Portrait of Mr Wille, engraver to the King - Greuze
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Description
1765 Salon Booklet:
By Mr Greuze, Approved.
110. […]
117. Portrait of Mr Wille, Engraver to the King.
Commentary by Diderot:
A very fine portrait. It captures Wille's brusque and harsh manner; his stiff neck; his small, fiery, frightened eyes; his ruddy cheeks. How beautifully styled his hair is! How beautiful the drawing is! How proud the brushstrokes are! What truth and variety of tones! And the velvet, the jabot, the cuffs are so beautifully executed! I would love to see this portrait alongside a Rubens, a Rembrandt or a Van Dyck. I would love to feel what our painter would have to lose or gain. Once you have seen this Wille, you turn your back on other portraits, even those by Greuze. (Bouquins, p. 388)
2. Diderot is very complimentary about Wille's work: ‘Of all the engravings, only those by Wille stand out. This artist, a Hessian by nationality, is the leading engraver of the Academy.’ (Salon de 1763, Bouquins p. 289.)
3. Engraving of the head, anonymous, reference Bnf Estampes Dc 8b Fol, folio 88. Inverted engraving of the whole, reference Bnf Estampes Dc 8b Fol, folio 89, empty cartouche, signed under the cartouche on the left ‘Greuze’ and on the right ‘J. G. Muller’. Same engraving with inscribed cartouche, folio 90.
Technical Data
Notice #000741