Hans Witdoeck

[4] Hans Witdoeck broke the three-year training contract with Vorsterman after only two years at the instigation of his father.

Witdoeck made two engravings after paintings of Cornelis Schut and nine Madonna images, usually of a small size.

Witdoeck worked between 1634 and 1638 under the close supervision of Rubens on many engravings, including Abraham and Melchizedek, the Adoration of the Magi, the three-part Raising of the Cross, the Supper at Emmaus, Saint Ildefonso receiving the chasuble, Cicero and Demosthenes.

[5] This is documented by the process of the creation of a series of twelve plates after antique marble portrait sculptures (heads, busts, herms) by the four printmakers Hans Witdoeck, Paulus Pontius, Lucas Vorsterman, and Boetius à Bolswert working for Rubens.

[6] Witdoeck showed in his prints after Rubens a great skill in capturing the movement and variety of colour in the original works through his clever use of black, grey and white tones.