FILLOEUL, Pierre
French printmaker. He was the son and pupil of the engraver Gilbert Filloeul (1644-1714). His oeuvre extends from 1731 to 1754 and numbers c. 150 prints. He sometimes sold his works himself, but his principal publishers were Nicolas Larmessin, Pierre Roguié and Michel Odieuvre, who in 1738 brought out his Recueil des portraits de rois de France (60 plates). Beside portraits, Filloeul engraved illustrations for Jean de La Fontaine’s Contes.
Between 1737 and 1755 he engraved 32 plates of insects, fish and birds for the Spectacles de la nature of Abbé Noel-Antoine Pluche and 19 pieces for the Recueil d’oiseaux, insectes et animaux, mostly after Hieronymus van Kessel. Filloeul was also responsible for a series (6 plates) of Singeries after Christophe Huet and a Livre de différents caractères de têtes after Antoine Watteau, 27 plates of which appeared in 1734. In this he tried to imitate charcoal solely by means of line engraving, using an etched outline and finishing with a burin. He also reproduced some of Jean-Siméon Chardin’s compositions, such as the Knucklebones and the House of Cards. But he was above all the interpreter of Jean-Baptiste Pater, after whom he engraved many amorous scenes, including Les Amants heureux, La Courtisane amoureuse, L’Amour et le badinage, La Belle Bouquetière and Le Cocu battu et content.
