Nicolas Cochin

Nicolas Cochin (1610–1686), called the Elder, was a French draughtsman and engraver. He was born at Troyes 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 Jacques Callot, but chose for his model Stefano della Bella, some of whose drawings he engraved. Like these two artists he excelled in small figures, which he grouped and delineated with lifelike 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 1676 and 1694. The best of these plates may be the "Siege of Arras", engraved on 16 plates by Cochin and Jean Frosne.

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: