Virginia da Vezzo, the Artist's Wife, as the Magdalen

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Virginia da Vezzo, the Artist's Wife, as the Magdalen

circa 1627
Paintings
Oil on canvas
Canvas: 40 × 31 in. (101.6 × 78.7 cm) Framed: 51 × 42 1/2 × 4 in. (129.54 × 107.95 × 10.16 cm)
Gift of The Ahmanson Foundation (M.83.201)
Not currently on public view

Provenance

(Possibly sale, London, Foster, 15 Nov. 1836, "Portrait of a Lady of Quality in the figure of a Magdalen," sold for £1.3 to);(1) Golding. "Alderman" T.

...

(Possibly sale, London, Foster, 15 Nov. 1836, "Portrait of a Lady of Quality in the figure of a Magdalen," sold for £1.3 to);(1) Golding. "Alderman" T. Holroyd, ca. 1860.(2) Unidentified religious institution, England (sale, Lancaster).(3) London art market, 1982. [Trafalgar Galleries, London, sold 1983 to]; LACMA.

Footnotes

(1) Although the sale price is remarkably low, LACMA’s painting is the only known portrait like Mary Magdalen by Vouet. The location of the sale in London twenty-four years before it was known to be in Holroyd’s London collection further suggests that the reference may be to this painting.

(2) According to a letter dated 11 November 1983 from R. Cohen, Trafalgar Galleries: "When the painting first came to us it bore a large gilt plaque inscribed: "Presented by Alderman T. Holroyd. The plaque has been mislaid . . . but must, I suppose, have been datable around 1860–80." Vouet object file, Department of European Painting and Sculpture, LACMA.

(3) According to a letter dated 9 November 1983 from R. Cohen, Trafalgar Galleries: "The picture was originally acquired in an auction in a small town in Lancashire and we understand that it had previously belonged to a religious institution for at least a hundred years. It was later acquired by a dealer friend of ours who approached us about it." Vouet object file, Department of European Painting and Sculpture, LACMA.

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Bibliography

  • Van der Stighelen, Katlijne. Michaelina Wautier, 1604-1689: Glorifying a Forgotten Talent. Kontich: BAI Publishers, 2018. 
  • Lehmbeck, Leah, editor. Gifts of European Art from The Ahmanson Foundation. Vol. 2, French Painting and Sculpture. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2019.
  • Van der Stighelen, Katlijne. Michaelina Wautier, 1604-1689: Glorifying a Forgotten Talent. Kontich: BAI Publishers, 2018. 
  • Lehmbeck, Leah, editor. Gifts of European Art from The Ahmanson Foundation. Vol. 2, French Painting and Sculpture. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2019.
  • Straussman-Pflanzer, Eve, and Oliver Tostmann, eds. By Her Hand: Artemisia Gentileschi and Women Artists in Italy, 1500-1800. Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, 2021.
  • Schaefer, Scott, and Peter Fusco. European Painting and Sculpture in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art: an Illustrated Summary Catalogue. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1987.
  • Conisbee, Philip et al. The Ahmanson Gifts: European Masterpieces in the Collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1991.


  • Eye for the Sensual: Selections from the Resnick Collection. Stuttgart: Dr. Cantz'sche Druckerei, 2010.
  • Marandel, J. Patrice. Abecedario: Collecting and Recollecting. Los Angeles: Art Catalogues; LACMA, 2017.

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