Duval, Mark

The biography of Marc Duval is known mainly due to the extensive reports of his contemporaries and compatriot Francois Grude, Senor La Croix du Men. According to his information ^[2] Marc Duval, the court painter of the last kings from the Valois dynasty, bore the nickname “Bertan” ( fr. Bertin , after his father, who bore this name and was also a painter and sculptor) and “Deaf” ( fr. Sourd , which gave him King Charles IX ) ^[3] . He was born near Saint-Vincent, near Le Mans. At one time he was considered one of the best draftsmen and engravers. His portraits of the last kings from the Valois dynasty, at whose court he worked, and the Parisian aristocrats were highly valued. He died in Paris on the evening of September 13, 1581, at a time that he himself had predicted. The names of his wife (Catherine) and daughter (Elizabeth Duval, who also lived in Paris, had the ability to visual arts). The artist had his home in Paris, on the street Grenelle.

Francois Grude made his notes three years after the artist’s death, but part of his information is considered erroneous ^[2] . The artist Marc Duval did not appear in Paris documents before 1572, and he could hardly have been a court painter before that time. The documents are no mention of his house on the street Grenelle. It is assumed that Bertan, mentioned in the documents in 1562, was not Marc Duval, but his father (1519–1562 ^[4] ), whom Grude took for his son, and the artist himself never carried such a nickname. Nonetheless, the family tree of Duvale, created in 1760 , calls Bertan "the painter and sculptor of Francis I ", and Mark the "artist of Henry II " ^[2] .

Francois Grude does not report anything about the religion of the artist. This and a large number of images of Huguenot leaders gave art critic Louis Dimier a reason to see him as a Protestant. He also assumed that Duval traveled to Italy and lived there for a long time. “Master Marco from France” in May 1553 worked on the order of Cardinal Ricci at the Palazzo Sacchetti in Rome , and Karel Van Mander mentions the Queen Mother painter from Paris, also named “Marco”, who taught Bartholomeus Spranger in 1565 the art of drawing ^{[2 ]} .

The most reliable documents concerning Mark Duval relate to the end of the 1570s, on the basis of which they conclude that it was then that he moved to Paris and before that served the rulers of Navarre ^[2] . In 1575, an anonymous author, probably belonging to the retinue of Queen Margherita of Navarre , dedicated a poem to him called “Le pourtraict de mon âme”. June 19, 1577 the artist in Paris witnessed the marriage of the engraver Jean Rabel. In 1579, he won a lawsuit against Louis de Campagna, Count de la Suz, forcing him to pay a large sum of money. In the documents of claim, Duval is referred to as “marchand peintre demeurant à Paris” ^[2] .

His signature (“Mr. Du Val”) stands on the engraving of 1579, depicting the three brothers Coligny, made according to a drawing of 1569, probably created by him ^[5] . He also owns portraits of Jeanne III D'Albre and Catherine de Medici , created in the same 1579, and probably related to the same series, about which Francois Grude speaks. Some researchers attribute to the artist and other engravings, in particular the image of a blind flutist (1566, Louvre , inv. RF 1948-26), made in the Italian tradition, and individual portraits of the workshop of Francois Clouet ("Jean Babo de La Burdezier" from the Louvre, portraits of Admiral Coligny and the Duke Nemour in the collection of the Museum of Chantilly ^[6] , Sebastian Luxembourg-Martigues, Toulouse , Bemberg Foundation ^[7] ). Art critic Louis Dimie also attributed to this artist a sketch of the head of Coligny. Jean Ademar, who conducted the largest exhibition of French drawings of the XVI century from the collection of the Prints Office of the National Library of France in 1970 in Paris, attributed thirteen works to the Master Viscount of Luxembourg-Mortig ^[2] . Most of them were previously attributed to Francois Clouet or his workshop.

Although the influence of Francois Clouet is noticeable in the works of Mark Duval, there are also significant differences. He submits the details to a strict form, uses feathering ^[5] . The artist seeks to transfer folds in large lines, volumetric, avoids decorative effects. Often it increases the format of the sheet and image. Passions in the faces of the characters are more open than in the portraits of Francois Clouet. These are heroes of battles, people are straight and rude ^[5] . Among the models of the master are representatives of ancient aristocratic families, leaders of the Huguenots. The artist is attracted by the patriarchal way of the provincial nobility. The opposition to the king to know idealized the old days.

Heroes of the artist live in the atmosphere of austere law and maintain their integrity.

• Dimier, Louis. Le portrait du XVIe siècle aux Primitifs Français, notes et al. Paris. 1904. Review.
• Dimier, Louis. Le portrait du XVIe siècle aux Primitifs Français, notes et al. Paris. 1904. R. 31. Complete edition.

• Maltseva I. L. French pencil portrait of the XVI century. M. 1978. p. 141-142. Fragment dedicated to the Master Viscount Luxembourg-Mortig.
• Marc Duval on Joconde. Portail des collections des musées de France.