1. Pierre Mignard was a near-contemporary of the Premier Peintre du Roi Charles Le Brun with whom he engaged in a bitter, life-long rivalry.
21 Facts About Pierre Mignard
1. 2.
Pierre Mignard was born at Troyes in 1612 as the son of Pierre and Marie Gallois.
3.
Pierre Mignard was the younger brother of Nicolas, who became a painter and etcher who was mainly active in Avignon and was known as Mignard d'Avignon.
4.
Nicolas had two sons, Paul who became a painter and etcher and Pierre Mignard who became a painter and architect.
5.
Pierre Mignard trained in Bourges with the Mannerist painter Jean Boucher.
6.
Pierre Mignard later spent time making copies of the Mannerist works in the chateau of Fontainebleau.
7.
Pierre Mignard then studied for a period in the studio of Simon Vouet.
8.
Pierre Mignard left for Rome in 1635 where he would stay about 22 years.
9.
Pierre Mignard was particularly known for his many images of the Madonna and Child.
10.
Compatriot Nicolas Poussin hired Pierre Mignard to make copies of his works.
11.
Pierre Mignard was active as a reproductive engraver making copies after Annibale Carracci.
12.
Pierre Mignard developed his lifelong interest in portraiture at this time, and he painted portraits of subsequent popes, cardinals, and prominent members of the Italian nobility.
13.
Pierre Mignard travelled to Northern Italy where he visited Bologna, Parma, Mantua, Florence and Venice.
14.
Pierre Mignard's reputation was such that he was summoned to Paris in 1657, probably by Cardinal Mazarin.
15.
Pierre Mignard travelled back via Avignon where his brother Nicolas worked.
16.
Pierre Mignard found favor with king Louis XIV who sat for many portraits.
17.
Pierre Mignard became a rival of the leading French painter of that time and first painter to the King, Charles Le Brun.
18.
Pierre Mignard refused to enter the Academie royale de peinture et de sculpture while Le Brun was its director and instead became head of a rival guild.
19.
Pierre Mignard died five years later in 1695 in Paris as he was about to begin work on the cupola of Les Invalides.
20.
Pierre Mignard's sitters included Turenne, Moliere, Bossuet, Maintenon, La Valliere, Sevigne, Montespan, Descartes.
21.
Pierre Mignard was thus one of the most successful portrait painters of his time although according to some art historians the most boring one.