Etching
Signed ‘Hh exc.’ by Hendrick Hondius, attributed to Simon Frisius
20.3 x 12.4 cm

Transcription of Inscription:
ANTONIUS BLOCLANDUS, BATAVUS PICTOR.
Nobilis hic arte est, genere est hic nobilis idem,
     Formâ qui pinxit corpora conspicuâ.
Cúm pictam primo vidisset lumine Romam,

            Mox rediit Romae cedere turpe putans. 

Translation of Inscription:
Anthonie Blocklandt the Dutchman, painter.
This man is noble in skill; this same man is noble by race.  He painted bodies of remarkable shape.¹ When he had seen Rome painted in the first light,² he soon returned, thinking it disgraceful to yield to Rome.³

Orenstein 1996, Frisius no. 138; Hollstein 2008 no. 158

 Karel Van Mander’s biography of Anthonie Blocklandt 
 Grove Art Online biography

1. “forma” could also be translated “beauty”.
2. I suspect the author means “in his first years” (cf. the text for 141. Adam Elsheimer), but I can find no examples of “primo lumine” having this sense.
3. Cf. introductory poem and the text for 35. Mathys Cock, “ingenio cedere turpe putat”.