LOW COUNTRIES, ENGRAVERS OF THE. 



be confirmed by the circumftance of his principal works 

 be n^ portraits of the public charaiSers of this country. 

 But be this as it may, his merits were very coiifiderable. 

 He handled his graver with tafte, and a degree of fltill wh.ich 

 had not then been exceeded ; and exprcfTed the texture- 

 of the various objefts, which he reprefentcd, v/i;h nice 

 difcrimination ; of which his portrait of John Speed the liif- 

 torian, among feveral others, affords a pleafing and fatis- 

 faftory proof. Kis portraits are probably his bed per- 

 formances, though his hillorical fubjedls are not without a 

 confiderable (hare of merit. 



Among thefe may be diftinguifhed king Charles I., 

 ■wherein Savevy appears to have engraved the face from a 

 pifture by Vandyke, and to have added the high-crowned 

 hat, and compofed the other accompaniments ; Thomas, 

 lord Fairfax, and Speed the chronicler, of which we have 

 Ipokcn above, have alfo their heads covered with hats, to 

 which circumftance our engraver appears to have been 

 partial, as giving effeiS: to the faces of his portraits, and 

 affording fqope for the exercife of his manual power over his 

 graver. 



His bell hiftorical works are, " Chrift expelling the 

 Money-changers, Sec. from the Temple," in lar.je folio, 

 from Rembrandt; feventeen plates for Ovid's Metamor- 

 phofes ; and a feries of fmall plates of frieze proportions, of 

 " The Entry of Mary de Medicis into Amfterdam." 



James de Bie, or de Bve, was born at Antwerp in the 

 year ijSi, and not only diftingui;1:ed himfelf as en engraver, 

 but alfo as a draftfir.an asd an antiquary. He lludicd on- 

 graving in the fchool of the Colberts, and fuccefsfuUy imi- 

 tated their ttyle ; finiflting his plates entirely with the graver 

 in a neat, clear, and determined manner. 



De Bye drev.- correftly. The heads of his figures poffefs 

 confiderable accuracy of character and expreflion, and their 

 hands and feet are well marked ; bnt from his lights being 

 fo much fcattered, and his fhadows fomewhat feeble, his 

 chiarofcuro is by no means powerful. His prints, how- 

 ever, may rank with thofe of the bell early Flemifh mafters. 

 He, with his contemporary Battilla Barbe, afTuled the 

 CoUaerts in engraving " The Life and Paffion of Chrift," 

 fiom Martin de Vos. The work confitts of fifty plates, of 

 which N i8, (■' The heahng of Peter's Mother-in-Law,") 

 and N 30, (" The Refurreclion of Lazarus,") are fine 

 fpecimens of the abilities of de Bye, efpecially the latter. 



He alfo engraved the medals of the Roman emperors, 

 from the cabinet of the duke d'Arfchot, which were ori- 

 ginally publifhed in the year 1617, and of which an edition 

 was reprinted at Berlin in 1705 ; a -medallic hiftory of the 

 kin^-s, queens, and dauphins of France ; another fet of the 

 portraits of the kings of France, from Clovis to Loui.-. XHI., 

 copiiiling of fixty-four plates, of which fifty-eight are por- 

 trait's ; the genealogy and portraits of the houfe of Croix, 

 on fixtv folio plates ; the portrait of Francis I. of France, in 

 folio, afcer M. de Vos ; and a fet of metaphyfical perfonifi- 

 cations from his own defigns, publilhcd at Paris in 164J, 

 with esplanationi; by J. Baadouin. 



Mark and Nicholas de Bye were of the fame family with 

 our artift, but are not worthy of much notice asv engravers. 

 Mark performed fome etchings, after P. Potter and M. 

 Gerard ; and Nicholas engraved portraits, among the beft 

 of which is Charles IX. king of France. 



Peter Lallman was born at Haerleni in the year 1581. 

 He was an hiftorical uainter of merit, and is reported to 

 Mave been one of the inftrufiors of Rembrandt. Laftman 

 etched fes'eral plates after his own compofitions, in a very 

 good talle, which are at prefent very rare : of thefe we can 

 only fpecify two, the fubjetts of which are " Judah and 



Tamar," introduced into a landfcape, in fmall folio ; aiij 

 a female veiled, reclining in a bower, in 4.to. 



