Claude Vignon

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The paint is raised and unstable in some areas. Under ultraviolet light can be seen a scattering of minor restorations across the surface denoting pin prick paint losses, and one or two large losses to the sitter's left hand, fur trim, lower right, the tip of the nose and in the background, upper right. Overall, in excellent original and preserved condition, particularly the texture and impasto of the paint. The varnish is discoloured. Offered in a modern gilt wood frame in good condition."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This rediscovered work by the French artist Claude Vignon was almost certainly executed during the 1610s while he was resident in Rome. Although Vignon is not actually documented in Rome until 1618-19 he was probably based there throughout that decade. There he joined a circle of French artists, that included Simon Vouet  and Valentin de Boullogne, who were all heavily influenced by the work of the recently deceased Caravaggio, and also by that of his closest follower, Bartolomeo Manfredi. The present work would seem to have been executed soon after Vignon completed the four canvases depicting the four fathers of the church¹ and the series of half-length saints in horizontal formats, which Pacht Bassani dates to circa 1615; compare, for example, the present work with the St Paul in the Galleria Sabauda, Turin.²

We are grateful to Mme. Paola Pacht Bassani for both endorsing the attribution to Vignon following first-hand inspection of the work and for dating it to Vignon's Roman period.


1. See P. Pacht Bassani, Claude Vignon, Paris 1992, p. 173, no. 13, reproduced.
2. Idem, pp. 163-168, nos. 1-4, all reproduced.