Saint John the Baptist

A number of paintings that Vouet executed in Italy are lost and the first years of his actvity in Rome are especially problematic. A picture of the same subject as the present lot but of slightly smaller dimensions now in the National Museum, Stockholm was linked to Vouet's Roman production (1615-21) by J. Thuiller and P. Rosenberg (see P. Grate, French Paintings I, Seventeenth Century, Swedish National Art Museums, Stockholm, 1988, p. 72). Although not an exact version of the present lot, it is easy to surmise that perhaps both heads were modeled after what is apparently a lost prototype by the Master (see H. Jodard, 'Nicolas Bergeat dernier vicaire du chapitre, premier conservateur du Musée de Reims', in RSBAD, XXII, 1889, pp. 749-792). A version closely resembling the present lot but of inferior quality was offered at Christie's, London, 25 October 1990, lot 90.