Simon de Passe

1595 Cologne – 1647 Copenhagen

The draughtsman and engraver, Simon de Passe, was the eldest son of Crispijn de Passe the Elder, to whom the artist was apprenticed in Cologne. Simon was active in England from about 1615 to 1622, where he was in close contact with the Jacobin court. Living subsequently in Holland, he was baptised in Utrecht in accordance with the Mennonite rite in 1624. From 1629 he worked for King Christian IV of Denmark in Copenhagen, where he died in 1647.