Jacques Stella

{{Infobox artist | name = Jacques Stella | image = Autoportrait-jacques-stella.jpg | image_size = | caption = Self-portrait ([[musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon]]) | birth_name = | birth_date = 1596 | birth_place = [[Lyon]] | death_date = 29 April 1657 | death_place = [[Paris]] | known_for = Painting | training = | movement = Classicism | notable_works = | patrons = | awards = }} '''Jacques Stella''' (1596 – 29 April 1657) was a French painter, a leading exponent of the neoclassical style of [[Parisian Atticism]].

==Life== [[File:Collection Motais de Narbonne - Vulcain forgeant les flèches de l'Amour (1644-1645) - Jacques Stella (40).jpg|250px|thumb|left| Vulcan forging the arrows of Love]] Stella was born in Lyon. His father was [[François Stella]], a painter and merchant of Flemish origin, but he died too soon to train Jacques in painting.<ref name=RKD>[https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/75013 Jacques Stella] in the [[RKD]]</ref> Jacques's siblings were François the Younger and Madeleine (a sculptor and the mother of artists).<ref name=RKD/> He was the uncle of [[Antoinette Bouzonnet-Stella|Antoinette]], [[Claudine Bouzonnet-Stella|Claudine]], [[Françoise Bouzonnet Stella|Françoise]] and [[Antoine Stella]].<ref name="RKD" /> Jacques Stella trained in [[Lyon]] before spending the period from 1616 to 1621 in the court of [[Cosimo II de Medici]] in [[Florence]], working alongside [[Jacques Callot]] - Florentine art is a strong influence on all Stella's work. On Cosimo's death in 1621 Stella moved to Rome, where he spent the next 10 years and won a reputation thanks to his paintings, small engravings and painted work on stones ([[onyx]], [[lapis-lazuli]] or simply slate). Particularly working for [[pope Urban VIII]], Stella was influenced in Rome by classicism and more specifically by the art of [[Nicolas Poussin]], with whom he became an intimate friend.

[[File:Stella, Jacques, The Rape of the Sabines, mid 17th century.jpg|thumb|250px|''The Rape of the Sabines'', [[Princeton University Art Museum]]]]

Returning to Lyon in 1634 before moving to Paris a year later, Stella was presented to [[Louis XIII]] by [[cardinal Richelieu]]. The king made him peintre du roi (meaning he lived from then on in the [[Louvre]]) and granted him a pension of 1000 livres. He returned many times to the theme of the childhood of Christ - five different versions by him of "Jesus discovered by his parents in the temple" exist. He took on many commissions and also decorated the chapelle Saint-Louis at the [[château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye]] and the choir of the [[Saint-François Xavier des Missions étrangères|église Saint-François-Xavier]] (1641–42) alongside Poussin and [[Simon Vouet]]. From 1644 he took part in the decoration of the [[Palais-Royal#Palais-Cardinal|Palais-Cardinal]]. Towards the end of his life he devoted himself more and more to drawing. As well as his painting and drawing he was a major art collector throughout his life, building a collection of paintings by Poussin and [[Raphael]] and drawings by [[Michelangelo]] and [[Leonardo da Vinci]]. He died in Paris.

==Reception== [[File:Stella Massacre-des-innocents.jpg|thumb|250px|Massacre of the Innocents, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen]] Audacious and varied, his work moved easily between the realism of direct observation, the antique spirit and a higher religious inspiration. After his death his paintings and engravings were often sold as works by Poussin. His work was often engraved, allowing his art to reach a wide audience, especially after his death under the impetus of his niece and heiress, the artist Claudine Bouzonnet-Stella (died 1697). A retrospective of his work occurred at the [[Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon]] from 17 November 2006 to 19 February 2007, before touring to the [[Musée des Augustins]] at [[Toulouse]] from 17 March to 18 June 2007.

==Selected works== *''[[Solomon]] sacrificing to idols'' (c 1650), oil on canvas, {{convert|98|cm|0|abbr=on}} x {{convert|142|cm|0|abbr=on}}, [[musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon]]. *''[[Massacre of the Innocents]]'', [[grisaille]] (attributed to him), [[Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen]].

==Bibliography== * {{in lang|fr}} Sylvain Laveissière & Gilles Chomer, ''Jacques Stella (1596–1657)'', exhibition catalogue, Lyon, musée des Beaux-Arts, Toulouse, musée des Augustins, 2006–2007, with contributions by: Mickaël Szanto, Isabelle Dubois, Fabienne Albert-Bertin, Anne-Laure Collomb, Laurent Laz and Isabelle de Conihout, 2007, Somogy, {{ISBN|978-2-7572-0050-6}}. * {{in lang|fr}} ''Jacques Stella'', Dossier de l'art n° 136

==References== {{reflist}} *[http://www.artnet.com/artists/jacques-stella/past-auction-results Jacques Stella] on [[Artnet]]

==External links== {{Commons category|Jacques Stella}} * [http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/stella_jacques_de.html Jacques Stella on Artcyclopedia]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stella, Jacques}} [[Category:1596 births]] [[Category:1657 deaths]] [[Category:French neoclassical painters]] [[Category:Painters from Lyon]] [[Category:French art collectors]] [[Category:French Baroque painters]] [[Category:17th-century French painters]] [[Category:French male painters]] [[Category:French people of Flemish descent]] [[Category:People from the Lyonnais]]