MIGNE
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MIGNE
and reached Paris (165S), where he met Molidre, and
formed his famous friendship willi that poet.
Ho found awaiting liini in France the same excep- tional position that he had enjoyed in Italy. Hardly had he arrived when he execuleii portraits of Louis XIV and other members of the royal family. His reply to detractors, who questioned his talent for great works, was the decoration of the Hotel d'Epernon, soon followed by that of the cupola of the Val-de- Gnice. The latter, said to be the largest frescoed surface in the world, comprising two hundred colossal figures, represents Paradise. In pursuance of a formula dear to the Roman decorator, the throng of celestial personages is here displayed around the Blessed Trinity — the Virgin, the Apostles, the Evange- lists, virgins, and confessors, founders of orders, holy kings like Constantine, Charlemagne, and St. Louis, and, finally, Anne of Austria, kneeling, offering the model of the church dedicated by her to Jesu Nascenti Virginiquc Matri. This style of apotheosis, already trite in Italy, still possessed the merit of novelty in France. The immense composition, having cost its author only eight months' work, suffers the penalty of its hurried creation. The composition lacks in- spiration, the colouring is feeble and neutral rather than bright, yet it was a very celebrated work in its time, because it flattered the megalomania and the chauvinism of the public; France no longer need envy Italy; Rome was no longer at Rome, it was in Paris. In this way Mignard's cupola took on the character of a national victory, as Moliere said in his famous poem "La Gloire du Val de Grace"; tlius this very mediocre, though ambitious, piece of painting was honoured at its birth by the most popular and " national " of French writers. Whether from policy or from inclination, Mignard belonged to the social circle of Racine, Boileau, and La Fontaine, at a time when artists in France associated but little with any but their professional brethren. Thanks to these con- nections, he is the artist of whom seventeenth-century literature has most to say. Scarron and La Bruyere acclaimed his greatness, and as he had the knack of turning his literary friendshios to good account, he was able to maintain for thirtry years liis curious squabble with the Academy. This body, after a series of difficulties, had been definitely organized by Colbert under the presidency of Le Brun, whose authority Mignard would not recognize. The whole of the court faction which opposed Colbert naturally took sides with Mignard, who, without any official position, was clever enough to keep up his reputation as "premier painter", and to add to it that spicy opposition which in France always serves to carry an artist's reputation farthest. The list of portraits executed by Mignard in the second period of his Ufe includes ail French society of that time. The young queen, the Due d'Enghien, the Princess Palatine, Chancellor Seguier, the Due de Beaufort, Bossuet, le Tellier, Turenne, Villacerf, la Re.\Tiie, the Comtesse de Grignan, the Duchesse de Chatillon, Moliere, the famous Ninon de Lenclos, all sat to him. He painted Louis XIV ten times, and on the last occasion the king said to him, "Mignard, you find me changed". "True, sire", said the painter; "I see a few more campaigns on Your Majesty's brow". He used for his women models a rather gaudy style, in which the draperies were somewhat overdrawn, and a system of half- mythological emblems and allusions which faithfully reflect the ideals of the court of Louis XIV. Hence these portraits have the same historical value as those of Lely or Kneller at the court of James II, while some of them possess an unquestionable attractive- ness. But this was only one part of Mignard's work. He decorated many residences, public buildings, and churches, but all that remains of these works is the "Apollo" ceiling in the castle of Balleroj' (Manche). However, we know by engravings that these works
were good, according to the taste of the period, imi-
tated from Caraccio and from Guido's mythologies,
artificial, pleasing, facile, somewhat heavy and weak
in style. The best of liis religious pictures is the
" Vi.sitation " in the Museum at Orleans.
At last, Le Brun having died (1091), Mignard, at the age of eighty, succeeded to all his offices, was solemnly received into the Academy, and in one session elected to all its degrees, including that of president. Louvois having consulted him on the project of decorating the cupola of the In\'alides, the veteran painter saw an opportunity of crowning his career with an exceptional performance, but Louvois died, the work was delayed, and the artist lost all hope of reaUzing his last dream. He died, it may almost be said, with his brushes in his hand, at the age of eighty-four. His last work is a picture in which he himself appears as "St. Luke painting the Blessed Virgin".
De MoNviLLE, Vie de M. Mignard (Amsterdam, 1731;) Lepicie. Notice in M^moires inidits sur les Membres de VAca- demie de Peinture, II (Paris, 1854); Hulst, Memoires sur VAcademie de Peinture (Paris, 1853); Courtalon-Delaistke, Eloge de Mignard (Troyes, 1781); Blanc, Histoire des Peintres. Ecole fran^aise, I (Paris); Le Brun-Dalbaune, Etude sur P. Mignard (Paris, 1878); Courajod, Le Buste de P. Mignard au Louvre (Paris, 1884).
Louis GiLLET.
Migne, J.\cqce8-Paul, priest, and publisher of theological works, b. at Saint-Flour, 25 October, ISOO; d. at Paris, 24 October, 1875. After completing his college courses, he devoted himself to the study of theology in Orleans, and while a student there filled, for a time, the position of professor in the fourth class of the college of Chateaudun. He was ordained priest in 1S24, and in the following year was made pastor of Puiseaux, in the Diocese of Orleans. He published a pamphlet: " De la liberty ", which brought him into conflict with his bishop, Brunault de Beaure- gard, in consequence of which he resigned his parish, and went to Paris, where, in the same year, he founded " L'LTnivers Religieux ", later " L'Univers " — a journal intended by him to be free from any political ten- dency, and concerned with Catholic interests alone. He edited this paper until 1836, and contributed to it a very great number of articles. Meanwhile, he had conceived the plan of publishing for the use of the clergy a series of import,ant, older and newer, theologi- cal works, at so moderate a price that they might meet with a wide circulation, and thus further an earnest and scientific study in ecclesiastical circles. For this purpose he founded in the suburb Petit- Montrouge a large printing house, with all the neces- sary departments, the Imprimerie Catholique, where he employed more than three hundred workmen. From 1836 he devoted his energies exclusively to this great and important undertaking, which made him universally known. Within a relatively short time he succeeded in publishing many volumes of the older theological literature, and partly because of the mod- erate cost, he obtained for them a wide circulation. We may mention here: "Scriptura; Sacrse Cursus Completus" (28 vols., 1840-45), with excellent com- mentaries of older and newer writers on each of the Books of Scripture; "Theologise Cursus Completus" (28 vols., 1840-45), with treatises of many earlier writers supplementing the main articles; "Demon- strations Evangeliques " (20 vols., 1842-53), in which are gathered together the apologetic writings of over one hundred authors from every epoch of church history; "Collection Int^grale et Universelle des Orateurs Sacrfe" in two series (102 vols., 1844-66), containing the works of the best pulpit orators of the preceding centuries; "Summa Aurea de Laudibus Beata; Mariae Virginis, coll. J. ,T. Bourass^" (13 vols., 1866-68); "Encyclop^die Th^ologique", an ex- tensive collection of works of reference, alphabetically arranged, and not confined to theological matters
