The statue of Mercury (Baudoin, 1638) - Briot

1. "Briot fe. " on the stone at the foot of Mercury.

2. On the right-hand page:

" Des Statues en general, & particulierement de celle de Mercure.
DISCOVRS LIII.
Having to deal succinctly with this matter, which seems to me quite entertaining, I shall divide the discourse into two main points, as I did the previous one. In the first, after having spoken of Statues in general, I will go down in particular to that of Mercury, which was not made of any wood, as the old proverb says; and in the second I will give the explanation after Alciat. For the first point, I'll relate here what I wrote in the past; starting with the workers, I'll say that as they are diverse in knowledge, the materials they work on are also different. Parmy ceux qui se meslez autrefois de faire des ouvrages d'argile (Art que les Latins appellent Plastices) les Anciens ont tenu pour excellents Maistres Demophilus, Gorgasus, & Porsuinius, qui selon Varron, formea de terre certains poissons, si au naturel, qu'ils sembloient estre viuans : & pareillement Arcesilaus, à qui Luculle donna soixante Sesterces, pour vne Statuë de la Deesse Venus ; sans oublier Turianus, qui fait le simulachre de Iupiter Capitolin, & celuy d'Hercule, auec vn artifice inimitable... "