Cornelius, a celebrated engraver, was born at Hoorn, in Holland, in 1536. After having learned the first principles of drawing and engraving, he went to Italy to complete his studies, and visited all the places famous for the works of the great masters. At Venice he was courteously received by Titian, and engraved several plates from the pictures of that admirable painter. He at last settled at Rome, where he died in 1578, at the age of forty-two. According to Basan, he was "the best engraver with the burin or graver only that Holland ever produced. We find in his prints," adds he, "correctness of drawing, and an exquisite taste. He praises also the taste and lightness of touch with which he engraved landscapes, without the assistance of the point. It is no small honour to this artist, that Agostino Caracci was his scholar, and imitated his style of engraving rather than that of any other master."