Francisco de Zurbarán, and Studio Fuente de Cantos, Badajoz 1598 - 1664 Madrid

Mademoiselle Bonvoisin, Lavarde (Lot et Garonne), as of 1962;
Anonymous sale, Versailles, Palais des Congrès, 2 March 1986, lot 59;
Anonymous sale, Paris, Nouveau Drouot, 22 March 1988, lot 106 (no catalogue);
Private collection.

Valencia, Museo de Bellas Artes, Zurbarán y obrador: pinturas para el Nuevo Mundo, 14 July - 24 September 1998, no. 21, reproduced in colour on pp. 19 (detail), 133 and 135 (detail).

Marqués de Lozoya, "Varia: más zurbaranes en el Perú?", in Archivo español de arte, vol. XL, no. 157, 1967, pp. 85-86;
P. Guinard, "Varia: sobre el San Guillermo de Aquitania de Zurbarán," in Archivo español de arte, vol. XLII, no. 167, 1969, pp. 297-299, reproduced plate I, II (detail), III (detail);
P. Guinard and T. Frati, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Zurbarán, Paris 1975, p. 116, no. 524 bis;
J. Gudiol, Zurbarán, Barcelona 1976, p.116, no. 491, reproduced p. 356, fig. 442;
A. Calvo Castellon, Los fondos arquitectó y el paisaje en la pintura barroca andaluza, Granada 1982, pp. 221-222, reproduced fig. 25;
M.I. Caturla and O.Delenda, Francisco de Zurbarán, Paris 1994, pp. 215; 239, note 52, reproduced p.216;
B. Navarrete Prieto, "Génesis y descendencia de 'la doce tribus de Israel' y ostras series Zurbaranescas," in Zurbarán. Las doce tribus de Israel. Jacob y sus hijos, Madrid 1995, pp. 94-95, note 44;
O. Delenda, "Vignon et l'atelier de Zurbarán", in C. Mingot et al (ed.), Claude Vignon en son temps : Actes du colloque international de l'Université de Tours (28-29 janvier 1994), Klincksieck 1998, pp.211-212, 213, notes 20, 21, reproduced fig. 164;
O. Delenda, "Zurbarán : dix ans après", in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 6^e pér., CXXXII, no. 1557, October 1998, pp. 130-131, reproduced p. 129, fig. 6;
F. Jimeno, "Algunos modelos franceses en la pintura española del siglo XVII : Nicolas Poussin y Claude Vignon," in Butlletí de la Reial Académia Catalana de Belles Arts de Sant Jordì, vol. XIV, 2000, p. 81;
B. Navarete Prieto, La pintura andaluza del siglo XVII y sus fuentes grabadas, Madrid 1998, pp. 243, 259, reproduced p. 243, fig. 500 (detail: head and torso of saint);
A. Rodríguez Romero, "Presencia del grabado francés en el virreinato del Perú. Aportes iconográficos de Claude Vignon", in III Congreso Internacional del Barroco Iberoamericano Territorio, Arte, Espacio y Sociedad, Seville 2002, p. 374;
O. Delenda et al, Francisco de Zurbarán, 1598-1664, I, Catálogo razonado y critico, Madrid 2009, pp. 626-628, no. 1-225, reproduced; also cited vol. II, Madrid 2010, p. 443, under no. II-211.

William X, Duke of Aquitaine, ruled the area surrounding Toulouse after 1127. According to legend William supported anti-papal factions before being led back to the Church by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. He is here shown wearing the armour of his military career that he is said to have never removed after his saving by Saint Bernard. His standard is cast aside at his feet. Beyond he is shown kneeling before the Saint who hears his confession. They are depicted in front of the church of Parthenay, Bernard administering the sacrament to William who would immediately renounce his worldly goods and dedicate himself to a life of solitude. William X is not to be confused with William I of Aquitaine, also called William of Gellone, who served under Charlemagne, won his greatest victory against the Moors in Spain and who was canonised in 812 A.D.

As Odile Delenda has pointed out (see Literature), Zurbarán has used as his source for the figure of St. William a painting by Claude Vignon, known today through an engraving by Jérôme David (1590/1600-c.1663) and a bust-length replica by Vignon in a private collection.¹  French engravings seem to have been circulating widely in Spain, and especially Seville, in the mid-seventeenth century; a series of Sibyls from Zurbaran's workshop, probably by Francisco Polanco, are, for example, based on engravings by Gilles Rousselet and Abraham Bosse, themselves after drawings by Vignon.²

The painting most likely formed part of a series destined for export to the New World and is dated by Delenda to circa 1650-58.

1.  For the engraving see Delenda, under literature, vol. I, p. 627, fig. 1 and for the painting see P. Pacht Bassani, "Corrections et complements à la mongraphie sur Claude Vignon [Paris 1993]", in Claude Vignon et son temps: Actes du colloque international de l'Université de Tours [28-29 January 1994], 1998, p. 18, reproduced fig. 17.
2.  See Delenda, op. cit., vol. II, pp. 330-336, nos. PO-36 - PO-47.