Nativity with Angels
| Reference: | S42032 |
| Author | Sebastien BOURDON |
| Year: | 1647 |
| Measures: | 185 x 230 mm |
| Reference: | S42032 |
| Author | Sebastien BOURDON |
| Year: | 1647 |
| Measures: | 185 x 230 mm |
Description
Etching, signed on plate at lower right "SB 1647".
A fine impression, on contemporary laid paper, with small margins, very good conditions.
Born to a Calvinist family, Sebastien Bourdon was sent to Paris at an early age to escape the turmoil of Protestant uprisings and the siege of Montpellier by Louis XIII's troops in 1622. He studied for seven years with a painter named Barthelemy, then traveled around France, gaining experience as a painter and spending several years in the military. By 1636 he had moved to Rome, apparently with an official scholarship. He worked as a copyist for an art dealer and absorbed an eclectic variety of styles — from the grand baroque of Andrea Sacchi and Pietro da Cortona to the vivid realism employed by Northern painters of lowlife.
“With his malleable and receptive style, Sebastien Bourdon remains one of the seventeenth-century French artists most difficult to characterize succinctly. Throughout a long career that embraced trends as diverse as the naturalism of the Dutch Bamboccianti during his stay in Rome, as well as Vouet's lyricism and Poussin's severe classicism in the decades following his return to Paris, only a few key elements remain fairly consistent. These include a preference for luminous effects, a reflective mood, and, particularly in his graphic work, a light, pliant, vigorous line. It is to Bourdon's credit that no matter what mode he chose to work in, the ingenuity of his harmonious inventions always made it his own.' Such is the case with this delightful early print (related to an extant canvas of the same title and date), in which the Vouetesque figures are placed in a scene brimming with technical and compositional references to the rustic, animal-filled settings of Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, the chiaroscuro of the early prints of Claude Vignon, and the gentle nature of the landscapes in the early works of Laurent de La Hyre” (cfr. S. Welsh Reed, French Prints from the Age of the Musketeers, p. 190).
Bibliografia
Jacques Thuillier, SEBASTIEN BOURDON 1616 -1671: catalogue critique et chronologique de l'oeuvre complet, Parigi, 2000.
Sebastien BOURDON (Montpellier 1616 - Parigi 1671)
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Born to a Calvinist family, Sebastien Bourdon was sent to Paris at an early age to escape the turmoil of Protestant uprisings and the siege of Montpellier by Louis XIII's troops in 1622. He studied for seven years with a painter named Barthelemy, then traveled around France, gaining experience as a painter and spending several years in the military. By 1636 he had moved to Rome, apparently with an official scholarship. He worked as a copyist for an art dealer and absorbed an eclectic variety of styles — from the grand baroque of Andrea Sacchi and Pietro da Cortona to the vivid realism employed by Northern painters of lowlife. But in 1637, threatened with denouncement to the Inquisition, Bourdon returned to Paris. At this time his paintings showed a preference for lively, picturesque subjects — peasant life and animals —which he retained when he worked in a grand manner or a more restrained classical style.
In the 164os Bourdon achieved success as a painter in Paris, receiving many important commissions, such as the 1643 May altarpiece for the cathedral of Notre Dame. He was a founding member of the Academie royale and took up etching as a means of promoting his name. Increasingly, he came under the influence of the idyllic classical style of Nicolas Poussin. To escape the consequences of the Fronde, Bourdon worked in Sweden from 1652 to 1654, where he gained the post of court painter to Queen Christina. Returning to Paris, he was appointed a rector of the Academie royale. He spent most of his remaining years painting, making prints, and in 1657-58 visited his native Montpellier, where he had hopes of forming an academy. Throughout his career Bourdon made between forty- five and sixty prints; only one is dated (1649). Some of his early prints show a free, open handling of line and a feeling for nature that is reminiscent of the Bolognese etchers, Annibale Carracci and Guido Reni, and of Castiglione. Prints executed later in his life often reproduce paintings and have a finished appearance. Bourdon published most of his own prints; eventually Pierre Mariette II acquired the plates. The name of Louis Boissevin, a Parisian publisher active in the 165os, appears on nine early plates.
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Sebastien BOURDON (Montpellier 1616 - Parigi 1671)
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Born to a Calvinist family, Sebastien Bourdon was sent to Paris at an early age to escape the turmoil of Protestant uprisings and the siege of Montpellier by Louis XIII's troops in 1622. He studied for seven years with a painter named Barthelemy, then traveled around France, gaining experience as a painter and spending several years in the military. By 1636 he had moved to Rome, apparently with an official scholarship. He worked as a copyist for an art dealer and absorbed an eclectic variety of styles — from the grand baroque of Andrea Sacchi and Pietro da Cortona to the vivid realism employed by Northern painters of lowlife. But in 1637, threatened with denouncement to the Inquisition, Bourdon returned to Paris. At this time his paintings showed a preference for lively, picturesque subjects — peasant life and animals —which he retained when he worked in a grand manner or a more restrained classical style.
In the 164os Bourdon achieved success as a painter in Paris, receiving many important commissions, such as the 1643 May altarpiece for the cathedral of Notre Dame. He was a founding member of the Academie royale and took up etching as a means of promoting his name. Increasingly, he came under the influence of the idyllic classical style of Nicolas Poussin. To escape the consequences of the Fronde, Bourdon worked in Sweden from 1652 to 1654, where he gained the post of court painter to Queen Christina. Returning to Paris, he was appointed a rector of the Academie royale. He spent most of his remaining years painting, making prints, and in 1657-58 visited his native Montpellier, where he had hopes of forming an academy. Throughout his career Bourdon made between forty- five and sixty prints; only one is dated (1649). Some of his early prints show a free, open handling of line and a feeling for nature that is reminiscent of the Bolognese etchers, Annibale Carracci and Guido Reni, and of Castiglione. Prints executed later in his life often reproduce paintings and have a finished appearance. Bourdon published most of his own prints; eventually Pierre Mariette II acquired the plates. The name of Louis Boissevin, a Parisian publisher active in the 165os, appears on nine early plates.
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