Templum Fine Art Auctions
Lot 501
Large oil painting on canvas, measurements: 240 x 170 cm, unframed. This spectacular composition, preserved in very good original condition, which stands out for its meticulous and careful details, as well as the mastery in the use of light, is linked to the French school and the style of the famous French Baroque painter Pierre Mignard. and it is worth highlighting its good state of conservation, which, after professional cleaning, will offer the viewer even more vivid colors than those we see in the present work. Pierre Mignard (Troyes, November 7, 1612 - Paris, May 30, 1695). Mignard divided his career between portraits – he was the favorite of the ladies of the kingdom – and large decorative compositions; he painted for the Palace of Versailles. In June 1687 the king granted him a title of nobility and, in 1690, after the death of Charles Le Brun he was appointed first painter, in fact the director of the royal manufactures and entered the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture as director of the same. In Spain, Mignard's works are scarce. The Prado Museum preserves one of his works of certain authorship, Saint John the Baptist, oil on canvas from 1688, and two courtly portraits that could be workshop replicas. The Museum of Sacred Art in Bilbao exhibits a Vision of Saint Augustine assigned to the French master. Works in comparison: it is worth highlighting another Saint, possibly part of a series, in this case a Saint Cecilia playing the Harp, where the model used is the same, and of very similar make and size preserved in the Louvre Museum, Paris. Provenance: important private collection, Madrid.
