Joos de Momper the Younger

The painter Joos de Momper specialized in mountainous landscapes. In the portrait at right, Van Dyck’s etching technique — consisting of stippling, lines alternatingly scratchy or fluent, and areas of dense hatching — conveys the varied textures of the wrinkled skin, curly hair, leather glove, and rugged landscape. Probably to preserve Van Dyck’s original, the plate was not finished with the burin in later states, but a completely new print was made by the engraver Lucas Vorsterman. The state shown here of this second plate bears the address of Martinus van den Eynden, the first recorded publisher of the Iconographie.