Pierre-Jean Mariette

Pierre-Jean Mariette (French pronunciation: [pjɛʁ ʒɑ̃ maʁjɛt]; 7 May 1694 – 10 September 1774) was a collector of and dealer in old master prints, a renowned connoisseur, especially of prints and drawings, and a chronicler of the careers of French Italian and Flemish artists. He was born and died in Paris, and was a central figure in the artistic culture of the city for decades.

Early life and training

Mariette was born to a long-established and highly successful family of engravers, book publishers and printsellers in Paris. His father was Jean Mariette (1660–1742). In 1657 his father's father, Pierre Mariette (ii) (1634–1716), had bought the family business from his ailing father, Pierre Mariette (i) (1596–1657), for 30,000 livres.

Family connections put him in contact as a young man with antiquarians such as the comte de Caylus, for whom Mariette would write his Lettre sur Leonardo da Vinci, printed as a preface to Caylus's book on Leonardo's caricatures, 1730. In 1722 he first met the immensely rich patron of the arts Pierre Crozat, whom he advised, whose collection he catalogued and from whose sale he purchased outstanding drawings.

Following his education at a Jesuit college in Paris, Mariette was sent on a tour in 1717 to refine his connoisseurship and expand family connections. He initially traveled to Amsterdam, then a major center of the art trade, before visiting Germany. In Vienna, he cataloged the art collection of Prince Eugene of Savoy.