The van de Passe or de Passe family [lower-alpha 1] was a dynasty of Dutch engravers, started by Crispijn the Elder, comparable to the Wierix family and the Sadelers, though mostly at a more mundane commercial level. Most of their engravings were portraits, book title-pages, and the like, with relatively few grander narrative subjects. As with the other dynasties, their style is very similar, and hard to tell apart in the absence of a signature or date, or evidence of location. [1] Many of the family members produced their own designs, and have left drawings.
Crispijn (van) de Passe the Elder (c. 1564 in Arnemuiden – buried 6 March 1637 in Utrecht) [2] was a Dutch publisher and engraver. Born in Arnemuiden in Zeeland, from 1580, he trained and worked in Antwerp, then the centre of the printmaking world, where very productive workshops produced work for publishers with excellent distribution networks throughout Europe. In the guild year 1584-1585 he became a member of Antwerp's artists' Guild of Saint Luke. [2] He worked for the prominent Antwerp publishing and printing house Plantin Press. [3]
He principally worked as a reproductive artist after designs by Antwerp artists, in particular Maerten de Vos, who was a prolific designer of prints. Van de Passe married Magdalena de Bock, a niece of de Vos wife. The disruptions caused by the Dutch Revolt scattered many artists across Northern Europe. As an Anabaptist, de Passe was at risk of religious persecution. He first moved to Aachen, until Protestants were also expelled from there. He started his own engraving and publishing business in Cologne in 1589, but again was forced to leave in 1611. He set up in business in Utrecht, by about 1612. Here he created engravings for the English and other markets. He died in Utrecht in 1637 and was buried on 6 March 1637. His works include a famous rendition of the English Gunpowder Plotters, although it is not known what basis he had for the likenesses.
The family's prints are well represented in most print rooms, including the National Portrait Gallery in London. [4]
Four of Crispijn I's children were also notable engravers for the family business, [4] as was his grandson Crispijn III.
His eldest son, Simon de Passe (c. 1595 – 6 May 1647) worked in England from about 1616 before moving to Copenhagen as royal engraver and designer of medals in 1624, where he remained until his death. He is best remembered for his early London print of Pocahontas (1616). [5]
Crispijn II (ca. 1597–1670) worked in Paris, at least from 1617 to 1627, in Utrecht (1630–1639), and from then until his death in Amsterdam; his work on the "Maneige royal" ("Instructions to the king on how to ride a horse") of Antoine de Pluvinel is considered by Hind the finest work of the dynasty. [7]
Willem de Passe (ca. 1598 – ca. 1637), the least productive of the siblings, took over from his brother in England, probably after working in France, and died in London, perhaps of plague. He joined the Huguenot church in Threadneedle Street in 1624, and his wife Elizabeth may have been the daughter of the English publisher Thomas Jenner. [8]
Magdalena van de Passe (1600–1638) was, like her siblings, born in Cologne and died in Utrecht. She specialized in landscapes until her marriage to the minor artist Frederick van Bevervoorden in 1634, after which she essentially stopped engraving, even though her husband died in 1636. [9] [10] The business presumably involved shipping drawings, engraved printing plates, and printed copies around Europe between the various cities involved.
After the three deaths in the period 1637–38 only Crispijn II in the Dutch Republic and Simon in Denmark remained. Crispijn II's later years were unsuccessful. Crispijn III was a more minor figure who died in 1678. [11]
Christophe Plantin was a French Renaissance humanist and book printer and publisher who resided and worked in Antwerp. He established in Antwerp one of the most prominent publishing houses of his time, the Plantin Press. It played a significant role in making Antwerp a leading centre of book publishing in Europe. The publishing house was continued by his successors until 1867.
Philip Fruytiers (1610–1666) was a Flemish Baroque painter and engraver. Until the 1960s, he was especially known for his miniature portraits in watercolor and gouache. Since then, several large canvases signed with the monogram PHF have been ascribed to him. These new findings have led to a renewed appreciation for his contribution to the Antwerp Baroque.
Chrispijn van den Broeck was a Flemish painter, draughtsman, print designer and designer of temporary decorations. He was a scion of a family of artists, which had its origins in Mechelen and later moved to Antwerp. He is known for his religious compositions and portraits as well as his extensive output of designs for prints. He was active in Antwerp which he left for some time because of the prosecution of persons adhering to his religious convictions.
