Virgin Andchild Playing With A Bird Attached To A Thread By Pierre Le Tellier (1614-after 1680)

This painting is exceptional in more than one way.
On the one hand, it is a work executed by a painter greatly influenced by Nicolas Poussin, as evidenced by the Italianate landscape, the ruins in the background, the physiognomy of the infant Jesus and the classicizing composition.
On the other hand, it is an extremely rare iconography. The subject is known from two examples engraved, one by Simone Cantarini (1612-1648) for an etching in the Rothschild collection kept in the graphic arts department of the Louvre Museum, the other in a Holy Family with a Bird by Michel Dorigny (1617-1663) after Eustache Le Sueur (lost painting). This last engraving presents a more complex composition with Saint Joseph and the Virgin, Saint Elizabeth and little John who tries to catch the bird held by the Virgin.
We attribute this beautiful painting to the Norman painter Pierre Le Tellier, born in Vernon in 1614 and died in Rouen after 1680, a city where he became famous after spending almost fifteen years in Rome where he rubbed shoulders with Nicolas Poussin (1594-1664).
Many paintings by this artist are kept at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rouen and they attest to the stylistic similarities with our painting which could be dated to the years 1660-1665. The face of the Virgin, her headband hairstyle, the modeling of the hand are found in other works dated and signed by Le Tellier, as is this taste for checkered floors accentuating the perspective effect.
The painting, in perfect condition, has been relined.