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Article by Antoine Gallay

It is generally acknowledged that the reception of engravers in the French Royal Academy of Paint... more It is generally acknowledged that the reception of engravers in the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture responded to Colbert’s wish to reproduce and circulate the academicians’ works. However, a more in-depth study of the relationship between the Academy and Parisian engravers provides an alternative viewpoint. This article attempts to show how engravers aspired to join the institution, and how the latter enabled them to produce a theory of engraving inspired by discourses on painting, thus leading them to distinguish between original and reproductive engraving.

Book chapters by Antoine Gallay

In the late 1670s, the binocular telescopes made by the capuchin friar Chérubin d’Orléans gained ... more In the late 1670s, the binocular telescopes made by the capuchin friar Chérubin d’Orléans gained a remarkable success among French noblemen. However, while the capuchin pretended to be the inventor of such instruments, several scholars opposed him, and attempted to demonstrate that binocular telescopes existed long before he became interested in them. The debate that followed such accusations led Chérubin to reconsider the very concept of invention, and to provide it with a new definition related to the emerging field of technology.

Papers by Antoine Gallay

Eighteenth-Century Studies

On the 2nd of May 1519, Leonardo da Vinci, bedridden in the Château de Cloux, is visited by his i... more On the 2nd of May 1519, Leonardo da Vinci, bedridden in the Château de Cloux, is visited by his illustrious protector, Francis I. As the old man tries to sit up to welcome his guest, he is stricken by a dreadful spasm. The king hastens to support his head. Leonardo, filled with joy and gratitude, dies in the arms of his sovereign.
That is the story Vasari tells us. None of the other contemporary sources – Lomazzo, Paolo Giovo, or Francesco Melzi – mentions such a romanesque death. However, the story meets with an extraordinary success in Enlightenment France. Still considered by Félibien (1666-1685) as hearsay, the event becomes a genuine historical fact in subsequent biographies : all of them describe Leonardo’s death in the arms of Francis I.
It then becomes a subject for painting. Leonardo’s death is now considered as a historic event, worthy of memory. Through the paintings of François-Guillaume Ménageot (1781), Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres (1818) and Jean-François Gigoux (1831), it becomes the symbol of France as the rightful heir of Italian Renaissance. The mythical impact of the story grows during the nineteenth century through the numerous engravings and illustrated histories.
However, since the very end of the eighteenth century, some historians have begun to doubt the truth of the event – notably thanks to the rediscovery of some documents by Venturi (1796) and Amerotti (1804). Francis I could not have witnessed the last breath of the painter. A debate of experts rages through the first half of the century, until the falsity of Vasari’s story seems to be unanimously recognised.
From a comparative analysis of textual and pictural objects, we would like to propose a global reflection on the stakes of history, between the problem of historical truth and that of the symbolic richness of fiction.

Master dissertation by Antoine Gallay

The Quest for Perfect Vision Chérubin d'Orléans's optical instruments and the development of theo... more The Quest for Perfect Vision Chérubin d'Orléans's optical instruments and the development of theories of binocular perception in late seventeenth-century France On 15 March 1679, during his long journey in Paris, John Locke met with 'the P. Cherubin, the Capucin soe famous in opticks', as he put in his journal, who showed him a telescope 'to looke in with both eyes at once'. 1 As I will show, there is indeed no doubt that Chérubin d'Orléans's binocular instruments were highly regarded in late seventeenth-century Europe. Numerous French noblemen acquired a binocular telescope from Chérubin, and Louis XIV himself owned at least four of them. 2 More striking, three of the most powerful princes of Europe, Charles II, King of England, Cosimo III de Medici, Grand-Duke of Tuscany and John III Sobieski, King of Poland, had one of Chérubin's instruments in their possession. 3 Born in 1613, Michel or François Lasseré integrated the Order of Friar Minors Capuchins around 1628, where he was attributed the name of Chérubin. 4 If, at the end of his life, he was much more famous for his contribution to physics than for his religious assiduity, he did not publish any scientific work until his major La Dioptrique Oculaire in 1671. 5 However, the Mediathèque of Orléans retains one of Chérubin's manuscript, a Traité de géographie, dated 1642, which demonstrates that

It is generally acknowledged that the reception of engravers in the French Royal Academy of Paint... more It is generally acknowledged that the reception of engravers in the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture responded to Colbert’s wish to reproduce and circulate the academicians’ works. However, a more in-depth study of the relationship between the Academy and Parisian engravers provides an alternative viewpoint. This article attempts to show how engravers aspired to join the institution, and how the latter enabled them to produce a theory of engraving inspired by discourses on painting, thus leading them to distinguish between original and reproductive engraving.

