Nicolas Cochin, called the Elder, was a French draughtsman and engraver. He was born at Troyes

Troyes

Troyes is a commune and the capital of the Aube department in north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about southeast of Paris. Many half-timbered houses survive in the old town...

 in 1610, the son of a painter named Noel Cochin. About 1635, he went to Paris, where he died in 1686. He often imitated and copied Callot

Jacques Callot

Jacques Callot was a baroque printmaker and draftsman from the Duchy of Lorraine . He is an important figure in the development of the old master print...

, but chose for his model De la Belle

Stefano della Bella

Stefano della Bella was an Italian draughtsman and printmaker known for etchings of a great variety of subjects, including military and court scenes, landscapes, and lively genre scenes...

, some of whose
drawings he engraved. Like these two artists he excelled in small figures, which he grouped and delineated with life-like animation. His specialty was topography, including battles, sieges, and encampments. He engraved several hundred subjects, the most important of which are those he executed for the 'Glorieuses Conquêtes de Louis le Grand,' called the 'Grand Beaulieu,' published between the years 1676 and 1694. The best of these plates may be the 'Siege of Arras,' engraved on sixteen plates by Cochin and Frosne.

Nicolas Cochin is the best of the engravers whom Troyes has produced. His drawing is firm, and his engraving fine and delicate. His plates are marked with his name in full, or with his initials only, or with a monogram. M. Corrard de Breban has given in his 'Graveurs Troyens,' 1868, a list of Cochin's works, among which the following are noteworthy:

• The Life of the Virgin; after Albrecht Dürer
  Albrecht Dürer
  Albrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...
  
  ; 18 plates
• The Marriage in Cana; after Paolo Veronese
  Paolo Veronese
  Paolo Veronese was an Italian painter of the Renaissance in Venice, famous for paintings such as The Wedding at Cana and The Feast in the House of Levi...
  
  
• The Miracle of the Loaves; after Devos
  Cornelis de Vos
  right|thumb|Cornelis de Vos, Family portrait, 1631, 165 x 235 cm, Oil on canvas, [[Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp]]Cornelis de Vos , was a Flemish Baroque painter best known for his portraiture....
  
  
• The Parable of the Prodigal Son; after Audran
  Charles Audran
  Charles Audran was the first of the Audran family who became eminent in the art of engraving. He was born in Paris in 1594. In his boyhood he showed a great disposition for the art ; he received some instruction in drawing, and when still young went to Rome to perfect himself: there he produced...
  
  ; 4 plates
• Christ bearing the Cross; after Callot
• The Ascension of the Virgin; after the same
• The Passion; 12 plates
• The Conversion of St. Paul
• The Procession of St. Genevieve in 1652; extremely curious
• The Entry of Louis XIV. and his Queen into Paris in 1660; an enormous work composed of several plates.
• The Entry of the Queen of Sweden. 1658.
• The Fair of Guibray; after F. Chauvel. 1658.
• Portrait of Boutmie, the goldsmith; rare and highly esteemed.
• View of Tournay; after Van der Meulen; 2 sheets.