Simon Vouet
Madonna and Child, 1633
oil on canvas
109 x 89 cm (43 x 35 inches)
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Chester Dale Fund
Works by Vouet, Mazzucchelli, Close acquired by NGA The National Gallery of Art, Washington, acquired a newly rediscovered masterpiece by Simon Vouet (1590–1649), an oil painting by Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli (Morazzone) (1573–1626), and a print of great importance by Chuck Close.]]>
June 3, 2016, source: The National Gallery of Art, Washington
Previously known only from copies, Simon Vouet’s “Madonna and Child” (1663) is the earliest and the only signed and dated version of his great series devoted to the Virgin and Child. Having just returned to the French court from Rome, Vouet created a monumental image of the Virgin with her son on her lap in a gesture of extreme tenderness and intimacy, as well as prescient gravitas. The sensual depiction of the figures against a dark background combined with clear, bright colors and exquisitely subtle light mark the beginning of the great tradition of the French school of painting. This painting is on view in the West Building, Main Floor, Gallery 37.
Represented as a night scene, Morazzone’s “Adoration of the Magi” (c. 1600) combines mannerist elegance and exaggeration with protobaroque expressiveness, creating an aesthetic he shares with the early 17th-century Lombard School. This work has the characteristics of a painted sketch—an intimate mood and bravura execution—but does not seem to have been made for any of Morazzone’s large-scale altarpieces of this subject. The elaborately carved and gilded frame appears to date from later in the 17th century and was likely added by an early collector to enhance the painting.
Chuck Close’s “Keith” (1972) is a massive-scale, labor-intensive mezzotint, a printmaking process popular in the 18th century that yields white highlights on a dark, velvety ground. Outmoded by the 20th century, the technique was reprised by Close, who endowed Keith with photographic precision and larger-than-life scale. It is the first work in which he left the process—in the form of an underlying grid—visible, an important decision that influenced Close’s subsequent work in all media. “Keith” represents both a milestone in Close’s career and in the history of printmaking. “Keith” was meant to be produced in an edition of 20 prints, but rapid deterioration of the copperplate limited the edition to 10, plus a handful of proofs, making the print remarkably rare. This print will be on view in the Gallery’s exhibition Three Centuries of American Prints from the National Gallery of Art through July 24, 2016. Dorothy and Herbert Vogel have also promised to the Gallery the unique photographic maquette for “Keith”.
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