Cornelis Meyssens or Cornelis Meijssens (

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 ...

, in or before 1640 – Vienna (?)) was a

Flemish Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...

engraver and

printmaker 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 technique ...

, known for his reproductive prints after famous painters and portraits. He trained in his native Antwerp and later moved to Vienna where he worked for the remainder of his life.Cornelis Meyssens
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

Cornelis Meyssens was born in Antwerp in or before 1640 as the son of the prominent engraver and print publisher Joannes Meyssens and Anna Jacobs. He trained with his father and was registered as a 'wijnmeester' (i.e. son of a master] at 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 the Guild year 1660–1661.Ph. Rombouts and Th. van Lerius, ''De Liggeren en andere Historische Archieven der Antwerpsche Sint Lucasgilde, onder Zinkspreuk: "Wy Jonsten Versaemt" afgeschreven en bemerkt door Ph. Rombouts en Th. Van Lerius, Advokaet, onder de bescherming van den raed van bestuer der koninklyke Akademie van beeldende Kunsten, van gezegde Stad''
Volume 2, Antwerp, 1872, pp. 311, 322 Arolsen Klebeband 15 339

Cornelis worked on the publication projects of his father from a young age. In 1660 he had a portrait of Charles II of England with his signature published. The following year he was praised by

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 ...

, whose book of artist biographies ''Het Gulden Cabinet vande Edel Vry Schilder-Const'' was published by Cornelis' father in 1662. The book included a number of prints engraved by Cornelis, including the frontispiece, which was made after a design by Abraham van Diepenbeeck.Henri Hymans, '' Meyssens (Corneille)'', in: ''

Biographie Nationale de Belgique The ''Biographie nationale de Belgique'' (; ) is a biographical dictionary of Belgium. It was published by the Royal Academy of Belgium in 44 volumes between 1866 and 1986. A continuation series, entitled the ''Nouvelle Biographie Nationale'' (, ...

'', Volume 14 (Brussels, 1873), 788–789 He worked on various of his father's publications including portraits of past and present noblemen and women of Flanders, Holland and the Holy Roman Empire. It is possible that the publication by his father in 1663 of the ''Effigies Imperatorum Domus Austriacae'' with portraits of members of the Austrian imperial family attracted the attention of publishers in Vienna. The fact is that from 1673 onwards he is recorded in Vienna where he lived in the Barlotti house at the Stubenthor. His children and first wife died here. He remarried in Vienna 28 February 1677 to Catharina Westhausin from Westphalia. In Vienna he worked on various publication projects often in cooperation with other artists and publishers from Flanders or the Dutch Republic. The place and time of his death are not recorded but it was likely in Vienna.

Work

Meyssens worked as an engraver who produced mainly portrait engravings and frontispieces of books after designs by other artists. He made a few reproductive prints after artworks of the masters such as his ''Saint Roch interceding for the Plague-stricken'' after Peter Paul Rubens.Cornelis Meyssens, after Peter Paul Rubens, ''Saint Roch interceding for the Plague-stricken''
at the

Meyssens collaborated on the publication ''Historia di Leopoldo Cesare'' written by

Galeazzo Gualdo Priorato Galeazzo Gualdo Priorato, Count of Comazzo (23 July 1606 – 1678), was an Italian soldier, scholar and historian. Biography Galeazzo Gualdo Priorato was born in Vicenza, in the Republic of Venice, on 23 July 1606. He followed his father into ...

and published in Vienna by the Flemish publisher from Antwerp Johann Baptist Hacque. The first and second volumes of the book were published in 1670 and the third one in 1674. The first volume described the political and military successes of Emperor Leopold I between 1656 and 1670. It was mainly illustrated with prints made by Flemish and Dutch printmakers after designs by other Netherlandish artists as well as artists from Germany and Italy. The illustrations mainly depict portraits of European monarchs and important aristocrats, castle scenes, battle scenes, maps and ceremonies. Apart from Meyssens, the Dutch and Flemish artists contributing were

Frans Geffels Frans Geffels, known in Italy as Francesco Geffels (25 August 1624 – 18 February 1694), was a Flemish painter, printmaker, architect, stage designer and designer of ephemeral structures for solemn and festive occasions.Miroslav Kindl, ''Die nie ...

, Jan de Herdt, Franciscus van der Steen, Gerard Bouttats, Adriaen van Bloemen, Sebastian van Dryweghen and Jacob Toorenvliet. German artists Moritz Lang, Johann Martin Lerch and Johann Holst and Italians Il Bianchi, Marco Boschini and Leonardus Hen.t Venetiis also contributed. Meyssens engraved a number of the portraits that were included in this work.Miroslav Kindl, ''Galeazzo Gualdo Priorato (1606 Vicenza – 1678 Vicenza), Historia di Leopoldo Cesare I–III, 1670–1674''
at Muzeum Umění Olomouc

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meyssens, Cornelis 17th-century Flemish engravers Flemish printmakers Artists from Antwerp 17th-century births