Virgin and Child

Etching, ca. 1634/37, lacking signature and editorial indications.

We attribute the print, for obvious stylistic reasons and similarity to his other works, to the French engraver Louis de Boullogne (1609-1674). The work is not described in Robert-Dumesnil's catalog.

The etching, which appears to relate to the artist's Roman period (1634-1637), probably lacks the lower white margin, where the signature or editorial details were inscribed; in the lower right-hand corner, there is a glimpse of what appears to be a cut letter.

Louis Boullogne, called Louis le père (Paris July 8, 1609-June 1674), was a French painter and engraver.

After training with a painter in the Faubourg Saint-Germain and then with the painter Jacques Blanchard (perhaps as early as 1629), he went to Italy on a pension granted by the city of Paris and stayed in Rome between 1634 and 1637, where he engraved Guido Reni's famous Retreat of Helen, then perhaps spent a short time in Venice (where he engraved Veronese's Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian). Returning to Paris around 1638-1639, he began an important career. He was commissioned to paint a large group portrait of the provost and aldermen of Paris for the Hôtel de Ville, and he produced several "Mays" of Notre-Dame in 1646, 1648 and 1657. He also painted two ceilings for the Hôtel Macé de La Bazinière, on the Quai Malaquais, depicting The Rising Sun and Diana on her chariot (now lost). In 1644 and 1645 he is listed as "painter of the king and the city [of Paris]." He contributed greatly to the organization of the Académie de peinture, of which he was a founding member in 1648 and where he taught from 1656 until his death. In 1672 he participated in the decorations for the funeral of Chancellor Pierre Séguier under the direction of Charles Le Brun and exhibited at the 1673 Salon.

Etching, impressed on contemporary laid paper, trimmed to copperplate and lacking the lower white part, traces of glue on verso, otherwise in good condition. Rare.