the Gardelles from Languedoc. Petitot's grandfather was a medical man, whose Christian name was Guyon. He had an only son, who had the curious name of Faulle, which name, by the way, has frequently been rendered in books of reference as Paul or Saul, but it was neither, and is written most clearly in Petitot's manuscript as Faulle. He was a wood-carver, and, in addition to the ordinary work carried out in such an occupation, was clever in making wooden models of buildings. His father fled from France on account of the religious difficulties, and the son settled himself down to steady occupation in Geneva, and married there in 1598 one Etiennette Royaume, by whom he had five children, four sons and a daughter, the eldest son Pierre (1600-1668) becoming a doctor of medicine, the second, Joseph (1602-1665), a sculptor, the third, Isaac (born 1604), also a sculptor, the fourth, Jean, an enameller, and the fifth, Marie (1610-1677), was the daughter, whose second husband was one Pierre Prieur, himself an enameller, of whom up to the present time remarkably little has been known. Petitot speaks very highly of his grandfather's character, and says he was 'un exemple de piété, de zelle, et de charité.' He died in 1628.

Jean Petitot was born on the 12th of July, 1607, and baptised on the 26th of the same month in the evening, in the chapel of St. Gervais, by the pastor Grenet. He was apprenticed, he tells us, by his father, to a jeweller-goldsmith, of the name of Pierre Bordier, who was very little older than himself, but who was so clever in his work as to have attained a considerable position in Geneva. As we have already mentioned, the Bordiers came from Orléans as emigrants in 1554, and their descendants still live in that place. They appear to have been weavers and tapestry workers, and people of considerable skill, but one of them, Augustin, took up the profession of a goldsmith, and it was his grandson, Pierre, who opened a workshop and received Petitot as one of his pupils. The two young men, close friends, although standing in the position of master and pupil, were not, however, satisfied with the progress they made in Geneva, and determined to do better. They therefore left Switzerland, and entered France, and, after working for a while with Jean Toutin, the King's jeweller and enameller, came over to England, where they were provided with letters of introduction to the physician to Charles the First, Turquet de Mayerne. This celebrated man had crossed the Channel to become physician to Charles the First, and was an accomplished scientist, and a very eager worker in chemistry, interesting himself especially in enamel work, and in endeavouring to copy the work of the old enamellers of Limoges. He took great interest in the two young men who presented themselves to him, and appears to have introduced them to the King, made them free of his own workshop, and placed at their disposal various discoveries he had made. They represented to him the faith of some of his own near relations, and a country with which he was himself closely connected, and by every

means in his power he appears to have assisted them. The first work which was entrusted to them by Charles the First was the preparation of a St. George intended to ornament the badge of the Order of the Garter, but they speedily became known for their portraits, and it was at this time, in 1642, that Petitot prepared his great portrait of the Countess of Southampton, who was born Rachel de Ruvigny, and belonged to an important Huguenot family, the enamel now at Chatsworth, which Walpole calls the most capital enamel in the world.' It is a copy of a portrait by Vandyck, and is signed by Petitot. It was at this time also that the artist executed the fine signed enamel portrait of Mary Villiers, Duchess of Richmond and Lenox, dated 1643, which was at one time in the possession of the Crown, and is now in the Pierpont Morgan collection, as well as portraits of the Duke of Buckingham, Charles the First and his Queen, Lady Morton, the governess to the Royal children; Mrs. Middleton, the Countess of Bedford, Lady Cadogan, the Duke of York, and other persons of eminence in this country, whose portraits are to be found in various collections. Petitot appears to have attached himself very decidedly to Charles the First and his family; and immediately after the execution of the King he left England for Paris, in company with several members of the Royal household, who had to flee from the country. His friend Bordier, however, remained in London, his sympathies at that time being much more with Cromwell and the Parliamentarian party, and the result was that he received certain commissions from Cromwell and his supporters, especially the order for the Naseby enamel, which was certainly his greatest work. It is probable that the enamel portraits of Milton and Cromwell in the possession of Lord Chesham are the work of Pierre Bordier, rather than that of Petitot, to whom they are generally attributed, but the Naseby jewel was, we know, Bordier's work, and is signed 'P. B. fecit.' This beautiful enamel was presented to Sir Thomas Fairfax by the Parliament, after the battle of Naseby, in November 1645. With the diamond sides, which are not now in existence, it cost 700l. Fairfax it was sold to John Thoresby, and in 1764 bought by Horace Walpole for ten guineas. At the Strawberry Hill sale it was sold for 211. to John P. Beavan, and, later on, belonged to Lord Hastings, who exhibited it at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1889. It bears on one side a portrait of Lord Fairfax, mounted on a chestnut horse, after a picture by Vandyck, and on the other a representation of the battle of Naseby. Pierre Bordier probably died in England soon after 1645, as we hear nothing of him from that time.

