Personalities Chéreau, Francois I

Reproduction engraver, publisher and dealer in prints. The son of a carpenter Simon Chereau. He studied in Paris with Gérard Audran and Pierre Drévet. Since 1712 he owned a shop selling prints. In 1718, he received the title of engraver of the Royal Cabinet and was elected to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture for an engraved portrait of the French artist Louis de Boulogne the Younger. In the same year, he bought part of the latter's property (shop, printing presses, engraving plates) on Rue Saint-Jacques, under a sign "Two Pillars of Gold" (Les deux piliers d'or) from Gerard Audran's widow, and continued to run the business at the same address. After the death of Francois Chereau in 1729, the firm passed to his widow, Marguerite Chereau (? – 1755), and son – Francois II Chereau (1717–1755).