Corneille de Lyon

France · 1505–1575

Corneille de Lyon (early 16th century, 8 November 1575 (buried)) was a Dutch painter of portraits who was active in Lyon, France, from 1533 until his death. In France and the Netherlands he is also still known as Corneille de La Haye after his birthplace, The Hague. Although he is well documented as the leading painter in this distinctively French style, because he never signed or dated his paintings very few identifiable works can be firmly traced as his, with the first one identified in 1962. Distinguishing his hand from the many other artists working in the same style is therefore extremely difficult, if not impossible; works tend to be attributed to him on grounds of quality alone. Corneille's portraits are nearly miniature in scale, ranging from the size of a postcard to about 8" x 10".