Lot Essay
Claude Vignon, one of the most original painters active in seventeenth-century France, was also a prolific designer of prints (for a complete overview of his career, see Pacht Bassani, op. cit.). He and his public seem to have been especially fond of series representing monumental standing figures, with smaller scenes illustrating episodes from the subject’s life depicted in the background, as in his series of Sibyls (ibid., nos. 184-195, ill.), the Seven Sages of Greece (nos. 294-300), and the builders of the Seven Wonders of the World (nos. 301-307).
In 1647, Vignon added to these series a ‘Galerie des Femmes fortes’, depicting twenty-one remarkable women from ancient, Jewish and Christian history (ibid., 434-454, ill.). The prints were executed by Gilles Rousselet (for the main figure) and Abraham Bosse (for the background), and published by Pierre I Mariette. Among the women features Camma, the Galatian Princess mentioned by Plutarch. When the tetrarch Sinorix, having killed her husband Sinatus, wanted to marry her, she poisoned both him and herself, and died as a model of virtue and courage. In Vignon’s composition Camma’s death is illustrated in the background, set in a temple, while in the foreground she is seen pointing to heaven and holding the cup in which the poisoned drink was served.
As with the other drawings for the series and for models for similar series, Vignon used red chalk for the large figures and black chalk for the background scenes (see ibid., passim; and In Arte Venustas. Studies on Drawings in Honour of Teréz Gerszi, Budapest, 2007, pp. 142-147, under no. 45, text by S. Folds McCullagh). Several of the drawings for the ‘Femmes fortes’ survive, but the Bloxam sheet, which was the first drawing by the artist ever to be published (Lejeaux, op. cit.; see also Rosenberg, op. cit.), is the last remaining in private hands (the one representing Cleopatra (Pacht-Bassani, op. cit., no. 454, ill.) was recently acquired for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. 2010.158). Paula Pacht-Bassani praises the Bloxam drawing as an outstanding example of the artist’s mature style, characterized by ‘volume and stability of form; a strong, thick and broad handling of the red chalk, lighter and more nervous in the use of the black chalk’ (ibid., p. 440).
In 1647, Vignon added to these series a ‘Galerie des Femmes fortes’, depicting twenty-one remarkable women from ancient, Jewish and Christian history (ibid., 434-454, ill.). The prints were executed by Gilles Rousselet (for the main figure) and Abraham Bosse (for the background), and published by Pierre I Mariette. Among the women features Camma, the Galatian Princess mentioned by Plutarch. When the tetrarch Sinorix, having killed her husband Sinatus, wanted to marry her, she poisoned both him and herself, and died as a model of virtue and courage. In Vignon’s composition Camma’s death is illustrated in the background, set in a temple, while in the foreground she is seen pointing to heaven and holding the cup in which the poisoned drink was served.
As with the other drawings for the series and for models for similar series, Vignon used red chalk for the large figures and black chalk for the background scenes (see ibid., passim; and In Arte Venustas. Studies on Drawings in Honour of Teréz Gerszi, Budapest, 2007, pp. 142-147, under no. 45, text by S. Folds McCullagh). Several of the drawings for the ‘Femmes fortes’ survive, but the Bloxam sheet, which was the first drawing by the artist ever to be published (Lejeaux, op. cit.; see also Rosenberg, op. cit.), is the last remaining in private hands (the one representing Cleopatra (Pacht-Bassani, op. cit., no. 454, ill.) was recently acquired for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. 2010.158). Paula Pacht-Bassani praises the Bloxam drawing as an outstanding example of the artist’s mature style, characterized by ‘volume and stability of form; a strong, thick and broad handling of the red chalk, lighter and more nervous in the use of the black chalk’ (ibid., p. 440).