RAPHAEL (1483 1520). Suiveur de.
Important oil on canvas marouflaged on panel representing "The Madonna in the Meadow". Based on the original work of Raphael which is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Painting formerly attributed to Baldassare Peruzzi. Italian school. Period: early 16th century. In a beautiful carved and gilded wood frame. Size : +/-107,5x87cm.

Provenance: Charles Hippolyte Vilain XIIII was born on 7 May 1796 in Paris and died in Brussels on 19 March 1873. A versatile man, he was a Belgian soldier, politician and diplomat as well as a member of the National Congress. His wife was Baroness Léontine de Wal de Baronville and together they had two children: Adrien and Odile.

Charles Ippolitus was sent to London in 1831 by the Provisional Government to deal with the Mighty Ones and then offer the crown to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, the future Leopold I, King of the Belgians.

An important moment in his life as far as we are concerned was from 1840 to 1848 when he was Chargé d'Affaire, then Minister resident near the courts of Sardinia and Tuscany.

A great lover of art, it was during the period when he was Ambassador to Italy that he brought back many paintings and works of art as well as authentic antiques from that country. He also went to Pompeii and had "new lines" of archaeological excavations opened. It is in this same dynamic that he also brings back mummies from Egypt.

A fine example of these treasures brought back from Italy is a white marble sculpture, "The Sleeping Jesus Child", a major work by sculptor Filippo Parodi (1630 - 1702), which has been on display since 2018 at the Cleveland Museum of Art in the U.S.A.

Among the works returned from this trip, we can insert our "Madonna with the Prairie", on sale today, which is certainly one of the jewels of this collection of the direct descent of Adrien Vilain XIIII.