De POILLY François

(Abeville 1622 – Paris 1693)

French engraver, son of Charles, a valued goldsmith of Abeville, and brother of Nicolas.
In 1638 he moved to Paris where he was a pupil of the engraver and print seller Pierre Daret.
Here he began to perform his first engravings translating paintings and works by great masters. Between 1649 and 1656 he sojourned in Rome where he worked at the Cornelis Bloemaert studio and translated in prints subjects from Raffaello, Carracci, Salvator Rosa, Carlo Maratti and Guido Reni.

He has performed many reproductions of works by French artists such as Frenchmen Mignard, with whom he became friend, Nicolas Poussin and Charles Le Brun. Back to France, in 1658 he married Marguerite, daughter of the prints seller Hermann Weyven.
From 1665 to 1669 he was the engraver of the king. His pupils in the engraving art were his brother Nicolas and Gérard Edelinck.
His work encompasses about four hundred engravings derived from Italian and French masters, especially of religious subjects.