Schelte a Bolswert

Schelte a Bolswert, a very distinguished engraver, was the younger brother of Boetius Adam a Bolswert, and was born at the town of Bolswert, in Friesland, in 1586. He settled with his brother at Antwerp, where he became one of the most celebrated engravers of his country. He died there in 1659. The plates of this excellent artist are worked entirely with the graver, and it does not appear that he made any use of the point. He engraved many plates after the most eminent of the Flemish masters, but he has particularly distinguished himself by the admirable performances he has left us, after some of the finest pictures of Rubens and Van Dyck, which he represented with a judgment and ability that give them more effect than can well be expected in a print, and appear to exhibit the very character and colour of the paintings. It was not unusual for Rubens to retouch his proofs, in the progress of the plates, with chalk or with the pencil, which corrections, attended to by the engraver, contributed not a little to the characteristic expression we find in his prints; proofs of this description are to be met with in the portfolios of the curious. He engraved with equal success historical subjects, huntings, landscapes, and portraits; and the number of his prints is very considerable. His plates are generally signed with his name. The following are his principal prints, of which we have given rather a detailed list:

Various subjects, mostly after his own designs

• The Infant Jesus and St. John playing with a Lamb.
• The Virgin Mary, and Infant Jesus sleeping.
• The Virgin giving suck to the Infant.
• The Virgin Mary, with her hands folded on her Breast.
• The Virgin Mary with the Infant in the clouds, with Angels and Cherubim.
• The Infant Jesus caressing the Virgin Mary, and St. Joseph holding a Pear.
• Twelve half-length figures of Saints.
• Twelve other half-length figures of Saints, beginning with St. Peter.
• A Hermit kneeling before a Crucifix.
• Mater Dolorosa.
• Jesus Christ triumphing over Death.
• St. Barbe, Martyr.
• St. Stanislaus Koska, kneeling before an Altar.
• St. Francis Borgia.
• St. Alfonso Rodriguez.
• Robert Bellarmin, of the Society of Jesus.
• Leonard Lessius; another Jesuit.
• An emblematical subject of Prince Ferdinand; inscribed In te spes reclinata recumbit.
• Two plates of a Thesis; dedicated to Sigismund, King of Poland.
• Six plates, with the Frontispiece, for the Académie de I'Espée; by Thibault. 1628.
• The Dispute between the Gras and the Meagre; B. A. Bolswert inv.

Various subjects, after different Flemish masters

• The Death of a Saint, and that of a Sinner; after Diepenbeeck.
• The Dead Christ on the Knees of the Virgin Mary; after the same.
• The Crucifixion of the Three Jesuits at Japan; after the same.
• The Crucifixion; Jac. Jordans inv. et pinx.; the best impressions are before the cum Privilegio Regis.
• Mercury and Argus; after the same; the good impressions are before the address of Blooteling; fine.
• The infant Jupiter; after the same; fine.
• Pan playing on a Flute; after the same; fine.
• A Concert; entitled Soo Doude songen, soo pepen de Jongen; after the same.
• Pan holding a Basket of Fruit, and Ceres crowned with Corn, and a Man sounding a Horn; after the same; very scarce.
• The Salutation; after Gerard Zegers.
• The Return of the Holy Family out of Egypt; after the same.
• The Virgin appearing to St. Ignatius, who is kneeling; after the same.
• St. Francis Xavier, tempted by the Devil; after the same.
• Peter denying Christ; after the same; very fine.
• Abraham sacrificing Isaac; after Theoodor Rombouts.
• A Concert; after the same.
• The Virgin with the Infant Jesus holding a Globe; after Erasmus Quellinus.
• The Communion of St. Rosa; after the same.
• The Triumph of the Archduke Leopold William, Governor of the Netherlands, 1653; four sheets; after the same.

