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.

Abraham and Melchizedech
Supper at Emmaus
M. Tullius Cicero