VIGNON; CLAUDE
1593 Tour - 1670 Paris - attributed

Saint Hieronymus as a Recluse. Oil on canvas. Relined. 97 x 135cm. Framed.

Provenance:
Auction; Cologne; Van Ham Fine Art Auctioneers; Fine Art; March 3; 1998; Lot 1270; Illst.;
Private ownership; Cologne

Expert Assessment:
Dr. Christian Eder; Cologne; 2008

In his detailed expert assessment Eder first discusses the well-known etching of the same motif; which is generally attributed to Ribera. Addressing the doubts brought forward by Pierre Rosenberg as to this attribution; Eder proves the wrong premises regarding the classification of this piece as graphic art. Furthermore; he describes the immediate closeness Vignon's; the Caravaggists' and Ribera's artistic conceptions. Most interesting is the painting's comparison to a work located in Dijon with a very similar depiction of a reading Hieronymus (cf.: Dijon; Mus閑 des Beaux-Arts; inv.no.: CA 47 ; 47 (cat. 1883) ; A.2 no. 5 (cat. peint. italiennes 1980) ; F'vret no. 79 (Devosge)).

Pierre Rosenberg and Jacques Thuillier classified the Dijon painting as belonging to Vignon's oeuvre back in 1970 and 1972. The author of the catalogue raisonn閑; Paola Pacht; however; classified the Dijon painting as a copy. Eder states: "... the Dijon version (has) a harder surface texture which overemphasises the musculature in a way that makes it seem to be composed of unconnected; single elements. It lacks in every respect skillfully rendered smooth transitions of the present painting; in which the alternately strong and weakly applied paint as well as the undulating brushwork masterly create volume and liveliness. It is therefore quite likely that the Dijon version has to be considered a workshop copy of the composition by Claude Vignon; discussed above." [translation]
Art trade; Van Ham.