Saint Praxedis (painting)

The Holy Praxedis is a Jan Vermeer attributed oil paintings. The 101.6 cm high and 82.6 cm wide work represents the sacred Praxedis is a Christian martyr from the first or second century. The image belongs to the collection of Barbara Piasecka Johnson and is on display at the Musée de la Chapelle de la Visitation in Monaco.

Image description

The painting The Holy Praxedis is a copy of Felice Ficherellis picture of the same name. It shows Praxedis large-sized and full-frame. She is wearing a red robe and holding a crucifix in his hands. At the same time it expresses a blood-soaked sponge on a vessel. According to legend, she has collected during the persecution of Christians with a sponge the blood of Christian martyrs to the place of execution. In the background lies a corpse, which underlines this. The head of the Holy clearly stands out against the deep blue sky. The picture is signed on the left hand side with the sea in 1655, on the right with the sea N R.. Oo

Attribution

The Holy Praxedis was first introduced in 1969 by the art historian Michael Kitson in Burlington Magazine as a result of an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a work of Jan Vermeer. In the following years, other art historians of this opinion joined. Particularly important here is the write-up by Arthur K. Wheelock, who reads the right signature as [ Ver ] Sea N [ aar ] R [ ip ] o [s ] o ( Vermeer after Riposo ). Since Riposo was the stage name Ficherellis, Wheelock sees the specification of the original by Vermeer. He further laboratory investigations of color and stylistic similarities of the sky and the face of Praxedis with other early works by Vermeer. Especially after the great Vermeer exhibition in The Hague and Washington DC was criticism of this argument loudly. Thus, among other things, by Jørgen Wadum, the chief curator at the Mauritshuis, the assumption about the importance of the second signature strictly rejected.

Provenance

As The Holy Praxedis Vermeer was attributed for the first time, the picture in the collection Erna and Jacob Reder in New York, in which it was reached was in 1943. The New York art dealer Spencer Samuels & Co acquired the painting in 1969 from this collection and sold it in 1987 to continue the art collector Barbara Piasecka Johnson. Since the late 1990s, The Holy Praxedis is along with other religious paintings of the collection Piasecka Johnson at the Musée de la Chapelle de la Visitation in Monaco.