Claude Vignon, (Tours 1593 - 1670 Paris), Saint Cecilia

oil on canvas. 87 by 64.5 cm.; 34 1/4 by 25 3/8 in. Estimate 40,000—60,000 GBP - Lot sold 61,250 GBP

PROVENANCE: In the collection of Grand Duke Frederick (Wilhelm Ludwig) I of Baden, Mainau Castle, 1853, no. 417;
By descent, via his daughter Victoria, to Count Lennart Bernadotte, grandson of Frederick I;
With Jean-Luc Baroni, London, from whom acquired by the present owner in October 2004.

NOTE: This is a relatively mature work by Vignon, probably executed in the 1630s while the artist was resident in Paris. Indeed it is to this period, from 1630 until circa 1656, that the majority of Vignon's paintings can be dated, and it was at this point that he acquired his great reputation for the speed at which he painted, and for the subsequent abundance of paintings that he produced. After his return from Rome in 1623 Vignon very quickly ingratiated himself to the court of Louis XIII which allowed him to experiment further with his art, so that by 1624, in the form of his Solomon and the Queen of Sheba,¹ there were already signs of his taste for the exotic, and of the electric brushwork and unusual combination of colours that characterise his later paintings. Each of these facets can be clearly seen in the present work, as well as in several other three-quarter length single figure compositions from the 1630s; see, for example, Vignon's Allegory of the Old and New Testaments. ²

1. See P. Pacht Bassani, Claude Vignon, Paris 1992, pp. 216-18, no. 72, reproduced.
2. Idem, pp. 343-4, no. 265, reproduced.

Sotheby's. Old Master Paintings. 04 Dec 08. London courtesy Sotheby's. www.sothebys.com