Jean-Baptiste Colbert
Medium
Engraving; fourth state of four (Petitjean & Wickert)
Dimensions
Sheet: 12 1/2 × 9 3/4 in. (31.7 × 24.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mr. Lev Tsitrin, 2001
Accession Number
2001.647.17
Tags
Art Historical Context
This 1662 engraving captures Jean-Baptiste Colbert in a formal portrait that highlights his status through careful detail and symbolic elements. Created as a collaborative effort between painter Philippe de Champaigne and master engraver Robert Nanteuil, the work exists in its fourth and final state, showcasing the refined technique of copperplate engraving popular in seventeenth-century France. The inclusion of a coat of arms alongside the sitter underscores themes of nobility and official achievement, rendered with the precise line work that allowed such prints to circulate widely beyond the...
About the Artist
Robert Nanteuil|Philippe de Champaigne · 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...