Who was NINI, JEAN-BAPTISTE ?

NINI, JEAN-BAPTISTE (Ital.). Modeller, and Engraver of Portraitmedallions, in terra-cotta, was born at Urbino (Papal States) in 1717, and died at Chaumont, near Blois, in France, in 1786. Thither he had been called in 1772 by Le Ray, grand master of the rivers and forest, and the proprietor of the castle of Chaumont since 1750, to manage some glass and pottery works which had been established in the dependencies of the manor house. There is no trace left of the finely worked glasses of Nini, but about a hundred varieties of his medallions still exist; these were cast in clay moulds and retouched before baking with the help of sharp tools in a surprisingly delicate manner. Among portraits engraved by the artist, one of the most curious is perhaps that of Franklin. The celebrated American had come to France, and struck up a friendship with Le Ray, whose hospitality at the castle of Chaumont he accepted at different times. Nini modelled his profile in the lightly tinted clay which served him for the production of the other ceramic works which Le Ray traded in. That portrait finished, Nini, who was a skilful engraver, executed a steel die which allowed him to multiply to his wish proofs of the medallion of the approved model. This was his usual method of proceeding, and one may easily conceive the advantage derived from it as regards rapidity of execution. I would insist on this point : genuine and contemporaneous medallions by Nini have all been retouched and finished by hand on their issue from the mould and before the baking of the clay. The portrait of Franklin is signed with the tool : The success of this medallion was considerable. He reproduced it in many varieties; on some, Franklin is wearing spectacles; on others, he is bare-headed, or coiffed with the cap of liberty. In 1779, Nini sent to America five or six cases containing about a hundred specimens each, wrapped two by two in strong paper and carefully tied. The ship was wrecked near the coast of Noirmoutier, but a portion of the cargo was saved and taken to Nantes where it remained forgotten in some corner of the custom warehouses. Nini died in the meantime. The Revolution, the Empire, the Restoration went their course. About 1830, the boxes were opened and the Customs not prizing their contents, ceded them at a next-to-nothing price to agents of the Navy. Later, a collector, M. Myrvoix made the acquisition of four of the boxes, and in 1876, sold two of them to an official at Angoul?me, from whom some specimens found their way to England in 1899 (Vide Num. Circular, Feb. 1899). The following Portrait-medallions are reproduced and described by Storelli : Female head, 1762 (Mlle Alcoque, in Cluny Museum); — Aimé Louis des Moulins de Lisle, 1762 ; — Other portraits of the same, dated 1764, and 1770; — Male head, 1763 ; — Male head, of large size, 1763 (described erroneously as Choiseul, in Nevers Museum); — Male head, 1763 ("Financier, perruque ? marteaux"); — Dornarius medicus, 1764 ; — Head of an Ecclesiastic, 1764 (2 var. ; a specimen in Blois Museum is described : Abbé Joulin, curé de Chaumont-sur-Loire) ; — Marquis de Riancey, 1764; — Male head, 1764; — J. A. de Castellas, 1764; — Male head, 1765 (in the field, Masonic badge of the Scotch rite); — Head of an Ecclesiastic, 1765 (Henri Francois de Latour Dupin of Lachau Montaubon, bishop of Riez ?); — Chaulieu, nephew of the abbot, 1765; — Louis Charrier de la Roche, bishop of Versailles, 1765 ; — Male head to 1., 1765 ; — Hugues Joseph Gamot, 1766; — Guy le Gentil, marquis of Paroy, 1767 ; — Charles Juste, prince of Beauvau, 1767; — Charles René Péan, lord of Mosnac, 1768; — Albertine, née baroness of Nivenheim, 1768; — Maria Theresia, Empress of Austria, 1769 ; — Suzanne de Jarente de la Reyni?re, 1769 (3 var. ; one illustrated) ; — Charles Juste, prince of Beauvau, 1770; — Louis XV., 1770; — Others (4 var. of type and size); — Joseph Hyacinthe Francois de Paule de