Name Claude Mellan | Period Baroque | |
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Died March 9, 1688, Paris, France | ||
Veil of veronica by claude mellan 1649
MELLAN LA SAINTE FACE©GALLIX
Life
Mellan was born in Abbeville, the son of a customs official. He studied under Simon Vouet in Paris, but showed more interest in engraving than painting. From 1624 until 1636 he lived in Rome. The plates he engraved there were mostly executed in a conventional manner, but after his return to France he adopted an idiosyncratic technique, in which, instead of creating shade by cross-hatching, he used a system of parallel lines, regulating tone by varying their breadth and closeness. Joseph Strutt wrote
The effect, which he produced by this method of engraving, is soft and clear . In single figures, and small subjects, he succeeded very happily; but in large subjects, where great depth of shadow was required, he has failed...
Particularly notable is his engraving Sudarium of Saint Veronica (1649), created from a single spiralling line that starts at the tip of Jesus's nose.
He died in Paris.
