(b St Eustatius, 19 March 1774; d Amsterdam, 2 Oct 1826). Dutch draughtsman and printmaker. In 1783 he moved to Amsterdam where he trained as an engraver and draughtsman with Steven Goblé (1749–99) and Reinier Vinkeles. While at the municipal drawing academy he was awarded the third, second and first prize in 1793, 1797 and 1798 respectively. In 1801 he founded the drawing society, Kunst zij ons doel (‘Let art be our aim’) with Harmanus Fock (1766–1822), Harmanus Vinkeles (1745–after 1817) and others. Marcus became especially famous for a series of 105 prints published as Studiebeelden en fragmenten (‘Studies and fragments’) (begun in 1807), which was intended as an aid to draughtsmen and engravers. Marcus’s etchings are characterized by a delicate handling of the medium, which often resembles copper engraving. They were based on his own drawings as well as those of Willem Hendrik Caspari (1770–1829), Wybrand Hendriks, Wouter Johannes van Troostwijk and others and give a light-hearted, natural and poignant impression of the Dutch way of life at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1815 Marcus was awarded a silver medal for his printed oeuvre by the Nederlandsche Huishoudelijke Maatschappij (Dutch Domestic Society) in Haarlem. In 1816 his series went out of print for lack of interest but was later reissued. From 1820 he was one of the directors of the Koninklijke Akademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam, where he taught engraving.

• Marcus, Jacob Ernst
  • Vinkeles, Reinier