Copper engraved plate (117 x 87mm) depicting St. Genevieve, patron saint of Paris holding a book, with a lamb resting at her feet, 'S. GENOVEVA' in banderole at foot. Some light wear, minor scratches to surface.
[N.p., n.d. but Low Countries, 1650.
A well-used, well-worn copper plate for the printing of a piece of devotional ephemera; depicting one of the patron saints of Paris, St Genevieve, reading, signed Th. van Merlan, Theodoor van Merlan II (1609-72), member of a prolific Antwerp family of engravers.
Though broadly within the remit of an engraver of popular devotional prints, the Parisian patron saint is an unusual subject for a Flemish engraver. The connection with St Genevieve and Paris is possibly through Theodoor's brother, Jacques van Merlan (1616-82), who was born in Antwerp but moved to live and work most of his life on the Rue St Jacques, in the heart of the Parisian print trade. Theodoor himself also visited Paris in 1655, commissioned by bookseller Gaspard Meturas to produce a portrait of Louis XIV for a Book of Hours. A surviving contract indicates that he spent six weeks, and was to be paid 40 livres for a dozen proofs on good paper, though whatever the product, it appears not to have been used in the finished work (Mathis). Crucially, Theodoor's residence while in Paris was near Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, home to the shrine of St Genevieve.
Theodor van Merlan's father, the Antwerp engraver and print dealer Abraham, was trained by Collaert; Theodor himself continued the family business, with four of his twelve children entering the Guild of St Luke in Antwerp, the body that oversaw the artistic and printing trades in the city. His daughters Constantia and Susanna Maria registered as masters in colouring prints - a common route for women participating in the print trade at the time - and his sons Cornelis and Theodoor II as apprentice and master engravers respectively. After Theodoor II's death, his wife Marie continued the print business (RKD).
Rémi Mathis, "Un passage de Théodore van Merlen à Paris: un marché pour un portrait de Louis XIV destiné à un livre religieux du P. Adam (1655)", Nouvelles de l’estampe [online], 270 | 2023. 'Theodoor van Merlen (II)', RKDartists, Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgescheideniss.
