Charles de Valois, duc d'Angouleme
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
image: 11 13/16 x 9 7/16 in. (30 x 24 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1928
Accession Number
28.97.95
Tags
Art Historical Context
This etching portrays Charles de Valois, Duke of Angoulême (1573–1650), a prominent French nobleman and illegitimate son of King Charles IX. Born amid the religious upheavals of the Wars of Religion, he navigated the turbulent politics of the French court, serving as a military leader and diplomat under kings Henry IV and Louis XIII. The portrait captures his dignified presence, emblematic of the aristocratic elite whose likenesses were avidly collected and disseminated in 17th-century Europe. Created by engraver Jean Morin after a painting by Philippe de Champaigne, a leading Flemish-born Ba...
About the Artist
Jean Morin|Philippe de Champaigne · 1605–1650
Jean Morin (c. 1605–1650) was one of the most accomplished French engravers of the seventeenth century, a master of the portrait print whose work stands among the finest examples of French graphic art in its era. Little is known about his early life or training, though his technique suggests exposure to both French and Flemish engraving traditions, the latter being the dominant force in European p...