LOW COUNTRIES, ENGRAVERS OF THE. 



mezzotintos. His works are numerous, but not very edi- 

 mable. On the whole, thofe appear to be the bed which 

 are executed with the graver. A few of the belt of his en- 

 gravings, in each manner, are fpecilied below. 



Line Engraving. — Charles XI., king of Sweden ; the 

 duchefii de la Valliere ; the imfortunate Grand Vizier ; 

 Kara Muftapha ; Mahomet IV., emperor of the Turks ; 

 Abraham Hellenbrock, a clergyman ; the head of a man 

 of letters, in an oval ; Nicolas Colviiis, a clergyman of 

 Amfterdam, after B. Vaillant, all of folio fize. 



Mez,zotinto Engravings. — Bernard Somer ; .John Oyers ; 

 and Jacnb Gole juris confulle), the latter after D. Plaes ; 

 George Au'^uftus, prince royal and eleftor of Brunfwick, 

 after Hirlman ; Charles III. king of Spain ; admiral Van 

 Tromp ; Charles, landgrave of HofTe-Cafiel ; Balthafar 

 Becker, author of the Enchanted World; "Peafantsfmoking 

 round a Fire," after Oftado. . " A Group of three Peafauts 

 in an Ale-houfe, one of whom plays the Violin," after 

 Brouwer ; " The Tooth-drawer," after Teniers, all in folio ; 

 "The School-mafter," after Jiemflcerck ; r^rtd " Heraclitus 

 deploring the Mifery of hiuiian Nature," after C. Dufart, 

 both in quarto. 



John Groenfvclt, or Groenvelt, was born at the Hague 

 in the year 165O. He etched a coufiderable number of 

 plates, after Berghem, Van Goyen, Lingelbach, and other 

 mafters, which are much elleemed ; atid a few portraits, in 

 which the faces are ahnoil entirely ilippled. His general 

 ftyle of manual execution is neat, but finnewhat IlifF : and 

 the following are fpecified as being fome of the beft of his 

 engravings. 



" Dorothea, countefs of Sunderland," after Vandyke, in 

 folio ; " A Girl with a Cat," after Bloemaert, in q;'arto ; 

 " The .Adoration of the Eaftern Kings," after P. Veronefj; 

 " Chrift before Pontius Pilate," after Andrea Schiavone ; 

 and, " .-V Man aileep on a Tub," all of folio lize ; a fet of 

 fix landfcapes, after .Berghem ; and another let of four, 

 after the fame mafter, of quarto fize, the fubjetts of which 

 are various palloral incidents. 



Arnold Houbraken was born at Dordrecht in the year 

 1660, and died at Amderdam in 17 19. He ftudied under 

 various mafters, and laftly under Samuel de Hoogllraeten ; 

 he painted portraits and hiftorical fubjefts ; and is the author 

 of a work in the Dutch language, entitled " The Great Thea- 

 tre of the Dutch and Fleinifli Painters, by Arnold Houbra- 

 ken, with their portraits, engraved by himfelf." According to 

 our countryman Strutt, Honbrakfn came into England, and 

 made drawings from the pictures of Vandyke, which were 

 afterwards engraven by Peter van Gunft, and he received 

 one hundred guilders for every drawing. He executed fe- 

 veral flight etchings, with great inteUigence, from his own 

 defigns ; which are riuch fought after by amateurs. His 

 heads of the painters ,ire engraven, with much tafte, in orna- 

 mental borders, with feveral on one plate ; and the follow- 

 ing are likewife by him : .-^ fet of etchings of boys and 

 vafes ; " Vertumnus and Pomona ;" an emblematical fub- 

 jeft, reprefenting three women looking at a child in a fort 

 of bafl<et, or cradle, encircled by a ferpent ; and " The 

 Difciples at Emmaus," in the llyle of Rembrandt, all in 

 quarto, and from his own compofitions. 



