Pierre II Mignard

The French painter and architect Pierre II Mignard, known as the Chevalier Mignard, belonged to a family of artists. Born in Avignon in 1640, he was the eldest son of Nicolas Mignard and the nephew of Pierre Mignard, known as “Mignard the Roman”. After studying at the Jesuit college, he accompanied his uncle to Paris in 1658 and, four years later, received a patent appointing him painter to the queen. There he worked alongside his father on the decoration of the king’s small lower apartment at the Palais des Tuileries, then completed the painted cycle devoted to Apollo after Nicolas Mignard’s death in 1668. A study trip to Italy, undertaken with the Marquis de Seignelay and François Blondel, preceded his return to Paris and his participation, on 31 December 1671, in the founding of the Académie royale d’architecture.

In the spring of 1679, he left the capital to settle again in Avignon, where his work combined painting and architecture: he designed town houses, public monuments and religious buildings, some of which also received canvases by his hand. Among the recorded works in Avignon are the portal of the Hôtel de Guyons de Crochans, dated 1680 and now associated with the Maison Jean Vilar, and the Hôtel de Tonduty, dated 1684–1685. The latter’s painted decoration was wrongly attributed to his father. Two town houses are dated 1687: the Hôtel Madon de Châteaublanc and the Hôtel de Vervins, which became the Hôtel de la Mirande. His work extended beyond Avignon: at the end of the 17th century, he took part in the reconstruction of Saint-André Abbey in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, then began a new building in 1703 for the Congregation of Saint-Maur at Montmajour Abbey, a project that would not be fully completed.

At the beginning of the 18th century, he notably created the ceiling of the grand staircase of the Hôtel-Dieu in Avignon, dated 1702, and renovated the façades of the Collège Saint-Nicolas d’Annecy in Avignon in 1704–1705. His duties also included municipal works and the arbitration of disputes concerning the Rhône embankments; in recognition of his services to the vice-legate, the pope made him a knight of the Order of Christ in 1701. A stroke in 1716, which left him temporarily hemiplegic, brought his artistic career to an end. He died in Avignon in 1725 and was buried in the collegiate church of Saint-Agricol, where his funerary monument is located.

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Genève Enchères · Lot 421

Entourage de Pierre II Mignard — Portrait de Marie-Marguerite Hamilton

Oil on canvas

Original catalogue wording

Entourage de Pierre II Mignard — Portrait de Marie-Marguerite Hamilton
huile sur toile
Entourage de

Catalogue period : 2016-04-20

Circle of

Published result : 2000 CHF

Fees not specified in the available data

Estimate : CHF 2000–3000

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