After the death of

When Petitot reached Paris, he found there a cousin of his friend, Pierre Bordier, one Jacques Bordier, a goldsmith, who had enthusiastically taken up the work of an enameller. He also had been over to England, only remaining there a very short time, and then had come to France, and the two men appear to have speedily become

very close friends, and to have united in partnership. Their work attracted much attention in Paris, and they became the most famous painters in enamel in the city, were given apartments in the Louvre, and were employed by Louis the Fourteenth, and all the important persons about his Court. The friendship between the two friends, both of whom had been deeply attached to the Stuart family, lasted for thirty-five years, and was only put an end to by the death of Jacques Bordier. Petitot thus wrote of it in his journal: 'De plus, comme une chose non attendue en mon âge, tu m'as encore extraordinairement favorisé, O mon Dieu, en me continuant les moyens d'exercer mon art avec quelque facilité en la compagnie de la personne, liée avec moi d'amitié et d'association, dès environ un demisiècle, sans avoir aucune mésintelligence ni division entre nous.'

In an important work by Richelet, published in 1680, Bordier and Petitot are spoken of as being the two greatest painters in enamel in Paris, the most popular portrait-painters of the day, overwhelmed with work and busied in the preparation of the tiny enamel portraits so popular at that time, either as lockets or as ornaments set in the covers of snuff-boxes, étuis, or instrument cases. Their personal character was declared to be of the very highest possible merit, and the two artists appear to have been treated with a far greater amount of respect than was customarily given to men of their profession. All the greatest personages of that brilliant Court sat to them, and although the portraits are usually at the present day attributed to Petitot alone, it seems to be probable, from the artist's own papers, and from this manuscript journal to which we make constant reference, that his partner Bordier was quite as intimately concerned as himself in their preparation. It would appear that the actual drawing of the portrait was generally the work of Petitot, but that the exquisite enamelling process was largely superintended by Bordier, and his skill alone rendered it possible for the minute work of his colleague and friend, to be perpetuated in this wonderful form.

The King himself was represented over and over again, his mother, Anne of Austria, and his wife Maria Theresa, their son the Dauphin, and his wife, and their grandsons, the Duke of Anjou and the Duke of Berry, his brother the Duc d'Orléans, his nephew, the future Regent, his uncle Gaston d'Orléans, and his cousin the Duchesse de Montpensier-La Grande Mademoiselle; Charles the First and Queen Henrietta Maria, Charles the Second and the Duchess of Portsmouth, James the Second and his sister Mary, Princess of Orange, Christina Queen of Sweden, the Duchess of Lorraine and her brother the Duke of Guise, the Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin, the Grand Condé and his wife, the Prince de Conti, the Duc de la Rochefoucauld, the Duchesse de Longueville and the Duchesse de Montbazon, the various nieces of Cardinal Mazarin, Olympia, Marie, and Hortense Mancini, Madame de la Vallière, Madame de Montespan, Madame de Fontanges,

Madame de Maintenon, Madame de Sévigné, and almost every beautiful lady or important man connected with the Court of France or visiting Le Grand Monarque.

Petitot married in 1651. His wife was Marguerite Cuper, daughter of Sulpice Cuper, one of the King's councillors, at that time governor of Bordeaux, and the register of his marriage has recently been found. It took place at Charenton, on the 23rd day of November, 1651, in a building which was devoted to the religious services of the Protestants, and the officiating pastor was Monsieur Drelincourt. Bordier was already married, as, on the 27th of August in the same year, he had espoused Anne Madeleine Cuper, the younger sister of Marguerite, so that the two friends had now become brothers-in-law. Later on, the connection between the two families was to become still closer, as eventually Petitot's son Jean married Madeleine Bordier, the daughter of his father's partner.

