Jan Luyken

Johannes or Jan Luyken was a Dutch poet, illustrator, and engraver.

Biography

He was born and died in Amsterdam, where he learned engraving from his father Kaspar Luyken. He was a child prodigy.
Luyken married at 19 and had several children, including renowned engraver Caspar Luyken. At age 26 Luyken converted to the Mennonite church, which inspired him to write moralistic poetry.

Works

Luyken illustrated the 1685 edition of the Martyrs Mirror with 104 copper etchings. Thirty of these plates survive and were part of The Mirror of the Martyrs exhibit.
He also published Het Menselyk Bedryf in 1694, which contains numerous engravings of 17th-century trades by Luiken and his son Caspar.

Cultural references

' anti-hero Des Esseintes in À rebours was an admirer of Luyken's engravings and had prints from his Religious Persecutions hung in his boudoir. He described them as "a collection of appalling plates displaying all the tortures which religious fanaticism has invented." Des Esseintes was enthralled not just by Luyken's graphic depictions but his ability to reconstruct times and places in his works.