Rigaud, count of Vaudreuil, 1770; — Louis Auguste, dauphin of France, 1770; — Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, 1771 ; — Others (3 varieties), 1771 ; — Jacques Donatien Le Ray de Chaumont, 1771 ; — Marie Thér?se Joques des Ormeaux, consort of the last, 1774 ; — Louis XVI.; — Marie Antoinette, 1774; — P. Berthevin, artist 1775 (2 var.); — Marie Catherine Jacquet, and Orien Marais, her consort, 1775 ; — Male head, 1775 (Antoine René Voyer d'Argenson ?); — Michel Foucault, 1775 ; — Claudine de Bussy and Jean Bouin, 1777; — Benjamin Franklin, 1777 (5 var., one illustrated); — The same, 1778 (2 var.); — The same, 1779 (2 var.) ; — Louis XVI., 1780(3 var.); — Marie Antoinette, 1780 ( 2 var.); — Voltaire, 1781 ; — Jacques Donatien Leray de Chaumont, 1783 (2 var.) ; — Thér?se Elizabeth Leray de Chaumont ; — Male head (comte de Caylus?); — Young male head (Louis Nicolas Bernot de Mouchy ? ; 2 var.); — Marie Claire Francoise Guyot de la Mirande, marquise de Vaudreuil ; — Male, head (Jean Baptiste Joseph de la Fosse) ;— Female head, to 1. (2 var.) ; — Jugate heads of a young man and young lady, to r. ; — Half-length portrait to 1. of a lady ( 2 var.); — Madame de Faugnes ; — Charles III., King of Spain ; — Head of an Ecclesiastic, to 1. (2 var.); — Jean Michel Moreau, engraver; — Louis G. Moreau, painter; — Head of an Ecclesiastic, to r. ; — Male head, to r. ; — Marquise de Bouffry (2 var.); — Nini, his wife and daughter (illustrated) ; — Head of an Ecclesiastic or Magistrate (2 var.) ; — Jugate heads of a boy and girl ; — Various Portrait-medals ; — Louis XVI. ; — Medallion in wax, Bust of a lady to r. (illustrated); — Medallion and wax of Catherine the Great,&c. From Storelli, we learn the following details of this artist's career. Gianbattista Nini was born at Urbino (Papal States) in March 1717. There he received, with his brothers, Vincenzo and Matteo, his first tuition in art, and learned engraving from his father, Domenico, a clever Engraver and technician. But while quite a youth, he fled from the paternal home, to avoid embracing a literary profession, for which he felt no inclination. Having to work for his livelihood, he obtained employment at Bologna, where he studied sculpture at the Clementine Academy. His brothers joined him there, and all three executed many engravings of sceneries, in which art Nini had acquired a real talent. About 1740, he went to Spain, and was engaged to superintend some glass works, near Madrid. He married a Spaniard, Isidore Laurus, by whom he had a daughter. In 1758 we find the artist and his family at Paris. He commenced by engraving prints, and later modelled Portraitmedallions of various personages. The reputation which he rapidly acquired induced Jacques Donatien Le Ray, steward of the Hôtel Royal des lnvalides, who had founded in his domain of Chaumont-sur-Loire, ceramic and glass works, to attach Nini to himself for life. So, in October 1772, he signed a contract with him, by which the artist was to superintend his factories, while preserving to himself liberty of work, and we see, by the numerous medallions which he executed between 1772 and 1785, that he continued to enjoy an entire artistic independence. Nini died at Chaumont, 2. May 1786. According to tradition, Nini was a very original character. He was of short stature, and gave himself a peculiar and even grotesque appearance by his extraordinary accoutrement. Crommelin, in his Mémoires, describes him as a dwarf, but notwithstanding his natural deformity, the artist enjoyed, amongst his contemporaries, a reputation for ready wit, humour, and excellent taste. Franklin honoured him with his friendship, and Nini reproduced his features in various ways. Storelli gives an account of Nini's process in the execution of his medallions: " Écartant tout d'abord l'emploi d'un moule métallique'", says Mazerolle, " il établit que l'artiste faisait d'abord un mod?le en cire, sur lequel il prenait autant de creux