Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dorigny, Nicholas
DORIGNY, Sir NICHOLAS (1658–1746), painter and engraver, born at Paris in 1658, was the second son of Michel Dorigny, a well-known painter and engraver, a member of the Academy at Paris and professor there; his mother was the daughter of the celebrated painter, Simon Vouet. He lost his father in 1665, and was brought up to the law, which he studied till he was about thirty years of age. He then found that, being inclined to deafness, he was unfitted for the legal profession, and determined to devote himself to painting. His elder brother, Louis Dorigny, had been for some years settled in Italy as a successful painter, and after a year's close application to the study of drawing, Nicholas Dorigny proceeded to Italy, and for some years studied painting under his brother's guidance. On the advice of a friend he tried etching, and soon gave up painting entirely. Having practised this art for some years, he chanced to study the works of Gérard Audran and others, which convinced him that he was pursuing a mistaken course, so that he began to engrave in close imitation of Audran, and soon acquired a great reputation. He resided at this time in Rome. After completing several important works he became dissatisfied with his performances, and was further discouraged by the hostility of Carlo Maratta, the painter then in vogue, who set up another engraver, Robert van Audenaerde, in opposition to him. Dorigny then determined to return to painting, and was with difficulty persuaded to continue engraving; however, after some lessons from a purely mechanical engraver, his success became assured, and he produced his best and most important works. Among his earlier works were engravings of Bernini's statues in St. Peter's and elsewhere, and the plates descriptive of the funeral of Queen Christina of Sweden. He engraved many of the principal paintings in the churches at Rome, including the paintings by Ciro Ferri in the cupola of the church of Sta. Agnese in Piazza Navona, ‘St. Peter walking on the Sea,’ after Lanfranco, the ‘Martyrdom of Sta. Petronilla,’ after Guercino, the ‘Trinity,’ after Guido, the ‘Martyrdom of St. Sebastian,’ after Domenichino, and many after Maratta, Cignani, Cigoli, Lamberti, and others. His engravings after Raphael are well known, and include the history of ‘Cupid and Psyche’ in the Farnesina Palace (the plates for which were destroyed in 1824 by order of Leo XII), the series of ‘The Planets’ from the ceiling of the Chigi chapel in Sta. Maria del Popolo, the statue of the prophet Jonah in the same, and the ‘Transfiguration.’ The last named (which was retouched by Sir Robert Strange) was executed in 1705, and with the ‘Deposition from the Cross,’ after Daniele da Volterra, executed in 1710, show the highest point in his art to which Dorigny attained. The success of these works caused Dorigny to be invited to engrave Raphael's tapestries in the Vatican. Being told, however, that seven of the original cartoons were in England, and that Queen Anne was anxious that they should be engraved, he was easily persuaded to come to England. He arrived in this country in 1711, and was given apartments in Hampton Court until he had completed his work, which was to be published at five guineas a set, and was advertised by Addison in the ‘Spectator’ (No. 226). Being over fifty years of age, and feeling his eyesight failing him, Dorigny was obliged to send over to Paris for two assistants, Charles Dupuis and Claude Dubosc [q. v.] The work extended over several years, and Dorigny was continually troubled by expense, though many noblemen lent him money, and by disagreements with his assistants, who eventually left him. In April 1719 he was at last able to present two complete sets to the king, George I, who paid him liberally, and at the suggestion of the Duke of Devonshire, in June 1720, conferred on him the honour of knighthood. The engravings, executed as they were in Dorigny's old age, and with the help of assistants, hardly do justice to his powers, and have been greatly overrated. Dorigny was a member of the academy in Queen Street, and painted some portraits in England; besides the cartoons, he also completed in England two plates, after Albani, of the ‘History of Salmacis and Hermaphrodite,’ which were much admired. On 21 Feb. 1723 he sold his collection of drawings, and on 9 April 1724 left England for Paris. There he was, on 28 Sept. 1725, elected a member of the Academy, and again resumed his original profession of painting. He exhibited paintings at the Salon exhibitions from 1739 to 1743, and died in Paris on 1 Dec. 1746, aged 88. He had been commissioned in England to superintend a series of designs (published in 1741 in London by E. MacSwiney), in memory of the famous Englishmen of the time, which were made by Carle Vanloo and Boucher. Dorigny is stated to have engraved two of the plates himself, after Vanloo, in 1736 and 1737, but these do not appear in a copy of the work in the library of the British Museum.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting, ed. Dallaway and Wornum; Vertue MSS. (b. rit. Mus. Addit. MSS. 23068–23076); Strutt's Dict. of Engravers; Gilpin's Essay on Prints; Nagler's Künstler-Lexikon; Bellier de la Chavignerie's Dictionnaire des Artistes Français; Dussieux's Les Artistes Français à l'Etranger.]