Lucas van Leyden

Lucas van Leyden, whose proper name was LUCAS JACOBSZ, Dutch painter and engraver, was born in Leyden in 1494. An extremely precocious artist, he painted a picture of St Hubert when only twelve, and the celebrated print, 'Mahomet and the Monk Sergius,' was engraved when he was only fourteen. But he was not enrolled in the guild of St Luke at Antwerp in 1522. He practised successfully almost every branch of painting, and as an engraver ranks as the equal of Albert Dürer in everything except fertility of design. His range of subjects was very wide, and embraced events in sacred history, incidents illustrative of the manners of his own period, and portraits. He was on terms of intimacy with Mabuse, and held friendly intercourse with Dürer, whose talents he admired without professional jealousy. He died in 1533, having been confined to bed for six years. Amongst his most celebrated pieces are the 'Hill of Calvary,' by some regarded as his masterpiece, 'Adam and Eve expelled from Paradise,' 'Ecce Homo,' 'A Girl and a Dog,' the 'Card Party,' 'St Jerome,' and 'Christ healing a Blind Man.'