Neyts and Devel

Gillis Neyts and Pieter Devel are not nearly as well-known as most of the Flemish and Dutch artists in Melville’s print collection. Neyts was born in Ghent in 1623 and was active in Antwerp by 1643, three years after the death of Rubens. Unlike Rubens, Neyts worked on a small scale and within a limited geographical range. As a painter, he addressed Biblical and classical subjects early in his career but came to specialize in small scale Flemish landscapes in a highly personal style. As a draftsman and etcher, he was also deeply drawn to carefully rendered landscape scenes represented by the print that Melville collected. 

Pieter Devel was active in Brussels in 1711, twenty-four years after the death of Neyts in Antwerp. As an etcher, he was deeply drawn to carefully rendered images of imposing architectural subjects. Several of these, like the one Melville acquired, were reproduced in the 1711 edition of Les Délices des Pais-Bas published in Brussels. Very little else seems to be known about his life and career. 

• Works cited in this section:

• Gordon, George. “Neyts [Nyts], Gillis.” Grove, 23:77.

  Fodor’s Travel, https://www.fodors.com/world/europe/netherlands/veere

  Hollstein. F. W. H. Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings, and woodcuts, ca. 1450-1700. Amsterdam, M. Hertzberger, 1949-2010.

  Les Délices des Pais-Bas, attributed to Jean Baptiste Christyn. 3rd edition. Brussels: F. Foppens, 1711.

  Markham, Clements R. “The Fighting Veeres”: Lives of Sir Francis Vere [and] Sir Horace Vere. London: Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1888.

  “NL06—Operation Infatuate” at https://www.scottishdiasporatapestry.org/veere-6-operation-infatuate/