Ecole française du XVIIIe siècle (D'après Claude VIGNON) - Saint Grégoire le Grand

Claude VIGNON (After) Tours, 1593 – Paris, 1670 Oil on canvas 60 x 45 cm (80 x 65 cm with the frame) Claude Vignon painted in the 17th century a series of four paintings representing the four great doctors of the Latin church Saint Jerome, Saint Ambroise, Saint Augustine and Saint Gregory. This is an old copy, probably from the 18th century, of Saint Gregory, the location of which is unknown today. One can see for example a copy of the series of the four Doctors in the church of Saint André d'Apchon (Cantal). Claude Vignon had success regularly painting figures of Catholic saints for different congregations in a manner very much in the spirit of the "Contre Réforme". These figures are in fact not only represented in portrait and therefore closer to the faithful, but also in a very realistic style thanks to a rendering, the skin tones in particular, inspired by both Rembrandt and the French Caravaggesques.