Serious gentlemen - portraits by Corneille de Lyon

 

Presumed portrait of Clément Marot,1536.

All the uncaptioned images are portraits of unknown men, only identified in collections as "Man with a Black Hat", "Man with Gloves", etc.

 James V of Scotland, circa 1536-37.

René du Puy du Fou, circa 1550

Henri, dauphin de France, future King Henri II, circa 1536.

Maréchal Bonnivet, 1545.

François de Montmorency, circa 1557.

This is identified everywhere as Charles de France, duc d'Orléans. Why it reads "François... Dauphin", though, I can't explain.

 The duc d'Étampes, circa 1536-40.

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Corneille de Lyon (circa 1500-1510, The Hague - buried 8 November 1575, Lyon), Dutch portrait painter active in Lyon, France from 1533 until his death. In France he is also still known as Corneille de La Haye, and in the Netherlands as Cornelis van Den Haag, after his birthplace, The Hague. Nothing is known of his Dutch youth and he arrived in Lyon in 1533 at the latest. In 1536, he produced portraits of several members of the royal family, and obtained the title of royal painter in 1541. He married the daughter of a renowned printer, François Fradin, thereby acquiring a prominent social position in Lyon society. His business was prosperous until the Wars of Religion, during which time, despite his attachment to Protestantism, he does not appear to have been the victim of much persecution, though he eventually converted, under duress, to the Catholic religion in 1569.

Although he is well documented as the leading painter in this distinctively French style, because he never signed or dated his paintings very few works can be firmly identified as his. Distinguishing his hand from the many other artists working in the same style is extremely difficult; works tend to be attributed to him on grounds of quality alone. Corneille's portraits are nearly miniature in scale, the very largest only being around eight by ten inches. He worked in oil on wood panel, the flesh areas painted very thinly, while the customarily greenish backgrounds are painted more thickly.