Nicolaus van Aelst

Nicolaus van Aelst (c. 1526 – 19 July 1613)^[1] was a Flemish engraver and perhaps painter, resident in Rome.

Life

Van Aelst was born in Brussels. At an early age he established himself at Rome, where from 1550 to 1612 he carried on a considerable commerce in prints.^[2]

The names of the painter, and the engraver of the plates, executed for his collection, were frequently omitted, and his own inserted, with the word formis, to denote that he was the publisher.^[2] Many of the plates had previously been issued by other publishers.^[1] There is, however, evidence that he produced some work as an engraver himself, as on several plates the word fecit, or sculpsit, is added to his name. Heineken mentions a set of twelve plates of birds engraved by him.^[2]

He died in Rome on 19 July 1613^[1]

References

1. 1 2 3 Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe, Copyright in the Renaissance: prints and the privilegio in sixteenth-century Venice and Rome, Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2004, ISBN 90-04-13748-3, page 272
2. 1 2 3 Bryan 1886–1889 1886–1889

Sources

• This article incorporates text from the article "AELST, Nicolaus van" 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.

Further reading

• Lorizzo, Loredana (March 2014). "Nicolas van Aelst's Will and a List of his Plates". Print Quarterly. XXXI (1): 3–20.