A short postscriptum to our last post: we referred to the French engraver of the print after van Mieris as “Mathieu Blot“, as the inscription in the lower right corner of the engraving suggests:

Mathieu Blot

Now, in the literature we can’t find an engraver named Mathieu Blot, he is always referred to as Maurice Blot.

Let’s first look at the trustworty Manuel de l’amateur d’estampes (1821):

“Blot (Maurice), graveur, né à Paris, en 1754, mort dans la même ville en 1818, élève d’Aug. de Saint Aubin, à gravé d’un fort bon style, et d’après différens maîtres. (Blot Maurice, born in Paris in 1754, died in the same city in 1818, pupil of Aug. de Saint Aubin, engraved in a strong, good manner and after several different masters)”.

Emile Dacier in his La Gravure Française (1944) writes (p. 148):

“Blot (Maurice), Paris (1753-1818). Élève d’Augustin de Saint-Aubin, il a joui pendant sa vie d’une grande reputation, grâce à des estampes d’après Aubry, Fragonard etc., […] (Blot Maurice, pupil of d’Augustin de Saint-Aubin, he enjoyed big reputation during his lifetime because of his engravings after Aubry, Fragonard etc.)”

Arthur Hind in his A History of Engraving & Etching (p. 425, reprint of the 1923 edition):

“Blot, Maurice. Engraver. Paris 1753-1818”.

Even in the caption to an illustration of the very same engraving [1], the artist is called Maurice Blot. Now Maurice Blot is indeed known as the significant engraver of many works by Fragonard and others (see his engraving the Lock for example). There is no biographical information on a Mathieu Blot. So, who is he? A relative? Maurice signing under a different name? Why would he do that? We don’t know. So let’s adopt the opinion of the majority: the engraver is Maurice Blot.

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[1] Jean Siméon Chardin 1699-1779: Werk, Herkunft, Wirkung, 1999, Hatje Cantz, p. 354, Fig. 1.