124 B L O 
had the honour* to paint Chriftian IV. king of Denmark, 
and Guftavus Adolphus, king of Sweden. Tire extra¬ 
ordinary merit of this mailer recommended him to tire 
clteem of the prince of Mecklenburg, who retained him 
■in his fervice forty-four years ; and by order of that prince 
lie painted the portraits of his whole family as large as 
life, and in the antique habit'; by which his reputation 
was eltablifhed effeftually.' By the agreeable manner-of 
his colouring, and the eafy attitudes of his figures, his 
paintings became lo acceptable to all perfons of rank, 
that before the decline of life he had acquired a very 
large fortune ; but he loft it all in a few hours by the 
hidden eruption of a band of robbers, and with great dif¬ 
ficulty his own life was preferved. He died in 1661. 
BLOCKA'DE,/! A liege carried on by (hutting up the 
place.—The enemy was neceflitated wholly to abandon the 
blockade, of Olivenza. Taller. 
To BLOCK A'DE, v. a. To ftiut up by obftruetion : 
Huge bales of Britifh cloth blockade the door, 
A hundred oxen at your levee roar. Pope. 
BLOCK'HEAD, f. [from block and head.'] A ftupid 
fellow; a dolt; a man without abilities : 
A blockhead rubs his thoughtlefs fkull. 
And thanks his ftars he was not born a fool. Pope. 
BLOCKHEAD'ED, adj. Stupid; dull. 
BLOCK-HOUSE, /. [from block and houje.] A fortrefs 
built to obftrudt or block up a pafs, commonly to defend 
a harbour. 
BLOCK'ISH, adj. Stupid ; dull ; of no ability, 
BLOCK'ISHLY, adv. In a ftupid manner. 
BLOCK'ISHNESS, f. Stupidity; dullnefs. 
BLOCK'I.AND (Anthony de Montfort), hiftory and 
portrait painter, was born at Montfort in 1532, He 
learned the art of painting in the fcliool of Francis Floris, 
whole manner lie followed ; and became an artift of great 
diftindtion, by endeavouring principally to imitate the 
tafte of the Roman fchool in defign and compofition. His 
genius was bell adapted to grand compofitions, of which 
he deligned many, particularly at Delft and Utrecht. His 
defigns had grandeur, and the profiles of Ills female figures 
approached nearly to the tafte of Parmigiano. He died 
in 1583. 
BLOCK'LEY, a fmall town in Worcefierfhire, near 
the limits of Glocellerlhire, and about twenty-three miles 
from Worcefter. It has two fairs yearly, viz. on the 
fecond Tuefday after Eafter-day, and on Old Michalmas- 
day. There were anciently three chapels in the parifh, 
though no veftiges of them remain at prefent. The 
church, dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, was rebuilt 
in 1727. Oppoftte the vicar’s garden is a hill called the 
Parks , fuppoied to have been the park of the bifhop of 
Worcefter, who had a palace here, before the reformation. 
At Northwick near this place, is the (lately refidence 
of Sir John Rufhout, Bart, Peckfo-rd, Afton, Draycot, 
Ditchford, and Dorn, are hamlets to Blockiey. Dorn is 
fuppofed to have been a Roman (lation, many fmall coins 
having been found there : one of Caraufius was lately in 
the pollellion of the Rev. Mr. Selwyn, the vicar. The 
hilly parts near Bourton on the Hill, and Camden, aboltnd 
n (lone quarries. Here are chalybeate fprings ftrongly 
impregnated, fonie of an incrufting, a;id others of a pe¬ 
trifying, quality. A brook, which rifes in BonrtonWood, 
Bows in a ferpentine courfe through the parifh, and has 
feveral filk mills thereon; the filk manufacture employs 
a number of hands, and is of-great fervice to the town. 
BLOCK-TIN, f. [from block and tin. ] So the tradef- 
men call that which is pure or unmixed, and yet un¬ 
wrought. Boyle. 
BLOCZYLL', or Bi.oczyll$chans, a town and 
fort of OverifTel, fituated at the mouth of the Steen- 
wycker Aa, where it enters the Zuyder Sea, with an har¬ 
bour capable of containing 200 veftels ; defended with fix 
Jbgftighs', and well fortified; built by the Dutch, at the 
B L O 
commencement of the republic, to defend them from the 
invaiions of the Spaniards: thirty-two miles weft-north- 
weft of Coverden, and twenty-eight Louth of Lewarden. 
