His manner of engraving is peculiar to himself. The inventor of a mode, he so uses it as to exhaust its possibilities and leaves nothing for his successors to do along similar lines. Consequently, although his influence on French portrait engraving was great and far-reaching, he cannot, in any true sense, be considered as the founder of a “school.” Even in his early portrait plates (incidentally, among the most charming and perfect), such as _Virginia de Vezzo_, the wife of Simon Vouet, engraved in Rome in 1626, we find his style fully developed. Save for four little spots of deepest shadow, the entire portrait is executed in single, uncrossed lines, indicating, by their direction, the contour of the face, which is delicately modelled, while the flow of the hair is realistically and beautifully expressed. From this simple, linear method, adopted thus early, Mellan, with few unimportant exceptions, never departed; and although he lived and worked until 1688, surviving Morin by twenty-two years and Robert Nanteuil by ten, he held to his own self-appointed course, his work showing no trace whatever of the influence of his two most distinguished contemporaries. Among his many portraits choice is difficult, but, by general consent, his style is seen at its very best in _Fabri de Peiresc_, which excels in point of drawing, grip of character, and straightforwardness of presentation. It is dated 1637 and was engraved on his way from Rome to Paris, in which city he settled, enjoying for many years a reputation and success second to none. Of his other portraits mention must be made of _Henriette-Marie de Buade Frontenac_, of a delightful silvery quality, and of her husband, _Henri-Louis Habert de Montmor_, the richest toned of all his works. _Nicolas Fouquet_ likewise is of peculiar interest, inasmuch as in this plate Mellan has departed for once from his invariable method of pure line work and has modelled the face with an elaborate system of dots, in the manner of Morin. JEAN MORIN was Mellan’s junior by two years. His style is in the greatest contrast to that of the older master, not only technically, but in that he was always a _reproductive_ engraver, never designing his own portraits, the majority of his plates being after the paintings of Philippe de Champaigne. His plates are executed almost entirely in pure etching, with just sufficient burin work to give crispness and decision. The heads are elaborately modelled, with many minute dots, recalling somewhat Van Dyck’s manner in such a portrait as _Snyders_. _Antoine Vitré_, the famous printer, shows Morin’s method at its richest; its brilliancy and color place it in the forefront of French portraits, though for charm it may not rank with _Anne of Austria_ or _Cardinal Richelieu_, both after paintings by Philippe de Champaigne.