Antoine Louis Romanet

This is an Antoine Louis Romanet etching of a bust portrait depicting the French Protestant theologian, mythologist, and grammarian Antoine Court de Gebelin (1725-1784). Created in 1776, the bottom is inscribed with: "A Paris chez Romanet rue de la Harpe vis a vis les Jacobins".

Antoine Court de Gebelin was born near Nîmes on 5 September 1728 and died in Paris on 12 May 1784 at the age of 59. He was the son of pastor and theology professor Antoine Court, founder of the Séminaire de Lausanne, a clandestine establishment where future French pastors were trained (Protestantism had been banned there since the revocation of the Edict of Nantes). A physiocrat thinker and freemason, he was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Académie des belles-lettres, sciences et arts de La Rochelle and the Académie des sciences, belles-lettres et arts de Rouen.

Antoine Louis Romanet (Paris, 7 January 1742 - Saint-Maurice, 1 April 1807) was a French draughtsman, engraver and miniature painter. He exhibited at the Salon de la Correspondance from 1779 to 1787. 

Sources: Wikipedia; Archives de France.

Artist: Antoine Louis Romanet (1742-1807)
Medium: Etching on laid paper.
Condition: Very good condition.
Dimensions: 35 x 26 cm. / 13 ¾ x 10 ¼ in. (sheet). 27 x 19 cm. / 10 ½ x 7 ½ in. (plate).
Frame: 43 x 33 cm. / 17 x 13 in. New, classic style, acid-free matting and glass.
Origin: France.