LOW COUNTRIES, ENGRAVERS OF THE. 



Innocents," a very large print, lengthways, on two plates; 

 " The Prefentation in the Temple," a fine plate ; " Chrili 

 bearing his Crofs ;'' an allegorical piece, known by tbe ap- 

 pellation of « The Chrift of the Clenched Fill," becaufe 

 one of the angels who are overthrowing Sin and Death has 

 his fill clenched, a very fine engraving; "The Madre Do- 

 lorofa, or Dead Body of Chrili on the Lap of the Holy 

 Virgin," and " The Dcfcent «f the Hely Glioft, or Mi- 

 racle of the Cloven Tongues," all of large folio fize ; 

 " The Holy Spirit fubduing the Flelli," (an allegorical 

 fubjeft,) a very rare print, in folio: a large folio print, 

 called " Rubens's Epitaph," from a pifture in the church 

 of St. James, at Antwerp. The fubjeft is a religious 

 allegory, in which Rubens himfelf appears in the cha- 

 racter of St. George. A head of Chrili, in an oval, of 

 foho fize ; " The AlTi.mption," in large folio ; " The Co- 

 ronation of the Virgin," one of the latter engravings of 

 Pontius, in folio ; " The Virgin fucklingthe Infant Jefus," 

 a rare print, in oflavo ; " The Holy Family,'' where the 

 Infant Jefus is careffing his mother, half-length figures ; 

 " Chrift appearing to St. Roch," with " Eris in pefte 

 Patronus" infcribed on a banner, a fine print, and engraved 

 from a pifture which is efteemed among the very fineft of 

 the works of Rubens ; a very large and rare engraving, in 

 which real and allegorical perfonages are oddly afTociated, 

 a la Rubens, for the fake of complimenting the princes 

 of the houfe of Aultria and the Cordeliers ; and a very 

 large upright print, of " The Difpute between Neptune 

 and Mmerva," dedicated to pope Urban VIII. 



Hiflorkal, i^c. after various Painters. — " The Flight into 

 Egypt," after Jac. Jordaens, (the beft impreffions of the 

 engraving are before the name of Bloteling was inferted ;) 

 "The Feftival of the Kings" after the fame painter, a 

 fine engraving ; " The Adoration of the Kings," after 

 Gerard Seghers, all in large folio ; " The Virgin and Holy 

 Infant, accompanied by St. Anne," in folio ; " St. Francis 

 Xavier, prollrate before the Virgin and Child," a circular 

 print; "St. Sebaftian, and an Angel drawing an Arrow 

 from his Side," all from G. Seghers ; " The Dead Body 

 of Our Saviour on the Lap of the Virgin,' or, "Madre 

 Dolorofa," after Vandyke, all in large folio ; " St. Her- 

 manus Jofeph," from a pifture painted for the Jefuits of 

 Antwerp, and now in the royal gallery at Vienna ; " St. 

 Rofalia, receiving a Crown from the Infant Jefus," both 

 from the fame painter, in foho ; " The Holy Family," after 

 John van Hack ; and " The Entombing of Chrift," after 

 Titian, in large folio. 



Of merit very inferior to that of his father, was Lucas 

 Vorfterman the younger; he was born at Antwerp in the 

 year 1600, and learned the elements of engraving under his 

 paternal roof. He alfo praftifed the art of drawing por- 

 traits from the life. But though he fcarcely reached above 

 mediocrity in either art, his productions, of which the fol- 

 lowing are thofe moft worthy of efteem, are fought after 

 by the curious. 



Lucas Vorfterman, the father, from Ant. Vandyke, in 

 folio; "The Virgin Mary," ftie is reprefented in the 

 clouds, and furrounded by angels ; " Chrift crowned with 

 Thorns, and mocked by the Jews," both in quarto, after 

 Vandyke; "The Trinity,'' after Rubens, in folio; the 

 fable of " The Satyr and his Gueft, who blew hot and 

 ■-old,' in large folio, nearly fquare, after Jacques Jorda- 

 ens ; part of the plates for the large folio " "Treatife on 

 Horfemanftiip,' by the duke of Newcaftle ; feveral of the 

 plates from the gallery of the archduke Leopold, at Bruf- 

 fels, which v/ere publilhed by David Teniers, the younger: 

 and part of the coliedion of drawings of Nicholas Lanier, 



Vol XXI. 



a mufician and amateur of the reign of Charles I. Thi« 

 latter fet is, perhaps, the beft part of the works of the 

 younger Vorfterman. 



