Lucas van Leyden (redirected from Lucas van Leiden)

Lucas van Leyden (lü`käs vän lī`dən), 1494–1533, Dutch historical and genre painter and engraver. With Lucas, Dutch painting of scenes from daily life may be said to begin. His art is notable for its realistic treatment, dramatic power, and careful execution. He studied with his father, Huig Jacobsz, a Leiden artist, and with Cornelis Engelbrechtsz and soon established himself as an engraver of extraordinary ability, as well as a painter of originality and power. A child prodigy and prolific artist, Lucas executed more than 200 engravings, etchings, and designs for woodcuts, including Mohammed and the Monk (1508), Ecce Homo (1510), and Adam and Eve (1519). From c.1510 his works show the influence of Dürer, whom he met on a visit to Antwerp in 1521. They drew and exchanged portraits of each other. Later Lucas's style reflected his study of the prints of Marcantonio Raimondi. Among his paintings are Moses Striking Water from the Rock (Mus. of Fine Arts, Boston); Chess Game, St. Jerome, and Virgin Enthroned (Berlin); and Last Judgment (Leiden).

Bibliography

See his complete engravings, etchings, and woodcuts, ed. by J. Lavalleye (tr. 1967).

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Lucas (Huyghszoon) van Leyden

(born 1489/94, Leiden, Neth.—died before Aug. 8, 1533, Leiden) Netherlandish painter and engraver. He was trained by his father, a painter, but his great talent was as an engraver. Even such youthful prints as Muhammad and the Monk Sergius (1508) show great technical skill. In 1510, under the influence of Albrecht Dürer, he produced two masterpieces of engraving, The Milkmaid and Ecce Homo, the latter much admired by Rembrandt. He is thought to have developed the technique of etching on copper (instead of iron) plates; the softness of copper permitted him to combine etching and line engraving in the same print. He was also among the first to employ aerial perspective in prints. Though his paintings seldom attain the power of his engravings, he was an outstanding Netherlandish painter of his period; The Last Judgment (1526–27) is his most celebrated painting.

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Lucas van Leyden

?1494--1533, Dutch painter and engraver