LOW COUNTRIES, ENGRAVERS OF THE. 



inp in imitation of bafTo relievo, under Jacob de Wit. He 

 alfo painted hillory in a ftyle which bears (Irong- refemblance 

 to that of Tcrveftin, and after the agL- of fifly-iive executed 

 feveral ceilings ; but we hare here to treat of him only as an 

 engraver. 



In his folio prints from the compartments of the eieiin^s 

 of thejefuits' college at Antwerp, Punt difcovcrs admirable 

 tafte and flvill. Perhaps in the works of no engraver what- 

 ever, maybe fern better examples of the bold fore-fhortening 

 of Rubens, whofe knowledge ef the pcrfpedive of objects, 

 wlicn feen from beneath, and efpeci;illy tliat of the human 

 figure, is admirably difplaycd in thefe ceilings, and is not 

 le(s admirably rendered in the engravings, through the me- 

 dium however of drawings, which we have already mention- 

 ed, and which muft in all probability have been excellent, by 

 J. de Wit. 



Punt is one of tliofe artifls whofe genci-al reputation in the 

 world has been bv no means in proportion to their merits. 

 Struct, as the prefent writer conceives, could not have feen 

 his produftions, or could only have feen thofe few plates 

 ivhich, though they bear his name, are evidently the work of 

 fome inferior artift, for he calls him, with a tone of ac- 

 quiefcence in the deficiency of his fame, " a Dutch engraver 

 of no great note ;" and Huber and Martini have fallen into 

 another error refpefting him, (as will be noticed below,) which 

 has alfo tended to deprive him of fome portion of his jull 

 meed of reputation. 



Regarding his " Mofes on the Summit of Pifgah ;" his 

 " Queen of Sheba in the Prefence of Solomon ;" his " Na- 

 tivity of Chrift," or any other of the beil of this feries of 

 engravings from the ceiling of the Jtfuits' college, we fcarce- 

 ly know whereto look for an hiftorical engraver whoaccom- 

 pliilied more fuccefsfully, \rhat he evidently aimed at ; or who 

 has imparted to his works more of the appearance of finiili 

 with the reality of flightnefs. Other men may proceed in 

 the produftion of more operofe works by careful obferva- 

 tioa and patient induftry ; a weil-prattifed hand, guided by 

 tiie vivid and fpontanecus feeling of a tafleful mind, is alone 

 adequate to the produftion of fuch prints as thefe. The art 

 of leaving broad mafles of white paper, without the lead 

 appearance of baldnefs, crudenefs, or chalkinefs, Punt 

 pofTeffed in an exemplary degree ; and notwithftanding his 

 - flightnefs, his tones, when required to befo, are iweet, hazy, 

 and aerial, in the upper parts, and it fhould be remem- 

 bered that, in thefe celebrated ceilings, the perfpeftive 

 points, of fight and diftance, are not in theh6rizon but in the 

 Leavens, while, in the lower part, his engraving is rich, mel- 

 low, and vigorous. In " The Adoration of the Magi," 

 and " St. Michael expelling the rebellious Angels," thefe 

 qualities are more efpecially obfervable. In the latter the 

 rolling clouds, and fmouldering fmoke, and bickering flame, 

 as well as the nudities, wings, fliield, and drapery of the 

 figures, are treated in a viry fuperior ftyle. His metal 

 vafes, armour, and other fuch objefits, have alfo, though 

 done with fmall labour, a peculiarly polifhed and gh'.tering 

 charailer, and all the various objefts that enter into thefe fe- 

 veral compofitions are harmonized Vith artf\il fimphcity, and 

 in each are fo thoroughly incorporated, that all evidently ap- 

 pears to be the produftion of the fame hand and mind ; and 

 that mind, at no time languid ; but always animated, rapid, 

 in full poffcflion of itfelf, and carrying the fpectator of talle 

 I along with h. 



