LOT DETAILS

Materials:

oil on canvas

Measurements:

37.60 in. (95.50 cm.) (height) by 88.58 in. (225.00 cm.) (width)

Condition:

framed

Provenance:

Private collection, Bologna, We are grateful to Giancarlo Sestieri for suggesting the attribution of the present painting on the basis of a high resolution digital photograph., The present painting, possibly executed with studio assistance, relates to the fresco, also painted by Guillaume Courtois, in the Sala del Tesoro of the Palazzo Quirinale, ,Rome (published in G. Sestieri, Rom 1999, p. 305, ill.). The artist also executed the Martyrdom of Saint Andrew for the high altar of the Sant’Andrea al Quirinale. These works show the influence of Pietro da Cortona, combined with the influence of the Baroque style of Agostino Carracci and Giovanni Lanfranco’s work. These influences are reflected in the exuberance in form and colour that were characteristic of Courtois’ work. He was also influenced by the style of Pier Francesco Mola who he worked alongside together with Gaspard Dughet, Francesco Cozza, and Giovanni Battista Tassi on the decoration of the Valmontone Palace of Camillo Francesco Maria Pamphili around 1658-1659., Guillaume Courtois was mainly active in Rome as a history and staffage painter and he worked with his brothers, the painters Jacques Courtois (Giacomo Cortese) and Jean-François Courtois. Guillaume was born in Saint-Hippolyte, Doubs, France, the son of painter Jean-Pierre Courtois and little is known about Guillaume’s youth but it is assumed he received his initial training from his father. The father and his sons went to Italy circa 1636 when Guillaume was still a child. They travelled to Milan, Bologna, Venice, Florence and Siena. On the whole, the movements of the brothers Courtois are not however very well documented and it is possible that Guillaume Courtois settled in Rome by 1638 where he entered the studio of Pietro da Cortona. However, it is also possible that Guillaume and Jacques remained together until the later 1640s and that Guillaume Courtois only came under the influence of da Cortona when he worked under him in 1656. Guillaume Courtois spent most of his active life in Rome where he died in 1679