GIRARD AUDRAN (1640-1703) AFTER CHARLES LEBRUN... Lot 218

GIRARD AUDRAN (1640-1703) AFTER CHARLES LEBRUN (1619-1690) The Battles of Alexander: The Battle of Erie, Alexander and Porus Important pair of engravings dated 1674 and 1678 Height 71 cm - Width 163,5 cm (emarg. 163.5 cm (emargés , gilded wooden frame, freckles) This pair of prints belong to the suite of the Battles of Alexander that Girard Audran interpreted in etching and burin between 1672 and 1678, a decade after the date of execution of the paintings by Charles Le Brun. As the king's first painter since 1662, Le Brun brought Audran, who was then in Rome, to Paris and obtained his appointment as the king's ordinary engraver. The paintings of the Battles of Alexander had aroused the admiration of contemporaries, first and foremost Louis XIV, who asked Audran to engrave them. Audran faithfully followed the painter's composition and demonstrated a remarkable talent, even though the transcription of these monumental and complex paintings in brass could have proved to be a real pitfall.