Philippe de CHAMPAIGNE (1602-1674) Saint James... Lot 25

Philippe de CHAMPAIGNE (1602-1674) Saint James the Greater Oil on canvas. 60,5 x 49,5cm Reproduced in the catalog raisonné of Bernard Dorival, Philippe de Champaigne (1602-1674). The life, the work and the catalog raisonné of the work, Paris 1976, vol.II, text page 70, painting reproduced page 421 n°124. Work authenticated by the engraving of Nicolas Bazin. Provenance: Inventory after the death of the painter on August 17, 1674 ,n°48. Burton Collection: sale Brussels 21 July 1819, n°34 Collection van Hamel: sale Brussels 25/26 April 1844, n°21 Sale Paris 15 May 1911, n° 7 (Saint Jean Baptiste) Alfred Beurdeley Collection 6-7 May 1920, n°142 (an apostle) Marcus Collection, Heim Gallery Sale Ader Picard Tajan of December 14, 1979 at the Palais d'Orsay n° 25 Then by descent, private collection Paris. Saint James the Greater is one of the twelve apostles, brother of John who was beheaded as a martyr. It can be seen that the painter uses the same model as his Saint John the Baptist showing Christ (1657) Musée de Grenoble. In 1913 Albert Gleizes in the magazine Monjoie rehabilitated the painter who was no longer in favor with amateurs. "A century after Clouet, Philippe de Champaigne reacted in turn, with all his strength, against the Renaissance. The art of Clouet matures; it is not affected by redundancies, reminiscences of little doubt, affection and mawkishness; the austerity, the truth and the unity of this painting is strongly accentuated and make that one must consider Champaigne as the one who develops the reconquered field and who renews, in spite of time, the held thread of the tradition." His art is a difficult art. Far from soliciting the public, like Van Dick's profits, his paintings keep it at a distance. In the same way his sacred paintings avoid the pathetic effect .... The most eminent qualities of his art are more suitable to push away sympathy from him than to attract it. Are they not indeed virtues "in the old sense of the word" of restraint, dignity, sobriety, severity even of interiority... Bernard Dorival Philippe de Champaigne. The life and the work and the reasoned catalog of the work, Paris 1976, L. Laget.