Lot Essay
This drawing, which bears an old attribution to Fréminet, shows many characteristic features of the artist's work: muscular figures of exaggerated proportions, seen from slightly below, are be frequently found in works such as Hannibal's Oath at the Musée Magnin, Dijon, or in the ceiling decoration of the Chapelle de la Trinité at Fontainebleau, his most celebrated work dating, from after his return from Italy in 1603.
Fréminet was the son of a minor painter. He had trained among artists working at Fontainebleau before he went to Rome in 1588, where he befriended the Cavaliere d'Arpino. In 1596 he visited Venice and by 1599 was working for the Duke of Savoy in Turin. He was asked in 1603 by King Henry IV to return to France to replace Toussaint Dubreuil, Premier Peintre du Roi, who had died the year before. On his arrival, he was commissioned to execute the decoration of the Chapelle de la Trinité. In 1615 Fréminet was made Knight of the Order of Saint Michael. He died in 1619, however, before he could complete the project.
This drawing may have been intended for a stucco decoration. The dynamic foreshortening of the right arm as well as the use of cross-hatching, in order to convey the volume of bulging muscles, reflect the artist's training in Rome under the Cavaliere but also his knowledge of Dutch mannerist art so widely disseminated by prints by Goltzius and Muller. The putto on the verso, adopting a similar pose to the figure on the recto and playing a viola di gamba, might be an alternative design. It is the only known drawing by the artist executed in this technique.
Drawings by Fréminet are rare. A study for the altarpiece of the Chapelle de la Trinité was sold at Christie's, New York, 10 January 1990, lot 103. All known sheets are highly finished drawings, such as God commanding Noah to enter the Ark at the National Gallery, Oslo (N. Ward Neilson, L'Ecole de Fontainebleau, Master Drawings, XII, 1979, pl. 35), Hannibal's Oath in the Louvre or Design for a Ceiling with an Angel, Saint Mark and Saint Luke at Christ Church, Oxford, D. Cordellier, Martin Fréminet 'aussi sçavant que judicieux', Revue de l'Art, 1988, no. 81, figs. 22 and 24. The present sheet offers fresh insight into Fréminet working methods.
Fréminet was the son of a minor painter. He had trained among artists working at Fontainebleau before he went to Rome in 1588, where he befriended the Cavaliere d'Arpino. In 1596 he visited Venice and by 1599 was working for the Duke of Savoy in Turin. He was asked in 1603 by King Henry IV to return to France to replace Toussaint Dubreuil, Premier Peintre du Roi, who had died the year before. On his arrival, he was commissioned to execute the decoration of the Chapelle de la Trinité. In 1615 Fréminet was made Knight of the Order of Saint Michael. He died in 1619, however, before he could complete the project.
This drawing may have been intended for a stucco decoration. The dynamic foreshortening of the right arm as well as the use of cross-hatching, in order to convey the volume of bulging muscles, reflect the artist's training in Rome under the Cavaliere but also his knowledge of Dutch mannerist art so widely disseminated by prints by Goltzius and Muller. The putto on the verso, adopting a similar pose to the figure on the recto and playing a viola di gamba, might be an alternative design. It is the only known drawing by the artist executed in this technique.
Drawings by Fréminet are rare. A study for the altarpiece of the Chapelle de la Trinité was sold at Christie's, New York, 10 January 1990, lot 103. All known sheets are highly finished drawings, such as God commanding Noah to enter the Ark at the National Gallery, Oslo (N. Ward Neilson, L'Ecole de Fontainebleau, Master Drawings, XII, 1979, pl. 35), Hannibal's Oath in the Louvre or Design for a Ceiling with an Angel, Saint Mark and Saint Luke at Christ Church, Oxford, D. Cordellier, Martin Fréminet 'aussi sçavant que judicieux', Revue de l'Art, 1988, no. 81, figs. 22 and 24. The present sheet offers fresh insight into Fréminet working methods.