1640 Portrait of Ludwig Lavater, engraved by Conrad Meyer, Switzerland

Ludovicus Lavaterus

Portrait of Ludwig Lavater, half-length, facing left, wearing a doublet, ruff and beret.

Signed and engraved by Conrad Meyer, ca 1640.

21.8 x 16 cm

Top margin a little tight.

Taken on the occasion of Lavater’s 59th birthday in 1586.

Ludwig Lavater was a Swiss Reformed theologian working in the circle of his father-in-law, Heinrich Bullinger. He served as Archdeacon at the Grossmünster in Zurich and briefly Antistes of the Zurich church as the successor of Rudolf Gwalther.

Conrad Meyer (1618 Zürich – 1689 Zürich) was a painter, engraver, and medallist of Zürich. He was a student of Matthäus Merian. He was successful as a painter of portrait and landscapes, but later specialised on copper engraving, producing more than a thousand works. He also produced the map of Switzerland by Conrad Gyger (1657) and a Planisphaerium Coeleste (1681).