Robert van Voerst and Anthony Van Dyck - Kennelmus Digbi Eques Sir Kenelm Digby

Kennelmus Digbi, Eques (Sir Kenelm Digby)

Robert Van Voerst, original engraving, "Kennelmus Digbi, Eques (Sir Kenelm Digby)": A physicist, diplomat, philosopher and a naval commander (not to mention a student of natural history, alchemy, magnetism and the occult), Sir Kenelm Digby was clearly one of the more remarkable Englishmen of the seventeenth century. Educated at Oxford, Digby studied primarily under the mathematician and occultist, Thomas Allen. He left Oxford in 1620 and three years later became a member of the Prince of Wales's household. In 1625 he was dubbed a Knight by King James I.

"Kennelmus Digbi, Eques (Sir Kenelm Digby)" is an original engraving designed by Anthony van Dyck and engraved by Robert Van Voerst. This impression is printed upon fine 17th century, hand-made, laid paper and with wide, full margins as published in Antwerp in 1645 by Gillis Hendricx. Containing the period foolscap watermark along the upper margin.

Anthony Van Dyck (Van Dyke) (Antwerp, Flanders, 1599 - 1641)
#	Image	Title & Artist	Engraver Info	Medium	Date	-
01.-		Cornelius De Vos, Pictor Iconum Antwerpiae (Cornelis De Vos) Engraved by Lucas Vorsterman designed by Anthony Van Dyck	Lucas Vorsterman (Zaltbommel, 1595 - Antwerp, 1675)	Original Engraving	1645 (First Published Edition by Gillis Hendricx, Antwerp)	Sold
02.-		Fra Lelio Blancatcio (Brancaccio), Commander of Malta Engraved by Nicolaes Lauwers designed by Anthony Van Dyck	Nicolaes Lauwers (Leuze 'Tournay' 1600 - Antwerp, 1652)	Original Engraving	1645 (First Published Edition by Gillis Hendricx, Antwerp)	Sold
03.-		Genevieve d'Urfe, Duchess of Croy Engraved by Pieter de Jode 'The Younger' designed by Anthony Van Dyck	Pieter de Jode 'The Younger' (Antwerp, 1604 - London ?, 1674)	Original Engraving	1645 (First Published Edition by Gillis Hendricx, Antwerp)
04.-		Henricus Arundelliae Comes (Henry, The Earl of Arundel) Engraved by Pierre Lombart designed by Anthony Van Dyck	Pierre Lombart (Paris, 1620 - 1681)	Original Engraving	1650 - 1660	Sold
05.-		James Stanley, Earl of Derby Engraved by Michael Van der Gucht designed by Anthony Van Dyck	Michael Van der Gucht (Antwerp, 1660 - London, 1725)	Original Engraving	c. 1690 - 1700
06.-		Joannes van Ravesteyn, Pictor Iconum Hagae Comitis (Jan van Ravesteyn) Engraved by Paulus Pontius designed by Anthony Van Dyck	Paulus Pontius (Antwerp, 1603 - 1658)	Original Engraving	1645 (First Published Edition by Gillis Hendricx, Antwerp)
07.-		Kennelmus Digbi, Eques (Sir Kenelm Digby) Engraved by Robert Van Voerst designed by Anthony Van Dyck	Robert Van Voerst (Arnheim, 1597 - London, 1636)	Original Engraving	1645 First published edition by Gillis Hendricx, Antwerp	Sold
08.-		Paulus de Vos Engraved by Adrien Lommelin designed by Anthony Van Dyck	Adrien Lommelin (Amiens, 1636 - Antwerp, after 1673)	Original Engraving	c. 1660 - 1670
09.-		Paulus Pontius, Calcographus Antwerpiae Engraved by Paulus Pontius designed by Anthony Van Dyck	Paulus Pontius (Antwerp, 1603 - 1658)	Original Engraving	1645 (First Published Edition by Gillis Hendricx, Antwerp)	Sold
10.-		William Cavendish, 1st Marquis and Duke of Newcastle Engraved by Lucas Vorsterman designed by Anthony Van Dyck	Lucas Vorsterman (Zaltbommel, 1595 - Antwerp, 1675)	Original Engraving	c. 1630

