Lot 183: Nicolas Tournier , Montbéliard, Doubs 1590 - before February 1639 Toulouse Christ carrying the cross oil on canvas

oil on canvas

measurements note 95 by 76 cm.; 37 3/8 by 29 7/8 in.

Milan, Gallerie Salamon Agustoni Alagranti, Mostra di 36 Dipinti di Antichi Maestri, May - June 1986, cat. no. 14, reproduced in colour;
Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 29 November 2003-24 February 2004; Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria 11 March - 30 May 2003, Darkness and Light; Caravaggio and his World, pp. 196-197, cat. no. 59;
London, Robilant and Voena, Dutch and Flemish Caravaggesque Paintings from the Koelliker Collection, 28 November - 19 December 2007.

J.T. Spike in Darkness and Light. Caravaggio and his World, Melbourne 2003, pp. 196-197, cat. no. 59, reproduced in colour;
A. Orlando in Dutch and Flemish Caravaggesque Paintings from the Koelliker Collection, London 2007, pp. 60-63, reproduced pp. 61, 63.

Private collection, Milan, 2003;
Anonymous sale, Paris, Tajan, 22 June 2006, lot 44, where acquired by the present owner.

PROPERTY FROM THE LONDON RESIDENCE OF LUIGI KOELLIKER
Stark and simple, the present composition's is clearly a product of Tournier's protestant religion, the lone figure is held in the intense light, serene amidst the agony of the passion, inviting a direct emotional bond between man and God. Little is known about his early years, save for the discovery of his baptismal record in Montbéliard, dated 12 July 1590. However, he almost certainly studied with his father, the minor painter André Tournier.

Nicolas Tournier arrived in Rome in 1619 close in the footsteps of Nicolas Régnier and Valentin de Boulogne whose pupil he is believed to have been, but he was soon to establish himself amongst the leading members of the French caravaggesque movement, adept at the manfrediana methodus. The subtlety of the treatment and the inherent gravity of the simple composition would suggest that the present picture was painted by Tournier after his return to France. A similarity of expression is found, for example, in the Christ on the Cross, Musée du Louvre, Paris, which is dated 1628; perhaps even more comparable is the undated Saint Paul in the Musée des Augustins, Toulouse.