Lat. 52. 45. N. Ion. 23. 18. E. Ferro. 
BLO'DEUS, f. [1 blod, Sax.] Deep red colour; from 
whence comes bloat and bloated , viz. fanguine and high co¬ 
loured, which in Kent is called a bloufvng colour ; and a 
bloufe is there a red-faced wench. The prior of Burcefter, 
A. D. 1425, gave his liveries of this colour, Paroch. 
Anliq. 376. 
BLOE'MART (Abraham), a celebrated painter, bom 
at Gorcum in 1564, according toHoubraken; but ac¬ 
cording to Sandrart, wliofe authority feems to claim the 
preference, he was born in 1367, and lived moftly at 
Utrecht. In his youth he applied himfelf diligently to 
defign after the works of Francis Floris ; but the power 
of his own genius proved Ills principal director in the art 
of painting. He formed a manner peculiar to himfelf, 
making nature his.model for many of the objects he 
painted, particularly his cattle, in which lie excelled. He 
died in 1647. 
BLOE'MART (Cornelius), youngeft fon of Abraham 
above-mentioned, was born in 1603, at Utrecht. The firfl 
principles of painting he learned from his father; but his 
natural inclination for the art of engraving was fo power¬ 
ful, that he applied himfelf wholly to the purfuit of it. 
He firft ftudied under Crifpin de Pafs, an engraver much 
more famous for the neatnefs than the good tafte of his 
works. He afterwards w ent to Rome, to perfect himfelf 
Under the greateft mailers : and in that city he died in a 
very advanced age. “ The manner of engraving, adopted 
by this excellent artift, (fays Mr. Strutt,) is not only quite 
original, but the fource from whence we may trace that 
ftyle in which the greateft and bed French matters ex¬ 
celled. The lights, whether on the diftant hills, trees, 
buildings, or figures, in the engravings prior to his time, 
had been left quite clear, and by fo mail)’ white fpots Mat¬ 
tered in various parts of the fame defign, the harmony 
was deftroyed, the fubject confufed, and the principal 
figures prevented from any ftriking eftedt. By this judi¬ 
cious improvement, Bloemart gave to his prints a clear 
and finifhed appearance. With refpedl to the mechanical 
part, few have excelled him, either in clearnefs or free¬ 
dom of execution. His great fault is want of variety. 
The naked parts of his figures, the draperies, and the 
background, are equally neat, and engraved precifely in 
the fame manner. Hence the efiedt is Hat ; and the flefli, 
for want of fufficient diflindlion, appears cold and fiivery. 
His works, however, are juftly held in high eftimation.” 
BLOE'MEN (Peter Van), a celebrated painter, born at 
Antwerp, and brother to John-Francis Van Bloemen, called 
by the Italians Orizonti , and lived for feveral years at 
Rome with his brother. As foon as he found himfelf 
competently (killed, he returned to his native city, where, 
in 1699, he was appointed diredtor of the academy. The 
compofition of this mailer is rich, and his pidlures are ge¬ 
nerally filled with a number of figures. His fubjedis are, 
the marchings of cavalry, encampments, artillery, bat¬ 
tles, Italian fairs, markets, and feflivals; in which he 
(hewed great corredlnefs in his defign and in his drawing ; 
and an elegance in the manner of drefling his figures. He 
deligned horfes in an admirable ftyle ; and in his bat¬ 
tles gave them fpirit, graceful attitudes, and an expreffion 
that was full of life and nature. 
BLOE'MEN (Norbert Van), brother of the preceding, 
was a painter of portraits and converfation ; but in merit 
was very inferior to his brothers, although he had a gooij 
deal of celebrity. 
BLOIS, an ancient and handfome commercial city o.f 
France, in the department of the Loire and'Cher, .and late 
province of Blaifois. It is feated on the Loire, in a de¬ 
lightful fituation. The fpedlator is (truck with the idea 
ot an amphitheatre, in feeing the manner in which the 
houles are difpofed, like rows of feats above each other. 
The cathedral is a large'* ftrudture, although inferior tQ 
what 
