Jan Meyssens

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Self-portrait of Jan Meyssens, engraved by his son Cornelis

Jan Meyssens , also Joannes or Jean Meyssens (born May 17, 1612 in Brussels , † September 18, 1670 in Antwerp ) was a Flemish Baroque painter , engraver , printer and art dealer .

Life

Meyssens moved from his native Brussels to Antwerp at a young age. There he became master of the local Guild of St. Luke in 1640 . With his wife Anna Jacobs († 1678) he had a son, Cornelis, who also became an engraver.

Portrait book

Meyssens was very successful in business and worked with many painters, draftsmen and engravers of his time. His best-known work is the book Image de divers hommes d'esprit sublime , published in 1649 , which contains a collection of engraved portraits of famous personalities, including many artists. The pictures and the French descriptions with which Meyssens provided them repeatedly served art historians as biographical sources of information. One of them was Cornelis de Bie , who also published the famous work Het Gulden Cabinet vande Vry Schilder-Const in Antwerp in 1662 at the instigation of Meyssens , a collection of biographies of the most famous Flemish painters of the 16th and 17th centuries. Het Gulden Cabinet was published in 1694 in an English edition in London under the title The True Effigies Of the most Eminent Painters, and other famous artists that have flourished in Europe .

Works

  • Image de divers hommes d'esprit sublime qui par leur art et science devront vivre eternellement et des quels la lovange et prestige faict estonner le monde , A Anvers mis en lumiere par Iean Meyssens peinctre et vendeur de lart au Cammestraet l'an MDCXLIX