en terre cuite qu'il voulait ; ces creux lui servaient ensuite ? tirer les épreuves des médaillons. D'ailleurs, il existe encore de nombreux moules en terre cuite et jamais, dans des fouilles faites sur l'emplacement de l'ancienne manufacture de Le Ray, on n'a mis au jour le plus petit vestige de métal. Ajoutons aussi que les outils en ivoire, et les poinçons pour les caract?res, et pour la signature, qui servaient ? Nini ? exécuter ses travaux, ontété conservés, par suite d'un heureux concours de circonstances. “ On ignore quelle est la terre employée par Nini pour les médaillons qu'il a faits avant 1772; ? partir de cette époque, étant fixé ? Chaumont-sur-Loire, il reconnut l'excellence de la terre qui servait aux poteries de sa manufacture et il en usa pour toutes ses ?uvres parues de 1772 ? 1785" (Gazette numismatique française, 1899, pp. 90-91 ). M. E. Biais, late keeper of the Angoul?me Museum, made the following remarks on Nini's work, in the Numismatic Circular (April, 1899, p. 328). « Les médaillons de Nini sont de différentes teintes : les uns sont en couleur toile écrue; les autres d'un rouge de brique; il en est aussi de ton brun tr?s clair. Ceux que nous connaissons de cette provenance directe sont en tel état de conservation admirable qu'on les dirait sortis du moule ? l'instant m?me. On peut, ? bon droit, loyalement dire que ce sont des fleurs de moule. « Les ressources du talent de Nini étaient grandes et variées ; nous en avons la preuve dans les divers portraits qu'il a faits de Franklin. Ces portraits offrent deux aspects essentiellement distincts..... les uns « sont en quelque sorte les portraits officiels du savant et de l'homme d'État ; les autres, au contraire, représentent « B. FRANKLIN. AMERICAIN » d'une façon tout intime... » « Comme la plupart des ?uvres supérieures, les médaillons de J. B. Nini ont eu les honneurs de la contrefaçon ; mais ils sont inimitables dans la force du mot. Ceux m?mes qui ont été coulés dans quelques-uns des moules originaux retrouvés ont un granulé, une sécheresse d'aspect, une teinte qui ne sont pas la caractéristique des médaillons pétris, préparés, et retouchés par Nini ; l'on n'y retrouve ni la finesse de la pâte ni le fini exquis du travail de l'original. Des amateurs exercés ne peuvent assurément pas s'y tromper. « Les médaillons de la main de Nini sont des perles de perfection; la figure de Franklin y triomphe parmi ses créations les meilleures. Ils ont l'aspect des plus fines effigies taillées dans le buis et polies par la seule patine du temps. « Jean-Baptiste Nini, médailleur-céramiste « du plus haut mérite », — comme l'a dit fort judicieusement M. Jouin, — s'est créé un genre tout personnel, délicat jusqu'aux ténuités extr?mes, o? il a magistralement excellé. « En résumé, les amateurs du plus haut parage ont recueilli avec soin des ouvrages de Nini : ainsi le baron Jérôme Pichon (qui m'avait fait connaître le récit de Crommelin. récit que j'ai eu le plaisir de retrouver dans le livre de M. Storelli), ainsi MM. Eug?ne Piot, Spitzer, Sauvageot, le prince de Broglie, le baron d'Alcoch?te, Prosper Hyrvoix, le sénateur Maurice Laporte, Henry Jouin, — pour ne nommer que ces maîtres connaisseurs, — avaient ou poss?dent encore des Nini dans le trésor de leurs merveilleux cabinets ». Bibliography. — A. Storelli, Jean-Baptiste Nini, 1896. — A Villers, Jean- Baptiste Nini, ses terres cuites, 1862. — Jal, Dictionnaire critique de biographie et d'histoire, 1867. — A. Demmin, Guide de l'amateur de fa?ences et de porcelaines, terres cuites, etc., Paris, 1867. — Les moulesen terre cuite des médaillons de J.B. Nint. — H. Jouin, J. B. Nini elle médaillon de Franklin, Num. Circ, February 1899. — E. Biais, Notes sur le graveur-céramiste J. B. Nini, Num. Circ, April 1899.

Source: Biographical dictionary of medallists; coin, gem, and seal-engravers, mint-masters, ancient and modern, with references to their works B.C. 500-A.D. 1900; compiled by L. Forrer, London 1904