Panel - 16,5 x 13,7 cmXVth and XVIth paintings , Portraits
Provenance:
Georges de Monbrison, Château de Saint-Roche, Le Pinm Tarn-et-Garonne, c.1904;
Eugène Kraemer, Paris, before 1913;
Leopold Hirsch, London;
Jacques Seligmann, New York;
Mrs Arthur...
read moreProvenance:
Georges de Monbrison, Château de Saint-Roche, Le Pinm Tarn-et-Garonne, c.1904;
Eugène Kraemer, Paris, before 1913;
Leopold Hirsch, London;
Jacques Seligmann, New York;
Mrs Arthur Lehman, New York, 1920 and by inheritance;
Anonymous sale, Christie’s, New York, 23 May 1997, lot 80,
Acquired by Jean Deleage from Richard Green, London.
This half-length portrait depicts a man dressed in a velvet jacket, wearing a black beret embellished with a white feather. There are four other known versions of this painting and yet for each of them, the model is identified as someone different. This can be explained by the fact that Corneille de Lyon’s paintings were frequently sent to England, without the identity of the models being precisely revealed to their recipients. But recent research and the many clues contained within these portraits, allow us to name the man painted by the master as the Duke of Etampes, both in the very fine version in the Wallace Collection in London and in the version in the Louvre.
Without a shadow of doubt, our character is a member of the Order of Saint Michael, a chivalric order founded in 1469 by Louis XI, whose members claimed to be “Knights of the King's Order". The members were required, on all occasions, to wear a gold necklace made from shells laced to each other with a double lace, from which a medallion hung showing the archangel slaying the dragon. Exhibited in the Louvre during the French Primitives exhibition, the man in the portrait has been identified as a significant number of people. First of all, it was suggested that this man was the Count of Hertford. However, the medallion indicating that the figure belongs to the Order of St. Michael doesn’t comply with the Count of Hertford’s life course. It is more likely that this man is actually Jean IV de Brosse, also known as Jean de Bretagne, Duke of Etampes, who had received the Order of the King when this portrait was painted by Corneille de Lyon, i.e. between 1536 and 1540. The Duke of Etampes was the husband of Anne de Pisseleu, the mistress of Francis I of France. She was 18 years old when she met the king and remained his mistress until his death in 1547. In order to assure Anne de Pisseleu’s position at court, she was married to a ruined powerful lord, Jean IV de Brosse. It may well be that his situation as an accommodating husband earned him the Order of the King.
It must be said that a certain serenity seems to emanate from this man depicted, as was customary, against a delicate green background that emphasises the shades of pink in his complexion. As is the tradition in 16th century portraits, our man gazes out at the viewer. The painter gives the figure a reserved and dignified air. His elegance is underlined by the above-mentioned attributes such as his beret and the necklace of the Order of Saint Michael. It is impossible to remain impassive in the face of the aesthetic and technical beauty of this portrait. Through his great qualities as an artist, Corneille de Lyon succeeds in imbuing the model with grace and unquestionable nobility. Moreover, his sense of observation is such that he endeavours to capture every detail and subtlety of his subject’s face. This portrait will certainly seduce connoisseurs of this art; they will appreciate an original work that fulfils, and even surpasses, all the aesthetic canons of the French Renaissance. It could even be said that the Duke of Etampes, who died without issue, has been given a new life in this portrait by Corneille de Lyon.
Literature : G. Brière, Catalogue des Peintures, Louvre, I, Ecole Française, Paris, 1924, p. 280, comme réplique de la version du Louvre.
L. Dimier, Histoire de la Peinture de Portrait en France au XVIe Siècle, Paris et Bruxelles, 1925, II, p. 76, no. 299, comme copie d’après l’original de la Wallace Collection qu’il attribute au Maître anonyme de Rieux de Châteauneuf.
Wallace Collection catalogues, Pictures and Drawings, London, 1928, p. 62, comme une version de la Wallace Collection.
C. Sterling et H. Adhémar, La Peinture au Musée du Louvre; Ecole Française, XIVe, XVe et XVIe Siècles, Paris, 1965, p. 30, sous le n° 35 comme une réplique.
C. Virch, The Adele and Arthur Lehman Collection, New York, 1965, p. 41-42, reproduit.
A. Dubois de Groër, Corneille de La Haye dit Corneille de Lyon (1500/1510 - 1550), Paris, 1996, p. 155, mentionné comme réplique autographe du n°46.
Exhibitions : Paris, Musée du Louvre, Les primitifs Français, 1904, n° 161, date autour de 1548.
More informations
circa 1500 The Hague - Lyon circa 1574
Corneille of Lyon or of the The Hague, owing to his Dutch origins, apparently came to work in Paris, before settling in Lyon, where his presence was recorded...
read morecirca 1500 The Hague - Lyon circa 1574
Corneille of Lyon or of the The Hague, owing to his Dutch origins, apparently came to work in Paris, before settling in Lyon, where his presence was recorded as from 1533, as a portrait painter in the service of Queen Eleanor and then the Dauphin Henri II. He obtained French nationality in 1547 and was mentioned as the painter and valet of King Henri II in 1551 and then of Charles IX. According Brantôme, Catherine di Medici came to visit Corneille in June 1564.
A whole series of small half-bust portraits are attributed to him, representing the glamorous court of the Valois, with a smooth, precise workmanship, devoid of material and worked with glaze. His highly personal style focuses on finely featured faces, seen from a slight angle or head-on, and modeled without any shading. The importance bestowed on the head sometimes accounts for a slight disproportion with the torso. His effigies are characterized by their grace and elegance, aristocratic grace, as well as an overall realism and sharp sense of observation for costume, embroidery, head-gear and detailed jewelry “à la flamande“.
Following in the same tracks as the Clouets, who had arrived from Brussels, he thus introduced Flemish workmanship and temperament to France. In exulting the native qualities associated with the tradition of the Parisian miniature portrait, Corneille de Lyon created and defined a Franco-Flemish genre that was able to meet an ever-growing and enthusiastic requirement of the court collectors who made his fame.