Portraits, etc., after Van Dyck

• Andries van Ertvelt, painter of Antwerp.
• Martin Pepin, painter.
• Adriaan Brouwer, painter.
• Jean Baptiste Barbe, engraver. (pictured)
• Justus Lipsius, historiographer.
• Albert, Prince of Aremberg.
• Mary Ruthven, wife of Van Dyck.
• Margaret of Lorraine, Duchess of Orleans.
• Willem de Vos, painter. (pictured)
• Sebastiaan Vranck, painter.
• Maria mater Dei.
• The Holy Family, with an Angel holding a Crown.
• The Virgin and the Infant Christ on her Knoe, with a Female Saint holding a Palm.
• The Holy Family, with the Infant sleeping in the Arms of the Virgin.
• The Holy Family in a landscape, with several Angels.
• Christ crowned with Thorns; very fine.
• The Elevation of the Cross.
• The Crucifixion, a grand composition, with two Men on horseback, and a figure presenting the Sponge to Christ. On the other side, the Virgin Mary and St. John standing, and Mary Magdalene kneeling and embracing the Cross. This is considered one of the most beautiful engravings by Bolswert. In the first impressions, which are very scarce, the hand of St. John is not seen on the shoulder of the Virgin: in the second impressions, the hand of St. John rests on the Virgin's shoulder, and the name of Van Dyck is changed from the left to the right hand comer of the plate. In the last impressions the hand was erased, probably to give them the appearance of first impressions, but the trick is easily discovered by the superiority of the first in point of clearness and colour.

Subjects after Rubens

• The Brazen Serpent; the best impressions are those which have the word Antwerpiae at the right hand corner, without the name of G. Hendrix.
• The Marriage of the Virgin; the best impressions have the name of Hendrix, without the word Antwerpiae.
• The Annunciation; the best impressions are those with the address of M. van den Enden.
• The Nativity; the best impressions have the same address.
• The Adoration of the Magi; the same.
• The Return of the Holy Family from Egypt: the same.
• The Feast of Herod, with Herodias presenting the Head of St. John to her Mother.
• The Executioner giving the Head of St. John to Herodias.
• The miraculous Draught of Fishes; in three plates.
• Christ crucified between the Thieves; G. Hendrix exc.
• The Crucifixion, a Soldier on horseback piercing the side of Our Saviour; dated 1631; extremely fine.
• The Crucifixion, with the city of Jerusalem in the distance; M. van den Enden exc.
• The Dead Christ in the Lap of the Virgin Mary, with. St. Francis; the same subject is engraved by Pontius.
• The Resurrection; M. van den Enden excudit.
• The Ascension; the same.
• The Four Evangelists.
• The Fathers of the Church; Nic. Lauwers exc.
• The Destruction of Idolatry; in two sheets; the same.
• The Triumph of the Church; in two sheets; the same.
• The Immaculate Conception; Ant. Bon. Enfant exc.
• The Assumption; arched; M. van den Enden exc.
• The Assumption, with one of the Disciples lifting the Stone of the Sepulchre; M. van den Enden ; the impressions with the address of G. Hendrix are posterior, and those with the name of C. van Merlen are retouched.
• The Infant Jesus embracing the Virgin Mary; M. van den Enden exc.
• The Virgin Mary holding a Globe, and the Infant Jesus holding a Sceptre.
• The Holy Family, vrith the Infant Jesus and St. John caressing a Lamb.
• The Holy Family, with a Parrot on a Pillar; A. Bonenfant exc.
• St. Ignatius and St. Francis Xavier; the first impressions are before the name of Rubens.
• The Education of the Virgin by St. Anne; the best impressions are without the name of Hendrix.
• St. Cecilia; very fine.
• St. Theresa at the Feet of Christ, interceding for the Souls in Purgatory; M. van den Enden exc.
• The Continence of Scipio; the best impressions are before the address of G. Hendrix.
• Silenus, drunk, supported by a Satyr, with another figure; the best impressions are those with the name of Bolswert only, without the address.
• A Peasant Dance,^[1] Gillis Hendricx excudit.

Landscapes and huntings

• A set of six 'large landscapes' after Rubens^[2]
  • Philemon and Baucis (Ovid)^[3] - grand landscape deluged by a torrent.
  • Shipwreck of AEneas (Virgil)^[4] - grand landscape, sea-coast, beacon and a shipwreck.^[5]
  • Shipwreck of St Paul at Malta.^[6] - landscape with rainbow.^[7]
  • The Calydonian Boar Hunt, with Atalanta and Meleager in a grand woody landscape.^[8]
  • A view near Mechlin, with Haymakers and a Waggon, and figures driving Cattle.
  • Return of the Prodigal Son^[9] - including a stable with horses and cows.
• A set of twenty 'smaller landscapes'.
• A set of twelve Huntings of different animals, of which one is a Lion Hunt, with figures on horseback; very spirited and fine.

References

This article incorporates text from the article "BOLSWERT, Scheltius à" in Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers by Michael Bryan, edited by Robert Edmund Graves and Sir Walter Armstrong, an 1886–1889 publication now in the public domain.