Brussels-born Adriaan de Weerdt is known only through an exceedingly rare number of drawings and engravings inscribed with his name as inventor.[1] The present four grisailles are designs for prints, engraved by Isaac Duchemin and likely published by De Weerdt himself in a rare first edition in 1573.[2] These plates were subsequently published by Peter Overadt, Hieronymus Wierix, and Claes Jansz. Visscher although the total number of prints varies with each edition.

As no known paintings survive by this intriguing Flemish Renaissance artist, De Weerdt is somewhat of an enigma. Most information about the artist’s life and work was proclaimed by Karel van Mander’s Schilder-Boeck from 1604, undoubtedly contributed by Dirck Volkertsz. Coornhert’s pupil Hendrick Goltzius.[3] Coornhert, who collaborated on prints with De Weerdt during their German exile, is the conduit to Goltzius, whose own chiaroscuro work was indebted to the Flemish draughtsman.

As a young man, De Weerdt traveled to Italy to become acquainted with the style of Parmigianino and other Italian Mannerists. Upon his return, the Protestant De Weerdt and his mother left tumultuous Flanders around 1566 for Cologne, a sanctuary for artists fleeing the Low Countries.[4] A conspicuously large number of Netherlandish artists emigrated to the free town of Cologne, a Catholic bulwark, forced to leave for political and religious reasons during the Duke of Alba’s reign of terror and worsening economic conditions. Cologne offered good prospects for the Dutch refugees, many of whom were engravers, designers and publishers, professions which were much in demand. Skilled native artists were rare in Cologne, and the wealthy, art-loving patricians and prosperous burghers were eager customers. Possibly for opportunistic reasons, De Weerdt converted to Lutheranism, which allowed him citizenship in 1577and membership to the local guild. He was arrested in his adopted hometown at a secret gathering of Lutherans, but as a citizen, there were no serious consequences. His arrest in 1579 is the last time De Weerdt is recorded. His relatively short life perhaps explains his limited artistic output.

In Cologne, according to Van Mander, De Weerdt produced designs for prints, among them a series The Life of Mary and Christ.[5] Ilja Veldman suggests that the series originally was conceived as two separate cycles: The Life of Mary and The Life of Christ, corroborated by Van Mander.[6] Remarkably, the present four designs appear together in Jan Schabaelje’s Emblata sacra in 1654, suggesting that some eighty years after their inception, they were separated from the others.[7] The only other drawing connected to the series is the Healing of a Leper in the Albertina, possibly the design for the fourteenth print of the series; its strikingly different style and technique, however, undermine this proposal.[8] Four signed designs for the print series The History of Ruth, also in the Albertina, are the only other known surviving drawings for prints.[9]

The four present drawings executed in an un-Dutch grisaille technique, are clearly influenced by Northern Italian mannerists like De Weerdt’s man of the hour Parmigiano. According to Van Mander, following in Leonardo’s footsteps by imitating the maniera and aria of one master and making it one’s own was the preferred method. The influence of Parmigianino’s elegantly elongated figures on the international court style of the Emperor Rudolf II in Prague must have been considerable at the time. Applied washes in brown, grey and yellow reveal the artist’s fascination with the Italian chiaroscuro woodcuts, introducing the next generation of Dutch artists, especially Goltzius, to this style and technique.

[1] Biographical information from Veldman 2017, op.cit., p. 2

[2] Hollstein, op.cit., nos. 2, 4, 6, 7. Only one complete set of the first edition exists in the Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden.

[3] Miedema, op.cit., p. 207

[4] Ilja M. Veldman, “Keulen als toevluchtsoord voor Nederlandse kunstenaars (1567-1612)”, Oud Holland, Vol. 107, No. 1 (1993), pp. 34-58

[5] Karel van Mander, Schilder-Boeck, Haarlem 1604, fol. 230r19: “een Vrouwe Leven, met Kerstnacht” (The Life of Mary, with a Nativity)

[6] Veldman 2017, op.cit., p. 15. The fact that the last four plates are not numbered supports the idea that The Life of Mary was conceived as eight numbered plates.

[7] Jan Philipsz. Schabaelje (c. 1585-1656), Den grooten emblemata sacra, bestaende in meer dan vier hondert bybelsche figueren […], Amsterdam, in the printworks of Tymon Houthaer, 1654

[8] Chalk traces, pen in gray, wash, 25.2 x 18.5 cm, inv.no. 26208

https://sammlungenonline.albertina.at/?query=search=/record/objectnumbersearch=[26208]&showtype=record

[9] inv.nos. 7972-7975 https://sammlungenonline.albertina.at/#/query/9755727f-4c89-46ae-ab7a-d7c3ebcc574e