Charles Mellin

A pope saint holding a chalice

Lot Closed

January 28, 04:11 PM GMT

Estimate

20,000 - 30,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Property from the Collection of Gerald E. Rupp

Charles Mellin

Nancy circa 1600 - 1649 Rome

A pope saint holding a chalice

oil on octagonal canvas

canvas: 26 1/4 by 21 3/8 in.; 66.6 by 54.3 cm.

framed: 33 by 28 1/4 in.; 83.8 by 71.8 cm.

Probably Maffeo Barberini (1631 - 1685), Rome, inv. 1655 no. 430: "Un quadro con una Testa di un Santo che tiene un Calice in mano Cornice d'Albuccio dorata in Ottangolo alto palmi quattro e mezzo in cieca largo tre";
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 7 April 1995, lot 32 (where unsold);
With Newhouse Galleries/Trinity Fine Arts, New York, by 1998;
From whom acquired.

P. Malgouyres, "Charles Mellin, le Dominiquin et le Guerchin," in Le Pays lorrain 2, no. 78 (April-June 1997): pp. 111-116, reproduced p. 115.
P. Malgouyres, Charles Mellin: Un Lorrain entre Rome et Naples, exhibition catalogue, Paris 2007, pp. 109-110, 272-273, cat. no. 54, reproduced in color p. 109 (as location unknown).

Identified in 1995 by Erich Schleier as the work of Charles Mellin, this octagonal painting is probably the one listed, without attribution to an artist, in the 1655 inventory of Maffeo Barberini, Gonfalonier of the Catholic Church and the grand-nephew of Pope Urban VIII. Another painting from his 1655 inventory, also of octagonal format and identical dimensions, was probably its pendant: it depicted a saint in prayer with hands folded and head raised, a favorite pose of Mellin's.

The saint depicted is difficult to identify, but the chasuble he wears shows Saints Peter and Paul, a type often worn by popes. Possibilities include Saint Gregory the Great, although this figure lacks the attributes of the dove of the Holy Spirit, book, and quill, and Saint Urban, though it is unlike Mellin's other representations of Urban. The age of the figure, chalice, and chasuble suggest a papal figure. The composition was a popular one, with at least eight copies made before the nineteenth century, including examples by Giullaume Courtous and Joseph-Marie Vien.¹ The face, shown di sotto in su, is very similar to that of Mellin's St. Francis of Paola now in the Musée Lorrain, Nancy.²

1. See Malgouyres 2007, cat nos. 54a - 54g.

2. Oil on canvas, 165 by 111 cm. inv. 77.2.9.