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CONDITION:
Clear and sharp with beautiful detail. As scanned.
Blank on the back. Heavier paper. This beautiful print would look great
matted and framed. Or an art supply store can provide you with a selection
of frames for old art treasures.
BIOGRAPHY - COURTOIS, Jacques
(b. 1621, Saint Hyppolyte, d. 1676, Rome) - French painter, who together
with his brother Guillaume were active in Italy and often known by the
Italian forms of the names, Giacomo and Guglielmo Cortese. They came
from Burgundy and both had the nickname Il Borgognone or Le Bourguignon.
Jacques was a prolific painter of battle scenes, fairly close in style
to those of Salvator Rosa, but more colourful. Courtois is an example
of a painter who has escaped notice in terms of art history, because
of both his isolation from his native Franche Comté (incorporated
into France by Louis XIV) and his lack of association with Italian art,
even though he spent his whole career in Rome. Courtois evolved the
archetypal small battle piece, depicting plenty of violence and the
smoke of combat, a format that was to remain standard right up to the
end of the eighteenth century, though few of its exponents were French.
Authentic works by Courtois frequently appear on the art market, but
much of his oeuvre has till to be identified.
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