Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder

Marcus Gerards the Elder ( * about 1520/1521 in Bruges, † after 1586) was a Flemish Renaissance painter, graphic artist and engraver.

Life

It is often speculated that Gerard was the elder of the artist who had illustrated the 1567 Aesop's Fables. It is certain that he fled on a year with his son Marcus Gerards the Younger from the Netherlands to England, as it would do other artists from this region of Europe, such as Gerard Horenbout, the reason for both artists was the religious persecution of the time after dominated by the Spanish Crown Dutch territory. In England Gerards the Elder married his second wife. He lived in London, where he also taught his son the art of drawing. 1577 returned Gerards the Elder in the Netherlands back to there to continue his career.

One of his daughters married the English miniature artist Isaac Oliver.

Today there are no paintings of Gerads the Elder, which is unique to him, since he had the habit of not provided his drawings with his name.

Marcus Gerards the Elder died probably in 1586, but later data it can not be excluded, such as the year 1604.