(2) The head in an oval border. Raised hangings which reveal a country
scene, with dogs coursing. The inscription:
"Messire Nicolas Foucquet, chevalier, vicomte de Melun et de Vaux,
Ministre d'État, Surintendant des finances de Sa Majesté et son
procureur général au Parlement de Paris."
(3) A much damaged copy. The face is pale and elongated, the expression
melancholy and sanctimonious. It is an oval medallion, 1654, without
signature, Paris, chez Daret.
(4) The same, chez Louis Boissevin, in the Rue Saint-Jacques.
(5) The same, with this quatrain:
Si sa fidélité parut incomparable
En conservant l'Estat,
Sa prudence aujourd'huy n'est pas moins admirable
D'en augmenter l'éclat.
(6) Medallion. The picture is much disfigured; the inscription:
Qu'il a de probité, de sçavoir et de zelle,
Qu'il paroit généreux, magnanime et prudent,
Que son esprit est fort, que son cœur est fidelle,
Toutes ces qualités l'on fait Surintendant.
(7) Medallion, with drapery. Very bad. Signature: "Baltazar Moncornet,
excud."
(8) The same, with a frame of foliage, 1658.
(9) A small copy, reversed, executed after Foucquet's death, the date
of which is indicated, 23rd March, 1680. It is old, hard, dark and
damaged. Signature: "Nanteuil, pinxit, Gaillard, sculpt."
A portrait of Lebrun deserves honourable mention after that of
Nanteuil. The features are practically the same as in the engraving by
Eugène Reims; but the expression is not so keen, nor so cheerful. The
head, three-quarter profile, is turned to the right. This picture is
the original of the three following engravings:
(1) A large oval. Signature: "C. Lebrun pinx, F. Poilly sculpt."
Inscription:
Illustrissimus vir Nicolaus Foucquet
Generalis in Supremo regii Ærarii
Præfectus: V. Comes Melodunensis, etc.
In a later copy, Foucquet's arms replace the Latin inscription.
(2) A spoiled and softened copy, very careless workmanship. Signature:
"C. Mellan del. et F."
(3) An imitation. Foucquet, seated in a straight-backed armchair, with
large wrought nail-heads, with a casket on the table beside him. He
holds a pen in his right hand, and paper in his left. Inscription:
Magna videt, majora latent; ecce aspicis artis
Clarum opus, et virtus clarior arte latet,
Umbra est et fulget, solem miraris in umbra
Quid sol ipse micat, cujus et umbra micat.