LOW COUNTRIES, ENGRAVERS OF THE. 



from another, and require that freedom of determination 

 which etching alone can give. 



Of the fubjecl of " Tobit and the Angel," there arc two 

 prints by this inafter. In the firft, Tobit is dragging the 

 fifh along ; in the fecond, which is of 410. fize, he holds the 

 fifh under his arm, whilft, with Rapliael, he is crofTing a 

 ftreamof water by means of ftepping-llones. J. Baucis and 

 Philemon entertaining Jupiter and Mercury, in 4to. dated 

 1612. 



6. The Aurora, upon which we have commented above, 

 and 7. A ver^' fmall oval print of " The DctoUation of St. 

 John the Baptift," arc all theengravirgs, by'this mafter, with 

 which we are acquainted, and the lail, which is of the leaft 

 intrinfic value, is by far the fcarceft. Perliaps the additional" 

 two that were in the collection of Marielte were nothing 

 more than juvenile attempts of our artitt. 



Of Robert Vander Vocrft, the meritoriuos rival of Vor- 

 fterman, we have already treated at fome length. (See 

 English Engnrjltig, Origin and Progreji of.) He was 

 a native of Arnheini, and born in the year 1596. 



Michael Natalis wa? born at Licgem the year 1589. He 

 was iaftruded in drawing by Joachim Sandrarl, but learned 

 the rudiments of engraving at Antwerp of Charles Mallery. 

 From Antwerp he travelled to Rome, where he joined Cor- 

 nelius Bloemart, Theodore Matham, and Regnier Perfyn, 

 (all artiiU from the Low Countries), and affilled them in 

 completing the ftatues and bulls of the Juftinian gallery, 

 conlilliiig of one hundred and fifty prints. Stimulated by 

 emulation, and affiiled i:i his iludies by Bloemart, Natalis 

 now made conquerable progrefs in his art. He engraved 

 many other plates from the pictures of the great matters of 

 Italy ; and after his return to Flanders, was invited to Paris, 

 where he refided a confiderable time. Natalis engraved 

 fomewliat in the ilyle of Bloemart : his prints have merit ; 

 yet the fquare-grained mode of execution, to which he was 

 partial, does not happily exprefs fleth or drapery, but is 

 rather adapted to the reprefentation of itone. 



When he quitted this open fquare manner, which was 

 very feldom, his prints were mellow and foft ; but the heads 

 of his figures want character, and the other extremities are 

 but indiiFerently drawn. He frequently combined his ini- 

 tials in a monogram, for which, fee Plate III. of thofe ufed 

 .by the engravers of the Netherlands. His portraits are the 

 mod efteemt- d productions of his graver, from which we (hall 

 felecl the following as being moil worthy of the reader's 

 attention. 



Porlra'tti. — Jofephus Juftinianus Benedifti Filius ; Jacob 

 Catz, a Dutch poet ; Eugenius d'Alamond, bifhop of Ghent, 

 in large folio ; Maximilian Emanuel, eleftor of Bavaria, 

 after his firft mafter ; Joach. Sandrarl ; and Frederic, count 

 of Merode, both in large folio ; Gabriel Maria, theologift, 

 from Abr. van Diepenbeck ; Erneftine, princefs of Ligne, 

 and countefs of NalTau, from Ant. V^andyke ; and the mar- 

 quis del Guaft as Mars, with his mittrefs, in the character of 

 Venus, after Titian, all in folio. 



Hijlorlcal, after various Majlers. — " The Holy Family," 

 from Raphael, in large folio ; " The Virgin and Child, 

 with Jofeph feated behind, leaning his Head on his Hand," 

 after Andrea del Sarto, in folio ; " The Holy Family," 

 a grand compofition, from Pouffin, in large folio : the firft 

 imprenions are before the nudity of the infant was covered 

 with linen. " The Extacy of St. Paul," from a pifture by 

 the fame painter, belonging to the cabinet of the kings of 

 France ; " The Holy Family, with Angels fcattering 

 Flowers over the Head of the Infant Chriit," from Seb. 

