Gérard Edelinck

Gerard Edelinck (Antwerp, 20 October 1649 - 2 April 1707) was a French engraver of Flemish origin. He specialized in the engraving of reproduction by means of the technique to buril, diffusing paintings and other designs of other artists. Friend of the portraitist Rigaud, he was one of the most illustrious artificers of the reign of Louis XIV of France.

Born in Antwerp, he was a pupil of the engraver Cornelis Galle II, of the famous Galle saga. Joined the local artists' Guild in 1663.

He marched to Paris in 1666 and perfected his art with the master Jean-Baptiste de Poilly. He became a French citizen in 1675.

Supported by Minister Colbert, he received the titles of knight of the Order of Saint Michel, chamber recorder with pension, and was appointed professor in the tapestry factory of the Gobelins. He was admitted to the Paris Academy in 1677.

Edelinck is considered the top of 17th century French engraving. According to critics, his works maintain a very high quality, equating the drawing with the texture and textures of light.

He popularized a number of famous images: Sagrada Familia (Rafael Sanzio), Dario's family (Charles Le Brun), Combat of four horsemen (Leonardo da Vinci), The Virgin (Guido Reni) ...

His portraits of Louis XIV, Descartes, Colbert and the painters Charles Lebrun, his close friend Rigaud (who portrayed him) and Philippe de Champaigne are particularly well known. This last engraving, a copy of a self-portrait painted today lost, was considered by Edelinck himself as his best work; With him he gained his entrance in the Real Academy of Painting and Sculpture of Paris in 1677.

It is cataloged about 400 recorded images.
He had two brothers, Jean and Gaspard, and a son, Nicolas, who also produced engravings.

His excellence was generally acknowledged; and having become known to Louis XIV he was appointed, on the recommendation of Le Brun, teacher at the academy established at the Gobelins manufactory for the training of workers in tapestry. He was also entrusted with the execution of several important works. In 1677 he won admission to the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture (Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture) with his Portrait of Philippe de Champaigne, engraved after a self-portrait.

Works:
The work of this great engraver constitutes an epoch in the art. His prints number more than four hundred. Edelinck stands above and apart from his predecessors and contemporaries in that he excelled, not in some one respect, but in all respects, that while one engraver attained excellence in correct form, and another in rendering light and shade, and others in giving color to their prints and the texture of surfaces, he, as supreme master of the burin, possessed and displayed all these separate qualities, in so complete a harmony that the eye is not attracted by any one of them in particular, but rests in the satisfying whole.

Edelinck was especially good as an engraver of portraits, and executed prints of many of the most eminent persons of his time. Among these are those of Le Brun, Rigaud, Champaigne, Nanteuil, La Fontaine, Colbert, John Dryden, Descartes, etc. He died at Paris in 1707. His younger brother Jean, and his son Nicholas, were also engravers.

Holy Family, after Raphael
Penitent Magdalene, after Charles le Brun
Alexander at the Tent of Darius, after Le Brun
Combat of Four Knights, after Leonardo da Vinci
Christ surrounded with Angels, after Le Brun
St. Louis praying, after Le Brun
St Charles Borromeo before a crucifix, after Le Brun
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