The Sadeler family were the largest, and probably the most successful of the dynasties of Flemish engravers that were dominant in Northern European printmaking in the later 16th and 17th centuries, as both artists and publishers. As with other dynasties such as the Wierixes and Van de Passe family, the style of family members is very similar, and their work often hard to tell apart in the absence of a signature or date, or evidence of location. Altogether at least ten Sadelers worked as engravers, in the Spanish Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Bohemia and Austria.
Cornelis Bloemaert II, was a Dutch painter and engraver, who after training in the Dutch Republic worked most of his career in Rome. His workshop in Rome played an important role in spreading Italian art throughout Europe and attracted many young engravers from abroad.
PhilipGalle was a Dutch publisher, best known for publishing old master prints, which he also produced as designer and engraver. He is especially known for his reproductive engravings of paintings.
Cornelis de Wael was a Flemish painter, engraver and merchant who was primarily active in Genoa in Italy. He is known for his genre paintings, battle scenes, history paintings and still lifes. Through his art work, support for Flemish painters working in Italy and role as an art dealer, he played an important role in the artistic exchange between Italy and Flanders in the first half of the 17th century. His work also had an influence on local painters such as Alessandro Magnasco, particularly through his scenes of despair and irony.
Events from the year 1616 in art.
Maerten de Vos, Maerten de Vos the Elder or Marten de Vos was a Flemish painter. He is known mainly for his history and allegorical paintings and portraits. He was, together with the brothers Ambrosius Francken I and Frans Francken I, one of the leading history painters in the Spanish Netherlands after Frans Floris career slumped in the second half of the sixteenth century as a result of the Iconoclastic fury of the Beeldenstorm.
The Wierix family, sometimes seen in alternative spellings such as Wiericx, were a Flemish family of artists who distinguished themselves as printmakers and draughtsmen in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. They were active in Antwerp and Brussels.
Hieronymus Wierix (1553–1619) was a Flemish engraver, draughtsman and publisher. He is known for his reproductive engravings after the work of well-known local and foreign artists including Albrecht Dürer. Together with other members of the Wierix family of engravers he played an important role in spreading appreciation for Netherlandish art abroad as well as in creating art that supported the Catholic cause in the Southern Netherlands.
Johannes Wierix was a Flemish engraver, draughtsman and publisher. He was a very accomplished engraver who made prints after his own designs as well as designs by local and foreign artists. He further made engravings on silver and ivory.
Petrus, or Pieter de Jode I or Pieter de Jode the Elder, was a Flemish printmaker, draughtsman, publisher and painter active principally active in Antwerp. He was active as a reproductive artist who created many prints after the works of leading painters and was in addition a prolific designer of prints for Antwerp publishers.
Peeter Baltens, Pieter Balten or Pieter Custodis, was a Flemish Renaissance painter, draughtsman, engraver and publisher. Baltens was also active as an art dealer and poet. He was known for his genre paintings, religious compositions and landscapes.
Magdalena van de Passe (1600–1638) was a Dutch engraver and member of the Van de Passe family of artists from Cologne who were active in the Northern Netherlands. She specialized in landscapes and portraits, and trained the polymath Anna Maria van Schurman in engraving, one of the few known early examples of the training of one woman artist by another.
Balthasar Moretus or Balthasar I Moretus was a Flemish printer and head of the Officina Plantiniana, the printing company established by his grandfather Christophe Plantin in Antwerp in 1555. He was the son of Martina Plantin and Jan Moretus.
Pieter Bast was a Dutch cartographer, engraver and draftsman.
Pieter van der Borcht (I) or Peter van der Borcht (c. 1530–1608) was a Flemish Renaissance painter, draughtsman and etcher. He is regarded as one of the most gifted botanical painters of the 16th century. Pieter van der Borcht the Elder also introduced new themes, such as the "monkey scene" (also called singerie) into Northern art.
Alexander Voet the Younger or Alexander Voet II was a Flemish engraver, print artist and publisher. He was the son of Alexander Voet the Elder, one of the leading engravers and publishers in Antwerp in the middle and second half of the 17th century. He first worked in his father's large workshop and later operated his own workshop.
Crispijn (van) de Passe, also known as Crispijn (van) de Passe the Younger or Crispijn (van) de Passe (II), was a Dutch Golden Age engraver, draughtsman and publisher of prints. He was a member of the large printmaking Van de Passe family, son of the engraver and print publisher Crispijn van de Passe the Elder.
Media related to Van de Passe family at Wikimedia Commons