Michel II CORNEILLE known as Michel CORNEILLE the Younger (Paris, 1642 – id., 1708)
Lot and his daughters
Oil on canvas, enlarged with a 2cm strip around the perimeter, 130 x 182 cm
Circa 1663
PROVENANCE
- France private collection until 2012; acquired on this date by the last owner until its sale in 2022.
Michel II Corneille (Paris, 1642 – id., 1708), is recognized today as one of the major history painters of the French school at the end of the reign of Louis XIV. Despite the absence of monographs, it is proven that this artist who would become close to Pierre Mignard participated in the biggest projects of his time. It was first, in 1670-72, the decor of the Salon de Mercure des Grands Appartements du Château de Versailles (in situ), then, in 1688, that of the Grand Trianon (also in situ). In 1702-1703, Michel Corneille again decorated the chapelle Saint-Grégoire de l’Eglise royale des Invalides (known through engraving and sketches that have recently reappeared on the art market). The artist was also the author of large paintings for churches such as The Vocation of Saint Peter and Saint Andrew, May de Notre-Dame de Paris circa. 1672 (Arras, musée des Beaux-Arts), The Assumption for the main altar of Notre-Dame de Versailles (in situ) or The Flight into Egypt for the Eglise Saint-Nizier in Lyon (also on site). Let us also mention the leading role played by Corneille during the replacement of Colbert by Louvois. He selected the models and subjects to be transcribed for the so-called hanging of Sujets de la Fable. The superb Judgment of Paris, which is a painted adaptation of Raimondi's print after Raphaël (Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts), is part of this cycle of tapestries. Beyond these decorative sets, Michel II Corneille was the author of a considerable number of drawings. The majority of them in fact derive from models, essentially Bolognese, which are closely linked to the work that Michel II Corneille had carried out for the great art lover Everhard Jabach. Towards the end of the 1660s, he asked a group of young artists, including Michel Corneille, to retouch his master drawings, the intention being to sell them better to the royal collections (which happened in 1671). The artist seems to have sought to extend the concept, creating for himself sketches evocative of those of Carracci or Giulio Romano. This means that in the field of easel paintings strictly speaking, the testimonies of Michel II Corneille remain very few in number (and this is the major difference with Charles de La Fosse as well as the brothers Bon and Louis de Boullogne, his contemporaries). In the field of the New Testament, we can hardly cite more than one Rest from the Flight into Egypt (Louvre), two versions of The Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist (musée des Beaux-Arts d'Angers et musée des Beaux-Arts de Chambéry), a Christ at Martha and Mary (Boughton House, Northamptonshire, Great Britain), a Holy family (art trade in 1998) and a Saint Jerome (musée des Beaux-Arts d'Orléans). In the mythological domain, we can cite two Bacchanalia (musée des Beaux-Arts de Grenoble and art trade), the Old Testament being represented only by a Moses saved from the waters (recently on sale in 2015).
However, the work we are presenting is threefold exceptional. It firstly belongs to this very rare category of easel paintings by Michel II Corneille. What's more, it is one of those illustrations from the Old Testament (Genesis, XIX, 30-38), which are practically non-existent in the artist's corpus. But above all, Lot and his daughters appears as one of the very first testimonies of the artist, most probably painted on his return from Italy, as betrayed by the Genoese atmosphere of our painting, a frequent place of passage for artists who made the trip, from where discrepancies with most paintings, almost all clearly later. It is by examining the oldest works of Michel II Corneille that analogies arise. A good example is Sappho playing the lyre, one of the arches making up the decor of the Salon de Mercure du château de Versailles (fig. 1), yet already relatively late.
fig. 1. © Versailles, Château
As in Lot and his daughters, we notice an equally marked chiaroscuro, the female hair taking on an equally golden appearance, and the same type of trees: a large trunk gives birth to a few branches standing out against a luminous sky. It is also important to note the analogy between a drawing by Michel II Corneille kept at the Worcester Museum of Art (MA., USA), which represents Faustulus bringing back little Romulus and Remus (fig. 2).
fig. 2. © Worcester Museum of Art
The seated silhouette of the bearded shepherd is in fact completely consistent with that of Lot. Furthermore, the almost reclining shepherdess on the right, in the same drawing, is particularly similar to Lot's daughter. Both are partly lying down, seen from behind, the drapery which slides revealing the nudity of the upper part of their bodies.
