Jacques Stella

Jean-François Rauch, Lepizig, by 1799;
His sale, Leipzig, 17-18 October 1799, lot 74 ("J. Stella / No. 74. Une Charité, on y compte cinq figures de grandeur naturelle, d'une couleur, et surtons d'une carnation admirable; ce tableau fut toujours regardé, comme un des meilleurs de ces habil peintre: il appartint alors à une communauté, pour la quelle il fut peint. h. 43. l. 37 1/2. T.").

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 work is restored to a degree and is in very healthy condition. The paint layer is probably not dirty. The varnish is quite opaque under ultraviolet light, perhaps due to remnants of an old varnish. One can see retouches along the bottom edge with the naked eye, here and there around the other edges, and in the lower left corner; these retouches are not visible ultraviolet light. The figures and the lighter areas are cleaner, and there is essentially no restoration to the figures. The mother's right breast, the right hand of child in her lap and the red apple seem to show very old retouches. It is likely that the child was originally depicted as breastfeeding in the composition. This may have been deemed inappropriate at some point, and non-original paint was applied to this area. Some cracking in the right side of the mother's dress could be addressed.
"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."

Although Stella is most often associated with a French classical style initially inspired by his friendship and partnership in Rome with Nicolas Poussin, he did also develop a visual language that owes far more to the impact of an extended visit to Florence and Rome, where he lived from around 1619 to 1634. It was during his time there that he worked under the employ of Cosimo II de Medici and first encountered the art of the High Renaissance, namely that of Leonardo and Raphael.

This large scale Charity can be dated to circa 1640-1650, a period during which Stella was back in Paris and collaborating on a number of public projects with Simon Vouet and Poussin. In its classical simplicity and soft treatment of skin tone it is entirely consistent with Stella’s working method from his first years back in France. This mature style fuses the techniques learned from his Italian forbearers with a neo-classicist aesthetic promoted by his French contemporaries. It may be compared with other similar works from this period including a Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist, executed on marble (private collection, see J. Thuillier, Jacques Stella, Metz 2006, p. 123) as well as a Virgin and Child in the Musée des Beaux Arts, Lyon (J. Thuillier, op.cit., pp. 126-127). 

We are grateful to Sylvain Laveissière for supporting the attribution to Stella, based on photographs.