Lot 196: The Virgin and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist and a donor, a colonnade leading to a mountainous landscape beyond

César Nostradamus (Salon 1555-1629 Saint-Remi)
The Virgin and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist and a donor, a colonnade leading to a mountainous landscape beyond
oil on panel
17 3/8 x 12 in. (44.3 x 30.5 cm.)

Tajan, Paris, 21 October 1999, lot 104, as Attributed to César Nostradamus.

Jean-Claude Boyer confirmed the attribution in full, on inspection of the original painting (written correspondence with vendor, October 1999).

Born in Salon-de-Provence in 1553, César was the son of Michel de Nostredame, called Nostradamus, a celebrated astrologist, musician and poet. César was also a writer and a poet, and an associate of the genealogist d'Hozier and the scientist Peiresc. Surviving correspondence with Peiresc reveals that César travelled to Paris during his youth and received training from Etienne Dumonstier and the Quesnel family. This painting is one of only a handful of works by César to survive, including a Portrait of his father (Avignon, Musie Calvet) and a second, unsigned Portrait of his father, as a pendant to his own Self-Portrait (both in the Bibliothèque d'Aix-en-Provence).