AUDRAN, CARL, a very eminent engraver, was brother to the preceding, though some assert he was only his cousin-german; and was born at Paris in 1594. In his infancy he discovered much taste, and a great disposition for the arts; and to perfect himself in engraving, which he appears to have been chiefly fond of, he went to Rome, where he produced several prints that did him great honour. At his return, he adopted that species of engraving which is performed with the graver only. He settled at Paris, where he died in 1674, without having ever been married. The Abbé Marolles, who always speaks of this artist with great praise, attributes 130 prints to him: amongst which, the annunciation, a middle-sized plate, upright, from Hannibal Caracci; and the assumption, in a circle, from Domenichino, are the most esteemed. In the early part of his life he marked his prints with C, or the name of Carl, till his brother Claude published some plates with the initial only of his baptismal.
Audran. tismal name; when, for distinction's sake, he used the letter K, or wrote his name Karl, with the K instead of the C.