Size of the original engraving, 12¾ × 9¾ inches
Reproductive work was for Nanteuil an exception. The plates which he engraved from the paintings of other artists number thirty-eight; to each of them he affixed the name of the painter with a fairness which Edelinck, for one, seldom exhibited. It is natural that these plates should show little of that inspiration and originality which were distinctive of a born character student like the artist from Rheims, but the majority are supremely interesting and the finest are masterpieces. It is evident that in the earliest ones, notably in the head of Chavigny, reputed a son of Richelieu, he was experimenting with technique and that several others which were used as frontispieces were merely potboilers. Even the portrait of Queen Christina of Sweden and the much overrated one of the Dutch lawyer van Steenberghen are nothing more than interesting studies of simple linework and softness of tone. In those of the two little sons of the Duchesse de Longueville, the Comte de Dunois and the Comte de Saint Paul, we see how easy it was for Nanteuil’s technique to express the soft outline and the tender complexion of youth with a charming effect.
After Lebrun he engraved with an admirable chiaroscuro the head of the Chancellor Seguier, and that well-known portrait of Pompone de Bellièvre, statesman and philanthropist, which, if lacking in vigor, represents the highest point reached by the intelligent refinement of linework. But it is only with the sober and precise work of his master Philippe de Champaigne that Nanteuil had a positive affinity. The two artists held identical views about portraiture and the Flemish painter found in the engraver from Rheims an interpreter who fairly breathed in unison with him. It is not possible to imagine anything more admirable than the engraved portraits of de Neufville, bishop of Chartres, Richelieu, and Marshal Turenne. They undoubtedly represent the last word on the subject of line-engraving. The face of the Cardinal is treated with all the subtlety of Velasquez and the head of the greatest captain of his time is modeled with a strength of coloring which Rembrandt himself would have admired. This plate shows in the clearest way Nanteuil’s ability to represent different textures: the hair, skin, lace, silk, and steel armor are treated with precision which is wholly satisfying and a breadth which commands the highest admiration.
From the inventory made in his house the day after his death we learn that Nanteuil had for years been dissipating in extravagant living the large sums he had earned with his work. His household goods, his drawings, and the tools of his profession were sold under the hammer, and it is amusing at the present day to realize that a lot consisting of 2966 of his prints, together with many reams of paper and his printing-press, were valued at only seven hundred dollars.
It is also explained why most of his portraits went through so many different states; it was chiefly on account of the “theses.” A curious fashion it was by which wealthy students in law, philosophy, and the arts formally dedicated their graduating theses to one or another distinguished personage whose engraved portrait they ordered from a peintre-graveur. This, with a lengthy dedication, was then attached to the printed thesis as a frontispiece and sent to the patron and to many of his friends. It is thus that the Chancellor d’Aligre commissioned Nanteuil, who had the monopoly of such work, to engrave and strike off twenty-five hundred proofs of a new and extra-large portrait of the King measuring thirty inches by forty-two for his son’s thesis; for this and the printing of the thesis itself the engraver received the sum of 10,400 livres, or about $9000 of our money. The price of an ordinary engraved portrait was $2000. Other less wealthy postulants had to be content with ordering a reimpression of a plate which had already been used and which needed only a change of dedication. In this way the portrait of the Dauphin for instance went through fifteen states and one of the King went through eleven; the plates were naturally often retouched by the artist in order to enable them to withstand so much use. Not to these theses alone, however, must the great number of royal portraits which were printed be attributed, for they had become immensely popular throughout the kingdom and whoever could afford it had one hanging in his house. In 1667 Cardinal de Bouillon ordered the portrait of the King for his thesis, and some years later another student selected for his patron the Cardinal himself. In 1675 it was the son of d’Artagnan, dear to all lovers of romance, who was presented by his father with the finest of the King’s portraits for his thesis.
Nanteuil. Henri de la Tour d’Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne,
Maréchal de France
Engraved from the painting by Philippe de Champaigne
“It is not possible to imagine anything more admirable than the engraved portraits of de Neufville, bishop of Chartres, Richelieu, and Marshal Turenne. They undoubtedly represent the last word on the subject of line-engraving.... The head of the greatest captain of his time is modeled with a strength of coloring which Rembrandt himself would have admired.” Louis R. Metcalfe.
Size of the original engraving, 15⅛ × 11⅜ inches