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The Sleep of Elijah by Philippe De Champaigne from the Convent of the Val-De-Grâce

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The Sleep of Elijah by Philippe De Champaigne from the Convent of the Val-De-Grâce BECOMING ELIJAH: THE SLEEP OF ELIJAH BY PHILIPPE DE CHAMPAIGNE FROM THE CONVENT OF THE VAL-DE-GRÂCE Tatiana Senkevitch ‘Don’t you feel compassion for good Elijah who sleeps in the shadow of juniper tree in the way more reminiscent of a dead man than a sleep- ing one?’ asked Louis Richeome in his treatise on the figures of the Holy Eucharist regarding the moment of Elijah’s sleep described in the Book of Kings.1 Exhausted by the flight from the threats of Queen Jezebel and dispirited by his defeats, Elijah daringly asked God to send him death. He was granted sleep, instead, and an angel who delivered him food and news about his future actions. In The Sleep of Elijah painted by Philippe de Champaigne, along with other devotional paintings for the convent of Val-de-Grâce, the luminous, graceful, and calm face of the prophet capti- vates the viewer’s attention by the solidity and beauty of his sleep more than with thoughts of death [Fig. 1].2 The angel in the painting also casts a protective gaze on Elijah, even if his gentle touch is meant to awaken the prophet. The gravely ill Anne of Austria, the commissioner of this painting, desired to meet her death in Val-de-Grâce, a convent that she patronized for many years. Instead, she had to obey the command of the king, who insisted on seeing his mother’s last days in the Louvre in accor- dance with her status as the queen mother. Should Anne of Austria have remained in the convent, according to her wish, she might have cast one more compassionate gaze on the sleeping Elijah before her own repose. After the death of Anne of Austria on 20 January 1666, all major churches in Paris and across the kingdom held services in her memory. In one such 1 ‘Avez-vous pas compassion du bon Élie qui dort à l’ombre de ce genevre, plus sem- blable à un mort qu’à un homme dormant?’ Richeome Louis, Tableaux sacrez des figures mystiques du tres-auguste sacrifice et sacrement de l’Eucharistie (Paris, Sonnius: 1601) 299. 2 On this painting see Dorival B., Philippe de Champaigne (1602–1674). La vie, l’œuvre et le catalogue raisonné de l’œuvre, 2 vols. (Paris: 1976) II 14; Foucart-Walter E., Le Mans, musée de Tessé: peinture françaises du XVIIe siècle (Paris: 1982) no. 18; Bonfait O. – MacGregor N., Le Dieu caché: les peintres du Grand siècle et la vision de Dieu [exh. cat., Académie de France] (Rome: 2000) 97–99; Pericolo L., Philippe de Champaigne: ‘Philippe, home sage et vertueux’. Essai sur l’art et l’œuvre de Philippe de Champaigne (1602–1674) (Tournai: 2002) 282–284; Tapié A. – Sainte Fare Garnot N., Philippe de Champaigne: Entre Dévotion and Politique (Paris: 2007) 237–238. 322 tatiana senkevitch Fig. 1. [Col. Pl. 14] Philippe de Champaigne, The Sleep of Elijah, c. 1656. Oil on canvas, 1,850 × 2,500 mm. Le Mans, musée de Tessé. Photo credit: Erich Lessing / Art Resource, NY. service, Jacques Biroat, a Cluniac theologian and a councilor to the court, capitalized on the theme of fertility, a subject that pained Anne over the twenty years of her childless marriage to Louis XIII.3 It was Anne’s fertile faith and her prayers, Father Biroat pointed out, that helped her to over- come the barrenness. Anne’s prayers became as fruitful as those of the prophet Elijah with which he was able to open the door to the treasures of Heaven.4 3 Biroat Jacques, Oraison funèbre d’Anne d’Austriche, reyne de France et mère du Roy prononcée dans la Saincte Chapelle de Paris (Paris, Edme Couterot: 1666) 8. 4 Ibidem 9: ‘[. .] que ses larmes furent les rosées qui firent naistre ce lys, & que oraison fut comme celle du Prophet Élie, la clef du Ciel qui en ouvrit enfin les thresors, pour en faire sortir le bonheur & abundance. Oratio iusti clauis coeli [Chrysost. Serm. I Élie . .]’ (original orthography)..
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