Thomas Campanella
Medium
engraving on laid paper
Dimensions
plate: 15.9 x 11.9 cm (6 1/4 x 4 11/16 in.) sheet: 28.1 x 20.5 cm (11 1/16 x 8 1/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of John O'Brien
Accession Number
1991.208.69
Art Historical Context
This engraving by Balthasar Moncornet, dated 1658, presents a portrait of the Italian philosopher, theologian, and poet Thomas Campanella. Created as a print on laid paper, the work measures 15.9 by 11.9 centimeters in the plate and was produced through the intaglio technique, in which lines are incised into a metal plate, inked, and transferred under pressure. Such engravings were essential in the seventeenth century for circulating images of notable thinkers across Europe. Moncornet, active in Paris as both engraver and publisher, specialized in portraits that helped document intellectual a...
About the Artist
Balthasar Moncornet
Balthasar Moncornet (c. 1600–1668) was a French engraver and print publisher who became one of the most prolific portrait printmakers of seventeenth-century France. Born in Rouen, he established a highly productive workshop in Paris on the Rue Saint-Jacques, the traditional center of the French print trade. Despite being blind in one eye — a remarkable handicap for an engraver — Moncornet produced...