Abraham Blooteling

Abraham Blooteling (or Bloteling) (1634–1690)[1] was a Dutch designer and engraver.

Life

He was born at Amsterdam. From the style of his etchings it is likely that he was a pupil of the Visschers. Following the French incursions into the Netherlands in 1672, he went to England, where he met with some success, but only stayed for two or three years.[2]

Blooteling produced a large number of etchings, some line engravings,[2] and also worked in mezzotint, a technique he is known to have adopted by 1671. He has sometimes been credited with the invention of the "rocker" as a tool for the preparation of mezzotint plates, and with introducing the technique into England.[3]

In 1685 he published the collection of gems of Leonardo Agostini, etched by himself. He sometimes signed his plates with his name at length, and sometimes with a monogram, composed of the letters 'A' and 'B'. Bloteling was a bachelor and a friend of Gerard de Lairesse, who also lived on Prinsengracht.[2]

Etchings and engravings

Portraits

Various subjects after his own designs and other masters

Two 48-pounders cast at Lübeck by Albert Benningk for the States-General of the Netherlands in 1669; engraving from 1671.

Mezzotints

Portraits

Various subjects from his own designs and other masters

References

  1. Amsterdam city archive
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Bryan 1886–9
  3. Arthur M., Hind (2011). A History of Engraving and Etching (Reprint ed.). Courier. p. 265. ISBN 9780486148878.

Sources

This article incorporates text from the article "BLOOTELING, Abraham" 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.