Nicolas REGNIER (Maubeuge 1590 - Venice 1667) and workshop - Lot 15

Nicolas REGNIER (Maubeuge 1590 - Venice 1667) and workshop The Persian Sibyl Canvas. 55 x 49 cm In a gilded carved oak frame, French work of the Louis XIV period. Provenance: anonymous sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, Arcole December 11, 1989, no. 40, repr.; anonymous sale, Paris, Hôtel Georges V, Maîtres Ader et Tajan, June 28, 1994, no. 14, repr. Bibliography: Annick Lemoine, Nicolas Régnier (alias Niccolo Renieri, ca. 1588-1667), peintre, collectionneur et marchand d'art, Paris, 2007, cat. 156, repr. Originally Greek priestesses, the sibyls were assimilated by Christianity, which regarded them as prophets. Popular throughout Europe from the 15th century onwards, they are traditionally depicted with their prophecies. This Persian sibyl presents her message "Invisibile verbum palpabitur" (The Word will become flesh), announcing the coming of the Savior. Treated as a portrait, it can be compared with a Sibyl in the Accademia Gallery in Venice (canvas, 140 x 68 cm; cf. Lemoine, cat. 148 p. 309) and a Circe in private hands (canvas, 112 x 135 cm; cf. Lemoine, cat. 153 pp. 153-154 and 312-313). These two figures were inspired by the same model, perhaps one of the artist's four daughters, and were painted around 1660. By this time, the artist was well established in Venice, having arrived there in 1626. Originally from Maubeuge, and having received his initial training in Antwerp, he used his connections there to establish himself as a painter-merchant of international renown, even being appointed "painter to the King of France in Italy" around 1644. At the head of a renowned studio, he received numerous commissions, including from abroad. Having abandoned the dark palette of his Roman years, marked by Caravaggio, he assimilated the contribution of Bolognese artists who had come to stay in Venice, such as Michele Desubleo and Guido Cagnacci.