Jacques-Louis Copia, a French engraver, was born at

Landau Landau (), officially Landau in der Pfalz (, ), is an autonomous (''kreisfrei'') town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße ("Southern Wine Route") district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town (since 1990), a long ...

in 1764. He went to Paris, and among other plates executed a charming little portrait of Queen

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette (; ; Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last List of French royal consorts, queen of France before the French Revolution and the establishment of the French First Republic. She was the ...

, after Piauger, which is very rare. He also engraved a head of Marat, terribly startling in its ghastliness, from a drawing made by

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

immediately after his assassination. But Copia is chiefly identified with Prud'hon, the voluptuous genius of whose works no one has more fully comprehended. It must, however, be admitted that, apart from the great painter, Copia would have remained hidden in the crowd. His style was neither original nor brilliant, and his rare qualities of modelling and softness of execution required works suitable for their display. He died in Paris in 1799, unfortunately too early to be able to engrave the greatest works of his friend. But among other pupils he left one, Roger, who caught his manner, and is thought by many to have surpassed his master in the interpretation of the spirit of Prud'hon. The following are the works of Prud'hon which have been engraved by Copia: *''The French Constitution''. *''Equality'', and ''Law''; two small

bas-reliefs Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

from the preceding composition. *''Liberty''. *''The Revenge of Ceres''. *''Love brought to reason''. *''Love laughing at the tears which he has caused to flow''; a companion to the preceding. *''En Jouir''; an illustration to Gentil-Bernard's ' Art d'Aimer,' Didot's edition, 1797. *''The First Kiss of Love''; and four other illustrations to

Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher ('' philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects ...

's ' Nouvelle Héloise,' Bossange's edition, 1808.

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1764 births 1799 deaths People from Landau 18th-century French engravers {{France-engraver-stub