Scanned from a slide by Jimmy Brown; color-correction by Pat Cagney.

Virgin and Child with Saint Joseph

Artist Eustache Le Sueur (French, 1616-1655)

CultureFrench

Date1651

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsOverall: 36 in. (91.4 cm)
Overall, Frame: 43 3/4 x 43 1/2 in. (111.1 x 110.5 cm)

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.675

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 206

DescriptionThis is a tondo shaped oil on canvas painting. The ivy covered classical columns behind the three figures create strong vertical lines in the painting. The stone wall behind the figures produces the effect of a secure horizontal. Mary's blue drape falls over her lap and spills onto the ground, forming the back drop for the Christ child, happily naked and reaching out to take the wild flowers from St. Joseph's hand. Mary sits piously, her hands folded as if in prayer. Her face is pale and she is dressed in mauve. Joseph has a ruddy complexion and gray hair. He kneels before the Christ child his staff in his left hand. The background shows blue sky, a palm tree and a figure receding in the distance. The small retreating figure is still visible due to his brightly colored garments; he doesn't blend into the background.

Label TextEustache Le Sueur French, 1616–1655 Virgin and Child with Saint Joseph, 1651 Oil on canvas Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.675 ProvenancePainted by the artist ca. 1651 for a Monsieur Foucaut; Earl of Harcourt, Nuneham, England, by 1797; sale, Viscount Harcourt, Christie's, London, June 11, 1948 (auction cat. no. 181); David Koetser, New York, 1953; Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., 1953; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, 1971. Exhibition HistoryBritish Institution, London, 1823. (Exhib. cat. no. 137). "Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Portland Art Museum, Oregon; Seattle Art Museum; California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Minneapolis Art Institute; St. Louis City Art Museum; William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City; Detroit Institute of Arts; and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, March 2, 1956 - April 14, 1957. (Exhib. cat. no. 60). "Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown Inaugural Exhibition," Provincetown, Massachusetts, 1958. (Exhib. cat. no. 37). "1550-1650, A Century of Masters from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Fort Worth Art Center, Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa, and University of Texas, Austin, Sept. 7, 1962 - March 31, 1963. (Exhib. cat. p. 40). "Vouet to Rigaud. French Masters of the Seventeenth Century," Finch College Museum of Art, New York, April 20 - June 18, 1967. (Exhib. cat. no. 40). "France in the Golden Age: 17th-Century French Paintings from American Collections," Palais du Louvre, Paris, March - April 26, 1982; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, May 26 - August 22, 1982; Art Institute of Chicago, Sept. 18 - Nov. 28, 1982. "Eustache Le Sueur," Musée de Grenoble, France, February - May 2000. Published ReferencesBertina S. Manning. _Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.: An Exhibition Organized by the Portland Art Museum, Oregon_. Portland: Portland Art Association. 1956. No. 60. Bertina S. Manning. _Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown Inaugural Exhibition_. Provincetown, Massachusetts: Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown. 07/1958: no. 37. Exhibition catalogue. _1550-1650, A Century of Masters from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr._. Fort Worth: Fort Worth Art Center. 1962: 40. Exhibition catalogue. _Vouet to Rigaud: French Masters of the Seventeenth Century_. New York: Finch College Museum of Art. 1967. No. 40. _France in the Golden Age: Seventeenth-Century French Paintings in American Collections_. Paris: 1982, No. 54. Jefferson C. Harrison. _French Paintings from the Chrysler Museum_. Norfolk, VA: The Chrysler Museum, 1986, No. 1, 1-2; color plate No. 1, 95. Alain Mérot. _Eustache le Sueur (1616-1655)_. Paris: Arthena, 1987, pp. 32, 55, 59, 70, 74, 99, 287, 333; color plate 16, No. 156; black and white ill. Fig. 352, No. 156. Jefferson C. Harrison. _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_. The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA, 1991, 38, #30. Jacques Dodeman, editor. _Les Tableaux d'Une Exposition: Eustache le Sueur_. Paris: Publications Artistiques Françaises. 2000: color ill., n.p. Brochure. _Eustache le Sueur (1616-1655) Peintures et Dessins_. Grenoble: Musée de Grenoble. 2000: color ill, n.p. Alain Mérot, et al. _Eustache le Sueur_. Paris: Musée de Grenoble et Réunion des musées nationaux. 2000, 127, plate 40. Louis Faton, "Eustache Le Sueur, Une Trop Brève Carrière," _L'Estampille/L'Objet d'Art_. No. 347, May 2000, 30-37; 35, color illustration. Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 28, fig. 19. ISBN: 978-0-940744-72-1