Philibert-Emmanuel de Beaumanoir de Lavardin

Art Historical Context

This elegant engraving, created in 1651, portrays Philibert-Emmanuel de Beaumanoir de Lavardin, a French nobleman of the mid-seventeenth century. The work reflects the collaborative artistry of Philippe de Champaigne, whose refined painting style often informed such prints, and Robert Nanteuil, one of the period’s foremost engravers specializing in aristocratic and courtly portraits. Produced during the reign of Louis XIV, the image captures the formal dignity expected of the French nobility, complete with a prominent coat of arms that underscores the sitter’s lineage and status. As a print, the engraving allowed this likeness to circulate widely beyond the original painted version, serving both as a record of personal prestige and a testament to the growing importance of reproductive printmaking in Baroque France. The sheet represents the third state of five, revealing the careful adjustments engravers made to refine details such as shading and lettering. Measuring just over twelve inches in height, the work demonstrates Nanteuil’s precise burin technique, which translated painted portraits into crisp, linear compositions suitable for dissemination among collectors and institutions. Today housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Drawings and Prints, this piece offers modern viewers a window into seventeenth-century conventions of representation, where technical mastery and social hierarchy intersected on paper.

About the Artist

Robert Nanteuil|Philippe de Champaigne · 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...