Pompone de Bellièvre
1657
Medium
Engraving on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 32.2 × 24.5 cm (12 11/16 × 9 11/16 in.); Plate: 32.7 × 25.1 cm (12 7/8 × 9 15/16 in.); Sheet: 33.4 × 25.7 cm (13 3/16 × 10 1/8 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
36012
Art Historical Context
Step into the elegant world of17th-century French portrait with *Pompone de Bellièvre*, a masterful engraving by Robert Nante from 1657. Nanteuil, one of the era's greatest printmakers, specialized in capturing the nobility's refined likenesses with extraordinary precision. This work depicts Pomponne de Belli, a prominent French magistrate and diplomat under Louis XIV, whose stern gaze and lace-collared attire reflect the grandeur of the French court during the Baroque age. Crafted as an engraving on luxurious ivory laid paper—measuring an impressive image size of 32.2 × 24.5 cm—this piece sh...
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...