Jan Collaert II

[2][3] He trained under his brother Adriaen as well as with leading Antwerp engravers Philip Galle and Gerard de Jode.

[2] From 1580 through his death c. 1620, Collaert and his brother were both employed by Philip Galle, one of the most prolific print publishers in Europe during the late sixteenth century.

Another contemporary draughtsman who provided source material was Maerten de Vos, a Flemish painter in the Mannerist tradition.

[5] The series of twenty illustrations- plus a title page- depicting Biblical characters engaged in heroic acts were completed between 1590 and 1595 in association with Cornelis van Kiel, a Dutch lexicographer and writer, for his Latin text Icones Illustrium Feminarum Veteris Testamenti (The Celebrated Women of the Old Testament).

The engravings, "clearly Mannerist in inspiration"[6] are reminiscent of Sandro Botticelli's work, detailed portrayals of Rubenesque figures with tiny heads and expressive hands.