Henri Testelin (1616–1695) was a French painter and writer on art.

Family

Testelin was born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

as the son of Gilles Testelin, painter to king

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...

. He was the younger brother of the painter Louis Testelin.Eugène Haag and Emile Haag, ''La France protestante'', IX, Paris 1859, p. 357-361
''Testelin, Tettelin ou Tetelin, famille d'artistes''.
/ref>

Académy royale

In 1648, Henri Testelin became one of the founder members of the

Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture The Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture (; en, "Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture") was founded in 1648 in Paris, France. It was the premier art institution of France during the latter part of the Ancien Régime until it was abol ...

. He succeeded his brother Louis as its secretary from 1650 and was nominated professor in 1656. In 1653, he suggested that academicians should regularly give lectures (''Conférences'') on art theory, a practise which was adopted and became a corner stone of the institution's activities. Testelin's own lectures consisted of his reading of

tables Table may refer to: * Table (furniture), a piece of furniture with a flat surface and one or more legs * Table (landform), a flat area of land * Table (information), a data arrangement with rows and columns * Table (database), how the table data ...

in which he summarised all the aspects of art theory his colleagues had previously presented. He published these tables in 1680 as ''Sentimens des plus habiles peintres sur la pratique de la peinture et sculpture, mis en tables de préceptes, avec plusieurs discours académiques, ou conférences tenues en l'Académie royale des dits arts''. Reworked and expanded editions were published in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

in 1693 or 1694 and in Paris in 1696. In 1853, French

art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

Anatole de Montaiglon Anatole de Courde de Montaiglon (28 November 1824 – 1 September 1895) was a 19th-century French librarian and art historian. Biography In 1850, De Montaignon graduated as an archivist and palaeographer from the École des chartes, with a the ...

published the 17th-century

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...

''Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de l'Académie royale de Peinture et de Sculpture depuis 1648 jusqu'en 1664'', a detailed account of the early history of the Académie royale, and identified the anonymous author as Henri Testelin.

Exile

In line with the increasingly intolerant religious policies of

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

, Testelin was dismissed from the Academy in 1681 because he was a

protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

. He left France and went into

exile Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

. He died in The Hague on 17 April 1695.

Art

Henri Testelin painted portraits of Louis XIV and other important personalities. These show the influence of Charles Le Brun, Testelin's close friend. Testelin was given living quarters at the

Gobelins Manufactory The Gobelins Manufactory () is a historic tapestry factory in Paris, France. It is located at 42 avenue des Gobelins, near Les Gobelins métro station in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. It was originally established on the site as a medieval ...

for which he produced several cartoons for

tapestry Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads may ...

. These are mostly scenes from the life of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...

and Louis XIV based on

compositions Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature * Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

by Le Brun and the battle painter Adam Frans van der Meulen.

Gerhard Bissell Gerhard is a name of Germanic origin and may refer to: Given name * Gerhard (bishop of Passau) (fl. 932–946), German prelate * Gerhard III, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg (1292–1340), German prince, regent of Denmark * Gerhard Barkhorn (1919–19 ...

''Testelin, Henri''
in: '' Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon (Artists of the World)'', Vol. 108, Saur, Munich 2020 (in German). Most of his paintings are kept in the

palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 19 ...

Works by Testelin

File:Louis XIV 1648 Henri Testelin.jpg, ''Louis XIV at the age of 10'' (1648) File:Louis_XIV_(by_Henri_Testelin).jpg, ''Louis XIV'' (1666-1668) File:Seguier.jpg, ''

Pierre Seguier Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

'' (1666-1668) File:Testelin, Henri - Colbert Presenting the Members of the Royal Academy of Sciences to Louis XIV in 1667.jpg, ''Foundation of the Académie de Sciences et l'Observatoire in 1666'' (~ 1675)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Testelin, Henri 1616 births 1695 deaths French Baroque painters Dutch portrait painters Painters from Paris