Jacques STELLA (Lyon 1596-Paris 1657)

Provenance:
• Around 1900, Brussels, collection of the family of Mr. Paul Buéso, dealer and collector
• France, private collection

Bibliography :
• Jacques Thuillier, Jacques Stella, 1596-1657, Metz: S. Domini, 2006
• Jacques Stella (1596-1657): In Homage to Gilles Chomer (1950–2002) [exh. cat.], Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts, 2006 – Toulouse, Musée des Augustins, 2007, Paris: Somogy, 2006

The son of a Flemish merchant who died young, Jacques Stella began his artistic training with his brothers and sisters, who were also artists. His talent was quickly recognized among his contemporaries and soon brought him into the spotlight. He was accepted as a resident artist under Grand Duke Cosimo de’ Medici in Florence, received numerous commissions in Rome, and was officially invited to the Spanish court. It was at the behest of Cardinal Richelieu that Stella returned to France, “having made him understand that it was far more glorious to serve his King than foreigners, […] he presented him to the King, who received him as one of his painters and granted him a pension of one thousand livres and lodging in the galleries of the Louvre.” That same year, he was made a Knight of the Order of Saint Michael by the Queen.

His time in Italy proved extremely fruitful. In Rome, between 1621 and 1634, he became a notable member of the French artist community, and his encounter with Nicolas Poussin was decisive. A peer, master, and friend, Poussin was greatly admired by Stella. Alongside him, Stella studied his work and philosophical approach, which he absorbed and reinterpreted with a contemplative spirit. Renowned for his technical experiments with various painting surfaces, Stella attracted a new clientele eager for rare and refined works destined for cabinets of curiosities.

In Florence in 1619, Stella discovered the work of Jacques Callot, whose influence opened up new possibilities for his art, now conceived with engraving in mind. This Virgin and Child is an excellent example of such production and was likely painted in France upon the artist’s return in 1634. These compositions are scholarly and balanced, and Stella naturally aligned himself with the so-called Parisian Atticism movement, which emphasized simplicity and purity in composition. Between 1635 and 1642, it was common for a single composition to exist in multiple versions, rendered on different supports.

This Virgin and Child gave rise to numerous later copies. It was primarily disseminated through an engraving by Jean Couvay (ill. 1), based on a version known from a black-and-white photograph once in the collection of the painter Claude Vignon (ill. 2). There appear to be two versions: one—unlike our painting—was probably executed on marble and also shows slight differences in the carved wooden back of the Virgin’s chair.

Influenced by the spiritual teachings of Saint Francis de Sales, Jacques Stella paid particular attention to the iconography of the Virgin and Child in an interior, a quintessential symbol of divine love. This notion provides insight into the religious aspect of his work, which embodies the core values of this spiritual movement: peace, love, grace, giving, and simplicity. Mariette described the engraving of the work as “The Holy Virgin in half-figure, receiving the caresses of her divine Son whom she holds in her arms.” In order to emphasize Christ’s humanity, Stella enriched his compositions with domestic interior elements—here, a table draped in thick red velvet—and deliberately omitted traditional Christological motifs such as halos. The presence of divine love is instead evoked by the heavy red curtain on the left side of the scene.

Thanks to his mastery of painting on canvas, metal, wood, and stone, Jacques Stella’s name in the mid-17th century came to embody an unparalleled level of craftsmanship, cultivated with the utmost rigor. In this particular case, the use of copper adds to the precious and refined nature of this devotional image—a support cherished by the most erudite collectors of the Grand Siècle, and one that also featured in the artist’s personal collection. Considered one of the foremost “painter-collectors” of his time, Stella championed the science of drawing, which he deemed essential to becoming a “perfect painter.”

M.O