Etienne VILLEQUIN (Ferrières-en-Brie, 1619 ? Paris, 1688) - Lot 12

Etienne VILLEQUIN (Ferrières-en-Brie, 1619 ? Paris, 1688) Christ and the Samaritan Woman Canvas Height : 82 cm Width : 122 cm Bibliography : François Marandet, Étienne Villequin (Ferrières, 1616 - Paris, 1688) : le morceau de réception prévu et autres oeuvres inédites, Les Cahiers d'histoire de l'art, 2017, n° 15, p.55, repr. p.54, fig.10. Étienne Villequin stayed in Rome between 1649 and 1650. On his return, he was accepted by the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture. He was commissioned to paint the 1656 May for Notre-Dame de Paris, depicting Saint Paul defending his cause before Agrippa and Berenice (now in Lyon's Eglise Saint-Pothin). He drew his inspiration from Nicolas Poussin, as evidenced by his Jesus Healing the Blind in Jericho, acquired by Louis XIV in 1683 (Musée du Louvre). Many of his now lost works are known to us thanks to prints. Our painting was engraved by Étienne Baudet around 1685, which suggests that it belongs to the end of the artist's career. For this work, Villequin was probably inspired by the same subject painted by Poussin (now lost, circa 1662), and perhaps by that of Pierre Mignard in 1681. Note the harmony of colors, with mauve, green and beige hues enlivening the drapery of the figures, or the opening onto the Roman landscape with its fortified city. Villequin's composition seems to have met with some success, as it was copied several times. Two replicas are known to exist: one is in the Notre-Dame church in Falaise, the other in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Troyes; three others have passed on to the art market.