St. Lucas

Flemish family of artists. They were active mainly in Antwerp in the last quarter of the 16th century and the first quarter of the 17th. Anton Wierix I (c. 1520/25–c. 1572) was registered as a painter in 1545–6, after an apprenticeship of seven years with the otherwise unknown painter Jan Verkelen. Anton I is sometimes also referred to as a cabinetmaker. Given his professions, it is unlikely that he taught any of his three sons, Jan Wierix, Jerome Wierix and Anton Wierix II, all of whom have left large numbers of engravings. Both Jan and Jerome probably trained with a goldsmith, and Anton II presumably studied with one of his older brothers, probably Jan. Although listed as Lutherans in 1585, it seems likely that the Wierix brothers returned to Catholicism soon afterwards, because much of their engraved work was commissioned by the Jesuits and other militant Counter-Reformation sects; their prints played an important role in the recapturing of the southern Netherlands for the Catholic Church. Despite this, all three brothers were famous for their disorderly conduct, and, in a letter of 1587 to the Jesuit priest Ferdinand Ximenes, the Antwerp publisher Christoph Plantin complained that whoever wanted to employ the Wierix brothers had to go and look for them in the taverns, pay their debts and fines and recover their tools, which they had pawned; having worked for a few days, they would then return to the tavern. There is enough archival evidence to corroborate Plantin’s story, but, on the other hand, the sheer mass of engravings produced by Jan and Jerome and their excellent quality indicates a certain amount of hard work on their part. Anton II’s son, Anton Wierix III (1596–before 21 Sept 1624), who was probably trained by his uncle Jerome, joined the guild in 1621–2 but died too young to have had a significant oeuvre. In 1620 Christine, one of the daughters of Jerome, married the engraver Jan-Baptist Barbé (c. 1578–after 1649).HIERONYMUS WIERIX: Engraver, brother of Jan Wierix. At his father’s death, one of the guardians to whom he was entrusted was Jerome Manacker, who was probably a close relative of the goldsmith of the same name ( fl Antwerp, 1520–56). Jerome also began his training by making engravings after Dürer, an activity in which he showed himself to be more precocious than his older brother. He joined Christoph Plantin in 1570 and, like his brother, became a master in 1572–3. In 1574 Plantin paid a fine for Jerome, who had been arrested drunk at night. The publisher was even more exasperated by Jerome’s lifestyle than by Jan’s, and after he had rescued Jerome from prison the next year, he decided not to continue to employ him. From 1577, the date of his first independent engraving, Jerome worked for several other publishers. Between 1577 and 1580 he made many prints for Willem van Haecht and his nephew Godevaard van Haecht (1546–99). These were mostly allegorical and political in theme and demonstrate a sympathy for those rebelling against the Spanish.