The leading Flemish punchcutter of his time and typefounder for
Plantin, a superb craftsman active in Ghent in the third quarter of the sixteenth century. Proofs surviving at the Plantin-Moretus Museum showing development of dark, large x-height romans from Flemish blackletter appear to be responsible for
Stanley Morison’s theories on the subject.
Van den Keere’s 2-line Double Pica Roman (Gros Canon), cut around 1570 and shown in Plantin’s c.1585 folio specimen, is the basis for
Fred Smeijers’ recent face, Renard.