In the late 1670s, the binocular telescopes made by the capuchin friar Chérubin d’Orléans gained ... more In the late 1670s, the binocular telescopes made by the capuchin friar Chérubin d’Orléans gained a remarkable success among French noblemen. However, while the capuchin pretended to be the inventor of such instruments, several scholars opposed him, and attempted to demonstrate that binocular telescopes existed long before he became interested in them. The debate that followed such accusations led Chérubin to reconsider the very concept of invention, and to provide it with a new definition related to the emerging field of technology.

Eighteenth-Century Studies

On the 2nd of May 1519, Leonardo da Vinci, bedridden in the Château de Cloux, is visited by his i... more On the 2nd of May 1519, Leonardo da Vinci, bedridden in the Château de Cloux, is visited by his illustrious protector, Francis I. As the old man tries to sit up to welcome his guest, he is stricken by a dreadful spasm. The king hastens to support his head. Leonardo, filled with joy and gratitude, dies in the arms of his sovereign.
That is the story Vasari tells us. None of the other contemporary sources – Lomazzo, Paolo Giovo, or Francesco Melzi – mentions such a romanesque death. However, the story meets with an extraordinary success in Enlightenment France. Still considered by Félibien (1666-1685) as hearsay, the event becomes a genuine historical fact in subsequent biographies : all of them describe Leonardo’s death in the arms of Francis I.
It then becomes a subject for painting. Leonardo’s death is now considered as a historic event, worthy of memory. Through the paintings of François-Guillaume Ménageot (1781), Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres (1818) and Jean-François Gigoux (1831), it becomes the symbol of France as the rightful heir of Italian Renaissance. The mythical impact of the story grows during the nineteenth century through the numerous engravings and illustrated histories.
However, since the very end of the eighteenth century, some historians have begun to doubt the truth of the event – notably thanks to the rediscovery of some documents by Venturi (1796) and Amerotti (1804). Francis I could not have witnessed the last breath of the painter. A debate of experts rages through the first half of the century, until the falsity of Vasari’s story seems to be unanimously recognised.
From a comparative analysis of textual and pictural objects, we would like to propose a global reflection on the stakes of history, between the problem of historical truth and that of the symbolic richness of fiction.

The Quest for Perfect Vision Chérubin d'Orléans's optical instruments and the development of theo... more The Quest for Perfect Vision Chérubin d'Orléans's optical instruments and the development of theories of binocular perception in late seventeenth-century France On 15 March 1679, during his long journey in Paris, John Locke met with 'the P. Cherubin, the Capucin soe famous in opticks', as he put in his journal, who showed him a telescope 'to looke in with both eyes at once'. 1 As I will show, there is indeed no doubt that Chérubin d'Orléans's binocular instruments were highly regarded in late seventeenth-century Europe. Numerous French noblemen acquired a binocular telescope from Chérubin, and Louis XIV himself owned at least four of them. 2 More striking, three of the most powerful princes of Europe, Charles II, King of England, Cosimo III de Medici, Grand-Duke of Tuscany and John III Sobieski, King of Poland, had one of Chérubin's instruments in their possession. 3 Born in 1613, Michel or François Lasseré integrated the Order of Friar Minors Capuchins around 1628, where he was attributed the name of Chérubin. 4 If, at the end of his life, he was much more famous for his contribution to physics than for his religious assiduity, he did not publish any scientific work until his major La Dioptrique Oculaire in 1671. 5 However, the Mediathèque of Orléans retains one of Chérubin's manuscript, a Traité de géographie, dated 1642, which demonstrates that