Studio of Corneille de Lyon

Hollingworth Magniac, Esq. (1786-1867), Colworth, Bedford;
His deceased sale, London, Christie's, 2 July 1892, lot 55 (as by Holbein, Duke of Norfolk), for £100 to Massey-Mainwaring;
William Massey-Mainwaring (1845-1907);
His deceased sale ("Catalogue of the Massey-Mainwaring Collection"), sold, London, Christie's, 11 March 1907, lot 14 (as Holbein, Duke of Norfolk);
James P. Labey, London, 1931;
Frederick T. Haskell, Chicago;
By whom given to the Art Institute of Chicago in 1940 (inv. no. 40-1144).

Art Institute of Chicago Catalogue, Chicago 1961;
E. J. Sullivan, ed., The Taft Museum European and American Paintings, New York 1995, p. 136, under cat. no. 1962.5;
A. Dubois de Groer, Corneille de La Haye dit Corneille de Lyon, Paris 1996, p. 142, cat. no. 33 C;
Icons of Splendour: A Catalogue of Early Portraiture, The Weiss Gallery, exhibition catalogue, London 2004, under cat. no. 1.

The following condition report has been provided by Karen Thomas of Thomas Art Conservation LLC., 336 West 37th Street, Suite 830, New York, NY 10018, 212-564-4024, info@thomasartconservation.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting is in sound condition, with an unevenly warm tonality attributable to discolored retouching and an aged varnish. The portrait was executed on paper or parchment glued to the wood panel and was initially limited to the surface of the paper/parchment, the dimensions of which are slightly smaller than the wood panel. The imagery has been extended approximately 1cm in all directions to reach the edges of the panel. This expansion of the composition appears to be quite old; cleaning tests along the right and left edges that have not affected the paint used to extend the imagery. The original limits of the image match other of versions of this portrait including those in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Waddesdon Manor. Meandering, mild linear deformations visible in raking light near the bottom edge and to the left of the figure are suggestive of repaired tears in the paper or parchment. Multiple campaigns of retouching are found on the surface. Retouching in the face appears to address grain-oriented wear in the glazes used to model the forms while restoration in the in the fur collar compensates for some moderately-sized losses. The presence of somewhat cloudy and highly fluorescing natural resin varnish precludes confirming the presence of retouching in the dark brown portions of the garments. Widespread retouching found in background may be an artifact of the expansion of the imagery or may have been applied to address wear to an original resinous glaze. The vertically grained wood panel support is planar and retains its original thickness and bevels on the reverse. Cleaning to remove the accumulations of aged varnish and retouching, coupled with a new, careful restoration is likely to improve the overall appearance and allow the painting to take on a fresher, less clogged appearance. It is unclear how much retouching would be required after cleaning but in this conservator's opinion the anticipated net benefit favors cleaning.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Dubois de Groer lists at least ten versions of this portrait, the best of which she identifies as the picture at Chatsworth.¹  Many of the versions are now at museums, including the Musée du Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Taft Museum in Cincinnati,the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and Waddesdon Manor.  The Waddesdon version was also sold in the Magniac collection sale (see Provenance), lot 56, as by Holbein.

Although Netherlandish by birth, Corneille de la Haye, later Corneille de Lyon, spent his working life in France, first as court painter to Queen Eleanor, second wife of François I, and later to Henri II, who appointed him Peintre du Roi in 1548. Corneille's great concern was the rendering of a lifelike and well-observed expression in his sitters. Almost without exception his portraits follow a set pattern; the sitter is presented bust- or half-length, in three-quarter pose against a usually green background, the concentration always on the facial features with the costume and arms usually, although not always, less minutely expressed.   


1. See A. Dubois de Groer, under Literature, p. 138, cat. no. 33, reproduced p. 140.