Roman School, circa 1625

Saint Agatha,
oil on canvas, 99 x 84 cm, framed
This ecstatic figure of Saint Agatha with her eyes to the sky, displaying the evidence of her martyrdom without any drama or excitement is inspired by Guido Reni’s depictions of female saints. The painting seems particularly close to Reni’s celebrated model of Lucretia, recorded in the inventory of the Patrizi collection in Rome in 1624, at present untraced but known through two later versions (see S. Pepper, Guido Reni. L’opera completa, Novara 1988, no. 134, p. 277 and Appendix 1, no. 22, p. 333). Other works by Reni dating from the 1620s are also comparable to the present painting, such as the Cleopatra and Lucretia now in the Sanssouci, Potsdam, and the Porzia in the Durazzo-Pallavicini Collection in Genoa (Pepper 1988, no. 87–89).

The chromatic choices of the present composition and the way of painting the fabrics and drapery, however, recall those of another artist in early 17th century Rome, the Parisian Simon Vouet, who arrived in the papal capital in 1613 only to return to France after many years, in 1627. The present Saint Agatha is comparable Vouet’s the monumental protagonists of the great Birth of the Virgin painted around 1620 for the Roman church of San Francesco a Ripa (Simon Vouet. Les anées italiennes. 1613/1627, exhibition catalogue, Paris 2008, cat. 18, p. 119).

Vouet’s style during his Italian period was influenced by the works of Caravaggio, perhaps filtered through the interpretation of Bartolomeo Manfredi and Orazio Borgianni, but also by those of the great Emilian masters active in Rome, in particular Guido Reni and Guercino. The painter also paid attention to Dutch artists working in the city, such as Gerrit van Honthorst.

The French artist was also closely linked to Artemisia Gentileschi, whom he met in Rome in 1620. In the following years the two artists both frequented the circle of Cassiano Dal Pozzo and their friendship is testified by the portrait of Artemisia painted by Vouet in 1623, the painting now belongs to the Fondazione Pisa (see F. Solinas, Simon Vouet e il ritratto di Artemisia, Rome 2019).

In this Roman period Vouet’s and Artemisia’s paintings achieved similar stylistic results, characterised by a strong naturalism, a predilection for dramatic lighting effects and colourful, elaborate costumes: for example in Artemisia’s Lucretia from the Etro collection and Vouet’s painting now in the National Gallery in Prague (inv. no. O 14162; for a comparison of the two works see Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi, ed. by K. Christiansen and J. W. Mann, exhibition catalogue, cat. 67, pp. 361–364). Similar stylistic components can be found in the present canvas, allowing it to be placed in the same context.