Noël Coypel (; 25 December 1628 – 24 December 1707) was a French
painter
Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...
, and was also called Coypel le Poussin, because he was heavily influenced by
Poussin
Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was a French painter who was a leading painter of the Classicism, classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and ...
.
Biography
His father, Guyon Coypel, was an unsuccessful artist, originally from
Cherbourg
Cherbourg is a former Communes of France, commune and Subprefectures in France, subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French departments of France, department of Manche. It was merged into the com ...
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...
, who engaged him to do some paintings. He would work exclusively on the orders of
for almost twenty years, creating several paintings for the King's apartments and, following the King's marriage, the ceilings of the Queen's apartment. He also painted at the
Tuileries
The Tuileries Palace (, ) was a palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the Seine, directly in the west-front of the Louvre Palace. It was the Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from Henri IV to Napoleon III, until it was b ...
and
Fontainebleau
Fontainebleau ( , , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the Kilometre zero#France, centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a Subprefectures in Franc ...
but, due to the amount of work he was doing for the King, his official reception was postponed until early in 1663. Later that year, he displayed his
reception piece
In art, a reception piece is a work submitted by an artist to an academy for approval as part of the requirements for admission to membership.
The piece is normally representative of the artist's work, and the organization's judgement of its skil ...
, ''The Reprobation of Cain After the Death of Abel''. He was named an assistant professor the following year, and became a full Professor a few months later.
He was appointed Director of the
French Academy in Rome
The French Academy in Rome (, ) is an academy located in the Villa Medici, within the Villa Borghese, on the Pincio (Pincian Hill) in Rome, Italy.
History
The Academy was founded at the Palazzo Capranica in 1666 by Louis XIV under the dire ...
in 1672, succeeding his former mentor, Errard, who had served for the first six years of the Academy's existence. His son,
Antoine
Antoine is a French language, French given name (from the Latin ''Antonius'' meaning 'highly praise-worthy') that is a variant of Danton (name), Danton, Titouan, D'Anton and Antonin.
The name is most common in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada ...
Pierre Mignard
Pierre Mignard or Pierre Mignard I (; 17 November 1612 – 30 May 1695), called "Mignard le Romain" to distinguish him from his brother Nicolas Mignard, was a French painter known for his religious and mythological scenes and portraits. He was a ...
. In 1702, he reassumed the position of Rector. Three years later, at the age of seventy-seven, he undertook a project to paint frescoes above the high altar at the Église des Invalides. This difficult work resulted in a long, serious illness that led to his death on Christmas Eve in 1707.