Crispijn van de Passe the Younger

Crispijn van de Passe the Younger (1594/1595 – 19 January 1670) was a Dutch Golden Age engraver, draftsman, and print publisher, and a key member of the prolific Van de Passe family of artists. Born in Cologne while his family was living in exile from Antwerp, he trained in engraving under his father, Crispijn van de Passe the Elder, alongside his siblings Simon, Willem, and Magdalena, all of whom became accomplished engravers. Van de Passe the Younger’s early work closely followed his father’s style, but by the 1620s he had developed a distinctive, finely detailed, and sketch-like use of the burin. His career included an extended period in Paris from 1618 to 1630, where he produced portraits of European royalty and nobility, including Louis XIII of France and Marie de’ Medici, as well as prominent Dutch figures such as Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, and Piet Hein. Beyond portraiture, he was active in creating book illustrations and thematic engravings, most notably the influential Hortus Floridus (1614–1616), a collection of 160 botanical plates widely translated, and the set of 60 equestrian engravings for Antoine de Pluvinel’s Maneige royal (1623). He returned to Utrecht in 1630, later working in Delft and Copenhagen before settling in Amsterdam in 1639. There, he continued producing prints, including Les vrais pourtraits de quelques unes des plus grandes dames de la chrestiente (1640) and his instructional work Van ’t Licht der teken en schilderkonst (1643–1644). Despite his skill and prolific output, his later years in Amsterdam brought little financial success, and he died in poverty, being buried in the city on 19 January 1670. His work remains represented in major collections across Europe and the United States.