Claude VIGNON (1593-1670) attribué à

Portrait of Barbaroussa Oil on canvas, bearing the mention "BARBAROUSSA. REX, ALGERJJ. THUNIS INSIGNIS. PYRATA. Year 1534" in the middle right. 60,5 x 50 cm Original canvas and stretcher (restorations of use on the borders, tension bands on the back) In a 17th century gilded wooden frame We thank Mr Arnauld Brejon de Lavergnée for his kind appraisal of this work. Barbarossa, pirate and fine strategist This famous pirate, from a family of Greek potters, caused chaos in all the ports around the Mediterranean. He took control of the city of Tunis in 1534. Soliman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, appointed him to lead his fleet, which then numbered more than one hundred galleys. This armada enabled him to conquer many cities, making him a major figure of the 16th century. When he died in 1546, Barbarossa was buried in Istanbul in the "Barbaros Türbesi". As a tribute, for many years all Turkish ships left the port of Istanbul saluting the tomb of the country's most feared warlord. Barbarossa, a legendary man Between 1619 and 1638, Paul Ardier, Lord of Beauregard, Vineuil and Le Goulet in Blésois, decided to tell the history of France and Europe through a series of portraits of famous men. In the famous Galerie des Illustres of his castle of Beauregard, he exhibited 327 painted portraits. The fact that Barbarossa's portrait is among them is a proof of the persistence of his fame. François Langlois, a French print merchant, publisher, painter and bookseller, asked Jérôme David between 1634 and 1637 to engrave a series: Bustes de Philosophes et de Rois. Some of these portraits are taken from Rembrandt's works. Jérôme David also called on other artists, notably Padovanino and Claude Vignon. The latter painted twenty-one portraits, including that of Barbarossa.