Cort, Cornelis

(1536 - 1578)

Cornelis Cort Dutch engraver, was born at Hoorn in Holland, and studied engraving under Hieronymus Cockx of Antwerp.

About 1565 he went to Venice, where Titian employed him to execute the well-known copperplates of St Jerome in the "Desert", the "Magdalen", "Prometheus", "Diana and Actaeon", and "Diana and Calisto". From Italy he wandered back to the Netherlands, but he returned to Venice soon after 1567, proceeding thence to Bologna and Rome, where he produced engravings from all the great masters of the time.

At Rome he founded the well-known school in which, as Bartsch tells us, the simple line of Marcantonio was modified by a brilliant touch of the burin, afterwards imitated and perfected by Agostino Caracci in Italy and Nicolas de Bruyn in the Netherlands. Before visiting Italy, Cort had been content to copy Michael Coxcie, Frans Floris, Heemskerk, Gillis Mostaert, Bartholomaus Spranger and Stradan. In Italy he gave circulation to the works of Raphael, Titian, Polidoro da Caravaggio, Baroccio, Giulio Clovio, Muziano and the Zuccari.

His connection with Cockx and Titian is pleasantly illustrated in a letter addressed to the latter by Dominick Lampson of Liège in 1567. Cort is said to have engraved upwards of one hundred and fifty-one plates. In Italy he was known as Cornelio Fiammingo.