Personalities Audran, Gérard

Engraver, etcher, draftsman, publisher and seller of prints. Representative of the great dynasty of French artists and engravers. At first he studied at his father, Claude Audran I, and his uncle, Charles Audran. His first popularity came with the work "Portrait of Pope Clement IX", after which he was invited to Paris. Here he improved his skills under the direction of Charles Le Brun, who entrusted him with engraving of his two paintings “The Battle of Constantine and Maxentius” and “The Triumph of Constantine”. In 1666–1670 he worked in Rome in the workshop of C. Maratti. In 1670 he returned to Paris, where he received the title of court engraver of Louis XIV, a pension and an apartment. In 1681 he was elected a Board member of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. He became famous for large-format engravings from the originals of Charles Le Brun, which depict the victories of Alexander the Great.