BOUZONNET-STELLA, Claudine

(b. 1636 Lyon, d. 1697 Paris)

French engraver, eldest of four children (with Françoise, Antoinette and Antoine) of Madeleine Stella (sister of Jacques Stella) who had married the Lyon goldsmith Étienne Bouzonnet. In c. 1654 all four moved to Paris to work for their uncle in his apartments in the Louvre and engrave his designs. On Jacques’s death in 1657, Claudine, aged 21, took over the workshop, and was allowed to remain in the Louvre and continue her uncle’s privilege.

She was a pupil of her uncle. She engraved prints mainly after the paintings by Jacques Stella and Nicolas Poussin.

Holy Family on the Steps

This engraving after Poussin’s Holy Family on the Steps (1648) is one of the three known engravings of the painting. The other two show the composition in reverse.

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Hot Cockles (La Main Chaude)

This engraving was executed after the design for a series of prints representing games published by Jacques Stella.

Hot Cockles (“la main chaude”) is a game in which sleight of hand and close attention are rewarded. One player, the “penitent,” hides his face in the lap of a second (called the “confessor,” a referee who monitors the game) and places his hand flat behind his back. In turn, other players slap the penitent on the hand, and he tries to identify who hit him. The player who lets himself be discovered becomes the penitent.

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