"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.
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.
Signature: "Œgid. Rousselet, sculpt., 1659."
(4) An imitation. Signature: "Larmessin, 1661." Finally, we must mention a full-length portrait, which seems inspired by the foregoing. The Superintendent is standing, wearing a long robe; he holds in his right hand a small bag, in his left a paper. A raised curtain displays, on the right, a country scene, with a torrent, a rock and a fortified château. In the sky, Renown puts a trumpet to her mouth. In her left hand she holds another trumpet with a bannerette on which is written: "Quo non ascendet?" Inscription: