Designs for Terms

Jean Mignon

ca. 1543–45 · Etching · Drawings and Prints

In 1544 Hugues Sambin was at Fontainebleau, where a group of artists active as printmakers was making creative designs emerging from the court available to a wider audience through etchings. There is no evidence that Sambin was involved with this project, but he likely owned some of their etchings and was inspired by their endeavors. These designs for terms, etched by Mignon, one of the most creative and prolific etchers of ornament in the group, might have appealed to him in particular. Also emerging from this circle was Jacques Androuet Ducerceau, an architect, designer, and printmaker from whom Sambin might have taken his lead.

Artist

Jean Mignon

Date

ca. 1543–45

Medium

Etching

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1948