Michel Corneille

Michel Corneille was an artist active across the late sixteenth and mid-seventeenth centuries, working approximately between 1580 and 1661. The known body of work represented in major American institutions comprises primarily graphic media, establishing Corneille as a skilled draftsman and printmaker of the era.

Museum holdings confirm the artist’s extensive output in graphic arts, with eleven drawings and four prints represented across collections. These works cover a breadth of subject matter, including biblical narrative, allegorical composition, and portraiture. Documented drawings include the religious scene Naomi Counseling Ruth Near the Farm of Boaz, the historical portrait Edward VI, and the monumental subject Neptune and other Marine Deities Paying Homage to Louis XIV. Preparatory studies, such as Allegorical Figures for a Ceiling Decoration, suggest the artist was also engaged in design for larger decorative schemes. Further examples of his work include The Assumption of the Virgin.

Significant examples of Corneille’s graphic media are preserved in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Today, documented artworks such as the existing Michel Corneille prints are often found in the public domain. These pieces are frequently reproduced as museum-quality, high-quality prints for educational and research use.