The Servant Begging for Mercy from His King
probably c. 1576/1580
Medium
engraving
Dimensions
sheet: 6.6 × 6.4 cm (2 5/8 × 2 1/2 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1964.8.948
Art Historical Context
In the late 16th century, engraver Léonard Gier crafted *The Servant Begging for from His King* around 1576–1580, a poignant engraving measuring just 6.6 × 6.4 cm. This intimate print, now in the National Gallery of Art Rosenwald Collection, captures dramatic moment of humility and power: a kneeling servant pleads before his sovereign, embodying Renaissance themes of mercy, authority, and human vulnerability. Gaultier, a master of the French School active during the turbulent Wars of Religion under Henry III, specialized in detailed reproductive prints that popularized grand designs for wider ...
About the Artist
Léonard Gaultier · 1561–1641
Léonard Gaultier, a prolific French engraver born in Mainz around 1561, established himself as a prominent printmaker and publisher in Paris, where he died in 1641. Operating from addresses like "A l'Arche de Noé" on rue du Monceau-Saint-Gervais by 1585, he produced book illustrations, frontispieces, title pages, broadsides, almanacs, and standalone prints, often collaborating with publishers such...