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Lot Essay
This small-scale, intimate portrait is a rare example in Voet’s production where the artist uses an iconographic motive which was developed by Flemish painters in the beginning of the 17th Century, that of the flower garland surrounding a devotional image. To achieve a higher level of finish, the still life was left to a florista, or flower painter. The other known example by the artist of a portrait-within-garland is that of the Portrait of a Lady sold at Sotheby’s New York in 2006, whose wreath of fruit was painted by Michelangelo Pace.
This type of collaboration between artists with different specialities was a common practice in Rome. Both Ferdinand Voet and Mario Nuzzi worked for the illustrious Colonna family, the latter’s patronage exemplified in the fabulous specchiere, with figures painted by Carlo Maratta, still hanging today in the Colonna gallery. Furthermore, the present lot comes from the Colonna collection and is traditionally believed to depict a member of the family who appears again in another portrait by Voet alone (private collection, Rome, see F. Petrucci, op. cit., 2005, no. 119).
The garland is full of symbolic connotations, as was often the case when still life was accosted to religious subjects. In this case, the flowers allude to the full-bloom of the sitter’s beauty and youth, with a particular emphasis to a branch of lilies, in the upper right quadrant, alluding to her chastity.
This painting was included in the celebrated exhibition Art Treasures of the United Kingdom in Manchester in 1857, which remains the largest art exhibition ever held in the United Kingdom. With over 16,000 works on display, the exhibition attracted over 1.3 million visitors over 142 days. The main advisor was the German art historian Gustav Waagen, who had published his Treasures of Art in Great Britain only three years earlier. The 1857 exhibition inspired many other exhibitions to be modelled on it, and various paintings that were present in it also featured in the 1868 Leeds exhibition.
This type of collaboration between artists with different specialities was a common practice in Rome. Both Ferdinand Voet and Mario Nuzzi worked for the illustrious Colonna family, the latter’s patronage exemplified in the fabulous specchiere, with figures painted by Carlo Maratta, still hanging today in the Colonna gallery. Furthermore, the present lot comes from the Colonna collection and is traditionally believed to depict a member of the family who appears again in another portrait by Voet alone (private collection, Rome, see F. Petrucci, op. cit., 2005, no. 119).
The garland is full of symbolic connotations, as was often the case when still life was accosted to religious subjects. In this case, the flowers allude to the full-bloom of the sitter’s beauty and youth, with a particular emphasis to a branch of lilies, in the upper right quadrant, alluding to her chastity.
This painting was included in the celebrated exhibition Art Treasures of the United Kingdom in Manchester in 1857, which remains the largest art exhibition ever held in the United Kingdom. With over 16,000 works on display, the exhibition attracted over 1.3 million visitors over 142 days. The main advisor was the German art historian Gustav Waagen, who had published his Treasures of Art in Great Britain only three years earlier. The 1857 exhibition inspired many other exhibitions to be modelled on it, and various paintings that were present in it also featured in the 1868 Leeds exhibition.