French school, mid-nineteenth century - Lot 42

French school, mid-nineteenth century The Lute Player (retrospective portrait of Théophile de Viau?) Canvas 97.5 x 86.5 cm (Framed) This unfortunately anonymous portrait of a lute player could pass for a 17th-century original, were it not for its generous subject matter and execution more reminiscent of a precursor of Ferdinand Roybet (1840-1920) than a contemporary of Simon Vouet. Is it merely a testimony to the "Louis XIII revival" that characterizes so many paintings of musketeers produced in the 19th century? Rather, we believe the work is a retrospective portrait, perhaps recreated from an engraving, of a personality from the first half of the 17th century (as evidenced by his strawberry, habit and pointed beard, as seen in prints by Abraham Bosse). Is he simply a musician? Or a poet who accompanies his verses with a few lute chords? The leaves visible on his table, where we read the words "élégie", "sonnet", "muses", etc., seem to indicate a man of the pen. By comparison with an engraved portrait after Pierre Daret, we suggest that this could be Théophile de Viau (Agen, 1590-Paris, 1626). (illustration) This court poet, Protestant and libertine, sentenced to death in absentia for "unworthy morals", was rediscovered in the Romantic period by Théophile Gautier. Interest in his work and scandalous life could have prompted the commissioning of a historical portrait.