Realization: Déruet, Claude Claude de Ruet, Claude des Ruets (Nancy, 1588 - Nancy, October 20, 1660) (Painter)
The Four Elements, Air
The Four Elements, Air
Production: 1600 - 1634
Area: Painting
Technique(s): Canvas (oil painting)
Dimensions : H. 109.5 cm ; W. 259 cm ; D. 2 cm
Inventory no.: PE.355
Photo credit(s) :
Lauginie, François
Cartel
At a time when the court of the Dukes of Lorraine was particularly brilliant, the death of Henri II in 1624 without a male heir led to the downfall of the duchy. Opposed to the rise to power of Charles IV (1604-1675), nephew of Henri II, and seeing an alliance between the latter and the Habsburgs of Vienna taking shape, Louis XIII (1601-1643) occupied the duchy, forcing Charles IV to abdicate in 1634. It seems that Richelieu (1585-1642) returned from this military campaign with a painting, La Chasse de la duchesse de Lorraine, either a diplomatic gift or part of the spoils of the Lorraine campaign. In 1646, the work joined the other paintings in the Quatre Eléments series, commissioned by the cardinal for the cabinet of Queen Anne of Austria, and was renamed L'Air. The ensemble glorified the royal family and Cardinal de Richelieu.
Duchess Nicole (1608-1657), center, rides a luxuriously harnessed horse. The birds of prey posed on the hands of members of her court evoke the hunting party in progress. In the background, a group of men have set off in pursuit of animals stalked by dogs.
The background is taken up by a vast landscape where several buildings can be seen: some have tried to identify the castles of Custines and Condé, but there is no certainty about this.
Deruet was a painter at the court of Nancy. The Quatre Eléments cycle shows that he was part of the late Mannerist tradition, with its refined, precious effects. The harsher style of this canvas corresponds to an earlier period in his career, prior to the other paintings in the cycle. The Musée des Beaux-Arts in Chartres owns a replica of this composition, attesting to its success.
Provenance
Château de Richelieu, collection of Cardinal de Richelieu (1585-1642).
Château de Richelieu, Queen's bedroom, until its destruction around 1820.
Louis Auguste Pilté-Grenet Collection (1764-1842).
Donated by Louis Auguste Pilté-Grenet to the Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Orléans, 1824.
School
France
Location
Museum of Fine Arts
1st floor
Room: Le château de Richelieu La grande peinture religieurse (XVIIe-XVIIIe siècle)