Nicholas Laftman was the fon of Peter, and born at 

 Haerlem in 1619. He was inftruflod in the elements of 

 printing, and the general rudiments of art, by John Pinas ; 

 and it is probable he learned engraving from Saenredam. 

 Among other things, he engraved the portrait of Carl von 

 Mander," after Saenredam, in 4to. ; " Our Saviour in the 

 Garden of Olives," after his father, in large folio ; " St. 

 Peter delivered from Prifon by the Angel," after J. Pinas ; 

 and its companion, " The Martyrdom of St. Peter," both 

 in fmall folio ; " The Good Samaritan," from a pifture by 

 himfelf, is probably his chef-d'auvre. The ftory is intro- 

 duced in a very piflurefque landfcape, towards the right 

 fide of which appears a ftone-bridge over a river, along 

 which the uncharitable priell and Levite are walking. 

 " This print is very little known, though it deferves great 

 attention from the tafte and beauty of the execution." So 

 fays Huber : but what we have not witneffed, we cannot 

 confirm ; and what we have feen from the graver of Laft- 

 man, though neat, are taftelefs produftionf. 



For the biography and extraordinary merits, as painters, 

 of the two Tenicrs, fee the articles Texiers, David, the 

 elder, and the younger. They each produced feveral 

 etchings from their own compofitions, which go to fhew 

 that very great painters may pofiibly m.ake but indifferent 

 engravers. By this is not meant that their etchings are de- 

 void of fire and freedom ; but that they fall fhort of what 

 might naturally be expefted from the high reputation which 

 is juftly attached to the name of Teniers, and particularly 

 in that paftoral elegance of touch and handling, which con- 

 fers poetic charms on their painted village feilivities, in 

 fpite of the caprices of faftiion, and the royal French tafte 

 of Louis XIV., who, when an admirable picture of the 

 younger Teniers was placed before him, is reported to have 

 turned round and fald to his firtl valet-de-chambre, " Qu'on 

 m'ote ces magots !" which of courfe was echoed in the ap- 

 plaufes of the whole French court. 



The etchings of the Teniers find, however, a very proper 

 and indeed indilpenfable place in the port-folios of thofe 

 connoifTeurs, who collect the productions in fine art of the 

 Netherlands. As both the father and fon marked their 

 prints with the fame cypher, which will be found in Phte III. 

 of the monograms, &c. ufcd by the engravers of the Low 

 Countries, it is not cafy to diltinguifti them ; but the fol- 

 lowing are generally afcribed to Teniers the elder ; " A 

 Pilgrim, with his Staff and Chaplet," in i2mo. ; " A Pea- 

 fant feated, applying a Plafter to his Hand ;" " A Peafant 

 feated at Table, with a Crutch and Glafs ;" another pea- 

 fant with a fnr hat on ; and one with a pipe; " An old 

 Woman, with a Chaplet; and " An old Man and Doj; ;" 

 " A Man with a Staff;" a fet of four, of peafants, half- 

 length ; "A German Kitchen;" another fet of peafants, 

 fmoking and playing at bowls, all ot oclavo fize ; and a 

 quarto print, called "The Bowl Players." 



And to the junior Teniers are afcribed, " A Peafant 

 fmoking," he is feated on a cheft, and in company wkh 

 another ; a landfcape, with cottages and peafants con- 

 verfmg ; another landfcape, with four peafants converfing; 

 " Villagers feated round a I'irc, infide a Cabin," witli the 

 effedl of moon-light, all in 8vo. ; two prints of peafants 

 travelling; " Peafants (tooting at a Mark ;' '^ The Tempt- 

 ation of St. Antony;" " A Flemilh Feftival ;" " A Vil- 

 lage Entertainment;" three heads, apparently portraits, 

 namely, an old man with an hoiir-glafs, an old man playing 

 on a flute, and a ladv holding a (lower, fmall upright piates ; 

 " The Infide of a Cottage," with a dead calf hanging up, 

 _; P 2 and 



