Van De Passe Family
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Crispijn van de Passe the Elder, or de Passe (c. 1564,
Arnemuiden Arnemuiden is a city of around 5000 people in the municipality of Middelburg in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands. It is located on the former island of Walcheren, about 3 km east of the city of Middelburg. On the 23 September 1338, ...
– buried 6 March 1637,
Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...
) was a Dutch publisher and engraver and founder of a dynasty of engravers 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. Many of the family could produce their own designs, and have left drawings.


Crispijn the Elder

Crispijn van de Passe I was born in Arnemuiden in
Zeeland , nl, Ik worstel en kom boven("I struggle and emerge") , anthem = "Zeeuws volkslied"("Zeelandic Anthem") , image_map = Zeeland in the Netherlands.svg , map_alt = , m ...
, and trained and worked 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,
, then the centre of the
printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniq ...
world, with hugely productive workshops producing work for publishers with excellent distribution arrangements throughout Europe. By 1585 he was a member of the artists'
Guild of Saint 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 ide ...
, and doing work for
Christopher Plantin Christophe Plantin ( nl, Christoffel Plantijn; – 1 July 1589) was a French Renaissance humanist and book printer and publisher who resided and worked in Antwerp. Life Plantin was born in France, probably in Saint-Avertin, near the city of ...
. Much of this was work engraving the paintings of
Maerten de Vos Maerten de Vos, Maerten de Vos the Elder or Marten de Vos (1532 – 4 December 1603)Maerten de Vos
at the
, whose wife's niece Magdalena de Bock Crispijn married. The disruptions of the
Dutch Revolt The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt ( nl, Nederlandse Opstand) (Historiography of the Eighty Years' War#Name and periodisation, c.1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and t ...
scattered these artists across Northern Europe; de Passe was an
Anabaptist Anabaptism (from New Latin language, Neo-Latin , from the Greek language, Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re- ...
, which made his position especially difficult. He first moved to
Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
, until Protestants were also expelled from there. He started his own engraving and publishing business in
Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
in 1589, but again was forced to leave in 1611. He set up in business in
Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...
, by about 1612, where he created engravings for the English and other markets, and where he died in 1637. His works include a famous rendition of the English
Gunpowder Plot The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby who sought ...
ters, although it is not known what basis he had for the likenesses. The family's prints are not rare and are well represented in most
print room A print room is a room in an art gallery or museum where a collection of old master and modern prints, usually together with drawings, watercolours, and photographs, are held and viewed. A further meaning is a room decorated by pasting prints ...
s, and the National Portrait Gallery in London.Crispiijn van de Passe
National Portrait Gallery, accessed 6 July 2009


The second generation

Four of Crispijn I's children were also notable engravers for the family business, 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 Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
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 Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, known as Matoaka, 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman, belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of ...
(1616). Crispijn II (ca. 1597–1670) worked in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, at least from 1617 to 1627, in Utrecht (1630–1639), and from then until his death in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
; his work on the "Maneige royal" ("Instructions to the king on how to ride a horse") of
Antoine de Pluvinel Antoine de Pluvinel (1552, Crest, Dauphiné - 24 August 1620) was the first of the French riding masters, and has had great influence on modern dressage. He wrote ''L’Instruction du Roy en l’exercice de monter à cheval'' ("instruction of t ...
is considered by Hind the finest work of the dynasty. 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 Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...
. He joined the
Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
church in
Threadneedle Street Threadneedle Street is a street in the City of London, England, between Bishopsgate at its northeast end and Bank junction in the southwest. It is one of nine streets that converge at Bank. It lies in the ward of Cornhill. History The stree ...
in 1624, and his wife Elizabeth may have been the daughter of the English publisher
Thomas Jenner Sir Thomas Jenner (1637–1707) was an English barrister, Baron of the Exchequer and Justice of the Common Pleas, closely associated with the Stuart kings Charles II of England, Charles II and James II of England. Life He was born at Mayfield, S ...
.
Magdalena van de Passe 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 M ...
(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. 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
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
and Simon in Denmark remained, and Crispijn II's later years were unsuccessful. Crispijn III was a more minor figure who died in 1678.


Major works

*''Hortus Floridus'', mostly by Crispijn II. *''Heroologia Anglica'', 1620. Sixty-five portraits of English notables, by various members of the family


Notes


References

*Hind Arthur M.;
A History of Engraving and Etching
', Houghton Mifflin Co. 1923 (in USA), reprinted Dover Publications, 1963 *Getty Foundation, ''Union List of Artists' Names'
online
* Mayor, Hyatt A., ''Prints and People'', Metropolitan Museum of Art/Princeton, 1971,


External links


British Library
online database has 1838 items by or after the family

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Passe, van de, family Dutch engravers Artist families Botanical illustrators 1636 births