Gérard Douffet

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 canvas has a very old lining and a more recent reinforcement to the tacking edges. Despite the lining there is a significant and complex structural break in the lower right quadrant and smaller losses which have been protected with a thin adhesive tape in other areas. Of more concern is the condition of the paint layer generally, which is challenging to say the least. The tempting condition of the central figure’s right bicep for instance is probably not typical of the remainder of the picture. The face of this figure and the face of the female on the right are not only beautifully painted, but are thankfully in lovely condition. The face of the figure on the left is probably in less good condition. There is no doubt that the condition of this painting varies from very good to very bad, but proper and careful restoration would be rewarding.
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We are grateful to Dr. John M. Gash of Aberdeen University for identifying this painting as the work of Gérard Douffet on the basis of photographs.  Dr. Gash dates the work to circa 1614-1622, making it one of the earliest known works by the artist.  Douffet, who introduced caravaggesque painting to his native Liège, was an artist who worked in the circle of Bartolomeo Manfredi and Nicolas Tournier in Rome.  Additionally, he was a friend and roommate to Valentin de Boulogne, whose influence can also be seen in the present work.  Here, the faces and drapery of Vice and Virtue particularly recall the female figures in the lower right corner of Douffet's Saint Helena Finding the True Cross, signed and dated 1624, in the Staatsgalerie Neuburg an der Donau (see B. Nicolson, Caravaggism in Europe, Oxford 1979, vol. II, reproduced plates 645 and 648).  Dr. Gash also points out the similarities between the face of Virtue and that of Saint James in Christ Appearing to Saint James (Schleissheim) and finds echoes of Vice's diagonally downward pointing right hand in one of the figures in the background balcony of Pope Nicholas V at the Tomb of Saint Francis (also Staatsgalerie Neuburg an der Donau).

The myth of the choice of Hercules, as recorded in Xenophon's Memorabilia (2.1.21-34), tells of how the young Hercules was approached by two beautiful young nymphs while tending his step-father's cattle.  The first, represented here in a luxurious red velvet dress, offers him a life free of pain or labour and filled with love, easiness and pleasure.  The second, here on the hero's right and wearing white robes, tells him that if he chooses her, he will need to work and sacrifice; he will experience loss and pain, but he will be glorified and revered in return.  Although Hercules does choose the path of Virtue over Vice, here Douffet has perfectly captured the tension and uncertainty that underlay that decision.