Master Paintings

Claude Vignon

The Prophet Isaiah

Auction Closed

May 20, 03:42 PM GMT

Estimate

15,000 - 20,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Claude Vignon

Tours 1593 - 1670 Paris

The Prophet Isaiah

inscribed lower left: Jsaye 9 e profete / C

oil on canvas, unframed

canvas: 48 ¾ by 36 in.; 124 by 91.5 cm.

John F. Braun, Merian, Pennsylvania, by 1928 and until at least 1947.

P. Rosenberg, Inventaire des collections publiques françaises, 14, Rouen, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tableaux français du XVIIe siècle et italiens des XVII^e et XVIII^e siècles, 1966, p. 136;
P. Pacht Bassani, Claude Vignon, 1992, pp. 420-21, cat. no. 402, reproduced.

ENGRAVED
F. Poilly (in reverse)

Claude Vignon was a remarkably prolific and important French painter of the seventeenth century, whose style exhibits the influence of his many travels throughout Europe during his career. Born in Tours, he received his early training in Paris and though he was first recorded in Rome by 1618, he was likely based there from as early as 1610. He was part of the community of French painters working in Rome in the wake of Caravaggio's death, including Simon Vouet and Valentin de Boulogne, who were greatly influenced by the master as well as his closest follower, Bartolomeo Manfredi. Vignon's style, particularly after his return to Paris by his marriage in 1623, exhibits a sensitivity to the mannerist styles and colors of Northern artists.

A full set of the twelve Prophets of Israel are engraved after Vignon, though only five of the original paintings are known to exist. Pacht Bassani dates the paintings to circa 1646-7, during the artist's mature period.¹

1. See P. Pacht Bassani, under Literature, pp. 414-15