PIERRE MIGNARD

MAN WHO PAINTED THE “PORTRAIT EQUESTRE DE LOUIS XIV”

• Born in Troyes, 7 November 1612, in a family of artists.
• Started his studies in Bourges, then two years in Fontaineblau.
• Taken to Paris by the Marshal of Vitry after painting the Chapel of his country seat in Coubert.
• Obtained admission in the most celebrated atelier of the time, that of Simon Vouet.
• Painters of the time were however attracted to Rome.
• In 1635 Mignard left the studio of Vouet for Italy, where he spent 22years, alongside Poussin, Lorrain and Dufresnoy.
• Mignard said to be an industrious and adroit workman who “knew well how to flatter the public and thus secure his own advancement”
• Made a reputation for himself “Mignard the Roman” as a unique portrait-painter in Roman society, spread to France and was summoned back to Paris in 1657 by Louis XIV.
• During this period Louis XIV has started his personal reign, which relied on the glory of the arts no less than the glory of the arms for the exaltation of the monarchy.
• Successful with Mignard’s portrait of Louis XIV, as well as other members of the royal family, and particularly the cupola of the Val-de-Grace (represents Paradise and said to be the largest frescoed surface in the world).
• Mignard’s cupola took on the character of a national victory, and was honoured by the most popular French writers of the time such as Moliere, Racine, Boileau and La Fontaine. belonged to the social circle
• made himself centre of opposition after pitting himself against Charles Le Brun (head of the French Royal Academy)
• Declined to enter the academy, but managed to maintain his reputation for thirty years anyway thanks to his connections.
• Painted French elite such as the young queen, the Duchesse de Chatillon, Moliere, painted Louis XIV ten times, and had a style of using half-mythological emblems and allusions which reflected the ideals of the court of Louis XIV.
• He decorated many residences, public