C. Cort, Part III

Cornelis Cort (1533/36-1578) is unquestionably one of the most influential Netherlandish printmakers of the sixteenth century. Trained in the workshop of Hieronymus Cock in Antwerp, Cort left for Italy in 1565, soon becoming well-established as an engraver in Venice and Rome. His engravings after such artists as Titian, Federico and Taddeo Zuccaro, Muziano and Federico Barocci influenced an entire generation of printmakers in Italy and the Netherlands. The amazing number of contemporary copies after each of these prints - often more than a dozen, some of them by Cornelis Cort himself - attest to the popularity of his work

In 1948 the Dutch collector J.C.J. Bierens de Haan published an extensive catalogue of prints by Cort. Although this catalogue - one of the earliest on a Netherlandish engraver of the sixteenth century - still stands out as an exemplary scholarly study, art historical development has long required the publication of a new catalogue.

Recent research has allowed new insights into Corts work during both the Antwerp and Italian period. A few dozen prints have been deattributed, while a smaller number of works have now been added to his oeuvre. In many instances easier access to collections has also resulted in changes in the numbers of recorded states and other data described by Bierens de Haan. As far as possible current research on Italian art has been taken into account in the listings of related paintings and drawings, with bibliographical references. Special attention has been paid to the copies after prints by Cort, and their descriptions will be more comprehensive than in other Hollstein volumes. These copies provide us with valuable information on the market and taste for prints in the second half of the sixteenth century. Since in many cases deceptive copies have been mistaken for the original works, a large number of copies are actually illustrated in these Hollstein volumes.

Volume III: Mythology, Ancient history, Profane allegories, Allegories of the visual arts, ancient and Modern sculpture, Portraits, Genealogy, Book illustrations, Tentative attributions, Prints after designs by Cornelis Cort, Rejected prints

Published in 2000
Compiler: Manfred Sellink
Editor: Huigen Leeflang
ISBN: 978-90-75607-41-3
296 pp.

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