Jan Luyken
Johannes or Jan Luyken (April 16, 1649 – April 5, 1712) was a Dutch poet, illustrator and engraver.[1]
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Biography
![](../I/Lusthof_des_Gemoeds_-_Jan_Philipsz_Schabaalje_1714.jpg.webp)
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He was born and died in Amsterdam, where he learned engraving from his father Kaspar Luyken.[1] He married at 19 and had several children, of who Kasparus Luiken also became a renowned engraver.[1] He had a religious experience at age 26 that inspired him to write moralistic poetry.[1]
Works
He illustrated the 1685 edition of the Martyrs Mirror with 104 copper etchings. Thirty of these plates survive and are part of The Mirror of the Martyrs exhibit.[2]
He also published Het Menselyk Bedryf ("The Book of Trades") in 1694, which contains numerous engravings, by Luiken and his son Caspar (Caspaares), of 17th century trades.
Cultural references
Joris-Karl Huysmans' anti-hero Des Esseintes in À rebours was an admirer of Luyken's engravings and had prints from his Religious Persecutions hung in his drawing room. He described them as 'appalling engravings containing all the tortures that the madness of religion could devise.' Des Esseintes was enthralled not just by Luyken's graphic depictions but his ability to reconstruct times and places in his works.
Gallery
- Jesus the Teacher
- Serious mistreatment of Christian slaves by the Turks
- Turk and clergyman with Christian slaves (1684)
- The Cruelty of Shah Safi (1697)
- Anne Boleyn's Execution
- Alexander Farnese marries Maria Princess of Portugal (1720)
Notes
- Kort verhaal Van het godvruchtig leven En zalig afsterven Van Joannes Luiken (Short story of the religious life and peaceful death of Joannes Luiken) in the DBNL
- "The Mirror of the Martyrs". Bethel College. Archived from the original on December 28, 2007. Retrieved December 24, 2007.
External links
Media related to Jan Luyken at Wikimedia Commons
- Works by or about Jan Luyken at Internet Archive
- Works by Jan Luyken at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)