Lot 53: JEAN RAOUX and studio (Montpellier 1677-1734 Paris)

The Sacred Fire: two Vestal Virgins tending the hearth oil on canvas, unframed 281/4 x 351/2 in. (71.7 x 90.2 cm.) NOTES The present work is one of several compositions by Raoux depicting Vestal Virgins (see, for example, the painting in the Mus‚e des Beaux-Arts, Lille, exhibited Tradition and Revolution in French Art 1700-1880, National Gallery, London, 1993, no. 86). The Vestal Virgins are depicted here tending the sacred fire in honor of the Vesta, the Roman goddess of the hearth.