Magdalena van de Passe

1600 – 1638

Active in: The Netherlands
Alternate names: Magdalena de Pas; Magdalena van Bevervoordt-de Pas; Magdalena van Bevervoordt-van de Pas; Magdalena de Passe; Magdalena van Bevervoordt-de Passe; Magdalena van de Passea; Magdalena van de Passea

Biography

Magdalena van de Passe was active as an engraver in the northern Netherlands, particularly Utrecht. She was the daughter of Crispijn van de Passe, who also worked as an engraver, draughtsman, and print publisher. Van de Passe assisted her father and siblings with their projects and signed her first works at age fourteen. In the 1630s, the artist Anna Maria van Schurman sought her out for instruction in engraving. It is believed that van de Passe stopped producing work following her marriage to Frederick van Bevervoordt in 1634.

Selected Works

A black and white image shows a large stepped pyramid with a carved obelisk next to it. Below, small figures carry and chisel blocks of stone. In the foreground, a barefoot and bare-chested man with a crown sits holding a scepter and looking skyward.

Magdalena van de Passe, The Pyramids of Egypt from the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, 1614. Engraving, 24.3 x 28.5 cm. Baltimore Museum of Art

A black and white image shows a young woman in draping robes with a cone-shaped hat holds flowers to her chest and looks upward, where in the corner of the image clouds surround a seated man haloed in light.

Magdalena van de Passe, Hellespontine Sibyl, 1617. Engraving, 26.4 x 18.8 cm. Philadelphia Museum of Art

A black and white image shows two figures, one man and one woman, outdoors together. The man looks upward toward a tree with a bird and a small cage in it, while the woman kneels and grips a plant by the stalk. Near their feet are a small dog and a grazing sheep.

Magdalena van de Passe, Spring, 1617–34. Engraving, 23.9 x 16.3 cm. Rijksmuseum

A sepia-toned image depicts a group of mourners lowering an unclothed man's body into a stone tomb.

Magdalena van de Passe, Entombment, n.d. Engraving, 25.7 x 19.4 cm. Baltimore Museum of Art

A rocky and tree-covered landscape is shown in sepia tones. Many of the trees have fallen and exposed roots stand up in the lower right. In the distance are rocky cliffs, evergreen trees, and a small waterfall.

Magdalena van de Passe, Elijiah Fed by Ravens, 1617–34. Engraving, 28.3 x 35.1 cm. Baltimore Museum of Art

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Selected works

Circle

Daughter of
Crispijn van de Passe

Sister of
Crispijn van de Passe II

Friend of
Adriaen van de Venne

Teacher of
Anna Maria van Schurman

Bibliography

A Checklist of Painters ca. 1200–1976 Represented in the Witt Library, Courtauld Institute of Art, London. London: Mansell, 1978.

Frederick, Amy Reed. “Reclaiming Reproductive Printmaking.” In Women Artists and Patrons in the Netherlands, 1500–1700. Edited by Elizabeth Sutton, 143–56. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2019.

Hollstein, F. W. H., et al. Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts ca. 1450–1700. Amsterdam: Hertzberger, 1949–2010.

Kloek, Els, Catherine Peters Sengers, and Esther Tobé. Lexicon van Noord-Nederlandse kunstenaressen, circa 1550–1800. Hilversum: Verloren, 1998.

Markey, Lia. “The Female Printmaker and the Culture of the Reproductive Print Workshop.” In Paper Museums: The Reproductive Print in Europe, 1500–1800. Edited by Rebecca Zorach and Elizabeth Rodini, 51–74. Chicago: The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, 2005.

Molhuysen, P. C., P. J. Blok, L. Knappert, and K. H. Kossmann. Nieuw Nederlandsch biografisch woordenboek. Leiden: Sijthoff, 1911–37.

Orenstein, Nadine. “Who Took the King of Sweden to Bed?” Print Quarterly 7 (1991): 44–47.

Thieme, Ulrich, and Felix Becker. Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler: von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Leipzig: Seemann, 1907–50.

Van der Stighelen, Katlijne, and Mirjam Westen, et al. Elck zijn waerom: vrouwelijke kunstenaars in België en Nederland 1500–1950. Ghent: Ludion, 1999.

Veldman, Ilja M. Crispijn de Passe and his progeny (1564–1670): A Century of Print Production. Translated by Michael Hoyle. Rotterdam: Sound & Vision Publishing, 2001.

Veldman, Ilja M. “Magdalena de Passe: een ‘inborst door Pallas gevormd.” Oud Utrecht 82 (2009): 66–69.

Waller, F. G., and Willem R. Juynboll. Biographisch woordenboek van Noord Nederlandsche graveurs. Amsterdam: Israël, 1974.