Abstract EN:

Etienne delaune was a french huguenot artist living from 1518 to 1583 and known as goldsmith, medallist, designer of royal armours and engraver. He lived in france where his career was proceeding mainly at the court of king henry ii until the saint bartholomew massacre compelled him to leave the country and fly to germany, more especially to strasbourg. His work, a rich one and conspicuous for the exceptional inventiveness of delaune in the matter of forms, may be considered as representative of the classical style of the school of fontainebleau, namely the works of artists like francesco primaticio or luca penni. But at an early stage appear more or less the influence of the lesser german masters (generally called "petits maitres allemands") and later, that of the german mannerism of the second half of the 16th century. Humanism also had an effect on his works the meaning of which often being a complex question. His engravings are generally of very small size ; they concurred to a large extent to the diffusion all over europe until the middle of the 17th century of the forms born of the school of fontainebleau and their influence was particularly important in all the spheres of the decorative arts.