VISSCHER, Cornelis

Lieven Willemsz van Coppenol (c. 1599-1671) was a well-known calligrapher. His family originates from the Spanish Netherlands from where his grandparents fled and settled in Haarlem about 1579. Van Coppenol appears to have taken part in the development of calligraphy at every level, from schoolboy competitions to publishing, teaching, corresponding with peers, and finally striving, obsessively, to be recognized as the greatest calligrapher. He was far from achieving that distinction, although he had considerable skill.

Van Coppenol commissioned portrait prints from Rembrandt also in 1658. Apparently Rembrandt’s prints never pleased the patron nor was the engraving by Visscher accepted.

Cornelis Visscher was one of the most important and productive Dutch portrait engravers and draftsmen of the 17th century, despite his early death. He also did engravings of biblical scenes, genre scenes, landscapes, and animal studies.

Visscher engraved Lorenzo Lotto’s Portrait of Andrea Odoni in 1653 (in reverse) as a Correggio, when it was in an Amsterdam collection. The iconographical importance of the crucifix was not lost on the engraver; he slightly enlarged it. The format of the engraving is somewhat wider than that of Lotto’s painting.

The present portrait of a young man, head and shoulders is an example of Cornelis Visscher’s most typical works, the portrait drawings on vellum, drawn with a fine technique that indicates his apprenticeship to Peter Soutman, himself a pupil of Rubens. It demonstrates the soft hatching in different directions, which is typical of Visscher.