Paulus Pontius

Paulus Pontius (27 May 1603 – 16 January 1658) was a Flemish engraver and painter. He was one of the leading engravers connected with the workshop of Peter Paul Rubens. After Rubens' death, Pontius worked with other leading Antwerp painters such as Anthony van Dyck and Jacob Jordaens.

Paulus Pontius was born in Antwerp where he was apprenticed to the still life painter Osias Beert on 3 December 1616. He later worked under the prominent engraver Lucas Vorsterman who taught him the art of engraving. Vorsterman had joined Rubens' workshop around 1617 or 1618 and had established himself as Rubens' primary engraver since. In 1626–1627 Pontius was admitted as a master in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke.

Together with Vorsterman, Schelte a Bolswert and Boetius à Bolswert, Pontius became one of the leading engravers of the first generation who made reproductions after Rubens' works. When Vorsterman left for England in 1624 after he had a conflict with Rubens, Pontius took over from Vorsterman as Rubens' foremost engraver. He even took up lodgings in Rubens' house from 1624 to 1631.

Pontius married three times. The names of his successive wives were: Christina Herselin, Catlyne van Eck and Helena Schryvers. He had respectively one son, two sons and three daughters, and one daughter with his spouses. His son François was an engraver and art dealer.

By 1634, Pontius was living with his first wife Christina Herselin in the Everdijstraat in the house of his father-in-law. On 26 April 1634, the famous but impoverished genre painter Adriaen Brouwer took up lodgings in his house as the two men were close friends. The same year the pair joined the local chamber of rhetoric Violieren. It has been suggested that Brouwer's painting called Fat man or Luxuria (Mauritshuis), which possibly represents the deadly sin of lust, is at the same time a portrait of Paulus Pontius.

After Rubens' death in 1640, Pontius created reproductions after the work of, amongst others, Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, Jacob Jordaens, Pieter van Avont, Abraham van Diepenbeeck, Anselm van Hulle, Gerard Seghers, Gaspar de Crayer, Gonzales Coques, Frans Luycx and Titian.

His pupils included Alexander Voet the Younger, Coenraet Waumans and Frans van den Wyngaerde.

Pontius was able to develop early in his career a personal style characterized by precise drawing that renders the original painting accurately. He was a master in suggesting the effects of light and the colours in a very subtle manner. Pontius worked as one of the principal engravers for Rubens' workshop. Pontius also worked after the work of pupils or imitators of Rubens. He can be regarded as one of the principal engravers of van Dyck's work.