Country life scene

Claude Mellan was born in Abbeville in northern France to a family of coppersmiths. By 1619 he was in Paris where he studied engraving and appears also to have been active as a portrait painter. He travelled to Rome in 1624 to study with the engraver Francesco Villamena, who died not long after his arrival. However, he soon came under the powerful influence of the French expatriate painter Simon Vouet, who encouraged him to make chalk portrait drawings, which became something of Mellan’s speciality. While in Rome, he also practised extensively as an engraver, reproducing the works of Vouet and Bernini in particular. Returning to France in 1636, Mellan found an eager clientele for his restrained yet technically astonishing engravings – which dispense with cross-hatching and outlines altogether – and embarked upon the official phase of his career, with varied prestigious commissions culminating in his appointment as engraver to the king.

During this later period in Paris, Mellan mostly engraved his own work. He was much sought after as a portrait artist, drawing from life and engraving the portraits. His drawings "reveal more variety of style and execution than he showed in the engravings." He also created large religious works with geometric layouts and poses. According to Barbara Brejon de Lavergnée, writing in the <em>Grove Dictionary of Art</em>, Mellan's use of the single line gives "an abstract effect" and, "as an engraver he proved sensitive to the classical ideal developed by Nicolas Poussin, Jacques Stella and others in Paris in the middle of the 17th century."

Anatole de Montaiglon catalogued 400 engravings by Mellan,and about 100 drawings are known, located mostly in the Stockholm Nationalmuseum and the Hermitage, Saint Petersburg.

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This engraving dates from Mellan's return to Paris. It depicts a charming rural life scene, with an earnest looking young man tossing grains in a winnowing basket. Right by him is a cow and her calf. Not far away we see a cat sitting on a basket lid, intently eyeing a crowing rooster perched on a post, who completely ignores them.

Sources:

British Museum Collection online, https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1349307&partId=1&searchText=mella n+cow&page=1

Wikipedia, 'Claude Mellan', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Mellan

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art   November 2018