Description

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Jan Luyken (Johannes Luiken), (Amsterdam, April 16, 1649 – Amsterdam, April 5, 1712), was a poet, painter and etcher from the 17th century. He was born the son of the teacher Caspar Luyken (who also wrote a book himself, “Profit without Loss”) and Hester Coores. His parents were Mennonite colleagues, followers of Dr. Abraham Galenus. The son was a lively youngster who took painting lessons with Martinus Saeghmolen, and had a keen eye for feminine beauty. He shaped many of his impressions in his first collection of poems “Duytse lier”, which appeared at the end of 1671. Three months later he married a singer Maria de Ouden (1647 – 1682), to whom the final poet of Duyt’s lyre was dedicated. Together they had 5 children who died at a young age, except for son Caspar (1672-1708), with whom he later made his best-known book, Spiegel van het Menselyk Bedryf. When he was 26 years old, he had a religious experience that led him to live a more solid life and became a Baptist. This was expressed in his poetry, which became much more edifying.

From 1677 he started to focus on etchings and engravings, and made his name as a brilliant etcher in 1680 with 24 illustrations of the book Oorsprongk, begin, and continuation of the Dutch wars, a popular history book, once published by the well-known Pieter Christiaenszoon Bor. Luyken is also known for his moralistic prints entitled “The stinginess threatens wisdom, The dredging mill: the earthly is mud and The bookcase – why so much?” And etchings about the suffering of the Christian martyrs. Luykens etchings demonstrate great plasticity through the targeted hatching of the figures and the thoughtful deployment of groups of people in relation to each other to enhance the spatiality of the landscape. He also very realistically depicts the vibrancy of foliage and smoke and flames in his work entitled Celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles and Legislation on Mount Sinai.

Source: https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Luyken