Offered by Galerie de Frise
REQUEST INFORMATION
Virginia VEZZI, attributed to
(Velletri, 1600 – Paris, 1638)
Saint Sebastian holding an arrow
Oil on copper
H. 21.7 cm; W. 16.8 cm
Circa 1625
Related work: painting held at the Houston Museum for which our painting is a preparatory work or a replica
Firstly, it should be noted that the Italian period of Simon Vouet and his collaborators, to which this precious small copper panel belongs, has for several decades been a very complex area in terms of attribution, with numerous, divergent and changing opinions, often based on fragile precepts, particularly for half-length portraits. It should also be remembered that Simon Vouet (Paris, 1590 – Paris, 1649), probably the most important French painter of the 17th century alongside Poussin and Champaigne, worked in Italy from 1612 to 1627, mainly in Rome, before returning permanently to Paris.
Our work has the same composition as the fairly large oil on canvas (95.9 x 73.7 cm) held since 1990 at the Houston Museum (USA), which still attributes it to Vouet; However, its very high quality does not prevent specialists in Vouet's Roman period, such as P. Malgouyres and D. Jacquot, from recognizing it as the work of another hand, in particular that of Charles Mellin (Nancy, 1597 – Rome, 1649), one of the leading artists in the master's circle, with the possible participation of the cavalier Muti, an Italian emulator of Vouet and close to Mellin. There is also another version, almost identical and of similar dimensions (94 x 77 cm), but of poorer execution, which was sold at public auction in Germany in 2024 and described as “Mellin's workshop.”
While the author of the composition seems to raise questions, there is nevertheless a fairly tangible element in favor of Vouet: the archives of the trial of the art dealer Fabrizio Valguarnera, which took place in 1631, mention the sale to Abbé Corsetti of a painting on canvas clearly described as being by Vouet, depicting a half-length figure of Saint Sebastian. Admittedly, there is also a painting that entered Cardinal Barberini's inventories between 1626 and 1631, described as having been painted by the brother of Cavalier Muti, depicting Saint Sebastian holding arrows in his hand, with a red taffeta band; this latter painting could correspond to the weaker version already mentioned that appeared on the German market. This is all the more likely given that depictions of Saint Sebastian holding one or more arrows, while not extremely rare, are not common compared to the numerous representations of the saint's martyrdom, with or without the presence of Irene nursing him and removing his arrows, a subject that Vouet himself treated in a painting around 1621.
A Baroque image inspired by Caravaggio's tenebrism (perhaps also by Bernardo Strozzi, himself influenced by Caravaggio, particularly in the pose and inclination of the face, and by Guido Reni), the Houston painting exudes great power and emotion and has a dramatic, even romantic dimension that we do not find in our copperplate. The latter has a more delicate, feminine side, probably accentuated by the diaphanous, almost androgynous face of the saint, quite different from the beautiful, tormented ephebe in Houston.
This is why we are happy to follow the trail of Virginia Vezzi (or da Vezzo), whom Simon Vouet married in 1626, and the only female artist in his close circle. Let us not forget that Vezzi was renowned for her skill in painting small formats, according to Mariette: “[she] drew beautifully, painted miniatures and could work from her own compositions.” On the other hand, stylistic comparisons prove difficult, as to date only one painting is considered with certainty to be by Virginia (the beautiful Judith and Holofernes acquired by the Nantes museum in 2009), thanks to the corresponding engraving by Claude Mellan (another talented artist from Vouet's circle) which bears the inscription Virginia de Vezzo pinx. And the works attributed to her with varying degrees of certainty do not seem to have any obvious stylistic consistency.
