helping to found the English school. In 1616, Simon van de Passe, and in 1621, Willem van de Passe, sons of Crispin van de Passe, the great engraver of Utrecht, settled in England and established a definite school of engravers in this country.
Their pupils, and those whom they immediately influenced, include William Hole, Francis Pelaram, John Payne, Thomas Cecill, William Marshall, George Glover, and Robert Vaughan. In Elizabethan days the strength of the first group lay in their decorative quality in the management of the line and in their use of the dot. In heraldic device and in ornament they were especially remarkable, The later group departed from this style and their work took its technique from the Netherlands.
It is unknown whether Crispin van de Passe ever worked in England, but there is a magnificent engraved portrait of Queen Elizabeth after Isaac Oliver in the possession of the King. Among other well-known portraits by the same engraver may be mentioned Robert Sidney, Earl of Leicester, worth £3, Sir Francis Drake, dated 1598, having six lines under portrait, £2 15s., and Henry, Earl of Southampton, worth 30s.
Of the sons of Crispin Van de Passe, both engraved portraits of the English nobility, the prints of Willem van de Passe, executed wholly with the graver without the use of etching, are the more highly esteemed by collectors. His James I. and his Prince Charles, afterwards Charles I., are both rare prints. Of his brother Simon there are a great number of portraits all of value, though not infrequently a specimen may be
