Michel Corneille, the Younger

Paris, 1642

Michel Corneille the Younger (1642 – 16 August 1708) was a French painter, etcher and engraver, born in Paris in 1642; died at the Gobelins manufactory at Paris, 16 August 1708.

Corneille was the son of an artist, Michel Corneille the Elder of Orléans, and on this account is sometimes called the “younger Michel”. He is also and more commonly known as the “elder Corneille” (Corneille l’Aîné), to distinguish him from a younger brother, Jean-Baptiste Corneille, also a painter. His father was the first and the most indefatigable of his teachers; his other masters were Pierre Mignard and the celebrated Charles Le Brun. Devoting himself wholly to historical painting, Michel won the Academy Prize and went to Rome on the king’s pension; but feeling his genius hampered by the restrictions of the prize, he gave up the money so that he might study the antique in his own way. Coming under the then powerful influence of the Eclectics, he studied with the Carracci and modeled his style on theirs. In 1663 he returned to Paris and was elected a member...