Frans van den Wyngaerde or Frans van den WijngaerdeHis name is sometimes also spelled Francis vanden Wyngaert ( Antwerp, 8 July 1614Antwerp 17 March 1679) was a Flemish printmaker, draughtsman and publisher.Frans van den Wyngaerde at the
Netherlands Institute for Art History
The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...
One of the leading print publishers in 17th-century Antwerp, he created and published multiple reproductive prints after
Peter Paul Rubens
Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradi ...
Frans van den Wyngaerde was born in 1614 to a family of fishmongers. He was baptized in Antwerp on 8 July that year. Van den Wyngaerde became an apprentice of the Rubens collaborator
Paulus Pontius
Paulus Pontius (May 1603 in Antwerp – 16 January 1658 in Antwerp) was a Flemish engraver and painter. He was one of the leading engravers connected with the workshop of Peter Paul Rubens. After Rubens' death, Pontus worked with other leadin ...
(1603-1658) when he was about 14 years old. He was enrolled as a master in the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke from the Guild year 1636–1637. Lacking sufficient funds, the dean of the guild loaned him part of the membership fee.
The artist was successful and in 1640, he married Maria Cruyt, the daughter of wealthy merchants. He became a captain of a local
schutterij
Schutterij () refers to a voluntary city guard or citizen militia in the medieval and early modern Netherlands, intended to protect the town or city from attack and act in case of revolt or fire. Their training grounds were often on open spaces w ...
, a civil guard.
By the middle of the 17th century van den Wyngaerde had become a leading publisher of prints in Antwerp, along with
Gillis Hendricx Gillis may refer to:
People
* Gillis (surname), list of people with this name
* Gillis Wilson, American football player
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;Belgium
*Sint-Gillis (Saint-Gilles, Belgium), municipality
*Sint-Gillis-Waas, municipality
*Sint-Gillis-bij-Dendermonde ...
(?-1677) and Joannes Meyssens (1612-1670).
He died in 1679 with substantial assets.
Work
Van den Wyngaerde was active as a reproductive artist as well as an original artist creating his own designs.
Van den Wyngaerde's prints after his own original designs include etchings, engravings and plates in which both techniques are used. His subject matter ranges from religious scenes and allegories to genre scenes and portraits. He made a series of 50 portraits of Catholic cardinals, 11 illustrations of battle scenes for a book and 26 sheets of illustrations of emblems for a religious book.
In addition to publishing his own work and that of his contemporaries, van den Wyngaerde reused old plates by well-established artists to which he added his name and then reissued. He published seven plates by
Jusepe de Ribera
Jusepe de Ribera (1591 – 1652) was a painter and printmaker, who along with Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and the singular Diego Velázquez, are regarded as the major artists of Spanish Baroque painting. Referring ...