(Nancy circa 1602–1649 Rome)
Portrait of Coriolano Orsucci,
inscribed on the letter lower left,
oil on canvas, 230 x 145.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private European collection;
where acquired by the present owner

Exhibited:
London, Heim Gallery, French Paintings & Sculptures of the 17th century, 12 June – 15 August 1968, no. 10 (as Charles Mellin);
Rome, Museo Nazionale di Castel Sant’Angelo, Il Principe Romano. Ritratti dell’Aristocrazia Pontificia nell’Età Barocca, 12 October – 2 December 2007, no. XV (as Charles Mellin);
Tivoli, Villa d’Este, Ritratto Barocco, dipinti del ‘600 e ‘700 nelle raccolte private, 3 July – 2 November 2008, no. 11 (as Charles Mellin)

Literature:
French Paintings & Sculptures of the 17th century, ed. by A. S. Ciechanowiecki, exhibition catalogue, London 1968, p. 7, no. 10, ill. p. 10 (as Charles Mellin);
S. Laveissière, Le «Maître du Pseudo-Borro»: Charles Mellin?, in: Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen, Berlin 1990, p. 200, note 46 (as not by Mellin);
Charles Mellin un Lorrain entre Rome et Naples, ed. by P. Malgouyres, exhibition catalogue, Paris 2007, pp. 174-175, 282-283, R37 (under ‘rejected works’);
F. Petrucci, Pittura di Ritratto a Roma. Il Seicento, Rome 2007, vol. I, pp. 160-161, fig. 236, vol. II, p. 349, vol. III, p. 660, fig. 448 (as Charles Mellin);
F. Petrucci in: Il Principe Romano. Ritratti dell’Aristocrazia Pontificia nell’Età Barocca, ed. by F. Petrucci/M. E. Tittoni, exhibition catalogue, Rome 2007, pp. 58-59 (as Charles Mellin);
Ritratto Barocco, dipinti del ‘600 e ‘700 nelle raccolte private, ed. by F. Petrucci, exhibition catalogue, Rome 2008, pp. 50-51 (as Charles Mellin)

Following a varied critical history, the present painting was first exhibited as a work by Charles Mellin at an exhibition in London in 1968. The attribution of this magisterial portrait was reasserted on several occasions by Francesco Petrucci. Mellin was certainly a notable figure in this genre of painting, as the sources report, but his artistic production is still largely to be rediscovered.

The present work depicts a gentleman in full-figure and he is dressed according to the Spanish fashion of the first decades of the 17th century, in his right hand he holds a hat, and in his left, a letter. Petrucci (see literature) has suggested that at the sitter´s feet is a cartouche which reads: Al sig.re Coriolano Or/succi Nro Sig. Guard./C. Messin. Here Petrucci argues that the artist’s name is expressed according to an alternative spelling of his surname, Messin, which occurs in some of the sources instead of Mellin. With regard to the sitter’s name, in the past this has been interpreted as ‘Coriolano Orsini’ even though the coat-of-arms in the upper-left background does not correspond with that of the noble Roman family. As Petrucci has recently demonstrated, it has been possible to identify the heraldry, representing an eagle over a crescent, as belonging to the Orsucci family of Lucca. The sitter should therefore be Coriolano Orsucci (1592-1655), a merchant originally from Lucca.

The present portrait which reveals Mellin’s great abilities as a painter and it can be compared both in terms of format and composition to the celebrated portrait also given to Mellin of the so-called Pseudo-Borro in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin and it is also comparable to the Portrait of Giovan Battista Siri in the Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh. Moreover, on the basis of its ‘disegno, tono su tono, che traspare nei riflessi della veste nera’ [‘drawing, tone over tone, that shines through the reflections on the black clothing’] (see literature), Petrucci has drawn a stylistic comparison between the present Coriolano Orsucci and the Portrait of Sigismondo Chigi, which is signed and is conserved in Palazzo Chigi in Ariccia. Documenting the French artist’s prolific activity in this genre, are the many portraits listed in the inventory of his will – these are in part as yet to be identified (see Malgouyres 2008, pp. 319-320).

Charles Mellin was called ‘Carlo Lorenese’ in Rome where he was almost exclusively active, with the exception of a sojourn in Naples from 1643 to 1647. During the 1620s he entered the studio of Simon Vouet who introduced him to the Barberini family and their entourage, which included scholars such as Cassiano dal Pozzo. However, Mellin also gained the protection of highly esteemed artists such as the Cavalier d’Arpino and Domenichino, who during the 1630s procured him important commissions such as the decoration of the Cappella della Vergine in San Luigi dei Francesi, and the choir of the church at Montecassino. Under the influence of his master Vouet, Mellin’s early painting is distinguishable by its Caravaggism filtered by a theatrically decorative elegance. Later his works began to be influenced by the classical painting styles of Guido Reni, Nicolas Poussin, Annibale Carracci and Giovanni Lanfranco, while nevertheless remaining attentive to Baroque innovations in the portraiture of Gian Lorenzo Bernini.