Simon Vouet

Augustus III, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, and installed by him in the Gemäldegalerie, Dresden, by 1754;
Deaccessioned from the Gemäldegalerie, Dresden, in the 1920s, and certainly before 1927.

M. Oesterreich, Inventarium von der Koniglichen Bilder-Galerie zu Dresden, vol. I, Dresden 1754, no. 321  (as 'Schule des Caravaggio');
J.A. Riedel and C.F. Wenzel, Catalogue des Tableaux de la Galerie Electorale à Dresde, Dresden 1765, p. 231, no. 332 (as 'Maître Italien Inconnu');
J.A. Riedel and C.F. Wenzel, Verzeichnis der Gemälde in der Churfürstl. Gallerie in Dresden, Leipzig 1771, p. 203, no. 332 (as 'Unbekannten Italiänischen Meister');
Verzeichniss der Gemälde, welche in der churfürstl. Gallerie zu Dresden befindlich sind, Dresden 1801, p. 174, no. 332 (as 'Unbekannten Italiänischen Meister');
Catalogue explicatif des tableaux de la Galerie Royale de Dresde, Dresden 1817, p. 259, no. 301 (as 'Anonyme');
F. Matthäi, Verzeichnis der Königlich Sächsischen Gemälde-Galerie zu Dresden, Dresden 1835, p. 56, no. 270 (as 'Unbekannt aus der Schule der Carracci');
Catalogue des Tableaux de la Galerie Royale de Dresde, Dresden 1846, p. 100, no. 849 (as 'Ecole des Carrache');
J. Hübner, Catalogue de la Galerie Royale de Dresde, Dresden 1862, p. 176, no. 463 (as 'Ecole des Carrache');
J. Hübner, Catalogue de la Galerie Royale de Dresde, Dresden 1868, p. 147, no. 463 (as 'Ecole des Carrache');
J. Hübner, Catalogue de la Galerie Royale de Dresde, Dresden 1872, p. 150, no. 463 (as 'Ecole des Carrache');
J. Hübner, Catalogue de la Galerie Royale de Dresde, Dresden 1880, p. 163, no. 531 (as 'Ecole des Carrache');
K. Woermann, Katalog der Königlichen Gemäldegalerie zu Dresden, Dresden 1887, p. 50, no. 313 (as 'Schule der Carracci');
K. Woermann, Katalog der Königlichen Gemäldegalerie zu Dresden, Dresden 1892, p. 134, no. 313 (as 'Schule der Carracci');
K. Woermann, Katalog der Königlichen Gemäldegalerie zu Dresden, Dresden 1902, p. 130, no. 313 (as 'Schule der Carracci');
K. Woermann, Katalog der Königlichen Gemäldegalerie zu Dresden, Dresden 1905, p. 129, no. 313 (as 'Schule der Carracci');
H. Posse and K. Woermann, Catalogue of the pictures in the Royal Gallery at Dresden, Dresden 1912, p. 43, no. 313 (as ' School of the Carracci');
D. Jacquot, "Enjeux et bilan - provisoire - d'une exposition," in Simon Vouet en Italie, Rennes 2011, p. 261, and  p. 263, note 11, reproduced

