Reinier van Persijn (1615 – 23 November 1668) was a Dutch Golden Age engraver of portraits and bookplates.

Reinier van Persijn
Titlepage of "Den singende swaen", a book of songs by Willem de Swaen of Gouda.
Born1615
DiedNovember 23, 1668(1668-11-23) (aged 52–53)
NationalityDutch
Known forEngraving
MovementBaroque

Biography

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According to Houbraken, who called him Reynier van Parzyn, he was married to the granddaughter of the stained glass painter Wouter Crabeth I, whose son Wouter Crabeth II he probably knew from his time in Rome, where they were both members of the Bentvueghels.[1] His bent or nickname was Narcissus (Daffodil). He settled in 1645 in Gouda, where his wife was born.

He was a student of Cornelis Bloemaert and learned the art of publishing book title pages from Theodor Matham, son of Jacob Matham.[2] According to an old Dutch Who's Who, while in Italy he engraved pieces from the Justiani gallery, made a famous engraving of Baldassare Castiglione and had a motto, Het moet al in een pers zijn, meaning It must already be in print, which was a play on words, because Pers-zijn was his name.[3]

 
Engraved title page by Reinier van Persijn, of the book by C.M. Anhaltin, Slot en sleutel van de groote zee-vaert met een uytschrijvinge van Oost en West, Amsterdam 1659.

References

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  1. ^ (in Dutch) Dirk en Wouter Crabeth biography in De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen (1718) by Arnold Houbraken, courtesy of the Digital library for Dutch literature
  2. ^ RKD entry on Reinier van Persijn
  3. ^ (in Dutch) Reinier van Persijn biography in Biographisch woordenboek der Nederlanden. Deel 15 (1872) by A.J. van der Aa, courtesy of the Digital library for Dutch literature