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Rossini

220 - 1 - 17th century French school, follower of Corneille de Lyon (T…
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Estimate €8,000 - €10,000
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Description
17th century French school, follower of Corneille de Lyon (The Hague 1510 - Lyon 1575) Portrait of François I Oil on panel 17 x 14 cm. On the back, two red wax stamps, partially faded, possibly dating from the 18th century. Provenance : Acquired from a private collector in Rouen, in June 1859, by Sir John Hay Williams (1794-1859), 2nd Baronet of Bodelwyddan, and of Rhianva, Anglesey, Then by descent until 2022 Rosebery's sale, London, 19 July 2022, lot 27 (as "entourage de Corneille de Lyon") Our interesting portrait of King François I is the product of a subtle hybridisation between two iconographic models of primary importance in Renaissance France: the portraits of the Clouet dynasty and those of Corneille de Lyon. The artist of our portrait seems to have used as a model the "equestrian portrait of François I" in the Musée Condé (inv. PE 279), once considered to be by François Clouet but downgraded by Alexandra Zvereva, who considers it to be by an anonymous artist dating from the first quarter of the 17th century. The miniature artist Condé used the most popular image of the King at the time, combining the aged face drawn by Clouet around 1545 with the black and white clothing of the large portrait of 1524, which had already gone out of fashion in the 1530s (Louvre, inv. 33530 and 3256). The Château de Chambord conserves a monumental portrait of King François I (inv. CH/41/0560), also painted by an anonymous artist in the early 17th century, using the same features as the Condé miniature (face and costume), proof of the popularity and success of this model. Here, the artist has chosen a tighter framing, with a bust, and a neutral emerald-green background with shades in the margins: two key elements of the iconographic model devised by Corneille de La Haye, known as Corneille de Lyon. Although he probably never represented King François I and never left the city of Lyon, Corneille was a privileged witness to the French court on its way to Italy, which enabled him to produce a number of effigies of the king's family, in particular the Dauphin François (1517-1539), of whom we know a later copy (Musée Condé, inv. PE 244) of the same dimensions as our François I. This proximity, which heralded his future title of "king's painter", was recalled by Brantôme, who commented on the Valois court's stay in the city in 1564: "Sur quoy il me souvient qu'étant un jour allée voir à Lyon un Peintre qui s'appelle Corneille, qui avait peint, dans une grande chambre, tous les grands Seigneurs, Princes, Cavaliers & grandes Reynes, Princesses, Dames et Filles de la cour de France".
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About the sale Classic furniture and objets d'art
Auction location
Auction time 06/18/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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