(b Antwerp, 1549; d Brussels, c. 1618 or shortly afterwards). Engraver, draughtsman and publisher. Presumably as part of his early training, in 1563 and 1565 he made copies of engravings after Dürer and other artists. His first dated prints were published as early as 1568. By the following year he was employed by Christoph Plantin, to whom he introduced his brother (2) Jerome Wierix in 1570. At the time Jan was living in the Lombaardevest, amid many other booksellers and engravers. He worked for Plantin’s publishing house, the Officina Plantiniana, more often than Jerome, and already in 1570 and 1571 Plantin paid Jan’s drinking debts. From then onwards Jan’s name appears regularly in Plantin’s accounts and letters.

Part of the Wierix family

• Wierix, Jan
  • Delff, Willem Jacobsz.
  • Engraving, §II, 3(ii): Commercial growth, c 1500–c 1600
  • Galle: (1) Philip Galle
  • Plantin, Christoph
  • Wierix
  • groups and movements
    • Dürer Renaissance, §2: Regional developments
  • pupils
    • Hondius (ii): (1) Hendrik Hondius I
    • Wierix: (3) Anton Wierix II
  • reproductive prints by others
    • Houbraken: (2) Jacobus Houbraken
  • works
    • Arias Montano, Benito
    • Belgium, §III, 3(i)(b): Painting, c 1550–c 1600
    • Bruegel: (2) Pieter Brueghel II
    • Chile, §III, 1: Painting, graphic arts and sculpture: The colonial period, before 1818
    • Floris: (2) Frans Floris I, §2: Working methods and studio
    • Sadeler: (1) Jan Sadeler I
    • Vos, Marten de, §2(ii): Drawings