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Lot Essay
Ferdinand Voet was born in Antwerp in 1639, one of 14 children of the artist Elias Voet. Documents detailing his early life and training are scarce. It is thought that the young Ferdinand studied under Jacques d'Agar (1640-1617) in Antwerp but he could equally have been the student of Justus Sustermans. It was not until Voet's arrival in Rome in 1663 that a more defined image of the artist develops.
In Rome Voet emerged as a bold and colorful person and a true entrepreneur. His success there is partly due to the relationships that he formed with his peers, but it is mostly thanks to his superb diplomatic skills, which put him in contact with the most influential Roman noble families of the latter part of the 17th Century. Voet quickly integrated into the local painting scene, befriending both expatriate artists such as Cornelius Bloemaert and David de Coninck (with whom he shared living quarters) and Roman artists, working in the studios of Carlo Maratti and Giovanni Maria Morandi.
The 1670s were a particularly active and interesting decade for Voet. In 1669 he received his first royal commission from Cristina of Sweden and by 1679 he had requests for portraits from Agostino Chigi and Maria Virginia Borghese. These commissions show the extent to which Voet managed to incorporate himself into Roman society. Other patrons included the Pamphilj, Rospigliosi, Attieri, Odescalchi, Carpegna, Sacchetti, Pozzo, and the Colonna families. His reputation also made him attractive to the foreigners, or 'milordi', on the Grand Tour. Voet continued to live in Rome until 1686, with sojourns in Florence, Genoa, Modena and Turin. He then traveled extensively throughout Europe, with stays in Amsterdam, Antwerp and Paris, a city to which he would return after he finally left Italy in 1689.
It was also during the 1670s that the series known as Le Gallerie delle belle, a collection of portraits of illustrious Roman ladies, became fashionable. The first collection was assembled by the Chigi family between 1672 and 1678. It comprised 37 portraits and was painted by Voet for the Sala da Pranzo d'Estate in the Palazzo Chigi in Ariccia. The Chigi portraits, the largest and most intact of any of these series and the only one painted entirely by Voet himself, set a trend for decoration of this type. He subsequently painted many more, each series varying in quantity and distinction. Petrucci lists three other series among the highest quality: the Colonna series (17 portraits), the Durini series (6 portraits) and the Odescalchi series (14 portraits). There were also commissions of this type painted for the Savoia (5 portraits), Carpegna (4 portraits), Valperga di Masino (15 portraits), Spinola (4 portraits), Afieri and Carpi.
The present group, known as the Odescalchi series, previously comprised 14 portraits. It was most likely painted in Rome in the 1670s as almost all of the sitters are Roman noblewomen and many of them also appear in the much admired Chigi series. Inscriptions on the reverse of the original canvases (now obscured) indicate that the series may have been commissioned by the Colonna family, and that the group initially consisted of more than 14 portraits. This Gallery of Beauties changed hands by 1714, when it is listed in the inventory of Livio Odescalchi. In the early 18th Century, Benedetto and Tommaso Odescalchi left Rome for Lombardy, where they built Castel Carnesino in Monte Olimpino, near Como. The paintings were moved into this new residence by 1745. Originally painted in a rectangular format, the canvases were reduced to ovals in 1924, when they were set into wall paneling in their new home in Venice, where they remained until 2002. It was also in 1924 that the four other portraits, now missing from this group, were sold.
Francesco Petrucci has attributed these paintings to Ferdinand Voet, despite Isnardo Prada's suggestion that they were painted by Pierre Mignard. Petrucci finds the Portrait of Giacinta Conti Cesi, the Portrait of Antonia de Magistri, the Portrait of Anna Maria Carpegna and the Portrait of an Unidentified Sitter to be of superior quality and therefore autograph works by Voet. The other portraits, according to Petrucci, are works done by his studio, many with contributions by the artist himself.
