Though Van Dyck's reputation greatly suffered through the numerous copies he allowed his pupils to take from his works, the case is otherwise with engraving: Vorsterman, Pontius, Peter de Jode, P. Balliu and S. Bolswert were seldom more fortunate than when under his guidance. De Jode's "St. Augustine," Bols wert's "Ecce HomO" and "Crucifixion," Vorsterman's "Deposi tion," and especially Pontius's "Herman Joseph" rank among the masterpieces of the art of engraving. Van Dyck was himself an incomparable etcher. The art of portrait etching, scarcely in existence before his time, reached the highest point of excellence in his work. He etched some 18 plates for a collection of por traits generally called "the Iconography." Such prints as the por traits of Vorsterman, John de Wael, Snyders, Josse de Momper, Adam van Noort, and above all his own effigy, display a manner fresh and personal admirably suited to the medium. Print col lectors pay extravagant prices for a first proof taken from the plates engraved by Van Dyck himself. Van Dyck also employed some of the best engravers of his time for this collection of illus trious heads. Whether the whole series had been published before 1645 when it was issued by Hendrick is uncertain. Martin van der Enden, whose name appears on some of the plates was probably only a printer, who issued the plates separately as the work proceeded. Hendrick's edition contains 99 plates. He used as a frontispiece the portrait of Van Dyck, with the following inscription : 'cones principuin, virorum doctorum, &c. &c., numero centum ab Antonio Van Dyck pictore ad vivum expressae eiusq.
sumptibus aeri incisae, 1645. Seventeen editions were published, the last in with 124 plates. Many of the plates are the property of the French Government, and belong to the Chalcogra phie Nationale in Paris. A relic of great importance is a sketch book obviously used by the painter in Italy containing but few original compositions and chiefly studies of the Italian masters. This book, once in the possession of Sir Peter Lely, is now at Chatsworth.
LITERATURE.—See W. H. Carpenter, Pictorial Notices, consisting of a Memoir of Sir Anthony Van Dyck, with a descriptive catalogue of the etchings executed by him (1844) ; John Smith, A Catalogue Raisonne of the Works of the most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters, part iii. (1831) ; J. Guiffrey, Antoine Van Dyck, sa vie et son oeuvre (1882) ; A. Michiels, Ant. Van Dyck et ses eleves (1881) ; I. v. Szwykowski, A. Van Dycks Bildnisse bekannter Personen (Leipzig, 1858) ; Fr. Wibiral, L'Iconographie d'A. Van Dyck d'apres les recherches de H. Weber (Leipzig, 1877) ; Lionel Cust, Anthony Van Dyck (5900) , an abridgment with emendations, Van Dyck (1906), and A Description of the Sketch-Book by Sir Anthony Van Dyck . . . at Chatsworth (19o2) ; A. v. Dyck, a Further Study (Ign); Max Rooscs, Chefs-d'oeuvres d'Antoine van Dyck (Antwerp, 1901) ; Antoine Van Dyck (Paris, 1902) ; Frank Newbolt, Etchings of Van Dyck (1906) ; E. Schaeffer, Van Dyck (Stuttgart and Leipzig, 1909, one of the series of Klassiker der Kunst). (H. HY.; X.)