MILAN, Pierre
(active 1545-1557 in Paris)

Biography

French medallist and engraver. He is first recorded in 1545 and was working as an assistant to the medallist Marc Béchot (c. 1520-57) in 1547. His prints are unsigned and were for a long time attributed to René Boyvin, who was his pupil in 1549-50. He has been identified with the copper-plate engraver Pierre de La Cuffle, who is mentioned by Karel van Mander I. He was often in debt and was several times obliged to pledge his plates to his creditors, who included François Clouet. He remained in close contact with Boyvin, who in 1553 finished two plates begun by Milan. They worked together on the inventory drawn up on the death of Luca Penni in 1557.

Zerner attributed seven engravings to him, including Dance of the Dryads after Rosso Fiorentino, Jupiter and Callisto after Francesco Primaticcio and Clelia Escaping from the Camp of Porsena after Giulio Romano. Perhaps the most interesting of the works attributed to him is the print of the Nymph of Fontainebleau, the only part of the decorative ensemble of the Galerie François I at the château of Fontainebleau to be engraved by the Parisian printmakers of the time. It contributed to the spread of the theme of Diana in French 16th-century engraving. It seems likely that some engravings attributed to Boyvin are by Milan.