Michel Dorigny

Michel Dorigny, born in 1616 in Saint-Quentin and died February 20, 1665, is a French painter and engraver. He was the disciple and son-in-law of the famous painter Simon Vouët.

It seems that Michel Dorigny comes from a fairly wealthy background. His father Nicolas is councilor of the king and his uncle, François Dorigny, is priest and canon. To our knowledge, no member of his family comes from an artistic milieu. It is astonishing that Dorigny will be the close collaborator of the King's first painter.

At the age of fourteen, he left Saint-Quentin to enter the studio of Georges Lallemant on 9 (or 11) February 1630, which he left only in March 1635. This painter remains little known today , And yet came out of his studio, painters as famous as Nicolas Poussin, Philippe de Champaigne or Laurent de La Hyre. Michel Dorigny then entered the prestigious workshop of Vouet in 1638. The period from 1635 to 1637 remains obscure on its activities. From the beginning of Vouet's studio, he had to reproduce his principal works in print, in order to spread the master's manner. As early as 1637, Vouet ordered a series of seventeen boards, which appeared at the date of 1638. They had as their theme the ceilings Simon Vouet was making at Chilly Castle, parts of the altarpiece of Saint-Eustache , Or the scenery of the hotel Séguier. He quickly enters Vouet's studio. The period in which he was in the studio of Vouet extends until 1649, the date of the death of the master, which also sounds like the date of independence for Dorigny; Until then, he has faithfully reproduced the style of Vouet.

A pupil and at the same time a collaborator of Simon Vouet, Michel Dorigny has not left his career aside. Although he is very little studied and his work is dispersed throughout the world today, he has produced numerous oil on canvas, on religious or mythological subjects exclusively. He was also, like his master, an admirable decorator in the Paris of Louis XIII. Unfortunately, victims of the times, the ceilings of the seventeenth century were abundantly destroyed; Or they are in homes that are now private and difficult to access. In 1640, Dorigny and Vouet signed a contract for "works of paintings and plates", scheduled to last from 9 December 1640 to 1 August 1646. Dorigny earned 220 livres a year. It seems that the collaboration took place until the marriage of the latter, in 1648.

On January 27, 1648, a decree of the Council of State constituted the birth of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. Simon Vouet, who was the most eminent painter of the moment, no doubt in the prime of his life, was not chosen to become its director. He died the following year, July 17, 1649. Michel Dorigny succeeded in succeeding him in the enjoyment of his home and studio: he moved to the Galeries du Louvre with Jeanne-Angélique, and obtained royal permission in 1651 from To continue the diffusion of the prints which he realizes according to his master, with his brother-in-law, François Tortebat. From the death of Vouet to his own disappearance in 1665, Michel Dorigny will truly impose himself in Paris. It asserts itself and detaches itself from the style of Vouet, evolving towards a more personal way. He was received at the Royal Academy only on March 3, 1663, at the same time as Jean Nocret and Nicolas Mignard, as counselor. He was raised the following year to the rank of professor.

Michel Dorigny's private life is closely linked to his professional life. Like Francois Tortebat, Michel Dorigny married one of Simon Vouet's daughters, Jeanne-Angélique Vouet (born May 13, 1630). The marriage contract was signed at the beginning of 1648, on 16 January. They married on 11 February 1648 at the church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, opposite the Colonnade du Louvre. On the contract of marriage that we keep, Michel Dorigny bears the title of "ordinary painter of the King". The young couple moved to the rue Saint-Thomas. Together they will have three children: Nicolas and Louis, who will become painter and engraver like their father, and a third child whose traces we have lost; Jean-Baptiste Dorigny is buried in 1649.

He died prematurely on February 20, 1665, at 48 and 6 months, in the Galeries du Louvre. He was buried the next day in the church where he was married, in the presence of forty priests. His wife Jeanne-Angélique died in 1680.

Michel Dorigny has distinguished himself in the most esteemed genres that the Royal Academy will define a few years later. However, mythological subjects seem to predominantly predominate over religious painting. No landscape, portrait or still life has been found. Having followed the way of Simon Vouet, the main difficulty is to find in the corpus of the works of his master, paintings that unfortunately are not attributed to him. It is very delicate to perceive the hand of Dorigny, when this one endeavored to pursue that of Vouet. Some works have also been on sale for about ten years.

From his beginnings with Simon Vouet, Dorigny took part in the realization of great decorations in private mansions, such as the Hotel Séguier. Becoming independent, he continued his work as a decorator, delivering in Paris (and its region) admirable decorative ensembles. Unfortunately, many of these sets have been destroyed.

In the Palais Mazarin, a double ceiling separated by a beam was awarded to Michel Dorigny. It is a figure of Abundance. This space is now the Cabinet des Estampes of the National Library.

At the town hall of Port-Marly, a ceiling and an alcove, which come from the castle of the Lions of Colombes, are in the hands of Vouet and Dorigny. Vouet painted the missing central compartment, known after an engraving by Jean Boulanger. Dorigny painted the arch on the Four Seasons, as well as the alcove, the Point du Jour and the Dew.

For Queen Anne of Austria at the castle of Vincennes, Dorigny has realized many ceilings which have in part subsisted today and are in the castle, in situ, or the Louvre museum. In the Louvre Museum, La Force and Prudence, as well as La Tempérance (hung like easel paintings), America, Europe, Africa, Asia and two tondi representing Geniuses holding arms Of Anne of Austria. Again at the castle, La Renommée et la Justice, an Allegory to the glory of Philip of Orleans, brother of Louis XIV, and Flore and Zephyr. A great composition of Apollo and the Muses was destroyed during the Second World War, and is known to us by an old photograph.

At the Hotel de Lauzun, where he intervened between 1656 and 1657, Michel Dorigny realized ceilings where the influence of Vouet was less perceptible. Diane and Endymion, Flora and Zephyr, The Triumph of Venus, The Triumph of Ceres and a Triumph of Flora are retained.
Old sources tell us that Dorigny would also have participated in the decoration of the Hotel de La Rivière, the Hotel Hesselin, the Hotel Amelot de Bisseuil and the castle of Dampierre, among others.

We owe him nearly 140 engravings at the point. The catalog of the engraved work of Michel Dorigny was published by Robert-Dumesnil in 1839.

Gallery:
Pan and Syrinx, 1657, oil on canvas, 98 × 131 cm, Paris, musée du Louvre.
Angelots drawing water from a well, oil on wood, 59.5 × 47.5 cm, Strasbourg, Museum of Fine Arts.
Diane and Actéon, circa 1630, oil on canvas, 223 × 266 cm, Paris, Petit Palais, Museum of Fine Arts of the City of Paris.
Hagar and the Angel, c. 1645, oil on canvas, 141.60 × X cm, Houston, The Museum of Fine Arts.
Bacchus, print, engraving with chisel, 1645.
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