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Grégoire Huret

Neptune and Thetis Carrying the Riches of the Empire to Cardinal Richelieu

Maker

Grégoire Huret (French, 1606-1670)

Title

Neptune and Thetis Carrying the Riches of the Empire to Cardinal Richelieu

Year

1626-1642

Medium

Engraving on paper

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Engraving on paper

Materials

ink

Supports

paper

Dimensions

Sheet: 29.5 x 34.9 cm (11 5/8 x 13 3/4 inches) (irregular)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Walter H. Kimball Fund

Object Number

2008.18

Type

Prints

Publications

Books

The Brilliant Line: Following the Early Modern Engraver, 1480-1650

Renaissance engravings are objects of exquisite beauty and incomparable intricacy that are composed entirely of lines. Artists began using this intaglio process in Europe as early as 1430. This captivating catalogue focuses on the height of the medium, from 1480 to 1650, when engravers made dramatic and rapid visual changes to engraving technique as they responded to the demands of reproducing artworks in other media. The Brilliant Line follows these visual transformations and offers new insight into the special inventiveness and technical virtuosity of Renaissance and Baroque (Early Modern) engravers. The three essays discuss how engraving’s restrictive materials and the physical process of engraving informed its visual language; the context for the spread of particular engraving styles throughout Europe; and the interests, knowledge, and skills that Renaissance viewers applied when viewing and comparing engravings by style or school.

Exhibition History

The Brilliant Line

Following the Early Modern Engraver, 1480-1650

Sep 18, 2009 – Jan 03, 2010

Label copy

Grégoire Huret worked primarily from his own inventions. A member of the French Academy, he wrote a treatise on perspective and optics in 1670. Pictorial stability dominates his engraving language. Layers of hatching form perpendicular grids at angles that avoid the moiré effect. The result is a surprisingly polished image that is also stylized, and less naturalistic than that of Robert Nanteuil. Huret used etched lines to reinforce contours and create ornament. His integration of the two techniques would become the norm for printmakers after about 1650.

This allegorical homage to Cardinal Richelieu, Louis XIII’s chief minister, probably coincided with his (self) appointment as Grandmaster, Chief, and Superintendent General of Navigation and Commerce in 1626. Richelieu, represented here by his coat-of-arms, was responsible for centralizing France’s disparate governing factions and paving the way for absolutist rule.

Image use

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This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Grégoire Huret (French, 1606-1670)

Neptune and Thetis Carrying the Riches of the Empire to Cardinal Richelieu, 1626-1642

Engraving on paper