Enghelbrechtsen, Cornelius

, a celebrated painter, was born in 1468, in the town of Leyden, and took for his guide the works of Johu van Eyck. He was the first that painted in oil in his country; was a good draftsman, and executed with no less vigour than dispatch both in water-colours and in oil. His works, which escaped the disturbances that ravaged the country, being preserved with respect, by the citizens in the town-house of Leyden, were two altar-pictures, with the side-pieces, since put up in the church of Notre-dame du Marais; one representing Christ on the Cross between the Thieves, the other Abraham’s Sacrifice, and another, a Descent from the Cross. In the same place is preserved a cartoon in water-colours, representing the adoration of the kings. Lucas van Leyden formed himself on his manner. But the principal work of Enghelbrechtsen, according to his biographer Van Marnier, is a picture designed to enrich the tombs of the barons of Lockhorst. It was in their chapel in the church of St. Peter of Leyden, and in 1604 was conveyed to Utrecht, to M. van den Bogaert, son-in-law of M. van Lockhorst. The main subject represents the lamb of the Apocalypse: a multitude of figures, well disposed, the physiognomies noble and graceful, and the delicate style of his pencil render this picture the admiration of all that see it. His genius led him to make a particular study of the emotions of the soul, which he had the art. of expressing in every physiognomy. He was considered by the masters his contemporaries as one of the greatest painters of his age. He died at Leyden in 1533, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. ²

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