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ANGUIER, Michel
(b. ca. 1613, Eu, d. 1686, Paris)
Biography
Michel and François Anguier were brothers and sculptors, who stood apart from the mainstream which in the middle of the 17th century was dominated by Sarrazin. They went to Rome about 1641 and joined the studio of Algardi. On their return to France (François in 1643, Michel in 1651), the brothers collaborated on the tomb of Henry de Montmorency in the chapel of the Lycée at Moulins (1648-52), which reveals the new Roman influence they introduced into France. Later the two brothers worked mainly apart, Michel having the more interesting career. His works includes the decoration of the interior of the church of the Val-de-Grace, Paris (1662-67), and the Nativity group in St Roch, Paris (1665).
AELST, Willem van
(b. ca. 1626, Delft, d. 1683, Delft)
Biography
Dutch still-life painter from Delft. He was a good draughtsman and vivid colourist. He specialized in still-lifes, as did his uncle and teacher Evert van Aelst of Delft (1602–57), whose name survives only in inventories and who died in poverty. Willem’s earliest known work, a Still-life with Fruit (1642; destroyed in World War II), is likely to have been influenced by his uncle’s style. On 9 November 1643 he enrolled in the Delft painters’ guild and from 1645 to 1649 was in France. From 1649 to 1656 he worked in Florence as court painter to Ferdinando II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. There he met his fellow countrymen Matthias Withoos and Otto Marseus van Schrieck, the latter also a still-life painter, who probably influenced van Aelst’s detailed and smooth style, and with whom van Aelst returned to the Netherlands in 1656 — first briefly to Delft before settling in Amsterdam in 1657. Van Aelst’s usual signature on paintings, Guill[er]mo van Aelst, recalls his stay in Italy, as does the (occasional) use of his bent-name ‘Vogelverschrikker’ (scarecrow), which appears, for example, on a Still-life with Poultry (1658; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam).
Aelst's still-lifes are distinguishable from those of other Dutch painters, being frequently littered with bric-á-brac of Renaissance antiquarianism.
CORNACCHINI, Agostino
(b. 1683, Pescia, d. 1754, Roma)
Biography
Italian sculptor, draughtsman and painter. He moved with his family to Florence in 1697, entering the workshop of Giovanni Battista Foggini, principal sculptor to Cosimo III de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Early in his career he received some important commissions: in 1709, when the English antiquarian John Talman arrived in Florence looking for artists to illustrate Italy’s most famous monuments of art, he chose Cornacchini to do a number of the drawings, and in 1710 Cornacchini signed and dated a marble standing statue of Clement XI (Urbino Cathedral). He was also patronized by the influential Francesco Maria Niccolò Gabburri, who commissioned from him, probably before 1712, stucco decorations (destroyed early 19th century) for his own Palazzo Giuntini. Gabburri accompanied Cornacchini when he departed for Rome in 1712, establishing him in the household of his uncle, Cardinal Carlo Agostino Fabbroni, who until 1720 provided Cornacchini with a studio, lodgings and an income.
In Rome he realized, among others, the statue Sant'Elia (1727) in St Peter's. The work that most perplexed Cornacchini's contemporaries was the monumental equestrian statue of Charlemagne in the porch of St Peter's. The statue, completed in 1725, had a precise political importance, in that it testified to the opening of relations with France, as desired by Benedict XIII, strengthening the ties of friendship.
Cornacchini worked as well in Orvieto (Arcangeli Michele e Gabriele in Duomo, 1729), in Pistoia, Ancona and Turin (Basilica di Superga, circa 1730).
CORNACCHINI, Agostino
(b. 1683, Pescia, d. 1754, Roma)
Biography
Italian sculptor, draughtsman and painter. He moved with his family to Florence in 1697, entering the workshop of Giovanni Battista Foggini, principal sculptor to Cosimo III de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Early in his career he received some important commissions: in 1709, when the English antiquarian John Talman arrived in Florence looking for artists to illustrate Italy’s most famous monuments of art, he chose Cornacchini to do a number of the drawings, and in 1710 Cornacchini signed and dated a marble standing statue of Clement XI (Urbino Cathedral). He was also patronized by the influential Francesco Maria Niccolò Gabburri, who commissioned from him, probably before 1712, stucco decorations (destroyed early 19th century) for his own Palazzo Giuntini. Gabburri accompanied Cornacchini when he departed for Rome in 1712, establishing him in the household of his uncle, Cardinal Carlo Agostino Fabbroni, who until 1720 provided Cornacchini with a studio, lodgings and an income.
In Rome he realized, among others, the statue Sant'Elia (1727) in St Peter's. The work that most perplexed Cornacchini's contemporaries was the monumental equestrian statue of Charlemagne in the porch of St Peter's. The statue, completed in 1725, had a precise political importance, in that it testified to the opening of relations with France, as desired by Benedict XIII, strengthening the ties of friendship.
