Dutch edition of an impressive collection of engraved and etched portraits after paintings by the celebrated Baroque artist Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641). It was first published by Jean Swart in Amsterdam in 1722 as a supplement to Le cabinet des plus beaux portraits … (Antwerp, Henry and Cornelis Verdussen, ca. 1720). The 50 portraits portray distinquished contemporaries, including Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, Charles I of England and his wife Henrietta Maria, Frederik Hendrik Prince of Orange, the Flemish painters Gerard Seghers, Lucas and Cornelis de Wael and Paul de Vos. Van Dyck’s series of portraits, often cited under the title Iconography was possibly meant to increase his reputation. The portraits were executed by the most eminent Antwerp engravers and etchers of their day, including Pieter de Jode, Cornelis Galle, Wenceslaus Hollar and Lucas Vorsterman. The publication history of Van Dyck’s Iconography is complicated. In ca. 1636 Martin van Enden, an Antwerp publisher and art dealer, published 80 prints after portraits by Van Dyck. In the 1640’s the copperplates came into the possession of another Antwerp publisher, Gillis Hendricx, who published a second edition, augmented with 20 new portraits and a frontispiece. After Hendricx’s death in 1677 the copperplates were sold at auction, possibly to Jean Meyssens, who issued several individual portraits, and apparently prepared new edition, which, however, was never realised. The next edition appeared in ca. 1720 as Le cabinet des plus beaux portraits (cited above), which contained 124 portraits and is supplemented by the present 50 portraits. These were not included in either Antwerp edition. The first edition of the Konst-kamer (1722) was followed by a French version, published by Jean Swart at the Hague in 1723; the present second edition was simultaneously published in French. (Asher, Feb. 2014)
De Konst-Kamer der allerschoonste portraitten van verscheide Prinsen en Prinsessn, Doorlugtige Mannen vermaarde Schilders en andere