Cardinal Jules Mazarin
Medium
Engraving; second state of three (Petitjean & Wickert)
Dimensions
sheet: 11 1/4 x 10 9/16 in. (28.6 x 26.8 cm) trimmed
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Lev Tsitrin, 2000
Accession Number
2000.416.12
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite engraving, *Cardinal Mazarin* (1661), captures the likeness of one of 17th-century France's influential figures: Jules Mazarin, the shrewd cardinal and chief minister to young King Louis XIV. Created as a collaborative effort between painter Pierre Mignard, who likely provided the original design, and master engraver Robert Nante, it exemplifies the refined portraiture of the French Baroque era. Nanteuil, renowned for his meticulous line work and royal commissions, elevated engraving to a high art form, producing portraits that rivaled paintings in detail and psychological depth...
About the Artist
Robert Nanteuil|Pierre Mignard · 1623–1678
Robert Nanteuil (1623-1678) was a French portrait engraver, draughtsman, and pastellist who became the preeminent portraitist to the court of Louis XIV. His technical mastery and royal patronage fundamentally transformed the status of engraving in France, elevating it from a mechanical craft to a recognized fine art. Nanteuil stands as the outstanding French portrait engraver of the seventeenth c...