LOW COUNTRIES, ENGRAVERS OF THE. 



many engravings of landfcapes from his own compofitions, 

 they are executed in a tafteful fpirited ilylc, but the figures 

 which he fomctinnes introduced are incorreftly drawn. 

 We fhall mention the following as being moft worthy the 

 notice of the colledlor ; " Diana difcovering the Incontinence 

 of Califto," in 4to. ; and its companion, " A Female fhow- 

 ing to her Child Tobit blind, feated at the Door of his 

 Houfe," very beautiful engravings ; " Hagar in the Dcfart 

 comforted by an An^el ;" " Mercury and Argus," both 

 in 4to ; a fet of " The Hiftory of Tobit," in four land- 

 fcapes ; a fet of fix landfcapes with hiftorical figures ; a fet 

 of fix landfcapes ornamented with buildings, figures, and 

 animals, in the ftyle of Poelenbourg ; a fet of four with 

 ruins and figures, all of quarto dimenfions ; three landfcapes 

 with various animals, in quarto, nearly fquare ; " The 

 Flight into Eijypt," a palloral and poetic fubjeft, of a fhep- 

 herd and his flock entertained by a mufe ; a (hepherd and 

 fhepherdefs taking refuge in a cave, from a violent ftorm ; 

 another pattoral fubjed. with a fliepherd in the antique 

 drefs feated, furrounded by animals, all in large quarto ; 

 and a folio print of Hercules preventing Cacus from ilealijig 

 his cows and horfes, the figures in which are in the antique 

 ftyle ; thefe two laft prints are very rare. 



J. G. Blacker, or Bleker, was born at Haerlem fome 

 time about the year 1606. He engraved a confiderable 

 number of print^, both from his own compofitions and thole 

 of other matters, in an intelligent and fpitited ftyle. 



Blecker marked his plates in various ways, which has 

 given rife to miftakcs, for Heinneken calls him John Gafpar, 

 and Florent le comte, Cornelius ; which has led our country- 

 man Strutt into the error of making two artifts of the name 

 of Blecker, one of whom he calls Cornelius, and gives him 

 the monogram, for which fee our third plate of thofe ufed 

 by the artifts of the Netherlands. The following are among 

 the beft of his works. 



From his cwn Compojitions. — A landfcape with the meeting 

 of Jacob and Rachael ; a landfcape, into which is introduced 

 the meeting of Abraham's fervant with Rebecca. He has, 

 in this inftance, worked upon the etching to harmonize ir 

 (efpecially upon the heads of his figures) with the point of 

 the graver, fcratching upon the copper, in a (lyle fomethi' g 

 like that which Worlidge afterwards adopted ; but he has 

 by no means fucceeded. " Two Peafants travelling in a 

 Cart ;" another engraving of the fame fubieft ; " A Car- 

 riage flopping before an Inn door, with Horfes feeding ;" 

 " A Peafant feated, obferving a Girl, who is milking a 

 Cow," all of folio fize ; a landfcape with animals ; another 

 landfcape, with a woman on horleback, both in 4to. ; and 

 two others, in which animals and a pipii.g (hepherd are in- 

 troduced, both in folio. 



The follo'wing are after Pnelenbourg. — " Jacob and Laban 

 parting their Flocks ;" "The Lyitrians attempting to fa- 

 erifice to Sts. Paul and Barnabas" both in large folio ; and 

 " Chrift on the Crofs," at the foot of which appears the 

 Virgin and difciples, in folio, three very capital engravings. 



The Viffchers, whom we now approach, were a very 

 diftinguiflied family of artifts, and who, by the number and 

 extraordinary merits of their engravings, have conferred 

 much honour, ;nd no fmall advantage, on their country. 



