Petrus Schenk I

Born Elberfeld, bapt 26 Dec 1660; died Amsterdam, 1713.

Dutch etcher, mezzotint engraver and publisher of German birth. He moved to Amsterdam while young and became a pupil of his future brother-in-law, Gerard Valck. With Valck he bought the property of the publisher Jan Jansz. in 1683–4. Schenck’s importance lies in his activities as a publisher of portraits and series of topographical prints, rather than in his achievements as an artist. Like Valck, he published various series of prints in colour. Except for a few portraits, most of his prints are reproductive. Almost 800 of the total of 986 prints attributed to him are mezzotints. However, most of the prints published under his name are etchings (e.g. the Finding of Moses, Hollstein, no. 987). Schenck successfully divided his business interests between the northern Netherlands and Germany, where he was mainly active in Leipzig. In choice of subject-matter and the selection of the artists whose work is reproduced, Schenck’s prints are representative of the taste predominant in the period between c. 1680 and 1715. After his death, his son Petrus Schenck the younger looked after the German side of the business.

Christiaan Schuckman. "Schenck, Pieter." In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, http://www.oxfordartonline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/art/T076492 (accessed May 8, 2012).