Nicolas Régnier (Maubeuge, Flanders xcrca 1590 - 1667 Venice), Saint Christina

oil on canvas. 168 by 119 cm.; 66 1/4 by 46 7/8 in. Est. 30,000—50,000 GBP

PROVENANCE: Lt. Col. J. Clitherow;
His Sale, Christie's, 25 November 1932, lot 77, as "Guido", for 88 gns. to Spiller;
Anonymous sale, Copenhagen, Bruun Rasmussen, 7 November 1996, lot 163, where purchased by the present owner.

LITERATURE AND REFERENCES: A. Lemoine, Nicolas Régnier, Paris 2007, p. 286, cat. no. 108, reproduced in colour p. 149.

NOTE: Annick Lemoine believes this to be a late work by Régnier, dating from the 1640s or 1650s, when the artist was established in Venice. The treatment of the figure in the present painting, and in particular the handling of the drapery, can be compared to other works of this date by Régnier such as his Penitent Magdalen in the Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery.¹ Mme. Lemoine has suggested that Saint Christina may have been commissioned as the companion piece to a Saint Sebastian in the Museo Civico in Bassano del Grappa, inv. 140.² Both paintings are certainly heavily influenced by Bolognese idealism and have both in the past been attributed to Guido Reni.

When this painting was cleaned after the Bruun Rasmussen sale, the restorer removed the overpaint to reveal the arrows piercing Christina's body. Christina, an early Christian martyr, was the daughter of a Roman nobleman who distributed her father's gold and silver idols to the poor. As punishment, he had her scourged, imprisoned and then thrown into Lake Bolsena with a millstone around her neck. She survived all these and further tortures but was ultimately martyred by the executioners' arrows.

1. See A. Lemoine, Nicolas Régnier, p. 302, cat. no. 134, reproduced.

2. See A. Lemoine, op. cit., p. 287, cat. no. 109.

Sotheby's. Old Master & Early British Paintings. 22 Apr 09. London www.sothebys.com photo courtesy Sotheby's