Plan general du Chasteau et petit Parc de Vincennes
1668
Medium
etching
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Robert H. Thayer
Accession Number
1981.69.25
Art Historical Context
Created in 1668 by the renowned French etcher Israël Silvestre, *Plan general du Chasteau et petit Parc de Vinc* offers a meticulously detailed bird's-eye view of the historic Château de Vincennes and adjacent small park. Silvestre, a master of topographic prints during the Baroque era, captured the royal residence southeast of Paris at the height of Louis XIV's reign This etching preserves a snapshot of the château's fortified layout—complete with moats, towers, and manicured gardens—before major 18th-century expansions, providing invaluable insight into 17th-century French architecture and l...
About the Artist
Israël Silvestre
Israël Silvestre (1621–1691) was one of the most accomplished and prolific topographical etchers of seventeenth-century France, a draughtsman whose meticulous views of European cities, royal châteaux, and ancient ruins served simultaneously as artistic documents and instruments of royal prestige. Born on 13 August 1621 in Nancy, Lorraine, Silvestre was orphaned at an early age and taken in by his ...