Claude Vignon

In the collection of Grand Duke Frederick (Wilhelm Ludwig) I of Baden, Mainau Castle, 1853, no. 417;
By descent, via his daughter Victoria, to Count Lennart Bernadotte, grandson of Frederick I;
With Jean-Luc Baroni, London, from whom acquired by the present owner in October 2004.

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The painting has been recently lined and restored. The paint layer is stable and flat. There are small restored tears upper and lower right and one or two other small losses. Under ultra-violet light a scattering of minor restored losses can be seen across the surface. The background paint is thin in places and the shadows to the sitter's face around the eye and the jaw, as well as the shadows of the sleeve, have been compromised. The colours saturate well and the varnish is not discoloured. Overall, in a good original condition. Offered in a black and gilt wood frame with some minor repairs."
"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 is a relatively mature work by Vignon, probably executed in the 1630s while the artist was resident in Paris. Indeed it is to this period, from 1630 until circa 1656, that the majority of Vignon's paintings can be dated, and it was at this point that he acquired his great reputation for the speed at which he painted, and for the subsequent abundance of paintings that he produced. After his return from Rome in 1623 Vignon very quickly ingratiated himself to the court of Louis XIII which allowed him to experiment further with his art, so that by 1624, in the form of his Solomon and the Queen of Sheba,¹ there were already signs of his taste for the exotic, and of the electric brushwork and unusual combination of colours that characterise his later paintings. Each of these facets can be clearly seen in the present work, as well as in several other three-quarter length single figure compositions from the 1630s; see, for example, Vignon's Allegory of the Old and New Testaments. ²

1. See P. Pacht Bassani, Claude Vignon, Paris 1992, pp. 216-18, no. 72, reproduced.
2. Idem, pp. 343-4, no. 265, reproduced.