Les éditeurs de la rue Montorgueil et les gravures flamandes: la production des Mathonière

Abstract

Periods of political and religious instability often caused migrations of craftspeople and artists, as happened in the southern Netherlands during the last two decades of the 16th century. A number of Antwerp engravers began to settle in Paris on the ‘Rive Gauche’. They introduced the technique of the burin, which would soon be embraced by Parisian print and book publishers, who were used to work with woodcutters. Among them, we can mention Nicolas and Michel de Mathoniere, sons of the woodcut publisher Denis de Mathoniere. While Michel continued to edit woodcuts like his father, Nicolas saw the opportunities of burin engraving and decided to contribute to the diffusion of the ‘flemish’ prints in Paris at the end of the 16th century till the 1630s. He collaborated intensively with the Antwerp engraver Justus Sadeler, who was residing in Venice. Beside, he co-operated with engravers with Flemish roots, who lived and worked in the French capital. During his career, Nicolas de Mathoniere had engraved copies ...