VALENTINE LEFEVRE (Brussels 1637 – Venice 1677) “Attributed” Saints Mark and Marcellian exhorted to martyrdom by Saint Sebastian

“Saints Mark and Marcellian exhorted to martyrdom by Saint Sebastian”

The work is accompanied by a written opinion by Ugo Ruggeri

The canvas is in excellent condition, with a golden frame

Reference Bibliography

U. Ruggeri, Valentin Lefèvre (1637 - 1677). Paintings. Drawings. Engravings, Reggio Emilia 2001

The canvas presented here, depicting Saints Mark and Marcellian exhorted to martyrdom by Saint Sebastian, is referred to the Flemish painter Valentin Lefèvre by Ugo Ruggeri, who recognizes in it one of those typical copying exercises that Lefèvre used to undertake from the works of Venetian artists of the 16th century century, in particular by Paolo Veronese; in fact, the painting is taken from the Veronese canvas preserved in the church of San Sebastiano in Venice.

Valentin Lefèvre, born in 1642 in Brussels, moved to Venice already in the fifties of the seventeenth century to study the masterpieces of Veronese. In the lagoon city he worked for the rest of his short life; in fact he died in 1677 at the age of 35.

For the stylistic and morphological characteristics, and for the Flemish lucidity of the drafting, the work here in the catalog is approachable to the Dinner in the home of the Pharisee and the Presentation in the temple of the English royal collections, already attributed to Valentin Lèfevre when they were in the console collection Smith; they constitute the first and sure evidence of Lèfevre's interest in Paolo Veronese and of his activity as a copyist for which he was known.