Hendrik van der Borcht the elder

Etching by Wenceslaus Hollar in Het Gulden Cabinet, p 127

Hendrik van der Borcht the Elder (1583 - 26 July 1651^[1]) was a Flemish engraver and still life painter of flowers and fruit, who was mainly active in Germany.

Van der Borcht was born in Brussels. Troubles in the Low Countries obliged his family to move to Germany in 1586. By 1598 they had settled at Frankenthal, where he became a pupil of the Flemish emigre Gillis van Valkenborch.^[1][2] Between 1604 and 1610 he was in Italy, probably in Rome.^[1] In 1627 he settled in Frankfurt, where he eventually died.

The Earl of Arundel, passing through Frankfurt, became the patron of his son, Hendrik the Younger (1614-1676).^[3] Van der Borcht the elder is also considered to be the teacher of the painter Sebastian van der Borcht, perhaps another son, active in Frankenthal.^[1][4]

He is considered a member of the school of Frankenthal.^[1] The school of Frankenthal^[5] included the painters Gillis van Coninxloo, Anton Mirou, Pieter Schoubroeck, and his son.^[6]

Etchings

Still-Life with Rarity Collection

He made the following etchings:

• Virgin and child (1637) after Parmigianino
• Dead Christ supported by Joseph of Arimathea (1645) after a drawing by Parmigianino of a Raphael
• Abraham at Table with the Angels after Ludovico Carracci
• Infant Jesus embracing St. John from Guido Reni's print of Agostino Carracci
• Apollo and Cupid after Perino del Vaga
• Entry of Frederick, Elector Palatine, with Elizabeth, Princess Royal of England, his Consort, into Frankenthal in 22 plates (1613)

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hendrik van der Borcht (I).

• Bryan, Michael (1889). Walter Armstrong & Robert Edmund Graves, ed. Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, Biographical and Critical (Volume II L-Z). York St. #4, Covent Garden, London; Original from Fogg Library, Digitized 18 May 2007: George Bell and Sons. p. 616.