Gerard Valck

Gerard Valck (30 September 1652 – 21 October 1726) was a Dutch engraver, publisher and cartographer.[1]

Biography

Valck was born in Amsterdam on 30 September 1652 to an Amsterdam silversmith. He was a student of Dutch engraver and printmaker Abraham Blooteling and later became his assistant. Together, they moved to London, where Valk continued to work with print and map dealers. In 1673, he married Blooteling's sister Maria and they had a son, Leonard.[2] Soon after Leonard's birth in 1675, Valk returned to Amsterdam. There, he was registered as a citizen on December 8, 1679.[2] He trained under the Dutch engraver and printmaker Abraham Blooteling, later becoming his assistant. During the 1670s, the two moved to London, where Valck worked among English print and map dealers.

Career

London period and printmaking

During the 1670s, while living in London, Valck worked primarily as an engraver and mezzotint maker, frequently collaborating with Abraham Blooteling. He produced portraits, including depictions of members of the English nobility, and published much of his own work himself.[3] His earliest dated mezzotint, Sleeping Cupid (1677), was based on a painting by the Italian artist Guido Reni.[4] Valck also produced engravings and mezzotints after works by artists including Peter Lely, Gérard de Lairesse and Philip Tideman.[5]

Publishing and cartography in Amsterdam

After returning to Amsterdam in the mid-1670s, Valck increasingly expanded his activities into publishing and cartography. In 1680, he entered into a publishing partnership with Pieter Schenk the Elder, a German-born Dutch engraver and publisher who later married Valck's sister in 1687.[1] Together, the Valck and Schenk families operated a publishing business producing maps, atlases, prints and printed globes.[1]

Map and globe publishing

From the late seventeenth century onward, Valck worked primarily as a publisher specializing in maps and globes in Amsterdam.[1] The firm later took over the former Hondius publishing shop and acquired part of the stock of the Visscher family, both associated with Amsterdam's map and print trade.[1] Valck also published print series depicting subjects including houses belonging to the House of Orange-Nassau, trades and professions, fountains, chimneys and birds.[3][5]

Death

He died in Amsterdam on 21 October 1726.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Collections Online | British Museum". www.britishmuseum.org. Retrieved 2026-05-06.
  2. ^ a b "Dorset by Gerard Valk & Petrus Schenk | Sanderus Antique Maps - Antique Map Webshop". sanderusmaps.com. Retrieved 2026-04-25.
  3. ^ a b c "The Flute Lesson by Gerard Valck, engraver and publisher". loc.gov. Archived from the original on March 16, 2015. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
  4. ^ "Gerard Valck - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 2026-05-01.
  5. ^ a b "Gerard Valck". npg.org. Archived from the original on March 16, 2015. Retrieved March 16, 2015.

Media related to Gerard Valck at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.