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Title:	Kennelmus Digbi, Eques (Sir Kenelm Digby)
Engraver:	Van Voerst, Robert (Arnheim, 1597 - London, 1636)
Designer:	Van Dyck, Anthony 'Van Dyke' (Antwerp, Flanders, 1599 - 1641)
Date:	1645 First published edition by Gillis Hendricx, Antwerp
Medium:	Original Engraving
Publisher:	Gillis Hendricx, Antwerp
Note:	Robert van Voerst studied engraving under Crispin van de Passe. He first came to England in 1628 and shortly thereafter was appointed the Royal Engraver to King Charles the First. Robert van Voerst's continental training and experience placed him far above the native English engravers of the day and thus many of the most important commissions were placed in his hands.
	Robert van Voerst engraved a number of fine portraits after such contemporary painters as Mierevelt and Van Honthorst. His greatest art, however, was his work for Anthony Van Dyck. When Van Dyck came to England he commissioned Robert van Voerst exclusively for his portraits. These included the famous portrait engravings of Charles I and his Queen, Inigo Jones, Sir George Carew, Philip, Earl of Pembroke and Sir Kenelm Digby.
	Anthony Van Dyck and "The Iconography": The great age of portrait engraving took place in the early and mid seventeenth century. In France such remarkable portrait engravers as Robert Nanteuil and Antoine Masson achieved fame at least equal to the most highly regarded painters. In Belgium and Holland the division between painter and engraver/etcher was much less distinct. Rembrandt was as great an etcher as a painter and both Rubens and Van Dyck conducted a school of engravers under their close personal supervision. In the 1620's Peter Paul Rubens founded an engraver's school in Antwerp in order to render his paintings and drawings into copper. Such great engravers as Lucas Vorsterman (1595-1675), Nicolaes Lauwers (1600-1652), Boetius a Bolswert (1580-1633) and Paulus Pontius (1603-1658) formed the cornerstone of what was soon known as the 'School of Rubens'.
	At the age of nineteen Anthony Van Dyck (Antwerp, 1599-1641) was admitted into the painter's Guild of Antwerp, as a Master. A year later he was the senior assistant to Rubens. A superb portraitist, Van Dyck became famous throughout Europe and later was appointed court painter to King James the First of England.
	Anthony Van Dyck was first introduced to both engraving and etching by Peter Paul Rubens. Around 1630 he began his most ambitious printmaking project to create a uniform series of engravings of famous contemporaries derived from his portraits. Anthony Van Dyck provided his engravers with extensive preparatory work, including drawings and oil sketches. He then corrected his engraver's proofs and even etched the outline features on some of the portraits. In the following years he designed and supervised about eighty such portrait engravings which were published individually by Martin van den Enden. His principal engravers included Paulus Pontius, Nicolaes Lauwers, Pieter de Jode, Lucas Vorsterman, Robert van Voerst and others. These wonderfully graceful portrait engravings were a high point of Baroque art and proved to be perhaps the most influential group of portraits in the history of printmaking.
	The first complete published set of The Iconography did not appear until four years after Anthony Van Dyck's death, in 1645. During this year Gillis Hendricx published a series of one hundred Van Dyck portrait engravings in three general categories; I, Princes, II, Scholars, and III, Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Patrons of Art. (Interestingly, portrayals of painters and engravers were deliberately placed on a level equal to nobility and scholars.) The entire series now bore the title, Icones Principum Vivorum Doctorum Pictorum ... Impressions from this first published set contain the Gillis Hendricx letters, 'G. H.' along the lower plate mark.
