FRENCH ECOLE circa 1800, after Guercino (Cento 1591-1666 Bol - Lot 207

FRENCH ECOLE circa 1800, after Guercino (Cento 1591-1666 Bologna), Saint Guillaume d'Aquitaine receiving his religious habit from Saint Félix, bishop. Oil on canvas. Duke of Aquitaine and member of Charlemagne's entourage, William proved himself an excellent Christian knight during the war against the Saracens. He built a monastery at Gellone (diocese of Lodève) and asked for monks at Aniane. William lived a humble, hidden life of great piety at Gellone (the "cella" of the mother abbey of Aniane), in stark contrast to the honors and highest offices with which he had been invested as one of the most illustrious men of war of his time and a member of the imperial family. After his death on May 28, 812, the convent was named Saint-Guilhem-du-Désert. He was canonized in 1066. Our painting is a reduced version of the composition executed around 1620 for the Locatelli chapel in the Church of St. Gregory in Bologna. Seized by the French in 1796, it was exhibited in the Louvre until its restitution by Louis XVIII in 1816 (345 x 231 cm.; Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna, inv. unknown).