JALLIER, Noël
French painter. In 1550 he was paid for 14 large history paintings in the château of Oiron, Deux-Sèvres. These have been identified with the series painted a secco in the gallery in the north wing of the château, rediscovered in 1974. Painted in 1546-49 for Claude Gouffier, Grand Ecuyer of France, and dedicated to Francis I, they illustrate episodes from the History of Troy as described in Virgil’s Aeneid. The ensemble was clearly inspired by the decorations of the Galerie François I at the château of Fontainebleau, but while the figure style is indebted to that of Rosso Fiorentino and Francesco Primaticcio, the composition and elaborate illusionistic painted framing reveal knowledge of contemporary Roman decorative cycles by such artists as Perino del Vaga and Daniele da Volterra. This led to the suggestion that Jallier may have visited Rome in the course of executing the paintings.
No other works by Jallier are known, but the Oiron paintings are among the most impressive surviving decorations of their period in France and the first examples of large-scale decorations painted by a French artist before 1550.
