Louis XIV

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Artist: Robert Nanteuil (French, 1623–1678)
Medium: Engraving
Size: Platemark: 49.5 x 42.1 cm (19 1/2 x 16 9/16 in.); Sheet: 52.8 x 43.8 cm (20 13/16 x 17 1/4 in.)
Culture: France
Museum: Cleveland Museum of Art
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

By 1640, Robert Nanteuil was Paris’s leading portrait engraver, producing engravings of notable middle-class people, nobles, and royals, including King Louis XIV of France, who sat for him at least five times. His engravings, based on drawings made in the presence of sitters, feature such fine, illusionistic lines that their structure is often invisible. His exceptionally consistent system generates continuous tone. The face is composed of thin, parallel lines mixed with regular flicks that almost mimic human pores. Individual hairs on the king’s head are outlined, and a punch tool was used to create the lace neckcloth.