![Pieter van der Heyden, after Hans Bol – Autumn](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Pieter_van_der_Heyden%2C_after_Hans_Bol_%E2%80%93_Autumn.jpg)
Pieter van der Heyden (c. 1530 - after March 1572) was a Belgian-Flemish printmaker who is known for his reproductive engravings after works by leading Flemish painters and designers of the 16th century.
[Pieter van der Heyden]
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 ...
Life and work
It is believed the artist was born in
Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, in 1551. It is not clear with whom he trained. He received commissions from the leading Antwerp publisher
Hieronymus Cock
Hieronymus Cock, or Hieronymus Wellens de Cock (1518 – 3 October 1570) was a Flemish painter and etcher as well as a publisher and distributor of prints. . He made engravings after the paintings of famous Flemish painters of the previous generation as well as contemporary artists such as
Hieronymus Bosch
Hieronymus Bosch (, ; born Jheronimus van Aken ; – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch/Netherlandish painter from Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, generally oil on oa ...
,
Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Pieter Bruegel (also Brueghel or Breughel) the Elder (, ; ; – 9 September 1569) was the most significant artist of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, a painter and printmaker, known for his landscapes and peasant scenes (so-called genr ...
,
Frans Floris
Frans Floris, Frans Floris the Elder or Frans Floris de Vriendt (17 April 15191 October 1570) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman, print artist and tapestry designer. He is mainly known for his history paintings, allegorical scenes and portraits.< ...
and
Lambert Lombard
Lambert Lombard (c. 1505 – August 1566) was a Renaissance painter, architect and theorist for the Prince-Bishopric of Liège. During his career he worked for Jan Gossaert in Middelburg and trained Frans Floris.
Biography
Lombard was bor ...
. He also worked after the original designs made by contemporary artists such as Pieter Bruegel and Hans Bol for the publishing projects of Hieronymus Cock. An example is the project of four prints representing the four seasons, originally started by Bruegel as a project for Hieronymus Cock. Bruegel had revived the medieval tradition of depicting the four seasons with his monumental series of the months painted in 1565. When Bruegel died in 1569, he had only completed the designs for Spring and Summer. Hieronymus Cock then commissioned Bol to make designs for Autumn and Winter. The set of four prints were engraved by Pieter van der Heyden and published by Cock in 1570.
[Albert Elen, Hans Bol]
at Museum Boijmans van Beuningen
![Pieter Bruegel the Elder- The Seven Deadly Sins or the Seven Vices - Avarice](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Pieter_Bruegel_the_Elder-_The_Seven_Deadly_Sins_or_the_Seven_Vices_-_Avarice.JPG)
Pieter van der Heyden was from 1556 onwards one of the primary engravers of the work of Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Although van der Heyden was not an inventive engraver and his figures are considered to be stiff and angular, Bruegel seems to have preferred working with the artist because of his highly skilled technique and his fidelity to the design he was copying. It is possible that because of his awareness of these limitations of van der Heyden, Bruegel started to adapt his designs so that they did not require skill in translating washing and free-flowing marks but could be followed line for line. Van der Heyden made 26 engravings after designs by Bruegel, the most of any other printmaker.
[Nadine Orenstein, ''Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Drawings and Prints'', Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.),, 45-46 and 137]
Pieter van der Heyden marked his prints often with PME, the initials of his Latinized name, Peter Mercinus. He was last mentioned in March 1572.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heyden, Pieter van der
Flemish engravers
1530 births
1572 deaths
16th-century engravers
Painters from Antwerp