Baudet, Étienne (1638-1711; French)

Works included in this catalogue
Baudet after Carracci (Annibale) Martyrdom of St Stephen 1677 {1879} NGV [PR] [Levey gift, cat.17]
Baudet after Le Brun Le Grand Escalier de Versailles 1679-83 {1879} NGV [PR] [Levey gift, cat.103-109]
Baudet after Valentin Tribute Money {1879} NGV [PR] [Levey gift, cat.11]

Baudet was a prolific engraver in the era of Louis XIV (his almost exact contemporary), to whom he was appointed official graveur in 1693. He specialized in reproductions of antique statuary and 17^th-century French and Italian paintings, many of them in the French royal collection.

The prints in the pre-Felton collection (listed above) all formed part of George Collins Levey’s 1879 gift to the NGV. The two engravings after Annibale Carracci and Valentin are from the Tableaux du roi series, reproducing paintings in the French royal collection. The set of 7 engravings after Le Brun document the latter’s grandiose ceiling paintings (1679-83) above the Ambassadors’ Staircase at Versailles (now lost).

Refs.

For Baudet, see Bénézit I, p.1330; AKL 7 (1992), p.518 (entry by M.Préaud); and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Étienne_Baudet (citing Bryan’s Dictionary of Painters and Engravers)