Jan Luyken
Johannes or Jan Luyken (April 16, 1649 – April 5, 1712) was a Dutch poet, illustrator, and engraver. Biography. He was born and died in Amsterdam, where he learned engraving from his father Kaspar Luyken. He married at 19 and had several children, of who Kasparus Luiken also became a renowned engraver. He had a religious experience at age 26 that inspired him to write moralistic poetry. Works. He illustrated the 1685 edition of the "Martyrs Mirror" with 104 copper etchings. Thirty of these plates survive and are part of "The Mirror of the Martyrs" exhibit. He also published  Het Menselyk Bedryf ("The Book of Trades") in 1694, which contains numerous engravings, by Luiken and his son Caspar (Caspaares), of 17th-century trades. Cultural references. Joris-Karl Huysmans' anti-hero Des Esseintes in "À rebours" was an admirer of Luyken's engravings and had prints from his "Religious Persecutions" hung in his boudoir. He described them as "a collection of appalling plates displaying all the tortures which religious fanaticism has invented." Des Esseintes was enthralled not just by Luyken's graphic depictions but his ability to reconstruct times and places in his works.