B O O K R E V I E W S
5 5 . Death of Socrates, b y C h a r l e s - A l p h o n s e D u f r e s n o y . 122 b y 155 c m . (Uffizi, F l o r e n c e ) .
V
I ^ S H H P P
P i e r r e M i g n a r d 'le R o m a i n ' . A c t e s d u c o l l o q u e . Edited by J e a n - C l a u d e Boyer.
317 p p . incl. 127 b. & w. ills. (La d o c u m e n tation Francaise, Paris, 1997), FF210.
I S B N 2 1 1 0 0 3 7 7 0 9 .
T h e present v o l u m e offers its Actes du col
loque in the b r o a d e s t sense, for it n o t only contains t h e p a p e r s p r e s e n t e d in S e p t e m b e r 1995 at the L o u v r e to m a r k the tercen
t e n a r y of Pierre M i g n a r d ' s d e a t h (Denis Lavalle's contribution o n the missing im
p a c t of t h e V a l d e G r a c e frescoes o n later F r e n c h painters b e i n g the only omission), b u t also d o c u m e n t s J e a n C l a u d e Boyer's p r e p a r a t i o n of the event. T h u s , the r e a d e r will find the texts a n d illustrations w h i c h a c c o m p a n i e d a 'dossier' exhibition in the L o u v r e focused on Michel II Corneille's grisaille copy after M i g n a r d ' s V a l d e G r a c e decoration,1 plus a letter f r o m D o n a t e l l a Sparti declining to participate in t h e ab
sence of d o c u m e n t s c o n c e r n i n g M i g n a r d in the archives of t h e R o m a n B a n c o di S a n t o Spirito, a n d a corrected a n d complete t r a n scription by A n t o i n e S c h n a p p e r of already published d o c u m e n t s c o n c e r n i n g M i g n a r d ' s possessions.
Despite these a d d e d extras, the b o o k faithfully reflects the reluctance, clearly discernible d u r i n g the colloque, to c o n f r o n t the aesthetic qualities of M i g n a r d ' s work. In fact, the ten p a p e r s in b o t h sections of the b o o k dedicated to 'Pierre Mignard et Rome' a n d 'Le peintre parisien' a r e largely con
c e r n e d with biographical topics, such as M i g n a r d ' s collection of drawings or his relations with his f r i e n d CharlesAlphonse D u f r e s n o y , r a t h e r t h a n his paintings. T h u s , the question arises w h e t h e r M i g n a r d was i n d e e d 'un des tout premiers peintres de son siecle' (as claimed by Pierre R o s e n b e r g in his pref
ace, p. 7) a n d n o t just a 'figure de pale decalque de Charles Le Brun, . . . son rival mieux doue' (Boyer, ex negativo in his introduction, p.9). It is curious t h a t m o d e r n l a m e n t s d e p l o r i n g M i g n a r d ' s neglect f r e q u e n d y e c h o criti
cisms b y his c o n t e m p o r a r i e s c o n c e r n i n g his lack of genius a n d inspiration (see the fortuna critica established b y E d o u a r d P o m m i e r in the v o l u m e u n d e r review, esp. p p . 2 4 4 , 254 a n d 259). It is also telling t h a t a l t h o u g h the anniversary of M i g n a r d ' s d e a t h should h a v e b e e n celebrated in 1995 'avec le plus d'eclat possible'' (p.7), the L o u v r e g r a n t e d h i m only a 'Tableau du mois' display a n d a o n e d a y symposium. His b r o t h e r Nicolas did better,
receiving a m o n o g r a p h i c exhibition at Avi
g n o n in 1979. A n d w h e r e the present b o o k takes a n y a c c o u n t of Pierre M i g n a r d as a painter, it is so only in respect of his p o r traits, while any evaluation of the success h e aspired to as a historypainter is conspicu
ously absent.
T h e s e reservations aside, the p a p e r s p u b lished in this v o l u m e are well w o r t h reading.
