LOW COUNTRIES, ENGRAVERS OF THE. 



engravings ; which are numerous, and are executed in two 

 diftinft and very different ftylcs. 



The etchings he produced are very bold and determined. 

 The hghts are kept broad and clear ; but perhaps the 

 (liadows may, in fome inftances, want ttrength ; however, 

 the hand of the flcilful mafter is evident in all of them ; and 

 the fniall figures which are occafionally introduced, prove 

 the geodnefs of his tafle, by the fpirited manner in which 

 they are executed. 



His other ftyle of working was with the graver, affifted 

 occafionallv with the dry point ; thefe prints are exceflively 

 neat and laboured, and rcfembic thofe of count Goudt in 

 the vigour of their general effects ; they conliit chiefly of 

 fcenes by candlelight, and fuch fubjects as require great depth 

 of (hadow ; yet, with all the merits which they pofTefs, they 

 are not, on the whole, equal to his etchings ; for whatever 

 advantages may appear to be gained in neatnels and toning, 

 are loll in their want of that fpirit, lightnels, and freedom 

 by which his etchings are characlerifed. 



The following will probably be found mod: worthy of the 

 attention of the connoifleur : beginning with his portraits : 

 John Van de Velde, himfelf, in large quarto ; Jacob Matham, 

 from P. SoutmaiiS ; John Torrentinus, a very line and rare 

 print, in large quarto ; John Crucius, a clergyman of Haer- 

 lem, of the fame fize ; Michael Middelhoven, F. Hals, 

 pinx. in quarto ; John Acronius, theologian, in folio ; 

 Jacob Zafiius, archdeacon of Haerlem, in folio, both trom 

 the fame painter ; John Oven, (engraved in mezzotinto) ; 

 John liaccius Pontanus, hiftoriin, both in 410. ; Charles, 

 duke of Troppau and Jaegerndorf, in folio ; Ohver Crom- 

 well, a very rare portrait, in large folio ; and Lawrence 

 Cofter, of Haerlem, with a long Latin inlcription, in 4to. 



Hlftorical Land/capes- — " The Adoration of the Kings," 

 after P. Molyn. In this engraving the effedl of night is well 

 managed. " The Magic Lanthorn," after the fame painter ; 

 " The good Samaritan ;" " An Old Woman frying Pan- 

 cakes, and Boys eating them," all in fmall 4to. ; " A Pea- 

 fant and his Wife gomg to Market, at Day break, with 

 Cows and Goats," in folio ; a landfcape with ruins, and a 

 cow-herd tending cows, in oftavo ; " The Mountebank ex- 

 pofing his Medicines," a capital print ; " The Gamefters," 

 with a ftriking candle-light efFed, both in folio ; " A vil- 

 lage Feftival," a verj' rich compofition ; two landfcapes, 

 one reprefenting buildings and travellers by moonlight, the 

 other fun rife, and travellers ; two landfcapes, one with 

 figures fiihing bv moonlight, and villagers warming them- 

 felves by a large fire, the other travellers by fun-rife, in 

 folio; four fubjecls from the Hillory of Tobit, in 4to.; 

 the four parts of the day , very beautifully finifhed plates ; 

 the four elements, after W. Bugtenwegh, in folio, with 

 very fine effetls ; the four feafons, in large folio ; a different 

 compofition of the fame fubjefts, in large folio ; the twelve 

 months of the year, in quarto ; another let of the fame fub- 

 jefts, engraved in a broader ftyle ; a champaign country in 

 Holland, with robbers attacking a coach at the entrance 

 of a wood ; a champaign in Italy, with buildings and 

 water, after P. Molyn the younger, or the chevalier Tem- 

 pefla, both in large folio ; an open country, with ruins and 

 travellers, in folio ; the bridge of St. Mary at Rome, in 

 large folio ; a view of the callle of Eruxelles, a very large 

 and rare print ; and a fet of landfcapes, intitled " Play- 

 fante Landfchappen," all of folio dimi nfions. 



Adrian Van de Veldc was born at Amfterdam, A.D. 