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 painting has not been restored for many years. The canvas has a very old lining. The paint layer is stable, but the cracking has become slightly more apparent. The work is particularly dirty and in some areas (especially the background and in various parts of the beard) the varnish has become milky and opaque. There are darker areas in the background which are restorations on top of the milky old varnish and there may be other areas which have received a slight tone in order to suppress this "bloomed" varnish. However, there is no reason why cleaning will not reveal a healthy and fresh paint layer and we expect the bloomed varnish to be easily removed. Once the picture is cleaned it may be that the surface will benefit from a reexamination of the structural conservation but overall the condition is clearly outstanding.
"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 and the following lot represent the most significant additions to the oeuvre of the young Simon Vouet in recent years. They are typical examples of Vouet's earliest style, reflecting the examples of Roman classicism that shaped his first paintings in Rome after arriving there from Venice in 1612. Both paintings, published as Vouet for the first time by Dominique Jacquot in his 2008 essay for the Nantes exhibition (see Literature), were acquired for the Dresden Gallery of the Kings of Saxony before 1754, when they feature for the first time in its inventories, before being de-accessioned along with a large proportion of the collection in the 1920s. Each painting retains its 'Dresden' frame, which they acquired in the period 1747-52 (see the separate section on the frames below). While in the Dresden Gallery both paintings were continuously mis-identifed as from the School of the Carracci and they appear as such, or as by an anonymous Italian painter, in all inventories of the collection from 1754-1912.  

The innately classical and Caravaggesque conception and execution would argue for a date in the late 1610s, not long after Vouet's arrival in Rome. The paintings relate to a small number of other saints painted on canvases of a similar size: amongst these is a Saint Simon in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nantes which may have been painted as part of the same series (perhaps of the twelve apostles) which would have been disbanded some time prior to 1752-4.¹  If this is the case, doubtless other examples from the series will continue to emerge. They also bear a striking resemblance to the Saint Andrew in a Parisian private collection, dated by Rosenberg, Brejon de Lavergnée and Cuzin to circa 1622.²  Saint Andrew is likewise shown gazing heaven-wards, his arm, in a very similar gesture to that of Saint Peter here, protruding horizontally along the bottom margin, the hand upturned holding a book (instead of, for St Peter, the key).  It and the two paintings here under discussion share the vigorous painterly technique of the young master, set off by the luminous contrasts of starkly lit flesh against impenetrable shadow that is characteristic of Roman painting at this time.


The Provenance and the Frames
The paintings are first mentioned in Matthias Oesterreich's 1754 inventory of the Dresden Gallery and in all subsequent comprehensive inventories and catalogues until 1912, when they make their last appearance in Woermann and Posse's catalogue (see Literature). They are not mentioned in the subsequent, 1927, catalogue and were most likely sold along with a large number of other paintings from the collection in the early 1920s (see for example lot 155 in this sale).

It is however not known exactly when or by whom the paintings were acquired for Dresden. The paintings do not feature in Pietro Ercole Gherardi's 1744 list of paintings in the Galleria Estense in Modena, nor in his 1752 'Descrizione' of the one hundred paintings acquired by Augustus III in 1746 from the Galleria Estense.³  Other than the Estense purchase there is very little documentation of the purchases made by Augustus III and his predecessors as King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, despite the fact that by 1746 the collection totalled over one thousand four hundred paintings. However the paintings appear in the Dresden frame types used between 1747 and 1752. During this period the entire collection was uniformly reframed, an event precipitated by the arrival of the one hundred Estense paintings all unframed. The frames are rooted in the French rococo but finished in the style of other German 18^th century frames. At the top is the King's coat-of-arms, flanked by eagle wings, and at the bottom a shield with his initials AR (Augustus Rex). That the paintings appear in these frame types, together with their inclusion in the 1754 inventory, confirm their ownership by Augustus III by that date. Both paintings make their last appearance in the Dresden inventories in 1912.

Fig. 1 shows Karl Louis Preusser's 1881-dated canvas In the Dresden Gallery. In it, to the right of the door frame, Saint Paul is clearly visible while Saint Peter is less clear, though still discernible, two pictures to its right.

1.  See the catalogue to the exhibition, Simon Vouet (les années italiennes 1613/1627), Nantes and Besançon 2009, pp. 126-7, cat. no. 22, reproduced.
2.  Ibid., pp. 126-7, cat. no. 23.
3.  P.E. Gherardi, Descrizione di cento pezzi di Pitture, passati nell'Anno 1746 dalla Galleria Estense in Modena a quella di Federigo Augusto III..., Ms., Reggio Emilia 1752.