Ponce engraved and wrote, two occupations that went hand in hand in the days when prints circulated images as they did ideas. Some twenty provincial academies had admitted him, from Rouen to Bastia. François Dumont painted his portrait in miniature, now in the Louvre. His widow joined him fourteen months later, dead, as the old formula has it, in her eighty-eighth year.
The story
Some twenty academies had elected the engraver Nicolas Ponce: Rouen, Châlons, Parma, Antwerp, Orléans, Amiens, La Rochelle, Dijon, Lyon, Troyes, Nancy, Metz, Le Mans, Marseille, Douai, Bastia, Bourg — not counting the Athénée des Arts and the Société Philotechnique in Paris.
Born in Paris on 12 March 1746, Nicolas Ponce was an engraver and a man of letters: the two trades went together at a time when the print carried images and ideas across Europe. A corresponding member of the Institut and a chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, he had his portrait painted in miniature by François Dumont — the piece is now in the Louvre, in the department of graphic arts.
He died in Paris on 21 March 1831, at the age of eighty-five. His widow Marguerite Héméry joined him fourteen months later, on 25 May 1832, “dans sa 88ᵉ année” — in her eighty-eighth year, an old formula that gives the age rather than the year of birth.
The inscription calls him “graveur, homme de lettres, chevalier de la légion d'honneur, membre correspondant de l'Institut”, and stops there. Of the twenty academies, nothing; of the Louvre miniature, nothing either.
The grave
A two-part inscription whose second part gives the age in the old style: “Ici reposent, Nicolas PONCE, graveur, homme de lettres, chevalier de la légion d'honneur, membre correspondant de l'Institut, né le 12 mars 1746, décédé le 21 mars 1831. Marguerite HEMERY, Vve PONCE, décédée le 25 mai 1832, dans sa 88ᵉ année.” — Here rest Nicolas Ponce, engraver, man of letters, Knight of the Legion of Honour, corresponding member of the Institut, born on 12 March 1746, died on 21 March 1831. Marguerite Hemery, widow Ponce, died on 25 May 1832, in her 88th year. His widow outlived him by fourteen months. Nothing of the twenty academies he belonged to, nor of the miniature portrait François Dumont had painted of him, which the Louvre keeps.
On site, do not miss
The inscription calls him “graveur, homme de lettres, chevalier de la légion d'honneur, membre correspondant de l'Institut” — engraver, man of letters, Knight of the Legion of Honour, corresponding member of the Institut — and gives his widow's age in the old style: “dans sa 88ᵉ année”, in her 88th year.
Visitors' questions
Where is Nicolas Ponce's grave?
In Division 35, avenue des Acacias, sixth row. The inscription calls him “graveur, homme de lettres, chevalier de la légion d'honneur, membre correspondant de l'Institut” — engraver, man of letters, knight of the Legion of Honour, corresponding member of the Institut — and names his widow, Marguerite Héméry.
Antonio FranconiWhere can you see his portrait?
At the Louvre, in the department of graphic arts: a miniature by François Dumont. It is the only known portrait of the engraver, whose grave carries neither bust nor medallion, but an inscription alone.
Charles PercierWhich academies did he belong to?
Some twenty — Rouen, Châlons, Parma, Antwerp, Orléans, Amiens, La Rochelle, Dijon, Lyon, Troyes, Nancy, Metz, Le Mans, Marseille, Douai, Bastia, Bourg — not counting the Athénée des Arts and the Société philotechnique of Paris.
Gustave DoréWho lies with him?
His widow, “Marguerite HEMERY, Vve PONCE”, who died on 25 May 1832 “dans sa 88ᵉ année”, in her eighty-eighth year — an old formula that gives the age rather than the year of birth. She outlived him by fourteen months, and the stone joins them under the same wording.
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