Portretten van Henri met de Bles, Lucas Gassel en Hans Holbein

About this artwork

height 155 mm x width 100 mm

Art Historical Context

This delicate etching by Dutch printmaker Jan l’Admiral captures the likenesses of three notable sixteenth-century painters: Henri met de Bles, Lucas Gassel, and Hans Holbein the Younger. Created in 1764, the small print (just 155 × 100 mm) gathers the three artists into a single composition, reflecting the eighteenth-century fascination with documenting the lives and faces of earlier masters. L’Admiral, active in Amsterdam, specialized in reproductive etchings that made celebrated images available to collectors who could not own paintings. Etching was ideally suited to such commemorative works; the technique allowed fine lines and subtle tonal gradations while enabling multiple impressions to circulate among scholars and amateurs. By reproducing portraits of these Renaissance figures—known for their inventive landscapes and refined portraiture—l’Admiral helped sustain their reputations long after their own lifetimes. The sheet thus serves both as a modest work of graphic art and as a miniature tribute to artistic lineage, inviting viewers to consider how earlier painters were remembered and celebrated in later centuries.

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...