Lucas Vorstermans Desine Lysikkos iac sare animosa vetus ras Hic Vir, hic excudit skirantia mollius aera. IL

Title

Lucas Vorstermans Desine Lysikkos iac sare animosa vetus ras Hic Vir, hic excudit skirantia mollius aera. IL

Description

Portrait of Lucas Vorsterman (1595-1675).

ca. 1650

Artist

Vorsterman (1595-1675)

Lucas Vorsterman (born 1595, died 1675) was a Dutch engraver and draughtsman.

Historical Description

Lucas Vorsterman (1595–1675) was a Baroque engraver. He worked with the artists Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, as well as for patrons such as Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel and Charles I of England. In 1621, a violent dispute arose between Vorsterman and Rubens. It is not clear whether there was a physical altercation between the two men, but the situation was sufficiently serious for Rubens' lawyers to petition the authorities for a protection order, which was granted. The exact causes of the dispute are not known, but it has generally been assumed that its source was in the issue of ownership of the authorial rights to the prints engraved by Vorsterman on the basis of Rubens' designs. In 1621, Vorsterman began to add his own dedications to his engravings after Rubens' paintings. Before the dispute arose, their relationship had ostensibly been good since Rubens had agreed to be godfather to Vorsterman's eldest son Lucas Vorsterman II. The dispute ended the working relationship between the two men. In 1624 Vorsterman went to England and lived off the patronage of royalty and nobility. He returned to Antwerp in 1630 and was among the printers chosen by Van Dyck to engrave the plates for his iconography. Vorsterman created twenty-two of the original eighty plates, lost his sight in old age, and lived in poverty. He lived on the support of the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke until his death in 1675. His pupils include Paulus Pontius, Hans Witdoeck, Jacob Neefs and Marinus Robyn van der Goes. Vosterman's son Lucas Vorsterman II (born in 1624) was trained by his father as an engraver.