Etching, 1632. 296x173 mm; 11 3/4x6 3/4 inches, thread margins. Fourth state (of 5), with the address lower right and the additional shading, but before the wear on the faces. A very good, richly-inked, early impression of this exceedingly scarce etching.
We have found only 2 other early impressions at auction in the past 30 years.
Claude de Deruet (1588-1660) was a famous French Baroque painter of the 17th century and, like Callot, who paid hommage to him in this portrait, also a native of Nancy. Deruet worked in Rome from around 1612 to 1619, during which time Claude Gellée, Le Lorrain (see lots 107 and 108, apprenticed with him for a year. Deruet's son, Henri-Nicolas, is shown at his side. Lieure 1296.
