490. "Portrait of the artist Peter Paul Rubens"

Etching "Portrait of the Artist Pieter Paul Rubens", 1800 The author of the original: Anthonis van Dyck (1599 Antwerp - 1641 London), whose creative heyday came in the first half of the 17th century, art critics are often called the most talented and beloved student of Rubens. Fame came to him after a series of picturesque ceremonial portraits, thanks to which he was appointed court painter and won the patronage of the English king Charles I. Van Dyck wrote more than nine hundred works. And when he and his teacher decided to try to replicate these works and transferred them to metal, unprecedented popularity came to the master. Anthony van Dijk achieved perfection in the creation of engravings. He created his etchings on sheets of copper. The plate was covered with a special composition, and then a drawing was scratched on it with special tools. This made it possible to obtain prints of excellent quality - the ink applied to the finished etching was retained only in the etched depressions and was transferred to the paper during printing. Original author engraver: Paulus Pontius (May 1603 Antwerp - January 16, 1658 in Antwerp) Flemish engraver and painter. He was one of the leading engravers associated with Rubens `workshop and worked after Rubens` death for other leading Antwerp painters such as Anthony van Dyck, Jacob Jordaens and others.