Cornacchini worked as well in Orvieto (Arcangeli Michele e Gabriele in Duomo, 1729), in Pistoia, Ancona and Turin (Basilica di Superga, circa 1730).
CAMPEN, Jacob van
(b. 1596, Haarlem, d. 1657, Amersfoort)
Biography
Dutch architect, one of the leaders of a group of architects who created a restrained architectural style that was suited to the social and political climate of the Netherlands. He was born in Haarlem on 2 February 1596 as the son of Gerritge Claes Jansz Berendr and the merchant Pieter Jacobsz. As both his parents' families were wealthy burghers, Van Campen had good connections in the business and cultural worlds of Amsterdam and Haarlem.
Nothing is known about his training. He was long thought to have studied under Frans Pietersz de Grebber, and several eighteenth- and nineteenth-century biographers speculated that he had been taught by Peter Paul Rubens. Houbraken mentioned a visit to Italy, but this too remains unconfirmed. In 1614, Van Campen was registered as a master painter with the Haarlem Guild of St Luke. His father died a year later. Following his mother's death in 1625, Jacob, as the eldest son, inherited her family estate, Randenbroek, near Amersfoort. Many subsequent documents refer to him as 'Lord of Randenbroek'. It is not known whether he moved to the estate right away, but he did use it as his base from the early 1630s on. Though he never married, Van Campen had a son, Alexander, whose mother's name is unknown.
In 1625, Jacob van Campen received his first commission for a building in Amsterdam. It was the first of many major projects, for which his influential relatives were partly to thank. His most prestigious commission was the Town Hall in Dam Square, Amsterdam, whose cornerstone was laid in 1648. In 1654, however, Van Campen abandoned the project following a dispute with the Amsterdam burgomasters, and subsequently returned to Randenbroek.
His friendship with Constantijn Huygens, which started in 1632, also brought numerous commissions. Van Campen assisted Huygens in building his own house (1634-1637), and designed the Mauritshuis (1634-1644) for Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen, with whom he was also on friendly terms. Through Huygens, who was secretary to the stadholder Frederik Hendrik, Van Campen received commissions for the court. He designed the decoration programmes for several palaces belonging to the stadholder and, in collaboration with Huygens, supervised the decoration of the Oranjezaal in Huis ten Bosch from 1647 to 1652.
Van Campen also remained active as a painter, one of his major projects being the canvases he executed for Huis ten Bosch. He was one of the team, including Jordaens and Lievens, who worked on the decoration of Huis ten Bosch, the royal villa on the outskirts of The Hague.His extant oeuvre is small, however, so he was presumably not prolific in this field. His early works in particular reflect an affinity with paintings by the Utrecht Caravaggists. Van Campen must have had connections in Utrecht, although there is no record of his having lived there.
ADAM, Lambert-Sigisbert
(b. 1700, Nancy, d. 1759, Nancy)
Biography
French sculptor belonging to a family of sculptors. Originally from Lorraine, the earliest known members of the family to be involved with the arts were Sigisbert Adam, a sculptor, and Lambert Adam, a metal-founder (both active late 17th century). Lambert’s son Jacob-Sigisbert Adam spent most of his working life in Nancy, where he undertook the early training of his sons Lambert-Sigisbert Adam (1700-1759), Nicolas-Sébastien Adam (1705-1778), and François-Gaspard-Balthazar Adam (1710-1761). His daughter Anne married Thomas Michel (d. before 1751), a sculptor from Metz; among their children were the sculptors Sigisbert-François Michel (1727-after 1785) and Claude Michel (known as Clodion). The three Adam brothers went to Rome at the start of their careers, Lambert-Sigisbert and Nicolas-Sébastien returning to France to work on the outdoor sculpture at Versailles, among other projects, and François-Gaspard-Balthazar going on to Sanssouci, Potsdam.
Lambert-Sigisbert was the most distinguished member of the family. He was a pupil of his father and finished his training in the Paris workshop of François Dumont. In 1723 he won the Prix de Rome. During his period in Rome, at the Académie de France, he was patronized by the influential Cardinal Melchior de Polignac, the French Ambassador to the Holy See, for whom he restored and copied antique sculpture. He contributed a relief of the Virgin Appearing to St Andrew Corsini to Clement XII’s Corsini Chapel at S Giovanni in Laterano (marble, c. 1732) and became a member of the Accademia di S Luca, presenting a bust of Sorrow (marble, 1732). He also entered the competition for the Trevi Fountain, but although his elaborate Baroque design (1731) was selected as the winner, Clement XII eventually commissioned the fountain from Nicola Salvi.
He returned to Paris in 1733 and produced reclining statues personifying The Seine and The Marne rivers for the cascade at Saint-Cloud (1733-4). He was received into the Academy in 1737. His masterpiece, sculpted in collaboration with his brother Nicolas-Sébastien, is the Neptune Fountain (1740) at Versailles, a work showing the influence of Bernini in its exuberant movement. He also published in 1754 a collection of Greek and Roman sculpture.
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