Henri II of France, 1547 (engraving)

An engraved portrait of Henri II, three-quarter length, in profile facing right, bearded, laureate, in elaborately chased armour with flying cloak, his right hand holding a sceptre and resting on a plumed helmet. Latin inscription at the bottom: "HENRICVS II FRANCOR. / REX ETA XXVIII 1547". This Italian engraving of Henri II shows the king in elaborate parade armour in the year of his accession. It has been attributed to Niccolò della Casa, an engraver from Lorraine, on the basis of stylistic affinities with a signed portrait of Duke Cosimo I de' Medici. It may be a measure of the francophilia of the Barberini court that Cassiano assembled an entire album of French royal portrait prints, including eight of Henri II. See R.Dumesnil, Le Peintre-graveur français, 1835- 71, IX, p.183. This print formed part of an album of French royal portrait prints assembled by Cassiano dal Pozzo in Rome and described in an early nineteenth-century inventory of prints in George III's library as Kings of France, Queens and other illustrious Personages. The album was arranged chronologically, with kings and their consorts together, while the latter part of the album was devoted to the female aristocracy of France. It was dismantled later in the nineteenth century and its prints incorporated into the series of Engraved Royal Portraits (organised dynastically).