G i u s e p p e Scalia a n d C h i a r a Parisi present a h i t h e r t o u n k n o w n will d a t e d 2 2 n d O c t o b e r 1653, w h i c h introduces intriguing implic
ations a b o u t M i g n a r d ' s private life a n d also the d a t e of some of his m o r e celebrated paintings of t h e Virgin. C a t h e r i n e Loisel
L e g r a n d extends the reconstruction of Mig
n a r d ' s collections of drawings, including some n e w identifications a n d t h e reattribu
tion of several C a r r a c c i sheets. In a n excit
ing r e e x a m i n a t i o n of the o r d e r in w h i c h the two editions of D u f r e s n o y ' s De Arte graphica w e r e p r e p a r e d for publication in 1668, C h r i s t o p h e r Allen interestingly argues t h a t R o g e r de Piles's F r e n c h translation m a y not, in fact, postdate M i g n a r d ' s L a t i n edition which, Allen suggests, is simply a h u r r i e d reaction to de Piles's u n d e r t a k i n g . Sylvain Laveissiere presents some n e w attri
butions to t h e omvre of D u f r e s n o y , w h o n o w
c a n b e identified with the socalled 'Stock
holmMaster'; a n d speculates t h a t h e a n d M i g n a r d m a y well h a v e b o r r o w e d motifs f r o m e a c h other. B e a r i n g this in m i n d , one can p o i n t o u t t h a t the corpse o n t h e g r o u n d in D u f r e s n o y ' s Death of Socrates (Florence, Uffizi; Fig. 5 5) a n d especially the b o d y of the h a n d m a i d e n in M i g n a r d ' s Death of Cleopatra (private collection; Fig.56) a r e b o t h based o n M a d e r n o ' s f a m o u s sculpture of St Cecil
ia in t h e T r a s t e v e r i n e church.3 I n his con
tribution, T h i e r r y B a j o u examines six of M i g n a r d ' s portraits at Versailles, a m o n g t h e m t h a t of the c o m t e d u T o u l o u s e w h i c h is b a s e d o n a f a m o u s composition b y G u i d o R e n i n o w k n o w n only t h r o u g h a print (Bajou unconvincingly m a i n t a i n s t h a t M i g n a r d ' s m o d e l was a Sassoferrato, b u t t h a t too is b a s e d o n t h e Reni).4 Finally, J e a n C l a u d e Boyer (who is p r e p a r i n g a m o n o g r a p h o n M i g n a r d ) identifies t h e artists M i g n a r d ad
m i r e d a n d a t t e m p t e d to emulate. A n d here it b e c o m e s clear h o w difficult it is to j u d g e his w o r k today. If C h a r l e s Le B r u n is m o r e respected t h a n acclaimed in o u r days, a p a i n t e r such as M i g n a r d , w h o is technically c o m p e t e n t b u t essentially a follower r a t h e r t h a n a creator, needs special p l e a d i n g for a m o d e r n audience. T h o u g h this b o o k fails to
5 6 . Death of Cleopatra, b y P i e r r e M i g n a r d . 9 9 b y 1 3 3 c m . ( P r i v a t e c o l l e c t i o n , E n g l a n d ) .
759 Originalveröffentlichung in: The Burlington magazine 140 (1998), Nr. 1148, S. 759-760
address various fundamental questions, it is nonetheless welcome as a first step towards confronting an artistic personality who forces us to come to terms with late seventeenth-century painting in France. It is hoped that Jean-Claude Boyer's mono
graph will go further in this direction.
HENRY KEAZOR Kunsthistorisches Institut, Florence 'Organised by JeanClaude Boyer and Sylvain Laveis
siere, and shown from 6th September to 2nd October 1995 in the 'tableau du mois' series.
T h i s name was adopted by p. R O S E N B E R G and L . - A . P R A T in their Catalogue raisonne of the Poussin drawings (Milan [1994]) II, p.1082, no. R l l M .
'For an illustration of the Mignard see j.c. B O Y E R : Le peintre, le roi, le hens. L'Andromede de Pierre Mignard, exh.
cat., Louvre, Paris [1989], p.62, no.33; Dufresnoy's picture is published in G . C H O M E R and s. L A V E I S S I E R E :
Autour de Poussin, exh. cat., Louvre, Paris [1994], p.71, no. 17. Recently, j. T H U I L L I E R {Revue de I'art, 111 [1996], pp.5165) has published another painting by Dufres
noy with a Death of Lucrezia (Kassel, Staatliche Kunst
sammlungen; formerly attributed to Bertholet Flemal) which includes a similar prostrate figure.
'For Reni's lost painting, see s. P E P P E R : Guido Reni, Novara [1988], p.265, no.107. For the Sassoferrato, see P . D A L P O G G E T T O, ed.: Giovan Battista Salvi '11 Sasso
ferrato', exh. cat., Cinisello Balsamo, Milan [1990], p.80, no.28 (not cited by Bajou).
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