Antoine RASPAL (Arles, 1738 - 1811) The young vestal Oil on canvas The young vestal, oil on canvas, by A. Raspal 39.56 x 30.70 in. 100.5 x 78.0 cm Provenance: Private collection, Paris Exhibitions : Antoine Raspal pinxit, catalogue by Clément Trouche, Grasse, musée Jean-Honoré Fragonard, 12 May-17 September 2017, Arles, musée Réattu, 7 October 2017 - 6 January 2018, p. 40 and p. 200 The production and career of the Arles painter Antoine Raspal were restored and given pride of place in the "Antoine Raspal pinxit" exhibition, held in Grasse and then Arles between May 2017 and January 2018. Painted before 1764 when Raspal was perfecting his art in Paris in Joseph-Marie Vien's studio, our painting depicts a vestal virgin holding the sacred fire, the symbol of virginal purity1. A later, smaller version of our painting (83 x 65 cm), signed and dated 1764, is in the Musée Réattu in Arles (inv. 01.I.8). Vestals, the chaste Roman priestesses of the goddess Vesta responsible for maintaining the sacred fire on the goddess' hearth, were abundantly represented by painters in the 18th century. Honoré Lacombe de Prézel, in his Dictionnaire iconologique, gives us a description of the vestals' costume: "they are depicted with a veil over their heads, holding a lighted lamp or a small vase with two handles filled with fire; sometimes the priestess is placed next to an antique altar on which there is a lit brazier "2. These works were regularly conceived as allegorical portraits, a genre that was in great vogue until around 1760-1770. Several members of the royal family were disguised as vestals by painters. Take, for example, Jean-Marc Nattier's painting of Madame Henriette as a vestal virgin (circa 1750, Museu de Arte de Sao Paulo). Although the allegorical interpretation of this iconography changed during the eighteenth century, by the middle of the century the vestals offered an image of feminine virtue and morality3. Although the model represented in our painting is not identifiable, Raspal's intention here is to take up the traditional iconography of the vestal virgin from both a formal and symbolic point of view. 1. We refer here to Guillaume Faroult's study, "Les Fortunes de la Vertu. Origines et évolution de l'iconographie des vestales jusqu'au XVIIIe siècle", Revue de l'Art, no. 152/2006-2, pp. 25-27. 2. H. Lacombe de Prézel, Dictionnaire iconologique, Paris, 1779, p. 290. Faroult, op.cit, p. 23-25. Antoine RASPAL (Arles, 1738 - 1811) 100.5 x 78.0 cm The production and career of Arles painter Antoine Raspal were restored and honoured by the "Antoine Raspal pinxit" exhibition held in Grasse and then Arles between May 2017 and January 2018. Painted before 1764 when Raspal was perfecting his art in Paris in Joseph-Marie Vien's studio, our painting depicts a vestal virgin holding the sacred fire, the symbol of virginal purity1. A later, smaller version of our painting (83 x 65 cm), signed and dated 1764, is in the Musée Réattu in Arles (inv. 01.I.8). Vestals, the chaste Roman priestesses of the goddess Vesta responsible for maintaining the sacred fire on the goddess' hearth, were abundantly represented by painters in the 18th century. Honoré Lacombe de Prézel, in his Dictionnaire iconologique, gives us a description of the vestals' costume: "they are depicted with a veil over their heads, holding a lighted lamp or a small vase with two handles filled with fire; sometimes the priestess is placed next to an antique altar on which there is a lit brazier "2. These works were regularly conceived as allegorical portraits, a genre that was in great vogue until around 1760-1770. Several members of the royal family were disguised as vestals by painters. One example is Jean-Marc Nattier's painting of Madame Henriette as a vestal virgin (circa 1750, Museu de Arte de Sao Paulo). Although the allegorical interpretation of this iconography changed during the eighteenth century, by the middle of the century the vestals offered an image of feminine virtue and morality3. Although the model represented in our painting is not identifiable, Raspal's intention here is to take up the traditional iconography of the vestal virgin from both a formal and symbolic point of view. 1. We refer here to Guillaume Faroult's study, "Les Fortunes de la Vertu. Origines et évolution de l'iconographie des vestales jusqu'au XVIIIe siècle", Revue de l'Art, no. 152/2006-2, pp. 25-27. 2. H. Lacombe de Prézel, Dictionnaire iconologique, Paris, 1779, p. 290. Faroult, op. cit. p. 23-25.