The chiarofcuro of Punt is broad, bold, and harmonious ; 

 his lights are bright ; his fliadows and reflexes cleared and 

 enriched by vigorous touches of the graver, and his moll 

 delicate tints are firm. His ftyle of manual execution, gene- 

 rally fpeaking, confifts of naafterly courfes of lines firmly 



etched, or freely engraven : fo freely, that the dextrous iir»- 

 corporation of thefe two modes of art are in his works 

 much to be praifed. Sometimes he throws a fecond, and 

 fometimes a third courfe of engraved lines acrofs his etch- 

 ing with the utmotl freedom, as may be feen in the drape- 

 ries, clouds, groimd, and other paflages of his works ; and 

 upon other occafions, as in metallic and other (l|ning or 

 polifhed fubft^nces, he employs an interline, always adapt- 

 ing his hatching, fo as to charailerize, in proportion to their 

 relative degrees of importance in the compofition, the feve- 

 ral textures of the furfaces to be expreffed. 



Iluber and Martir.i ftate that of the fet of engraving* 

 from the compartments of the ceiling^ of the collegiate 

 church of the Jefuits, ten were etched by Jacob de Wit, 

 namely, " The Fall of the rebel Angels;" " The Afcen- 

 fion of Elias ;" " Etther before Ahafuerus ;'' " The Na- 

 tivity;" " The Triumph of St. Jofeph ;" "The Temp- 

 tation," " RefurreCtion," and " lAfccnfion of Chrift," 

 and " The Affumption" and « Coronation of the Holy 

 Virgin." 



Now, thefe ten engravings exhibit two fuch diftinft and 

 almoft oppofite ftyles of etching, that they cannot all be 

 the produftion of the fame artift. It is further obfervable, 

 that the whole fet of thirty-fix bear the name of De Wit as 

 the draughtfman who, in the firlt inftance, made tliofe co- 

 pies from the ceilings of Rubens, from which the plates 

 were engraven, — one only of thofe ten mentioned by Huber 

 and Martini bears the addition of " aquaforti" to the words 

 " J. de Wit delineavit," and that one is " The Temptation 

 of Chriil in the Defart," which is etched in a ftyle very in- 

 ferior to " The Fall of the rebel Angels," and thofe other fub- 

 jefts which are enumerated above; anotiier, which isinfcribed 

 " De Wit aquaforti," is " Abraham oficring up Ifaac," 

 which is not mentioned by thofe author; as being the pro- 

 duftion of his etching-needle. On the whole, we are there- 

 fore led to claim all the moil meritorious of thefe engravings 

 for John Punt, and to conclude that Huber and Martini 

 muft, in this inf|ance at leaft, have written at random. 



The works of this artift, with which we are acquainted, 

 are the portraits of Joanna Koerten Block, as a medal- 

 lion with attendant genii, and Jacques de Roure of An- 

 twerp, from a pifture bv himfelf, both in quarto. A fet of 

 forty fmall folio plates, of which the fubjefts are taken from 

 I.,a Fontaine's fables, after the defigns of d'Oudry, pub- 

 lifhed in 175S and 1759 ; a fet of thirty-fix folio plates frofn 

 Rubens' ceilings of the collegiate church of the Jefuits at 

 Antwerp, prefaced by an hillorical portrait of this great 

 painter, with allegorical accompaniments defigned by De 

 Wit. " The Afcenfion of Our Savioui," engraved after 

 Sebaftian Rica, for the work which is entitled " The 

 Drcfden Gallery;" "The Enghfli Coach," after G. van 

 der Myn, both in large folio ; " The Guard-Houfe of the 

 Dutch Officers," after C. Trooft ; engraved for the cabi- 

 net of M. Braamcamp at Amfterdam, by Punt and Tanje, 

 and, by the fame engravers in coiijunftion, " The Declara- 

 tion of Love," and " I'he Propofal of Marriage," both, 

 after Trooil, and of folio dimenfions. 



John Louis KrafTt was born at BrufTels, A. D. 1710. In 

 1733, he pubhflied a book, intitled " Trefor de Fables 

 choifies des plus excellens Mythologiftes," containing one 

 hundred and fifty of his engravings. And afterwards the 

 portraits for the hiflory of the houfe of Aullria, which was 

 publilhed in three folio volumes at Bruftels, in 1744. This 

 artift likcwife etched five fubjefts after Rubens, which are 

 fpccified in the catalogue of the works of that mailer, all 

 of which are very rare ; and alfo, '■ Job furrounded by his 

 Friends and Lis Wife ;" " Chriil giving tks Kays to St» 



Peter ;" 



