HOUBRAKEN

houbraken, jacobus (1698-1780), dutch engraver, was born at dort, on the 25th of december 1698. all that his father, arnold houbraken (1660-1719), bequeathed to him was a fine constitution and a pure love for work. in 1707 he came to reside at amsterdam, where for years he had to struggle incessantly against difficulties. he commenced the art of engraving by studying the works of cornelis cort, suyderhoef, edelinck and the visschers. he devoted himself almost entirely to portraiture. among his best works are scenes from the comedy of _de ontdekte schijndeugd_, executed in his eightieth year, after cornelis troost, who was called by his countrymen the dutch hogarth. he died on the 14th of november 1780. see a. ver hull, _jacobus houbraken et son oeuvre_ (arnhem, 1875), where 120 engraved works are fully described. houdenc (or houdan), raoul de, 12th-century french trouvere, takes his name from his native place, generally identified with houdain (artois), though there are twelve places bearing the name in one or other of its numerous variants. it has been suggested that he was a monk, but from the scattered hints in his writings it seems more probable that he followed the trade of jongleur and recited his chansons, with small success apparently, in the houses of the great. he was well acquainted with paris, and probably spent a great part of his life there. his undoubted works are: _le songe d'enfer_, _la voie de paradis_, _le roman des eles_ (pr. by a. scheler in _trouveres belges_, new series, 1897) and the romance of _meraugis de portlesguez_, edited by m. michelant (1869) and by dr m. friedwagner (halle, 1897). houdenc was an imitator of chretien de troyes; and huon de meri, in his _tournoi de l'antechrist_ (1226) praises him with chretien in words that seem to imply that both were dead. _meraugis de portlesguez_, the hero of which perhaps derives his name from lesguez, the port of saint brieuc in brittany, is a _roman d'aventures_ loosely attached to the arthurian cycle. see gaston paris in _hist. litt. de la france_, xxx. 220-237; w. zingerle, _uber raoul de houdenc und seine werke_ (erlangen, 1880); and o. boerner, _raoul de houdenc. eine stilistische untersuchung_ (1885).