Claude Mellan. Agrippina (after an Ancient Marble Statue in the Tuileries). 1677.

[Mythology-Sculpture. A book of French 17th Century engravings.]

Call number: Q 731.87 M99 

One of our most prized items is a folio of engravings of statuary from the gardens at Versailles, the Louvre, and the Tuileries (originally engraved between 1665-1715), part of the Cabinet du Roi of Louis XIV. The prints were created by some of the foremost engravers of the day: Gérard Audran, Gérard Edelinck, Jean Edelinck, Jean Le Pautre, François Chauveau, Claude Mellan, and Etienne Baudet.

We believe our collection may have been cobbled together in a way similar to this book at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France:  [Statues antiques du cabinet du roi],  [Paris] : [Imprimerie Royale], [1679-1717..]  "Contains a first set of ancient statues of Claude Mellan printed in 1679, and a second set forming the 7th volume of the Cabinet du Roi as described in the "Catalogue of volumes of prints whose boards are in the Cabinet du Roi .- in Paris, the royal press, 1743 ". Were added three antique busts engraved by Claude Mellan, which are normally placed in the 8th volume of the king's cabinet." Our volume does not contain the Mellan busts, and the Mellan and Baudet engravings are at the end of the book rather than the beginning. It also lacks a title page.

We do not know exactly how the prints came to be collected together, nor how they made their way to CCAD, but we are pleased to make them available for you to study.

Watch a master printmaker prepare and print from Claude Mellan's original plate of Agrippina.  This composition by Claude Mellan, of which we have a print in our collection, was first published in 1677 by the Imprimerie Royale, the Royal Printing Office, in volume 1 of the Tableaux du cabinet du roy. Statues et bustes antiques des maisons royales, with a commentary by Andre Felibien. Claude Mellan made a series of eighteen plates for the work, many of which are included in our collection. The original plates are now housed at the Musée du Louvre, Department of Graphic Arts. (The video has English subtitles)

Adamczak, Audrey. "Engraving Sculpture: Depictions of Versailles Statuary in the Cabinet Du Roi." Translated by Alex Raiffe. Princeton University Library Chronicle LXXVI, nos. 1 & 2 (Autumn 2014 & Winter 2015): 176-210.

The CCAD Library has a copy of this article on file. Contact cmannix@ccad.edu for more information.