Lot 85: NICOLAS COLOMBEL

NICOLAS COLOMBEL SOTTEVILLE-LÈS-ROUEN 1644 - 1717 PARIS MOSES CAST INTO THE NILE oil on canvas 28 5/8 by 38 1/2 in.; 72.7 by 97.8 cm.

Probably A. Blunt, "Nicolas Colombel", in Revue de L'Art, vol. 9, 1970, p. 30, reproduced, p. 34, fig. 18.

With Galerie Heim, Paris;
By whom sold to Mr. and Mrs. Allen Field, Houston, 1959;
Thence by descent to the present owner.

This painting is entirely characteristic of Nicolas Colombel and is painted in a highly classicizing style, which reveals the artist's clear debt to the work of his fellow countryman Nicolas Poussin. After studying in Paris under Pierre de Seve (1623-1695), Colombel travelled to Rome, probably before 1680, where he was strongly influenced by the work of Raphael and Poussin, the latter of whose drawings and paintings he is known to have copied. In 1686 Colombel is recorded as a member of the Painter's Accademia di San Luca in Rome, and although it is not known how long he remained there, he had returned to Paris by 1693, for the following year he was named a member of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, becoming associate professor in 1701 and professor four years later.

Another version of this work was sold as by Colombel in Perrin, Royere, Lajeunesse, 19 June 2005, lot 45.