Engraving Agrippina Emerging from the Bath

Of the 61 plates from the *Antique Statues and Busts of the Royal Houses*, the first 18 are the work of Claude Mellan (1598-1688), the undisputed master of chiselled engraving. A pupil of Simon Vouet in Italy, Claude Mellan settled in Paris shortly before 1620. An extraordinary engraver, it was he who...

Of the 61 plates from the *Antique Statues and Busts of the Royal Houses*, the first 18 are the work of Claude Mellan (1598-1688), the undisputed master of chiselled engraving. A pupil of Simon Vouet in Italy, Claude Mellan settled in Paris shortly before 1620. An extraordinary engraver, it was he who created and developed the 'single-cut' engraving technique: a single stroke of the burin forms the motif of his Holy Face on the Veil of Saint Veronica, as well as his signature and the Latin inscription. This prodigious and entirely innovative feat earned him the recognition of Louis XIV, for whom he became court engraver in 1657 (alongside Robert Nanteuil), and later engraver to the cabinet of ancient statues and busts.