PICART Bernard

(Paris 1673 – Amsterdam 1733)

French engraver and miniator, Etienne’s son was nicknamed ‘ le Romain’, for staying long time in Rome.
Bernard Picart was one of the most prolific and talented engravers of his time, educated in the art of chalcography by his father and by Benoît Audran, a member of a large French engraver dynasty.

He studied architecture and perspective under the guidance of Sebastian le Clerc.
In 1696 he went to Antwerp and Amsterdam before returning to France at the end of 1698.
After the death of his wife and offspring in 1708, he returned to Amsterdam where he rejoined his father and remained for the rest of his life.
Here in 1712 he took in marriage Anne Vincent, the daughter of a baker. Picart also met Jean Frederic Bernard, printer and book merchant, originally French but active in Amsterdam.
Together they composed thousands of pages and performed hundreds of engravings in order to describe and illustrate the ceremonies and rituals of all known religions in the world and published this encyclopedic work collected in 10 volumes titled ‘Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde ‘.
This work clearly detached itself from all previous models as it urged tolerance between different faiths and beliefs and highlighted the negative aspects of fanaticism and religious intolerance.
This effort, translated into several languages, has spread throughout Europe.
In addition to this monumental work, Picart performed many reproduction prints, showing a predilection for the use of burin where, beside the technical skill, he added his personal footprint to the translation.