Design for an Epitaph

Jean Lenfant|Nicholas Blasset

1660 · Etching · Drawings and Prints

Print with a design by the French sculptor Nicolas Blasset for a wall-mounted epitaph with a female bust and two pleurants in the shape of winged putti or angels. Various funerary monuments by Blasset have survived, but this design appears to be a generic model that could be appropriated for use by colleagues. In the center a large compartment is left clear where the inscription can be added, and below the compartment a blank shield indicates where a coat of arms could be placed. The print was acquired as part of a portfolio containing drawings and prints recording designs for funerary monuments and altars. While part of the drawings are sewn together in a quire, the group as a whole seems to have been compiled at a later date.

Artist

Jean Lenfant|Nicholas Blasset

Date

1660

Medium

Etching

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Frits and Rita Markus Fund, 2014