National Museum of Women in the Arts: Impressive: Antoinette Bouzonnet-Stella

 On the fourth floor of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in three smallish shotgun galleries to the left of the entrance is a most intriguing focus exhibition.  It features the works of a 17th century engraver named Antoinette Bouzonnet-Stella (1649 - 1674).  Her father was a Goldsmith of some renown and her mothers family were painters, of most prominence, Jacques Stella (1596 - 1657).  When Antoinette was 13, her uncle invited her along with her two sisters and brother to move to Paris and work with him in his studio at the Louvre.  There she and her sister, Claudine, were trained to be engravers with the principal task of making prints of her uncle's paintings and the paintings of his friend, Nicolas Poussin (1594 - 1665).  

In time, her still brought in additional commissions and her style noted by many as "strong, masculine, powerful" became recognizable on its own.  She eventually specialized in themes of Biblical and Mythical subjects.  The works in this exhibition are from a series of 25 prints commissioned by Jean-Baptist Colbert who was the vice-protecteur of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture under King Louis XIV.  The copper plate engravings depict images from "L'Entree de L'Empereur Sigismond a Mantoue" taken from stucco friezes in the Palazzo Te in Mantua, Italy.