Toussaint Dubreuil

{{short description|French painter}}

File:Henry IV en Herculeus terrassant l Hydre de Lerne cad La ligue Catholique Atelier Toussaint Dubreuil circa 1600.jpg]]

Toussaint Dubreuil (1561, Paris - 22 November 1602, Paris) was a French painter, associated with the second School of Fontainebleau.Paul Jamot, "French Painting-II", in: The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, Vol.60 #346, pg. 3 (1932)

Biography

His father, also named Toussaint, was a saddler, and he maintained a passion for horses throughout his life. He was also an amateur lutist.

He originally trained to be a goldsmith, then studied in Paris with {{ill|Médéric Fréminet|fr}}. He studied anatomy with a barber (a profession which then involved performing minor surgery) and provided some illustrations for the Historia anatomica humani corporis, by André du Laurens.[http://arts-graphiques.louvre.fr/detail/oeuvres/65/12389-Frontispice-pour-LHistoria-anatomica-humani-corporis Musée du Louvre. Département des arts graphiques : Frontispice pour 'L'Historia anatomica humani corporis']

Whether or not he trained in Italy is unknown, but his work shows the influence of Italian Mannerists such as Pellegrino Tibaldi, Bartolomeo Passarotti and Nicolò dell'Abbate.

There is no record of him from 1585 to 1593. He may have received additional training at Fontainebleau; most likely from Ruggiero de Ruggieri, whose daughter he married. Together with Martin Fréminet (his former teacher's son) and Ambroise Dubois, he later helped establish what became known as the Second School of Fontainebleau. He created numerous decorative works for King Henry IV, who appointed him "Ordinary Painter for the King's Tapestries".Jules Guiffrey, Histoire de la tapisserie depuis le moyen âge jusqu'à nos jours, Alfred Mame et fils, Tours, 1886 Few of these decorations have survived.

He also executed large murals for the Château de Fontainebleau, depicting scenes from the story of Hercules. Some of these were done together with his father-in-law, Ruggieri. All but a few fragments have been destroyed.[http://archives.seine-et-marne.fr/export/print/toussaint-dubreuil? Archives de Seine-et-Marne : Toussaint Dubreuil] In the Petite Galerie at the Palais du Louvre, together with Jacob Bunel, he painted portraits of Henri IV's predecessors and decorated the ceilings with allegorical subjects. These were destroyed by a fire in 1661.Anthony Blunt, Art et architecture en France. 1500-1700, Macula, Paris, 1983, pgs.151-152 {{ISBN|2-865-89-007-4}}

Following his wife Marie's death in 1598, he remarried; to Dame Marie Champion. She died in 1602,Sylvie Béguin, Le second mariage de Toussaint Dubreuil, dans Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance, Librairie Droz, 1964, vol.26, No. 3, {{p.|618-620}} shortly before he died from intestinal damage, caused by riding a violently bucking horse. Registre-Journal de Henri IV et de Louis XIII publie d'après le manuscrit autographe de Lestoile, pg.342 [https://books.google.fr/books?id=1ldfAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA342#v=onepage&q&f=false Online]

References

Further reading

  • Cécile Scaillierez, "Une peinture de l'invention de Toussaint Dubreuil", in: Actes du Colloque de Fontainebleau : Avènement d'Henri IV, quatrième centenaire, 1990, pp.302-311.
  • Sylvie Béguin, « Toussaint Dubreuil, premier peintre de Henri IV » dans Art de France, 4, 1964, pp.86-107.
  • Dominique Cordellier, Toussaint Dubreuil (Louvre, Cabinet des Dessins, 20), Paris, Éditions du Louvre, 5 continents, 2010.
  • Louis Dimier, L'œuvre de Toussaint Dubreuil à Saint-Germain, dans Bulletin de la Société Nationale des Antiquaires de France, 1905, {{p.|119-124}} [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k206861z/f118.item Online]
  • Louis Dimier, Un nouveau tableau de Toussaint Dubreuil à Fontainebleau, dans Bulletin des Musées de France, 1910, No. 6, {{p.|85-88}} [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5864625q/f104.image Online]