Block, Joanna Koerten

, a female artist, on whose singular talents Descamps has bestowed a long article, was born at Amsterdam, Nov. 17, 1650. Her genius first showed itself in wax models of fruit, &c. beautifully coloured she then engraved with diamond on crystal and glass, ftodVopied paintings in coloured silks, but at last devoted her whole time to cutting paper, in which she excelled. Whatever others produced in a print by a graver, she effected by a pair of scissars. In this way she executed all kinds of subjects landscapes, sea-pieces, animals, flowers, &c. and even portraits, in which the resemblance was preserved in a striking degree. This new art of expressing representations of objects upon white paper became the object of universal curiosity, and the artist was encouraged by all the courts of Europe. The elector Palatine offered her a thousand florins (about an hundred guineas) for three little pieces, which she refused. The empress of Germany gave her orders for a trophy with the arms of the emperor Leopold I. In this piece | were crowns supported by eagles, and round the borders garlands of flowers, and other ornaments relative to the subject, for which she received four thousand florins. She also cut the portrait of the emperor, which in Descamps’ time was preserved in the emperor’s cabinet at Vienna. Her works were all in a correct and beautiful style. She died Dec. 28, 1715. ¹