{{Short description|Dutch engraver, publisher and cartographer (1652–1726)}} '''Gerard Valck''' (30 September 1652 – 21 October 1726) was a Dutch engraver, publisher and cartographer.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Collections Online {{!}} British Museum |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG49254 |access-date=2026-05-06 |website=www.britishmuseum.org}}</ref>
==Biography== Valck was born in Amsterdam on 30 September 1652 to an Amsterdam silversmith. He was a student of Dutch engraver and printmaker Abraham Blooteling and later became his assistant. Together, they moved to London, where Valk continued to work with print and map dealers. In 1673, he married Blooteling's sister Maria and they had a son, Leonard.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Dorset by Gerard Valk & Petrus Schenk {{!}} Sanderus Antique Maps - Antique Map Webshop |url=https://sanderusmaps.com/our-catalogue/antique-maps/europe/british-isles/antique-map-of-dorset-by-valk-and-schenk-14013 |access-date=2026-04-25 |website=sanderusmaps.com |language=en}}</ref> Soon after Leonard's birth in 1675, Valk returned to Amsterdam. There, he was registered as a citizen on December 8, 1679.<ref name=":0" /> He trained under the Dutch engraver and printmaker Abraham Blooteling, later becoming his assistant. During the 1670s, the two moved to London, where Valck worked among English print and map dealers.
==Career==
===London period and printmaking=== During the 1670s, while living in London, Valck worked primarily as an engraver and mezzotint maker, frequently collaborating with Abraham Blooteling. He produced portraits, including depictions of members of the English nobility, and published much of his own work himself.<ref name="A2">{{cite web |title=The Flute Lesson by Gerard Valck, engraver and publisher |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200182910/ |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150316213130/http://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200182910/ |archivedate=March 16, 2015 |accessdate=March 16, 2015 |publisher=loc.gov}}</ref> His earliest dated mezzotint, ''Sleeping Cupid'' (1677), was based on a painting by the Italian artist Guido Reni.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gerard Valck - National Portrait Gallery |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp07668/gerard-valck |access-date=2026-05-01 |website=www.npg.org.uk |language=en}}</ref> Valck also produced engravings and mezzotints after works by artists including Peter Lely, Gérard de Lairesse and Philip Tideman.<ref name="B22">{{cite web |title=Gerard Valck |url=http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person.php?LinkID=mp07668&displayNo=60 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150316213139/http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person.php?LinkID=mp07668&displayNo=60 |archivedate=March 16, 2015 |accessdate=March 16, 2015 |publisher=npg.org}}</ref>
===Publishing and cartography in Amsterdam=== After returning to Amsterdam in the mid-1670s, Valck increasingly expanded his activities into publishing and cartography. In 1680, he entered into a publishing partnership with Pieter Schenk the Elder, a German-born Dutch engraver and publisher who later married Valck's sister in 1687.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Collections Online {{!}} British Museum |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG49254 |access-date=2026-05-06 |website=www.britishmuseum.org}}</ref> Together, the Valck and Schenk families operated a publishing business producing maps, atlases, prints and printed globes.<ref name=":1" />
===Map and globe publishing=== From the late seventeenth century onward, Valck worked primarily as a publisher specializing in maps and globes in Amsterdam.<ref name=":1" /> The firm later took over the former Hondius publishing shop and acquired part of the stock of the Visscher family, both associated with Amsterdam's map and print trade.<ref name=":1" /> Valck also published print series depicting subjects including houses belonging to the House of Orange-Nassau, trades and professions, fountains, chimneys and birds.<ref name="A2" /><ref name="B22" /> == Death == He died in Amsterdam on 21 October 1726.<ref name="A2" />
==Gallery== <gallery mode=packed> File:King William III when Prince of Orange by Gerard Valck, after Sir Peter Lely.jpg File:1672 95 Novus Planiglobii Valck'.jpg File:Ortensia Mancini, Duchess of Mazarin by Gerard Valck, after Sir Peter Lely.jpg File:AMH-7675-NA Map of the Gold Coast.jpg File:King Henry VIII by Gerard Valck, after Adriaen van der Werff.jpg File:Map italy monferrato CG 52 montiferrati ducatus post 1684.jpg </gallery>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category-inline}}
{{Authority control (arts)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valck, Gerard}} Category:1652 births Category:1726 deaths Category:17th-century Dutch engravers Category:18th-century Dutch engravers Category:Engravers from Amsterdam Category:Dutch publishers (people) Category:18th-century Dutch cartographers Category:Globe makers Category:17th-century Dutch cartographers