However, it seems that we have never paid attention to a very strange episode from the beginning of Michel Corneille's career. On September 19, 1663, he had in fact been received as an academician upon presentation of “his work”, the subject of which is not specified (A. de Montaiglon, Procès-verbaux de l’Académie royale…, Paris, 1881, t. I, p. 238). Curiously, on January 4, 1665, the painter returned to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture equipped with his reception piece, and promised “to put a suitable border and to finish it shortly” (Ibid., p. 275). By prematurely admitting Michel II Corneille, the jury had certainly shown benevolence towards the son of the co-founder of the company (we know that the painter Michel I Corneille, father of our artist, had been one of them in 1648). Here too, no precision as to the subject of the piece of reception by Michel II Corneille. But what might seem incomprehensible is the session of February 14, 1671. We learn that Michel Corneille, of whom it is well said that he "was received in 1663", was asked to make within a year "a painting for put in the room”, otherwise he would be deprived of his reception (Ibid., pp. 356-357). He was therefore asked to make a reception piece, and the only explanation would be that the artist, who supposedly had to retouch and frame his painting, in 1665, had taken it back to sell it. Thus the artist's subterfuge had backfired, being forced to create a reception piece again. Ironically, he was going to abuse the Royal Academy a second time, not so much because of the delay, since the painting would not be presented until 1673. In fact, his reception piece was nothing short of other than a reduction of May of 1672 representing The Vocation of Saint Peter and Saint Andrew (today at the musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes). He had therefore not created anything for the Royal Academy, and it should be noted that the dimensions of the work (74 by 60 cm) were infinitely smaller than the history paintings serving as a reception piece...
The crucial question is whether our painting is not in fact the initial reception piece of Michael II Corneille. Its style, as we have said, betrays its precocious character, and its imposing dimensions (approximately 1.30 by 1.82) are completely consistent with those of the reception pieces given by the history painters to the Royal Academy. For comparison, that of Jean-Baptiste Corneille, younger brother of our artist, which was handed over in 1675, measures 1.40 by 1.80 (today at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts in Paris). If the artist had taken up his reception piece, it was because he knew its full potential among art lovers. The beauty of the unified color, made of copper tones and purple red, had everything to seduce. We also note the remarkable headdress of Lot's daughter seen from behind, her hair taking on the appearance of gold threads which echo the pieces of goldwork. Far from evoking the fidelity with which it is traditionally associated, the dog, which is represented asleep, is there to announce the consequences of drunkenness. Unless Sleep, considered by Greek mythology as the brother of Death, comes to announce the extinction of the impure branch which will be born from Lot and his daughters.
fig. 3. detail © Arras, musée des Beaux-Arts
fig. 4. detail © Lyon, musée des Beaux-Arts
Finally, we will notice the extreme rarity, in France of this period, of illustrations of Lot and his daughters. These were already common in the Netherlands (Lucas de Leiden, J. Metsys, Goltzius, A. Bloemaert, without forgetting Rubens) and even in Italy (Gentileschi, Guido Reni, Cantarini, Le Guercino), but we do not sees few precedents in France. The only artist born before Corneille who is known to have illustrated the subject would be Charles de La Fosse (Kassel, Gemäldegalerie). The story of Lot and his daughters in fact embodied absolute evil so that the scene was sometimes limited to two young women serving wine to an old man (Guercino's vision shows this well). However, Michel Corneille did not hesitate to translate the scene of seduction narrated by the biblical story, even going so far as to place one of Lot's daughters between his legs. Certainly, Rubens had previously well grasped the erotic implications of the subject (the version currently on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York shows this well). Michel Corneille was perhaps aware of it through a copy (since it was then in the Netherlands), which would explain certain analogies in the silhouette given to Lot. But the most curious thing is the appearance given to the head of the latter, because it is reminiscent of some Saint Jerome by Jacques Blanchard (we think of that of the Budapest Museum). At the same time, whoever owned a Charity de Blanchard was none other than Jabach, who employed Michel II Corneille, as we have said, to retouch his drawings (sold for the collections of Louis XIV in 1662, Charityé is now in the Louvre). As for comparisons, let us not fail to cite the head of Saint Andrew (fig. 3) of the May of Notre-Dame de Paris, The Vocation of Saint Peter and Saint Andrew, painted by Michelle Corneille II in 1672 (Arras, musée des Beaux-Arts), just like that of the river god ( fig. 4 ) of Judgment of Paris (Lyon, musée des Beaux-Arts). In this context of multiple exchanges, we would not be surprised to learn that the Lot and his daughters had been taken over by Michel II Corneille to be sold to Jabach himself.
We wish to thank Monsieur François Marandet for his help in drafting this notice (translated by our gallery)
