Pesne, Jean

Pesne, Jean a French engraver, was born at Rouen in 1623. It is not known under whom he studied, but he went to Paris, where he acquired distinction by the excellence of his works. His execution is not dexterous nor picturesque, but his outline is correct, and he rendered with remarkable fidelity the precise character of the different painters whose works he engraved, which makes his prints interesting and valuable to the collector. Dumesnil mentions 166 prints by him, the best of which are those he engraved after Niccolo Poussin. He died about 1700. The following are his most esteemed prints:

(1) subjects after Poussin — Esther before Ahasuerus; the Adoration of the Shepherds; the Dead Christ, with the Virgin and St. John; the Entombing; the Death of Ananias; the Holy Family; the Vision of St.

Paul; the Triumph of Galatea; the Testament of Eudamidas, one of his best prints; the Seven Sacraments is in seven plates of two sheets each.

(2) The Holy Family (after Raffaelle). See Spooner, Biog. Hist. of the Fine Arts, 2:682.