Reynaud Levieux

Count Orsa, Orvieto (according to an old inscription on the reverse of the frame);
Acquired by the great-great-great uncle of the present owner, probably in the 1920s;
Thence by descent.

Very good overall condition. Painting has been properly relined about 50 years ago. Appears under a very thick uniform varnish. We remark a little circular loss (approximatly 1.5 cm diameter) under the right arm of St Joseph. There is a small loss in the head of the green angel and also some small losses in the foot of the Virgen and on the floor. Under UV light: The painting is under a green varnish. We can see restoration at the right of the donkey's head and above the Virgen's head. There is a restored small tear (approximately 5 cm long) in the lower right corner.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This remarkably preserved painting perfectly illustrates the austere classicism and pure colour palette that are so typical of Reynaud Levieux's style, and it constitutes an important addition to the artist's œuvre.¹  The son of a stained-glass painter of some repute, Levieux was slow to start an independent artistic career outside of his father's workshop. His family moved to Nîmes in 1612 and, despite being protestant, were commissioned to produce windows for the city's cathedral. Reynaud, being the second eldest of ten siblings, worked alongside his brothers Jean and Daniel in his father's workshop until he was twenty-three, whereupon he left France for Rome. Arriving in 1635, Levieux stayed in Rome for several years and after an absence of twenty-six years he returned in 1669 and spent the last thirty years of his life there.

Once in Rome, Levieux turned his attention to studying the great masters; especially Raphael, who was to remain his chief inspiration throughout his career. He counted himself among the many gifted French painters working in the city at that time; among them Pierre Mignard, Charles Alphonse Du Fresnoy, Thomas Blanchet and François Perrier. Most of these worked in the shadow of Nicolas Poussin, who had been in Rome since 1624 and was much admired throughout the 1630s, but Levieux's impeccable technique and pure use of colour looked more to Italian contemporaries such as Giacinto Gimignani and Giovanni Battista Salvi, called il Sassoferrato, than to Poussin himself. Poussin and Levieux certainly knew each other for in the collection of Cardinal Carlo Antonio Dal Pozzo, brother of Cassiano Dal Pozzo, alongside forty or so paintings by Poussin, was a painting of the Holy Family by 'Monsù Rinaldo', quite plausibly bought or commissioned through Poussin's intercession.²  Levieux stayed in Rome until 1643, the year in which he was recruited by Paul Fréart de Chantelou along with six other artists to copy masterpieces in Roman collections, under Poussin's supervision, for François Sublet de Noyers, surintendant des bâtiments.³  The project was never completed.

It is only after Levieux's move to Avignon in 1649-50 that his career really took off. He was extremely prolific in the 1650s, receiving numerous commissions from both individuals and churches all over Provence, for which he constantly found himself up against his rival Nicolas Mignard.⁴  In fact it is not until Mignard's departure from Avignon in 1660 that Levieux truly comes into his own, and moves to the cultural and administrative capital of Provence that is Aix, where he undertakes numerous design projects throughout the city (including the rebuilding of the hôtel de ville).

For stylistic reasons it seems likely that the present painting dates from Levieux's greatest period of success and activity, that is from the 1660s. Given the painting's subject, scale and format it seems likely that it was commissioned from Levieux by a private patron. Whilst a chronology for his altarpieces is made easy by the existence of a number of documented and dated paintings, Levieux's smaller devotional works are harder to date. The artist's style remains largely consistent throughout his career and certain physiognomical types recur in various works: here, for example, Saint Joseph appears to be based on the same model as that used for the kneeling Saint Peter in the foreground of his Assumption of the Virgin, painted for the chapelle de l'ancien lycée Mignet in Aix-en-Provence in 1662.⁵  The painting's classical setting recalls the architectural backdrops introduced into some of the enormous canvases from his Saint John the Baptist cycle; in particular that in The Archangel Gabriel appearing to Zacharias (signed and dated 1663) today in the Musée Calvet, Avignon.⁶  The italianate landscape, surely inspired by the works of Gaspard Dughet, also recurs in other works of this date by Levieux; see, for example, the extensive landscape background in The Vision of Saint Bruno in the church of Saint-Jean de Malte, Aix-en-Provence, which is signed and dated 1665, or that in the more intimate Madonna and Child (location unknown) datable to the second half of the 1660s.⁷

1. No painting of this subject by the aritst is published or recorded: Levieux is known to have painted a Return from Egypt (Saint-Vincent cathedral, Viviers) but not a Rest on the Flight into Egypt.
2. This painting, still untraced, is described as oval in a 1689 inventory of Dal Pozzo's possessions and later in his son's inventory of 1695: see H. Wytenhove, Reynaud Levieux et la peinture classique en Provence, Aix-en-Provence 1990, p. 100, cat. no. 1.
3. The other artists included Mignard, Charles Errard, Jean Le Maire, Jean Nocret, Nicolas Chaperon and a Neapolitan called 'Ciccio'. Reynaud copied Raphael's Madonna of Loreto (today in the Musée Condé, Chantilly) and his second copy, after Giulio Romano's Madonna with the cat aws left unfinished.
4. Levieux's Presentation of Christ in the Temple in Avignon, Notre-Dame-des Doms, which is signed and dated 1654, is a worthy pendant for the Presentation of the Virgin at the Temple in the same church, painted by Nicolas Mignard just three years later. For Levieux's painting see Wytenhove, op. cit., p. 113, cat. no. 14, reproduced in colour on p. 24, and for Mignard's p. 26 in the same publication.
5. Wytenhove, ibid., p. 127, cat. no. 27, reproduced in colour on p. 99.
6. Ibid., p. 136, cat. no. 36, reproduced.
7. For which see ibid., p. 130, cat. no. 30, reproduced in colour on p. 34, and p. 131, cat. no. 32, reproduced in colour on p. 39 respectively.