DEDIE AU ROY

Original 1708 16 3/8 inch x 22 1/2 inch Etching and Engraving titled Marie de Medicis sous la forme de Minerve Déesse des Arts – DEDIE AU ROY

Marie de Médicis as Queen Triumphant; the queen standing half-naked wearing a draped brocaded dress, with helmet and holding a sceptre and a small statue of Victory, arms and armour scattered at her feet, a cannon beyond, two putti holding a laurel above her; within decorative frame of draped curtains, with coat of arms above.

Print by Jean Baptiste Massé (1687 – 1767). French engraver, miniature painter and draughtsman. Pupil of Jean Jouvenet and Louis de Chatillon between 1699 and 1710. Major work the drawings and production of the volume of the ‘Galerie de Versailles’ after Le Brun’s paintings, begun 1732 and finished 1753.

Intermediary draughtsman Jean Marc Nattier (1685 – 1766). Portrait painter, brother of Jean Baptiste; the most famous member of the family.

Published by Gaspard Duchange (1662 – 1757). A French engraver.

After the painting by Peter Paul Rubens (1577 – 1640) now in Paris, in the Musée du Louvre. Sir Peter Paul Rubens was a Flemish artist. He is considered the most influential artist of Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens’s highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of classical and Christian history. His unique and immensely popular Baroque style emphasized movement, colour, and sensuality, which followed the immediate, dramatic artistic style promoted in the Counter-Reformation. Rubens specialized in making altarpieces, portraits, landscapes, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects.

Inscription: Lettered within image, in lower centre, with title and dedication: “Dedié au Roy”.
Lettered in lower margin with production and publication details: “Rubens pinxit” and “I.M. Nattier delin.” and “Se Vend a Paris chez le S.r Duchange Graveur du Roy au dessus de la Rue des Mathurins / Avec Privilege de sa Majesté” and “I.B. Massé Sculpsit 1708”.

The etching is in very good condition with general age-related toning and minor defects from handling.