Artwork
Remi Du Laury
Remi Du Laury is an ink print by the Baroque artist Gerard Edelinck. It dates from 1679 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Overview
Created circa 1679, this copper‑plate engraving portrays a seated gentleman named Remi Du Laury.
Created circa 1679, this copper‑plate engraving portrays a seated gentleman named Remi Du Laury. Executed by Gérard Edelinck, a Flemish‑born artist who established his career in Paris, the print presents the sitter against a dark, unadorned backdrop, his body turned slightly to the right. The composition emphasizes the figure’s attire and the symbolic cross he holds, offering a concise yet formal portrait typical of late‑seventeenth‑century French printmaking.
Subject & Meaning
The portrait shows a man with short, wavy hair, dressed in a fur‑trimmed coat over a patterned vest and a crisp white collar. In his right hand he grasps a cross, a conventional emblem of piety or ecclesiastical affiliation. The inclusion of the cross, together with the dignified pose, suggests the sitter’s religious devotion or a status linked to the church, a common visual cue in portraiture of the period.
Technique & Style
Edelinck employs fine cross‑hatching to render the textures of fur, fabric and flesh, achieving subtle gradations of tone on the copper plate. The meticulous line work creates a convincing sense of depth, particularly in the folds of the coat and the shadows that model the face. Such precision reflects the high level of craftsmanship associated with French engraving at the close of the 1600s, where line rather than color conveyed realism.
History & Provenance
Gérard Edelinck (c. 1640–1707) was born in Antwerp and naturalized as a French citizen in 1675, after moving to Paris to work for the royal print workshop. The Remi Du Laury engraving was produced shortly after his naturalization, during a prolific phase when he supplied portraits and book illustrations to the French market. Surviving copies are held in several European print collections, attesting to the work’s distribution among connoisseurs of the era.
Artist & collection
Artist
Gérard Edelinck (20 October 1640 (baptized) – 2 April 1707) was a copper-plate engraver and print publisher of Flemish origin, who worked in Paris from 1666 and became a naturalized French citizen in 1675.
