Nicolas Robert (18 April 1614 – 25 March 1685) was a French

miniaturist A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century eli ...

and engraver. He was born in

Langres Langres () is a commune in France, commune in northeastern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Departments of France, department of Haute-Marne, in the Regions of France, region of Grand Est. History As the capital o ...

and died in Paris. In 1664 he was appointed as "peintre ordinaire de Sa Majesté pur la miniature" (Painter of Miniatures) to

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

Works

Blunt highlights Robert's main works as follows: * Illustrations within the book - ''

Guirlande de Julie The ''Guirlande de Julie'' (, ''Julie's Garland'') is a unique French manuscript of sixty-one ''madrigaux'', illustrated with painted flowers, and composed by several poets ''habitués'' of the Hôtel de Rambouillet for Julie d'Angennes and giv ...

'' - which was produced by Nicolas Jarry as a gift for Julie Lucine d'Angennes from her future husband the Duke of Montausier. It was this work that made Robert famous and drew the attention of

Gaston, Duke of Orléans '' Monsieur'' Gaston, Duke of Orléans (Gaston Jean Baptiste; 24 April 1608 – 2 February 1660), was the third son of King Henry IV of France and his second wife, Marie de' Medici. As a son of the king, he was born a '' Fils de France''. He lat ...

. *Paintings of flowers on vellum for Gaston and latterly for

that form the nucleus of the Recueil des vélins currently held in the

Muséum national d'histoire naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national natural history museum of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is loc ...

within the Jardin des Plantes. *Contributions to the Recueil des Plantes - a collection of engravings of flowers. Prints from these were published in the two-volume work
Estampes de Plantes
and i
Mémoires pour servir á l'Histoire des Plantes
Other works include: *

Fiori Diversi Fiori may refer to: *Fiori (pasta), a decorative shape of extruded pasta * Fiori (surname), various people with the surname * Fiori musicali, a collection of liturgical organ music by Girolamo Frescobaldi, first published in 1635 *Campo de' Fiori ...

- a small book of etchings of flowers published in Rome on 1640. * Diverses Fleurs c 1660 *Sketchbooks A & B, in the Austrian National Library, detailed in H.Walter Lack's Garden of Eden (

Taschen Taschen is a luxury art book publisher founded in 1980 by Benedikt Taschen in Cologne, Germany. As of January 2017, Taschen is co-managed by Benedikt and his eldest daughter, Marlene Taschen. History The company began as Taschen Comics, pu ...

: 2008) *Livre des Tulipes, in the Austrian National Library, detailed in H.Walter Lack's Garden of Eden (Taschen: 2008)

Colleagues

Robert worked with the following people: *

Robert Morison Robert Morison (162010 November 1683) was a Scottish botanist and taxonomist. A forerunner of John Ray, he elucidated and developed the first systematic classification of plants.Vines Biography Born in Aberdeen, Morison was an outstanding ...

a Scottish botanist by whom it is believed that Robert was first prompted to take an interest in scientific botanic illustration. *

Denis Dodart Denis Dodart was a French physician, naturalist, and botanist who was born in 1634 in Paris and died on November 5, 1707 in the same city. Biography Childhood and humanist education Denis Dodart was born in 1634 in a Parisian middle class ...

Abraham Bosse Abraham Bosse ( – 14 February 1676) was a French artist, mainly as a printmaker in etching, but also in watercolour.Louis de Chastillon Louis de Chastillon (c.1639–1734) was a French painter in enamel and miniature, and an engraver. Chastillon was born at Ste. Ménehould in Champagne about 1639. He excelled in enamel painting, and executed all the portraits which the king g ...

References

* Wilfred Blunt, Chapter 9 of
The Art of Botanical Illustration
', Collins, London, 1950.
Artfact
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robert, Nicolas 1614 births 1685 deaths People from Langres 17th-century engravers 17th-century French painters French male painters French engravers