Jacques Stella (1596-1657) Judith And Holofernes

Jacques STELLA
(Lyon, 1596 – Paris, 1657)
Judith and Holofernes
Oil on slate
H. 23.5 cm; L. 24 cm

Son of François Stellaert, a painter of Flemish origin who settled in Rome in 1576, then in Lyon, Jacques Stella was born in this city in 1596. Around 1619, he left for Florence where he worked for Cosimo II de Medici. He probably already met Nicolas Poussin and Jacques Callot there. Stella left Florence for Rome in 1622 or 1623, where he befriended Poussin, who arrived in 1624. Stella became famous in the world of Italian amateurs for his small paintings painted on precious supports: marble, agate, lapis, slate, as well as by his engravings and drawings. In 1634, having received offers from the King of Spain, he left Rome in the suite of Marshal de Créqui, French ambassador. He passed through Venice, stopped in Lyon in 1635, then in Paris. Retained by Richelieu who took him into his service, he settled in the capital of the kingdom. Covered with favors, he benefited from accommodation in the Louvre and a considerable pension. He later received the Collar of the Order of Saint-Michel, a rare honor for an artist. Long neglected by art historians, Stella is nevertheless one of the great painters of the French 17th century. His art is powerful and sober, and his solidly balanced compositions are populated by sculptural and stripped-down figures that attest to his knowledge of the Antique. The smooth and porcelain style of his last works, the colors melted in a cold and abstract light, made Stella one of the most important representatives of Parisian Atticism of the 1640s, and a model of neo-classicism. As is often the case when he paints on stone, Stella takes advantage of the material, using its plastic properties. In our painting, he leaves the background of the slate in reserve to give more presence to his figures. This material, polished to obtain a mirror effect, adds even more depth to this powerful scene. We see a Roman work by Stella, still imbued with baroque agitation, and before the more classical one he adopted on his return to France, so we must place it before 1635.