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Humanities and Social Sciences Library > Collections & Reading Rooms > Print Collection 
Peter Claesz Soutman (Dutch, ca. 1580-1657) Peter Paul Rubens established in Antwerp, under his rigorous supervision,
a workshop of printmakers to copy his paintings (such so-called “reproductive”
prints reproduce a work of art conceived in another medium). While Pieter
Claesz Soutman was not part of that phalanx of engravers, he probably joined
Rubens’ studio as a painter. In 1628 he returned Haarlem to found his
own workshop, which in turn trained some of the finest reproductive printmakers
in Holland, primarily devoted to reproducing Rubens’s paintings. This
etching after a painting by Anthony van Dyck shows how Soutman transformed
the typically tightly worked style of engraving characteristic of the Rubens
workshop. He capitalized on the freedom afforded by etching, using bold, loose
hatching and rich cross-hatching to evoke the drama of Christ’s capture,
the night scene theatrically illuminated by torchlight. This impression is
particularly fresh, and even the guidelines for the text still hold ink. Soutman
was also the publisher of this print, as indicated by the inscription “fecit
et Excud [it]” (made it and published it). Photographic Services & Permissions Back
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