Achievement: Blanchard, Jacques (Paris (75), October 1, 1600 - Paris (75), November 10, 1638) (Painter)
Previous attribution: Senelle, Jean (Meaux, October 18, 1605 - Meaux, May 1671)
Pope Nicholas V Parentucelli in the tomb of Saint Francis of Assisi
Pope Nicholas V Parentucelli in the tomb of Saint Francis of Assisi
Production: 1630 - 1638
Estate: Painting
Technique(s): Canvas (oil painting)
Dimensions : H. 261 cm ; W. 194.5 cm ; D. 4.5 cm
Inventory no.: PE.804
Photo credit(s) :
Lauginie, François
Cartel
In 1603, the Capuchin convent in Orléans was submerged by a flood in the Loire. The convent church, Saint-Jean-le-Blanc, had to be rebuilt. The work was completed in 1641, and the new institution was inaugurated with great pomp by Monseigneur de Retz. A few years earlier, the altarpiece in the chapel of St. Francis had been painted by Jacques Blanchard, recounting the miraculous discovery made by Pope Nicholas V in 1449: visiting the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi, the pope, surrounded by Cardinal Austergius, a bishop and a secretary, was astonished to discover the saint's remains perfectly preserved, still upright and with his hands crossed over his chest.
Blanchard depicts the Pope, wearing his red camauro and wrapped in a heavy scarlet cope edged in gold, on his knees while lifting a flap of St. Francis of Assisi's frock to examine the wounds on the saint's feet, one of which was still bleeding. An assistant holds his cruciferous ferule and tiara. At the back, the Franciscan friars and Cardinal Austergius can only watch the miracle in amazement. Laurent de La Hyre (1606-1656), who painted the Capuchin monks in the Marais district of Paris, gave a similar treatment to this subject, which is conducive to a sombre atmosphere, where faces and figures stand out in the torchlight. It is not known whether La Hyre's painting (Paris, Musée du Louvre) inspired Blanchard's work, or vice versa. Although Jacques Blanchard's large painting is undated, it seems to date from the end of the painter's career, when he abandoned his sensual, neo-Venitian style in favor of more measured canvases, as evidenced here by the severe architectural background and restrained gestures of the figures.
Provenance
Orléans Capuchin convent, cited as early as 1778.
Revolutionary seizure, 1792.
Deposited with the Ecole Centrale as Senelle, 1798.
Deposited at Saint-Maclou church in Orléans, 1804.
Deposited at the Jardin des Plantes, 1804.
Planned as one of the items sent to churches.
Cathédral Sainte-Croix d'Orléans ?-1825.
Transferred to Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Orléans, 1825.
Cited in the episcopal palace in 1876 and 1905.
Transferred to the museum, 1913.
School
France
Location
Museum of Fine Arts
1st floor
Room: Le château de Richelieu La grande peinture religieurse (XVIIe-XVIIIe siècle)