Lot n° 160
Estimation :
40000 - 60000
EUR
Nicolas TOURNIER (Montbéliard 1590 - Toulouse 1639) - Lot 160
Nicolas TOURNIER (Montbéliard 1590 - Toulouse 1639)
Portrait of a man with a sword
Canvas
Height : 109,5 cm
Width : 81.5 cm
Old label on reverse "COMTE DE BAILLET DESr 15 1884".
on the upper right, a coat-of-arms
Old restorations
Antique frame in carved gilded wood
Provenance: family
Our unpublished painting is an important addition to the Nicolas Tournier corpus, as surviving portraits by him are extremely rare. The best-known is the Concert in the Musée du Louvre, which features a circle of musicians, perhaps the family of Bernard de Reich, treasurer of the States of Languedoc, or that of Henri de Montmorency, governor of the same region. Most Caravaggesque painters worked occasionally as portraitists, their "al naturale" realism lending itself particularly well to this type of work. Tournier was well known in this field, having been commissioned in 1632 to paint four consuls of Narbonne with King Louis XIII, as well as several half-body portraits on separate canvases (the four administrators, their clerk and their accountant). The only surviving fragment, identified and acquired in 2020 by the Musée des Augustins in Toulouse, is the large-format Entry of Louis XIII into Carcassonne, which featured numerous effigies of the city's and Languedoc's town councillors. We should also mention the bust portrait of Bernard de Reich (private collection) and that of Louis de Vervins, Archbishop of Narbonne, simply attributed to Tournier (Musée d'art et d'histoire de Narbonne).
The blazon, which has been partly removed, makes it impossible to identify the model. Probably a member of the nobility, he wears a gray velvet pourpoint typical of aristocratic wardrobes, with a complex cut and slit, floating sleeves (so as not to impede freedom of movement during swordfighting). It is usually reinforced under the lining with several layers of coarse canvas, sometimes coated. These reinforcements give the character a straight body and a haughty bearing. A cape is visibly draped over the left arm, with the hand covered by a glove. Beneath the epaulet, the right sleeve is embroidered with fleurdelys motifs, and can be opened all the way with buttons and buttonholes. The bottom of the sleeve features a finely pleated, starched muslin cuff. This is not the case for the strawberry, known as "fraise à la confusion", which is very lightly stiffened by the starch that was in vogue at the time. The last remarkable feature is the belt, with several clearly visible silver buckles. One is attached to the front of the belt, while the other has a system for adjusting the position of the sword. The pommel of the sword, in the lower right, with its silvery metallic sheen, is a true signature of the painter, found in both his Italian period and the Saint Paul (Toulouse, Musée des Augustins).
Rediscovered like Georges de la Tour with the exhibition Les Peintres de la réalité in 1934, and consecrated by a monographic exhibition and symposium in 2001, Nicolas Tournier is the most important Languedoc painter of the first half of the 17th century. Born in Montbéliard, he trained in Rome from 1617 to 1626 with the pupils of Caravaggio, whose realism he adopted. He lived in the house next door to Simon Vouet's. Bartolomeo Manfredi and Nicolas Régnier inspired his scenes of banquets and concerts. At this time, he was one of the few to look at Caravaggio's early works, painted before 1600. He returned to France in 1626, receiving commissions for the churches of Narbonne and Carcassonne before settling in Toulouse, where his style became purist, his compositions more geometric. His masterpieces are now in the Musée des Augustins (Christ Descended from the Cross, Christ Carried to the Tomb).
We would like to thank Axel Hémery for confirming by e-mail, using digital photography, the attribution of this painting to Nicolas Tournier.
Nicolas Tournier on March 9, 2026. It will be included in his catalog raisonné of Nicolas Tournier,
currently in preparation.
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