Circle of Georges de la Tour

Eduardo Moratilla, Paris, 1971;

With Heim Gallery, London;

From whom acquired by the present owner, 1974.

N. Ivanoff, "George de la Tour, Carlo Saraceni e Pietro Bellotti," in Arte Veneta 16 (1972), p. 300-301, reproduced (as Pietro Bellotti);

R. Pallucchini, La pittura veneziana del Seicento, Milan 1981, vol. I, p. 286;

L. Anelli, Pietro Bellotti (1625-1700), Brescia 1996, pp. 143-147, 392, cat. no. R97, reproduced figs. 113-114 (as French Follower of Georges de la Tour).

Painted by a member of Georges de la Tour's circle, this work depicts one of Three Fates. The personifications of Destiny, together they spin the thread of life and then measure and cut it at the appropriate length. While their roles are at times interchanged, typically Clotho spins the thread, which Lachesis measures, and Atropos snips. The old woman, whose weathered skin and distinct goiter are rendered with remarkable frankness, appears posed to cut the thread she holds outstretched in her left hand, suggesting she is Atropos. However, in past, she has been identified as Lachesis.¹

¹ See Anelli 1996, p. 170 note 5. According to Anelli, the present work so described when in the Wendland collection, Paris, a line of potential ownership that remains uncorroborated.