MARTIN FRÉMINET (PARIS 1567-1619) - photo 1

MARTIN FRÉMINET (PARIS 1567-1619)

Starting price
€ 70 000
Auction dateClassic
18.05.2022 14:30UTC +02:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
France, Paris
Archive
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Archive
ID 761511
Lot 37 | MARTIN FRÉMINET (PARIS 1567-1619)
MARTIN FRÉMINET (PARIS 1567-1619)Étude de plafond avec une figure allégorique de la Foi dans un médaillon entouré de motifs architecturauxpierre noire, plume et encre brune, deux tons de lavis brun15,5 x 22 cm (6 1⁄8 x 8 5⁄8 in.) Post lot text MARTIN FRÉMINET, DESIGN OF A CEILING WITH ALLEGORICAL FIGURE OF THE FAITH INSERTED IN A MEDALLION WITH ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN, BLACK CHALK, PEN AND BROWN INK, TWO DIFFERENT COLOURS OF BROWN WASHA notable rediscovery, these unpublished sheets by Martin Fréminet, artist of the second school of Fontainebleau amongst Ambroise Dubois (1543-1614) et Toussaint Dubreuil (c. 1561-1602), are his preparatory studies for the ambitious decor of the Trinity Chapel of the Fontainebleau Castle. Martin Fréminet arrived in France in 1602 upon the death of Toussaint Dubreuil. As Dubreuil’s successor, Fréminet was named painter and valet de chambre to King Henri IV. When Fréminet began to develop his decorative vision for the Chapel, the existing layout was about half a century old. King Henri IV decided to build a new vault, for which construction begin in 1608 (D. Cordellier, ‘Le décor religieux. La chapelle de la Trinité’, in Henri IV à Fontainebleau. Un temps de Splendeur, exh. cat., Château de Fontainebleau, 2010-2011, p. 132). When Fréminet died in 1619, the vault was finished, although the rest of the decoration, in particular the walls, was not completed until 1633, the year when Florentine artist Francesco Bordoni (1580-1654) consecrated the chapel’s high altar.An ambitious iconographic programmeThe central piece of the vault represents the Christ triumphant on the last judgment day, surrounded by the seven intelligences and the (paragon of) Justice. The six virtues encircle the cradle of the vault, while the kings of Israel and Judah populate the ceiling alongside the patriarchs and prophets, all depicted nude, lying down and painted in monochrome. The first drawing of the set (lot 37) features a woman depicted in grisaille at the side of Faith, described by sources as a woman “to be clothed in white holding the cross in one hand and a chalice in the other, with the sacramental bread on top” (London, British Museum, Harleiam, 4543). However, in this preparatory drawing the allegorical figure inserted into the oval is not shown with three attributes, but two: the chalice and the bread.The second drawing (lot 38), depicts one of the biblical kings situated in a poly-lobed medallion, surrounded by four corners, each surmounted by of a mask of a woman's head. In each of these two drawings, the historical scenes are framed by decorative friezes with scrolls and geometric shapes sprinkled with the embracing royal figures of Marie de Médici and Henri IV.In the third sheet of this ensemble (lot 39), heightened with gold and white, Fréminet highlights one of the ornamental decorations that encase the historical scenes. This frame here was likely for a painting of the windows situated at the side facades of the decor, adjacent to the garden. It bears witness to a disappeared decoration, redesigned during the reign of Louis XVI.Fréminet's designs for the Trinity ChapelThe known graphic body of Fréminet’s work is equally limited. For the Chapel project, only two projects for the high altar, finally executed by the sculptor Barthélémy Bordoni, are referenced: one in the Louvre (inv. FR 2361bis; op. cit., 2020-2011, no. 85), in a very similar style to the two present ceiling studies in brown wash (lots *** and ***), and the other, less accomplished, in the Hessisches Landdesmuseum in Darmstadt (inv. HZ 1743).The Metropolitan Museum of Art also conserves a large study in pen of The King Judas of Israel, a preparatory study for one of the lateral figures depicted on the vault (inv. 2011.319). According to Dominique Cordellier, the study is rather a 'clearing up of an earlier idea, perhaps carried over here by transfer' (op. cit., 2010-2011, no. 84) of which the style differs from the present set. In addition, a study for another king of this set is conserved at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Dijon (inv. Th. Sup. D. 36). The three present designs, carried out before work on the Chapel began, were probably completed between 1603 and 1608. Considered rare evidence of the design work for an important religious décor in Fontainebleau under Henry IV, these three recently rediscovered drawings also bear witness to the finesse of the graphite style of one of the main actors of the second Fontainebleau school, of which Félibien wrote: 'the part in which he excelled was that of drawing' (Félibien, Entretiens sur les vies et sur les ouvrages des plus excellents peintres anciens et modernes, Amsterdam, 1706, III, p. 208).We would like to thank Maxime Georges Métraux for his help in writing this note. The three drawings, identified by Bénédicte Gady, will be included by Antonin Liatard in his book on the artist currently in preparation.
Applied technique:Ball pen, Painted
Medium:Acrylic glass, Paper, Plastic
Genre:Mythological painting
Place of origin:Western Europe, France, Europe
Category:Drawing
Auction house category:All other types of objects
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