Nicolas Cochin (1610–1686), called the Elder, was a French draughtsman and engraver. He was born at
Troyes
Troyes () is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near to ...
in 1610, the son of a painter named Noel Cochin. About 1635, he went to Paris, where he died in 1686. He often imitated and copied
Jacques Callot
Jacques Callot (; – 1635) was a baroque printmaker and draftsman from the Duchy of Lorraine (an independent state on the north-eastern border of France, southwestern border of Germany and overlapping the southern Netherlands). He is an impo ...
, but chose for his model
Stefano della Bella
Stefano della Bella (17 May 1610 – 12 July 1664) was an Italian draughtsman and printmaker known for etchings of a great variety of subjects, including military and court scenes, landscapes, and lively genre scenes. He left 1052 prints, and sev ...
, some of whose
drawings he engraved. Like these two artists he excelled in small figures, which he grouped and delineated with lifelike animation. His specialty was topography, including battles, sieges, and encampments. He engraved several hundred subjects, the most important of which are those he executed for the "Glorieuses Conquêtes de Louis le Grand", called the "Grand Beaulieu", published between 1676 and 1694. The best of these plates may be the "Siege of Arras", engraved on 16 plates by Cochin and
Jean Frosne.
Cochin is the best of the engravers whom Troyes has produced. His drawing is firm, and his engraving fine and delicate. His plates are marked with his name in full, or with his initials only, or with a monogram. M. Corrard de Breban has given in his "Graveurs Troyens", 1868, a list of Cochin's works, among which the following are noteworthy:
*''The Life of the Virgin''; after
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...
; 18 plates
*''The Marriage in Cana''; after
Paolo Veronese
Paolo Caliari (152819 April 1588), known as Paolo Veronese ( , also , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter based in Venice, known for extremely large history paintings of religion and mythology, such as ''The Wedding at Cana'' (1563) and ''The ...
*''The Miracle of the Loaves''; after
Devos
*''The Parable of the Prodigal Son''; after
Audran; 4 plates
*''Christ bearing the Cross''; after Callot
*''The Ascension of the Virgin''; after the same
*''The Passion''; 12 plates
*''The Conversion of St. Paul''
*''The Procession of St. Genevieve in 1652''; extremely curious
*''The Entry of Louis XIV. and his Queen into Paris in 1660''; an enormous work composed of several plates.
*''The Entry of the Queen of Sweden''. 1658.
*''The Fair of Guibray''; after F. Chauvel. 1658.
*''Portrait of Boutmie, the goldsmith''; rare and highly esteemed.
*''View of Tournay''; after
Van der Meulen; 2 sheets.
References
*
1610 births
1686 deaths
People from Troyes
17th-century French engravers
French draughtsmen
{{France-artist-stub