About the artist:

Nicolas de Launay, born September 20, 1739 in Paris and died March 2, 1792, is a French engraver. Entered very young in the studio of Louis-Simon Lempereur, Launay made such progress in the art of engraving that he also succeeds in all genres: history, portrait, landscape, vignette. A few years after being a member of the Academy of Copenhagen, he was approved of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in 1789, then became engraver of the king. We have several subjects from different masters, portraits and many vignettes. The part of Pleasure, according to Weenix, the Good Mother and the Escarpolette, after Fragonard, is finally quoted from this artist. Finally, the first lesson of fraternal friendship, according to Aubry. His most important print, in the genre of history, is his March of Silenus after Rubens. As for his books, his vignettes for Ovid's Metamorphoses, the works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the Abbé Raynal, after the drawings of Cochin, Moreau, Marillier, etc. for the edition of Rousseau, printed in Brussels, the Moliere and Ariosto Baskerville were sought after connoisseurs. He trained Jean-Louis Delignon (1755-1804). In 1772, Cochin made him participate in the project titled Conquest of the Emperor of China. Michaud said of him that "The engravings of this master are generally of a pleasant nature; his chisel, without being dry, is precious; his flesh is soft. He had Jean-Baptiste Fossoyeux, Jean-Baptiste-Michel Dupréel and Ponce as students. He has a younger brother, Robert de Launay (1749-1814), who was also his pupil as an engraver.