Nicolas Béatrizet, a French engraver

Engraving

Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...

, was born at Luneville

Lunéville

Lunéville is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in France.It is a sub-prefecture of the department and lies on the Meurthe River.-History:...

 in or before 1520. From his style it has been conjectured that he was a scholar of Ghisi

Giorgio Ghisi

Giorgio Ghisi was an Italian artist in engraving and painting. Born in Mantua, he trained with Marcantonio Raimondi and subsequently worked with Hieronymus Cock in Antwerp....

, and of Agostino Veneziano de Musis

Agostino Veneziano

Agostino Veneziano, whose real name was Agostino de' Musi, was an important and prolific Italian engraver of the Renaissance.-Life:...

. From 1540 to 1560 he engraved under the direction of Michelangelo

Michelangelo

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...

. He died at Rome after 1560. His works are more indebted, for the estimation in which they are held, to the subjects he has selected, than to the merit of their execution. He usually marked his plates with the letters N. B. L. F. Their number is considerable, but most of them are comprised in the following list:

Portraits

• Bust of Pius III
  Pope Pius III
  Pope Pius III , born Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini, was Pope from September 22 to October 18, 1503.-Career:...
  
  .
• Pope Paul III
  Pope Paul III
  Pope Paul III , born Alessandro Farnese, was Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1534 to his death in 1549. He came to the papal throne in an era following the sack of Rome in 1527 and rife with uncertainties in the Catholic Church following the Protestant Reformation...
  
  , an oval.
• Pope Paul IV
  Pope Paul IV
  Pope Paul IV, C.R. , né Giovanni Pietro Carafa, was Pope from 23 May 1555 until his death.-Early life:Giovanni Pietro Carafa was born in Capriglia Irpina, near Avellino, into a prominent noble family of Naples...
  
  ; dated 1558.
• Henry II, King of France
  Henry II of France
  Henry II was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559.-Early years:Henry was born in the royal Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, the son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany .His father was captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 by his sworn enemy,...
  
  ; N. B. F. Lot.f. 1558.
• Another Portrait of Henry II; dated 1556.
• Hippolita Gonzaga.
• Juan Valverdus
  Juan Valverde de Amusco
  Juan Valverde de Amusco was born in the Kingdom of León in what is now Spain in about the year 1525 and studied medicine in Padua and Rome under Realdo Columbo and Bartolomeo Eustachi...
  
  , Spaniard.
• Antoine Salamanca, engraver and dealer in prints.
• Don Juan of Austria, an oval, on a monument; inscribed "Generate della Legha".
• The Genealogy of the first twelve Emperors and Empresses, with their Portraits, from medals; two sheets.
• The Kings of Poland, in medallions; inscribed "Reges Polonia".

Subjects of sacred history

• Cain killing Abel; inscribed "Fratricida Abelis, A. S. ex. 1540".
• Joseph explaining the Dream; after Raphael
  Raphael
  Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
  
  ; marked N. B. F., and his name; one of his best plates.
• The Nativity of the Virgin; after Baccio Bandinelli; inscribed "Nicolaus Beatricius restituit et formis suis exc".
• The Annunciation; with the names of Michelangelo and Beatrici.
• The Adoration of the Magi; after Parmigiano, "N.B.L.F".
• The Holy Family, with St. John; "Jerom. Mutian. pinx., Nicolaus Beatricius Lotaringus incidit, &c".
• The Good Samaritan; Michelangelo, inv.
• Christ on the Mount of Olives: after Titian
  Titian
  Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...
  
  ; marked "N. B. F."
• The Crucifixion, with the Virgin, Magdalene, and St. John; with the Sun and Moon on each side; "Mucianus Brixianus, inv., Nicolaus Beatricius, &c. exe".
• The Mater Dolorosa; after Michelangelo; "N. B. Romae. 1547."
• The taking down from the Cross; after Circignani
  Niccolò Circignani
  Niccolò Circignani was an Italian painter of the late-Renaissance or Mannerist period.Born in Pomarance, he is one of three Italian painters called Pomarancio. His first works are documented from the 1560s, where he painted frescos on the Old Testament stories for the Vatican Belvedere, where he...
  
