Lot 53: Jean Raoux (Montpellier 1677-1734 Paris)

Jean Raoux (Montpellier 1677-1734 Paris)
A vestal virgin
oil on canvas, with shaped corners
89 x 56¾ in. (226 x 144 cm.)

Anonymous sale; Christie's, New York, 2 June 1988, lot 117.

THIS LOT IS SOLD WITHOUT RESERVE
This lot is offered without reserve.
The present lot is one of four apparently autograph versions of the composition known today: the first was destroyed in a fire in the nineteenth century, but is recorded as having been signed and dated 1728; the second belongs to the museum of the Château de Versailles and is signed and dated 1733; a third was offered for sale in these rooms, 26 October 2001, lot 246. The latter, like the present lot, is neither signed nor dated but of a quality and manner of handling fully in keeping with that of the master himself.

The virgin servants of Vesta, the Roman household goddess and guardian of the hearth, were a favorite subject of Raoux; they were to be understood as (admittedly flirtatious) emblems of chastity.