed by Strutt to have iludied under his father, and to 

 have applied himfclf v.lth dihgence to the art of engraving. 

 His prints are neat, but difcovcr little art. 



Befide fir^idiing fome plates which had been begun by 

 Jodoc'.is, the following are enumerated among his works. 

 Portraits of Bernard, duke of Saxe Wcymar, in folio ; 



na large head of queen Ehzabeth ; James I. of England, 

 dated i6o8; William, prince of Orange, after Alex. 

 Cooper, dated 1641 ; Ferdinand, emperor of Gerniany, in 

 4to., dated 1634 ; and fir Francis Drake, in folio. 



Land/capes, h'ljiorical Subjeds, Isfc. — A fet of the four 

 feafons, after Paul Bri!, dated 1643 ; another fet of the 

 four feafoBS, confilling of landfcapes, adorned with various 

 architecture, after P. Stephani, both ni folio ; a fet of 

 twelve landfcapes of the months of the year, m which are 

 introduced feaionable occupations and diverlions, in large 

 folio ; two print? reprefentmg drunken peafants, with land- 

 fcape back-grounds ; two grotefque fnbjefts of fools, &c. 

 both after P. Breughel ; " Chrill going to Emmaus ;" and 

 "The Shipwreck of St. Paul," a companion to the former, 

 both from Giles Mollaert, all of folio fize ; " Tobit fiihing, 

 attended by an Angel ;" " St. John the Baptift preaching 

 in the Wildernefs ;" and a view of the Hague, a rare print, 

 all from Giles de Saen, in large folio. 



The younger Henry vifited Holland about the time of his 

 arrival at manhood, or a little before, and refided at the 

 Hague. Here he engraved the view of that town, which 

 we have mentioned above ; and here, in the year 1600, was 

 born his fon William or Guillaume Hondius. 



WiUiam acquired the rudiments of engraving under his 

 paternal roof; from whence he removed to Dantzic, and to 

 the Hague, and became diftinguiflied by the merit of his 

 portraits, of which he engraved a conliderabie numbe.-. 



His cypher may be feen in Plate 111. of thofe of the en- 

 gravers of the Low Countries ; and his molt remarkable por- 

 traits are thofe of himfelf, after Vandyke, with the addi- 

 tion of " Chalcographus HagE Comitis ;" Francis Frank 

 the younger, painter of Antwerp, after the fame mailer, 

 both in folio ; prince Maurice of Auftria, an excellent print, 

 probably from a drawing by Hondius himfelf; Ladif- 

 iaus IV. of Poland, infcribed " W. Hondius fecit 1637 ;" 

 Theodore ab Werden Burgio ; Berhard, duke of Saxe 

 Weymar, all prefumptively drawn by himfelf; Henry 

 Cornelius Longkius, after Mytens ; Jean Cafimir, king of 



Poland ; Charles, prince of Poland and bifhop of Brelfaar, 

 both after D. Scultz ; and Louifa Maria de Gonzague, 

 queen of Poland, after Jufte d'Egmont, bearing the name 

 and addition of " Wilhcl Hondius Chalcographus Regius," 

 from which it appears that our artiil enjoyed the honour of 

 being engraver to the king of Poland. 



Abraham Hondius, the juftly celebrated painter of ani- 

 mals, was of the fame family with the preceding artifts ; for 

 whofc biography and general merit as an artiil, fee HoNr 

 Dius, Abraham. He etched a few plates in a flight, 

 fpiritcd, and pamter-like ftyle, yet with fom.c degree of 

 neatnefs, of which the fubjcfts are the huntings of various 

 beads of chace ; tliefe afford very (Iriking examples of animal 

 expreflion, efpecially when their pallions are roufed to fury. 

 His folio prints of " A Boar Hunt," and " The Chace of 

 a Wolf," are, in this rcfpeft, admirable works, and are 

 probably his bell; productions in this mode of art. 



With the fixteenth century arofe the genius of Rubeng, 

 which has gilded the fine art of the Netherlands with un- 

 fading glory, and even tinged with its radiance the ethics 

 and theology of Europe. His biography and extraordinary- 

 merits as a painter will be treated under the article Ruekxs, 

 Sir Peter Paul. He etched a few plates, of which the 

 merits are not tranfcendental, though they evince the power- 

 ful and free hand of a mafter ; but he effetted a revolution 

 in painring, and indeed may be faid to have given a new 

 coiiilitution, more eflentially free than that which preceded 

 it, to tlie arts of his country, as our fubfequent pages, de- 

 voted to the progrefs of engraving in the Low Countries, 

 will attefl. 



The etchings of Rubens are performed in a flight and 

 bold ilyle, from his own compofitions : " St. Francis d'Af- 

 iize receiving the Stigmata," in 4to. ; " The penitent Mag- 

 dalen," ditto; " St. Catherine," with the initruments of 

 her martyrdom, &c. defisined for a ceiling, and one of the 

 belt of the etchings uf Rubens, of folio fize ; " The com- 

 munication of Light," a fmall upright : the plate being 

 afterwards finifned with the graver, either by Paul Pontius 

 or Lucas Vorllerman, impreflions of the etc!,;--^, as it came 

 from the hand of Rubens, are exceedingly rj.re aiiu valuable. 

 The compofition coniills of a boy hghting a candle at an- 

 other, which is held by an old woman. Thefe, and the 

 portrait of an Englifli minifter, a fmall head, in an oval 

 border, are all the prints with which we are acquainted, 

 proceeding from the etching-needle of this very diftinguiflied 

 matter. 



With the vigorous and original powers of Rubens, co- 

 operated by the fine taile of Vandyke, and roufed by the 

 trumpet that founded forth their fame, Bolfwert, the Vor- 

 ftermans, and Pontius girded their loins, and leaped forth 

 candidates of high enterprife and extraordinary promife, in 

 the race of hiitorical and portrait engraving. 



The belt of the engravers of Italy, with Marc Antonio 

 at their head, had added truth of charadter to exquifite 

 purity of outline. The heroes of the German fchool, led 

 on by Martin Schoen and Albert Durer, had exprefled the 

 textures of the various furfaces or fubftances which adorn 

 the face of nature, with nice difcrimination ; and had made 

 fome fuccefsful approaches toward a vigorous and har- 

 monious chiaro-fcuro. It remained for Bolfwert, Pontius, 

 and the Vorltermans, the champions of the Netherlands, to 

 polTcfs themfelves of their trenches, and complete the cir- 

 cumvallation of engraving : and this they accomphfhed, 

 aided by the commanding judgment and exquifite talle, and 

 ftimulated alfo by the fuccefsful example, of Rubens and 

 Vandyke. 



To deeper and richer tones than had heretofore been pro- 

 duced. 



