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 intimate scale suits a print intended for collectors and scholars rather than public display. The presence of the Lugt 2228 collector’s stamp on the verso further situates the sheet within distinguished private holdings, underscoring how such portraits circulated among connoisseurs who valued both the subject’s historical importance and the technical finesse of 18th-century etching. Through fine line work and careful tonal modulation, l’Admiral preserved van Mander’s image for an audience still engaged with the foundations of Dutch art history.

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...