 Bourdon ; " The Marriage of St. Catherine," from the 

 fame painter, all in large folio ; " St. Bruno at his Devo- 



tion," after Bertholet Flemel ; «' The AlTembly of illuf- 

 trious Ecclefiaftics," a large print, lerigthways, engraved on 

 four plates, from the fame painter ; " Mary \Va(hinp- the 



in folio ; and an allegorical Thefis, dedicated to the emperor 

 Ferdinand III., on two large plates, all from the fame 

 mailer. 



.John Valdor was born at Liege in the year 1590, and 

 refided during the greater part of his life at Paris. He 

 does not appear to have been a man of any genius, or of 

 much talent : he wanted that animation which is neceflary to 

 form a great artift ; inftead of which, in him was fubftituted a 

 painful laborious attention to the neatnefs and prec-ifion of 

 the mechanical part of his plates, and in this refpedt he has 

 fucceeded, fo as in fom.e inftances to excite our furprife. 

 In France he engraved part of the plates for a book, en- 

 titled " The Triumphs of Louis the Juil," a work which 

 confills of forty-nine engravings, and which was printed at 

 Paris A. D. 1637, in one folio volume ; the few following 

 are likewife by his hand, all fmall upright plates ; " Jefua 

 lihus Dei ;" " Ecce Ancilla Domini ;" " St. Catharine ;" 

 " Regnum Mundi ;" " Jefu Chrifti ;" " Virgo Gratia Va- 

 lentina Miraculis Clara ;" " The Head of St. Ignatius of 

 Loyola,", the face of which is fo neatly executed, that the 

 dots which blend the lights with the fhadows, are hardly 

 perceptible to the naked eye : and " A Holy Family re- 

 pofing," in folio, from Herm. Swanevelt. 



Cornelius Schut was born at Antwerp, A.D. IC90, and 

 died in the fame city in 1660. He was the dilciple of 

 Rubens, and painted hillorical and poetical fubjeAs with 

 much fuccefs. Schut likewife handled the point in a very 

 free fpirited ftyle, refembling tlvitof Cafliglione, but bolder 

 and more determined. The drawing of the naked parts of 

 his human figures is often incorreft, but the charafters of 

 his heads are generally exprelTed in a mafteriy manner. 



From his numerous etchings we feleEt the following : A 



let of one hundred and thirty-three prints of various fiib- 

 jefts and dimeiifions, from his own defigns ; four Virgin 

 Maries, half-length figures, in i2mo. ; " The Holy Fa'- 

 mily, accompanied by St. John ;" " The Virgin and Holy 

 Infant ;" «^ thrill on the Mount of Olives ;" " The Vir- 

 gin furrounded with Rays of Glory, and worthipped by 

 the Saints of Paradife," ail in folio ; " Mars, Venus, and' 

 Flora," a fmall upright oval ; and its companion, " Bacchus, 

 Ceres, and Pomona;" "A Sacrifice to Venus;" "The 

 Triumpii of Peace," and " The Triumph of Neptune,"' 

 all of folio fize; and " The feven liberal Arts," a fet of 

 eight middlisig-fized plates, lengthways. 



This artilt is fometim.es confounded with his nephew Cor- 

 nelius Schut, who was direftor of the Academy at Seville, 

 and a portrait painter of fome reputation ; but tlie latter is 

 not known to have engraved at all. 



Cornehus de Wael, or Waal, was born at Antwerp in 

 the year 1594, and died at Genoa in 1662. His father was 

 a painter, and he learned the elements of art under his 

 paternal roof ; but afterwards travelled to Italy, and ftudied 

 under various mailers. He painted battles, landfcapes, and 

 hiftorical fubjefts, with great fuccefs ; and was patronifed 

 both by Philip III. and the duke of Arfchot. 



De Wael engraved feveral of his own compofitions in a 

 very fpirited ftyle ; his figures have much expreffion, and are 

 very correctly drawn, and his chiarofcuro is better than that 

 of the majority of his contemporaries. Among his beft 

 etchings are, a fet of feven, intitled " Ilbri. D.D. Gui- 

 lielmo Vander Stradan, venullas hafche imagines, C. de 



Waei 



