Kneeling Saint, Pl. 20 from 'Het Tekenboek' (after Abraham Bloem aert)

Frederik Bloemaert

Between 1650 and 1656 Frederik Bloemaert (Dutch: ca.1614-1690) copied a selection of sketches by his father Abraham (1564-1651) using both intagalio and relief techniques, and self-published them in a book titled Het tekenboek van Abraham Bloemaert (The Drawing-Book of Abraham Bloemaert. Abraham Bloemaert was a widely respected painter and champion of Utrecht artists, and it is likely that his son, Frederik, aimed to keep his father's legacy alive by publishing this book of his drawing process to be used as a reference for artists. As was usual at the time, Abraham copied landscapes by other Dutch artists to learn their technique, and these made up a portion of the book. But the primary focus of the book is Abraham's own studies of the human form: entire figures in various states of dress and posture, as well as in-detail sketches of hands, feet, faces, etc.

In his original sketches Abraham would sometimes use ink washes to create tonality. When making Het Tekeboek, Frederik recreated his father's mid-tone washes using a "chiaroscuro" woodblock, wherein a single woodblock was inked with the mid-tone and the highlight areas were cut away, allowing the white of the paper to a show through. Prior to this book, it appears that very few printmakers used this technique, usually relying on cross-hatching and other effects to produce tonality. Frederik's innovation would have far-reaching influence, and "Kneeling Saint" shows the power of his technique in the minimal but effective gouged lines, suggesting sunlight falling on the kneeling figure and a halo radiating from behind his head. The original drawing by Abraham Bloemaert is held in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of Cambridge.

A note on condition: it appears that sometime during the printing process an object, perhaps a hair or thread adhered to the inked tonal field to the right of the kneeling figure, leaving two white lines. This doesn't seem to have deterred the printer, however, as they continued printing the black lines over the tonal field. Finally, there is a water mark in the image over the shoulder of the figure, again appearing to have occured during the printing. Still a beautiful impression. The price reflects these condition glitches.