Saint Michel and a Concert of Angels by Henri-Antoine de Favanne

This mantelpiece has been linked to the work of the painter Henri-Antoine de Favanne due to the striking stylistic similarities it shares with other paintings commissioned to decorate the Château de Chanteloup, which are now held at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille and the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Tours.

Although born in England to French parents, Henri-Antoine de Favanne trained in France from 1687 onwards in the studio of René-Antoine Houasse, who was deeply influenced by the art of Charles Le Brun. Favanne was awarded the Grand Prix in 1693, which enabled him to spend time in Rome from 1695 to 1700. On his return to Paris, he was admitted to the Royal Academy in 1701, and three years later was accepted as a history painter.

Henri-Antoine de Favanne then worked for several years at the Spanish court, in the service of the Princess of Ursins, before returning to France in 1714, following his patron’s fall from favour. Upon his return to France, he set to work on the extensive decorative programme for the Château de Chanteloup for at least three years: paintings on the myth of Phaeton for the salon, on the life of Philip V for the gallery, and on the life of the Virgin for the chapel. Other paintings were also produced for the château, which was destroyed in 1823, and it has been suggested that Aulteribe’s painting may have formed part of this decorative ensemble. The pyramidal composition, the expressive gestures of the figures, the foreshortening effects and the swirling bodies—all of which are also reminiscent of a study for a ceiling decoration—make this hypothesis a particularly compelling one.

In 1724, Favanne also took part in the major project to create decorations for the Hôtel du Grand Maître in Versailles, alongside the greatest painters of the time, in particular Jean Restout and Charles-Antoine Coypel. It was from this period onwards that Favanne’s career within the Academy gained in prominence; he was appointed professor in 1725 and then rector in 1748. Henri de Favanne exhibited regularly and extensively at the Salon, presenting mainly mythological and historical subjects, but also a few portraits and landscapes.