PARISIAN SCHOOL circa 1630, entourage of the LE NAIN brother - Lot 29

PARISIAN SCHOOL circa 1630, entourage of the LE NAIN brothers The Childhood of the Virgin Copper. 37.5 x 27.5 cm This painting is typical of Parisian painting on the bangs of the students of Simon Vouet or painters of grand décors or altarpieces. It could be associated with artists such as Pierre Brébiette, Claude Vignon, the Le Nain brothers and the Maître des Cortèges, notably some of his small copper formats (this name refers to an artist close to the Le Nain brothers, but with a distinct personality, who produced some twenty works). Our small copper is to be compared with the Communion of the Virgin, from the entourage of the Le Nain brothers, acquired by the Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Orléans in 2019 (see Corentin Dury, Musées d'Orléans, Peintures françaises et italiennes - XVe-XVIIe siècles, Gand, Snoeck, 2023, pp. 277-279, n° 39). The kneeling angel on the left is identical in both paintings. The subject combines St. Anne's education of the Virgin Mary on the right, with the more rarely depicted episode of Mary praying in the Temple of Jerusalem on the left. Accompanied by angels, she adores the Ark of the Covenant.