The Imitator of Giorgione (France-Italy Early 17th) Study of a man in armor

HE IMITATOR OF GIORGIONE
(France or Italy, early 17th century)
Study of a man in armor
Oil on canvas in two pieces with a seam towards the bottom (re-finished in the 20th century)
H. 78 cm; W. 45 cm

Related works :
- Giorgione, Castelfranco Altarpiece. Castelfranco Veneto, Duomo.
- Imitator of Giorgione, Man in armor. Oil on panel, 39.7 x 27 cm. London, National Gallery, NG 269 (Bequeasted by Samuel Rogers, 1855).
- Philippe de Champaigne, Portrait of Gaston de Foix. Oil on canvas, 216 x 140 cm. Versailles, Musée national du château.

This enigmatic painting is clearly reminiscent of the Portrait de Gaston de Foix, painted by Philippe de Champaigne in 1635 for the Galerie des Illustres in the Palais-Cardinal, rue Saint-Honoré (Richelieu's Parisian residence, now the Palais-Royal). While the posture, arms and armor are virtually identical, as are the inky-black background and the placement of the feet on a light-brown ground, the faces differ. Champaigne's Gaston de Foix, with short curly hair and a thin beard, looks at us frankly. The man in our painting, on the other hand, has long, straight hair, his face slightly tilted, his eyes lowered in a somewhat Christ-like expression of contemplation.

However, our man in armor does not appear to be an a posteriori variant of Champaigne's painting. In composing his work, Philippe de Champaigne was inspired by a small oil on panel attributed in his time to Raphael, and kept in the collection of the Duc de Saint-Simon (Claude, father of the memorialist). At the time, this work was considered to be a portrait of Gaston de Foix, hence Champaigne's almost complete reuse. He even borrowed the brown velvet curtain that falls to the right, mainly modifying the face.

Passed on to the famous Saint-Simon, then after his death to the collector Vigné de Vigny, before ending up in the collection of the Prince de Conty, it returned to England in 1812 and, after two changes of ownership, was bequeathed to the National Gallery in 1855. This oil on panel has been given a more modest attribution as a “Giorgione imitator”. The figure in armor is taken from the Saint George (or Saint Nicaise) on the left of the Madonna and Child in the Castelfranco altarpiece. However, Giorgione's warrior saint is beardless, wearing a helmet, with his head held high and eyes wide open (note that the work, damaged in 1603, was extensively restored in 1674 by Pietro Vecchia). The National Gallery's copy thus makes a notable change to Giorgione's figure, which it isolates against the neutrality of a black background.

Twice the size of the London version, our painting is similar to it in one respect. The index finger of the left hand, resting on the spear, is curved like a hook, whereas it remains elongated in our painting (a position in keeping with the hand as painted by Giorgione). This last observation suggests that our painting, more faithful to the Venetian original, may predate the panel Champaigne used as a model.

At this stage, there are more questions than answers. It's conceivable that our painting and the one in London were painted by the same artist. But what was his intention? Why was Giorgione's saint in armor replaced by a contemplative face with downcast eyes? Why was the National Gallery panel considered a Raphael in the Saint-Simon collection? Was it a deliberate forgery or a fraudulent reinterpretation by some unscrupulous dealer?

Given that Philippe de Champaigne himself imitated the painting now in London, and that our canvas seems to precede it, our copyist must have first passed through the Veneto region. Is it any wonder that the choice of a tenebrous background evokes the world of Caravaggio and his Italian and French followers? Could our Man in Armor have been brought back by an artist present in the peninsula in the 1610s or 1620s?

Finally, to add to the confusion, let's point out that a naive anonymous 17th-century engraving by Champaigne, entitled “Gasto de Foix” (sic), gives the warlord a hair and beard closer to our effigy than to the canvas painted for the Galerie des Illustres! The path from Giorgione to Champaigne and from Venice to Paris remains obscure...