18th Century Antique Etching Engraving by Jean-Jacques de Boissieu

Jean-Jacques de Boissieu was a French artist who studied at the École de Dessin in Lyon, but he was mostly self-taught. His first prints were realized between 1758–64. When he went to Italy in the retinue of the ambassador Louis Alexandre and Duc de la Rochefoucauld d’Enville, he had a life changing encounter when he met Voltaire and entered the world of luminaries. He had the opportunity of realizing some plates for the Diderot-d’Alembert’s Encyclopèdie. Then he continued to produce prints in Lyon. Boissieu made many etchings of the Roman and Dutch countryside as well as the French countryside around Lyon, which earned him a reputation as the last representative of the older etching tradition.