Jean Dorieu
1660
Medium
engraving
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.6600
Art Historical Context
Step into the refined world of 17th French portraiture with *Jean Dorieu* (1660), an exquisite engraving by Robert Nante, one of the era's master printmakers. Housed in the National Gallery of Art's Rosenwald Collection (Department CG-E), this print captures the likeness of Jean Dorieu, a contemporary intellectual or poet, rendered with remarkable precision during the early reign of Louis XIV. Nanteuil, a leading figure in French Baroque engraving elevated the medium through his meticulous technique: incising fine lines into a copper plate to create intricate details of texture, expression, 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...