Le triomphe de la Sagesse

CHARLES WAUTIER (MONS 1609-1703 BRUXELLES)
Le triomphe de la Sagesse
inscrit, signé et daté '....... Sapientia fulget / In** ; tenebris latet Ignoratia vilis. [Le savoir illumine tandis que le domaine de l'ignorance est l'obscurité] / CARLVS WAVTIER . FECIT / 1678' (en bas, à gauche)
huile sur toile
59 x 79 cm (23¹⁄₄ x 31¹⁄₈ in.)

Collection Otto G. Mayer-Schöllkopf, Stuttgart ; sa vente, Alte und Neue Kunst, Munich, 6 et 7 décembre 1926, lot 104.
Collection particulière, Athènes, depuis 1960.

CHARLES WAUTIER (1609-1703), THE TRIUMPH OF WISDOM, OIL ON CANVAS, INSCRIBED, SIGNED AND DATED

The Wautier siblings are emblematic of the Brussels school of painting in the mid-17th century. Charles (1609-1703), who signed the present painting, and his sister Michaelina (1604-1689) were born in Mons, capital of the county of Hainaut, into a family that held important administrative and military positions in the southern Netherlands. Around 1633-1634, the young Charles moved to Brussels, from where he may have travelled to Italy, France and Madrid (K. Van der Stighelen, Michaelina Wautier 1604-1689. Glorifying a Forgotten Talent, [cat. exp.], Antwerp, 2018, p. 12 and p. 22). After becoming a member of the Guild of Saint Luke in 1651, he acquired a certain reputation as a portraitist among the great families of the Southern Netherlands, such as the Ligne and Mérode families, and was also commissioned by the future James II of England (1633-1701), then Duke of York, whose portrait is held in the English royal collections (inv. no. RCIN 402572) (id., pp. 148-149).

This painting is remarkable for the originality of its allegorical subject - highlighted by the inscription in the lower left-hand corner of the composition - as Charles Wautier's output was mainly focused on religious compositions and portraiture.