Portrait of Antonin Dreux d’Aubray
The French engraver Claude Mellan was renowned for his distinctive style already in his own time. Instead of using cross-hatching, as was customary, he created form and shadow by placing parallel lines close together and varying the thickness of the lines. As a result, his prints have a striking lightness, as seen in this portrait of the Paris nobleman Antonin Dreux d’Aubray.