
Gérard Edelinck (20 October 1640 (baptized) – 2 April 1707) was a copper-plate
engraver and print publisher of
Flemish
Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium ...
origin, who worked in Paris from 1666 and became a naturalized French citizen in 1675.
[Préaud 1998.]
Life
Edelinck was born in
Antwerp, where he received his early training under the engravers Gaspar Huybrechts (1619–1684) and
Cornelius Galle the Younger
Cornelis Galle the Younger, Cornelius Galle or Cornelis Galle (I) (bapt. 23 February 1615, Antwerp – 18 October 1678, Antwerp) was a Flemish printmaker. He worked mainly on publications for the Plantin Press in Antwerp for which he engraved de ...
. He went to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...
in 1666, where he worked with his fellow Fleming
Nicolas Pitau the elder. To improve himself further he subsequently studied under
François de Poilly
François Poilly, or François de Poilly, (1623Born in 1622 or 1623 according to the sources. –1693) was a French engraver.
Biography
He was born in Abbeville, the son of a goldsmith who gave him his first drawing lessons. He was apprenticed ...
,
Robert Nanteuil, and
Philippe de Champaigne
Philippe de Champaigne (; 26 May 1602 – 12 August 1674) was a Brabançon-born French Baroque era painter, a major exponent of the French school. He was a founding member of the Académie de peinture et de sculpture in Paris, the premier art ...
.
[ These masters likewise had soon done all they could to help him onwards, and Edelinck ultimately took the first rank among line engravers.
]
His excellence was generally acknowledged; and having become known to Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Ve ...
he was appointed, on the recommendation of Le Brun, teacher at the academy established at the Gobelins manufactory
The Gobelins Manufactory () is a historic tapestry factory in Paris, France. It is located at 42 avenue des Gobelins, near Les Gobelins métro station in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. It was originally established on the site as a medieval ...
for the training of workers in tapestry
Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads may ...
. He was also entrusted with the execution of several important works.[''Britanicca'' 1911] In 1677 he won admission to the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture
The Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture (; en, "Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture") was founded in 1648 in Paris, France. It was the premier art institution of France during the latter part of the Ancien Régime until it was abol ...
(Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture) with his ''Portrait of Philippe de Champaigne'', engraved after a self-portrait.[Grund 2006, vol. 5, p. 65.]
Work
The work of this great engraver constitutes an epoch in the art. His prints number more than four hundred. Edelinck stands above and apart from his predecessors and contemporaries in that he excelled, not in some one respect, but in all respects, that while one engraver attained excellence in correct form, and another in rendering light and shade, and others in giving color to their prints and the texture of surfaces, he, as supreme master of the burin, possessed and displayed all these separate qualities, in so complete a harmony that the eye is not attracted by any one of them in particular, but rests in the satisfying whole.[
Edelinck was especially good as an engraver of ]portrait
A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this ...
s, and executed prints of many of the most eminent persons of his time. Among these are those of Le Brun, Rigaud, Champaigne, Nanteuil, La Fontaine
Jean de La Fontaine (, , ; 8 July 162113 April 1695) was a French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his ''Fables'', which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Eur ...
, Colbert, John Dryden
''
John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate.
He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the p ...
, Descartes, Jean-Baptiste Lully
Jean-Baptiste Lully ( , , ; born Giovanni Battista Lulli, ; – 22 March 1687) was an Italian-born French composer, guitarist, violinist, and dancer who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas ...
, etc. He died at Paris in 1707. His younger brother Jean, and his son Nicholas
Nicholas is a male given name and a surname.
The Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglican Churches celebrate Saint Nicholas every year on December 6, which is the name day for "Nicholas". In Greece, the name and it ...
, were also engravers.[
]
Works
Among his most famous works are:
*''Holy Family'', after Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual ...
*''Penitent Magdalene'', after Charles le Brun
Charles Le Brun (baptised 24 February 1619 – 12 February 1690) was a French painter, physiognomist, art theorist, and a director of several art schools of his time. As court painter to Louis XIV, who declared him "the greatest French artist ...
*''Alexander at the Tent of Darius'', after Le Brun
*''Combat of Four Knights'', after Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially re ...
*''Christ surrounded with Angels'', after Le Brun
*''St. Louis praying'', after Le Brun
*''St Charles Borromeo before a crucifix'', after Le Brun
Notes
References
* Gründ, publisher (2006). ''Benezit: Dictionary of Artists''. Paris: Gründ. .
* Préaud, Maxime (1998), "Edelinck, Gérard", vol. 9, p. 718, in ''The Dictionary of Art'', edited by Jane Turner. London: Macmillan. .
;Attribution
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edelinck, Gerard
1640 births
1707 deaths
17th-century French engravers
18th-century French engravers
Flemish engravers
Flemish Baroque painters
Portrait engravers
Artists from Antwerp