Michel Corneille The Elder

Michel Corneille the Elder (c. 1601 – 1664) was a French painter, etcher, and engraver.

Life

Corneille was born in Orléans. He was one of many who studied with the celebrated master Simon Vouet, who strongly influenced French painting of the early 17th century.

In 1648, Corneille was one of the founders of the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture and was elected as one of the original twelve elders in charge of its running.''Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de l'Académie royale de Peinture et de Sculpture depuis 1648 jusqu'en 1664''
Ed. Anatole de Montaiglon, Paris 1853, vol. I, p. 36. He became its rector in 1656.

Corneille devoted himself to historical paintings. He was an excellent colorist—in this more Venetian than French—and his early style resembled that of Simon Vouet; later his work had all the merits and all the faults of the post-Raphaelite, or decadent, "sweet", school of Italian art, showing the far-reaching influence of the Carracci. He was long employed in the decoration of churches in Paris, his masterpiece being the celebrated "St. Paul and St. Barnabas at Lystra", painted for the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. His etched and engraved work differed very little from that of the Carracci and of his two sons. It was chiefly reproductive. Notable examples are the "Murder of the Innocents", after Raphael, and the "Virgin Suckling the Infant Jesus", after Lodovico Carracci. He died in Paris in 1664.

Gallery

Massacre of the Innocents''
File:La Vieille et Charité ou Lucius métamorphosé en âne écoute l'histoire de Psyché qu'une vieille raconte à une jeune fille enlevée par des brigands la veille de ses noces (phbw12 0842).jpg, ''The Old Woman and Charity''
File:Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Paris, Le baptême de Clorinde, laine et soie, France, vers 1645-1660, inv. 34128.JPG, ''The Baptism of Clorinde'', from Jerusalem Delivered
File:Michel Corneille- Le Christ chez Marthe et Marie.jpg, '' Jesus at the home of Martha and Mary''
File:Cleopatra and the Asp, by Michel Corneille, 1650-1660, oil on canvas - Portland Art Museum - Portland, Oregon - DSC09056.jpg, '' Cleopatra and the Asp''
File:Corneille-Francois-Xavier-Orléans.jpg, ''Saint Francis Xavier in adoration before the Virgin and Child''
File:Corneille Présentation de la Vierge au Temple Dijon.jpg, ''Presentation of the Virgin at the Temple''
File:Michel Corneille l'Ancien Baptême du centenier Corneille Saint-Pétersbourg.jpg, ''Baptism of the Centurion''

References

Bibliography

*
*
*
*
*
*MEYER, Geschichte der französischen Malerei (Leipzig, 1867)
* ''That entry was written by Leigh Hunt.''

External links

''Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi''
a fully digitized exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries, which contains material on Michel Corneille the Elder (see index)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corneille, Michel (the Elder)
17th-century French painters
French male painters
French history painters
Painters from Paris
1600s births
1664 deaths