AUGUSTE-JEAN-BAPTISTE VINCHON | FIVE STUDIES OF HORSES' HEADS, AFTER RAPHAEL'S FRESCOES IN THE STANZE VATICANE

“The rigorous study of ancient art and the “Old Masters” was a fundamental part of every painter’s training until the modern era. Indeed, such innovative painters as Degas and Picasso spent time in their youth copying the art of their artistic forebears. Like so many others, Vinchon found his source of inspiration in Rome. These studies of horses’ heads are taken from Raphael’s frescoes in the Vatican stanze, and demonstrate the young painter’s mastery of classical form. For me, these lushly rendered sketches are both beautiful paintings, but also fundamental to understanding the later career of the young artist, who would go on to become one of the great fresco painters of his age.”

Christopher Apostle

These five heads were painted by Vinchon between 1815 and 1817 when the artist was in Rome, having won the Prix de Rome from the Académie Royale de Paris in 1814. As the present studies show, many visiting artists would further their artistic education by copying the great masters of the past, whose work adorned the walls of Rome's palaces. Upon his return to Paris, Vinchon became one of the leading portraitists and history painters in Restoration France. Each of the horses is taken from Raphael's frescoes at the Vatican. The first painting of the grey horse facing to the right is a study of Constantine's magnificent horse in the very centre of the fresco depicting the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in the Room of Constantine. The second, third and fourth horses are also taken from that fresco. The fifth horse, the only one shown unbridled, is taken from the fresco of The Meeting of Pope Leo and Attila the Hun in the Room of Heliodorus.

Another example of Vinchon copying the fresco of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge is the remarkably similar canvas sold in Paris, Sotheby's, 23 June 2011, lot 108, which until 1998 had remained in the artist's family.