Simon Vouet et la commande de la chapelle Raggi
The analysis of the correspondence exchanged between the Jesuits Muzio Vitelleschi and Marcello Pallavicino in 1623 and 1624 concerning the commission for the Crucifixion for the altar of the Raggi Chapel in the church of Santi Ambrogio e Andrea in Genoa, for the most part unpublished, provides var...
Enregistré dans:
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| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Langue: | Français |
| Publié: |
2019
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| Accès en ligne: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Résumé: | The analysis of the correspondence exchanged between the Jesuits Muzio Vitelleschi and Marcello Pallavicino in 1623 and 1624 concerning the commission for the Crucifixion for the altar of the Raggi Chapel in the church of Santi Ambrogio e Andrea in Genoa, for the most part unpublished, provides various new elements about Simon Vouet’s career and artistic production during his stay in Italy. First of all it clarifies the dates and the circumstances of this important commission. It also offers the proof that the Barberini family, and in particular Cardinal Francesco Barberini, actively promoted the French painter as soon as the end of 1623, obtaining for him at least one public commission financed by their cliente network, in this instance, the Raggi family. The intervention of the Barberini can be placed in what appears more clearly here as a sustained and organized effort to promote the French painter in the public sphere and to consolidate his status, his reputation and his artistic role, leading to his affirmation as an important artist in Rome in 1624. This correspondence also offers the identification of a previously unknown patron of Vouet in Rome, Mgr Ottaviano Raggi, who is here considered to be the sponsor of the Saint Mary Magdalene Speaking with Two Angels, around 1622-1623, and to tie the Raggi commissions to Roman rather than Genoese circles. Finally, it informs us that Vouet proposed to entrust the execution of the statues for the Jesuit church in Genoa to a sculptor of his entourage with whom he seems to have collaborated regularly. This article proposes to identify this sculptor as his friend Christophe Cochet, also protected by the French crown, while situating this collaboration within the system of Vouet’s workshop in Rome and the Francophile circle of Barberini-Cassiano dal Pozzo. |
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