Offered by Galerie Thierry Matranga
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Pen and brown ink. 17th century French school attributed to Claude Vignon (1593 - 1670).
Our bearded old man wearing a feather-covered oriental hat embodies the figure of a powerful man bowing as if in homage. And we can't help but see in it the head of Melchior, the Magi from the East who brings the gold to the Infant Jesus.
Claude Vignon's lively brushstrokes and subtle lighting of his subjects have earned him the title of modern painter, and even a precursor to Rembrandt! In fact, our drawing is no exception to the comparison, as the graphic treatment of this old man is reminiscent of the Dutch genius. But make no mistake: this is a drawing from the French school, with suggestions from the northern masters and influences from Italy, where Vignon had been living since 1610.
The drawing is presented in a marie-louise framed with a Bérain-style gilded wood rod.
Dimensions: 25.5 x 17.5 cm - 46 x 34 cm with frame
Claude Vignon (Tours 1593 - Paris 1670) was the son of Guillaume Vignon, valet de chambre ordinaire to the king, supplier of his silverware and triennial controller of taxes. It was in Tours, where the Musée des Beaux-Arts devoted a major exhibition to him in 1993, that the young Vignon began his apprenticeship. But it was in the workshop of Jacob Bunel, painter of the “Second Fontainebleau School”, that he acquired his mastery of gesture and color. Barely 17, Vignon left for Italy. In 1617, he became the king's boarder in Rome, along with Claude Mellan, Charles Mellin and Simon Vouet, who became his friend. During his stay in Rome, he was impressed by the art of Caravaggio, whose works influenced his production. Returning to Paris in 1623, his numerous paintings gained in clarity. Under the protection of Louis XIII and Richelieu, he also became an art dealer. Between 1623 and 1638, he painted several pictures for Notre-Dame de Paris, including the famous May of 1638: Le baptême de l'eunuque de la reine Candace.
A member of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture since its creation in 1648, Vignon only joined as a professor five years later. On the private side, according to some biographers, he had thirty-five children by two wives, some of whom collaborated on his work.
Bibliography :
- MIGNOT Claude and PACHT BASSANI Paola, Claude vignon en son temps, Actes et Colloques Klincksieck, 2000,
- PACHT BASSANI Paola, Claude Vignon 1593 - 1670, Arthena, 2000
- CAPPELLETTI Francesca, LEMOINE Annick, Les Bas-fonds du Baroque - La Rome du vice et de la misère, Officina Italie, 2014
- PRAT Louis-Antoine, ROSENBERG Pierre, Traits divins. Le dessin à Port-Royal. French drawings from the Musée d'Orléans in the 17th century, Snoeck Gent, 2018
- PRAT louis-Antoine, Le Dessin français au XVIIe siècle, Somogy Editions, 2013
