Sébastien Bourdon

With Wildenstein & Co., New York and London;
With Richard L. Feigen & Co., New York;
With Robert Rice Gallery, Houston, Texas;
Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, May 19, 1995, lot 80.

 

New York, Wildenstein & Co., French Painting of the Time of Louis XIIIth and Louis XIVth, 1946, no. 5;
London, Wildenstein & Co., Artistis in 17th Century Rome, June 1-July 16, 1955, no. 12.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This panel has recently been restored and should be hung as is. The reverse of the panel has been cradled. The paint layer is stable and has been cleaned and varnished. There are a few tiny retouches which have been applied in the sky and while there may be a few spots in the foreground, only a couple in the lower left corner and in the lower right corner are actually visible under ultraviolet light. Clearly the condition is lovely and we recommend no further attention.
"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."

The present work belongs to a small group of paintings in Bourdon's oeuvre reflecting the influence of the Bamboccianti artists he came into contact with during his brief sojourn in Rome. He arrived in Rome in 1636 at the age of twenty and remained there until about 1638 (it was previously thought that he arrived as early as 1634, but it has now been documented that he was still in France as of 1636, employed in decorating the royal residences and earning money for his travel expenses to Italy). Among other paintings in this group of Bourdon's bambocciate, which stand in starck contrast to the strongly classicizing paintings for which he is better known, are La Calcara (Roman Lime Kiln) in the Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich; Repose of the Beggars and Soldiers at Rest, both in the Louvre; and Brawl in a Guardroom, in the Dulwich College Picture Gallery, London.