Jan van Aken – Traveller overlooking a River Valley with Ferries (after Herman Saftleven)
1640-1661, etching – trimmed to platemark 21.6 x 27.5cm
Unframed – Price : £420
From the series Rhineland Landscapes. ‘I.v. Aken fecit’ at centre bottom, ‘2’ top left corner
Reference: Hollstein H19 The Illustrated Bartsch 19
Condition: Very nice impression in very good condition. Trimmed to platemark. Very light/negligible printer’s creasing running down from centre top of sheet. Laid on conservation backing paper. Window mounted.
Jan van Aken (1614-1661) was an Amsterdam artist and printmaker. There are twenty one etchings by him that are recorded. However, he is one of those artists of the period about whom little is known other than through his works, and who, from a printmaking perspective, is perhaps only of interest for his connection with Herman Saftleven (1609-1685). Aken etched a set of four Views of the Rhine (1640-61) from Herman Saftleven’s drawings. In the 1650s Saftleven began to specialise in panoramic and Rhineland river landscapes. However he must have visited the Rhineland before this as his Rhenish etchings date from around 1640. Although topographic in appearance they do not fit with any recognised area other than being of the Rhineland in the most general sense.