Circle of Pierre Mignard; second half of the 17th century.

Circle of PIERRE MIGNARD (Troyes, 1612-Paris, 1695), second half of XVII century.
"Virgin with Child".
Oil on copper.
It has an Italian frame of the period.
It presents inscription to the back "Mignard" and plate with old attribution.
Measurements: 13,5 x 11 cm; 29 x 25 cm (frame).
This work follows the painting of the Virgin and Child by Mignard, currently in the Bavarian State Museum. In the scene we can appreciate a devotional image of great tradition, although in this particular case the artist gives us a scene where tenderness is the protagonist and in which the complicit glances of the protagonists are directed towards the viewer making him participate in a moment of intimacy between mother and child.
Pierre Mignard began his training with Jean Boucher in Bourges and then, in 1633, he went to Simon Vouet's studio in Paris. Two years later he took the road to Rome, where he arrived in 1636 and where he would remain for more than twenty years, until October 1657. There he became acquainted with the greatest standard-bearers of classical idealism, such as Domenichino or Nicolas Poussin, whose painting was based on the study of the sculptures of Antiquity and the works of Raphael passed through the sieve of Annibale Carracci. However, Mignard did not fail to be attentive to other novelties in the trends of Roman painting of his time, such as neo-Venetianism. His interest in the great Venetian masters of the previous century was so strong that it prompted him to make a trip to the lake city and northern Italy in 1654 and 1655. In 1657 he returned to France, passing through Avignon and Fontainebleau -where he portrayed Louis XIV- before arriving in Paris. Portraiture was the genre in which he excelled, and he obtained a great reputation with the representations of prominent court figures in elegant allegorical compositions. Nor did he disdain historical painting, the most honorable genre according to contemporary academic postulates; at the same time he carried out works of great commitment, such as the decoration of the dome of the abbey of Val-de-Grâce (Paris) for Anne of Austria in 1663, where he was able to apply the teachings of Giovanni Lanfranco that he had received in Rome. The death of the minister Colbert caused the undisputed fortune that the first painter Charles Le Brun had enjoyed until then to decline, and the rise to power of Louvois, Mignard's protector, placed him in an ideal position to obtain royal rewards. From then on, his courtly success only increased and Le Brun's death in 1690 made him the king's first painter and director of the Academy. The Prado Museum preserves several works related to Pierre Mignard, all from the royal collections.