Wallerant Vaillant

Dutch painter

Young boy, possibly the brother of the artist, Mezzotint The painter Maria van Oosterwijck, 1671, by Wallerant Vaillant A couple painted by Wallerant Vaillant. (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin)

Wallerant Vaillant (30 May 1623 – 28 August 1677) was a painter of the Dutch Golden Age and one of the first artists to use the mezzotint technique, which he probably helped to develop.

## Family

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Wallerant Vaillant was born in Lille, the oldest of five brothers who all became successful painters.

* Jacques (1625–1691) traveled to Italy where he joined the Bentvueghels in Rome with the nickname Leeuwrik, and settled later in Berlin.
* Jan (1627–1668+) was an engraver considered to be a member of the school of Frankenthal[1] and later became a merchant in Frankfurt.
* Bernard (1632–1698) accompanied Wallerant on all of his travels, and settled later in Rotterdam, where he became deacon of the Wallonian Church.
* Andreas (1655–1693), the youngest, became an engraver in Paris, and died in Berlin visiting his brother Jacques.

## Education and career

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It is said Wallerant was a student of Erasmus Quellinus II (1607–1678) in Antwerp. He moved with his parents in 1643 to Amsterdam. In 1647 he lived in Middelburg, but in 1649 he was back in Amsterdam. In 1658 he traveled with his brother to Frankfurt and Heidelberg. He helped invent the Mezzotint technique (schraapkunst, or zwartekunst) with Prince Rupert of the Rhine when he was his tutor performing experiments in etching techniques.

In 1659 he went to Paris with Philibert de Gramont where he stayed five years. In 1664 he settled in Amsterdam and became the court painter of John William Friso, Prince of Orange. He died in Amsterdam.

Vaillant is most remembered today for his mezzotints, rather than his paintings.[2]

## Collections

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wallerant Vaillant.

Vaillant's work is held in the permanent collections of many museums worldwide, including the Ackland Art Museum,[3][4] the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco,[5] the Allen Memorial Art Museum,[6] the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen,[7] the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston,[8] the Metropolitan Museum of Art,[9] the Hood Museum of Art,[10] the National Portrait Gallery in London,[11] the University of Michigan Museum of Art,[12] the National Gallery in Prague https://sbirky.ngprague.cz/en/dielo/CZE:NG.R_169228?collection=14}}</ref> the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest,[13] the Victoria and Albert Museum,[14] the Harvard Art Museums,[15] the Kruizenga Art Museum,[16] the Philadelphia Museum of Art,[17] the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge,[18] and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.[19]

## References

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1. ^ Jean Vaillant in the RKD
2. ^ Wallerant Vaillant at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, retrieved 1-sep-09
3. ^ "Focus on the Peck Collection: Wallerant Vaillant, Master Portraitist". Ackland Art Museum. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
4. ^ "Wallerant Vaillant – People – eMuseum". ackland.emuseum.com. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
5. ^ "Wallerant Vaillant". FAMSF Search the Collections. 21 September 2018. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
6. ^ "Cornelius Sladus". allenartcollection.oberlin.edu. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
7. ^ "Four Peasants at a Table, One Playing the Violin". Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
8. ^ "Wallerant Vaillant: Boy Seated in a Studio, a Plaster Cast of the Christ Child, after Michaelangelo in Front of Him".
9. ^ "Portrait of a Boy with a Falcon". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
10. ^ "The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist". Hood Museum. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
11. ^ "Desiderius Erasmus - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
12. ^ "Exchange: Portrait of a Gentleman". exchange.umma.umich.edu. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
13. ^ "Portrait of a Boy, Possibly André Vaillant". Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
14. ^ Museum, Victoria and Albert. "Head of a Black Man | Smith, John | Vaillant, Wallerant | V&A Explore The Collections". Victoria and Albert Museum: Explore the Collections. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
15. ^ Harvard. "From the Harvard Art Museums' collections Johann Philipp von Schönborn, Archbishop of Mainz". harvardartmuseums.org. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
16. ^ "Kruizenga Art Museum : Object : The Village Surgeon [2020.19.2]". providence.hope.edu. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
17. ^ "Boy Seated in a Studio". philamuseum.org. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
18. ^ "Vaillant, Wallerant". The Fitzwilliam Museum. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
19. ^ "Portrait of a Young Woman with Three Children". collections.mfa.org. Retrieved 12 May 2021.

## Sources

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* (in Dutch) Vaillant biography in De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen (1718) by Arnold Houbraken, courtesy of the Digital library for Dutch literature

## Further reading

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* Liedtke, Walter A. (1984). Flemish paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 0870993569. (see index, v.1; fig. 13, v.1).
* Petra Zelenková, Wallerant Vaillant. Master of Mezzotint // Wallerant Vaillant. Mistr mezzotinty, National Gallery Prague 2018, 32 pp., ISBN 978-80-7035-682-1.https://www.academia.edu/37341012/

## External links

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* https://sbirky.ngprague.cz/en/kolekcia/14
* https://sbirky.ngprague.cz/en/katalog?author=Wallerant Vaillant - engraver
* Boy with falcon in MMA
* http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/56.605.14
* https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pd/w/wallerant_vaillant,_a_boy_draw.aspx
* http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/aria/aria_artists/00018504?lang=en
* http://search3.famsf.org:8080/view.shtml?keywords=1990.1.433&artist=&country=&period=&sort=&start=1&position=1&record=8587
* https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pd/p/prince_rupert_ruprecht_of_pfa.aspx
* http://www.artchive.com/web_gallery/W/Wallerant-Vaillant/A-Young-Boy-Copying-a-Painting.html

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* Germany
* United States
* France
* BnF data

Artists|

* ULAN
* RKD Artists
* KulturNav

People|

* Netherlands
* Deutsche Biographie

Other|

* SNAC