I like the emotion and sense of drama that infuse this scene, the fourth in a series of six etching plates capturing the story of the Trojan War. By the time it was written down by the poet Homer in the 8th Century B.C.E., the story of the long conflict between the Greeks and the Trojan people was already legend. The plot of the scene depicted here involves long-separated siblings, mistaken identity, and a near-fratricide. It captures a life-or-death moment when Cassandra, gifted with a sixth sense, realizes that it is her long-lost brother Paris who has just won in the funeral games and that he is at risk of being killed by their brother Deiphobus. The handsome Paris, who triggered ten years of war by abducting Helen Queen of Sparta, crouches defenceless in the centre of the action. The episode of the Trojan Horse is soon to follow in this series.
Jean Mignon is one of three etchers responsible for the greater part of the printed output of the School of Fontainebleau, executed over just a few years in the 1540’s. A workshop developed around artists hired by King François I to create an interior in fresco and stucco-work at his palace in Fontainebleau. In this intensive collaborative setting some such as the Italian painter Luca Penni also made many drawings expressly as models for prints, with Jean Mignon being his main interpreter. The etching technique with its freer touch had a closer affinity to drawing than did professional engraving, and its dominance in this courtly milieu contributes to the look of spontaneity and inventiveness of many of the prints.
Courtesy of Jan Johnson, Old Master & Modern Prints, Inc., Quebec, Canada.