(French, 1775-1849)

A Jesuit priest kneeling and praying in a private chapel, circa 1802-18, an old label verso indicates this subject is the chapel at Villa Rufinella (now Villa Tuscolana Frascati, Frascati, Italy), home of Pope Pius VII from 1773 to 1804, inscribed or signed "Granet" with remnant of wax seal to right of label, oil on canvas, 12-3/4 x 9-5/8 in.; original gilt wood and composition frame, 17 x 14-1/8 x 2-3/4 in.

Provenance: The Estate of William H. Truettner to be sold for the benefit of The William H. Truettner Fellowship at Smithsonian American Art Museum

Note: Born in Aix-en-Provence, Granet trained with Jean-Antoine Constantin and Jacques-Louis David, who predicted his gift for color and light. After a brief visit in 1802, Granet returned to Rome for more than two decades, joining a circle of French artists that included J.-A.-D. Ingres.

Celebrated for his church and convent interiors, Granet combined the seventeenth-century Dutch taste for intimate cabinet pictures with a modern interest in everyday Italian life. Rather than depicting Rome’s monuments, he often chose humble or overlooked settings, such as this cloister near his studio on the Via del Corso. Ingres himself was among the first admirers of these works.

Granet later returned to France, serving as curator at the Louvre and director of the Museum of French History at Versailles. He bequeathed his own collection to Aix, now housed in the Musee Granet.