Joannes (Johannes, Jan, or Jean) Meyssens (17 May 1612 – 18 September 1670), 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; ...
Baroque painter
Baroque painting is the painting associated with the Baroque cultural movement. The movement is often identified with Absolutism, the Counter Reformation and Catholic Revival,Guild of St. Luke in 1640. He married Anna Jacobs (died 1678).Joannes Meyssens 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 ...
Joannes Meyssens' son Cornelis became also an engraver who later worked in Vienna.
Work
He had a successful business collaborating with contemporary painters and engravers, and is most notable today for his book of prints called ''Image de divers hommes d'esprit sublime qui par leur art et science devront vivre eternellement et des quels la lovange et renommée faict estonner le monde, A Anvers mis en lumiere par Iean Meyssens peinctre et vendeur de lart au Cammestraet l'an .M.DC.XLIX'', published in 1649.Record for this book in the
Fitzwilliam Museum
The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Vis ...
This book, with the engraved portraits of many famous men, including many painters, was used again and again as a source for art historians, most notably in
Cornelis de Bie
Cornelis de Bie (10 February 1627 – ) was a Flemish ''rederijker'', poet, jurist and minor politician from Lier.
He is the author of about 64 works, mostly comedies. He is known internationally today for his biographical sketches of Flemish a ...
's, '' Het Gulden Cabinet'' (Antwerp, 1662), who wrote this work at the instigation of Meyssens. In 1694, an English version was published in London with the title ''The True Effigies of the most Eminent Painters, and other famous artists that have flourished in Europe''.
The descriptions in French that Meyssens added under each engraving were used as biographical notes by later art historians such as Filippo Baldinucci,
Joachim von Sandrart
Joachim von Sandrart (12 May 1606 – 14 October 1688) was a German Baroque art-historian and painter, active in Amsterdam during the Dutch Golden Age. He is most significant for his collection of biographies of Dutch and German artists the '' T ...