Corneille de Lyon

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Portrait of Henri II of France circa 1536

Corneille de Lyon (early 1500s, The Hague - buried Nov 8 1575, Lyon [1]) was a Netherlandish painter of portraits who was active from 1533 until his death in Lyon, France. In France and the Netherlands he is still known as Corneille de La Haye after his birthplace, The Hague.

Although he is well documented as the leading painter in this distinctively French style, no single identifiable work can be documented as his, and distinguishing his hand from the many other artists working in the same style is extremely difficult, if not impossible - works tend to be attributed to him on grounds of quality alone.[2]

Corneille's portraits are nearly miniature in scale, ranging from the size of a postcard to about 8" x 10". Corneille worked in oil paint on wood panels. The flesh areas are painted very thinly, while the greenish backgrounds are painted more thickly. Similarities with the work of Hans Holbein may point to the use of tracing frames by both painters. The Louvre in Paris and New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art are both good places to study Corneille's work. Boston's Museum of Fine Arts has two fine examples, but they are rarely displayed.

References

  1. ^ Corneille de la Haye at the Netherlands Institute for Art History
  2. ^ Anthony Blunt, "Art and Architecture in France, 1500-1700", pp. 62-64, 2nd edn 1957, Penguin