Steven Cornelisz. van Herwijck, c. (1530-1567)

• Was a Netherlandish sculptor and gem engraver famous for his portrait medallions and medals.
• He spent two periods of his career in England, where he died.
• It has recently been suggested that he is the "famous paynter Steven" mentioned in an inventory of 1590, who has traditionally been identified as Steven van der Meulen.
• Van Herwijck worked in Italy in 1557 and returned to Utrecht in 1558, when he was made a Master of the artists' guild.
• His earliest surviving medals, of George van Egmond, Bishop of Utrecht, and Engelken Tols, date from this year.
• In 1559 he relocated to Antwerp.
• Nine medals survive of his work there, including a portrait of Jacobus Fabius.
• Fleeing religious persecution, he went to Poland in 1561 where he made medallions of King Sigismund II and other members of the Polish royal family.

• In 1562 he travelled to England, where he produced the first portrait medals of private individuals to be made in that country.

• In 1564, van Herwijck was back in the Netherlands, spending time in both Utrecht and Antwerp.

• Antonis Mor's Portrait of a Goldsmith, identified as van Herwijck, is dated 1564 and it is likely that a portrait medallion of Mor by van Herwijck.

• Herwijck returned to London in 1565, where he struck a medal of Queen Elizabeth.

• Van Herwijk's medals are typically signed "Ste. H." or "Ste. H. F.", and the 18th century English engraver and antiquary George Vertue speculated that these initials stood for "Stephen of Holland made this" (in Latin, Stephanus Hollandus fecit).

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