Jacob Houbraken (1698–1780)

• Was a Dutch engraver.
• The son of the artist and biographer Arnold Houbraken.
• Jacobus was born in Dordrecht.

• In 1707, he moved to Amsterdam, where for years he helped his father with his magnum opus, his art historical work The Great Theatre of Dutch Painters (1718–1721).

• When his father died he assisted his mother with the last proofs of the manuscript before publishing.
• With this project he started his portraits of Netherlandish celebrities.
• He was influenced by studying the works of Cornelis Cort, Jonas Suyderhoef, Gerard Edelinck and the Visschers.
• He died, aged 81, in Amsterdam.

• During the years 1752–59 he worked with the historian Jan Wagenaar on his 21 part Vaderlandsche historie, working for the publisher Isaac Tirion in Amsterdam.

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