Pierre Simon, Engraver

Art Historical Context

Gérard Edelinck’s 1694 engraving portrays fellow printmaker Pierre Simon with quiet dignity, capturing the refined world of late-seventeenth-century French printmaking. Working at the height of Louis XIV’s reign, Edelinck was celebrated for his ability to translate the textures of fabric, hair, and skin into crisp lines on copper. Here he turns that same skill toward honoring a colleague, presenting Simon as both craftsman and cultured gentleman. The medium itself—an engraving printed on paper—allowed such portraits to circulate widely, preserving likenesses and professional reputations across Europe. Measuring roughly 36 by 25 centimeters, the sheet’s intimate scale invites close looking, revealing the meticulous cross-hatching and subtle tonal gradations that made Edelinck’s work prized by collectors and fellow artists alike. Now in the Art Institute of Chicago’s Prints and Drawings collection, the print offers a window onto the collaborative networks of engravers who helped shape the visual culture of the Baroque era.