The Four Ages of Man: La Vieillesse

Details

Jean Raoux (Montpellier 1677-1734 Paris)
The Four Ages of Man: La Vieillesse
signed and dated 'ft par. J. Raoux a Rome· 1714' (on the sheet of paper, centre left)
oil on canvas
34¼ x 50¾ in. (87 x 128.9 cm.)

Provenance

(Probably) commissioned from the artist by Philippe de Vendôme (1665-1727), Grand Prior of the Order of the Knights of Malta.
Jean-Philippe, Chevalier d'Orléans, by 1740.
The Viscount Wakefield of Hythe; Christie's, London, Catalogue of Pictures & Drawings and Engravings & Etching to be sold for the benefit of the Joint War Organisation of the British Red Cross Society and Order of St. John of Jerusalem, 12 July 1940, lot 844 (500 gns. to Lord Wakefield).

Literature

(Probably) A.J. Dézailler d'Argenville, Abrége de la vie des plus fameux peintres (1745-53), revised 2/1762, IV, pp. 375, 385.
(Probably) E. Bénézit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs, Paris, 1954, p. 116.
(Probably) E. Bellier de la Chavignerie and L. Auvray, Dictionnaire des artistes de l'Ecole française, 1979, IV, p. 342.

Engraved

The series engraved by Moyreau, 1740, when in the collection of Jean-Philippe, Chevalier d'Orléans.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

This composition was probably one of a series of four depicting the Four Ages of Man that were commissioned by Philippe de Vendôme, Grand Prieur of the Knights of Malta, who had been Raoux's patron in Rome. Another (unsigned and dated) composition of the series, L'Enfance, was offered at Sotheby's, New York, 28 January 1999, lot 290.

This series is recorded in the Inventaire après-décès de Raoux, as nos. 52, 53, 54 and 55: 'Item quatre tableaux, sans bordure, représentant les Quatre âges...prisés quatre-vingt livres'. Next in the inventory is listed another picture of the same subject as the present lot: 'Item un autre tableau peint sur toile, sans bordure, représentant la Vieillesse, no. 56, prisé vingt livres.' No dimensions are given for these pictures, and it has not been possible to ascertain which of the above two references refers to the present lot (see Georges Wildenstein, 'L'inventaire après décès de Jean Raoux (1734)', Gazette des Beaux-Arts, May-June 1958, p. 319).

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