Alexander Voet I - Cardinal-infante Ferdinand of Austria

Alexander Voet the Elder or Alexander Voet I (10 September 1608 (or possibly in 1613) in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

– 1 October 1689 in Antwerp) was a Flemish engraver, print artist and publisher. He was one of the leading engravers and publishers in Antwerp in the middle and second half of the 17th century. He operated a large workshop in which sixty to seventy collaborators took care of the entire process of printmaking, printing and publishing.Alexander Voet (I)
at

The Netherlands Institute for Art History The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: ), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center in the world. The center specializes in document ...

Life

Details about Alexander Voet's early life are scarce. He was born in Antwerp in 1608 or possibly 1613. Nothing is known about Alexander Voet's training. Because stylistically his prints are very close to the engraving style of the prominent engraver

Paulus Pontius Paulus Pontius (May 1603 – 16 January 1658) was a Flemish engraver and painter. He was one of the leading engravers connected with the workshop of Peter Paul Rubens. After Rubens' death, Pontus worked with other leading Antwerp painters suc ...

some historians have speculated he may have been his pupil.Alexander Voet (I)
''The Card Players''. Engraving after Cornelis de Vos Voet became a member of the Antwerp

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 iden ...

in 1628.J.-E. Buschmann, Uitgaven der Maatschappij der Antwerpsche bibliophilen, Volume 23, p. 217 He married Catharina Huybrechts on 28 November 1630. After the death of his first wife, he remarried Sara van der Steen on 9 December 1634. His second wife was the mother of

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

who also became an engraver. His daughter Sara married Gaspar Huybrechts, another prominent Antwerp engraver and publisher. Alexander was active from 1634 in the local

chamber of rhetoric Chambers of rhetoric () were dramatic societies in the Low Countries. Their members were called Rederijkers (singular Rederijker), from the French word 'rhétoricien', and during the 15th and 16th centuries were mainly interested in dramas and l ...

"De Violieren". Voet was very successful as engraver and publisher. Around 1665 he employed between 60 and 70 workers who were illuminators, plate cutters, printers etc. This large workshop allowed Voet to carry out the entire printing and publishing activity in his workshop. At his death in 1689 he left a large collection of artworks including paintings and drawings by leading Antwerp artists of his age such as Rubens, van Dyck and

Adriaen Brouwer Adriaen Brouwer ( – January 1638) was a Flemish painter active in Flanders and the Dutch Republic in the first half of the 17th century.Franciscus van der Steen, Renier Manteler, Alexander, Gillis de Mesmaker and Pieter Maepeye.

Work

Alexander Voet operated a large workshop. Many works that name him as the author were produced by assistants in his workshop rather than Voet himself. There is also some confusion as to whether certain works are to be attributed to Alexander Voet the Elder or his son Alexander the Younger. Alexander Voet was active as a reproductive artist who made prints after the works of contemporary Antwerp masters such as Rubens, van Dyck,

Erasmus Quellinus the Younger Erasmus Quellinus the Younger or Erasmus Quellinus II (November 19, 1607 – November 11, 1678) was a Flemish painter, engraver, draughtsman and tapestry designer who worked in various genres including history, portrait, allegorical, battle and ...

Cornelis de Vos Cornelis de Vos (1584 - 9 May 1651) was a Flemish painter, Drawing, draughtsman and art dealer. He was one of the leading portrait painters in Antwerp and is best known for his sensitive portraits, in particular of children and families. He w ...

and others. An example is the ''Card Players'', an engraving after Cornelis de Vos'

original Originality is the aspect of created or invented works that distinguish them from reproductions, clones, forgeries, or substantially derivative works. The modern idea of originality is according to some scholars tied to Romanticism, by a notion t ...

which is now in the

Nationalmuseum Nationalmuseum is the List of national galleries, national gallery of fine arts of Sweden, located on the peninsula Blasieholmen in central Stockholm. The museum's operations stretch far beyond the borders of Blasieholmen, including the Natio ...

in Stockholm. Stylistically this print is very close to the engraving style of

in its sharpness. He further published and may also have engraved some plates of two series of prints after designs by

Cornelis de Wael Cornelis de Wael (Antwerp, 1592 – Rome, 1667) was a Flemish painter, engraver and merchant who was primarily active in Genoa in Italy. He is known for his genre paintings, battle scenes, history paintings and still lifes. Through his art wo ...

, one on the five senses and one on the four seasons. Melchior Hamers and Willem Peeters were the principal engravers for these sets.The Four Seasons (Ver)
at the British Museum In addition, he worked on many of the devotional publications of the Catholic monastic orders, in particular the Jesuits, Franciscans and Dominicans. He also produced plates for the frontispieces and illustration of various other publications. An example is the

frontispiece Frontispiece may refer to: * Frontispiece (books), a decorative illustration facing a book's title page * Frontispiece (architecture) In architecture, the term frontispiece is used to describe the Façade, principal face of the building, usually ...

that he cut after a design by Rubens for the 1633 publication 'Theoremata de centro grauitatis partium circuli et ellipsis' by the Flemish Jesuit and mathematician Jean-Charles della Faille.

References

Alexander Voet I - Coat of arms of a frontispiece linked to publisher Jan van Meurs

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Voet, Alexander 1 Flemish publishers Flemish printers 17th-century publishers (people) 17th-century Flemish engravers Painters from Antwerp 17th-century births 1689 deaths