LOUVRE ACQUIRES 17th CENTURY PAINTING 'SAINT PETER'S DENIAL'

THE FRENCH MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND THE LOUVRE HAVE ACQUIRED THE PAINTING 'SAINT PETER'S DENIAL', BY FRENCH PAINTER ANTOINE OR LOUIS LE NAIN, ATTRIBUTED TO THE 17th CENTURY LORRAINE SCHOOL. THE PAINTING IS THE MUSEUM'S LATEST ACQUISITION AND WAS PURCHASED BY A PRIVATE PATRONAGE FOR $16,560,000. THE PAINTING 'WAS FOUND IN AN ATTIC IN LUNEVILLE' AND SOLD AT AUCTION IN NANCY ON 19.MARCH.2000. ESTIMATED AT 200,000 FRANCS, IT WAS ACQUIRED BY THE PARISIAN DEALER CHARLES BAILLY FOR 9.2 MILLION FRANCS. THE PAINTING WAS DENIED AN EXPORT PERMIT AND WAS ACQUIRED BY THE INSURANCE COMPANY AXA.
THE THREE LE NAIN BROTHERS WERE PAINTERS IN 17th CENTURY FRANCE; ANTOINE LE NAIN (c.1599-1648), LOUIS LE NAIN (c.1593-1648), AND MATHIEU LE NAIN (1607-1677). THE THREE WERE BORN IN LAON, AND BY 1630, ALL THREE LIVED IN PARIS. BECAUSE OF THE REMARKABLE SIMILARITY OF THEIR STYLES OF PAINTING AND THE DIFFICULTY OF DISTINGUISHING WORKS BY EACH BROTHER (THEY SIGNED THEIR PAINTINGS ONLY WITH THEIR SURNAME, AND MANY HAVE BEEN COLLABORATIONS), THEY ARE COMMONLY REFERRED TO AS A SINGLE ENTITY, LE NAIN. LOUIS IS USUALLY CREDITED WITH THE BEST KNOWN OF THEIR PAINTINGS, A SERIES OF SCENES DEPICTING PEASANT LIFE. THE LE NAIN PAINTINGS HAD A REVIVAL IN THE 1840s AND, THANKS TO THE EXERTIONS OF CHAMPFLEURY, MADE THEIR APPEARANCE ON THE WALLS OF THE LOUVRE IN 1848. CHAMPFLEURY WAS A FRIEND OF REALIST PAINTER GUSTAVE COURBET, A THEORIST OF REALISM AND WRITER ON FRENCH POPULAR ARTS. THE 'NAIVE' QUALITY OF THESE WORKS, WITH THEIR STATIC POSES, 'AWKWARD' COMPOSITIONS AND PEASANT SUBJECTS WERE ADMIRED AND MAY WELL HAVE EXERCISED SOME INFLUENCE ON MANY 19th CENTURY ARTISTS, NOTABLY COURBET HIMSELF.