Antoine Caron (Beauvais circa 1521-1599 Paris)

The coronation of King Henri III at Reims

Details

Antoine Caron (Beauvais circa 1521-1599 Paris)
The coronation of King Henri III at Reims
indistinctly inscribed 'R. DV **** 1575' [?]
black chalk, brown wash, heightened with white (partly oxidized), black chalk framing lines
14 1/8 x 19 7/8 in. (35.8 x 50.5 cm.)

Literature

J. Adhémar, Le dessin français au XVIe siècle, Lausanne, 1954, p. 136, no. 84, pl. 84 (as French School, 1575).
J. Ehrmann, Antoine Caron, Geneva and Lille, 1955, p. 35, pl. XVI. P. Tyler, 'Reviews and Previews: Timeless Master Drawings', in Art News, LIV, no. 8, December 1955, p. 51.
J. Ehrmann, Antoine Caron, Paris, 1986, p. 212, fig. 212.
C. Scailliérez, 'Caron, Antoine', in Algemeines Künstler-Lexikon. Die bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker, Munich and Leipzig, 1997, XVI, p. 513.

Exhibited

New York, Wildenstein, Drawings through Four Centuries, 1949, no. 1.
New York, Wildenstein, Timeless Master Drawings, 1955, no. 8.

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Lot Essay

The majority of Caron's approximately 140 surviving drawings recorded by Ehrmann are related to his two series for La Reine Artémise and L'Histoire des rois de France, most of which are in the collections of the Louvre and the Bibliothèque nationale, Paris. The drawings for L'Histoire des rois de France commemorate the achievements of the Valois kings from François I to Charles IX. They were commissioned, probably between 1562-72, during the reign of Charles IX, by Nicolas Houel (1524-1587) an apothecary and founder of the Faculté de Pharmacie de Paris who also wrote elegies praising the sovreigns on the recto and verso of some of the drawings. These drawings were never translated into a different format, and Ehrmann suggested they were preparatory for tapestries.

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