Cornelius Viftcher was born in Holland, A.D. 1610, he 

 was the difciple of Soutman, but foon furpafled him in 

 merit. M. W.,.:e!et truly fays, (in his Diftionary of En- 

 graver?,] that very few artifts combined etching and engrav- 

 ing with fo much tafte, or fo well imitated with the graver 

 alone, all the playful pifturefquenefs of the point, as Cor- 

 nelius Viftcher. He drew with great talte, ana the com- 

 pofitions which he made for many of his engravings, fuf&- 



ciently prove the extenfivenefs of his genius, and hie powers- 

 of combination. His etchings are free and delicate ; but 

 his works with the graver mu.'l excite the admiration of 

 every tafteful beholder. His mode of performance with 

 that inftrumcnt was as fingular, as the effeiEl he produced was 

 pidlurcfque and beautiful. Among the engravings from his 

 own compofitions that of " The Rat-Catcher," " The 

 Bohemian Woman," " Gellius de Bouma," and " The 

 Cat," deferve the preference ; in the Bohemian, the rough 

 freenefs of the etching needle is finely contrafted with the 

 ftiining fmoothnefs of the lines produced with the graver. 

 The portrait of Bouma is yet more exquifite and furprifing, 

 his old and wrinkled flcin being engraved in a manner which 

 is peculiarly ch^raftcriftic of the laxity and feeblenefs of the 

 decaying mufcles and flirivelling integuments of old age, par- 

 ticularly about the chci-ks ard temples ; the nofe (fa)'S 

 Huber) appears like flelh itfelf, and the mouth, which is 

 partly concealed by the beard, feems to be alive, as do alfo 

 the eyes, the execution of which is beautifully clear, and 

 expreffive of the dimmed brightnefs of a mind which time is 

 eclipfing. The fame nice feeling, accuracy of difcrimina- 

 tion, and p iwer over ttie iiiftruments of his art, marks the 

 execution of his celebrated Rat-catcher, in which the fhining 

 face as well as negro features and complexion of the youni"- 

 African, are admirably depicted, and the mafter rat-catcher 

 with his furred cap, and highly characterillic habiliments, 

 rat cage, ' &c. and, above all, his animated phyfiogncmical 

 countenance, which together mark the profoundeil; of adepts 

 in the mylteries of his craft, are exprefied with that broad 

 and general, and therefore ftrong, refemblancc to nature, 

 which all eyes rauft have feen,and is finiftied with the utraoft. 

 vivacity of touch. 



Cornelius was an engraver of truly original powers ; he 

 was a man of a felf-willed character of mind, and perhaps 

 fhould not have endeavoured to copy the feelings, and trans- 

 fufe the forms, which had originated in the minds of other 

 artifts. It is acknowledged that his engravings after the 

 Italian painters, are of inferior merit to thofe which are 

 after nature and his own compofitions ; the plates which 

 were executed for ''the cabinet of Reynft,"' are arv.ong 

 his earlier performances, nor did he fucceed fo well as -Vorf- 

 terman, Pontius, and the BollVerts, in engraving after 

 Rubens ; yet he claims to be ranked among the firit artifts 

 of his country, for genius always fhould be eftimatcd, not 

 by its freedom from defects, but by the dimenfion of its 

 merits. 



Among his beft uorks, the coUeftor may reckon the fol- 

 low'ing ; thoie who would fee a more copious catalogue, may 

 confult Baflan's Dictionary of Engravers. 



Portraits. — Cornelius Viftcher, in a fugar-loaf hat ; an- 

 other portrait of ViiTcher, with the fame kind of hat, and a 

 cloak, bo'.h in 410. ; Andrea Deonyfzoon, called among 

 print dealers, ' the man with the piftol," becaufe a fmall 

 carbine or piltol with feveral gun locks appears in tiie back- 

 ground ; this print is one of the fineft, and the moft rare, of 

 the engravings of this mafter, but perhaps the very Icarceft 

 of all, and certainly the moft intrinfically valuable of his 

 portraits, is that of Gelhus de Bouma, minilter of Zut- 

 phen, aged leventy-feven years ; William de Ryck, an ocu- 

 lift of Amfterdam : this portrait, and the preceding, are 

 fometimes called " The great Beards," and are uncommonly 

 fine, all of folio fize ; a bilhop feated at a table, with a cru- 

 cifix, &c. half length ; John Merius, the paftor of Span- 

 broeck, both in large folio ; Cornehus Vofberg, the paftor 

 of Spaerwouw, in folio, a very fine and rare print ; John 

 Wachtelaer, an ecclefiattic of Utrecht, in large folio ; Wil- 

 liam van-den Zande, theologift, in an oval border ; Adrian 



Motman, 



