PONTIUS, Paulus

(b. 1603 Antwerpen, d. 1658 Antwerpen)

Flemish engraver. By the time he was twenty-four, he had become a master in the Antwerp guild and was the primary artist responsible for making engravings after the work of Peter Paul Rubens. In fact, Pontius lived in Rubens’s home until a year after the painter’s death. Having trained as a painter prior to studying engraving, Pontius developed a style “that accurately conveys the nature of the original painting.”

After Rubens’s death, Pontius went on to make engravings after other artists, including Anthony van Dyck, Titian, and Velázquez. He also became very well known as a portrait engraver.

Portrait of Constantijn Huygens

Paulus Pontius engraved Anthony van Dyck most evocative known image of Constantijn Huygens (1596-1687), the Dutch poet and composer, secretary to two Princes, and the father of the scientist Christiaan Huygens.

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Portrait of Nicolaas Rockox

Nicolaas Rockox (1560-1640) was the burgomaster (mayor) of Antwerp. His fame is largely attributed to his friendship to Rubens and the commissions he gave to this artist. His 17th-century patrician is housing a fine collection of Flemish art.

Anthony Van Dyck, like Rubens, also collaborated with engravers. Two of his portraits of Rockox.were engraved by Lucas Vorsterman and his pupil Paulus Pontius.

Paulus Pontius, an engraver in Antwerp, was the pupil of Lucas Vorsterman. Vorsterman engraved about fourteen prints after Rubens which represent the acme of Rubensian art in black and white. But at the end of two years, Rubens quarrelled with Vorsterman who even went so far as to threaten to kill him. Vorsterman was succeeded by his pupil Paulus Pontius, who accentuated the colourist tendency of his craft.

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Self-Portrait by Rubens

The self-portrait in a slouch hat was executed by Paulus Pontius after Peter Paul Rubens.

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