Some previous writers on Petitot have stated that he was twice married, but the researches of M. Stroehlin amongst the Petitot papers prove that this was not the case, and the confusion has arisen from the fact of Petitot's son marrying his mother's niece.

Jean Petitot had seventeen children, and he most carefully records the information respecting them in his journal. His eldest son Jean was born at Blois in 1653. In 1654 a second son was born at Paris, named Jacques, in 1655 a daughter arrived, called Marie, and in the same year Madame Petitot was confined of a still-born child. In 1657 came the second daughter Madeleine, in 1658 the third, Marguerite, in 1659 the fourth, Marie, in 1661 the fifth, Anne, in 1662, the fourth son, to whom the Ambassador for Holland stood godfather, named Paul, in 1663 a fifth son, François, in 1664 a sixth daughter, Caterine, in 1665 a sixth son, André, in 1668 a seventh daughter, Charlotte, in 1669 a seventh son, Sulpice Henry, in 1670 an eighth son, Benjamin, in 1673 a ninth son, Estienne, in 1674 an eighth daughter, Madeleine Caterine.

The records in the journal particularly mention the names of the godparents in the case of each child.

In 1669, Petitot and Bordier were able to render to their own country certain special and important political services, and these services were so highly esteemed by the Republic that the Syndics of Geneva created the two artists, free citizens of Geneva with all the rights and privileges appertaining to such a position, and a joint letter from the two friends, dated the 11th of January, 1669, was sent to the council, expressing the very sincere gratitude which Petitot and Bordier felt for this mark of esteem on the part of their native town. The letter, which is addressed 'Aux Magnifiques et très honorés Seigneurs, Messeigneurs Les Syndics du Conseil de Genève,' is given for the first time by M. Stroehlin in his volume, and it is followed by a long series of letters which passed between Paris and

Geneva, and which were mostly the work of Jacques Bordier. He appears to have been not only the active and practical partner in the enamelling business, but to have developed a remarkable capacity for diplomacy, and was eventually created the official agent at Versailles for the Republic of Geneva, a position which he held till the time of his death. He threw an immense amount of zeal into this public work, exercising himself with the greatest possible energy to do all he possibly could for his native State, and was charged with some very delicate negotiations between France and Geneva, which he appears to have carried through with very great success. To such an extent was he trusted, that he became on intimate terms with the Ambassadors from the Protestant countries, Great Britain, Holland, Brandenburg, and Prussia, and appears to have been regarded as the special protector of the Genevan Republic, and as one with whom consultations could be made with absolute discretion, inasmuch as he was a man of the most perfect integrity, and held the complete confidence of the Syndics of Geneva.

He was present at the marriage of his daughter with his nephew Jean Petitot, who was following his father's profession. This marriage, like the two preceding ones, was celebrated in the Huguenot temple at Charenton. It took place in 1683, and was one of the last marriages in that building. Jacques Bordier died at Blois, in a house which he had inherited from his father-in-law, Sulpice Cuper, in the following year, just one year before the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and was therefore spared the grief of seeing the entire downfall of the diplomatic union he had worked so hard to build up. The Council of Geneva recognised his long services by special resolutions and addressed letters to his partner Petitot and to his son, expressive of their great gratitude to him for all he had done. He was succeeded in his office as official agent of the Republic by his son-in-law, Jean Petitot.

He had a large family, but eight members of it died in their youth. Uninterrupted success had attended the partnership carried on by the two Genevan enamellers, and they were able to accumulate sufficient means to live in comfort, and to keep up country houses at some distance from Paris. The story, however, that was started by Senebier when he wrote about Petitot, and continued by Rigaud, to the effect that they amassed a colossal fortune, has no foundation in fact whatever. It seems to be quite clear that many of their finest works were never paid for, and that the expenses of production with regard to the beautiful objects for which they were famous, were exceedingly high. They were, however, both of them economical men, working very hard at their profession, and their success was undoubted. They had not suffered any disabilities on account of their religion, so far as can be ascertained, until the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which took place on the 17th of October,