Petrucci identifies the sitters as follows:
Anna Maria Carpegna (F. Petrucci, no. 227a)
Marta Ghezzi Baldinotti (no. 228)
Giacinta Conti Cesi (no. 229a)
Diane Gabrielle de Thianges, Duchess of Navarre (no. 230)
Isabella Strozzi Costaguti (no. 231a)
Antonia de Magistri (no. 232)
Maria Isabella Massimo Muti Papazzurri (no. 233)
Francesca Greppi Fani (no. 234)
Eleanora Boncompagni Borghese (no. 235)
An unidentified sitter (no. 236)
In Rome Voet emerged as a bold and colorful person and a true entrepreneur. His success there is partly due to the relationships that he formed with his peers, but it is mostly thanks to his superb diplomatic skills, which put him in contact with the most influential Roman noble families of the latter part of the 17th Century. Voet quickly integrated into the local painting scene, befriending both expatriate artists such as Cornelius Bloemaert and David de Coninck (with whom he shared living quarters) and Roman artists, working in the studios of Carlo Maratti and Giovanni Maria Morandi.
The 1670s were a particularly active and interesting decade for Voet. In 1669 he received his first royal commission from Cristina of Sweden and by 1679 he had requests for portraits from Agostino Chigi and Maria Virginia Borghese. These commissions show the extent to which Voet managed to incorporate himself into Roman society. Other patrons included the Pamphilj, Rospigliosi, Attieri, Odescalchi, Carpegna, Sacchetti, Pozzo, and the Colonna families. His reputation also made him attractive to the foreigners, or 'milordi', on the Grand Tour. Voet continued to live in Rome until 1686, with sojourns in Florence, Genoa, Modena and Turin. He then traveled extensively throughout Europe, with stays in Amsterdam, Antwerp and Paris, a city to which he would return after he finally left Italy in 1689.
It was also during the 1670s that the series known as Le Gallerie delle belle, a collection of portraits of illustrious Roman ladies, became fashionable. The first collection was assembled by the Chigi family between 1672 and 1678. It comprised 37 portraits and was painted by Voet for the Sala da Pranzo d'Estate in the Palazzo Chigi in Ariccia. The Chigi portraits, the largest and most intact of any of these series and the only one painted entirely by Voet himself, set a trend for decoration of this type. He subsequently painted many more, each series varying in quantity and distinction. Petrucci lists three other series among the highest quality: the Colonna series (17 portraits), the Durini series (6 portraits) and the Odescalchi series (14 portraits). There were also commissions of this type painted for the Savoia (5 portraits), Carpegna (4 portraits), Valperga di Masino (15 portraits), Spinola (4 portraits), Afieri and Carpi.
The present group, known as the Odescalchi series, previously comprised 14 portraits. It was most likely painted in Rome in the 1670s as almost all of the sitters are Roman noblewomen and many of them also appear in the much admired Chigi series. Inscriptions on the reverse of the original canvases (now obscured) indicate that the series may have been commissioned by the Colonna family, and that the group initially consisted of more than 14 portraits. This Gallery of Beauties changed hands by 1714, when it is listed in the inventory of Livio Odescalchi. In the early 18th Century, Benedetto and Tommaso Odescalchi left Rome for Lombardy, where they built Castel Carnesino in Monte Olimpino, near Como. The paintings were moved into this new residence by 1745. Originally painted in a rectangular format, the canvases were reduced to ovals in 1924, when they were set into wall paneling in their new home in Venice, where they remained until 2002. It was also in 1924 that the four other portraits, now missing from this group, were sold.
Francesco Petrucci has attributed these paintings to Ferdinand Voet, despite Isnardo Prada's suggestion that they were painted by Pierre Mignard. Petrucci finds the Portrait of Giacinta Conti Cesi, the Portrait of Antonia de Magistri, the Portrait of Anna Maria Carpegna and the Portrait of an Unidentified Sitter to be of superior quality and therefore autograph works by Voet. The other portraits, according to Petrucci, are works done by his studio, many with contributions by the artist himself.
Petrucci identifies the sitters as follows:
Anna Maria Carpegna (F. Petrucci, no. 227a)
Marta Ghezzi Baldinotti (no. 228)
Giacinta Conti Cesi (no. 229a)
Diane Gabrielle de Thianges, Duchess of Navarre (no. 230)
Isabella Strozzi Costaguti (no. 231a)
Antonia de Magistri (no. 232)
Maria Isabella Massimo Muti Papazzurri (no. 233)
Francesca Greppi Fani (no. 234)
Eleanora Boncompagni Borghese (no. 235)
An unidentified sitter (no. 236)