	The demand for portraits from The Iconography was so great that many subsequent editions were printed in the following decades. The final edition was in fact published as late as 1759 and many of the plates still survive in the Louvre. Detecting early from late impressions of portraits from The Iconography, however, is not difficult. With the deterioration of lines and contrasts, late impressions bear only a ghostly relationship to first edition printings. Secondly, Gillis Hendricx impressions were printed on a fine, laid paper with a distinct watermark of a Foolscap containing five points, four large bells and braided hair (seen in this impression in the upper margin). This watermark appears on paper used in both Antwerp and Holland between 1640 and 1660. Lastly, later impressions appear without the 'G. H.' along the lower plate-mark. This impression of Sir Kenelm Digby, then, is clearly from the 1645 edition.
	Sir Kenelm Digby (Gayhurst, Buckinghamshire, 1603 - Covent Garden, 1665). A physicist, diplomat, philosopher and a naval commander (not to mention a student of natural history, alchemy, magnetism and the occult), Sir Kenelm Digby was clearly one of the more remarkable Englishmen of the seventeenth century. Educated at Oxford, Digby studied primarily under the mathematician and occultist, Thomas Allen. He left Oxford in 1620 and three years later became a member of the Prince of Wales's household. In 1625 he was dubbed a Knight by King James I.
	In 1627 Sir Kenelm Digby undertook a privateering expedition against French ships anchored at Iskanderun. The naval expedition was very successful and earned him a great deal of fame. He was consistently loyal to King Charles I and acted as his diplomat on a number of occasions. He later served as a diplomat under Cromwell.
	Sir Kenelm Digby's two most famous philosophical treatises, Nature of Bodies and Immortality of Reasonable Souls, were both published in 1644. In 1661 he published his Discourse Concerning the Vegetation of Plants. He is now considered to be the first scientist to have discovered the necessity of oxygen to plant life. Sir Kenelm Digby was a founding member of the Royal Society (1660).
	In the early 1630's Kenelm Digby was both a patron and friend of Anthony Van Dyck. It is also known that both men actively studied alchemy at this time.
Raisonne:	F. Wibiral, L'Iconographie d' Antonie Van Dyck, Leipzig, 1877. Catalogue #71. Third State, as published in the 1645 Hendricx edition.
Reference:	(For watermark identification) Rembrandt: Experimental Etcher, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 1969, pp. 181 - 183. (Catalogue #15, illustrated on p. 182.)
	G. C. Williamson, Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, London, Bell & Sons, 1930, Vol. 5, pp. 317 & 318.
	Arthur M. Hind, Van Dyck and Portrait Engraving and Etching in the Seventeenth Century, New York, Frederick A. Stokes, 1911.
	J. V. Elewyck, ed., Antwerp's Golden Age, Washington, the Smithsonian Institution, 1973, p. 104.
Source:	Icones Principum Vivorum Doctorum Pictorum Chalographorum Statuariorum Nec Non Amatorum Pictoriae Artis Numero Centum AB Antonio Van Dyck Pictore AD Vivum Expressae Eivsque Suptibus Aeri Incisae (The Iconography)
Size:	10 1/8 X 7 1/2 (Sizes in inches are approximate, height preceding width of plate-mark or image.)
	Framed and Matted with 100% Archival Materials
	View larger Framed Image

Condition:	Printed upon fine 17th century, hand-made, laid paper and with wide, full margins as published in Antwerp in 1645 by Gillis Hendricx. Containing the period foolscap watermark (as described) along the upper margin. Containing one small, circular stain within the lower left margin (about 1" below the plate mark), else a brilliant, early impression and in excellent condition throughout. Kennelmus Digbi, Eques represents a superb, original example of portrait engraving from the famous Iconography of Anthony Van Dyck.
Price:	Sold - The price is no longer available.
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Robert Van Voerst & Anthony Van Dyck

Kennelmus Digbi, Eques (Sir Kenelm Digby)