16^th Century Dutch

Portrait painter active in France from 1530 onwards, he was naturalised as French in 1547.

Also known as Corneille de La Haye, after his birthplace, or Claude Corneille, he must have learned his trade in his home city or in Antwerp, although in 1533-34, Jean Second, the Flemish humanist and erotic poet, recounts an encounter in Lyon with his friend the painter Corneille, who apparently was in the city with the French Court.

In 1544 he set up residence in Lyon, where he requested an exemption from levies in his capacity as officer of the Dauphin’s house, for as from 1541 he was the official painter of the future Henry II, occupying the post of aide-de-chambre to the monarch in 1548 and then appointed the king’s majordomo and painter in 1551, a post he retained with Charles IX.

Corneille married Marguerite Fradin, daughter of an important printmaker from Lyon, a circumstance that eased his entry into the city’s art circles. Their three children, Corneille II, Jacques and Clémence, followed in his footsteps, creating a dynasty of painting that continued until the 18^th century.

Corneille was a renowned portrait painter, and reports of his beautiful paintings have come down to us in the accounts of two famous visitors: the Venetian ambassador Giovanni Vapelli and Catherine de’ Médici (1564).

His portraits, nearly always executed against green or blue backgrounds, are mostly miniature in scale and painted in great detail.