 by Dr. Jeffrey Lant Author's program note. In the 17th century, in France, ambitious men strove to become the masters of their crafts. They didn't look for short-cuts; abominated slothful, slipshod ways, and always, always aimed not merely to excel, but to astonish not only their colleagues and their patrons... but most of all themselves, their most discerning critic, the one who knew everything and from whom there could be no secrets or matters undisclosed. For the incidental music to this article on French master Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer, painter of flowers, I have selected music by Francois Couperin (1668-1733), master composer. Go to any search engine and find one of the many renditions of his gem "Les Baricades Misterieuses." Turn it on, turn it up, for you are in the company of deft mastery, of craftsmanship, of genius. Sotheby's, London, Lot 251, December 8, 2011. This is what the catalog said: "Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer (Lille 1636-London 1699) A still life of lilies, honeysuckle and other flowers in a vase on a ledge. Signed lower right JBaptiste. oil on canvas 17 7/8" by 22 3/8 in." This write-up was accompanied by a photograph, a photograph disclosing without mercy the pitiable condition of what had once been a work of grace, beauty, and allure, but which now was anything but. My heart went out to this picture, its painter, its present state of distress and the thought that here I might be able to make a difference, to make a once proud and beautiful object proud and beautiful again. About Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer. Monnoyer started his career providing designs for both the Gobelins and Beauvais tapestry workshops, the acme of such works. There his fruit and flower designs were judged to be excellent. Such was his skill and artistry that he was taken up by Charles Le Brun and so came to work at the Chateau de Marly, the hideaway King Louis XIV sought when the pomp and protocol which he created and insisted be used at Versailles became too overwhelming even for a Sun King. Monnoyer, thus, was in the perfect place at the moment of its sumptuous perfection. In 1690, having been admitted to the Academie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, he went to England, where his masterful work crafting over 50 panels for Montague House, Bloomsbury, London created a vogue for the man and his meticulous work produced with botanical accuracy. He did not merely paint flowers, he made them live. It was a skill only the greatest masters possess... and which Monnoyer possessed in such abundance that he was no longer a painter of flowers, no matter how excellent, but The Master of such painters, the doyen who set the standard by which all others would be judged. Such a master did not ask me to scrutinize this work and do what was necessary to rehabilitate it. He commanded me to do so. A call to Simon Gillespie, Cleveland Street, London. When I see a thing of beauty which I might want for my collection, I contact Simon Gillespie, for in the art of conserving pictures, he is as masterful as Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer in creating them. And I know whereof I speak, for over the last 25 years Simon has restored over 30 pictures for me, all of which were badly damaged at acquisition but, because of painstaking, meticulous work, came to live again. For a thing of beauty can only be a joy forever if it is expertly, regularly cared for with the skill and dexterity of which Gillespie is past master. I know the man. I know his work. I would not think of commissioning another to save the imperiled pictures I collect and delight in saving. This is what he told me about this Monnoyer before I acquired it: "This was once a very beautiful picture by a very good artist. It has probably been in a very hot room at the start of its life where it dried rapidly causing a dramatic set of cracks. I think I should go and have a look when it is up on the wall to determine the viability of resurrecting it." And so it began... he doing his research, me doing mine. The online Artcyclopedia provided me with excellent but rather daunting information; the works of Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer are found in the Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of Cambridge; the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg; the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the Royal Collection in London. Moreover, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles has acquired 13 -- yes 13 -- of his paintings and with almost unlimited funds could easily outbid me.... outbid, perhaps, but perhaps not outsmart. And so, with the perceived distress of this masterpiece working in my favor, I acquired it... happy that what it needed we could provide and at once. What had to be done. The picture was brought to Simon's studio where tests were carried out to remove the various layers of dirt, grime, discolored varnish. and small amounts of over paint which had been applied to minimize some of the cracking but also liberally covered original paint unnecessarily. The cracks were indeed disfiguring and interrupted the fine detail of the brush strokes of the flowers. The canvas had also been enlarged top and bottom incorporating the old edges of the canvas, presumably to fit an old frame or match a series of other paintings. Each of these problems -- and several others --had to be solved, not merely finessed. And as you can see from the merest glance above, each and every one of them was solved... All this having been accomplished, Simon wrote this to me: "The resulting work of art is a very refined piece of painting from a famous artist who knew how to achieve a great painting. I am always proud to see that after years of bad experience a picture can undergo such a good transformation. Looking at the painting now, you would never know that it had taken this recent journey." Indeed not, and that is why Simon Gillespie is the master craftsman he is, and why I deem it not merely a practical necessity but an honor to enage him and his talented staff. Here, in Cambridge, to cheer and remind me. Now this masterpiece hangs in my inter sanctum, the place where I think, write, and think some more; the place where I am writing you now. It is a special place... a place devoted to making the world a better place... an exacting task in which my two Monnoyers assist. For both fell upon hard times and were rescued... and if two can be rescued, why not three, three hundred, and more? All it takes is starting with a single step, for as 20th century poet Wallace Stevens wrote after discovering Monnoyer, flowers assuage "all sorts of misfortune". Thus we must do everything we can to ensure they have the chance to perform their comforting work, suffusing our often difficult lives with brilliant color, light, hope... and the vision and craft of masters like Monnoyer, Couperin, and Gillespie. |