Peter Soutman was born at Haerlem in the year 1580, 

 or not long afterward, and became the difciple of Rubens. 

 Befide etching and engraving, he painted both hiftory and 

 portraits with fuccefs, and was patronized, not only in 

 Flanders, but alfo in Germany and Poland. 



We have a great number of prints by this artift, both 

 from his own compofitions and thofe of other painters, par- 

 ticularly his great niafter, Rubens. They are for the moft 

 part etched, and with great fpirit, not all in the fame ftyle, 

 but under the influence of the different notions and feelings 

 which from time to time appeared to have prevailed, as he 

 endeavoured to explore the capabilities of a new art, in 

 which the practice of his predeceffors and contcmporarie* 

 fhewed him that there remained much to difcover. He is 

 like an early voyager, who fometimes warily coafts the lands 

 whicii others have touched at before him, and fometimes 

 with better hopes and bolder navigation pufhes forth into 

 unknown regions, obfcurely guided by the dubious bear- 

 ings of the headlands which he fancies he has defcried. 

 Watelet fays his ftyle is, in fome inttances, contrary to the 

 theory of the art, though as no fyftem of principle was 

 then fettled, or is even yet afcertained, he can only mean 

 that in thofe inftances it is oppofite to the prafticc of cer- 

 tain engravers, whofe works had obtained the praife of fuch 

 reputable and eftablifhed connoifi"eurs as Watelet himfelf. He 

 continues, " but his prints always convey an idea of the 

 foftnefs of flefh, and the colouring of the piilures from 

 which they are taken. He engraved in a pure ftyle, with 

 the fame merits and faults as I have remarked in his etch- 

 ings." And Strutt, with perhaps a perception fomewhat 

 clearer of Soutman's intentions, informs his readers that 

 " Soutman feems to have aimed at giving a ftriking elfeft. 

 by keeping all the maffes of light broad and clear ; but by 

 carrying this idea too far, almoft all his prints have a flight 

 unfinillied appearance, though the engraving is, in itfelf, 

 fufficiently neat. There is the ftyle (of drawing) of the 

 mafter in the treatment of the heads and other extremities of 

 his figures," &c. &c. 



For the fake of not difconnefting thofe artifts who moft dif- 

 tinguiftied themfelves by their attainment of that particular 

 merit which moft llrongly charafterifes the fchool of the 

 Netherlands, and who fliould therefore be contemplated to- 

 gether, we have placed Soutman a httle behind his chro- 

 nological rank ; but it ftiould be recollefted to his credit, 

 that Vorfterman was his fellow pupil, and that, in all pro- 

 bability, the enterprifing prow of our artill, and the beacons 

 he fet up, at once ftimulated and taught Pontius and the 

 Bolfwerts when and where to launch forth, and how to 

 traverfe, with leaft danger, the unfathomed ocean of their 

 art. 



Of the engravings of Soutman, it may be fuffieient, is 

 this place, to mention the following. 



Portraits. — Joannes Wolferdus de Brederod, gener. Mar- 

 fchalcus Belgii confederati ; Gerard von Honthoril pinx ; 

 the armouries of Orange Naffau, furrounded with trophies 

 and allegorical figures ; the frontifpicce to the portraits of 

 the counts of Flanders; Soutman pinx. et fculp. ; theem- 

 paror Adolphus of Nalfau ; the em.profs of Ferdinand II,, 

 queen of Hungary and Bohemia, both from Van Sompel ; 

 John the Intrepid, count of Flanders ; and Phihp IV. king 

 of Spain and the Indies, all in large folio. 



Hijhrical, i^c. — " The Fall of the Damned," a large 



upright, after Rubens, the early impreffions of which are 



known from thofe fubfequently printed, by their havina 



3 P bee^ 



