Portrait of a man- Studio of Corneille de Lyon (1500-1575)

Portrait of a man
Studio of Corneille de LA HAYE, said Corneille de LYON (La Haye, c. 1500 - Lyon, 1575)
16th century French school

Oil on oak panel h. 15,5 cm, w. 12,5 cm

Important molded wooden tabernacle frame, painted gold decoration on a black background, with marble columns and embedded marble slabs,
Venice, 16th century
Framed: h. 41 cm, l. 26 cm

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Standing out against an olive green background typical of the artist, our model, portrayed in bust, is dressed in a coat with a wide fur collar, the collar of his white shirt is barely visible. His head slightly turned to the right, his eyes with a pensive and slightly melancholic gaze animate the face with a serious expression, underlined by a brown beard with red highlights.
Of remarkable finesse, the precise brushstrokes are reminiscent of the work of a miniaturist so meticulously are certain details treated such as the eyebrows, the beard, the hair and the fur.

Although the identity of our model remains unknown, the black barrette indicates his membership in the judiciary or an ecclesiastical body.
The absence of a plume, colored fabrics, gold embroidery or slashes – clothing elements reserved for the nobility – also confirms that the model is not a member of the court.


Our work is a studio version with variations of a portrait of a man by Corneille de Lyon kept at the Palazzo Bianco in Genoa. In our portrait the collar is made of fur and not fabric.

Related work: portrait of an unknown man, 16x12 cm, Genoa, Palazzo Bianco, Inv. PB213 (published by Dubois de Groër, Corneille de La Haye known as Corneille de Lyon (1500/1510 - 1575), Paris, 1996 (under no. 34)



Corneille de La Haye, known as Corneille de Lyon (1500/1510 - 1575)

Considered, along with François Clouet (1520-1572), as the greatest French portrait painter of the mid-16th century, Corneille de La Haye, of Dutch origin, is mentioned for the first time in Lyon in 1533 as painter to Queen Eleanor of Austria. Despite this position, the painter remained in Lyon, not following the Court to Paris or in its travels. Fully integrated into local society, he married Marguerite Fradin before 1547, the daughter of a printer specializing in the publication of legal works and an important figure in the city. His marriage gave him access to the entire Lyon bourgeoisie, as evidenced by the numerous portraits he produced of the city's magistrates and wealthy merchants. In a sober and innovative style that focuses all attention on the model's face and upper body, always leaving the background uniform, very often green, Corneille de Lyon specializes in the production of small-scale portraits associating the tradition of French portraits with northern naturalism, undoubtedly inspired by Lucas de Leyde (1494-1533).

At the head of a flourishing workshop, Corneille de Lyon's originality compared to other Renaissance portraitists is very clear. For his portraits, most often on a green background, he practiced direct execution. The decision to produce small formats required him to represent only the head and bust. No drawings by him are known, which suggests that he painted directly on the support, a rare technique at the time, which demonstrated great expertise. Working mainly in oil on a wooden support, he painted the skin tone areas very lightly while his backgrounds were more intense. He also paid particular attention to the details of the personal adornment of his patrons, while being very precise in the composition of hair, hair, beards, which he sometimes traced almost hair by hair. His effigies are therefore characterized by their elegance, an aristocratic politeness at the same time as a benevolent realism and a keen sense of observation in the costumes, embroidery, headdresses or detailed jewelry "à la flamande".

Corneilles de Lyon and his workshop produced a considerable number of portraits, some versions were replicated several times, especially for members of the French court. It is very likely that Corneille de Lyon produced at least two autograph versions, one presented to the client and the other kept to serve as a model for orders for replicas.