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Brother Luce, the Hermit, with the Widow and her Daughter
Pierre Hubert Subleyras (French, 1699–1749)
about 1745
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
29.8 x 22.5cm (11 3/4 x 8 7/8in.)
Framed: 40 x 33 x 3.2 cm (15 3/4 x 13 x 1 1/4 in.)
Framed: 40 x 33 x 3.2 cm (15 3/4 x 13 x 1 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Colnaghi USA, Ltd.
Accession Number1983.592
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
This painting (and its pendant) are variations on works from a set of pictures illustrating Jean de la Fontaine’s Fables that was commissioned by the duc de Saint-Aignan, the French ambassador in Rome from 1723 to 1741. Here we see Brother Luce, a hermit, who has become enamored of a widow's pretty daughter. Disguising himself as a priest, he attempts to convince the girl that God wishes their union to produce a pope. However, their coupling produces an infant girl, and the hermit’s falsehood is discovered.
ProvenanceBy about 1920, Baron Eugène-Napoléon Beyens (b. 1855 - d. 1934), Brussels (?). Private collection, England; July 8, 1981, anonymous ("property of a nobleman") sale, Sotheby's, London, lot 4 [see note 1], to P. and D. Colnaghi, London and New York; 1983, gift of Colnaghi to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 7, 1983)
NOTES:
[1] In a letter from Arabella Bailey of Sotheby's to Helen Hall of the MFA (March 13, 1985), this painting and its companion (1983.593) are said to have been purchased by the consignor's father "probably in Paris before the 1st World War."
NOTES:
[1] In a letter from Arabella Bailey of Sotheby's to Helen Hall of the MFA (March 13, 1985), this painting and its companion (1983.593) are said to have been purchased by the consignor's father "probably in Paris before the 1st World War."