Edouard Mole
1653
Medium
engraving
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.6589
Art Historical Context
Step into the refined world of 17th-century French portraiture with Robert Nanteuil's *Edouard Mole* (1653), a masterful engraving from the National Gallery of Art's Rosenwald Collection Nanteuil, hailed as the preeminent engraver of his era, captured the likeness of Édouard Molé a prominent magistrate and president of the Parlement de Paris. Created during Louis XIV's early reign, this print reflects the grandeur of the French Baroque, where detailed portraits immortalized the elite. Engraving, Nanteuil's specialty, involved incising fine lines into a copper plate with a burin, then inking a...
About the Artist
Robert Nanteuil · 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...