Nicolas Beatrize

Nicolas Béatrizet (c. 1515–1565) was a French engraver active in Rome, known for his finely detailed reproductions of works by Michelangelo, Raphael, and other masters of the Italian Renaissance. Likely born in Lorraine, Béatrizet trained in the French engraving tradition before settling in Italy, where he worked under the patronage of the Papal court and became associated with the circle of Antonio Lafreri, one of the leading print publishers of the period.

Béatrizet’s engravings played a central role in spreading the imagery of High Renaissance art throughout Europe. His plates after Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel frescoes, Raphael’s Vatican designs, and classical sculpture were praised for their precision and clarity, combining a disciplined linear style with subtle modeling of light and form. He also engraved original compositions of religious and allegorical subjects, distinguished by balanced design and refined execution. As a key figure in the diffusion of Italian art north of the Alps, Nicolas Béatrizet helped establish Rome as the epicenter of 16th-century printmaking and remains an important link between the Italian Renaissance and the flourishing of French engraving in the century that followed.