art of engraving in line reached its high-water mark. During that period its brilliance and its command of technique, its delicacy and its exquisite execution almost stand unrivalled against all competitors. Robert Nanteuil (1626-1678) is its chief and leading exponent. Colbert, the French Mecænas, assembled together at the royal establishment at Gobelins not only weavers of tapestry, but other craftsmen and artists, under the direction of Lebrun, and foreign engravers were summoned thither, as was Edelinck from Antwerp, to translate French masterpieces and to establish in France a school which should perpetuate the memory of the Grande Monarque. The idea of the foundation of the Gobelins tapestry works and its concomitant band of painters and designers and engravers was as Italian in conception as the school of artists working at Florence under the patronage of Lorenzo de Medici.
There was Jean Pesne (who set himself to interpret the works of Poussin), Etienne Baudet and Gantrel, François de Poilly and Roullet, Masson and Claudine Bouzonnet, known as Claudia Stella, a female engraver of extraordinary power; and, above all, Robert Nanteuil, to uphold the traditions of this school.
The portraits of Nanteuil have a masterly refinement which stamp them as being at once and without challenge among the greatest line engravings ever produced. His technique is varied according to the particular quality he wishes to express in his portrait. With dexterous touch, that subsequent engravers marvel at, he conveys the intimate character of the person whom he is engraving
