Sebastien BOURDON (1616 - 1671) Adoration of the... Lot 32

Sebastien BOURDON (1616 - 1671) Adoration of the Magi Original canvas Height : 46 cm Width : 34.5 cm Provenance : Private collection (Auvergne) Exhibition: Museum of Riom (Auvergne), August 1874, Exposition des Beaux- Arts, N°33 as Veronese. Bears a number 33 on the lower left. Let us point out three other Adoration of the Magi of small size close to ours, dated from the beginning of the years 1640, - Potsdam, Schloss Sans-Souci, 46 x 36 cm, Jacques Thuillier, Sébastien Bourdon, 1616-1671, Catalogue Catalogue critique et chronologique de l'oeuvre complet, Réunion des musées nationaux, Montpellier, 2000, p.199 n°61. - Paris, Aldecoa collection, copper 46 x 35 cm, op. cit. p. 200, n°62.1; - Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria, 45,4 x 35,7 cm, op. cit., p.200 n°62.2. Born into a Calvinist family in Montpellier in 1616, Sébastien Bourdon had an adventurous youth, He did his apprenticeship with a painter in Paris before leaving for Rome at the age of 20. He painted bambochades, frequented the young Nicolas Poussin, Peter van Laer, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, Claude Lorrain, Pietro da Cortona. Denounced as a heretic, he is forced to return to Paris, and stops in Venice. The arrival of Poussin in Paris (1640-1642) allowed him to adopt the classical style of this master, although his large altarpieces show a light baroque influence. In 1648, he was one of the twelve elders who founded the who founded the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. He traveled to Sweden from 1652 to 1654, and then stayed in his native city in 1657. He obtains prestigious orders prestigious orders for large decorations on his return to the capital, in particular for the hotel of Bretonvillers in 1663. Expert: TURQUIN cabinet. Condition report: The painting is preserved on its original canvas and reassembled on a stretcher from the second half of the 19th century. It is in old condition with a very dirty and irregular varnish. Under ultraviolet light, some rough retouching can be seen, including one under the dog on the right at the edge of the frame of about 3 x 2 cm, another one above the character on the left of about 2 x 3 cm. A few very small scattered restorations. In conclusion, the painting is in excellent condition.