Av Maillet d'Argent. Jacques Fornazeris Graveur et Éditeur d'Estampes, Turin - Lyon (Vers 1585 - 1619?)

Jacques Fornazeris was active at the court of Savoy at the end of the 16th century, where he engraved portraits and topographical views in the manner of D. Alphani, A. Ardente, J. Kraeck as well as architectural works in the manner of A. Vitozzi. Starting in 1600, when he came to Lyon, and up until 1619, he worked at making not only engravings and drawings but also prints. Other than portraits, he engraved large title-frontispieces for works published by bookseller Horace Cardon and for a clientele supported by the city's Jesuit college. He was among the first, along with L. Gaultier and T. De Leu in Paris, to systematically utilize the burin technique for creating prints for books. He is, in this domain, an important link for understanding the transition from wood to copper engraving. His engravings - which evoke at the same time the art of the goldsmith, embroidery, and illumination - show the personal synthesis that he achieved, using Italian and Flemish models