Michael Vandergucht or Michiel van der Gucht (c. 1660 – 16 October 1725) was a

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

engraver and painter who worked for most of his career in England.Shearer West, ''Vandergucht family (Gucht, van der)''
at Grove Art Online, accessed 20 March 2022 He engraved portraits, book illustrations, and architectural prints and painted portraits.''Michael Vandergucht (1660-1725), Engraver'', at the National Portrait Gallery
/ref>

Life

Vandergucht was born in Antwerp, where he became a pupil of Frederik Bouttats the Younger.Michiel van der Gucht
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 ...

He was registered as an apprentice in the Antwerp artists' guild, the

Guild of St Luke The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Evangelist Luke, the patron saint of artists, who was ident ...

between 18 September 1672 and 18 September 1673.Ph. Rombouts and Th. van Lerius (ed.), ''De liggeren en andere historische archieven der Antwerpsche sint Lucasgilde''
Volume 2, Antwerp, Julius de Koninck, 1871, pp. 421, 424 He is recorded in Amsterdam when on 19 June 1682 he posted banns to marry Maria van Hogenbergh van Aerschot. He lived on the Rosengracht in Amsterdam. He moved to England before July 1688. He trained his sons

Gerard Vandergucht Gerard Vandergucht (or van der Gucht) (1696/97 – 18 March 1776) was an English engraver and art dealer. Vandergucht, was born in London, the elder son of the Flemish engraver Michael Vandergucht. He was taught engraving by his father, as w ...

(1696/7–1776) and Jan Vandergucht (or John) (c.1699-c.1730) and

George Vertue George Vertue (1684 – 24 July 1756) was an English engraver and antiquary, whose notebooks on British art of the first half of the 18th century are a valuable source for the period. Life Vertue was born in 1684 in St Martin-in-the-Fields, ...

and James Smith as engravers. His son Gerard became one of the leading engravers in London, following the French method of combining precise engraving with the etched tones. Gerard had 30 children of whom one, Benjamin, was a successful engraver, picture restorer and painter. He died from gout in his house, the Golden Head in Queen Street, Bloomsbury, and was buried in the churchyard of

St Giles-in-the-Fields St Giles in the Fields is the Anglican parish church of the St Giles district of London. It stands within the London Borough of Camden and belongs to the Diocese of London. The church, named for St Giles the Hermit, began as a monastery and ...

Work

He engraved portraits, book illustrations, and architectural prints and painted portraits. He kept to a restrained form of engraving, without

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

. His figures often appear wooden and uninspired. He provided many of the engravings for the first complete English translation of

Andrea Palladio Andrea Palladio ( ; ; 30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580) was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be one of ...

's ''

I quattro libri dell'architettura ''I quattro libri dell'architettura'' (''The Four Books of Architecture'') is a treatise on architecture by the architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580), written in Italian. It was first published in four volumes in 1570 in Venice, illustrated wi ...

'' published in London in 1715. Most plates in the publication are reverse-copies of those in the original edition, but with measurements corrected by its editor and publisher,

Giacomo Leoni Giacomo Leoni (1686 – 8 June 1746), also known as James Leoni, was an Italian architect, born in Venice. He was a devotee of the work of Florentine Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti, who had also been an inspiration for Andrea Pallad ...

.''The Architecture Of A. Palladio; In Four Books. Containing, A short Treatise of the Five Orders, and the most necessary Observations concerning all sorts of Building, As Also The different Construction of Private and Publick Houses, High-Ways, Bridges, Market-Places, Xystes, and Temples, with their Plans, Sections, and Uprights. To which are added several Notes and Observations made by Inigo Jones, never printed before. Revis'd, Design'd, and Publish'd By Giacomo Leoni, a Venetian; Architect to his most Serene Highness, the Elector Palatine. Translated from the Italian Original.''
at the Royal Academy

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vandergucht, Michael 1660 births 1725 deaths Flemish engravers 17th-century engravers 18th-century engravers Artists from Antwerp