Meekness

Description

Eustache Le Sueur painted the eight Beatitudes, the ideal qualities Jesus identified in his Sermon on the Mount in the Bible, for the private chapel in his patron Guillaume Birssonnet’s Paris home. This personification of meekness was part of that decoration and accompanied an altarpiece of the Annunciation, monochrome scenes of the life of the Virgin Mary, and a ceiling depicting her Assumption. The Beatitudes, with their patterned gold ground, lined the lower story of this elegant ensemble. Only the Annunciation altarpiece and two of the Beatitudes survive.

Provenance

Commissioned by Guillaume Brissonnet (died 1674) in 1650 for the chapel of his Paris town house [according to Guillet de Saint-Georges [1690], p. 164]; by descent to his son, Jean Baptiste Brissonnet (died 1698) [the early history of the house and its chapel decorations is recounted by Mérot 1987, pp.244-5]; sold with the house to Vincent d'Invault, 1698; sold to Jacques Turgot (died 1722), maître des Requêtes, 1714; by descent in 1757 to Anne Robert Jacques Turgot (died 1781); in 1775 the house was sold and the decorations dismantled; at Turgot's death, the paintings passed to his heirs including Etienne François Turgot, marquis de Sousmont, to at least 1784. Vincent Donjeux, Paris; sold LeBrun et Paillet, Paris, April 29 and following, 1793, lot 330, with "Justice," for 1,550 livres to Jouberton. Lafontaine, Paris; sold Chariot, Paris, May 28-June 2, 1821, lot 128 with "Justice", as "L'Innocence," for Fr 480. M. de Mauméjan, Paris; sold Lacoste, Paris, June 29-July 2, 1825, lot 40, with "Justice" as "L'Innocence." Jean Toussaint Arrighi de Casanova, duc de Padoue (died 1853), château de Courson-Monteloup (Essonne); by decent to Ernest Louis Hyacinthe Arrigi de Casanova, duc de Padoue (died 1888); by descent to his great grandson comte Ernest de Caraman, Châeau de Courson (died 1958) [the later descent of "Justice" and "Mansuétude" is given by Mérot 1987, p. 247]. Sold Hôtel Drouot, Paris, December 4, 1967, lot 81, to Comte de Gramont, as school of Eustache Le Sueur, "La Charité." Heim Gallery, London by 1974; sold to the Art Institute, 1974.

Meekness

Eustache Le Sueur

1650

Accession Number

47159

Medium

Oil on panel

Dimensions

100.7 × 67 cm (39 7/8 × 26 3/8 in.); Framed: 111.8 × 77.5 cm (44 × 30 1/2 in.)

Classification

oil on panel

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection