Emilie Rouillon (French, fl. 1850-1888). The Entombment of Christ, after Caravaggio, 1860. Oil on canvas. 39 x 29-1/4 in...

Description

Emilie Rouillon (French, fl. 1850-1888)
The Entombment of Christ, after Caravaggio, 1860
Oil on canvas
39 x 29-1/4 inches (99.1 x 74.3 cm)
Signed, dated, and inscribed lower right: Emilie Rouillon / Rome 1860

PROVENANCE:
Private collection, New York.

The present work represents a faithful copy by Rouillon after Caravaggio's original altarpiece, painted for the church of Santa Maria della Valle in Rome between 1603 and 1604, which now resides in the Vatican Museums.

Born in Paris, Emilie Rouillon was reputedly a student of a painter named Couterani, and exhibited in the Salons of 1869 and 1870 (E. Bénézit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs, vol. 7, 1966, p. 385). Although she produced portraits at various points in her career, today she is primarily known as a copyist of Italian Old Masters such as Titian (his Sacred and Profane Love in the Galleria Borghese, Rome, and his Portrait of a Woman "La Bella" in the Pitti Palace, Florence), Palma Vecchio (she copied the head of his Saint Barbara in Santa Maria Formosa, Venice) and Caravaggio. Working both in oil and in watercolor, Rouillon was active in Italy, which can be documented through a number of her paintings which are inscribed "Rome" or "Venise." Her achievement is largely unstudied but the works which have surfaced on the art market over the past two decades show a high level of skill and a strong understanding of figure draftsmanship. This is the first copy after Caravaggio by Rouillon to have emerged.




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