page_title: Wierix family
section_title: Lives
hierarchical_section_title: Wierix family / Lives
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Philip William of Orange
context_page_description: The Wierix family, sometimes seen in alternative spellings such as Wiericx, were a Flemish family of artists who distinguished themselves as printmakers and draughtsmen in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. They were active in Antwerp and Brussels.
  The first generation of engravers consisted of the three sons of the little-known painter and cabinet maker Anton Wierix I:
  Johannes Wierix Wierix,
  Hieronymus Wierix,
  Anton II Wierix.
  Anton II's son, Anton III Wierix, completes the engraver members of the family, although his early death prevented him from producing a large oeuvre. All were highly productive, with 2,333 prints catalogued between them, the largest number by Johannes. The Wierix family members were known for their attention to detail and superb technique.
context_section_description: Johannes and Hieronymus appear to have begun training together, and although Hieronymus was the younger by four years he was able to keep pace with his brother.  Even for that period they were precocious, with very fine copies of other prints dated from the age of 12 in Hieronymus's case, and 14 in Johannes' (as apprentices they were not supposed to sign work, but added their ages and a date).  Their copies of engravings by Albrecht Dürer from this period are still valued by collectors.   Who their master was is unknown – it was unlikely to be their father, who had joined the Antwerp artists' Guild of Saint Luke in 1545/6 but is also recorded as a cabinetmaker.  Johannes and Hieronymus first worked producing book illustrations for the large publishing concern of Christopher Plantin in Antwerp.  Hieronymus was first paid by Plantin in 1570, and they both joined the Antwerp artists' Guild of Saint Luke in 1572/3.
  Johannes probably trained Anton II, and Hieronymus, Anton III.  The brothers often worked together, but Johannes moved to Delft from 1577–79, probably as a result of the Sack of Antwerp in 1576, also known as the Spanish Fury. He then returned to Antwerp for nearly 20 years – perhaps his best period – and moved briefly to The Hague before settling in Brussels at about the turn of the century, where he remained until his death.
  The brothers were recorded as Lutherans in 1585, but as they later did a large amount of work for the Jesuits, it seems probable they converted or reconverted to Catholicism after this date.
  All three, but especially Hieronymus, were described by contemporaries as leading disorderly lives, and had long criminal records, mostly for drunkenness and the like, but Hieronymus spent several months in prison in 1579-80 for an accidentally fatal drunken assault on a female tavernkeeper.  They may have been let go by Plantin for this reason, and a famous letter from him complained that they only worked for a few days to raise enough money to disappear into the taverns, where he would have to seek them out, pay their bills, and get their tools out of pawn. However the productivity and quality of their work gives a rather different picture.  As they grew older they led more regular lives, all marrying with several children, and probably all running workshops with assistants – the portraitist Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt began his training with Hieronymus, although he soon moved to another master. The father of Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten was another pupil of Hieronymus. Johannes' pupils included Hendrik Hondius I (1573 – c. 1650).  After Anton II died relatively young in 1604, Hieronymus took over his plates and his young son Anton III.  Anton III's death at an even younger age brought an end to the family business, although at least one of the brothers' many daughters married an engraver.
caption: Philip William of Orange, by Johannes Wierix
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