Portret van Karel van Mander

About this artwork

verzamelaarsmerk, verso, gestempeld: Lugt 2228

Art Historical Context

This etching, created in 1764 by the Dutch printmaker Jan l’Admiral, depicts Karel van Mander, the influential 16th-century painter, poet, and art historian best known for his Schilder-boeck. Though produced more than a century after van Mander’s death, the portrait reflects the enduring reverence for his writings, which shaped how later generations understood Netherlandish art. L’Admiral, active in the 18th-century Dutch tradition of reproductive printmaking, used etching to translate earlier painted or drawn likenesses into a widely distributable medium. Measuring just 154 mm in height, the...

About the Artist

Jan l'Admiral · 1699–1773

Jan l'Admiral (1699–1773) was a pioneering Dutch engraver whose mastery of color mezzotint technique and collaboration with leading anatomists made him a crucial figure in both artistic printmaking and scientific illustration. Born in Amsterdam in 1699 to an engraver father of the same name, l'Admiral belonged to a family of printmakers and received training that would position him at the forefron...