Lot 50: Jean François Sablet , Morges, Vaud 1745 - 1819 Nantes Vestal Virgin before a Burning Altar oil on canvas

signed and dated lower left: F. Sablet 1781 oil on canvas

measurements note 69 by 56 1/4 in.; 175.26 by 142.88 cm.

Private collection, France;
Anonymous sale, Paris, Sotheby's, October 20, 2005, lot 35.

The present large scale work depicts a vestal virgin burning incense before an altar. It is undoubtedly influenced by Sablet's teacher, Joseph-Marie Vien, and seems to be related to Greek works painted for the Parisian socialite Madame Geoffrin, which were exhibited in the Salon of 1763. The unidentified coat of arms in the upper right hand corner suggests that the sitter, now unidentified, came from a distinguished family that commissioned the painting as part of their private collection. Jean-François Sablet was born in Morges, Vaud in 1745. He, along with his brother Jacques-Henri, followed in their father's footsteps as painters (their father also worked as a picture dealer in France). They both studied at the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in Paris as pupils of Vien - François from 1768-73 and Jacques from 1772-5. Sablet's earliest portraits include Charles de Bourbon, Comte d'Artois, as Colonel General of the Swiss and Grison Guards (1774; ex-Bourbon-Chalus Col., Paris) and Charles -Henri, Comte d'Estaing (untraced; engraved by Charles-Etienne Gaucher).υ1 Sablet spent two years in Rome studying and painting with his brother; however, he was forced to leave in 1793 due to European unrest concerning the French Revolution. He executed a number of revolutionary portraits upon his return to Paris, including Joseph-Agricol Viala, William Tell and Lycurgus (all untraced; engraved by Pierre-Michel Alix), but spent most of his time painting in Normandy, out of the revolutionary spotlight of Paris. This painting has been viewed by Anne van de Sandt, who confirmed the attribution to Sablet. 1. A. van de Sandt, "Jean-François Sablet", in Grove Dictionary of Art, vol. 27, New York 1996, p. 484.