Louis Testelin (1615-1655) was a French painter.

Life

He was the son of Gilles Testelin, king's painter to

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 ...

- this gave Gilles an ex officio home and studio in the Louvre.Georges Guillet de Saint-George, notice. Louis' younger brother was the painter

Henri Testelin Henri Testelin (1616–1695) was a French painter and writer on art. Family Testelin was born in Paris as the son of Gilles Testelin, painter to king Louis XIII of France, Louis XIII. He was the younger brother of the painter Louis Testelin.Eu ...

, secretary to the Académie royale de peinture. His family was Protestant and Louis remained so until the end of his life, though this did not impede his career - he painted for

Anne of Austria Anne of Austria (french: Anne d'Autriche, italic=no, es, Ana María Mauricia, italic=no; 22 September 1601 – 20 January 1666) was an infanta of Spain who became Queen of France as the wife of King Louis XIII from their marriage in 1615 unti ...

and accepted commissions from several monasteries in Paris. He studied under

Simon Vouet Simon Vouet (; 9 January 1590 – 30 June 1649) was a French painter who studied and rose to prominence in Italy before being summoned by Louis XIII to serve as Premier peintre du Roi in France. He and his studio of artists created religious and m ...

and became a friend of

Charles Le Brun Charles Le Brun (baptised 24 February 1619 – 12 February 1690) was a French painter, physiognomist, art theorist, and a director of several art schools of his time. As court painter to Louis XIV, who declared him "the greatest French artist of ...

, who was working in the same studio. According to a biography edited by Georges Guillet de Saint-George, Testelin and Le Brun collaborated "on some paintings and decorative schemes" for the former church of Val-de-Grâce. He also painted the

May May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May ...

s for 1652 (''Saint Peter Reviving the Widow Tabitha'', now in the

Musée des beaux-arts d'Arras The Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Arras is located in the old Abbey of St. Vaast in Arras, in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France. Collection Paintings The museum's collection includes paintings of the Flemish and Dutch schools including Jehan Belleg ...

) and 1655 (''The Whipping of Saints Paul and Silas''). In 1648, Louis Testelin became one of the founder members of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture. In 1649, he was chosen as its secretary and one of its professors in 1650, a role he held until his death in 1655. He also produced satirical caricatures and

ink wash painting Ink wash painting ( zh, t=水墨畫, s=水墨画, p=shuǐmòhuà; ja, 水墨画, translit=suiboku-ga or ja, 墨絵, translit=sumi-e; ko, 수묵화, translit=sumukhwa) is a type of Chinese ink brush painting which uses black ink, such as tha ...

s. Sylvain Kerspern,

La Tribune de l'art ''La Tribune de l'art'' (''The Art Tribune'') is a French online magazine on art history and western heritage from the Middle Ages to the 1930s. It was set up on 7 April 2003 by Didier Rykner, art historian and former agronomist. Harry Bellet, ...

, 29.12.2006
online
He was buried in Paris's

Saints-Pères Cemetery Saints-Pères Cemetery (''cimetière des Saints-Pères'') is a historic cemetery in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, sited at what is now 30 rue des Saints-Pères. After being forced to give up the Saint-Germain Cemetery in 1604, the Protestant ...

, a cemetery solely for Protestants.

Works

* ''Saint Louis Nursing Plague Victims'', 1654/1655,

Musée de Grenoble The Museum of Grenoble (french: Musée de Grenoble) is a municipal museum of Fine Arts and antiquities in the city of Grenoble in the Isère region of France. Located on the left bank of the Isère River, place Lavalette, it is known both for ...

. * ''The Return of Gonesse'', ink and wash,

musée Sainte-Croix The Musée Sainte-Croix is the largest museum in Poitiers, France. Planned by the architect poitevin Jean Monge and built in 1974, it stands at the site of the former Abbaye Sainte-Croix, which was moved to Saint-Benoît, Vienne. It is a constr ...

Poitiers Poitiers (, , , ; Poitevin: ''Poetàe'') is a city on the River Clain in west-central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and the historical centre of Poitou. In 2017 it had a population of 88,291. Its agglomerat ...

Bibliography (in French)

* David Simonneau, « Louis Testelin, dessinateur », Rencontres de l'école du Louvre. Dessins français aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, Paris, 2003, 169-183. * Georges Guillet de Saint-George, notice su
Louis Testelin
in: Mémoires inédits sur la vie et les ouvrages des membres de l'Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, J.B. Dumoulin, Paris, 1854, Volume 1, 216-228.
Jean-Pierre Mouilleseaux, « Testelin Louis (1615-1655) - & Henri (1616-1695) », ''Encyclopædia Universalis''

« Louis Testelin (1615-1655) », notice du Musée virtuel du protestantisme

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Testelin, Louis 17th-century French painters 1615 births 1655 deaths Members of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture French Protestants