Claude Mellan

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Claude Mellan
Self-portrait, engraving by Claude Mellan (1635), Metropolitan Museum of Art
Born(1598-05-23)23 May 1598
Abbeville, France
Died9 September 1688(1688-09-09) (aged 90)
Paris, France

Claude Mellan (23 May 1598 – 9 September 1688)[a][1][2] was a French draughtsman, engraver, and painter.[3]

Early life and training

Mellan was born in Abbeville, the son of a customs official.[4]

His first known print (Préaud no. 288[b]), made for a thesis in theology at the Collège des Mathurins, shows that he was in Paris by 1619.[3][c] His first teachers have not been identified, but his early engravings are thought to show the influence of Léonard Gaultier.[3]

Rome

In 1624 Mellan went to Rome, where he studied engraving for a brief time with

Gianlorenzo Bernini. The few after his own designs include Saint Francis de Paul (Préaud no. 77) and the Penitent Magdalene (Préaud no. 113).[3] The plates Mellan engraved in Rome were mostly executed in a conventional manner.[4]

Later years in Paris

In 1637, after a period of time in

cross-hatching, he used a system of parallel lines, regulating tone by varying their breadth and closeness.[4] Joseph Strutt
wrote:

The effect, which he produced by this method of engraving, is soft and clear. In single figures, and small subjects, he succeeded very happily; but in large subjects, where great depth of shadow was required, he has failed....[5]

Sudarium of Saint Veronica, engraving by Claude Mellan, 1649

Particularly notable is his engraving The Face of Christ (1649; Préaud no. 21), also called the Sudarium of Saint Veronica (see Veil of Veronica), created from a single spiralling line that starts at the tip of Jesus's nose.[3][4]

During this later period in Paris, Mellan mostly engraved his own work. He was much sought after as a portrait artist, drawing from life and engraving the portraits. Among his subjects were members of the

Henri de Savoie, Duc de Nemours (Préaud no. 182).[3]

He also created large religious works with geometric layouts and poses. According to Barbara Brejon de Lavergnée, writing in

The Dictionary of Art, Mellan's use of the single line gives "an abstract effect"[3] and, "as an engraver he proved sensitive to the classical ideal developed by Nicolas Poussin, Jacques Stella and others in Paris in the middle of the 17th century."[3] Among Mellan's reproductive engravings are two frontispieces for religious works after designs by Poussin (1640; Préaud no. 294) and Stella (1641; Préaud no. 296).[3]

Hermitage, Saint Petersburg (via the Cobenzl collection).[3] Several of Mellan's lost paintings are known from his engravings of them, including Samson and Delilah (Préaud no. 5) and Saint John the Baptist in the Desert (Préaud no. 84).[3] A few other paintings were attributed to him, beginning in the 1970s, but these have not been generally accepted.[3]

He died in Paris.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ 23 May 1598 is his date of baptism.
  2. ^ Engraving catalog numbers are from Préaud 1988.
  3. ^ The Collège des Mathurins was a constituent college of the Sorbonne (see fr:Université de Paris).

References

  1. ^ Chilvers 2009.
  2. ^ "Claude Mellan". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Brejon de Lavergnée 1996.
  4. ^ a b c d Strutt 1786.
  5. ^ Strutt 1786, p. 143.
  6. ^ Montaiglon 1856, cited by Brejon de Lavergnée 1996.

Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Claude Mellan.
  • Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi, a fully digitized exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries, which contains material on Claude Mellan (see index)
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