MICHEL II CORNEILLE | A study of Moses saved from the water and a study of the head of a woman

Collection Turcaty (selon Chennevières) ; 
Collection du marquis Charles Philippe de Chennevières (1820-1899), Paris (L. 2072, en bas à gauche) ; 
Deuxième vente Chennevières, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 4-7 avril 1900, peut-être partie du n°91 : « Corneille (Michel) ; Paysages. – Sujets religieux et mythologiques. – Ornement – Allégories. Treize dessins. À la plume et à la sanguine » (adjugé vingt francs à Mathey) ; 
Collection Emile Wauters (1846-1933), Paris (L.911, en bas à droite) ; 
Collection M^e Pierre Dupin (1893-1988), Onesse et Laharie (Landes) ; 
Acquis par échange en 1976.

Alençon, Musée des Beaux-Arts et de la Dentelle, Dessins du musée d'Alençon du XVII^e au XIX^e siècle, 1981, n°18 ;
Rennes, 2012, n°44 (notice par Louis-Antoine Prat) ;
Sceaux, 2013 (sans catalogue)

P. de Chennevières, "Une collection de dessins d'artistes français, chapitre XVII", L'Artiste, 1896, p.415 ;
L. Prat et L. Lhinares, La Collection Chennevières : quatre siècles de dessins français, Paris, 2007, p.166, 438, n°856, repr. ;
L-A Prat, Le Dessin Français au XVIIe Siecle, Paris, 2013, p.550, repr. fig.1340

Laid down. Lower right section has been made up and a section at the lower left has also been made up. There appears to be some water damage where the ink has run and there is a small hole near the central tree. Sold unframed.
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Energetic and lively with a fervent application of pen and ink, this drawing of Moses Saved from the Water is extremely reminiscent of Nicolas Poussin’s technique in the medium of pen and ink. Corneille, an accomplished draughtsman in his own right with an ability to use a variety of techniques and media (see lot 61 for another example of his graphic style), was also skilled at imitating other great masters’ works, especially those of the Carracci and Nicolas Poussin. A prolific draughtsman, Corneille was born into an artistic family in Paris in 1642. His father was the painter, Michel Corneille the elder, and his younger brother Jean-Baptiste Corneille also shared the same profession. His apprenticeship began under his father’s indefatigable teaching regime and he was later mentored by the celebrated artists Pierre Mignard and Charles Le Brun. Corneille won the Prix de Rome in 1659 and spent four years in the Eternal City, learning from the works of the great masters that he saw there, most notably those of Raphael, whose influence can be seen in his study sheets of heads and hands. Corneille’s keen, observant eye led to his being employed at a young age by the esteemed collector Everhard Jabach (1618-1695), to make copies of the drawings in his collection.

The present sheet is an example of how Corneille could skilfully adopt an artist’s technique, sometimes getting incredibly close to their style, leaving room from ambiguity over attributions. Louis-Antoine Prat, in his entry for this drawing in the Rennes exhibition catalogue, mentions how the Marquis de Chennevières (who once owned this drawing, among a number of others by Corneille) commented on the artist’s ability to imitate Poussin: ‘il est si beau et tellement identique au faire de Poussin que par moments je le crois de Nicolas.’ Prat notes the Poussinesque elements in this drawing, such as the oval-shaped, empty faces and the reworking of lines over the arms and legs, compares it with another drawing by Corneille in the Musée des Beaux-Arts et de la Dentelle in Alençon. The Alençon drawing, Figures in a Landscape, is executed with the same rapid penmanship.