Jan Luyken
Johannes Luyken: Dutch poet, illustrator, and engraver. Created by: PICRYL - Public Domain Media Search Engine Dated: 1712Johannes Luyken was a Dutch poet, illustrator, and engraver. Amsterdam born (1649-1712), Jan was a very important etcher in the period after Rembrandt. His artistry is distinguished by its clarity and detail.
He learned engraving from his father Kaspar Luyken. He married at 19 and had several children, of who Kasparus (Casper) also became a renowned engraver. Luyken is most famous for his picture-book "Het Menselyk Bedryf". His son assisted with the making of the book. Luyken Religious Persecutions prints series is 'appalling engravings containing all the tortures that the madness of religion could devise.'
As a young man, he published a volume of erotic poetry. Later, influenced by the writings of the German mystic Jakob Böhme, Luyken embraced pietistic Christianity. In his twenty-sixth year, he had a religious experience that inspired him to write moralistic poetry. He became increasingly ascetic and withdrew from society. Luyken died in poverty.
In their time, Jan and his son Casper Luyken turned out not only to be extremely versatile but also most prolific artists. In all, their production includes almost 4,500 different prints, of which about one fourth are Casper’s work. Together, father and son collaborated on only 36 prints. Jan and Casper Luyken worked for more than a hundred publishing houses, in and outside Amsterdam. The prints in the books they illustrated feature a great diversity of subjects and are often witty and full of surprising details.
Jan chose mostly pious and biblical subjects, whereas Casper depicted more worldly scenes.