Louis Cousin (Ninove 1606 – Bx 1667) - The Mystic Marriage of S.Catherine

Louis Cousin, known as Luigi Gentile (Ninove, Brussels 1606 – 1667)
The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine
Oil on oval copper, 25 x 31 cm, With frame, 40 x 46 cm

Written communication by Professor Francesco Petrucci

Louis Cousin is better known as Luigi Gentile or Luigi Primo Gentile, a nickname bestowed upon him due to his "refined appearance". Following his initial training in Paris, he moved to Rome in 1626, where he joined the Schildersbent, a mutual assistance society for Dutch and Flemish artists. In Rome, Gentile was a protégé of the sculptor François Duquesnoy, who enjoyed great prestige in the city. His peers also recognized his significant merits, inducting him into the Virtuosi del Pantheon and electing him to two terms as Principe of the Accademia di San Luca between 1651 and 1653. In 1646, he worked for Pope Innocent X Pamphili. According to Roman documentation, the painter produced no fewer than twenty-seven paintings for the Pontiff—notably during the same period in which Diego Velázquez was present at the papal court to execute his famous portrait during his second Roman stay. Examples of these papal commissions include the Annunciation in the Museum of the Order of St. John, London (featuring a frame by Francesco Perone based on a design by Alessandro Algardi) and the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple (Convent of the Carmelites, Alba de Tormes, Salamanca). His Portrait of Don Giacomo di Barthos (Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome) is dated 1652. It was likely during this period that he participated, alongside compatriots and the most celebrated artists of the day—such as Pietro da Cortona and Carlo Maratta—in the decoration of Antonio degli Effetti’s studiolo, contributing a painting on copper (as yet unidentified) representing Neptune and Amphitrite. Further examples of his portraiture include the Portrait of an Anconitan Gentleman and Lady in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, which represent the pinnacle of the artist's Marche period. The extensive series of works executed for the Moncada family suggests a potential Sicilian sojourn, during which the painter appears to have been engaged in commissions of an encomiastic nature; these are miniaturized pictorial modelletti painted on copper, intended as precursors to tapestry translations. By June 1661, however, he was registered in the Brussels guild. According to Passeri (1772, p. 244), he worked for the King of Spain as both a painter and a tapestry designer and executed several paintings for Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (the Venus and Adonis now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, originates from the Archduke's collection). The copper under consideration is a consistent addition to the Flemish master’s corpus of small-format paintings. The work reveals an indisputable stylistic and technical affinity with the Annunciation executed for Pope Innocent X, echoing its minute and vibrant brushwork. Furthermore, the painting offers precise parallels with several autograph compositions, starting with the formal references found in the Allegory of the Rivers (Neptune and the Water Cycle) in the Pushkin Museum. Particularly significant is the comparison with the Nativity in the Church of the Capuchins in Pesaro, from which the physiognomy of the angelic figure appears to be derived with almost literal precision.
Chromatically, the execution is distinguished by the brilliance of the reds and blues—characteristic elements of "Gentile's" palette. This coloristic register finds resonance in other mature works, such as the Virgin Presenting the Child to Saint Anthony (Basilica of San Marco al Campidoglio, Rome) and the Samaritan Woman at the Well (private collection), confirming the attribution and placing the painting within the artist's highest period of production.