Engraving Antique marble statue of a gladiator 3 feet 4 inches high in the Palais des Thuilleries - Claude Mellan

This suite of prints representing antique statues belonging to the Royal Houses comes from one of the volumes of the Cabinet des planches gravées du Roi, known as the Cabinet du Roi, which was a sort of illustrated catalog of the royal collections.
Among the 61 plates from the Statues and busts of the Royal Houses, the first 18 are the work of Claude Mellan (1598-1688), the undisputed master of burin engraving. The prints of Etienne Baudet (1638-1711) show his determination to equal the art of his master. The comparison of the works of the two engravers highlights the genius of Mellan.

A student of Simon Vouet in Italy, Claude Mellan settled in Paris shortly before 1620. An extraordinary engraver, he created and developed the process of engraving "in one size": a single stroke of the burin composes the motif of his Sainte Face sur le Linge de Sainte Véronique as well as his signature and the Latin inscription. This prodigious and totally innovative tour de force made him recognized by Louis XIV whose ordinary engraver he became in 1657 (at the same time as Robert Nanteuil), then engraver of the cabinet of statues and antique busts.
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