Jacob Neefs

Jacob Neefs or Jacob Neeffs[1] (Antwerp, 1610 – Antwerp, after 1660) was a Flemish etcher, engraver and publisher. He worked on publication projects for prominent Flemish artists of his time including Rubens, van Dyck and Jordaens.[2]

Nosce Te Ipsum (Allegory of Vanity), engraving by Jacob Neefs after a drawing by Jacob Jordaens

Life

Jacob Neefs was a pupil of Lucas Vorsterman the Elder. In 1632-3 he was admitted as a master in the Guild of Saint Luke of Antwerp. In March 1632 he became a member of the 'Sodaliteit van de Bejaerde Jongmans', a fraternity for bachelors established by the Jesuit order. He married Anne Antonissen on 5 February 1655. He is last mentioned in the registers of the Guild of Saint Luke in 1661.[2]

His pupils included Jacques vande Velde (1644–45) and Emanuel Winghen.[2]

Work
Two putti calculate the distance between two points with a compass, engraving by Jacob Neefs after a drawing by Philip Fruytiers

Neefs worked as an engraver for the leading Flemish painters of his age. In Rubens' studio he belonged to the 'new generation' of engravers with the likes of Hans Witdoeck. He was one of the last to work under Rubens himself.[3]

He worked on the Iconography of Anthony van Dyck[4] and completed some of the portraits for the later editions of the Iconography by adding a sculptural bust and pedestal.[5] It is unknown whether or not this was van Dyck's intention.[6]

Other prominent painters for whom or after whom he made engravings include Jacob Jordaens,[7] Abraham van Diepenbeeck,[8] Gerard Seghers,[9] Philip Fruytiers, Annibale Carracci and Theodoor van Thulden.[3]

He collaborated on various printing projects with the leading engravers of his time including Mattheus Borrekens, Cornelis Galle the Younger, Wenceslaus Hollar, Pieter de Jode II, Theodoor van Merlen, Michel Natalis and Paulus Pontius. Between 1635 and 1659 Jacob Neeffs illustrated about 10 books, mainly published in Antwerp and Leuven.[3]

His works are mainly executed with the burin.[10] He also gained a reputation for his drawings which demonstrate a steadiness of hand.[11]

References
  1. Alternate spellings of surname: Neeffs and alternative first names: Jakob, Jacques and Jacobus
  2. Biographical details at the Netherlands Institute for Art History
  3. Christian Coppens. "Neeffs, Jacob." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 16 Nov. 2013
  4. Hind, Arthur M., Van Dyck, his original etchings and his iconography, Houghton Mifflin company, Boston and New York, 1915
  5. "Title page of the Iconography with self-Portrait of Anthony van Dyck
  6. "Self-Portrait of Anthony van Dyck from the Iconography
  7. Print of Vanity based on a design by Jacob Jordaens
  8. Jacob Neefs made, jointly with Andries Pauwels, the engravings based on designs of Abraham van Diepenbeeck for the first edition of the emblem book Linguae vitia et remedia, published by Joannes Cnobbaert in Antwerp in 1631. Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine
  9. Salome with the head of St John the Baptist.
  10. Carrington, Fitz Roy, Catalogue of engravings and etchings presented by George A. Hearn to the Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration, New York, 1897, p. 19
  11. Biographical details in Nagler, Georg Kaspar, Neues allgemeines Künstler-Lexicon: oder Nachrichten von dem Leben und den Werken der Maler, Bildhauer, Baumeister, Kupferstecher etc, Volume 10, Munchen, 1841, p.164

Bibliography
  • BASAN F. e.a, Dictionnaire des graveurs anciens et modernes depuis l'origine de la gravure. Avec une notice des principales estampes qu'ils ont gravées ; suivi des catalogues des oeuvres de Jacques Jordans & de Corneille Visscher,vol. 2, De Lormel, Parijs, 1767, p. 60
  • DELEN A., Tentoonstelling van teekeningen en prenten van Antwerpsche meesters der XVIIe eeuw (Rubens en zijn tijd) [tentoonstellingscatalogus], Antwerpen augustus 1927 – September 1927, Stad Antwerpen, 1927
  • HOLLSTEIN F.W.H., Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, c. 1450–1700, Amsterdam, 1949
  • VAN DEN WIJNGAERT F., Inventaris der Rubeniaansche prentkunst, Uitgeverij de sikkel, Antwerpen, 1940, p. 17

Media related to Jacob Neefs at Wikimedia Commons

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