BARNABÉ GALLERY

Michel CORNEILLE, known as Michel CORNEILLE the Younger (Paris 1642 – 1708 Paris)

Circa 1670

The Concert of Muses

Oil on canvas, 113 x 78 cm

PROVENANCE

- Possible sale London (Greenwood), April 9, 1785 (Lugt 3858), no. 54 (“Corneille. A musical conversation”), sold £4.14;

- Private collection until March 2025.

            Michel II Corneille (Paris, 1642–1708) remains known as one of the most important French history painters of his generation, although most of his known works today relate to his graphic output. One thinks particularly of the hundreds of drawings preserved at the Louvre, which were acquired very early on, as early as 1671, during the famous sale to the king of the banker Jabach. However, Michel II Corneille's paintings present a completely different picture. If we set aside the specific case of his architectural paintings (decorations for the Palace of Versailles and the Trianon Palace) as well as the large altarpieces commissioned for churches (such as the Assumption in the Church of Notre-Dame de Versailles, still in place), the smaller-format paintings, those intended for contemporary art lovers, Few examples remain: only about fifteen are known to exist at present. Paintings belonging to the strictly mythological domain, as is the case with our painting, seem to be the rarest. In French museums, the examples are limited to the Judgment of Paris in the Museum of Fine Arts in Lyon (although it derives from the famous engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi after Raphael) and the Bacchanal (Museum, Grenoble).

          In terms of style and subject matter, our painting bears a striking resemblance to one of the paintings in the antechamber of the Queen's Apartments at the château de Versailles. It is known that around 1672, Michel II Corneille was commissioned to execute the painted decoration of the ceiling and vaults of this room (in situ). Since this exhibition was dedicated to strong women of Antiquity, the artist depicted the rather rare subject in art of Sappho singing while accompanying herself on the lyre (Fig. 1). Now, it is clear that our painting evokes this, if only because of its musical subject matter. Given the presence of the winged horse Pegasus, visible in the distance on the left, our painting must represent a Concert of the Muses. According to legend, Mount Helicon had indeed grown so enamored with the Muses' singing during the contest between them and the Pierides that it threatened to ascend to the heavens. On Neptune's orders, Pegasus then struck Mount Helicon with his hoof to put an end to it.

FIG. 1.  © Versailles, Musée national du Château, INV 3339-H

            Furthermore, the connection to early 17th-century Bolognese painting, evident in the decoration of the Versailles vaults, reappears in our painting. Seated at the foot of a tree and holding a theorbo, the turbaned muse, whose gaze is turned towards the heavens, cannot fail to evoke the art of Domenichino. The same type of physiognomy is found in the artist's sibyls and even more so in the Saint CeciliaMichel Corneille must have been familiar with this composition (currently in the Louvre) since it was acquired by Louis XIV from the banker Jabach, the very same man for whom he had worked so extensively in his youth (particularly on the restoration and copying of his thousands of master drawings). Our painting bears an even more striking resemblance to another composition in the same room at Versailles, the one depicting Penelope working on her tapestry (Fig. 2).

FIG. 2.  © Versailles, Musée national du Château, INV 3339-G

Kneeling and seen in profile, the woman listening to the theorbo player bears a striking resemblance to Penelope's attendant, also kneeling at her feet, and we note the same detail of hair wrapped in a net. In fact, the similarity to the Versailles decor is so strong that one wonders if our painting might not be part of the same project. Could it have been an initial concept for one of the vaults? Its vertical format, however, would contrast with the longitudinal nature of the vault compositions. Could our composition then have served as a mantelpiece within the same space? Given that there are theoretically nine muses, our painting may also be one of the elements in a series featuring other muses: one thinks of the famous series of... Muses that Eustache Le Sueur had painted for the Hôtel Lambert (now in the Louvre). If this is the case, our painting certainly served a decorative function. One thing is certain: it dates from circa 1670, given the marked chiaroscuro and the strong references to the great Bolognese masters. The color harmonies, particularly that of the gold dress and the crimson tunic, as well as the translucent rendering of the gauze sleeve of the same figure, also make it one of the most beautiful paintings by Michel II Corneille to have been rediscovered.

We would like to thank François Marandet for his help in identifying the subject.

DETAIL PHOTOGRAPHS, click to zoom in