Mellan, Claude

, a French engraver and designer, particularly celebrated for a mode of engraving peculiar to himself, and of his own invention, that of forming a whole head by one line of the graver, swelling it in various places to produce the shades. A head of our Saviour, formed of one spiral line, beginning at the tip of the nose, is his most famous work in this style. There are also portraits by him, of pope Clement VIII. and of the marquis Justiniani, and a set of the Justiniani gallery, all of which are highly esteemed. Charles II. was desirous of inviting him to settle in England; but an attachment to his country, and a happy marriage in it, fixed him at home. He was born at Abbeville in 1601, and died at Paris in 1688. ²

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