Old Oriental With A Feathered Hat, The Mage Melchior – Attributed To Claude Vignon

Pen and brown ink. French school of the 17th century attributed to Claude Vignon (1593 – 1670).
Our bearded old man wearing an oriental hat covered with feathers embodies the figure of a powerful man who bows as if to pay homage. And we cannot help but see the head of Melchior, the magician from the East who brings gold to the Child Jesus. The lively line and subtle lighting of Claude Vignon's subjects earn him the title of a modern painter, or even a precursor of Rembrandt! Moreover, our drawing does not escape comparison as the graphic treatment of this figure of an old man refers to the world of Dutch genius. But make no mistake, this is indeed a drawing from the French school in which we find the suggestions of the masters of the North and the influences of Italy where Vignon stayed from 1610.

The drawing is presented under a marie-louise framed with a gilded wooden baguette in the Bérain style.
Dimensions: 25.5 x 17.5 cm – 46 X 34 cm with the frame

Claude Vignon (Tours 1593 – Paris 1670) is the son of Guillaume Vignon, valet of the king, supplier of his silverware and triennial controller of taxes. It was in the city of Tours, whose Museum of Fine Arts dedicated a major exhibition to him in 1993, that the young Vignon did his apprenticeship. But it was in the studio of Jacob Bunel, painter of the “second school of Fontainebleau” that he acquired mastery of gesture and color. At the age of just 17, Vignon left for Italy. He was a boarder of the king in Rome in 1617, at the same time as Claude Mellan, Charles Mellin and Simon Vouet who became his friend. During his stay in Rome, he was marked by the art of Caravaggio whose works would influence his production. Back in Paris in 1623, the many paintings he produced gained in clarity. Under the protection of Louis XIII and Richelieu, he also became an art dealer. Between 1623 and 1638, he painted several paintings for Notre-Dame de Paris, including the famous May of 1638: The baptism of the eunuch of Queen Candace. A member of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture since its creation in 1648, Vignon did not join it as a professor until five years later. On the private side, according to some biographers, he had thirty-five children from two wives, some of whom collaborated on his work.

Bibliography:
- MIGNOT Claude and PACHT BASSANI Paola, Claude Vignon in his time, Acts and Colloquia Klincksieck, 2000,
- PACHT BASSANI Paola, Claude Vignon 1593 – 1670, Arthena, 2000
- CAPPELLETTI Francesca, LEMOINE Annick, The Lower Depths of the Baroque - The Rome of Vice and Misery, Officina Italy, 2014
- PRAT Louis-Antoine, ROSENBERG Pierre, Divine Features. Drawing at Port-Royal. French Drawings from the Orleans Museum in the 17th Century, Snoeck Gent, 2018
- PRAT louis-Antoine, French Drawing in the 17th Century, Somogy Editions, 2013