James, or Jacob Ploubraken, was an engraver of admirable 

 talent, to whom England is largely indebted for perpetuat- 

 ing, and diffufing through Europe, the portraits of feveral 

 of her moft illuilrious poets, ftatefmen, and warriors. He 

 was born at Dordrecht in the year 1698. and was the fon 

 of Arnold, of whom we have treated in the preceding ar- 

 ticle. He dated many of his productions from Amfterdam, 



which feems to affprd evide^^rtce of his long refidenee there 

 but he died in his native city in the year 1780. ' 



Houbraken had no other maflcr than his father, but his 

 genius, and the ftudy which he beflov.ed on the belt por- 

 traits of Nanteuil and Edelinck, fupcrfeded inftruftion, or 

 rendered it fuperfluous. Strutt thinks, and with much of 

 the appearance of reafon, that he formed his ftyle of en- 

 graving more particularly, by an attentive ftudy of that 

 portrait of Le Brun, which is engraved by Edelinck, and 

 prefixed to his battles of Alexander. However this may- 

 have been, his very high rank, as an engraver of portraits, 

 was foon acknowledged througli Europe, and has called 

 forth the juft encomiums of Watelet, of Gilpin, of Martini, 

 and of Strutt. In the colledtion of portraits of iliuftrious 

 men, which was publiftied in London by J. and P. Knap- 

 ton, which perhaps, on the whole, may be efteemed the 

 principal work of Houbraken ; the furrounding accompani- 

 ments arc faid to have been defigned and engraven by 

 Gravelot. Thefe accompaniments are etched with confider-- 

 able tafte and energy, and form an harmonious and very 

 agreeabk contraft, to the rich and deep-toned foftnefs and 

 more elaborate execution of the portraits themfclves, to 

 which they are kept in due fubordination. In fome of hig 

 foreign produaions, however, Houbraken has himfelf op- 

 poled, in a fimilar manner, though not perhaps with quite 

 equal fuccefs, the pifturefque wildnefs and roughnefs of 

 etching, to the more poliftied fweetnefs and mello\.nefs of 

 his dry needle and graver, and even in the laCcd ruffs and 

 other ornamental parts of the drcfles of his 'Enghfh por- 

 traits, he has contrived to mingle a fmall portion of etch- 

 ing with enviable fuccefs. But his chief ftrength lay in 

 the truth and taile of his drawing, and the vigour and de- 

 licacy with which, as occallon "required, he handled his 

 graver. Sometimes, in the fame production, may be beheld the 

 boldeft c(,urfes of mellow lines, — as in the armour of his por- 

 trait of the marquis of Montrofe, after Vandyke, — blended 

 and harmonized,^ witii admirable addrefs, with the utmoft 

 fweetnefs and deucai y of execution in the face and hair. 



The monarch, or parhament, who could prevent engravers 

 from affixing their names to any other than their own pro- 

 duftions, would probably perform a moft effential fervice 

 to engraving as an art. The demai.ds of commerce will 

 have the matter othcrwife. Tiie cupidity of gain, in all 

 trading places, fuUies the purity of an honourable love of 

 fame, and damps the ardour of difinteretted exertion. In 

 the age and country in which it was the fortune of Hou- 

 braken to be placed, he was almoft of neceffity fubjetl to 

 this ba: eful influence : and his name accordingly appeai-s to 

 fome engravings that are certainly in parts, if nht alto- 

 gether, the produftions of inferior men. He who would 

 meafure the true ftandard of the merits of this diftinguilhed 

 artift, or form a juft eftimate of his attainments, fhould 

 look at early impreffions, (not fucli as are now common 

 in the London ftiops, and taken from the retouched plates,) 

 of the portraits of tir Thomas More, Hambden, Schomberg, 

 the earls of Arlington and Eedford, the duke of Richmond, 

 and fome others in the fame valuable volume. 



Strutt is more critically obfervant in commeutintr on the 

 worlds of Houbraken, than in moft other parts of his bio- 

 graphical diftionary. He details the intcreft with which he 

 rrgarded thefe portraits, with feeling; and exemplifies the 

 companfon which he made between Houbraken and thofe 

 admired portrait engravers who ftand foreinoft in the fchool 

 of France, by an elegant analogy. 



After admiring the foftnefs and delicacy of execution, 

 good drav.'ing, and fine tafte, which are difplayed in the 

 works of Houbraken, he fays, " If his bell performances 



bave 



