François, a very eminent French engraver, was born at Abbeville in 1622. His enthusiasm for his art was very great. After receiving the first principles of engraving from his father, he applied himself for three years under Daret at Paris. Then repairing to Rome, he laboured assiduously for seven years, improving his design and executing several plates after the great Italian masters. No less was his assiduity when he had settled in the French capital with the reputation of being one of the best engravers of his native country. He continued to handle his burin at once with care and dexterity, and to superintend the labours of several pupils; so that at his death in 1693 his prints amounted to about 400. A list of the principal plates of Poilly is given in Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers. The most popular of these are "San Carlo Barromeo administering the Communion to the Persons infected with the Plague," after Mignard; "The Holy Family," after Raphael; and "The Flight into Egypt," after Guido. Poilly's younger brother Nicholas, and his nephew Jean Baptiste, were also distinguished engravers.