Simon Vouet

Galerie Cailleux, Paris, by 1960;
Riechers collection, until 1974.

Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Louis XIV: fastes et décors, May-October 1960, no. 538;
New York, Wildenstein & Co. Inc., The Arts of France, October 2005 - January 2006, no. 14.

R.L. Manning, 'Some important Paintings by Simon Vouet in America', in Studies in the History of Art: Dedicated to William E. Suida on His Eightieth Birthday, London 1959, pp. 297, 300 and note 15, reproduced fig. 8;
W.R. Crelly, The painting of Simon Vouet, New Haven and London 1962, pp. 89, 155, under cat. no. 17, p. 186, under cat. no. 83, p. 202, under cat. no. 112, pp. 203-04, cat. no. 115, reproduced fig. 178;
Y. Piacert, La vie et l'oeuvre de Simon Vouet, Paris 1962, vol. II, pp. 28-29, item d and note 2, 58, cat. no. 62, reproduced plate 29;
Französische Meister aus der Staatlichen Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe 1963, unpaginated, under cat. no. 6;
J. Lauts, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Katalog alte Meister bis 1800, Karlsruhe 1966, vol. I, pp. 308-09, under cat. no. 2486;
A. Leclair and P. Rosenberg, 'De Jean Dubois a Louis-Jacques Durameau: Note sur la Chapelle de la Trinité de Fontainbleau', in Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Francais, 1972, p. 257, note 3;
A. Szigethi, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Budapest: Peintures francaises des XVII^e et XVIII^e siècles, Budapest 1976, p. 36, under cat. no. 1;
C.T. Eisler, Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European School, Excluding Italian, Oxford 1977, pp. 261-63, under cat. no. K2177, reproduced text fig. 64;
Colnaghi, A Collector's Miscellany: European Paintings 1600-1800, 1990-91, pp. 19-20;
P. Rosenberg, 'Exhibition Reviews...Munich, Neue Pinakothek: Vouet', in The Burlington Magazine, CXXXIII, October 1991, p. 730, note 6;
S. Loire, 'Introduction: Simon Vouet: nouvelles précisions et perspectives de recherches', in S. Loire (ed.), Simon Vouet: Actes du colloque international, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, 1992, p. 18, note 19;
J.J. Luna, 'A propos de tableaux et de dessins de Simon Vouet conservés dans les collections espagnoles', in S. Loire (ed.), Simon Vouet: Actes du colloque international, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, 1992, pp. 71-72 and note 22;
J.D. Reid, The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1300-1990s, New York and Oxford 1993, vol. II, p. 681;
A. Brejon de Lavergnée, 'Une série de Muses de l'atelier de Simon Vouet', in Ex Fumo Lucem: Baroque Studies in Honour of Klara Garas, Presented on Her Eightieth Birthday, Budapest 1999, vol. I, pp. 167-68, 171-72, 175, 178-80, reproduced p. 169, fig. 3 (as workshop of Vouet, possibly Michel Dorigny);
The Splendor of Ruins in French Landscape Painting, 1630-1800, Oberlin 2005, pp. 169-70, under cat. no. 36, notes 3 and 4;
The Arts of France, exhibition catalogue, New York 2005, pp. 109-10, cat. no. 14, reproduced in color;
P. Conisbee, French Paintings of the Fifteenth through the Eighteenth Century, Washington D.C. 2009, pp. 460 and 463, under cat. no. 97 and note 4 (text by G. Feigenbaum).

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 in beautiful condition. It is painted on a wooden panel, which has possibly been joined vertically through the left hand on the right side. Although the painting looks very comfortable and presentable, there may be a dirt layer to the surface. If this were carefully cleaned, the palette of the work would brighten. At present, a few isolated spots of retouching are visible in the blue gown of the figure and in a few spots in the lower right. The work could easily be hung in its current state, but it will respond well to cleaning.
"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."

After making his name in Italy in the first quarter of the seventeenth century, Vouet returned to France in 1627 and was appointed Premier Peintre du Roi under Louis XIII. He is known to have produced the now-lost cartoons for a series of Old Testament tapestries today in the Louvre, as well as numerous works for the royal residences.

This charming representation of Euterpe orignally formed part of a dispersed series depicting the nine Muses which was most likely painted for a learned man familiar with Ancient Greek and Renaissance literature. Of the seven other muses in the set, each is on an oak panel and of similar dimensions to the present work; Melpomene, the Muse of Singing, is yet to be traced.

The paintings of the seven other Muses include: Clio, the Muse of History in the Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe; the work which depicts Urania, the Muse of Astronomy and Calliope, the Muse of Epic Poetry in the National Gallery of Art, Washington; Polymnia, the Muse of Oratory, Sacred Music and Song in the Musée du Louvre, Paris; Thalia, the Muse of Comedy in a private collection; Erato, the Muse of Erotic Poetry in the New Orleans Museum of Art; Terpsichore, the Muse of Dance and Music in a private collection, sold in these Rooms 19 May 1995, lot 97. The latter probably includes some studio participation and omits the architectural features included in the rest of the series.

A drawing for the figure of Euterpe in the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, formerly given to Giovanni Domenico Campiglia, was re-attributed correctly to Vouet by Rosenberg in 1991 (see Literature, fig. 1).