Crispin

Gerard Edelinck was a French engraver and print publisher of Flemish origin who worked in Paris beginning in 1666. He was admitted to the Academie Royale in 1677 and became a councilor of that body and First Draftsman to the Cabinet du Roi in 1694. Although he specialized in engraved portraits, he also made prints after other artists, such as this charming portrait of N. Poisson as Crispin, the unscrupulous comic valet of the Comedie-Francaise, based on the portrait by Theodorus Netscher (active in Paris in 1679-99), the eldest son of the famous portrait artist Caspar Netscher.