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After Anthonie van Dyck. Blooteling was a Dutch etcher, engraver, and a practioner of the mezzotint technique as early as 1671. A trip to England in the following few years probably contributed to the spread of the technique there; he is often credited with the invention of the mezzotint rocker. His experimental leanings also led to his applying coloured inks to intaglio.
A mezzotint of St. Peter by Blooteling after Moreelse in roughly the same size can be considered a companion piece, but if a series of apostles was intended it was never completed. The vivid depiction of emotion in the portrayal of a saint is outside the usual canon, though Van Dyck’s various busts of apostles share a certain intensity. Executed in the stark contrasts of mezzotint, Blooteling’s anxious St. Paul creates a particularly striking effect.