 1639, and di^d in the fame city in 1672. He was the ne- 

 phew of John, whom we have jutl difmiffed, and the difciple 

 of Wynants. As a painter he will be treated of in a future 

 volume. 



Vol. XXI. 



To fpeak of him as an engraver, we have, by this mafter, 

 a fet of twenty etchings, executed in a very free ar.d fpirited 

 ftyle, of cattle and peafantry. Another fet of ten plates of 

 groups of cows and other domeftic animals, with a bull for 

 the title page ; three plates of fheep ; the return from 

 hunting, in quarto ; a large landfcape, lengthways, and 

 a fmaller one of the fame form, enriched with hillorical 

 figures, both rare prints, but the latter by much the rareft. 



John Miel was born in a village, near Antwerp, in the year 

 1599, and died at Turin in 1664. He learned the rudi- 

 ments of art of Gerard Seghers, and afterwards travelled to 

 Italy for improvement, where he lludied in the Ichool of 

 Andrea Sa'cchi. 



By contemplating the bell works of the Italian mafters, 

 he by degrees emancipated himfelf from the trammels of his 

 earher education, and formed a ftyle of art for himfelf, in 

 which the general characlenftics of thofe of Flanders and 

 Italy, were happily blended. 



Th'i talents of Miel, and the reputation which followed 

 and brightened their exercile, induced Charles Emanuel, 

 duke of Sdvoy, to invite him to Turin. Under the patron- 

 age of this nobleman he remained five years, and the duke 

 was fo fond of our artilt, that he inverted him with the order 

 of St. Maurice, and prefented him with a diamond crofs of 

 great value ; notwithllandmg which favours, he languifhed 

 in vain to return to Rome. Rome was the place where he 

 had beheld thofe objeAs that firil expanded his mind with the 

 pleafures of art. Hence his wifties to return thither, and 

 hence the regret which is by fome fuppofed to have fhortened 

 his days. If he gained honours, he had facrificed liberty and 

 independence attheir fhri!)e,anddid not, therefore, enjoy them. 



Miel etched feveral plates from his own compofitions in a 

 very mafterly ftyle ; and the figures which he occafionally 

 introduced are drawn with great fpirit and freedom. 



Among thefe are " The AfTumption of the Virgin Mary;'' 

 '• The Holy Family;' four palloral fubjeds, with fhepherds 

 and cattle, beautifully executed, in quarto, and an unknown 

 number of battles and flvirmifhes for Strada's Wars of 

 Flanders. 



Philip Verbeck, or Verbecq, a Dutch engraver of (lender 

 talent, was born fome time about the clofe of the fixteenth 

 century. He is chiefly remarkable for having etched fome 

 plates in a fcratchy manner, which bears inferior refemblance 

 to the ftyle of Rembrandt. 



Inferior, as is this refemblance, it has led fome coUetlors 

 into the error of purchaling his works and placing them in 

 their Rembrandt portfolios. Gerfaint firfl informed them 

 of their miftake, and by comparing Verbecq's etchings with 

 thofe of Rembrandt, not only the name or cypher of the 

 former artift may be obferved, but the dates alio of his en- 

 gravings, which ftiew that he was anterior to Rembrandt, 

 and therefore, at leaft, not a copyill. 



The following are all we are able to fpecify from the hand 

 of this artift, and which are much fought after. " Efau 

 felling his Birth-right;" "An eaftern Kmg, feated on his 

 Throne, with a Supphant kneeling before hira," bothin4to; 

 " A Shepherd, feated at the Foot of a Tree ;" a buft of a 

 young lady in a bonnet and pelifTe ; and a three-quarter por- 

 trait of a nobleman in a tartan and feathers, (companion to 

 the above,) all in fmall ovals. 



Rodermondt, Rottermondt, or Rottcrmans, with whofe 

 Chriftian name we arc unacquainted, was alfo of Holland, and 

 born in the year 1600. He etched feveral portraits and fome 

 other plates much in the manner of the preceding artift, and 

 with at leaft equal freedom and fpirit. Among thefe are fir 

 Wilham Waller, major-general of the parliamentary army, 

 with a battle in the back-ground, after C. Janfen; John the fe- 

 3 Q * ■ cond, 



