Jeremias Falck

Jeremias Falck

Portrait of Jeremias Falck, by Franciszek Orłowski, early 19th century
Born 1610
Danzig (Gdańsk), province of Polish Prussia, Poland
Died 1677
Danzig (Gdańsk), province of Polish Prussia, Poland
Known for Engraving
Movement Baroque
Patron(s) Christina of Sweden,
Jerzy Ossoliński

Jeremias Falck (also Jeremiah Falck in English, Jeremiasz Falck in Polish) (1610–1677) was an engraver of the 17th century Baroque, born and active in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.[1] He signed his works as Falck Polonus (Falck the Pole)[2][3] or Falck Gedanensis (Falck of Gdańsk).[4]

Life and professional career

Born probably around 1610 in Danzig (Gdańsk), in the province of Polish Prussia,[5] a part of Poland. Falck studied and worked with Wilhelm Hondius. In 1639 he moved to Paris, and in 1649 he became Royal Swedish engraver for Queen Christina in Sweden until 1654, when she became a Catholic. He then went to the Netherlands, where he engraved a portrait of Willem Blaeu, and to Germany. In 1662 in Hamburg he published 16 engravings of flowers and plants. He engraved the royals of the places he worked and he intermittently worked in Danzig.

Jeremias' brother Hans Falck was as Messerschmidt (knife smith) at Neugarten, Danzig. In 1650 Jeremias' marriage in Danzig is recorded and later Hans and his Catharine were recorded as witnesses to the birth of Jeremias' child. A letter by Jeremias Falck from 1658 stated ...ich habe eine geraume Zeit sehr grosse Schmerzen im rechten Arm (...that for a long time he has great pain in his right arm).

He lived again in Danzig. Many of Falck's engravings are based on portraits by Daniel Schultz and other painters. Falck's work was admired and used by publisher Georg Forster, such as engraved illustrations for "Selenography" of Johannes Hevelius and "Orationes" of Jerzy Ossoliński, Great Crown Chancellor of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Falck lies buried in St. Peter and St. Paul's Church. The 1890 book with dedication by the great-grandson Herman Eugen Falk thanks a number of Polish writers who collected works by Falck.

Of about three hundred portraits and pictures, which were personally inspected by J.C. Block for his book, nearly all works show J. Falck, sculp., but there are some that identify him as Swedish sculptor, when he was in salaried employment in Sweden. There are also listed about nine copper-etching Portrait Ovals mostly of Polish Bishops by Falck alone or with name: Dankert or Georg Förster (Georg Forster). These nine metal ovals are mounted on rectangles and the rectangles are inscribed with "Jeremias Falck Polonus".

References

  1. ↑ At first his style was very formal, and his plates resembled the feeblest efforts of a Polish painter, Jeremiah Falck, who spent some time in Holland
    Georges Duplessis (1886). The wonders of engraving. C. Scribner & Co. p. 122.
  2. ↑ Signiert unten rechts mit: J. Falck Polonus Sculp
    Stift Göttweig (Steinaweg, Austria). Graphisches Kabinett. Jahresausstellung, Gregor Martin Lechner, Werner Telesko (1992). Lieben und Leiden der Götter (in German). das Stift. p. 38.
  3. ↑ Danckers pinxit, Falck Polonus sculpsit, Georgius Forsterus excudit.
    Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhändels. Historische Kommission (1975). Archiv für Geschichte des Buchwesens (in German). Buchhändler-Vereinigung. p. 425.
  4. ↑ This portrait of him was published in 1645 by Jeremiah Falck of Danzig (also known as "Jeremias Falck Polonus" or "Jeremias Falck Gedanensis"), a well-known seventeenth century steel engraver.
    Griffith Observatory (1991). The Griffith observer. Griffith Observatory. p. 75.
  5. ↑ Polnisch-Preußen - official name (legal name) in the original state document - State Constitution of the Polish-Prussia (see: Excerpt in the publication of 1764, p. 581)

Literature

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