NETHERLANDS

PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST CORNELIS CORT, 1649/1694

CORNELIS CORT
Admirable engraver born in Hornesen, Holland in the year 1536. He stayed a long time in Italy reproducing a great number of of the works of Raphael, Titian, and many others. He died in Rome in the year 1578.
Franc. vande Steen Sculpsit. I Meissens execudit.

Astute readers will note that this is not a "document" in any meaningful sense — but I have no real interest in acquiring art and so a separate "Art" folder at top-right would be destined for windswept near-emptiness. Better, I think, to stick my very few pictures here, where they're at least among convivial company. Anyway here we have a very handsomely executed portrait of Cornelis Cort (1536-1578), a Dutch engraver who did much to disseminate the masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance throughout Europe via his engraved reproductions of them. He seems to have been very highly regarded in his lifetime although, a little cruelly, the single assessment of him cited by Wikipedia notes his engravings' "loss of sentiment in the heads [and] expression of hands." Anyway this print here was, per the text at bottom, a collaboration between Franciscus van der Steen (engraving) and Joannes Meyssens (printing). This image was first produced in 1649, long after Cort's death: and so presumably on that basis the engraving must be after a painted portrait, but my extensive research (i.e. a google images search) sadly turns up nothing — and no painter is cited, whatever that signifies.

While this engraving first appeared in 1649, (after actually quite a bit of time looking into this) this particular version appears to date from 1694, where it appeared in the unimprovably-titled "The true effigies of the most eminent painters, and other famous artists that have flourished in Europe. Curiously engraven on copper-plates. Together with an account of the time when they lived, the most remarkable passages of their lives, and most considerable works. Very useful for all such gentlemen as are lovers of art and ingenuity." The "100" at the top of the inscription would appear to be the distinguishing feature. This printing here however seems to be from the original plate: note that the crack in the bottom-right is also present on the 1649 iteration. Curiously, the spelling of the subject's name has been changed from "Cornile" to "Cornelle" between the 1649 printing and the engraving's 1661 appearance in artist-biography-anthology Het Gulden Cabinet (again, note the presence of the crack at the bottom).