Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fillian, John
FILLIAN, JOHN (fl. 1658–1680), engraver, was a pupil of William Faithorne the elder [q. v.], and worked in his style, though he never attained his excellence. Evelyn, in his ‘Sculptura’ (1662), speaks of him as ‘J. Fellian, disciple of Mr. Faithorne, who is a hopeful young man.’ He died early, about 1680, before these hopes could be realised. Very few of his engravings exist, notably a portrait of Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, published by P. Stent in 1658, a good work; a portrait of his master, Faithorne, from a drawing by himself; a copy of J. Payne's portrait of Paracelsus; ‘Dr. Michael,’ after Guido Reni; and the frontispiece to P. Heylyn's ‘Cosmography,’ published in 1669. Walpole was of opinion that Faithorne's engraving of ‘Christ with a Globe,’ from a picture attributed to Raphael, was completed by Fillian.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Walpole's Anecd. of Painting, ed. Dallaway and Wornum; Le Blanc's Manuel de l'Amateur d'Estampes; Evelyn's Sculptura.]