(Coulommiers-en-Brie, Seine-et-Marne 1591?–1632 Rome)
Saint Paul the Hermit,
oil on canvas, 150 x 120 cm, unframed

Provenance:
European private collection

We are grateful to Professor Wolfgang Prohaska for suggesting the attribution after examining the painting in the original.

The present painting, showing Saint Paul the Hermit, is a masterfully rendered work from Valentin de Boulogne’s late period. The saint is depicted against a dark landscape backdrop, with strong chiaroscuro produced by a streak of light falling in from the right. The composition is balanced by a superbly constructed scenic view. Saint Paul is considered the ‘inventor of a hermit’s life’, whose life was put down in writing by Saint Jerome in 376. Paul was born in Egypt the son of wealthy Christian parents and retired to the Egyptian desert as the first Christian hermit and ascetic during the persecution of Christians under Decius. There he lived all by himself over many decades, subsisting thanks to a spring, a palm tree, and a raven that brought him half a loaf of bread every day.

The artist rendered the saint and his attributes – a garment woven of palm straw, an open book, the loaf of bread, a rosary, and a crucifix – in a liberal, fluid manner that lends the figure and the objects both transparency and relief. Stylistic correspondences, such as the saint’s open hands with their slightly bent fingers, mainly recur in two depictions of Saint Jerome by the same artist (Wellesley, Jewett Arts Center, and Camerino, Santa Maria in Via), both of which are datable to 1629 (cf. M. Mojana, Valentin de Boulogne, 1989, pp. 158, 160). This allows us to assign the present painting to the second half of the 1620s. During the mature phase of his career, Valentin’s work became more refined in execution and less abrupt in mood, so that one can already sense a noble grandeur, a fusion of Caravaggism and the classical Baroque. There is more emphasis on conveying psychological relationships between the protagonists, also often a more spiritual or introspective quality.

Valentin de Boulogne spent most of his career in Rome, where he came under the influence of Caravaggio and Bartolomeo Manfredi. He was born at Coulommiers-en-Brie, Seine-et-Marne, and his name derives from Boulogne-sur-Mer, Pas de Calais. His father may have provided his early training, but his style was formed in Italy. According to the German writer Sandrart, he was in Rome before 1614, when his compatriot Vouet arrived, but he is first securely documented there in 1620. By 1624 he was associated with the Schildersbent, a group of Dutch and Flemish painters living in Rome; and he was also a member of the Accademia di S. Luca. Valentin’s early work appears to reflect the same preoccupations, subject matter, and stylistic influences that are associated with other artists from the Manfredi circle: low-life genre scenes such as the Cheat (Dresden, Gemäldegalerie) and the Concert (Chatsworth, Derbyshire) and more dramatic religious subjects, such as the Denial of Saint Peter (Florence, Longhi Foundation) and Christ Driving the Moneychangers from the Temple (Rome, Galleria Corsini), which shows the influence of Caravaggio’s Calling of St. Matthew in S. Luigi dei Francesi, Rome.

The last years of Valentin’s life are relatively well known. Like other French painters in Rome, he worked for the francophile Barberini family, and from 1627 Cardinal Francesco Barberini gave him regular commissions. A David (Fountain Valley, Private Collection) and a Beheading of St John the Baptist (ex Galleria Sciarra, Rome, mid-19th century) date from these years. An Allegory of Rome – or Allegory of Italy – (Rome, Istituto Finlandese, Villa Lante sul Gianicolo) and a portrait of Cardinal Barberini (untraced) were paid for in 1628. A Samson (Cleveland Museum of Art) was paid for by Barberini at the end of 1630. The previous year Valentin had been commissioned to paint for the basilica of St. Peter an altarpiece depicting the Martyrdom of Saints Processus and Martinian (Rome, Pinacoteca Vaticana), a mark of particular favour. One of Valentin’s last commissions was the large painting Gathering with a Fortune-Teller (Vienna, Liechtenstein Museum), which he painted in the spring of 1631 for Fabrizio Valguarnera, a Sicilian nobleman.

According to Baglione, Valentin died from a chill caught after bathing in a fountain following an evening of smoking and drinking. Baglione also stated that Cassiano dal Pozzo paid for the funeral.

An alternative attribution to Agostino Scilla (Messina 1629–1700 Rome) has been suggested.

Provenance:
European private collection

We are grateful to Professor Wolfgang Prohaska for suggesting the attribution.

The present painting, showing Saint Paul the Hermit, is a masterfully rendered work from Valentin de Boulogne’s lat