  ; marked "B. Romae".
• Christ delivering the Souls from Purgatory; with the names of Raphael and Beatrici.
• The Ascension; after Raphael, with his cipher. 1541.
• The Conversion of St. Paul; "Michelangelo, pinx., &c." ; marked "N. B."
• St. Michael overcoming the Evil Spirit; after Raphael; marked "N. B. L."
• The Virgin seated on a Throne, distributing Rosaries; inscribed Nicolaus Beatricius, S;c. exe., oval.
• The Cross worshipped all over the world; arched plate, marked "N. B. F.", and inscribed "Crux illustris, &c. MDLVII".
• The prophet Jeremiah; after Michelangelo.
• St. Jerome kneeling before a Crucifix; after Titian; marked "N. B. L. F."
• St. Elizabeth, Queen of Hungary, relieving the distressed'; after Mutiano.
• The Last Judgment; after Michelangelo. Dated 1562. In nine sheets.

Subjects of profane history

• The Sacrifice of Iphigenia; on the altar is inscribed "Iphigenia"; it is marked "N. B. L. F."
• Ganymede; after Michelangelo; inscribed "Ganimedes juvenis, &c". (pictured)
• The Fall of Phaeton; after Michelangelo ; retouched by Beatrici. (pictured)
• Tityus devoured by a Vulture; after the same; "Ant. Salamancha, ex."
• Silenus carried by Children; after the same; "N. Beatrice, fec".
• The Dream of Human Life, emblematical subject; after the same.
• Shooting at a Target; after the same.
• Vertumnus and Pomona; after Pontormo
  Pontormo
  Jacopo Carucci , usually known as Jacopo da Pontormo, Jacopo Pontormo or simply Pontormo, was an Italian Mannerist painter and portraitist from the Florentine school. His work represents a profound stylistic shift from the calm perspectival regularity that characterized the art of the Florentine...
  
  .
• Reason combating Love; after B. Bandinelli ; with his cipher.
• A Combat between five Men and five Wild Beasts; after Giulio Romano
  Giulio Romano
  Giulio Romano was an Italian painter and architect. A pupil of Raphael, his stylistic deviations from high Renaissance classicism help define the 16th-century style known as Mannerism...
  
  . 1532.
• The Battle of the Amazons; after a basso-rilievo
  Relief
  Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...
  
  ; inscribed "Amazonum pugna, &c. 1559".
• The Battle of the Dacii; after the basso-rilievo of the Arch of Constantine
  Arch of Constantine
  The Arch of Constantine is a triumphal arch in Rome, situated between the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill. It was erected to commemorate Constantine I's victory over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge on October 28, 312...
  
  ; marked "N. B." and inscribed "Tabula Marmora, &c."
• The Emperor Trajan triumphant; after a basso-rilievo. 1560.
• The Pantheon of M. Agrippa; marked "N. B. F."
• The Temple of Fortune; after a drawing by Raphael; marked "N. B. F."
• The great Circus; marked "N. Beatrizet Lotaringiae"; two sheets.
• The Front of the Farnese Palace; after the design of Michelangelo. 1548.
• Statue of Moses; after Michelangelo ; inscribed "Moysis ingens, &c".
• Statue of Jesus Christ; after Michelangelo ; with his name.
• Equestrian Statue of M. Aurelius. 1558.
• Statue of a Philosopher reading; inscribed "Anaximenes
  Anaximenes of Miletus
  Anaximenes of Miletus was an Archaic Greek Pre-Socratic philosopher active in the latter half of the 6th century BC. One of the three Milesian philosophers, he is identified as a younger friend or student of Anaximander. Anaximenes, like others in his school of thought, practiced material monism...
  
  , &c.": the plate was afterwards retouched, and the Philosopher changed into St. Paul.
• The Castle of St. Angelo.
• The Siege and Taking of Luneville'; "Nic. Beatrizet Lotaringas, incidet. 1558."

See Also

Michael Bury and Katherine Lockett, 'Béatrizet’s Last Judgement, after Michelangelo, in the Courtauld Gallery', Print Quarterly, XXVIII, 2011, 266-71