Louis Vallée

Anonymous sale Vienna, Dorotheum, 23 March 1965, lot 134 (as J.B. Weenix, bearing a Weenix signature and dated 1651);
With L.T.N. Neumann, Vienna 1976.

Advertisement in Weltkunst, 15 December 1976,  p. 2474 (as J.B. Weenix).

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The original canvas is lined and the paint layer is raised and unstable with evidence of earlier paint loss; particularly pronounced in the background were significant restoration has been undertaken. Further loss is evident across the painting under ultraviolet light; the red dress of the standing figure is noticeable through its loss, but the flesh tones are well preserved along with areas of impastoed paint. The varnish is discoloured and its removal would improve the tonality. Offered in a carved gilt wood frame in good condition."
"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."

Very little is known about Louis Vallée, and very few works can be firmly attributed to him. He is recorded in the burial register as having lived on the Warmoesstraat, in the parish of the Oude Kerk. From the signed works there can be deduced a short window of activity from 1646-53, but this apparently short career leads to speculation of an early death; indeed the artist may have been carried off by the plague which was raging in Amsterdam in 1653. The present picture should be compared to the figure of the child in the Family Portrait sold London, Christie's, 19 April 1985, lot 100.

We are grateful to Dr. Peter van Den Brink for endorsing the attribution to Louis de Vallée on the basis of a digital photograph.